Photographer #13: Pete Souza

Who better of a subject than the President of the United States? To be the President's Chief Official White House Photographer is a very exclusive gig, and it documents your work for the rest of U.S. history. For Pete Souza, this is his reality. He has also worked for Ronald Reagan while in office, and is an assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University. He has also done freelance work for National Geographic and Life magazine.

Photographer #12: Benjamin Von Wong

For this post I again chose a specific series of photos, this time from artist Benjamin Von Wong. For this project, he attempted to take portrait photos while also chasing storms. Needless to say, it got a little chaotic. Props and actors had to be set up, lighting conditions had to be changed with every shot, and all of this would happen while storms would be moving at speeds of up to 30mph. My favorite part of all of this? He did it as a statement about climate change.
 

Photographer #11: Nathaniel Chadwick

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned the photographer from SNL, so I thought it fitting to revisit NBC and take a look at the work of the Tonight Show photographer, Nathaniel Chadwick. For some background on his life,
“I’m a self-taught photographer, I grew up in Texas and photography was just a hobby for me for a long time. I used to work in aviation when I was in college then started offering my services as a photographer for money when I got laid off from my aviation job and needed money to pay for school. After I graduated college I decided that instead of getting a 9-to-5 job right away I wanted to try to pursue photography as a career, so I moved to Los Angeles to try to become an entertainment/celebrity portrait photographer. I lived in LA for three years working my way up from an internship to assisting big-time photographers to shooting for myself and working with a lot of the movie and TV studios in Los Angeles. I met a lot of great people along the way and a few that gave me some big breaks and opportunities. I moved from LA to New York last year and continued shooting, most recently a national campaign for the Weather Channel. When the position opened for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon one of my mentors back in Los Angeles, Patrick Ecclesine who is an amazing photographer, taught me a lot and got me to where I am today recommended me for the job, and here I am today.”

Photographer #10: Taka Yanagimoto

I went with a different approach for this post, choosing to dedicate it to the St. Louis Cardinals. So, I present Taka Yanagimoto, the head of photography for the Cardinals organization. He is in charge of everything related to photography, ranging from on field shots to special events, as well as coordinating the various contracted photographers for games and other on-goings at the stadium. Let's go cards!

Photographer #9: Annie Leibovitz

What hasn't already been said about Annie Leibovitz? While we already spent time discussing her work in class, there was a recent project of hers that I thought Id take a moment to highlight. Until now, the Pirelli calendar featured only the most glamorous of supermodels...until now. Annie chose to showcase inspirational females of all ages and sizes, and rather than focus on their beauty, she only asked them to pose however they felt comfortable. The result? Something much greater than any calendar before it.

Photographer #8: Brad Elterman

Inevitably I was going to choose a music photographer at some point, and so for my 8th post I went with Brad Elterman, a photographer known for capturing the most candid moments of band members and so much more. When I look at his photos, I feel this sense of punk rock inside me. Not that this is what he is going for, but it makes me feel like I'm inside the rock scene and seeing moments I would never other get. My favorite image is that of the Elvis funeral, in which he photographs a local kid selling sold out newspapers in front of a Elvis memorial billboard.

Photographer #7: Duane Michals

   

I had a particularly hard time with the narrative assignment, as I struggled to understand what kind of story I could tell in photographs alone. I ended up using what I thought was a rather basic idea, but it definitely wasn't the best work I've done. Then, I stumbled on this particular narrative by Duane Michals entitled "Chance Meeting" that stood out to me for its simplicity while also being an excellent story told within 6 photographs. I wish I would have seen this piece sooner!