April Adventures in Photography

Welcome to Rory's Adventures in Photography! This spring has been a delightfully busy one with a diverse list of victims: photographers, models, musicians, lovebirds, and baby-filled people, oh my! From left to right, top to bottom: Samuel Delgado, Joseph Adkins, Roxanne Underwood, Samuel Delgado, Joseph Adkins, and Cyndi Williams. It is difficult to select a shoot to highlight for the newsletter-so I will simply choose the most recent adventure with my new friend Nathan Tingle-a Nashville musician who surprised me by arriving to our shoot wearing a 77's t-shirt. The 77's are an old, underground alternative/blues/pop band that has been putting out albums in the Christian music industry for almost 30 years. I feel a special kinship whenever I run into a fellow fan. 1980's alternative Christian rock is a sub-genre of a sub-genre from a day when it was us against them: they were many, and we were few-so we old-school fans have to stick together! This only makes sense when you understand that in some churches all rock was banned and Christian rock was simply uncool elsewhere because lumpy groins in spandex, "lick my love pump" lyrics, and men in excessive makeup were en vogue. Even though Stryper breached the polar extremes of tight pants, guitars, and the cross, there were other musical offerings available, too! So here's a link to the 77's website: http://www.77s.com/ Christian alternative underground music history aside, our goal for this shoot was to create some safe images that could be used for Nathan's promotion and for use on a future album layout. I wanted us to imagine trying to "break the 3rd wall". Obviously, photographs are 2-dimensional and are doomed to remain within their rectangles. With a little play, however, we might increasingly energize the viewer by advancing the pose: freezing motion, having the talent reach towards the camera, implying an association between the viewer and the talent, placing the camera in abnormal positions, and so on... Above are some of the safer images according to our risk assessment modulation unit. The zig zag trail of light in the background was provided by Dylan Reyes, my first-class assistant who drew light paths with a flashlight from behind a hanging wax paper. If you would like a great photo assistant, click on his name and put him to work! Here are the riskier images according to our risk assessment modulation unit. As you can see, we are trying very, very, hard to make you, the viewer, entertained :) It simply makes me absolutely thrilled to get to play with all these toys: lights, camera, and energetic, wonder-filled talent! Thank you for reading this month's briefing. Don't forget to visit to my blog here for a more current and randomized slice of what's going on with my photography, Copa's Gospel Cigar Rock, philosophical expeditions, etc. By the way, I released 3 albums and 1 compilation by my rock band Copa last year on iTunes and haven't told anybody about it. If you would like to check it out, click here. Grab a few tunes for yourself and go underground with the gospel cigar! Be seeing you! Rory Rory White Photography 1609 Linden Avenue B Nashville, Tn 37212 615.631.0106 | chilidogcowboy@yahoo.com

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Some Peers I Admire

I'm reading "The Ruler" aka "The Prince" by Machiavelli this month. It can be summed up, from my 50-page experience thus far, by watching the way power flows to and through the Corleone's in "The Godfather". Attaining power is not a casual exercise, but requires the absolute annihilation of all of the former ruler's family and loyalists. At the point of takeover, if the ruler is to ascribe major shifts to the law, then he must do so immediately. If he is to kill a number of the old guard, he must do it all at once and at the beginning of his rule. Machiavelli notes that the shock of the death of one will cover over the shock of the death of many, thus allowing for a massive violent maneuver that, once complete, will be much more palpable than a long term multi-phase termination of the old cabinet.

How does this apply to us? For my purposes, it is a useful analogy for personal change. One can change according to gradual, seemingly less painful increments, or go cold turkey from one modus operandi to another. The initial shock of the latter can often deliver better long term results once it is complete. The other, like stretching a bungee cord, can land a person back in square one because of its underlying lack of resolve.

That has nothing to do with the following part of the blog, save that there are other peers in my field that have been much more effective in gaining a foothold in the industry...

My transfer into full time photography was one of gradual maneuvers that has fortunately landed me into a career with a camera and without a debt, thanks to some fortuitous gifts and purchases along the way. There are others my age, however, who are beating the pavement in the world's power broker centrals, making an impression on the photo industry and with prestigious clientele. Perhaps they are more Machiavellian in their strategies, and perhaps they were dictated less by fear than I have been. Their work is superb. Here are a few links to some great work by photographers my age who make me dig in deeper as I strive to be better:

http://kareemblack.com/
http://www.davehillphoto.com/
http://brianniven.com/
http://www.timtadder.com/
http://www.chaskielberg.com/
and fellow Nashvillain http://www.jeremycowart.com/

There are so many others who belong on this list...

The Rebellion

I finally found a Beatles Butcher album in Franklin, Tn. "Butcher album?" you ask. Yes--enjoy this youtube clip that explains it all....almost. I believe that the album shoot herein was a reaction to the way that the record company re-ordered the Beatles masters into albums that were not what they had originally intended--thus 'butchering' them. So they put themselves on the cover with babies and raw meat as a rebellious statement. Before there was Madonna to shock us...

Rory's Photo Newsletter from March

Welcome to Adventures in Photography! Before I get down to business time, I must announce that I have been building up a blog for the last month. It is located at www.rorywhite.blogspot.com and will be the place where I will post these newsletters for a larger audience, my personal musings, and manifestos from my Copa bulletins. Please take a moment to add the RSS feed to your Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, or other start page. I will do my best to keep you intrigued. "Copa?" you ask. If you were unaware, I also govern a gospel cigar rock band called Copa where you can grab free tunes from our new album titled "The Copa Club" by becoming a fan (join the Copa Costa Nostra here). As part of the Copa Costa Nostra you will also receive the Gospel Cigar Newsletter which will keep you up to date on rare Copa shows and provide you with access to some of the best workout music ever. Now let's get together for two minutes of business time. I have had to sit on my hands to keep from writing about this adventure until the DVD was taped for Chonda's new routine "This Ain't Prettyville". It's a big month for the Pierce family as Chonda taped the "This Ain't Prettyville" routine at the historic Ryman Theater (available by clicking here), and her dapper husband David Pierce released his new book "Don't Let Me Go" (which is available by clicking here). Our last adventure with Chonda took us to a land of 200 lb disco balls (see the blog), and this adventure took us to a land of jukeboxes, water pumps, and neon lights. We traveled to a taxidermy and a backyard in historic Ashland City with the goal of creating an imaginary 'Prettyville' to compliment Chonda's recent comedy routine. The most difficult task of the day (refer to the lead image) required that we guard the camera from hungry pickup truck drivers as it stood innocently upon a tripod in the middle of the parking lot surrounded by yellow caution tape and orange cones during sunset. This allowed me to photograph the diner with a beautiful sunset sky and later mix in a wet reflective parking lot (accomplished by momentarily stealing the neighbor business's hose!) There was a problem in shooting both the sky and the wet parking lot at the same time, since the parking lot was full of cars during sundown. As soon as both the sunset and wet parking lot photos were captured, it was up to Chonda to step in and strike some poses, which made for a cheerful diner shot. For the yard photo, we were assisted by a retired man who had a very small yard that he spent his free time making into a quaint slice of Americana. It appears as an idyllic dreamscape that fit our "Prettyville" façade uniquely. Fellow comedy pros Zan Augderheide (www.zancomedy.com) and Leland Klassen (www.lelandklassen.com) stepped into the taxidermy with Chonda and served to create this juxtaposition of animal corpse heads with wholesome family comedy. They look menacing here. Hey, this ain't Prettyville! Thanks for reading! Rory

Rory White Photography 1609 Linden Avenue B Nashville, Tn 37212 615.631.0106 | chilidogcowboy@yahoo.com