Photo Spotlight Ideas

Photo Spotlight Ideas

I just wanted to give out some ideas on how to capture a fun moment. 

• Keep your camera on you at all times
• Keep your camera on you at all times

• Keep your camera near your body for basically every second of the day.  

This is a great tip from my advisor Chris Rolinson. The man is right though, you never know when a prime photo opportunity might come up. 

Take this photograph above. My roommates and I were having a poker night, just a regular night that we usually have once a month. I never thought to take a photograph of it or let alone the table. But for some reason I had my camera and took this photograph. This photograph may mean nothing to you, but to me this explains the entire night. It tells the story of our poker night in a nut shell. I love this photograph and have it framed in my room. It is priceless cause I can have another poker night, but nothing will compare to that night.  

 Here is another example. I ended up going home one weekend and decided to take a photograph of my bedroom door for whatever reason. I didn't think to much of it and didn't for a while after. A couple of months later my mom decided to sell the house, it all happened so quick and I didn't have time to come home and pack my things. So my mom had to take care of packing up my bedroom. This was a project that I started when I was twelve, I would add little things all the time and it had many layers to it. It is something that I thought defined me and was a great way to enter my room. After the move though a lot of these things got lost, so now I at least have a photograph of it. I loved that door!

So tip is to always have your photograph. You never know what you will see that day. It is always a good idea to capture the moment as you see it and want to remember it. Feel free to post any tips or ideas you have!

Spotlight Photographer

Lynn Johnson

Lynn Johnson worked at the Pittsburgh Press for seven years and has moved on to an amazing photographer and has even had work published in National Geographic.  Below is her Bio from her website.

Photojournalist Lynn Johnson is known for her intense, sensitive work.
Dividing her time between assignments for National Geographic and various foundations, Johnson has traveled from Siberia to Zambia and photographed celebrities including Tiger Woods, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mister Rogers and the entire Supreme Court. With her Leicas, she has climbed the radio antenna atop Chicago's Hancock Tower and dangled from helicopters in Antarctica. Yet her favorite assignments have been emotionally demanding stories about ordinary people; a family struggling with AIDS (Life), the death of an African-American coach in Amish country (Sports Illustrated), native Hawaiians who protect traditional ways (NG), the impact of zoonotic diseases around the world (NG).
Her vision is subtle. She invites the viewer to find the meaning in the frame. Her shooting style is equally low key allowing her subjects to reveal themselves to the camera. The photographs she strives for are compassionate. After 30 years of practicing photography, she sees her personal work moving from that of an observer to advocate.


She has done amazing work all over the world and I admire her for making her start here in pittsburgh. She has really proven herself and made a name for all her talents. 

Check out her website http://www.lynnjohnsonphoto.com
Especially her piece on Hawaii and Natural Medicine.  

Photography Bloggers

Here are my pick for the top Photography Bloggers out there.

I did a little research and have been following a couple of these for a while and came up with these contenders.

http://www.adidap.com/
All Day I Dream About Photography!
This site is pretty sweet, it may be a little overwhelming when you first get on but once explored it is full of amazing tips and photographs. This site also does a fun thing called "Flickr Round" its where it posts about 40 or more photographs and viewers can vote on there favorites.
This site also does some great tutorials on topics that are sometimes hard to understand.



http://www.photoinduced.com/
Photo Induced 
This website is awesome about promoting new photography gadgets. They also do a great weekly giveaway that is always something worth checking out.  I personally really enjoy the book reviews they do.

http://dslrblog.com/
Digital Photography 
This site is everything digital. It offers a broad range of how-to articles to photo reviews.This site hasn't been used lately but when looking back in the archives it is full of some really spectacular things. I highly recommend going in and exploring the back log of this site if for nothing else. 


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
 Boston. The Big Picture
I honestly spend half my day looking at all the images on this site. This site doesn't offer to much other then amazing photographs. It posts almost daily and usually has theme for the day. Each post has at least 30 or more photographs. I usually get lost in all the images. It is a great site for inspiration.





http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/
PDN Photo of the Day. 

This site speaks for itself. It usually picks a photograph for the day and does a short post on it. This is just fun to see what image made the pick of the day.



These five sites are on the top of my list to check out. Let me know what you think or post some of your favorite sites.

History of Photography

This is an awesome quiz I made about the history of photograph. Let me know what you think!

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/e0VGhIT/History-of-Photography

Photography Books

Must have Photography Books.



http://www.jasonbellphoto.com/#/home/
 Jason Bell
This photographer is really awesome because if you explore  he's landscape portfolio you will find some of the most amazing photographs. Jason uses natural light to help make each photograph as dramatic as possible. I enjoy pictures like that and his use of color for each photograph really blew me away. Each photograph I looked at made me want to go to that place. He really draws a viewer in and uses his ability to capture a great landscape to his advantage. I also really enjoy his books. I think he presents a great topic that is interesting. Check out An Englishman in New York, I highly recommend it.


http://www.levonbiss.com/
Levon Biss

 Levon Biss is mainly a sports photographer, but the images he produces can tell an amazing story. He has a book called One Love soccer for life. Being a huge soccer fan I love this book. The images inside depict how people around the world see soccer. It is really amazing how he captured that exact feeling that every soccer player feels when playing or seeing the sport. I truly admire his work and edginess in the industry. 


http://www.timflach.com/

Tim Flach 

 Tim Flach is awesome at catching motion. Amazing photographs of dogs! Flach is amazing at what he does. I don't really know what else to say about this guy except that he amazing at what he does. He captures an attitude about a dog that only true dog lovers can see. He shows the real personality behind all that fur and shows the true dog. 












These three books are must reads! I highly recommend them all to you for Christmas! 

Weekend Events!!

December 3-5 weekend events!

This weekend is going to be a fun filled weekend. Since the holidays are here and in full swing, holiday themed events are going on. 

•  Christmas Brasstacular :River City Brass Band's eastern suburban location is Gateway High School auditorium in Monroeville.
•  Holiday Unwrapped: 

  December 3 and 4, 2010
  Friday 12/3 - 6:00pm
  Saturday 12/4 - 10:30am and 1:30pm
  2425 Liberty Avenue (Pittsburgh Opera building)
  Strip District
  Tickets: $10 adults/$5 children
  Available online through ProArtsTickets or by calling 412-394-3353

• Downtown Irwin's Cookie Tour 
• Poinsettias & Pointe Shoes 
• Light Up Lawrenceville

• Breakfast With Santa

So get out there and explore what Pittsburgh has to offer this weekend. Also feel free to post or comment on any of the events. I will post and recap my weekend. 

Timeline of Photography

on Dipity.