Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2022/12/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Tue, 6 Dec 2022 Michael Gardner <mlgardner96 at mac.com>wrote: >I have looked a through the galleries a number of times. Very remarkable work. Truly a master of the medium. And On Brian Reid <reid at mejac.carlsbad.ca.us> wrote: > ?Alan Magayne-Roshak posted a breathtaking two-person wedding portrait last week. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/Portraits/20000916_MR_Beth_Wedding_A_11.jpg.html > > I liked it so much that I spent a few hours going through his Portraits folder: > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/Portraits/ > > I was blown away by the quality of everything there. These are magnificent portraits, every last one of them. Technically masterful as well as great poses. > > So I started looking through his other albums. > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/ > > He has 2000 pictures overall in his LUG gallery, and I can't claim to have studied all of them. But after a while, I started noticing a pattern. The lighting in his >pictures is almost always masterful. So much so that I started wondering how he did it. It couldn't just be good luck or fortunate circumstances. Well, of >course, skill. The man is a truly gifted photographer, and one of his gifts seems to be an ability and interest in perfecting the lighting in his pictures. ======================================================================================================================= Brian and Michael, thank you very much for the kudos. I can only attribute any skill I have to the environment I grew up in. Our family subscribed to TIME and LIFE magazines, which I began reading when I was five, so I got to see good photography from a young age. My father had been in photo reconnaissance during WWII and I used to look through the pictures he took during his time in the service. I also was lucky enough when I was little to see many great B&W movies a the local TV station in Chicago, such as The Third Man, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit, The Magnificent Ambersons. These films had wonderful lighting, and I must have absorbed their lessons (Robert Krasker, Douglas Slocombe and Stanley Cortez shot these). When we moved to Milwaukee I was blessed coming to a place that had a tradition of advanced photography. The Milwaukee Journal was a leader in the use of multiple flash photography not only to do justice to the subject, but also to give optimum quality in newsprint reproduction. Many who worked on the Journal went on to national prominence at LIFE magazine, the National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, etc. When I got serious about photography, in college, I came in contact with some of the greats from that paper, such as George Koshollek, Bob Boyd, Ted Rozumalski, Tom Abercrombie, Henry Larson, and my mentor, Edward R. Farber (developer of portable electronic flash). I still have Ed's three display boards covered with 8x10's that demonstrate how to use multiple flash, the early ones with flashbulbs, and the later ones with portable strobe. Our university also hosted many seminars with famous photographers, so I got to interact with people such as as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ernst Haas, Howard Sochurek, Frank Scherschel, and W. Eugene Smith. Due to these influences, I had a preference for multiple source lighting, as opposed to the more prevalent available light practice. When I got my dream job at UWM Photo Services, I was able to use whatever techniques were appropriate, and I tried to use balanced light so the picture was optimally illuminated, even if it took more effort. (I can't stand one-light photography, where things blend together. I like light against dark and dark against light to separate the various planes in the picture). That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. ;^) -- Alan Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Photo Services (Retired) UPAA Photographer of the Year 1978 UPAA Master of the Profession 2014 amagayneroshak at gmail.com <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/> "All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for an inability to notice. " - Elliott Erwitt