Well I didn't get my camera downloaded tonight with pictures of flowers and my dogs that I shot today, so I went into my folder called 'journalism stuff' and figured I'd post something from awhile back. This was taken during a long assignment that started early in the morning and ended sometime in the early evening. This dog was rescued from a bad situation. I photographed several dogs and cats in the bad situation as they were being taken out by law enforcement officials and animal control officers. At the end of the day the dogs and cats were washed and groomed. Overall it was a sad day, but I took this right before leaving to head back to the office and it sort of brought a bit of a smile to my face. All I could think of was this helpless dog must've been thinking how he hopes the groomer is really good with those sheers and doesn't slip. This image was never published in the paper. Meadville Tribune archived photograph by Richard Sayer
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I completed this piece just before my 44th birthday. I was working out some ways of making an image I hadn't really tried before and trying to redefine some of my imagery and symbolism. I wasn't quite sure about it, but I decided to enter this piece into the Erie Museum's annual Spring show. I hadn't entered a juried show in a very long time, probably 13 or so years. I got into the Erie show once as a grad student with a piece called 'Self Portrait Sucking Up' where I depicted myself standing holding a piece of paper that read 'Elinor Heartney is the beat, most intelligent art show juror in the whole world.' Elinor Heartney was the juror for that show. I was told her comment was something along the lines of a laugh followed by I can't not put this into the show. It even drew attention from the newspaper articles questioning whether it was pure stunt or if the picture had merits. I think the answer to that came the following year when I entered the painting again--after making some changes--namely I just crossed out Elinor Heartney and wrote above it the name of the juror that year, whose name escapes me right now. That juror didn't buy it as worth putting into the show. The following year I had worked on the painting to enter again but missed the deadline. I haven't tried to enter a juried show since. Just been making stuff and not really showing it much. This piece I entered and got accepted into the show. I hope the reaction of the juror wasn't laughter followed by a tongue in cheek acceptance this time. The show will open April 24th I believe and runs until July at the Erie Art Museum. By Richard Sayer
I took this picture in the beginning of 2009. There is no camera or photoshop trick in this picture at all. It is exactly the way the camera recorded the image. Its a result of my flash just blasting way too much light. I had everything set right, but for some reason it just exploded with light for 3 frames in a row. I thought it looked interesting in the back of my camera and decided not to delete it even though I knew it wouldn't be used in the paper. When I got back and saw that the washed out woman had a faint smiley face I decided I needed to save this picture. Its one of those happy accidents(pun intended). That night, only a few moments later after I got a handle on the lighting and the flash I also took perhaps my favorite photograph of 2009 which I included below. Its a picture of the same woman, Lillian Cervi who was having a blast dancing around the renovated ballroom of the Cordia Commons, or the old David Mead Inn, to some live music. Meadville Tribune mistakes and photographs by Richard Sayer
When I paint I have to make everything up. Sure serendipity plays a role, but not like it does in using some of the same ideas in photoshop. Creating duplicate layers of a photo and heavily manipulating it with hue and saturation, color balance etc... and then erasing and making the layer slightly transparent really can allow for so many great serendipitous moments to happen. I'm not sure where this is going, but it might go somewhere. As I try to develop new ways to create a look in my commercial photography, something no one else offers, I find these experiments leading me to something I might be able to bring to our clients. Photographic manipulation by Ri
A few weeks ago I ran into some girls that I haven't seen in awhile. One of the women commented on how I am "still doing photography." I quickly responded with a joke about how "Oh, yeah, I sleep with a camera in my hand." Well, I don't REALLY sleep with a camera in my hand, but my camera is always near by. I recently challenged myself and photographed myself being tattooed. So now if I run into that girl again, I can make a joke about how "Oh, yeah, I get tattooed with my camera in my hand." Hee-hee....I love holding a camera in my hand, even if I am bleeding while doing it. Steve Morris is the tattoo artist and he does amazing work! He is located at Bodyworks Tattoo in Pittsburgh. If anyone is looking for a beautiful tattoo, you should check him out!
Photo By: Harmony Motter I work with Devon Stout at the Meadville Tribune. About a month ago he asked me if I would photograph his daughter's birthday party. Anytime, I have the opportunity to photograph little kids, I take it. Children are real and in the moment. I shot the party on March 27, 2010. So, as I was editing my photos this week, I stumbled upon these two pictures and they happen to be my two favorite pix from Josie's birthday party. The funny thing, is that the real moments came from her parents and not the kids. It's even better when you can catch the adults being real!
Photos By: Harmony Motter The ideas of painting are coming more and more into my photographic work. I layer in post-production in order to create certain tones in my photographs. When I really manipulate the layer--erase some of it, adjust the transparencies of it, heighten some parts, duplicate that layer and manipulate it further - it is exactly the same way I work in painting. A transparency is sort of like glazing. Adding a layer and subtracting part of it is very much the same process as adding paint, wiping or scraping and then adding more to create the look and affect we want. I got a little lost in some new techniques I stumbled upon tonight(actually I've used them before, but in a much different way than I did tonight) as I was toning some images from last mondays shoot with Pina. I'm not at all sure what I'm going to do with this idea, or if I even like the look, but its always fun trying something new and finding new ways to make something. Taking an idea to another place can always help us in the future as we think about the work we want to accomplish. These pictures of Pina were harshly lit with only one light and often it was at too low of an angle. Some of the pictures worked out pretty well, but others just didn't have the right light for the pose or expression. Manipulating some of these has sort of saved some them from the edit floor. Photographic manipulations by Richard Sayer
Today I had limited time and when I showed up to photograph the first of three Easter Egg hunts today(I do love a small town newspaper--I really do--seriously this is the stuff I truly love to photograph) only to find the hunt itself was over I was a little bit rushed. I wanted to get in there and just look and see kids reacting to everything they found--so when I was approached by someone(who was happy to see mee) and told what she wanted me to photograph was this 'elder' a baby and the Easter Bunny all together I impatiently said--'oh I'm here to get candids' and I sort of ignored this very nice person. She persisted and asked me again and I agreed that I would take the picture, but wouldn't say for sure that it would make the paper. I didn't really want to take the picture--we shoot candids and seek slices of life photographs. So I again sort of ignored this very nice person(she really is a very nice person.) When I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard--we're ready I turned to snap a picture and be done with it--I really felt like this was wasting precious time I did not have. Then the baby cried, then the woman looked over at the baby crying and the Easter Bunny whose nose was sort of crooked from being pushed in a couple of times just made for this great expression. The very nice lady said'oh now thats just the perfect thing isn't?' and I agreed. What started out as me not having patience, ended up that all I needed to be was calm and patient and just do what the very nice person wanted me to do and it would be ok--even if I didn't get this picture--it is ok for me to relax and take the picture. Now---I think its my favorite picture so far in 2010. Meadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer. Happy Easter everyone--and thanks for looking at our photographs everyday!
If you click on the picture above you will be redirected to Sue Kilburn's website. Her web-site came out of a collaboration between Sue and myself that began nearly 5 years ago. I went with Sue to photograph her last day of chemotherapy after she had a lumpectomy to remove cancer from her breast. I had intended to do a story on Sue then, but workloads got in the way and then other things got in the way and we had talked about finalizing the story a number of times before we sort of both gave up on it. Then Sue got a job as a Breast Care educator through a Susan G. Komen grant at the MMC's Yolanda G. Barco Oncology Institute. She contacted me again and we agreed that the story would be a great way to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness month last year in October. I reinterviewed Sue, dusted off my notes from our day together in Pittsburgh and we had a story, a slideshow, several sidebars that were informative and possibly the best part of all, Sue wrote 31 days worth of short stories about her battle with breast cancer. The Meadville Tribune ran each of Sue's stories everyday on the website and told the readers about them in the paper. It was quite a bit of information and it really had that personal side that can only be told by a person who has lived it. Sue, The Meadville Tribune and I have been recognized by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association with a second place in online special projects award. This is quite an honor and the best part is it allows the story to reach even more people. Sue's website is also designed to be a place for furthering her role as an educator and she is now continuing her blog entries on this site as well as on facebook. The above photograph was a fun one we took on her last day of chemo nearly five years ago. It shows Sue's personality as a warm and funny person. It is great work that she is doing. I hope this award allows this story to reach even more people and help them in their lives. The entire entry for the award and Sue's 31 days of stories are on her site that you'll find by clickMeadville Tribune photograph by Richard Sayer
We often are called upon to find file photographs, these a pictures taken from previous events that we keep on hand in our archives. We have millions of images saved. I went looking for pictures I took last year at a battle of the bands competition and as I looked through the folder of around 20 saved images I stumbled upon this picture. Sometimes when the lighting is poor we have to use a flash--and sometimes....well no all times I wish I didn't have to use a flash. Natural lighting is so much better in my mind. Flashes tend to flatten out details and, though they do record the subject, they don't record the subject as they appear--so in a sense its a lie. One thing I do when I use the flash is I try to create movement by letting the shutter drag a bit. This means I use a slow shutterspeed and let the movement of me taking the picture and the subject's movement record however it will. This is very serendipitous and often leads to uninteresting and unusable images. This picture, though unusable in the paper, was interesting in how the subjects repeated. I can't remember now what I did, but somehow i got multiple pops of flash or there was a strobe from the stage that helped me get this repetitive pattern on these dancers at the foot of the stage. The streaks at the top are just the house lights recording the movement of my camera which apparently I moved either upwards or downwards as I pushed the shutter. This can be fun to do by twisting the camera too to create even funkier movements of the lights etc.... Meadville Tribune file photo by Richard Sayer
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