Thanks for stopping by my little place on the web. I am honored that you are here, and hope that you find my photographs to be enjoyable. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic that used those little cassettes that were pre-loaded with film. In High School, I learned to work in the darkroom, and used Nikon and Pentax cameras for the school paper and yearbook. I got my own first "real" camera (a Canon A1) and used that through my college years.
Much has changed since then, and I now use Canon digital cameras. The darkroom now uses electrons and pixels rather than film and chemicals, and quite frankly, I can do a whole lot more with Lightroom and Photoshop than I ever could in a darkroom.
There are a few areas of photography that I now specialize in: Sports and The Natural Landscape. It seems odd, because at first glance, these two dimensions of photography are worlds apart, and the processses I use are almost diametricly opposed! For sports, I am constantly on the move and in pursuit of the perfect moment to capture the tension and energy involved. In my nature / landscape / wildlife photography, it is just about the oppposite: quiet walks in the woods and plenty of patience waiting for just the right moment and meticulous control over every detail. But in both dimensions, I am attempting to capture in this one little slice of time some aspect of God's created beauty. In both instances, I am looking for light that helps to tell the story ... to shed some light on the subject, if you will.
The art of photography is all about seeing the light. In nature, that light is visible in the photograph, usually percieved as sunlight or moonlight; it is quite literal. The light helps us to see and gives shape and form to the subject I am looking at; it helps express mood in the picture. Sometimes I have the opportunity to use that dimension of light in my sports photgraphy as well, but more often, the light that is visible is not sunlight, but a created light source. The real light that can be seen in these or any other "people pictures" is in the energy and vigor of youth, the strength of athletes, the enthusiasm of parents, the full range of emotions in human expression. It is the light that comes from within. Seeing this light is not at all literal ... it is spiritual, and it is just as uplifting for me to see the light in these young people as it is to capture a sunrise or sunset.
See The Light! It just feels like the right title for my little space on the web ... and what a challenge it is!
Much has changed since then, and I now use Canon digital cameras. The darkroom now uses electrons and pixels rather than film and chemicals, and quite frankly, I can do a whole lot more with Lightroom and Photoshop than I ever could in a darkroom.
There are a few areas of photography that I now specialize in: Sports and The Natural Landscape. It seems odd, because at first glance, these two dimensions of photography are worlds apart, and the processses I use are almost diametricly opposed! For sports, I am constantly on the move and in pursuit of the perfect moment to capture the tension and energy involved. In my nature / landscape / wildlife photography, it is just about the oppposite: quiet walks in the woods and plenty of patience waiting for just the right moment and meticulous control over every detail. But in both dimensions, I am attempting to capture in this one little slice of time some aspect of God's created beauty. In both instances, I am looking for light that helps to tell the story ... to shed some light on the subject, if you will.
The art of photography is all about seeing the light. In nature, that light is visible in the photograph, usually percieved as sunlight or moonlight; it is quite literal. The light helps us to see and gives shape and form to the subject I am looking at; it helps express mood in the picture. Sometimes I have the opportunity to use that dimension of light in my sports photgraphy as well, but more often, the light that is visible is not sunlight, but a created light source. The real light that can be seen in these or any other "people pictures" is in the energy and vigor of youth, the strength of athletes, the enthusiasm of parents, the full range of emotions in human expression. It is the light that comes from within. Seeing this light is not at all literal ... it is spiritual, and it is just as uplifting for me to see the light in these young people as it is to capture a sunrise or sunset.
See The Light! It just feels like the right title for my little space on the web ... and what a challenge it is!
© John A. Rice