Born and raised in New Zealand, DPR reader Sarnim Dean has been surrounded his whole life by wildlife and landscapes many of us only dream of visiting. He explores the country on his mountain bike and with his camera. Take a look at some of his images and find out more about him in our Q&A. See gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
‘Conceptual’ and ‘commercial’ photography are styles that relatively few are able to achieve success in, especially at the same time. But Dean Bradshaw’s intellectual and humorous approach to advertorial work sets his portfolio far above that of the typical commercial photographer. Take a look at a selection of his imagery and find out a few insights behind his success in our Q+A. See gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
FashionPhotographyBlog.com caught up with Photo of The Week winner, Canadian artist, Dean McClelland who won, what could be described as one of the most intense rounds of Photo of the Week to date. There were over 200 votes that were counted that week and about fifty percent of the votes were for Deans winning photo, “Summer” with second place only merely a handful of votes away. The week was truly represented the week’s theme – “Savage Survivor”.
Based near the Rocky Mountain’s in Calgary, Alberta, Dean, coincidentally, was celebrating his birthday that week so winning Photo of the Week was an added surprise. I sat down with Dean and asked him about his winning image and how did he find his way into the world of photography.
So how did Dean’s photography journey began? The photographed revealed that, “2003 was the year of exploration of a new media for me. (Lord Of The Rings) Return of the King just came out in theatres and having watched the making of the last two movies I was intrigued in colour processing. Peter Jackson revolutionized how we view movies with digital colour pallets. His story telling was enhanced because of it. Adobe Photoshop became affordable and had the tool set I was looking for to explore this area of colour and storytelling through a single image.
Buying my first digital camera allowed me to jump into the world of photography and experience a creative work flow that had endless potential. The learning curve was steep but I quickly became acquainted with a small tool set that made my photos stand apart from other photographers. I found that conceptual and digital photo composite fine art best suit my interest and my style.”
Dean’s unique artistic style reflects his family’s heritage from his mother’s side. You see, his grandfather was a vaudeville magician and his brother carries on the tradition as the photographer explained “My interest in fashion photography harks back to the lifestyle of the vaudeville era – a time when people were drawn to sideshows, midways and vaudeville shows by the smells of candy floss and corn dogs and the chance to see oddities and performances that fuelled the imagination.
My grandfather owned such a show and when he retired all of his equipment to his backyard my brother, cousins and I would play on the old midway rides. The magic of that era led my brother to develop his own magic and illusion show, which fascinated me and led to my own interest in the era. The advent of the digital age made it easier to access the tools, like Photoshop, that allowed me to develop my own approach to photography. I would classify my art as conceptual with a focus on character and storytelling. You will find whimsy and a touch of dark humour in my work.”
Growing up with these oddities around him, he found the pieces to create his style through observation and study of his brother’s art of sideshow. Dean’s work embodies a sense of whimsy, humor, and a quirkiness to his photography which is fused with an essense that not all is right in this world as seen in Dean’s winning image. So what inspired this piece, depicting a sultry woman in a shawl standing her ground beside to a tiger in a parched desert? The photographer mentioned that “I had a hair stylist take a liking to my photography and we went into discussions on doing a photo shoot with the theme of summer, spring, fall, and winter. The picture show cased here was of our summer theme.”
To create this shoot Dean has provided a list of the specific equipment he used to created this shoot that includes:
Camera: 5D Mark 2
Lighting: Elinchrom ranger pack, Elinchrom EL- Skyport
Lighting: 100 cm soft box
Lens: Canon 24 mm prime
Photoshop CS Extended
Lightroom
For more information about Dean McClelland’s work you can find his work submitted to Flickr and 500px. Just plug his name in their search bar and you will find him :). Ending the interview, Dean shared, as a takeaway for our readers, what he thought were the most important elements that a photographer should know to become successful in fashion photography, these being, “Know your client well, create a photo that reflects the client’s objectives, and enjoy what you do.”
Currently, we have another round of Photo Of The Week running. To participate in the voting, make sure you “like” our Facebook page here and vote for your favorite photographer‘s photo out of the finalists in the comments section of the post. The photo with the most vote’s by the end of the week at Sunday midnight will win Photo of the Week and win the great prizes on offer.
Since FashionPhotographyBlog.com is Google’s #1 site on fashion photography in the world, you might be interested in entering our Photo of The Week competition. This could be your entry to some great exposure if you submit your photo and win. To find out more details on how to enter, make sure you join our mailing list. We will send you the entry details via your email. As a reminder, voting ends at the end of the week so make sure you get voting our Facebook page here.
What do you think of Dean’s winning photo? We want to know what you think. Tell us in the comments below, do you agree with how this week’s voting outcome? What is your critique on this photo? We want to hear from you!
Check out these visual art images:
Paintings by Dean Russo at the Artist’s Studio / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54876.P1.L1.C45 / SML
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
Mixed media paintings by Dean Russo (Facebook). Photographed inside the artist’s studio during Dumbo Art Festival in 2009.
Dean Russo on the Web
+ deanrusso.com
+ facebook.com/deanrussoart
+ www.deanrussoart.etsy.com
13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® (Sept 25 to Sept 27, 2009)
www.dumboartfestival.org/press_release.html
The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.
Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.
The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) has been the exclusive producer of the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival® since 1997. DAC is a big impact, small non-profit, that in addition to its year-round gallery exhibitions, is committed to preserving Dumbo as a site in New York City where emerging visual artists can experiment in the public domain, while having unprecedented freedom and access to normally off-limit locations.
www.dumboartscenter.org
www.dumboartfestival.org
www.video_dumbo.org
Related SML
+ SML Fine Art (Flickr Group)
+ SML Flickr Collections: Events
+ SML Flickr Sets: Art
+ SML Flickr Sets: Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009
+ SML Flickr Tags: Art
+ SML Pro Blog: Art
Some cool visual art images:
University of Maryland Arts and Humanities Dean James Harris Resigning After 14 Years
Image by University of Maryland Press Releases
Caption: Arts and Humanities Dean James Harris will resign his post after 14 years on June 30, 2011.
Legacy of Innovative Approaches and Initiatives
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – James F. Harris, dean of the University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities, will resign his post on June 30, 2011, marking 14 years on the job.
The dean says he is not retiring and will remain on the history faculty. He made the announcement at the annual faculty staff convocation.
"It’s time," Harris explains. "In the past decade we have seen a tremendous upsurge in the quality of the student body, our faculty, and our offerings, significantly raising the College’s profile. It has been a wonderful period of growth, and I’ve had the pleasure of leading a phenomenal group of faculty, staff and students."
Harris came to the University of Maryland in 1967. He became history chair in 1993 and dean of the college in 1997. As dean, he has worked to raise the visibility and impact of the college by implementing a series of innovative programs responding to social and academic challenges.
"He has been an outstanding and dedicated member of our community, leaving the College in a much stronger position than the one he inherited," says Nariman Farvardin, acting president and senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
"Jim has put Arts and Humanities on a trajectory for achieving even more significant accomplishments in the years to come," Farvardin adds."I want to thank him for his thoughtful and visionary leadership of the College of Arts and Humanities and for being such a wonderful member of the leadership team. We are also happy that he will remain at Maryland as a distinguished faculty member."
SIGNATURE INITIATIVES
LANGUAGE: Among the signature initiatives launched under Harris’ leadership are a major reorganization and expansion of language education and research. This has led the university to national leadership in the field.
Harris folded the various language departments into the present School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. This interdisciplinary approach proved to be a creative boon.
In the post-9/11 years, the College has taken a lead in developing innovative approaches to foreign language acquisition, including:
*Two of the 23 National "Flagship" programs in the country – in Persian and Arabic – offering cutting-edge, advanced foreign language instruction;
* UM Center for Advanced Study of Language and the National Foreign Language Center, which conduct major research and development for the nation;
* Added majors in Persian and Arabic;
* National Science Foundation IGERT, Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, a program aimed at creating new interdisciplinary approaches to language that draws on strengths across the university.
ARTS: Dean Harris oversaw the creation and growth of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center into a national model for university-based academic and performance integration.
A major regional performance venue, the Center has become a vibrant community of artists, students and audiences, where great work happens both on- and off-stage. The Center presents approximately 1,000 events each year spanning all performing arts disciplines.
Also, Dean Harris applied an interdisciplinary approach to the arts to create the School of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. Along with the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the programs have become what Harris describes as major contributors to the creation of new works of art.
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, established in 2001, provides an intellectual home for artists, museum professionals, art administrators and scholars, who are committed to collecting, documenting and presenting African American art.
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES: Under Dean Harris’ leadership, the University of Maryland has developed an integrative approach to Middle East studies. The program has expanded with the creation of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies and the Roshan Center for Persian Studies – the first autonomous, interdisciplinary U.S. center in the field.
DIGITAL HUMANITIES: Another area of innovative, interdisciplinary growth is the field of digital humanities, media and cultures. The College, in collaboration with the Libraries and the Office of Information Technology created the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. In the past decade, it has become a leading intellectual hub and national center.
Last year, the school used a "cluster search" approach to hire top faculty specialists in the field, where various departments competed against each other to fill three slots. The final appointments were in the fields of Art, American Studies and Women’s Studies. "The addition of talent to an already strong field has been extraordinary," Harris says. "If we always appoint the best, we will soon be the best."
Harris credits the accomplishments to Arts and Humanities’ administrative council, faculty and staff, "who have painstakingly labored to help advance the work of the college."
In addition to his leadership in the College, Dean Harris has had a significant university-wide impact, including his contributions to the institution’s strategic planning effort and coordination of the 150th anniversary celebration marked in 2006.
BY-THE-NUMBERS
Among the advances during Harris’ administration:
* The College’s enrollment increased from about 2,300 majors to over 4,000;
* Sponsored research revenue rose from approximately 0,000 to million per year; and
* The College exceeded its million Great Expectations capital campaign fundraising goal, then increased it to million and is on track to exceed this new amount by the campaign’s conclusion. This represents a 300 percent increase over funds raised by the College during the last campaign.
Farvardin will appoint a committee in the near future to begin a national search to fill Harris’ position.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Neil Tickner
Senior Media Relations Associate
University of Maryland
301-405-4622
ntickner@umd.edu
Nicky Everette
Communications Director
College of Arts and Humanities
301-405-6714
meve@umd.edu
A piece by Bruce Conner and Double Cross by Edward and Nancy Kienholz, 1988
Image by Steve Rhodes
museum.stanford.edu
His obituary
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/08/BAKA…
more at
newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/2008/07/bruce-conner-19….
www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2008/07/bruce_conner.html
A 1972 oral history
www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/conn…
Image by Steve Rhodes
museum.stanford.edu
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