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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one of my favorite frames from my recent senior portrait shoot was an afterthought. We had finished the shoot basically and just decided to take a couple in the alley outside the studio. You know those typical up against a brick wall shots. I just had this quick thought as i was thinking how i didn't want to do the typical up against a brick wall shot after all and we just did it. Its similar to shots I've done with tree limbs. Not sure if its truly Greg's personality, but its got a little edge to it that made it stand out from the other to me. Photograph by Richard Sayer
I took this photo with my iPhone and hipstamatic of a printout of a photo I took many years ago of this funny face I received at a softball game. Still makes me chuckle a little bit.
When I was starting a business with my friend Harmony Motter we were trying to put together images that challenge the norm of what was being done. This image became one of our first brands. We were experimenting with what people might be interested in. We didn't get much interest in having their face manipulated like this, but it did get some folks attention at least. Since then we have really taken our style of photography and grown, but its fun to look back and also to maybe re-consider some of the old ideas in what we're thinking going forward. Photograph by Richard Sayer
Working everyday requires one to do one of two things, be motivated to perform a task for a paycheck or to be motivated by work regardless of a paycheck. We all have to have both in our lives in order to stay out of jail and to pay our bills… eat! I was asked by an old friend the other day if a day goes by where I don't make pictures. Some, but very few and usually its an illness. But making something everyday isn't easy, at least something where you feel you're growing. I am motivated by documenting my surrounds, but I also have a part of me that is motivated by developing visual ideas in hopes to convey something a little more universal and touching upon our humanness and all the things that we need to work on.I don't always know what I am going to try to say, but I pursue this work with purpose that there is 'something' to say and needs to be said. Some things I make are total failures… actually most things, but there are a few here and there that I keep finding grab me and I try to work on those more. Photograph by Richard Sayer
I love to see light and figure out how to make something with it--or within it. I am fascinated by shafts of light and when I have a willing subject I'll put them in the shaft and try to make a portrait. In our studio we have a great afternoon window in our bathroom/changing room. If we crack the door when its bright and sunny out we get a great shaft of light behind the door. Thats how I made this picture about 5 years ago. Photograph by Richard Sayer
I go back and forth on designing complete packages around a photo and just keeping a photograph clean and simple. I may never resolve this in my mind because I like to try things all the time, but i guess in experimentation comes new ways of doing things--so onward. Photograph by Richard Sayer
Posing and how to pose difficult. I like my work to look as natural as it can, so asking someone to pose the picture no longer looks like a portrait, but a picture someone isn't perfectly comfortable or themselves. So when I can find something that doesn't look overly posed I tend to like it more. Seems to be more reflective of the person. Photograph by Richard Sayer
When I was first trying to find my way with drawing and painting I had developed this idea of the over turned chair with a hanging light bulb either swinging or still. This was a lonely idea, one that lead to more questions than answers. the tipped over chair indicates something happened to know it over--but what. I've had many thoughts as to what it can mean and when the light bulb is swinging it means something very recently happened. I recently began thinking of this image again and perhaps will work on it further. The nice thing is the chair i used in my drawings was a memory of a chair in my grandparents house, which is the chair in this picture because I now have two f them. Photograph by Richard Sayer
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