What an inspiration for my photography journey! Let me tell you about it. Last night I attended an event hosted by Glazers Camera, here in Seattle, called An Evening with Michael Collopy. Yes, if you know anything about the man, you should be impressed with who came to town. If you dont know who he is--and I confess that before last night I did not know who he was either--you can see a brief sample of his work in the link to his site below. Michael is an amazing portrait photographer, and one who has captured the faces of many famous people. From BB King to Bono, Willie Nelson, Mother Teresa, Clint Eastwood, Steve Jobs, Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, numerous presidents of the United States and even more leaders from around the world, and I have not even scratched the surface of the list of names. With that caliber of a portfolio I was expecting a somewhat haughty man who had come to brag about his exploits--but my expectations were soundly smashed. Michael shared many poignant memories of meeting the people he photographed, telling us how he learned to get to know his subjects while he photographed them, and then became life long friends with almost every one of them. You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as he shared with us for almost 2 hours. He was humble about his accomplishments and yet eager to make an impact on the world for the better using his talents and influence. What inspired me about his work was the simplicity of the setup for most of his photographs and the amazing results, and his willingness to share these with us. At the end of the evening he spent another 45 minutes and demonstrated some of his lighting and shooting techniques with a model and lighting equipment. I am a little disappointed with the meager showing of his work on his web site, but it fits with the humble way he presented himself last night.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:09:49 +0000