Portraits – Page 118 – Dan Routh Photography

Dr. Anthony Atala

Once in a while I have the opportunity to shoot someone who is extremely interesting. A few months back I shot portraits of Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Urology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Dr. Atala’s work involves growing human tissues and organs to replace those damaged by disease or defects. IE, he is taking a patient’s own stem cells (non-embryonic) and grows tissue for transplant back into that patient that won’t be rejected because it is their own genetic material. So far he has successfully transplanted bladders, but he is working on kidneys, livers, bone and skin. Pretty awesome. In fact his lab is using an inkjet printer to lay down layers of tissue to form skin and organs. His lab is an amazing place to visit and Dr. Atala is an amazing subject.

Greensboro Portrait

Greensboro, Portraits

Executive portrait shot recently in downtown Greensboro. From a project to show agency principles outside of their normal context.

Furniture Maker

Portraits

Yesterday I was out location scouting. I went by my neighbor Bob Thomas’s furniture shop located behind his restored log cabin. Bob is a master furniture maker and reproduces fine English style items. His best pieces are all hand carved and he has furnished prototypes for commercial furniture manufactures. Bob has been at it for over 50 years and his work is outstanding.

Office Portrait

Portraits

Environmental office portrait from a recent website redo for a local Greensboro company. This was an interesting job because I was allowed and encouraged by the art director to look for unusual and different angles. It’s great to have the opportunity to think outside the box.

Friday Portrait

Portraits

Portrait of Devin.

A question that often comes up is how much post-processing should be done to images. For me, it is as “much as it needs” to give the effect I am after. I shoot in raw format, which is basically like using a digital negative. Every file I shoot is processed in raw conversion software (I use Adobe’s Raw Converter) and corrected for color and contrast. If I’m doing editorial work, I pretty much stop there. If I’m doing commercial advertising or art, I may do a lot more. I am not in the least bit opposed to manipulating an image in Photoshop to create a feel that I’m trying to create, such as producing a gritty or poloroid type effect. I try to be subtle, but I can push things pretty far. Do I ever overdo things? Sure, sometimes; but usually I try to keep things under control. How much post I do usually ends up being determined by what mood I’m in that day. I will say that very seldom have I seen an image come straight out of a digital camera that didn’t need at least some basic post.

Nobel Prize

Portraits, UNC

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing Dr. Oliver Smithies, Excellence Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physiology/medicine. Dr. Smithies shared the prize with a UK scientist “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.” Smithies has been at UNC for 19 years and is the first full-time UNC faculty member to win a Nobel Prize.

At age 73, Dr. Smithies is also an avid pilot. He owns a Grob 109B motorglider that he often flies out of the Chapel Hill Airport. It’s sort of like a Piper or Cessna with really long wings. You can fly it like a small plane, or if the conditions are right, cut the engine and use it to soar. Dr. Smithies told me, “It’s not a great sailplane, nor is it a great airplane, but it is a lot of fun.”

Reenactors

History, Portraits

Revolutionary War reenactors do their thing in Greensboro at the annual reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Native Dancer

Family, Native American, Portraits

Native Dancer
Devin Routh

The earth blurs beyond his skin as the drums pulse.
Lines of light trail in the black and white and
Gray of his bustle and vestments, a ghost behind the breeze.
His face is a stone on a riverbed, motionless beneath the torrent.

Borrowed feathers crown his head, drape
Down his back like quills on a porcupine;
The sullen eagle feather perches above his eyes,
Sovereign of the skies, impetus of his movements.

Is he a son of Crazy Horse? Is he Lakota? Is he a warrior?
Look for a lightning bolt across his face and hail stones over his torso,
Symbols of the Shirt Wearer at Little Bighorn when he killed Honska.
No, all I see are tracks and claws on his sleeve, beaded totems in his hand.

When brothers are dead, movement becomes memory.
Chief Joseph told his Nez Perce, the real people,
“From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever,”
But the dancer will always feel the wind beneath his feet
And hear the whispers of all the tribes.

Image of the Day

Portraits

Charlie.

Back to School

Portraits

It’s that time of year again. Summer is ending and the kids are heading back to school. Though schools start up in August now, the day after Labor Day was traditionally the time children began their new year of study. These images were shot for a local school system reading program.

Tomorrow I get to go to school myself. I’m covering for an instructor and teaching digital workflow and post-production at Randolph Community College in their Photographic Technology program. I’m looking forward to it. I really enjoy the opportunities I get to teach. RCC has a 2 year Associate Degree program in photography that is second to none. The Photography Department blog is http://rccphoto.blogspot.com/.