I shot my fashion assignment for Adv Portraiture this weekend. Julie was my model and a blast to work with. It was a beautiful day to shoot. There are some things I would like to tweak but given as how I have been so focused on photojournalism, it was fun to mix it up with some fashion. I was going for the modern day twiggy look. I would love to work with Julie again, and I had an awesome assistant Demetrius along for the shoot. He graduated two years ago and has a big future ahead at Western Kentucky, a school known for photojournalism. Check out my flickr stream...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Shooting fashion/fantasy assignment
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:30 PM 2 comments
Most know Vincent Laforet for his tilt shift work now, and his editorial work. I found a photo essay called "The Carrier" that was done in 2003. Vincent was "embedded" on the USS Abraham Lincoln in the heat of the most recent war on Iraq. He put together a beautiful collection and decided to make it more about the people on the ship, instead of the "war" that was being fought on the boat. The average age on the ship is 21, and they work fourteen hour shifts, seven days a week for nine months. This is a great article to read, and do some research on more of Laforets' work, its great.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:30 AM 0 comments
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday Night Football
Congrats to North Forsyth for a big win tonight over Northview. Winning this game guarantees a spot in the playoff for North Forsyth. I had a great time shooting the game and the stadium was filled with excitement..Check out more images from the night on my flickr page.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 1:00 AM 2 comments
Friday, November 6, 2009
New blog!!
Make a note! I am moving to wordpress, my web address is www.agardnerphoto.wordpress.com
Wordpress has a lot of great tools and layots and gives me the opportunity to have a bit more control of my blog. I am looking forward to getting everything up and running. Thanks for reading!!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:06 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 5, 2009
One of todays great questions: Why Blog?
I found a great article on sports shooter about blogging, why blog? and the anti bloggers...
One of Today's great questions: Why blog? by Jim Mcnay...Check it out here!
I was on sports shooters website because tomorrow night I will be shooting football again. I would really like a football shot in my portfolio and if I dont get it this time around, its too late next season.Tomorrows day will determine if the home team I am shooting will make it into the playoffs so it should be full of emotion and action. Its going to be a chilly one, but I love being on the field and once you start shooting you get numb to it all. Good luck shooting this weekend everyone!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 6:31 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Spencer Platt
The last few weeks have been a lot of research on different photojournalists, styles, and techniques for shooting photo essays. We have a big photo essay in 5 weeks, and I have a certain vision for it I want to follow through with. Today we watched a movie that featured work from Spencer Platt. A few months ago I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Platt, getty images photographer and world press photo of the year winner, see that image here. He worked quickly, quietly and kept to himself but was not afraid to get inches from his subject. I remember looking over and he was only three inches from someones face. I have realized I need to take that same risk and approach people with a purpose but be aware of my surroundings. He did not miss a beat. I have a great respect for the work he has done, and in the photojournalism world he is at the top of the game.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:32 PM 0 comments
Mac fans beware
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 7:38 PM 0 comments
Out with the old & in with the new
Photo by last year graduate Demetrius Freeman
The last two days have been full of hustle and bustle at school. We have been working hard on our holiday portrait set and will be all finished tomorrow. We have also had a lot of visits from the graduates from last year (photo above) , who are picking up all of their images that have been hanging in the media gallery the full year. All of the recent grads (photo below) have been there to put up their current work. Its beautiful and BIG! It gives me hope and excitement that our day is coming too. It is so much fun to see the new work, its a breath of fresh air for a while. You can see a lot of the work on our photo website or come by and see it in person at the school!
Photo by recent graduate Ryan Tyrl
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 7:01 PM 0 comments
Sleep..who needs sleep
I have decided that I will not sleep until this quarter is over. I have a feeling I am definitely not alone with this one. I have learned a lot about time management and how to prioritize. If I have time to go to bed, I lay in bed thinking what to shoot/edit/blog/ the next day. Its been a fun ride, I just have a feeling I may need to start drinking coffee or buy these glasses for class...
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:39 AM 3 comments
European Vacation!!
Wow...Europe has no idea was is going to hit next september. Today Mrs. Harkins told us a few of the locations for our study abroad program next september. Our photo dept gets to travel with the culinary dept for 11 days. I cant stand it, this is far worse than any christmas excitement! I am going to pack my bags now, sit on the curb and wait for september to come! Germany, Switzerland and Italy are part of the trip with opportunities to visit other places on our "off days". Looks like we have a lot of research to do to keep us busy the next few months. Dig deep people and help send our photo dept. to europe!
I cant wait to hitchhike with chelsea. World here we come!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:26 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Shooting for a feature
So, it took two weeks of shooting, and 7 contact sheets turned in, for one image to be selected. But it only takes one and I keep telling myself that. This is one of the contact sheets I turned in and my teacher selected one of the images from it. Cant wait for critique tomorrow should be a fun one to see what everybody shot.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 7:08 PM 2 comments
No recession here
Here is a video I made for my Multimedia class this summer. We had to create a "statement" video, and I decided to do mine on Alpharetta and the non-recession. I strongly believe that as long as we have h2 hummers, apple computers/iphones and 800,000 homes we are not in a recession just a displacement of money. Check it out!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 3:30 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 2, 2009
Impromtu Photo Shoot
The neighbors came over today to grab just a few headshots for a modeling event they have this weekend. They went to a casting call last weekend on whim and they all three were asked to come back for the second call with lots of different agencies. They were so much fun to shoot with and it turned into a little mini photo shoot. We had a great time and my husband gets an A for some great assisting. I shot with Photogeonic Strobes and a 50mm 1.8
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:31 PM 0 comments
Lily's Run
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:52 PM 1 comments
French Fries for Amy
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:26 PM 1 comments
Digital Photo - Buyer's Guide 2009: Storage | DPmag.com
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 6:32 PM 0 comments
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Atlanta History Center: Dia de Muertos
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 10:54 PM 3 comments
Dia De Muertos and an Iranian convoy protest thing...
Thanks for the title D. What a day. We have an assignment in our photojournalism class that is called a feature. A feature is a lighthearted newspaper type photo that tells a story in itself. I headed out with classmate Damian to the Dia de Muertos celebration at the Atlanta History Center. The day of the dead is a hispanic celebration to honor those who have died. Click here for more info on the history. We had a great time at the event and got some fun shots. What really takes the cake is just a few minutes after we left we noticed red, white and green flags. It turned out to be Iranian flags on 20+ cars. We caught up to them in a parking lot when they stopped to regroup. I told them we were photojournalism students and damian quickly handed out business cards and started taking names. They put us in the middle of the caravan with them and we paraded around Atlanta for an hour and a half protesting Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the current Iranian regime. It was a great experience and at the end of the caravan we had the opportunity to stop and meet the people who organized this and swapped info to continue shooting at some of their events. I love days like today, set out to do one thing and end up with something completely different in the end. I really cannot wait to see everyones feature photos.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:26 PM 0 comments
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Images from Nollywood
Images From Nollywood
By Lori Fredrickson Posted October 27, 2009
And these images are meant to trick you, but they're also only halfway between reality and fiction. Nigeria's 'Nollywood', despite its low budgets and straight-to-DVD production, is one of the highest production film industries in the world. Its themes, like the images in this book, are often upernatural and melodramatic, with vampires, militants, and undead children. But though these images star Nigerian actors costumed with help from Nollywood makeup artist Gabazzini Zuo, they aren't photodocumentary--they're constructed filmic tableaux. Accompanied by essays by Chris Abani, Stacy Hardy, and Zina Saro-Wiwa (daughter of famed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa), Nollywood aims to unsettle viewers with their own preconceptions, and look deeper into a complex society often stereotyped in Western media.....
to read the rest of the article click here
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 1:08 PM 0 comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Local Culture
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 6:51 AM 3 comments
A Pirate & The Festival Tooth Fairy
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:01 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Denver Post Photogs Win Top Prize In E&P Contest
Denver Post Photogs Win Top Prize In E&P Contest
A panel of distinguished judges has awarded The Denver Post team of Craig F. Walker, Meghan Lyden, and Tim Rasmussen the grand prize in Editor & Publisher's 2009 Photos of the Year competition.
The winning entry, “ Ian Fisher: American Soldier,” chronicled with extraordinary photographs, videos, and print—over the course of 27 months—the recruitment, induction, training, deployment to Iraq, and return from combat of Ian Fisher. This was the first year that video/multimedia entries were judged.
Twenty-four other winners in six categories (spanning four circulation groups), including in first-time Portraits and Video/Multimedia categories, were honored. This year also was the first time E&P recognized one winner in the Unpublished Photo on Assignment category and in the extremely popular People’s Choice award competition. Ten People’s Choice photo and six video/multimedia honorable mentions were recognized this year.
Walker took the Denver Post pictures and shot the video. Tim Rasmussen, the paper's assistant managing editor/ photography, and Lyden, the online photo editor, edited and managed the multimedia offerings.
A gallery of select winning photos appears in E&P’s November issue. All photos, including those from the multiple image category, and an audio interview with Rasmussen, will be available late Monday at www.editorandpublisher.com.
(Editor & Publisher, like PDN, is a Nielsen Business Media publication.)
Newspaper print photos, online news photos, and video/multimedia published since Sept. 13, 2008 were eligible for award consideration. Photos selected as E&P’s Photos of the Week or Photos of the Month between Sept. 13, 2008, and Sept. 13, 2009, were automatically entered.
“Despite budget cuts at most newspapers, the number and quality of entries this year remained strong,” said Greg Mitchell, E&P’s editor. “This was a year of firsts for this competition, including exciting new categories and a video/multimedia submission winning top honors. This also was the first time final winners were selected by photo editors from major newspapers and magazines."
Among the judges were Colin Crawford, deputy managing editor/visuals, Los Angeles Times; Santiago Lyon, director of photography, The Associated Press; Alan Taylor, Web developer and blogger, The Boston Globe/Big Picture; and PDN photo editor Amber Terranova.
As the grand prize winners, Walker, Lyden, and Rasmussen receive $1,000, with a sample of their winning submission appearing on the November 2009 cover of E&P.
Rasmussen told E&P that, in addition to his photos and video, Walker’s extensive written notes were “absolutely essential” in providing details and fleshing out the multi-part print series.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 10:13 PM 1 comments
Set Construction
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 10:50 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
American Photo Magazine: PJ tips from the Pro's
7 Tips From A Pro Photojournalist
POPPHOTO.COMFEATURES7 Tips From A Pro Phot...
Being in the right place at the right time isn't the only way to get a great photo.
By Laurence Chen Posted September 15, 2009
STEPHEN VOSS
Photography is like a muscle that needs plenty of exercise. Slack off, and your creativity may fail you.
Washington, DC-based editorial photographer Stephen Voss (www.stephenvoss.com) learned this by heart early in his career. Dragging himself out of bed at 5 a.m. each day during a workshop he was taking with the nature photographer John Shaw, he mentally (and with a silent grumble) repeated his teacher’s mantra: “Don’t be late for work.”
He has never forgotten that lesson. “People think they can walk out at 2 in the afternoon and get a great shot.” You can’t, Voss insists. “You have to leave while it’s dark and be ready when the light arrives. You need to be at the right place at the right time.”
Sure, that’s work, but “the potential for payoff gets me motivated.”
With that combination of discipline and inspiration, Voss went to the National Mall well before sunrise one morning to work on a self-assignment. He uses personal projects to stay sharp and challenge himself to see things with fresh eyes.
This time out, he decided to wait at the Lincoln Memorial to see if predawn sidelight would illuminate the face of the famous portrait statue.
He was scouting the location when he turned to see a platoon of Marines coming up one side of the reflecting pool. As they began their exercises, Voss sprang into action, too.
Here’s his advice for capturing an unexpected scene like this on the fly:
1. Study The Masters.
Voss draws on the lessons he’s learned from poring over the work of master photojournalists such as Eugene Richards and Paolo Pellegrin. “I often spend 30 minutes looking at a great photo, figuring out where the photographer was, how the light was, what lens was used,” he says. “This creates visual memories that come out in the photos you make.”
2. Zoom With Your Feet.
Back at the Mall, Voss sensed he was out of position when the Marines appeared. Seeing the size of the men against the pool, he realized that his high angle would capture too much of the pool relative to the Washington Monument in the background. He needed a lower angle to include enough of the obelisk to make it recognizable—the photo would be much stronger with the sense of place a landmark provides.
So he ran down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a lower platform. There he found the angle that properly balanced the silhouetted figures with the monument in the distance and its reflection in the pool.
3. Narrow And Compress.
Telephoto lenses bring things closer and crop the field of view. With a 70–200mm f/2.8L Canon EF IS lens on his Canon EOS 5D, Voss zoomed to compose and saw that a looser crop balanced the visual elements best.
Long teles also compress the apparent distance between the foreground and background. Here, this effect enlarged the men while bringing them closer to their surroundings. This created a more proportionate composition, and at the same time strengthened its narrative and emotional impact.
4. Meter For Exposure, But Shoot In Manual.
Voss was concerned that if the highlights got blown out, the ruffled texture of the water would be lost. To ensure proper exposure, he shot in manual mode and used his Canon 5D’s spotmeter on the brightest part of the scene.
He generally uses the center point for both metering and autofocus, then recomposes his frame for the image he wants.
“I’m always on spotmeter—I’m looking for something where I know what the exposure should be,” he says. “Often, that means skin tones, and whether the subject has a lighter or darker complexion. For example, with light skin you open up 1 to 1½ stops” because the meter gives you a reading for middle gray.
For this photo, Voss set exposure to 1/100 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800. That’s 2 stops (that is, +2 EV) brighter than his meter reading, ensuring that the rest of the scene would be exposed correctly, with just enough detail in the highlights. “You learn how much to compensate by experience,” he says. “With digital you can check it before you move on.”
He didn’t have long to check his exposure this time, though: Voss managed to fire off just three frames before the Marines moved on, too.
5. Always Shoot In RAW.
That’s what Voss does to gain more latitude for tweaking the exposure when he processes his images later on—just in case he got it wrong while shooting.
6. Be flexible.
Looking at his final frame, “initially I wasn’t crazy about how the men overlapped, but afterward I really liked it,” Voss says. “I’ve learned that a little mess, a little uncertainty, or some unanswered questions are a good thing. They make a photo more intriguing.”
That’s an argument for not deleting images when you first look at them.
In editing this photo, Voss punched up the orange, pink and blue a little, but otherwise he left it as he shot it.
7. Stay In Shape.
This begins with your eye—and your brain. “You have to see things clearly,” Voss says. “I’ve only gotten anywhere through hard work and a lot of failures—learning the subtleties within light, looking at photographs and figuring out why you like them. Being observant, being open to what’s going on around you. Understanding the way light hits things and, more importantly, how your camera sees things. It’s an ongoing process.”
~ Check out some professional work and info about the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:09 PM 0 comments
PJ piece of the week
After shooting the festival this week I decided the next PJ piece of the week would be a good flash and lighting accessories. I found myself in several difficult lighting scenarios. I owned the nikon sb-600, but the capacitor blew. In a pinch I purchased a vivitar. It is a great flash and puts out more light than my old flash. However, there are no off camera flash options and it is difficult to shoot in a limited light situation with your flash stuck in one place. I do believe until I buy a new flash, I will be buying a cord to use it off of my hot shoe, and the gary fong lighting kit to help soften the light and disburse it a little better. This weeks lecture in photojournalism is fill flash and I can't wait to get some questions answered.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 8:48 PM 1 comments
This one is for the Ninja
Please do not post anymore Police music videos. We will post cheesy 80's videos in return.
:)
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 4:58 PM 1 comments
GTC Holiday Portraits
Its that time of year and the baton has been passed down to us. Each year at GTC the upperclassmen build and design the set for our Holiday portraits. We shoot for two weeks in November and the profits from the portraits pay for our portfolio show next September. I have been overly impressed with everyones hard work. The set is fun, whimsical and colorful! Everyone has a part in one way or another and it is really paying off for us. We should have the set finished next week. Check out our blog and be sure to come by for a great family holiday photo!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 4:30 PM 1 comments
Monday, October 26, 2009
Where the wild things are
I got back today from the Magnoliafest in Florida. It was packed with great weather, music, friends and lots of shooting. Each festival there is something new and unexpected. Lots of street performers, people dressed in weird costumes and people who dress that way everyday. I am pleased with my images and cant wait to edit them. I spent a great deal of time with the fire dancers this time and some of them turned out really neat. Lots to come!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:41 PM 7 comments
Thursday, October 22, 2009
MagnoliaFest 2009
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 8:50 AM 5 comments
Sports Illustrated
Today we watched a behind the scenes video on sports illustrated and the photo editing process. It is fascinating and defintely a place where there is no room for tears or hurt feelings. An Image was shown that has haunted me a bit all day, in a good way. I can't stop thinking about it. I guess because it is so different than images out there. I hope that I am able to produce images that stick with people throughout the day. I want to know more about this image now, and the events surrounding it.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:08 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
1st Page on Google
So I "google" myself frequently now. Only so I can keep track of my blog and images. I was married last year and just recently changed my name, I pretty much fell off the map! Three weeks ago we started new blogs with each of my classmates connected. In just three short weeks I went from being untraceable as Amanda Gardner, to being on the first page. My goal is to make it all the way to the top. There is another Amanda Gardner out there, she is a pro photographer and her stuff is pretty good! Looks like we all need to keep blogging and "googling" each other, its working :)
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:42 PM 2 comments
Photojournalism Seminar Volunteer
I was selected today to be a volunteer for the Atlanta Photojournalism seminar in December. I am so excited, I have been posting about this for weeks now and I cannot wait to go. I do suggest everyone come it should be an incredible four days. I am really looking forward to see things from the inside and just to be in the presence as some of these photographers is enough for me. I will be posting lots of details over the next few weeks. So fun!!
I am really interested in catching David Labelle's workshop on photographing the homeless and giving them a voice. It should be informative with some beautiful images!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:06 PM 2 comments
Favorite 10 Images and Flickr
Last week our Multimedia teacher Mr Jones asked us to put together our favorite 10 images and create a new flickr account. I already had one, but it needed some work and I decided to start from scratch and really work hard on creating and marketing my business well. It was really cool to put together all of my images. Each one of them have a very different story to me, and really reflect where the last year has taken me. Check out my flickr account to see what I have been up to.
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:02 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Liquid is still too close!
So photo booths are all the rage these days. I came across this video from a friend. Its quite addictive! The Jay Leno show has done a prank series where they place a "free photo booth" on a sidewalk in California. The photo booth gives a sarcastic comments in the booths, waits for the peoples reaction then fires the camera! What a great concept. Watch one, you'll be hooked there are a ton on youtube!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:19 PM 1 comments
PJ piece of the week
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 2:29 PM 2 comments
Monday, October 19, 2009
Low Key Assignment
Today we had our lowkey/highkey shoot. What fun! It was a great day in the "girls room" We had so much fun and its a shame the guys missed all the excitement. Lots of creativity flowing and problem solving. The time flew by and I think everyone got some great shots!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:26 PM 3 comments
Eugenio Recuenco
I have been thinking about the fashion/fantasy shoot we have coming up for our Portraiture class. I have been searching high and low for inspirations and have come across some great work. I found a new favorite photographer, Eugenio is well known for his fantasy style photography. I love his use of dramatic lighting and detail in every piece of the image. I cant wait to see what we all come up with for this assignment!
Check out Eugenio Recuenco's work!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 5:10 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 16, 2009
Spot News on Spot Rd
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:30 AM 4 comments
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sports Assignment
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 8:13 AM 2 comments
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Atlanta Photojournlism Seminar
I am getting very excited about the Photojournalism seminar coming up in December. It will be held at the Marriot in Dunwoody. It is an annual event where photojournalists from around the world present there work in a competition. The quality is outstanding and I cannot wait to catch some of the lectures and presentations during the three days. Anyone interested in journalism should check it out!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:23 PM 0 comments
Animal Portaiture
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 8:22 PM 1 comments
The Glowing Eye
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:27 AM 0 comments
Monday, October 12, 2009
Photojournalism & Sports
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 8:13 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Healthy Photographer: Injury Prevention Optimizes Business Success (Professional Photographer Magazine Web Exclusives)
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 9:46 AM 0 comments
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Gwinnett County Fair
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 10:48 PM 2 comments
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
1st Photojournalism assignment
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 12:21 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Multimedia II with Mr Jones
So fall quarter is in full swing and one of my classes encorporates blogging. How to do it the right way and how powerful it can be. I have enjoyed blogging and am looking forward to finding new ways to use it to my advantage. We have to update at least daily so be on the lookout for lots of new and exciting post. We have also hit the ground running in our other classes, advanced portraiture and photojournalism! Sports shooting this weekend. Looking forward to a great fall!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:06 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 28, 2009
"The Great Flood of 2009"
And what an understatement this all was in the beginning... It started it out as two weeks of rain everyday everywhere. Last Monday there was a monsoon and by Tuesday everything was underwater, in several areas throughout metro Atlanta. I have never seen anything quite like this and to see what we did in person has made me even more thankful for the life I have. I had a great day out with my classmate Damian and Demetrius a graduate from last year. It was a wet, smelly, and emotional day. We stopped frequently and spoke to lots of different people that were affected by the flood. Several people had teary eyes but most were very strong and even though they felt helpless they did have a sense of purpose and that somehow they would push through this. I was really caught by surprise at how nice and helpful everyone was to us. The police pointed us to spots along the way, strangers took us in their home to show us the devastation, and a man told us a story of his children growing up at the ball fields that were now submerged in water and would never be the same. We begin our photojournalism quarter this week and I cannot wait to see what the next few months hold!
Posted by Amanda Gardner at 11:09 AM 3 comments