the weddings are gone!

I have removed all of the weddings from my website and I am not looking back.   I am looking forward to having my new site up.  (which should happen by the end of the weekend)  I have a couple of galleries up now and will be adding some more galleries while as I finish them

New website

After a lot of soul-searching and exchanges of emails of a photography friend, I have decided to rework my website and focus on my stronger images.  When I finished photography school, I had a portfolio review by Jim Fitts and he told me my strongest images are of fine art work.  I was a little resistant to make this my only focus but after looking back at what I have been doing on my free time and the work that I have produced from it, i cannot argue any longer.

       I am also going to be focusing on my wide-angle portraits.  I am still amazed by the work of Platon.  My final project at school was a series of them that were just amazing. 

      This weekend I will be cleaning and backing up hard drives and selecting images for my new website.  I was going to wait until my ad on the knot but why bother.

     I will be still willing to do weddings providing I can use my style for the bride's wedding.

     I will leave you with my favorite image from my recent trip to Atlanta.

One Year with Foliolink!

I just renewed my contract with Foliolink!  They are an awesome website builder for short money!

   In the past year, I have had

   1,300 visitors

    28 different countries

     In the USA, I have had visitors from 38 different states.

    If you are looking for a designer for your web page and do not have a lot of money, check them out!

   (I will also post when I hit my one year with wordpress as well!)

    If you have not seen my website, www.john-roy.com

Wedding workshop

I finallygot around to posting my images from the workshop that CDIA had for their students who graduated.  I cannot believe how much i learned.  It is always nice to see a different perspective on things and to avoid falling into a rut.  Here are my



 



 

 

 

 





 



 



 

 

I know that it was a lot of images and I am sorry to those people with dial ups.

Joel Sartore

Every time his show is on PBS, I have to watch Joel.  He is a fantastic photographer.  I am in such amazement of his work.  If you ever want to learn about light, see the light, or understand the light, watch his show.  Joel shows you fantastic examples of that in his work using light effectively.  On the show, he went to Mt Vernon.    The orange glow of the sunrise highlighted the house in ways that few people understand.  (let alone appreciate) 

Check out this image from a rodeo that Joel did.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/b/burwell-big-rodeo-507845-lw.jpg

Gregory Crewdson’s work

I have been checking my blog stats and I cannot believe the number of hits that I have been getting b/c of my Gregory Crewdson’s  post.  (Sometimes over 100 hits per day)  That is just amazing.  That magic of the web. 

   I found another blog on wordpress referring to Crewdson's work. 

http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/gregory-crewdson-beneath-the-roses/

He is much more articluate then I am.

Awesome Photo Blog

I was reading a magazine about Buddhism, trying to find the inner peace in myself before I strangle it, and they featured photographer from NYC who has an unbelievable photo blog.  His name is Travis Ruse and the website address is http://www.travisruse.com.  He goes into the NYC subway and takes candid shots of people on the train.  He does not ask for permission because they are in public and they do not have any expectation of privicy.  (http://blog.photoblogs.org/2006/02/19/selling-pictures-of-strangers/)  I am the firm believer in not asking.  As soon as you ask someone to pose, their face changes completely.  Look at this image, http://www.travisruse.com/archives/2007/03/f_train_4th_ave_13.php, look at how relaxed their faces are.  That is what happens when you get candid shots.  It also catches people when they are vulnerable, which some people argue about.  I would have to disagree.  You are capturing "realism"  You are capturing life in a real way.  Need time you are in the subway, look around and see around you. 

here is the rule in mass taking pictures on the subway.

http://bostonist.com/2007/07/26/mbta_photo_poli.php

"One of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed." Diane Arbus

Store front open! (well almost)

I am happy to report that I am opening up a store front on Cafe Express as well as Blurb.  At this time I do not have anything there but I hope to have something by the end of the weekend.  (I have a wedding to shadow shoot on Saturday night and that has all of my attention right now.)  But here are the stores.

http://www.cafepress.com/john_roy_photo

http://www.blurb.com/user/johnroyphoto

Who the heck knows where it is going to take me.

Gallery Show

I was at CDIA tonight for a gallery show and it was totally awesome.  This time the instructors where doing the show.  I had a TA asked me which photo I would like to take home if I could and it was this one:http://www.randallarmor.com/p2.html. 

It was a great time to do some networking with some of my old instructors.  Tim Lynch gave me a vote of support.

Ansel Adams

  

Most people complain that today's photographers "cheat" by using photoshop.  I would have to disagree.  With photoshop you can adjust contrast, levels, burn and dodge without wasting chemical, paper and time.  People have always played with their work.  Ansel Adams moonrise hernandez new mexico was one of his most corrected image.  It took him untold amount of time to "correct" that image. 

Another image that I saw of Admas was on a valley in the Rockies.  (Sorry I do not remeber the name of the print but I saw it at the MFA in 2006)  He was UNHAPPY that the beautiful valley had a parking lot so he took it out.  If you did that in photoshop today people would get all upset. 

Outdoor Photographer stated some of the same things in this article

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/content/2007/mar/bw_digital_age.shtml

I found another page that backs up the Ansel Adams connection

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_2_29/ai_83243284