This was fun. I like making senior portraits that mean something and are just not pictures of kids against some wall they've never seen before, or some railroad tracks they've never walked. When possible i like to find out that the senior has a place they like or an interest that we can play off. I have this really great studio right now, but I'm beginning to want to do everything on location. I had the idea after this shoot too that i should ask 'What famous person do people think you look like" The reason I want to ask that is to see if i can draw from great photographs taken of celebrities that we can incorporate for fun! When we talked about making Casey's picture at the Vo-tech I was remembering the great work done by Avedon and others and knew what i wanted to do. I'm not sure if this pose will be the final photo of this set-up, but I like how at ease he seems to be in this setting
I was reading an article about senior pictures and it said something along the lines of you should only ask someone smile about 10% of the time. Asking someone to smile is asking someone to pretend. I will try to say things to get people to smile, but often times i let them be themselves. Some people are not smiley and that ok. In each session I get smile photos and serious photos. I tend to like the ones where the people seem to be thinking. To me this gets more at the heart of their character. Photos by Richard Sayer
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this. Art is something that you cannot really put a label on. When it works it works! Now we can define why it works in terms of design and color and uniformity and the overall way it just grabs ahold of us, but art is art when it reaches beyond definition. My old friend Enrico Pinardi used to talk about 'clever artist' who gain fame or notoriety in the art world by making very slick art-like objects that critics would swoon over! I am always wondering if and questioning my work as 'art-like' or something more????I am fascinated with making things to the point of perhaps not really taking the proper time to know what it is I'm making and why. I do think about what I'm doing, but is it enough? Much of my early work was based on my relationship with societal structures like religion and politics. I think in someways it still is, but admittedly I really just work everyday and stumble a lot. In stumbling I perhaps find my way to making something that has a poetry to it. But if asked what that poetry is or means I will stumble and often act like a deer in the headlights! Art to me is a need, a survival mechanism. Without making, I would be nothing I think. I know that 90% of what I make is done in the Enrico Pinardi definition of 'clever.' I just hope that the 10% that i also make is something that has the substance of art. Photograph by Richard Sayer
Today I worked on a story about the taking down of a fence that has seen better days. It will be refurbished and put up at a historic location. The fence was made in the 1850's. My great friend Jim Stefanucci photographed this fence many times over the years looking for feature photos for page one of The Meadville Tribune. I thought about him a lot today as I made pictures of the fence's dismantling. I was concentrating as much as I could on the story at hand, but I also had a job shadow so I was trying to show how I go about making pictures for a story and also explaining what I was doing too. This is a picture that I liked very much even though it wasn't one I expected to use in the newspaper. I think this is an important lesson to teach all up-coming photographers. You need to shoot for yourself because it makes you a better photographer and story teller overall. What I like about this picture is that it shows a little of the fence and the rusting through the paint deterioration. But mostly i like how it leaves you thinking and more questions arise at least if you're one that looks at pictures as anything more than just something that accompanies words.) The picture we'll use tomorrow is similar in many ways but showcases one of the principle folks in the story (see below). Sometimes I wish we were a society a little more open to the lyrical. I too am at fault often looking at someone's artwork or design and being overly critical and not taking the time to understand what is going on. I was like this with artists like Rothko and Pollock until it hit me somehow what they were getting at. Now I love to look at their works. The Grateful Dead was also like this to me, I didn't get it and dismissed them until one day I heard what it was they were doing and now I am enthralled listening to the depths of sound and meaning in their music. The picture above, though not to be compared with Pollock or Rothko or even the Dead, is more lyrical than in your face informative. It leads to more questions than answers. It leads to more speculation than knowing. At least I hope this is so. Below are a few others from this seemingly simple assignment. Meadville Tribune photographs by Richard Sayer As we try to define who we are we go through many thoughts and stages. As a commercial photographer there is a certain amount bending to fit the needs of a client. "Artists" tend to make the clients come to them for what they will offer and will bend to the artist. For years my photographs were not 'for hire' meaning I wasn't really making them for anyone but myself. Then I began working for a paper and my work had to conform somewhat to the newspaper editors and even more so to the ethical considerations of being a reporter(which I take very seriously!) Now owning a business I was modeling everything I did off of standard practices of portrait studios. As I am growing I am thinking more and more about my roll as an artist in this place. I want to work with my clients, but I also want my clients to want my work, not just my ability with a camera. Presentation may be a small thing, but I am beginning to lean toward a style of presentation that reflects the style of work I wish to do. I want to begin to sign my photographs for people, I feel if I am going to sign my work then it will have to be the best quality work I can make each time. If I'm not willing to sign it I would have to question why I would let it be hung in someone's home. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with this notion. These prints of the lovely Maggie Maggie and her mom and dad are examples of a style that is common in the show and display of photographs in an art setting. Photographs by Richard Sayer
I can't help thinking about the Sound of Music when I look at this image. I had the pleasure of making photographs of Lydia today. I have photographed her many times over the years and also photographed her big brother's senior pictures. Photograph by Richard Sayer
I make a lot of images. In my way of thinking I need to make images everyday. Writing this it sounds like a daunting task, but its just a way of life. When I consciously say I have to make something everyday it seems forced, but when I just wake up each day wanting to make something it seems like this is the way life is supposed to be. At least for me. I make pictures. I make them everyday. I try things… I fail and I succeed.! I make! Photograph by Richard Sayer
I shot some wider than usual sports last night. I liked the feel of feeling like i was in the action. Reminded of stories of early sports shooters who shot from on the field itself. They were allowed to be in play even. I was behind a fence, but was pretty close to home plate. Feels like an old school sports shot for some reason to me. And here was a little further away but still pretty loose celebration picture. Photographs by Richard Sayer
I really don't do much with color photography as a general rule, always preferring b/w or monochrome. But when the story of a picture is dependent upon the color then its important to find ways of making it work. Its an extra consideration on top of all the other things we think about while composing photographs. Photograph by Richard Sayer
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