Pittsburgh Tribune Review of PITTSBURGH Show

Five Photographers Offer an Eye on Pittsburgh by Kurt Shaw.

Dylan, Mark and I were on hand at the opening reception to the PITTSBURGH a century of photography show. We are all three teachers and many of our students from Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Carnegie Mellon University,were in attendance, as well a number of friends, family and clients. It was great to talk about photography and Pittsburgh with so many people.

I ran into Clyde "Red" Hare this past Wednesday, he was unable to make the reception but I know he wanted to be there. Red took a picture of the Heinz Endowments, DOWNTOWN NOW photography team.

One of the real highlights of the PITTSBURGH show, reception, was seeing the work juxtaposed in one place. From Luke Swank's Pittsburgh to Clyde's through to my own. Same city, such different perspectives. As Mark Perrott said to me as my wife Jennifer Pesci-Kelly took our picture in front of the Luke Swank wall, "This is a good night for Photography in Pittsburgh." And he was right.

Pittsburgh A CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Pittsburgh A CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

at the the Concept Art Gallery

November 15th - January 31st 2008

Reception November 15th at 5-7 pm.

Featuring Photography by

Clyde Hare
Richard Kelly
Mark Perrott
Luke Swank
Dylan Vitone

Concept Art Gallery
1031 South Braddock Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
USA

Behind the lens at Thoughtform Design

After last weeks presentation at Thoughtform Design I was invited to sit down with Project Strategist John Sotirakis, and some of his colleagues, for a brief Q&A. Jonathon Hill was one of those and he created the web page of my presentation.

We talked about photography, culture of the amateur, the influence of stock photography on assignment work and our clients interpretation of a visual comp. I talked about the journey from Assistant to producer to photographer. The importance of mentors and mentoring and why I love teaching.

An additional caption and attribution should be noted on the photograph of Greg Louganis, that was a Polaroid test, from a photo shoot in 1986, I was the first assistant and the photographer was David Vance.

Dreams, Goals & Lists

This morning I am presenting to THOUGHTFORM Inc, a Pittsburgh based design firm. I was invited by my friend and colleague, John Sotirakis,to tell some stories that I refer to as "behind the lens" (reference to "Behind the Music," on VH-1).

Going back to my early mentors, David Vance, Art Kane and Kurt Markus the experiences of assisting, producing and shooting come full circle in the photograph that I am creating today for clients and my personal projects.

Later I will share some of the stories.

Shutterbug Magazine Radio Professionalism and Ethics

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to participate in an interview on Shutterbug Magazine radio. The theme was ethics and professionalism in photography. As a photographer and educator these topics come up from time to time in the studio or in the classroom, but it is a rare opportunity to talk about business ethics to a more mainstream audience.

The topic was partly inspired by recent news coverage of photojournalists creating new images from multiple frames using image editing software and the comments of a popular conceptual photographer who created images of a political candidate. Although very different circumstances, both have started multiple discussions online and in the mainstream media about the photography industry and the professional standards and ethics we stand by.

As I prepared for the interview I looked back at some of my experiences over the twenty years I have been a professional. My personal opinion is that the expectations of our profession have not changed, but that society has both raised the bar of what is acceptable and at the same time been an accomplice to more and more sifting under the bar.

Here is the link to the interview, let's see what develops. Bad puns never die they must be archival!

Richard Kelly Photographs • Writers + Light Exhibit at Carnegie Library Main Pittsburgh

Carl Kurlander, producer & director. The screenwriter of St. Elmos Fire author of The F-Word with Louie Anderson. Photographed in Schenley Park.

So many of the people I've photographed over the years are writers--it's actually quite poetic that I've had a chance to visually tell the story of so many storytellers. For the month of August, I have an exhibit called "Writers + Light" at the Main Library of the Carnegie Library Pittsburgh in Oakland. It will be on display in the gallery to the left of the main lobby until the end of August, 2008.

I hope you can stop by and check it out. Here is the Artist Statement and the Captions for the photographs.

Writers + Light
Richard Kelly

Artist Statement

I discovered photography during my weekly visits to the Ellwood City Public library. It started with simple curiosity as I read my way around the library eager to read and learn any and everything. The photography books captivated me. That perfect balance of art and science, photography became my obsession and my passion.

Books were my window to the world. Through books I came to appreciate the art of writing and those that write. I place writers on a very high pedestal; having often interacted with writers, Magazine writers, screenwriters, playwrights, non-fiction writers, and novelists. Writers have introduced me to other worlds, inner exploration, new ideas, introspection, drama, laughter, art, sport, tragedy and much more.

My approach to this body of work has remained true to my course. To create a portrait that tells a story that explains just enough but does not reveal it all, like a good writer.

These images span time from the early nineties to last month. Some were for assignments for publication in magazines, author portraits for publicity, book covers or just plain fun. Most of these sessions with writers are long conversations about the subjects that they write about, books read and experiences we’ve had. I love photographing writers.

These images are part of a continuing body of work called ARTIST’S & SCIENTIST’S: people who use the creative process. Many of the photographs were created with a 4x5 SUPER GRAPHIC using POLAROID type 55 film. The square images were created with a Hasselblad 6x6 format. Two images were made with a FUJIFILM S-3 Digital Camera.

Biography:

Richard Kelly is an editorial and corporate photographer who photographs environmental portraits with style. Richard’s body of work includes commissioned assignments and personal works, both satisfying his mission to capture real people in real places with real passions. Portfolios of his environmental portraits of artists, actors, and captains of industry have been published in numerous magazines including Pittsburgh Professional, People, Information Week and CIO.
Richard’s photographs have been exhibited at Nikon House, the United Nations and Silver Eye Center for Photography, and his work is in various private collections. Richard has been commissioned to participate in The Heinz Endowment Downtown Now Photography Project, which details recent cultural and structural transformations in downtown Pittsburgh.

As a prominent figure in the Pittsburgh photography community, Richard was the Director of Photography for WQED Multimedia from March of 2003 to March of 2007, and is currently the President of Indigo Factory, Inc. He is also an adjunct instructor at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and a member of Silver Eye Center for Photography and American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and the Society of Photoggraphic Educators (SPE). He is First Vice-President and a National Director and of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP
He lives with his wife Jennifer Pesci-Kelly and daughter Grace Ann on Pittsburgh’s Southside.

Captions

WRITERS + LIGHT

Pittsburgh Writers

Richard Kelly

1. Bill Deasy, songwriter and novelist Ransom Seaborn- photographed at WQED Studio A (2005)

2. Bob Corbin, songwriter and performer Corbin Hanner- photographed at WQED Studio A (2005)

3. Duane Michals, photographer The Adventures of Constantine Cavafy-photographed East Carson Street on the Pittsburgh Southside (2004)

4. Lee Gutkind, author ALMOST HUMAN: MAKING ROBOTS THINK and editor of Creative Non-Fiction – Photographed near the Greenfield Bridge (2003)

5. William “Bill” Moushey, investigative reporter Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and director of Innocence Institute of Point Park University –Photographed at the Innocence Institute file room at Point Park University.

6. Jeff Sewald, producer, writer and director Gridiron & Steel – Photographed on the South Shore of the Monongahela River (2008)

7. Bob Evans, editorial director of InformationWeek and TechWeb – Photographed at his home in the East End of Pittsburgh

8. Jeanne Marie Laskas, journalist and author Growing Girls – Photographed on the Southside of Pittsburgh

9. Shauna Seliy, author When we get there- Photographed on the Southside of Pittsburgh (2006)

10. Stewart O’Nan, author Snow Angels- Photographed at Schenley Park

11. Rob Rogers, editorial cartoonist Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Photographed in his kitchen in Lawrenceville

12. Robert Bianco, TV Critic USA Today – Photographed in his bathroom in Lawrenceville

13. Chip Walter, author Thumbs, Toes and Tears¬- Photographed in Studio on the Southside

14. Carl Kurlander, producer &director.The screenwriter of St. Elmos Fire author of The F-Word with Louie Anderson. Photographed in Schenley Park.

...try a different lens she says.

Tracing my steps through downtown Pittsburgh not long ago, while working on a project called Downtown Now I felt like I was bumping up against a mime wall, you know those invisible walls created by mime's with their hands. I had just finished up a multi-week project using a canon d-Slr and my trusty 28-70mm lens and everything was feeling done before. I was looking for light and interesting people and seeing none of it.
At dinner that evening, Jennifer, my wife and muse, said slightly muffled, "try a different lens!"
Of course the advice is good, she only gives good advice, but what struck me is that she had to say it at all. You see this is the advice I give to my friends and students when they get "stuck" with the photographers version to writer's block. Sometimes, changing a lens or film or format will be just the kick in the seat of the pants that we (I) need to find what we were looking for.