Popular Photography on Campus April 2016

APRIL 2016
THE SECRETS
TO ASSISTING
A PRO GOES BACK
TO SCHOOL
WHERE TO LAUNCH
YOUR CAREER
WHAT
MAKES
YOU LOOK?
Catherine Opie on portraits, places, culture, and politics—
and why you should never stop asking questions

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JOE RIIS; HOLLY ANDRES; RUSH JAGOE; MARVIN ORELLANA; CATHERINE OPIE/REGEN PROJECTS, LA AND LEHMANN MAUPIN, NY & HONG KONG
FEATURES
15 Your Next Move
After graduation, scores of young photographers will descend upon
New York and L.A. to seek their fortunes. Want to stand out from
the crowd? Don’t join it. We talked to four shooters who owe their
success to their surprising locations.
By Sara Cravatts
20 Ready, Set, Assist
To become a working pro, start by working for the pros. Here’s
our guide to getting your first assisting job—including everything you
need to do to get hired back again.
By Russell Hart
24 Ask More
Famed photographer and UCLA professor Catherine Opie talks to us
about what it means to make—and look at—portraits. By Meg Ryan
DEPARTMENTS
4 Editor’s Letter When casting about for
career ideas, don’t forget weddings.
34 Shoot This Get on the roof for an
amazing new perspective.
FILTER
6 Two Years Out Lindsey Best had
already gone pro when she started school;
here’s how her education pushed her farther.
8 Books & Shows What to see: From a
girl in the wild to boxers in Britain.
12 Photo Realism Use social media to
promote your work—the right way.
TOOLS
30 First Look Sony debuts its own series
of super-high-quality lenses.
31 Roundup The best of the latest
cameras, compared.
32 What It Takes Freeze the action
using a simple hot-shoe flash.
24
15
20
APRIL 2016
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 3

EDITOR’S LETTER
On the
Cover
MASTER OF
THE PORTRAIT
“Nick,” 2003, from
Catherine Opie’s
Surfers series. Read
more about this
artist and
professor’s
approach on
page 24.
An Overlooked
Tradition?
Whether you’re graduating this
spring or simply looking ahead,
you may be wondering how—or
whether—you can build a career in photography.
In this issue we directly address some of the practical questions with feature
stories on assisting and which places, besides the photo meccas of New York
and Los Angeles, to get your start.
But there’s one path that few aspiring artists, photojournalists, fashion
shooters, or commercial photographers take seriously: wedding photography.
You’d be surprised at how many successful pros in other genres of
photography honed their skills by shooting weddings. Not just their
photographic skills, but also their business practices, time management, and
approach to clients. Done right, wedding photography can help you pay off
those student loans and earn a living.
But even if you never plan to make wedding photography your career, or
even a weekend job, chances are that sooner or later someone will ask you to
shoot their nuptials. It’s tougher than all those smartphone-wielding guests
and DSLR-slinging uncles of the bride might lead you to believe.
We recently launched a channel on our website, PopPhoto.com/wedding,
aimed at informing and inspiring photographers who are just getting into
the bridal biz. Some of our own editors, including Web Editor Stan Horaczek,
shoot several weddings each year as a side gig. “Have a contract,” he advises.
“Also, don’t try to learn new techniques right before a wedding; your focus
has to be on learning the flow of the wedding. That’s why assisting is a good
idea. The pacing is the hard part—taking the pictures is the easy part.”
The rewards, he adds, can be more than financial. You get to capture
people enjoying what is often the happiest day of their lives. And that is a
pretty cool, and rare, opportunity.
FROM TOP: CATHERINE OPIE/REGEN PROJECTS, LA AND LEHMANN MAUPIN, NY & HONG KONG; PETER HURLEY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MIRIAM LEUCHTER
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Sarah Hughes
FEATURES EDITOR Debbie Grossman
SENIOR EDITOR Peter Kolonia
SENIOR TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Philip Ryan
TECHNOLOGY MANAGER Julia Silber
ASSISTANT TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Adam Ryder
ASSISTANT EDITOR Sara Cravatts
ART DIRECTOR Jason Beckstead
PHOTO EDITOR Fiona Gardner
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jack Crager, Russell Hart,
Meg Ryan, Allegra Wilde
ONLINE EDITOR Stan Horaczek
ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR Jeanette D. Moses
BONNIER’S TECHNOLOGY GROUP
VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
GREGORY D. GATTO
FINANCIAL DIRECTOR Tara Bisciello
GROUP NATIONAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jeff Timm
EASTERN SALES DIRECTOR Christine Sendelsky
ACCOUNT MANAGER Chip Parham
MIDWEST MANAGER Doug Leipprandt
AD ASSISTANT Lindsay Kuhlmann
DETROIT SALES DIRECTOR Jeff Roberge
DIRECTOR OF CUSTOM SOLUTIONS Noreen Myers
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTEGRATED MARKETING Brenda Oliveri
SALES DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Elspeth Lodge
DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Lee Verdecchia
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR Amanda Mays
DIGITAL CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR Justin Ziccardi
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRAND INTEGRATION Beth Hetrick
CREATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR Ingrid M. Reslmaier
MARKETING DESIGN DIRECTORS Jonathan Berger, Gabe Ramirez
DIGITAL DESIGN MANAGER Steve Gianaca
BRAND INTEGRATION DIRECTOR Michelle Cast
ASSISTANT BRAND INTEGRATION MANAGER Vanessa Vazquez
CONSUMER MARKETING DIRECTOR Andrew Schulman
RETAIL SINGLE COPY SALES:
PROCIRC RETAIL SOLUTIONS GROUP Tony DiBisceglie
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR Kim Putman
GROUP PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michelle Doster
PRODUCTION MANAGER Rick Andrews
CHAIRMAN Tomas Franzén
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Eric Zinczenko
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER David Ritchie
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Elizabeth Burnham Murphy
CHIEF DIGITAL REVENUE OFFICER Sean Holzman
VICE PRESIDENT, INTEGRATED SALES John Graney
VICE PRESIDENT, CONSUMER MARKETING John Reese
VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL OPERATIONS David Butler
VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLIC RELATIONS Perri Dorset
GENERAL COUNSEL Jeremy Thompson
COPYRIGHT © 2016 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY
Editorial contributions should be sent to <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> on Campus, 2 Park Avenue,
9th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Submissions must be accompanied by return post age and
will be handled with reasonable care; however, publisher assumes no respon sibility for the
safety of unsolicited original artwork, photographs, slides, or manuscripts. For reprints,
email reprints@bonniercorp.com. <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> on Campus, April 2016, Vol. 1,
No. 4. Entire contents © 2016 Bonnier Corporation.
4 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

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FILTER
Books
& Shows P.8
Photo Realism P.12
TWO YEARS OUT
SOUND
AND
VISION
Art Center grad
Lindsey Best explores
the emotions behind
the scenes
LINDSEY BEST fell in love with photography
when she got a Polaroid
as a young teenager, and she soon
combined it with another passion:
music. “I would go to shows and
bring my film point-and-shoot
camera with me,” Best recalls. “As I
got older and got better equipment,
I had to start figuring out how I
could get my photo gear into these
venues. That’s when I started trying
to reach out to bands and navigate
how that world worked.”
By the time she graduated from
California’s Agoura Hills High
School, she had started shooting
concerts with official credentials,
often on assignment for local
publications. Though she knew she
wanted to be a photographer, she
enrolled at San Diego City College
to study physical and biological
anthropology. “I wasn’t yet ready to
put my academic studies behind
me, so I took two years of classes
studying non-photography fields
while taking photo classes on the
side,” she says. “I wanted to have a
well rounded bank of knowledge to
draw on for my art.”
Meanwhile, Best continued her
photo practice. After leaving City
College, she says, “I spent three
years trying to establish myself as
a music photographer, developing
my portfolio and networking as
much as I could.”
Gradually she put together a
client list including Rolling Stone,
Crawdaddy!, Pitchfork Media, Urban
Outfitters, Blue Man Group, Premier
Guitar, Pedal Punk, LA Weekly,
and Live Nation. “I’ve primarily
marketed my music work in the
editorial world, and also directly to
artists, labels, management, and
show venues,” she says. “One of the
most important things has been
understanding the range of potential
places that my work could live.
This is something I’m constantly
expanding upon.”
Meanwhile Best had a long-term
dream of studying at Art Center
College of Design—“It seemed that
all the best photo students went on
to go there,” she recalls—and she
enrolled at the Pasadena campus
as a photo major in 2011. “It was
SUBWAY
STRUMMER
Best captured this
image of a
musician playing
on a subway
platform using her
Apple iPhone 5s in
Chicago, in 2014.
6 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

LINDSEY BEST (2)
important for me to go into Art
Center knowing what I wanted to
get out of it, in order to maximize
my time there.”
Having graduated in 2014, she
credits her BFA program with burnishing
the skill of follow-through.
“Art Center gave me the mentality
of constantly working on something
and seeing it through from
the conception stage to execution,”
she notes. “So many people
have ideas that they think about
for years and then never end up
executing. The ability to go from
one stage to the next is something
I’m grateful to my instructors for
helping instill. I am always making
work; and when I’m not shooting, I
am thinking about ideas I’d like to
make into photographs.”
During college, Best expanded
her stylistic range, adding formal
portraiture, landscapes, and stilllife
work to her portfolio. “All my
work stems from the same place
conceptually,” she says. “I have
always been more interested in
showing what an experience felt
like rather than just showing what
something looked like. I think every
image is made up of the base layer
of data and literal information—
but I always want my images to go
beyond that layer, and show the
emotional experience of what a
moment feels like.”
In concert venues—especially
shooting major artists such as the
Rolling Stones, Radiohead, or U2—
Best is often relegated to the “three
songs in the pit” rules for photographers.
Yet her work for editorial
clients and music labels has led to
NO DOUBT
At a 2009 No
Doubt concert in
Irvine, CA, Best
captured Gwen
Stefani and Tony
Kanal with a Nikon
D200. The shot ran
in L.A. Record.
close long-term collaborations with
artists such as Conor Oberst and
Jason Isbell. “Every time I photograph
someone I feel like I discover
facets of who the person is that
I want to illuminate. Conor and
Jason are two of my favorite musicians
with whom I have had that
kind of experience. I’ve been able to
explore and tell a deeper story.”
Such impulses led her to take up
the camera in the first place. “<strong>Photography</strong>
lets you take an experience
and express it in such a way
that it is felt as a human story, and
not just specific to one individual
person or situation,” she says. “As
human beings we all tap into the
same emotions, and as an artist I
love the challenge of translating
those emotions into visuals.”
—Jack Crager
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 7

FILTER BOOKS & SHOWS
TECH-AGE WASTELAND
Nick Brandt finds environmental peril in the land of his grand animal portraits
INHERIT THE DUST By Nick Brandt
Edwynn Houk Editions, $65
Nick Brandt’s latest project is both gorgeous and
disturbing: He applies his stately animal portraiture
to a potent caveat about the Earth’s fate. Brandt
returns to East Africa, where he photographed
his artful trilogy of wildlife imagery: On This Earth
(2005), A Shadow Falls (2009), and Across the Ravaged
Land (2013). This time around, he places life-sized
panels of great and endangered species—elephants,
rhinos, zebras, lions, apes—in locales where the
animals once roamed, now littered with industrial
detritus from factories, dumpsites, quarries, highway
underpasses, and other manmade intrusions. The
message is immediate and visceral: Our natural
world is disappearing at an alarming rate.
Always a formal portraitist, Brandt has carefully
composed each panorama so that the natural
backdrop in his life-size print looks like it could be
the same landscape as its now-littered environs.
Meanwhile workers labor, scavengers forage,
squatters camp, and townspeople stroll through the
wasteland, oblivious to the animals’ ghostlike images.
“The result is an eloquent and complex ‘J’accuse,’”
writes Vicki Goldberg in her blurb, “for the people are
as victimized by ‘development’ as the animals are.”
Brandt has deftly turned his art into a call for action.
JESSE BURKE: WILD AND PRECIOUS Rhode Island School
of Design, Providence, RI, through Sept. 25 risdmuseum.org
As something of an encore to Burke’s 2015 monograph of the same
title, RISD is staging an exhibition of the project. Over a five-year period
Burke traveled across America with his daughter, Clover, exploring the
wonders of nature and the experience of the open road. The resulting
images reflect upon childhood misadventures (cuts, bruises, bloody
noses) as well as poignant moments (portraits on the beach and in the
woods). It’s a tender mix of images exploring childhood, parenthood,
companionship, and a sweet life on the move.
FROM TOP: NICK BRANDT, COURTESY OF EDWYNN HOUK GALLERY. NEW YORK; JESSE BURKE
8 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 9

FILTER BOOKS & SHOWS
MODERN KIDS By Jona
Frank Kerher Verlag, $40
In her third monograph,
photographer and filmmaker
Jona Frank continues to explore
adolescence and coming-ofage
with a look at the boxing
community in Ellesmere Port, a
suburb of Liverpool, England. Her
portraits of boxers in the gym
evoke the smell of sweat-stained
leather, while her atmospheric
images of British suburbia and
youthful couples lend universality
to a specific place. “Jona gets to
this crazy level of emotion and
intimacy that most photographers
hope for with the people in front of
their camera,” writes Bruce Weber
in his intro. “Her photographs and
film are a poem about memory—
lost and regained.”
GOWANUS WATERS
By Steven Hirsch
powerHouse, $45
Through Hirsch’s lens, the polluted
waters of Brooklyn’s Gowanus
Canal are iridescent abstractions,
a painter’s palette of colorscapes
in which oil, water, chemicals,
and foliage blend in psychedelic
patterns. It would be lovely if not
for the underlying decay. While
the surrounding dumps, oil depots,
and bus yards remain, the canal’s
Superfund designation may
someday render these chemical
combos obsolete—a good thing.
PREVIOUS PAGE
Nick Brandt’s
“Factory with
Rhino, 2014”;
Jesse Burke’s
“Flesh and Blood.”
THIS PAGE:
(clockwise from
top) Jona Frank’s
“Mason, Training,
2012”; Carrie Mae
Weems’ “Untitled
(Man in Mirror)”;
Steven Hirsch’s
“Psamathe, 2014.”
CARRIE MAE WEEMS:
CONSIDERED Savannah
College of Art and Design,
Savannah, GA, through
June 12 scad.edu
A three-decade retrospective
of Weems’ photography, this
exhibition covers a wide range
of topics and styles, all united
by the artist’s blend of historical
references, social activism, and
wit. In projects ranging from her
starkly composed Kitchen Table
series to the montages of From
Here I Saw What Happened and I
Cried, Weems explores complex
emotional and socioeconomic
themes, delving far below the
surface through photography.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JONA FRANK; CARRIE MAE WEEMS, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY, NEW YORK; STEVEN HIRSCH
10 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

FILTER PHOTO REALISM
#ENGAGE
Simplify your social media presentation
LET’S IMAGINE for a minute that
the online audience you present
your photos to, and aim to impress,
would actually spend time with
your pictures—lingering over them,
taking in their story and yours—
before pushing the Like button or
commenting. Sounds like a dream,
right?
Unfortunately, most of the time,
it’s a complete fantasy that your
viewers will do anything like that.
Typically they spend a few seconds
(if you’re lucky) on your individual
photographs, including
recent Facebook and Instagram
posts, as well as the front page of
your website or Tumblr. (See the
February issue for specific tips
about those.) And if people have
to read an explanation of your
images, beyond a title, caption, or
hashtag…well, they just won’t.
But, there are two things you
can do to increase engagement
with your social networks that will
help grab the attention of your
audience, and even keep their
eyes on your work long enough to
“invest” by commenting on and
even sharing your images.
First, consider the words you
use. Most of the photographers I
know and follow, both emergent
and established, are often uncomfortable
writing about themselves
and their photos. I’ve met with
many of you at portfolio reviews
and school events, and I see a lot of
struggling with an “elevator pitch”
or artist’s statement that sums up
the entirety of your work. (That
goes for current projects and individual
images, too.)
So how about we lose the copy?
It’s better to choose an image that
has intrinsic visual power that
needs no explanation or context.
One that is just awesome. Especially
on your Facebook posts:
Include only a quick caption or
title, a link to your site, or nothing
at all. Let your audience get
curious and ask questions, then
you can respond to them in the
comments. The comments section
is a better place on Facebook
to add info, links, and description
than at the top of the post. Long
explanations are a waste of time,
will probably go unread, and will
visually step on the image that
accompanies them.
I’ve seen overly wordy artist’s
statements on Instagram, too.
This time they’re in the comments
section, but the same
advice applies. A simple hashtag
or caption and a link to see more
work suffices and will help your
audience engage without feeling
the pressure to read—and not
see—your story.
My second tip: Mind the grid. In
most social sites, it is possible to
see a mosaic of all of your recent
photos in one place. This is by
default on your Instagram profile,
and it happens when you click
through to photos on Facebook.
It is important to be conscious
of the order and design of the
way your images appear in those
grids. They are an immediate representation
of you as a photographer.
The pictures don’t need
to be uniformly thematic or narrowly
focused on a particular subject
or series. But you want the
viewer’s eye to travel over the grid
and absorb an overall tightness of
your aesthetic, color, and composition.
If you arrange and upload
your photos with some forethought
to the sequence within
that grid, it will, in addition, give
any slideshow view some muchneeded
rhythm.
This may mean not putting
photos that are too similar next
to each other, and alternating
your color scheme and composition.
Or, you can get more specific
with your grid— perhaps by
always using the same frame/
border, color palette, or compositional
rules. The point is to make
the first quick read of your profile
page very, very succinct.
It may not be obvious, but paying
attention to this overview, as
well as to what you write about
each photo, helps your audience
perceive you as a serious photographer
and aids in your ability
to stand out. If you can stand
out, it’s the first step in engaging
with your viewers and instilling
in them an interest in spreading
your message. —Allegra Wilde
PLAN THE GRID
Your Instagram feed
is a miniature
introduction to your
work, so curate it
as such.
MEET THE
AUTHOR
The cofounder and
chief operations
officer of Eyeist, the
online portfolio review
service, Allegra Wilde
is a visual strategist,
creative director, and
consultant to artists,
photographers, and artbased
businesses. She
has served as an MFA
mentor at the School
of Visual Arts and as
a visiting instructor at
Art Center College of
Design, FIT, and many
other university photography
programs.
CONTINUE THE
CONVERSATION
facebook.com/
PopPhotoRealism
twitter.com/
PopPhotoRealism
ALLEGRA WILDE (2)
12 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

CALLING ALL
STUDENT
PHOTOGRAPHERS
<strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Photography</strong> on Campus is giving
student photographers the opportunity
to win prizes and have their work
recognized in the fall issue of PPOC
or on PopPhoto.com/campus
DEADLINE
AUGUST 31, 2016
FREE TO ENTER: For the contest rules and prizes, please visit
PopPhoto.com/campus-contest

11x14
...and more
ORDER 24/7 AT
SHORTRUNPOSTERS.COM
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 15

YOUR
NEXT
MOVE
After graduation, scores
of young photographers
will descend upon New
York and L.A. to seek
their fortunes. Want
to stand out from the
crowd? Don’t join it. We
talked to four shooters
who owe their success
to their surprising
locations.
By Sara Cravatts
LIFE OUTSIDE
THE METROPOLIS
Photographers Joe
Riis, Rush Jagoe,
Holly Andres, and
Pao Houa Her,
(clockwise from
top left), are
building successful
careers away from
big cities.
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 15

Joe Riis
31, Pierre, South Dakota; University of Wyoming ’08
FOR PHOTOGRAPHER Joe Riis,
the decision to move to western
Wyoming after his college graduation
was one born from a passion
for wildlife rather than an explicit
career strategy. “The day I graduated
college in May of 2008 is when
I started photographing full-time,”
Riis says. “I moved into my pickup
and photographed the pronghorn
migration for two years, which is
how I got the attention of the editors
I wanted to work for.”
Those editors were from National
Geographic Magazine, where Riis is
now a contracted, regularly contributing
freelance photographer.
Choosing to forge a career away
from photo-centric cities like New
York and Los Angeles was easy
for Riis, now based in rural South
Dakota, because he needed to
reside in a location conducive to
his nature photography. He moved
with a subject in mind above all
else. Riis points out that photographers
can live wherever they
please, as “nowadays it’s easy to
communicate with editors, and it
all comes down to their trust in
your ability to handle the fieldwork
and come back with the images.”
It is important to live in a location
that is consistent with the
subjects you want to photograph:
If you want to shoot landscapes,
live somewhere you can easily do
so; if street scenes are your calling,
choose an urban home. Identifying
a subject matter that is not
widely covered, and reporting on
it in depth with beautiful images
CAMPFIRE
Yellowstone
backcountry, June
2014.
BULL ELK
Also Yellowstone
backcountry,
October 2014.
can be a great way to attract
the attention of publications. In
Riis’s opinion, prioritizing your
passion is always the way to go.
“Pick a story that you deeply and
personally care about, and photograph
it for a long time. Make
pictures of that subject that
have never been made, dive in
and become a part of the story.”
Career success, if you market
yourself accordingly, will follow.
JOE RIIS (2)
16 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

PAO HOUA HER (2)
HMONG VETERAN
A portrait of a
Hmong man taken
in Saint Paul,
Minnesota in 2012
from Her’s Desire
series.
YA AT THE
SWIMMING POOL
Shot in Eagan,
Minnesota, 2011
also from Desire.
Pao Houa Her
33, Lino Lakes, Minnesota;
Minneapolis College of
Art and Design ’09 and
Yale University ’12
“IF YOU HAD asked me a few years
ago if I would ever go to Yale and
live on the East Coast, I would have
said no,” recalls Pao Houa Her of
her time spent earning an MFA in
New Haven, CT. After exploring
the area and graduating, she went
home to Minnesota to pursue her
goal of working as a professional
photographer.
For Her, the decision to return to
her home state was both practical
and passionate. She is part of
Minnesota’s tight-knit community
of Hmong, who arrived there over
40 years ago after the Vietnam
War. That culture, and Minnesota
itself, is a frequent subject of her
work. There were also logistics to
consider: “In New York or L.A. there
is such a high density of photographers
that it can be harder to
get resources. I’m not sure I would
have the same funding that I do
here if I were to live somewhere
else,” she says.
Setting yourself apart from the
competition is a definite plus,
but moving too far out can pose
another challenge: staying relevant.
Her says that in order to make sure
her work is seen she makes a point
to connect with the right people.
“You have to take all opportunities
available whether it’s knowing
which critics are coming to your
city or having a conversation with
a curator,” she says. Your physical
location can serve many purposes
for your career, but first and foremost
it should inspire your work.
“I get all of my ideas from where I
am,” the photographer says.
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 17

Holly Andres
38, Portland, Oregon;
University of Montana ’02 and
Portland State University ’04
“I FELL IN love with Portland during
graduate school,” says photographer
Holly Andres, “and I’ve found a very
supportive and creative community
of people here.” In addition to the
people, the environment itself has
been an inspiration. “If I was a studio
photographer my location wouldn’t
matter as much,” she says, “but since
I work on location, it’s important to
me to live in a place that offers me
inspiration and access.”
When choosing a place to live, you
must first consider what you need
to make your pictures. Your environment
should support your photography—not
get in the way. And don’t
forget cost. “New York and L.A. are
both very expensive places to work
in terms of locations and permits,”
explains Andres. When you can keep
DAWN: BELMONT
HOUSE
Andres made the
above image for
her series The
Fallen Fawn. Shot
in Portland,
Oregon in 2014.
MARIEL
HEMINGWAY
Shot for the New
York Times
Magazine in 2013;
Malibu, California.
both your shooting and living costs
down, you can focus more directly
on your craft. “Living in Portland
has allowed me to support a more
creative-focused life,” she says.
Andres has also found that keeping
industry eyes on her work is not
as challenging as it may have once
been. “The world is simultaneously
getting smaller as it gets bigger,”
she says. “Social media platforms
like Instagram have connected
people in the photography industry
in ways that were unimaginable
only a few years ago.” Why
pay to live in N.Y.C. or L.A. when
staying relevant can be as easy as
an Instagram post?
HOLLY ANDRES (2)
18 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

RUSH JAGOE (2)
Rush Jagoe
27, New Orleans, Louisiana; Western Kentucky University ’07
WHEN WE asked Rush Jagoe how
he decided where to begin his
professional career, he responded:
“It was pretty whimsical.” His
spontaneous move to New Orleans
in 2009 proved to be fateful, and he
has been living and shooting there
professionally ever since.
Among the many perks of his
colorful Louisiana environment are
the characters he can meet and
capture everyday. “I have a lot of
friends who moved to New York,
and they were doing interesting
things but they also only hung
out with other photographers. I
wanted to live in a more diverse
community of people.”
Like the other shooters we spoke
with, Jagoe described his photography
as being heavily influenced by
his society and surroundings. “The
culture and traditions [in New
Orleans] are very rich,” he explains,
and “the kinds of people who make
Louisiana their home are very
interesting to me. It can be harder
to focus on one person’s story and
legacy in a bigger city.”
One drawback of living outside
WADING
Portrait of hog
hunter John-Henry
Trant taken in
2016 for Jagoe’s
personal portfolio.
BIRD ON A
SHOULDER
Quintron at City
Park in New
Orleans. Taken for
Airlift in 2015.
of a major photography market:
You are required to travel for
some jobs. “You have to get used
to dropping whatever you are
doing to go shoot an assignment
in New York,” Jagoe cautions, but
it is an inconvenience he is willing
to live with.
When Jagoe reflects on his
decision to pick up and move his
life to New Orleans, he focuses
most on his deep investment in
his adopted home. “Go somewhere
that you think is interesting,
not just somewhere you are
told to go. Take a lot of pictures.
Make work constantly whether
you are getting paid for it or not.”
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 19

READY, SET,
ASSIST
Want to be a working pro? Start by
working for the pros. Here’s how to get
your first assisting job—and what you
need to know to do it right.
By Russell Hart
20 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

GET ON THE JOB
Photographer
Marvin Orellana
captured this
image of a photo
shoot in progress
for the New York
Times.
MARVIN ORELLANA; ISTOCK.COM/MICHAEL_H_REEDHOTMAILCOM
“THERE ARE millions of people
out there who can make gorgeous
pictures,” says New York-based
Will Styer, a Rochester Institute of
Technology grad who, after several
years of assisting, shoots still lifes
for clients such as Esquire, Armani,
and Ralph Lauren. “But a lot of
what goes into being a professional
photographer is dealing
with clients, solving problems as a
team, and making sure things go
smoothly on the day of the shoot—
skills that have nothing to do with
actual photography.” Want to learn
these skills so you can succeed as a
pro? Start by assisting.
1Sell yourself.
Put together a portfolio
that shows off your creative
and technical prowess. Then
customize it to the photographer
you want to work for; if he or she
relies mainly on studio lighting,
for example, include images that
show your ability with lights.
Build a solid website and keep it
updated, so that anyone hiring has
a reference. Then go for it. “As long
as you’re upfront with a photographer
you want to assist about your
knowledge and experience, it’s
never too soon,” says Styer. “You
don’t have to know how equipment
works to carry it. Be honest
about your abilities and realistic in
your expectations.”
2Decide how you
want to work.
Should you work full-time
for one photographer or freelance
with different photographers who
use assistants as needed? “There
are pros and cons to each,” says
New York advertising and
editorial photographer Jack
Reznicki, who assisted for
five years after getting his
BFA from RIT and now shoots
for big-ticket clients such as Hyatt,
AT&T, and The Wall Street Journal.
“With full-time work, you get to
see the entire production from
first phone call to finished product.
As a freelancer you usually see
only a piece of the process, but you
experience a lot more different
kinds of shooting,” he adds. James
Porto, an influential high-concept
photographer, thinks you should
do both. “The ideal path would be
to work for a single photographer
who you admire for at least a year,
then to freelance for multiple photographers,”
Porto says. “Freelancing
pays better, too.”
3Pick your
bosses wisely.
Either way, hire yourself
out to photographers you can
learn from. Look at their work,
especially in magazines and other
print media, and when you make
contact tell them where you’ve
seen it and why you like it. If you
know what kind of work you want
to do, assist photographers who
do it; if you’re still trying to decide,
mix it up. In the process, you may
even find a mentor.
4Choose the best
way to make
contact.
Email may seem the easiest and
least obnoxious, but it’s also easy
to ignore. “I think phone calls are
better and more personal than
email,” says Reznicki. “With the
first call I usually say I can’t talk
then, but I tell them to call me
back at a certain time. What’s
amazing is that only about 25
percent of people follow through
with that request.” The remaining
75 percent, says Reznicki, “don’t
get through the door,” even if they
call back some other time.
5Be persistent
but polite.
“I’m not going to remember
you from one interaction,” says
Tony Gale, an assistant-turnedphotographer
who has taught
assisting workshops co-sponsored
by American Photographic Artists
(APA, of which he’s now president)
and Sony, to whose Artisans of
Imagery group he belongs. “Being
consistent is important. I would
suggest trying a few different ways
to reach out—postcards, email,
social media. Just don’t do them
all at once or too frequently.”
6Do whatever
needs to be done.
Once you start assisting,
know your place. “As an assistant,
your job is to make the shoot as
smooth as possible,” says Gale.
“That might mean setting up
lights, but it could also mean
mopping the bathroom. Don’t be
reluctant to get your hands dirty.”
7Be seen and
not heard.
“Unless you’re the first
assistant and know exactly what’s
going on, you won’t endear yourself
to the boss by always putting
in your two cents on set,” says
Reznicki, who recalls an assistant
who gave unsolicited
advice in front
of a client. “He
didn’t realize
that there was
also a political
aspect to the problem,”
the photographer
says. “I never
hired him again.”
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 21

ISTOCK.COM/MR_MORTON; ISTOCK.COM/BARRAND
8Bring
your own
“kit.”
Pack simple tools and materials
that will reduce your need to ask
for things—a multipurpose pocket
tool, clamps, gaffer’s tape, a roll
of black foil to control light, a pad
and pen for keeping notes, Power
Bars so you won’t have to work
on an empty stomach. “I used to
bring memory cards, which more
than once solved what could have
been a huge problem,” says Gale.
9Anticipate the
photographer’s
needs.
Don’t make the photographer ask
for everything he or she wants
you to do—go ahead and start to
do it. Be judicious, though. “Some
of my assistants know exactly
what needs to be done before I
even tell them because they’ve
worked with me so long,” says
Styer. “But if it’s your first time
assisting a particular photographer,
I’d pay close attention and
just be ready when you’re asked
to do something.”
10 Ask
questions.
Don’t be afraid to
admit what you don’t know. Your
boss knows you’re there not just
to earn some money, but also to
BE A JOINER
Join professional
photographers’
groups such as
PPA, APA, and
ASMP, and volunteer
to work at
their conventions.
These groups often
offer discounted
student memberships
and maintain
searchable assistant
databases
that can help you
find work.
learn. Just don’t overdo it—after all,
you took Photo I in school. “Be confident,
but be teachable,” advises
veteran Minneapolis-based assistant
Tim Olsen, who maintains
APhotoAssistant.com, a website
dedicated to assisting.
11
Be ready.
Sometimes photographers
need assistants
at very short notice—
especially if a member of
their go-to crew can’t take
on the assignment. Lastminute
substitutions can
lead to regular work.
12“If you pay attention,
Have a positive
attitude.
listen, and can focus on a task,
that’s what I care most about,”
says Gale. “Knowing more is always
good, but if I’m going to spend
from six hours to several days with
someone, personality is important.”
13
Don’t use your
smartphone
on set.
“It’s very disrespectful, especially
when time is money and so much
is on the line,” says Jack Reznicki.
“If you have to, do it on your lunch
break or go to the bathroom.”
Reznicki tells of a case in which a
photographer was sued by his client
because his assistant uploaded
a behind-the-scenes image of the
shoot to social media.
14assisted a
Follow up.
If you’ve
photographer and all went
well, send a thank-you note
saying you’d like to work
for him or her again and
expressing the hope that
he or she will refer you
to other photographers.
15 Keep
networking.
Even if you end up
working full-time for one photographer,
it’s important to establish
new connections. Do this on
shoots, of course, but attend photo
community events too. And be sure
to make friends with your local
photo equipment rental house.
16
Exploit social
media.
“It’s actually one of
the ways I’ve met a lot of wellknown
photographers,” says
Detroit-based Matthew LaVere,
who is now making the transition
to full-time professional. “Down the
line, they’ve called me up to see if
I was available to assist. Instagram
and Twitter have really helped me
network.” Facebook offers similar
opportunities, among them The
Crew Group, an informal gathering
of assistants. (Search for groups/
TheCrewGroup.)
17 “It is absolutely
Start mixing in
your own jobs.
possible to assist and shoot at the
same time,” says Gale. “I know
some people believe you should
make a clean break as soon as you
think you’re ready, but I’m not sure
that’s realistic. Gradually shooting
more and assisting less is a
perfectly fine way to do it. And if
you start turning down shooting
jobs because you’re already booked
to assist, you know it’s time to quit
assisting!”
22 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

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Ask
More
Catherine Opie talks about what it means
to make—and look at—portraits
Photos by Catherine Opie; text by Meg Ryan
24 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

AN ORDINARY kitchen in a ranchstyle
home, light diffusing through
a window and reflecting off the
mirrors over scuff-marked, aging
wallpaper. A note to self in red
lipstick on a mirror. The contents
of a closet, half a dozen or so items
at a time: dresses, shoes, gowns,
furs. The golden statuettes. Photos
of friends and family on practically
every surface. A pile of red AIDS
ribbons. A diamond and emerald
necklace dissolving into the sun.
Zooming in on the objects of a
life, from reflections of an inimitably
public image to the mundane,
TWO PORTRAITS
“Kate and Laura,”
2012, from Recent
Portraits, at left,
and “Living Room
West View,”
2010–2011, from
700 Nimes Road
Portfolio (Elizabeth
Taylor), above.
Catherine Opie constructed a
portrait of Elizabeth Taylor without
ever meeting the legendary actor
in person. For the project that ultimately
became 700 Nimes Road, the
photographer was granted access to
Taylor’s Bel-Air home in 2011 after
their mutual accountant made the
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 25

connection—and although Opie
never intended to photograph the
star, the project shifted gears on
March 23, 2011, when Taylor died of
congestive heart failure. The resulting
series (recently on exhibit at
Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side
gallery in New York and at the Los
Angeles MOCA Pacific Design Center
through May 8) gave Opie time
to explore one of many questions
that have motivated her to make
photographs over a celebrated
career: What is a portrait, really?
“It’s trying to extend the definition
of how we begin to define
what a portrait is,” says Opie, the
fine-art photographer whose rigorous
explorations of portraiture and
landscape have produced some of
the most lauded images of the past
25 years. “Somebody as iconic as
Elizabeth Taylor—we know exactly
what she looks like. So through the
still lifes, my question was...does
it give us even more information
about [her] than just having her
sit for me for a portrait?”
If Opie is about anything, she
is about asking questions. From
American Cities to Freeways to her
most recent portraits, the photographer
has been especially
interested in asking questions
about American culture and its
politics. Her aim, she says, is to
“really use my lifetime, my ideas,
and questions that I put forth
to the world…to try to make
bodies of work in relationship
to that.” Opie has set her prolific
and technically exacting work
on tableaux such as Tea Party
rallies, President Barack Obama’s
first inauguration, high school
football, San Francisco’s bondage
community, and natural and
human-made landscapes such
CATHERINE OPIE/REGEN PROJECTS, LA AND LEHMANN MAUPIN, NY & HONG KONG (ALL)
26 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

JEWELS
“Emeralds,”
2010–2011 (top
left), from 700
Nimes Road
(Elizabeth Taylor).
DRESS UP
“Oliver in a Tutu,”
2004, from In and
Around Home.
BALLER
“Kaine,” 2007,
from High School
Football.
as the Los Angeles freeways and
Yosemite National Park. Each image
peers into its subject and points to
the context in which it sits.
As William Eggleston did with
his still lifes of Elvis Presley’s
Graceland in 1984, at Taylor’s home
Opie constructed a similar mosaic
and she takes care to point out
that by fitting disparate images
together, we get to know the person,
not her stuff. “It’s the simple idea
of what bearing witness does,”
Opie says. “You bear witness to a
home. You construct something in
relationship.”
For Opie, those relationships
extend not only into Taylor’s own
life and our cultural history in
relation to her, but into the whole
history of portraiture. Start with
her photo of Andy Warhol’s portrait
of Taylor. “It’s about me the artist
looking at Elizabeth, but also there’s
a relationship to artists or history
having a look at Elizabeth,” Opie
says. “There’s a kind of layering...
that begins to create or designate
the notion of portraiture for me.”
Peel back more layers of relationship—between
artist and
subject, art and audience, artist
and history—and the audience is
pulled into a conversation with
artists who came centuries ago. In a
recent series of portraits (in another
show at UCLA’s Hammer Museum
through May 22), Opie’s friends
and associates sit in poses remi-
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 27

niscent of Renaissance portraits:
emerging from an inky background,
their faces more illuminated than
lit. Idexa kneels inside the frame
gazing into the distance, allowing
us to gaze back at her elaborately
tattooed body. Author Jonathan
Franzen sits with his back to the
camera, inviting us to read over his
shoulder. The chiaroscuro-style portraits
have a strong relationship to
painting, especially to the portraits
of Old Masters such as Hans Holbein,
Rembrandt, and Caravaggio.
Opie looks at that relationship both
conceptually and technically.
“The question that I’m asking...
now [involves] lighting and the way
one would think about Renaissance
lighting,” Opie explains. “Are we
able to hold the person longer, to
think about portraiture vis-à-vis
the fact that social media has taken
over in relationship to the selfie?
By using an older trope, do I have
people actually standing before the
work longer?”
OVERPASSES
Untitled #2, #1,
#11, and #30,
1994, from Opie’s
series Freeways.
INTIMATE
POSESSIONS
“Jewelry Box #6,”
2010–2011, from
700 Nimes Road
(Elizabeth Taylor).
IMAGE OF
AN ARTIST
“Ron,” 2013, from
Recent Portraits.
28 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

To achieve that seductive effect,
Opie uses ProPhoto lights with
a fresnel over the strobe. (She
shoots with a Hasselblad H2 and
Phase One Q180 back.) “Then I’m
able to control the light on the
subject,” she says. “None of the
light manipulation has happened
post-production; it’s all done at
the time of photographing. So I’m
treating digital, for the most part,
still as a platform, like I would treat
a negative.”
In the Portraits and Landscapes
show at the Hammer and at
Lehmann Maupin’s Chelsea gallery,
Opie’s landscapes sit like space bars
amid the portraits’ rich allegorical
text. They prelude a six-story
mural of Yosemite Falls that will
be installed in May at the new L.A.
federal courthouse. These images,
too, invite pause. They stop the
viewer as the brain tries to decipher
the details. Then the gaze softens,
as if staring long enough might
make the image drift into focus.
More questions. “How do we keep
people looking at images?” Opie
asks. “Why are images still important
in this completely saturated
image space, a culture that has been
created through social media?”
As UCLA faculty, Opie advises artists
to follow their passion, understand
their work in context, and to
ask questions. “That’s the cool thing
about being an artist, right? You get
to ask a lot of questions and try to
figure them out by making work,”
she says. “Be passionate, and where
passion alone doesn’t answer everything,
allow complexities to come
in within your work [that] allow you
to understand, really, the language
that you’re working with.
“And don’t stop,” she continues.
“That’s the beauty of being able to
express, of knowing one’s medium
and history of art in depth—to
really explore the complexities of
ideas of representation. I never run
out of questions, and that’s really
a nice thing.”
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 29

TOOLSWhat It
Roundup P.31
Takes P.32
FIRST LOOK
GREATER GLASS
Sony shoots for sharpness with its new lens line
FULL-FRAME FINERY
Sony’s new line of glass debuts with
three full-frame lenses. The traditional
24–70mm f/2.8 workhorse and an
85mm f/1.4 and 70–200mm f/2.8.
FOR YEARS NOW, the best lenses
you could get for Sony Alpha
cameras bore the Zeiss moniker
and were made to the high standards
of that esteemed brand.
Now, with the introduction of its
new series of G Master lenses for
FE- and E-mount mirrorless cameras,
Sony has come up with its
own set of high standards. The
first two lenses in the series, the
FE 24–70mm f/2.8 GM and the
FE 85mm f/1.4 GM, are currently
available for $2,198 and $1,798,
respectively. The third lens in the
series, the FE 70–200mm f/2.8
GM OSS, doesn’t have an official
price yet, but is expected to hit
stores in May.
These lenses throw image
circles that cover full-frame
sensors, but can also be used on
Sony’s APS-C bodies, capturing
the equivalent field of view of
36–105mm, 127.5, and 105–
300mm lenses, respectively.
We had a chance to use the
first two lenses recently on a
Sony-sponsored trip to Miami
Beach, and can say that the
image quality from both lenses
appears superb. Sony says that
it is trying to balance sharpness
and smooth bokeh in its new
glass. Extremely tight manufacturing
tolerances—down to
0.01 micron—aim to make their
new XA (Extreme Aspherical)
elements serve up extremely
smooth out-of-focus discs without
the ring-like effect that can
arise with some lens designs.
Furthermore, new direct drive
supersonic motors and duallinear
supersonic motors help
drive fast, precise focusing. That
said, given the 85mm’s heavy
glass, you can’t expect it to focus
G MASTER
LENSES
KEY SPECS
FOCAL LENGTHS:
24–70mm; 85mm;
70–200mm
MAXIMUM
APERTURES:
f/2.8; f/1.4; f/2.8
MOUNTS:
Compatible with Sony
FE and E mounts
FILTER SIZES:
82mm; 77mm;
77mm
DIMENSIONS:
3.4x5.4 in.; 3.5x4.2
in.; 3.5x7.9 in.
WEIGHTS:
1.95 lbs; 1.81 lbs;
3.26 lbs
PRICES: $2,198,
street; $1,798, street;
price not yet
determined
INFO: sony.com
as quickly as the 24–70mm, or
smaller lenses with lighter elements.
Both lenses are well built
and weather sealed to fend off
moisture and dust; they should
easily stand up to daily use.
According to Sony, G Master
lenses deliver a baseline resolution
of 50 line-pairs per millimeter—more
than double the 20 lp/
mm you might expect from film
era lenses. Why so much res?
Sony has endeavored to make
glass that can deliver more when
paired with cameras that boast
extremely high pixel counts.
From the images we made with
the lenses mounted on Sony’s
A7R II, we think that the company
is on to something. Both the
24–70mm and the 85mm served
up some of the sharpest images
we’ve ever seen with creamy outof-focus
areas. —Philip Ryan
30 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

TOOLS ROUNDUP
CAMERA
UPGRADES
AS YOU GET more serious, you’ll want a camera that keeps
up. These new models each offer advanced capabilities and
outstanding image quality (see our full lab and field tests at
PopPhoto.com/gear for all but the Canon and Nikon, coming
later this spring). All street prices are for the body only.
Olympus Pen-F $1,119 Olympus put a 20.3MP Live
MOS Four Thirds sensor in this interchangeable-lens compact. With
a burst rate of 10 frames per second and ISOs up to 25,600, it’s
aimed at street shooters. High-res mode shoots 50MP images, and
a dial allows for color or monochrome shooting. getolympus.com
Sony Alpha 6300 $1,148 This update has a newly
configured 24.2MP APS-C-sized Exmor CMOS sensor to assist in
video capture, now boosted to an oversampled 4K resolution at 30,
25, and 24 fps. Still shooters will like its robust 425-point autofocus
system and improved subject tracking, high-speed burst mode of 11
fps, and expanded ISO up to 51,200. sony.com
Fujifilm X-Pro2 $1,699 A score for mirrorless camera
fans: its re-engineered hybrid viewfinder blends optical and digital
readouts to enhance manual focus and provide real-time camera
data with options for a bright-line rangefinder view and digital splitscreen
focusing. The new 24.3MP APS-C-sized X-Trans sensor is
sensitive up to 51,200 for low-light shooting. fujifilm.com
Pentax K-1 $1,800 This DSLR brings the solid Pentax
design to the realm of full-frame digital cameras. Its 36.4MP CMOS
sensor is incorporated into a five-axis stabilizer for shake reduction
and use in creative modes like its Astro Tracer for stellar imaging. A
pentaprism viewfinder and novel articulated LCD screen are added
perks. us.ricoh-imaging.com
Nikon D500 $1,997 Nikon’s new top APS-C-format (DX)
DSLR body has a rugged magnesium-alloy frame and integrates a
20.9MP sensor with impressive ISO sensitivity—expandable to cover
ISO 50 to 1,640,000—and the ability to churn out 4K video at up to
30 fps or Full HD at up to 60 fps. Nikon added 153 AF points, 99 of
which are cross-type, and 10 fps shooting. nikonusa.com
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II $5,999 This DSLR
sports a 20.2MP full-frame sensor and two DIGIC 6+ image
processors. Its UDMA7-compatible CompactFlash slot and CFast 2.0
slot lets you capture large, Fine JPEGs (up to 73 RAW images on a
UDMA7 CF card, or 170 RAW shots on a CFast2.0 card). It records
4K video at up to 60 fps as Motion JPEG files and offers ALL-I or IPB
compression when recording Full HD at up to 120 fps. The expanded
sensitivity range spans ISO 50 to 409,600. usa.canon.com
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 31

TOOLS WHAT IT TAKES SHOE-MOUNT FLASH
HOT
SHOT
To freeze action,
try using an
accessory flash
OUR WEB EDITOR Stan Horaczek
took on a cool assignment a few
years back: An aspiring Hollywood
professional asked him to help
build a portfolio of action photos
that she hoped would get her stunt
work. To create the action—here
taken among state office buildings
in Albany, New York—she planted
her foot on the edge of a large public
sculpture and acrobatically pushed
herself off it into a flip. For the shot
to work, Horaczek had to catch her
at exactly the right moment and
keep her as sharp as possible. His
perfect timing assured the former
and his flash the latter.
Why Use It
Even though the scene had plenty
of natural light, Horaczek needed
the pop of his shoe-mount flash. Its
additional output illuminated detail
in his subject’s black dress: You can
see the folds, and even a little of
the texture, in its dark fabric. They
wouldn’t have recorded if Horaczek
relied on available light.
But that’s not the main reason he
added the flash. “Hotshoe flashes
typically have pretty fast flash
durations, and this one did a good
job freezing her,” says Horaczek. His
Canon 580EX Speedlite's duration
of approximately 1/2000 sec (at full
power), was much shorter than his
sluggish—by action standards—
1/160 sec shutter speed. The flash
assured the sharpness he needed,
and because it was held off-camera
and up high, it cast that cool
shadow behind his subject.
How to Use It
To get the shortest flash durations,
switch your unit to manual mode,
and set the lowest power output (i.e.
1/32 or 1/64 power). For this subject,
however, full-power delivered
sharpness enough. —Peter Kolonia
Horaczek used a
Canon EOS 5D Mark
III and Canon EF
24–105mm f/4L IS
USM lens. Exposure
1/160 sec at f/8,
ISO 400. The 580 EX
Speed lite flash was
set to full power.
STAN HORACZEK (PORTRAIT)
32 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

Alpha Universe Magazine
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— In-depth features across all areas of photography
— Learn from Acclaimed Sony Artisans such as Brian Smith, Me Ra Koh, Ira Block and more
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Available for download in the iTunes ® and Google Play stores and with select issues of <strong>Popular</strong> <strong>Photography</strong>.
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are trademarks of Sony. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. iTunes is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the
U.S. and other countries. Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.
POPPHOTO.COM/CAMPUS POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS 33

SHOOT THIS ROOFLINES
AN ARCHITECTURAL photographer
based in Chicago, Slobodan Blagojevic
visited New York in 2013 and
toured the Museum of Modern Art.
Looking out from a top floor, Blagojevic
was struck by the elements of
French, Palladian, neoclassical, and
modernist styles in sight.
Rooftops offer refreshingly atypical
views of buildings compared to
what we experience from the street.
They’re also home to distinctive
objects. Blagojevic, for example,
enjoys shooting Manhattan’s water
TOP OF THE WORLD
Get up high to change your perspective
towers. London has its chimneys
and Paris its distinctively shaped
mansard rooflines—most places can
look distinctive from up high.
If you want to try for yourself,
Blagojevic advises to first make sure
your camera is level. This keeps a
scene’s vertical lines distortion-free
and parallel to the frame edges. Try
not to shoot your subject through a
window: it can add unwanted reflections,
blurriness, and color shifts,
especially if the glass is thick, coated,
or tinted.
—Peter Kolonia
A DIFFERENT
VIEW
Blagojevic used a
Canon EOS 60D
and EF 17–55mm
f/2.8 IS USM lens,
exposing for 1/80
sec at f/4, ISO
400.
YOUR
ASSIGNMENT
Photograph rooftops or a roofline
and try to capture the character
or personality of the architecture,
the city, or the atmosphere. Look
for eye-catching angles, lighting,
and design. Share to Instagram
or Facebook with the hashtag
#AssignmentPopPhoto for the
chance to be featured on www.
PopPhoto.com/campus.
SLOBODAN BLAGOJEVIC
34 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016

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36 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY ON CAMPUS APRIL 2016
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