Day 75 – Go Wolf Pack!

Taken outside Mackay Stadium at the University of Nevada, Reno. It was just beginning to drizzle as I left class, but I managed to get a few good shots in.

I processed this one in black and white. Shot with ambient light only.

And this one in color. It’s almost hard to tell the difference with the gloomy sky! Ambient light with a bit of fill flash.

Gentleman in a Fedora

I may have mentioned before that my lighting instructor is an award-winning photographer. His bread and butter is commercial photography, but his photography goes far beyond. On the first day of class he showed us some of his work, and later we learned more of the back story to many of his shots through this program, The Work of Art, produced by KNPB. I highly recommend watching it and it will give you a great idea of who Jeff Ross is as an artist and a human being.

I had a routine visit with my cardiologist today. Actually, it wasn’t that routine as my regular EP, Dr. Dhir, has left the practice and I was seeing a “new” doctor today: Dr. Letitia Anderson. The last time I’d seen Dr. Anderson was in November 2009 when I was in the emergency room at Renown prior to being admitted for four days of observation. I liked her then, and today’s visit confirmed that I made the right choice in requesting her after Dr. Dhir’s departure.

Yes…there is a connection here. Patience!

Dr. Anderson wanted me to get my pacemaker read and as I was heading into the waiting area I saw an elderly black man checking in with the receptionist. I immediately recognized him as the gentleman in this photo. A super-sized version of this photo hangs in Jeff’s studio in Reno and it moves me very much.

And there he was, looking just as he did in the photograph. Same hat, same expression, same demeanor.

At first I wasn’t going to say anything to Mr. Marks, but I felt drawn to him. I wanted him to know I knew who he was, and so I walked up to him and said, “I know you from your photograph.” We chatted briefly; I told him how much I loved Jeff’s photograph of him. He remembered Jeff and the photo. I touched the sleeve of his trench coat with my left hand, and he reached for my right hand to hold it. I told him that I would tell Jeff tonight that I’d seen him. We said good-bye.

And then he smiled at me and kissed my hand.

Cross-posted at Blue Lyon

Day 66 – Outside the College of Education, UNR

The buildings on the University of Nevada, Reno campus are beautifully lit at night and this back-lit bronze sculpture outside the William J. Raggio Building caught my eye this evening as I was leaving class.

Day 47 – Lighting class “quick fire” challenge

Our instructor was out tonight, but our lab assistant was there and between him and Jeff, they had an assignment for us for the night. The exercise we were given was adapted from Photo Workout: Flex Your Photographic Skills at Digital Photography Magazine online.

Light is critical to photography. Without light, you can’t take pictures! One of the keys to becoming a better photographer is to “see: the light and understand what it is doing within an image. The camera only sees the light and emphasized that light, even it it’s not flattering or beneficial for the subject. It is the job of the photographer to understand and properly utilize light for the desired effect.

ASSIGNMENT: Create an image using light as a creative or technical component to your composition. Illustrate how your light effectively interact with or within the composition (Does it affect the subject? Is it the subject? Does it provide movement? Does it increase or decrease the contrast Does it enhance the composition, if so, how?) You may use: natural, artificial, continuous, flash or any combination of them all. Your image must be shot in class time. Print one copy of your image, black and white or color. HAVE FUN!

Tips: Using the techniques that you have learned so far, find, create and/or use light in an interesting manner! Pay attention to both the quality and quantity of the light, and the effect it is having or producing. Look for spots of light, colored light, edge light, light contrasting with shadow or shadows themselves (as shadows are as much a part of light as the light itself). Look at the light, and what it is doing in your photograph. See how the light might be interesting in and of itself. Look at how light and shadows are interacting throughout the image.

So…

We were given an hour to go out and shoot, and then we were to come back to the lab to process and print one photo. We grabbed our cameras and out we headed out. I shot a lot of photos, and some of them su-u-u-cked, but I managed to shoot a few of interesting shots.

A light on the wall in Knowledge Center:

Palms near the windows in the Knowledge Center with sun shining through their leaves.

Outside the Starbucks located in “The Joe” (Joe Crowley Student Union) I saw a table stacked on another. The shadow the leg cast on the brick wall captured my attention for a bit.