Photography Group Questionnaire

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard S Hockett, MBA on March 16, 2009 at 8:42pm

Hi Hanna,

Great questionnaire. Here are my answers:

1) My genres include Sports (I shoot Nascar style race teams and races as well as for a Speed Skating Club); landscape and seascape; events (more focused on "corporate" and non-profit community events than the weddings I used to shoot many moons ago; and some portrait work (in days past, this was my mainstay).

2) My primary body is a Fuji S5 Pro and I'm in the process of waiting for the S6 to hit the market. I use a Nikon D700 on occasion for the sports action. Other than my 10-17mm lens which is a Tokina, all glass is Nikon glass.

3) This depends. I do professional printing up to 13X19 full bleed at home using a HP8850 professional printer. For prints larger than 12X19, I send them to a professional lab (usually Samys' Camera in Santa Barbara, CA because I teach at Brooks Institute and the campus is only 4 blocks from the lab). I have one print which is being printed on glass. This is being done by a commercial printer who specializes in exotic media.

My images, at least for the moment, are ending up in coffee table books. Other images are being prepared for a late year (Q4) gallery showing, and some are posted on-line for fun. The majority of my work is currently being done on assignment and this limits how and what I can display prior to client release.

4) Yes, where possible. Most of you are in AZ or NM and I'm in Southern California.

5) Yes. Again, where possible and plausible.

6) Still looking for this one.

Take care,

Rich Hockett, MBA
SunRidge Photo

Permalink Reply by Kris Shepard on March 17, 2009 at 4:04am

I really don’t have a main photographic “genre” that I stick to. I would like to shoot more sporting events, but I am usually working them in a different capacity. I predominately strive to document items that entertain me, and things that seem to have been cast aside and forgotten. A perfect example of that would be an old tin can stuck over a fence post.

I sold my Pentax K-1000 several years ago and now use a Nikon D70. I honestly thought my days working with film were history until recently when my father gave me his two old Rolleiflex cameras that he used for years and years. It is only a matter of time before I bust them out and see what I can do with them.

Strangely, I never thought about it until now, I only have one of my photographs printed and displayed on my wall. It was printed professionally. Many of my photos wind up as wallpaper on my friends’ computers, posted on one of my blogs, or used in artwork such as greeting cards, calendars and etc. Roughly 98 percent of my photos do little else beyond take up space on my hard drive.

I’m not much of a “joiner,” but I believe I would be interested in participating in some sort of photo assignments. Chipping in on a model sounds interesting because I’ve never done anything like that. I doubt I would participate in a group hike simply because I find that nature inspires me more when I can enjoy it without all the humanity.

I decided to take the photo off my wall and scan it as it represents one of my favorites. Why? I dunno, but I can tell you that I took it in the middle of the only roll of infrared film that I ever played with, and I did so at a time in my that I seriously couldn’t afford the film or processing, let alone the print. I’ve found that the image has a sort of calming influence on me, so I guess that is the reason that I have it hanging on the wall of my office.

Permalink Reply by Hannah on March 17, 2009 at 12:24pm

Glad to know more about you guys!!
1.) My style is documentary, but my jobs cover many genre's including Portraits, Wedding Photography, Events (memorial services, birthdays etc) and Protests are my favorite.

2.) I use my trusty Canon D20 with Canon glass, sometimes my pocket Canon s70, and I do own a Canon Rebel 35mm but it's probably at the bottom of a box somewhere... haven't used it in over a year..

3.) This is an important topic.. I have owned (and do own) professional quality printers... with really expensive ink cartridges.. do I use them.. No. I have to admit it is a shame we don't make prints anymore! But our main medium for displaying digital photos is online. Or I hand my clients a photo slideshow on DVD or CD for them to print at their leisure.. (which is not always the best approach..) A hundred years from now.. where will our pictures be? If the hard drives of the world no longer function.. what then? more to come..

4.) Yes I shall

5.) I would love to get together and exchange ideas/work.... maybe even cultivate a photo show to display our work together (!!)

This photo was taken bout 3 years ago.. but it's always been one of my favorites.
It's a solar eclipse taken from an island in Puerto Rico

Permalink Reply by Richard S Hockett, MBA on March 17, 2009 at 3:44pm

OK, there are three of us who really love what we do!! Kidding!! It's interesting to note Hanna and Kris both stated documentary styles while I stayed more with genres.

I too use a journalistic/documentary approach when photographing events, and most of my portrait work is moving back to boudoir style portraiture. This makes sense for me as I was trained by John Demme and Steve Palin who brought this style to the mainstream in the late '70s and early 80's. John was/is a family friend I have lost track of, yet his training and work remains a significant inspiration.

In landscape and sports... it's all about storytelling and impact of the story told through the image. What makes landscape/seascapes fun for me is this is something I wanted to do since I was a kid taking scenic photos as we traveled cross country from Iowa to Montana/Wyoming/California, etc. on vacation. When photography became a career, I persuaded myself I didn't have the vision for landscape and focused on people. Today, I love playing with the light and using new techniques to "develop" landscape/seascape images which - hopefully - make the viewer say, "WOW!"

Hanna, let's definitely talk about putting a show together. It could be a traveling show as well. I do have some access to galleries through Brooks Institute and this might give us some additional exposure. Woodson Parker, another Root 66 member and Brooks alumni might be interested in this as well. He is primarily film based, yet....

Your thoughts, folks?

Permalink Reply by Richard S Hockett, MBA on March 17, 2009 at 3:46pm

Should have posted the image when I made the original post. Here is one of my favorites and one which consistently gets, "This is amazing," "WOW," or "I wish I could something like this" comments. Thanks for the opportunity, Hanna to post these.

Rich

Permalink Reply by Richard S Hockett, MBA on March 17, 2009 at 3:47pm