Pro Techniques

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Personal Project: Tom Millea: The Book Of Palms: A Self-Publishing Saga
Lou Jacobs Jr.  |  Jan 24, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2011  | 

After almost 40 years of making platinum prints, chemical fumes had harmed Tom Millea’s lungs to a point where he could no longer go into the darkroom. He says, “Closing my studio was traumatic in the extreme.” He didn’t believe that anyone else was capable of printing his work as he envisioned it. He liked computers but had no desire to try to make digital prints look like his platinum prints. “One technique could not replace the other,” he says. He selected prints from his inventory to sell in gallery shows and considered himself retired.

 

But by 2004, when the color palette of digital inks had changed, Millea thought his prints were beautiful, and comparable with his darkroom images. He began making digital color photographs full-time using an Epson 2200 printer. Over the next five years, he says, “By myself, step by step, I learned to use the computer to make images I felt were uniquely my own.” He eventually put together a complete digital studio with Apple computers and two Epson printers, the 4800 and the 9800. He could then make his own prints up to 40x60”.

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Photographer ProfilesPro Techniques
Pro's Choice: The Photography Of Jeffrey Totaro: Architecture On The Technical Side
Jack Neubart  |  Jan 30, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2011  | 

Jeffrey Totaro (www.jeffreytotaro.com) didn’t plan on becoming an architectural photographer. After graduating Drexel University in 1991, he became an architectural engineer. In his job, he found himself working alongside architectural photographers and was soon assisting them, until finally he found the allure too great and switched careers. Now he runs his own studio near Philadelphia.

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Photographer ProfilesPro Techniques
Profile: Lifestyle, Sports…And Social Media: An Interview With Chase Jarvis
Chris Maher and Larry Berman  |  Jan 31, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2011  | 

Chase Jarvis is one of a new breed of successful young photographers who’s at the top of his game. His use of social networking has brought him an enormous following while his exploration of radical business models is opening new markets. Best known for his lifestyle and sports images, the creative and financial success of his personal projects has earned him top corporate clients like Nikon, Reebok, and Microsoft.

 

Shutterbug: You have no formal training as a photographer, yet arguably you’re one of the top photographers working today. How’d you get there?

Chase Jarvis: I wish I could answer that in a sentence. I think maybe the shortest description is by being incredibly curious and very hardworking. And throw a whole bunch of luck in there, too. There’s a lot of timing and luck involved in anything I do.

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Pro Techniques
On The Road: Act Naturally: The Elephant In The Room
Maynard Switzer  |  Dec 23, 2011  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2011  | 
The last thing I ever want to do is pose someone. On my travels I want pictures of people acting naturally, doing what they normally do, and if they acknowledge the camera at all, or pause for a portrait, I want them to do it in the most natural way. The people I photograph are always aware of me, but I never want them to play to the camera—which can be tricky because the very presence of the camera changes the situation.
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Pro Techniques
The Last Windup: Steve McCurry Takes The Last Roll Of Kodachrome
Suzanne Driscoll  |  Nov 15, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  | 
“Say it isn’t so!” exclaimed photographers all over the world when they heard the news about the end of Kodachrome film. Due to dwindling sales, Kodak made the difficult announcement they would no longer manufacture Kodachrome on June 22, 2009. The one remaining developer in the world, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, ceased processing the film early this year.
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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: On The “Cutting” Edge: Ann Elliott Cutting’s Conceptual Portraits
Jack Neubart  |  Nov 17, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  | 
Many commercial lifestyle/portrait shooters turn first and foremost to studio strobe to light their subjects. Not Ann Elliott Cutting. Her studio features a south-facing window that she utilizes to the max. I know, it’s not the proverbial north-facing skylight that we’ve been taught to strive for, but it does the job—and quite nicely. More than that, her penchant for employing window light doesn’t mean she shuns brawny power pack systems. She owns and uses those as well, but they’re not always the go-to gear even on commercial assignments and often play a subordinate role.
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Pro Techniques
Build A 3D Photo Viewer: Print Viewer For Paired Images
Clark Salisbury  |  Nov 21, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  | 
Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated with 3D viewing of photographs. In grade school, in the 1960s, the school library had a simple viewer with pairs of black-and-white stereo images. I loved to look at those over and over again.
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Pro TechniquesPersonal Projects
Personal Project: Architectural Layers: Lighting For Post-Processing
Mike Butler  |  Oct 12, 2011  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2011  | 
Shooting architecture has always been a complex matter and while the challenges remain the digital medium has helped overcome many hurdles. Challenges such as color balance, lighting consistency, and the need to hide every single light and cord have been lessened. In this article I will describe one challenge that exemplifies how I now use digital to make images that would have been logistical nightmares in the past.
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Pro Techniques
On The Road: Custom Jobs: Getting Better All The Time
Maynard Switzer  |  Oct 19, 2011  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2011  | 
You’d think that with the variety of gear available today, I’d be able to find exactly what I want. Well, for the major stuff, like cameras and lenses, I pretty much can, but when it comes to several key accessories, call me The Modifier.
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Pro Techniques
New York Nights: Steven Rosen’s Images Of Clubgoers Evoke A Time Gone By
Steven Rosen  |  Oct 31, 2011  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2011  | 
It was 9pm on a Saturday night in April of 2008, and I had spent the day, as I spend so many days, at my computer, editing and retouching. My husband was out of town and I was feeling antsy and bored when an e-mail arrived with a list of goings-on in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Sandwiched between a Jewish Singles social and our community theater’s latest production was a listing for a “Dances of Vice” costume party at the Montauk Club. I sat up straight. The Montauk Club is modeled after a Venetian palazzo and I’d long admired the exterior. This was my chance to finally see what was inside.
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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: The Photography Of Jonathan Robert Willis: Simply Elegant Portraiture
Jack Neubart  |  Sep 20, 2011  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2011  | 
Jonathan Robert Willis knew where he was going at a young age. “In school, imagery always spoke to me louder than words and numbers. My interest in black-and-white photography was sparked during my high school years by music-industry portrait photographer Michael Wilson, a family friend. His work really resonated with me and I just fell in love with the idea of making pictures for a living and shooting the music that I listen to.” In fact, Willis switched to a public school “because that school had a decent darkroom that nobody was using. I knew I wanted to make photographs.” It was there that he taught himself black-and-white processing and printing. And in college, “I pretty much lived in the darkroom.” Fast forward and we now find Willis comfortably settled in his Cincinnati, Ohio-based studio, although we may find him shooting on location just as much, if not more. Willis’s creative team consists of first assistant Scott Meyer and digital retoucher Patrick White, with Laura McMurray serving as production assistant/studio manager.
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Pro Techniques
An Interview With Graham Nash: Photographs From The Recent Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock ’n’ Roll Photographs At The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
Suzanne Driscoll  |  Sep 26, 2011  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2011  | 
Is it possible to communicate through photography the energy as well as the quiet moments of rock ’n’ roll? These photos, selected by Graham Nash for the recent Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock ’n’ Roll Photographs exhibit at the George Eastman House, answer with a resounding “yes!” Nash, of The Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash fame, started taking pictures long before he became famous as a musician, and few may be aware of his talents as a curator, collector, and photographer.
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Pro Techniques
On The Road: Drive, I Said: Backup Drive, That Is
Maynard Switzer  |  Aug 23, 2011  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2011  | 
I got a brand-new piece of gear shortly before I left in late February for a three-week trip to Vietnam. Not a camera, lens, or flash; it was more important than those. You see, I’m always looking for easier, lighter, faster, and more secure backup for my photos when I travel, and I’d heard for almost a year that this one, this new backup hard drive, was coming, and as luck or perfect timing would have it, it arrived two days before I left. (Because I’m always looking for something better, the camera store in New York City that I deal with, Foto Care, is on the lookout for anything that might interest me; they know I travel, and they’re always telling me about the latest and greatest that’s coming along.)
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Pro Techniques
Time And Again: Michael S. Miller’s Magical Moments
Barry Tanenbaum  |  Sep 01, 2011  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2011  | 
Outdoor and nature images are Michael’s specialty, and he’s been photographing for over 20 years in two of the world’s best locations for great outdoor imagery: Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. In fact, his images appear on posters sold by the National Park Service in their visitors centers. He also runs Visions Photographic Workshops, which regularly journeys to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.
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Pro Techniques
Pro's Choice: Jeff Kauck Captures The Essence Of Food: The Assignment Dictates The Lighting; The Location Dictates The Camera
Jack Neubart  |  Jul 18, 2011  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2011  | 
Chicago-based food photographer Jeff Kauck (www.jeffkauckphotography.com) developed his artistic eye through years of training as a watercolorist. While attending Central Academy of Commercial Art, in Cincinnati, where he also studied advertising, “I picked up my father’s camera—a twin-lens Rolleiflex—and really enjoyed playing with it. And to help support myself through art school, I did a lot of color printing for a wedding photographer.” But he soon realized that his time and talent were better spent on photography than painting. And Cincinnati proved to be the perfect location for a start-up food studio, since it was the home of Procter & Gamble, which became his first client, and a major one at that. But a larger market—Chicago—beckoned to him after 18 years, so he made the move and hasn’t looked back.
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