John O. Roy

Saturday, May 26, 2012

MOVING MY BLOG

I am not longer using Blogger and I have moved my blog and my website to www.john-roy.com

I am surprised this is still active. I haven't used in almost 7 years.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Follow up on my recent Portfolio Review

Here is a blog post from Heather Frederick from VoxPhotographs Gallery. Heather was one of my reviewers at my portfolio review.

Thanks for visiting and happy shooting

John-Roy Photography

Sunday, May 13, 2012

I went to the Boston University Photonics Center for a portfolio review on Saturday. It was sponsored by Griffin Museum of Photography and the Photographic Resource Center I am looking for some honest feedback on my work. I had 4 different professionals review my "Working on the Railroad" series. (Plus a couple of the "Ghosts of the Railroad" series. )

My first reviewer was someone who reviewed my work a year ago. (Heather Fredrick from VOX Photographs) She, just like last year gave me some real honest feedback. She was impressed with how much I have grown over the last year. She made some suggestions and helped me group my images. She wanted me to send her one of my photographs so she could have it on her desktop. (The image of the Railroad Spike)

I also had a photographer from ASMP New England Peter Vanderwarker. He had some suggestions on were I might be able to have my work displayed in New England. He made some suggestions of things that I may want to add to the series. (Railroad bridges etc)

I had another reviewer from NESOP. Now I have heard horror stories from a lot professional photographers about having a 20 something years old art director as a boss. Now I see what they are talking about. She did not she my Vision. She HATED the image that Heather loved so much. It was nice to get different opinion but to be that far off base was another thing.

I had only signed up for 3 reviews. But when I found out that Jim Fitts, an art director that I had from CDIA, had some spots open, I took advantage of the opportunity to have him review my work again . Jim told me 4 years ago that I had an eye for fine art/story telling. I was quite upset at the time. I thought that weddings were the way to go. MAN was I ever wrong. Even after all this time Jim still remembered a fine art photo that I had taken and used for my final show for graduation. (Dry Cycles) Jim made suggestions as well as far as networking etc.

Over all this was a positive experience for me.

Thanks for visiting and happy shooting

John-Roy Photography

Sunday, April 29, 2012

My Project 366

I am sad to report that I have abandoned my project 366. I took an image every day but with the strains of my life, there was no way I was going to able to get caught up with the key wording, the conversion to B&W, the titling and everything else necessary for it. (My last post was at the end of February)

I am going to take this time instead to work on my portfolio and focus on getting my work out there. (A much better use of my recourses.)

D700, ISO 200, 45mm, f/1.4, 1/60

Thanks for visiting and happy shooting

John-Roy Photography

Saturday, April 21, 2012

I have updated my artist profile

Every now and then I update my artist profile. It give me a new focus on my work. Here is is.

Photography is the greatest form of self expression. It communicates with my soul; a kind of a “catharsis scream”. This offers me a mental release from my professional career. After using my right brain all day, it is nice to use my left brain to create something meaningful. This brings a yin and yang to my life.

When I pick up my camera after work, I prefer to shoot inanimate objects. Using light, shadows and selective focus, I am attempting to give the objects a life force; allowing them to tell a story. Because of this, I sometimes tend to become lost in my perception of light and shadows. It allows me to constantly visualize different angles and perspectives of spaces and even people around me.

When I photograph people, I am drawn to capturing them in communal areas. I usually try and catch people off guard to create a pensive state of being which is a window into their souls. You would be surprised how much people tend to let their guard down and become relaxed when they think no one is watching. (Ever notice how differently children behave when they know they are being watched?)

I’ve come to this place of artistic expression after experimenting with several other approaches to photography. I finally listened to an art director and a close friend of mine and I redirected my work to reflect my own true artistic expression.

I think that this is a true reflection on who I really am. Another thing that I like about it, while I am continuing to pursue my photography, it would not reflect badly on myself if I make any career changes. (Not that I am planning on anything)

Thanks for visiting and happy shooting

John-Roy Photography