Category: Photography

Dan Routh Photography

Advertising, Agriculture, North Carolina, Photography, Randolph County, Work

(Photographs copyright 2020 by Dan Routh)

Commercial photographer based in Greensboro, North Carolina shooting advertising and editorial images for Fortune 500 and local clients. Photography of people, fashion, lifestyles, outdoor recreation, sports, travel, agriculture, heavy industry and construction, autos and auto racing. Studio and location. Photoshop, retouching, and digital image manipulation. Headshots and executive portraits. Location scouting, casting, props and production coordination for still photography. 

Certified FAA Part 107 Drone Pilot.

To view my portfolio, go to https://www.danrouthphotography.net/home

Although my photography business is based out of Greensboro, North Carolina, I am a Randolph County native and live on my family’s 120 acre beef cattle farm on Routh Road in Grays Chapel. A lot of my photography is done near my home, featuring family, friends, neighbors and local scenes. I grew up as the son of a dairy farmer/teacher and worked on the dairy until I left for UNC and a degree in Cultural Anthropology, and then Photography at Randolph Community College. 

Growing up in a rural farming community has had a profound effect on what and how I shoot. I have created a personal project of documenting my local community and the people that live and work in it. Many of those folks are farmers, or like myself have at least been raised to be. Because of this background in agriculture I have a special affinity for shooting farms and farmers, and understand who they are and what they do. If you have or are an ag client, give me a shout out. I’d love to work for you. Course, I’d love to shoot your other projects as well.

Rick Smith, Still Hanging in There

Personal, Photography
(Image courtesy of and © Richard Smith)
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a special 40 year retrospective of the photographic work of long-time Greensboro photographer Rick Smith. Randolph Community College’s photography department honored Rick by hanging a show of his personal work going back some forty years. Rick was in attendance and gave a short talk on design, photography and how he has combined the two over the years to produce his extraordinary imagery. There was a large crowd there, including many former clients, associates and friends. The president of RCC presented Rick with a plaque in honor of the time and energy he has volunteered to the photography program at the school.
All in all it was a very special and moving evening. Rick was the first person to hire me as a commercial photography assistant. I worked as his apprentice. A large part of my photographic knowledge, in lighting as well as design, is directly because of his tutelage. Over the past 35 years, he has been a boss, a teacher, an associate, a competitor, the best still-life shooter I have ever known, a mentor, but most of all a friend. God bless you Rick.

(Black and white photographs copyright 2012 by Dan Routh)

For all those interested, Rick’s images will be on display in the RCC photo department in Asheboro, North Carolina until February 28, 2012. The public is invited to stop by and view them.

Five Hundred Posts

Business, Photography

(Photograph copyright 2010)

Last week I passed a milestone (sort of) on this blog in that I passed 500 posts. That’s about 2 years worth of posting five times a week. Guess it’s time to take a look at my blogging efforts and see where I am. I started my blog as a marketing effort for the most part and it continues in that vein. I post mostly images with the occasional prose, because that’s what I do. I take photographs, professionally. I have for some 34 years.

As a marketing effort, my blog has had mixed success. I wish I could say that perspective clients are running all over each other trying to book me, but they aren’t. I have booked jobs as a direct result of someone who found me online, but with the recession hitting the Greensboro area hard, work has become harder and harder to find, especially new work. I’ve also found that in order to make a blog work, you have to market the blog itself through social networking, forums, etc. So, in order to use a marketing device, you have to market it, and so on; something that quickly becomes very time consuming.

All of this marketing is on top of the time and effort it takes to produce content. After all the main reason for posting my work is to show folks something that I think is worthwhile seeing. Producing a “good” image every day, every week takes a lot of work, and I try not to post anything that I don’t consider good. Granted, some images are a lot better than others, but I do attempt to show something every day that will stand on it’s own. Some of my images come from actual jobs, but many are produced just for the blog.

So, where does all of this lead me? I will continue to post as much as I can. Any marketing success is dependent on how long you can continue it. I will also try to continue working on my craft, because when all is said and done, that has been the biggest benefit I have gotten from this whole experiment. I have made myself go out and shoot content just to be shooting. Even after 34 years, it’s amazing what you can get from practice. I think I’ve learned some things visually, and I sure have enjoyed doing it.

"Images From the Green Table: Photographs by a Randolph County Photographer"

Art, Photography

(Photograph copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)

I’m getting ready for the opening of a solo show tomorrow evening at the Circa Gallery in Asheboro, North Carolina. The title of the show, “Images From the Green Table: Photographs by a Randolph County Photographer”, comes from a group of still-life photographs I produced this winter in my den. I will be showing those as well as other images from my local area and other places. Everyone is cordially invited to join me for the opening from 5-8PM. The show will run till April, 13. For more info, the Facebook event page is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111458188864340&index=1.