Rossa’s passion for community has fostered a sense of resilience. The venue has faced many challenges, all of which they endured thanks to the trust of those tied to it.
Take lockdown, for example. When the pandemic put the entire local music scene at risk, Rossa and general manager Matthew Ruff went into action. They shifted to livestream show, upheld their more-than-fair pay agreements with musicians, and offered the space for safe, socially-distanced events. Beyond the music, Rossa hosted a food bank for struggling artists.
Dazzle received help, too. Thanks to donations, grants and a pause on rent, the venue made it to the other side of the pandemic with stronger connections than ever.
When facing delays in the opening of the club’s new location, Rossa once again turned a challenge into an opportunity. The delay gave him time to curate meaningful art displays that showed, rather than told, the essence of Dazzle.
Dazzle Denver director of marketing Kelley Dawkins explains the meaning behind Dazzle’s community-sponsored art commissions. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
“Art is what makes people’s souls hum,” shared Dazzle’s director of marketing, Kelley Dawkins, before giving Rocky Mountain PBS a tour of the carefully curated pieces. “The arts come in so many different forms, and they’re how we as humans connect to each other.”
Dawkins’ thorough understanding of Rossa’s curation goes much deeper than simply doing her job, as she has been part of the journey since the venue’s start.
“My parents were coming here since it opened, that was about when I went to college, and they would bring me here when I was home,” she recalled. “Donald, the owner, has always supported me with some of my fundraising activities and adding discounts and free appetizers for people who would donate to things I did. When my dad passed away, we had his celebration of life here.”
Dazzle’s programming makes the intention to connect various generations clear. They book artists of various ages and host children’s matinees and school concerts. But the intergenerational connections displayed in the art could go unnoticed without a tour.
Mural by Matt O’Neil in men’s bathroom. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
In the men’s bathroom, you’re greeted by a large, colorful mural by artist Matt O’Neil. The bright colors and seemingly random, yet surprisingly cohesive shapes symbolize the jazz band O’Neil played with in his youth.
Behind the bar is a digital collage created by O’Neil’s son, Tom O’Neil. He created the collage by “blowing up” an image of an instrument in order to showcase its intricacies.
“His philosophy is that half of the music that comes out of an instrument is the person playing it, and half of it is the mechanisms and the craftsmanship behind it. And you don’t notice that it was made wrong until you’re in the middle of it,” explained Dawkins, “And he saw the bar as having the same function in the venue.”
A digital collage by Tim O’Neil, son of Matt O’Neil. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
The art display in the women’s bathroom is accompanied by a plaque honoring a longtime patron of Dazzle, Beverly Clifton.
“In our old locations she would bring things in to make the ladies rooms nice and pleasant. And she has passed away,” Dawkins shared, “Her daughter still comes in, and we wanted to honor her a little bit.”
Even the soundproofing panels on the doors have a legacy to them, as they were hung by Dawkins’ children, ages 7 and 9.
A throughline between the various pieces of art at Dazzle is a celebration of the symbiotic relationship between jazz and culture, and its ability to unite people from different backgrounds.
“Jazz is important to society as a whole because its roots are in not only Black culture, but Black slavery and the songs that slaves used to sing,” explained Dawkins. “As we left slavery and moved into other times where there was still segregation, jazz was the music of the Black culture. People who weren’t Black would sneak away from their homes and go to the clubs because it’s such a lively and energetic music form.”
Dawkins says that although jazz has changed over time, the origins are still noticeable in today’s music. “It’s gone from being kind of the thing you had to sneak around to do to being a form that’s recognized worldwide. It has influences on music around the world and really represents a lot of what made America what it is today.”
In the corner of Dazzle is the “El Chapultepec Piano Lounge,” in honor of the iconic jazz joint that closed during the pandemic. The contributions of Hispanic and Latino culture is honored with tributes created by local artist Shay Guerrero.
“Her artwork is very much rooted in the Hispanic culture, and even these ones here, the gold foiling around them is reminiscent of the Catholic Virgin Mary’s and the gold halo you usually see around them,” Dawkins said.
Included in these pieces are Jerry Krantz, the late owner of El Chapultepec; Freddy Rodriguez, one of the first artists to play at El Chapultepec who passed from COVID; and the co-owners of local family-owned string company, Mi Vida Strings.
“The husband [Eric Trujillo] is a local Denver native who is Mexican-American and also comes from Mexican-Indian roots, and his wife [Michele Trujillo] is Native American,” Dawkins said. “So we’re also bringing in the Native American Indian influences on jazz in the community.”
Above the piano are detailed depictions of hosts and personalities from jazz station KUVO: Carlos Lando, Arturo Gomez, Tina Cartagena and Flo Hernandez-Ramos. (KUVO, like Rocky Mountain PBS, is part of Rocky Mountain Public Media.)
KUVO personalities and pioneers Flo Hernandez-Ramos, Carlos Landos, Tina Cartagena and Arturo Gomez by artist Shay Guerrero. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
KUVO, Dawkins explained, has roots in El Chapultepec.
“Flo, Carlos and Tina were the three people who sat in the booth in the corner booth at El Chapultepec and broadcasted from there,” she said. “That is why we have KUVO today, because they thought the music was so cool and that other people needed to hear it, and that that was the place where it was happening.”
The inspiring start of KUVO is just one of many local legacies displayed throughout Dazzle. Upon entering, you’re greeted by the head of a bighorn sheep made of wood.
Created by Brett Matarazzo, each detail displays an element of Denver’s jazz legacy, including the historic Rossonian.
Even the wood itself has a story.
“Both the Big Horn and the Charles Burrell piece over here are reclaimed wood from north Denver neighborhoods as those buildings are torn down,” Dawkins shared proudly.
The Burrell piece Dawkins referred to can be found in the back, near the kitchen. Here, the names of donors and other contributors are burnt into wood slats as a “thank you.”
Near the Dawkins piece is the depiction of various women in jazz who have helped create the rich music scene Denver sees today, including Erica Brown and Tenia Renee Nelson. The wall behind them is lined with the music they have created.
Erica Brown and Tenia Renee Nelson, local musicians. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
Two colorful murals adorn the main stage space. One is a depiction of artist Rene Marie. The piece, entitled “Our Colorado River Song” was created by artist Jazz Holmes, one of Redline Contemporary Art Center’s artists-in-residence.
Marie played in Denver for decades before moving to take care of ailing parents. Her parents have since passed, prompting her return for the opening of the new space.
“We were thrilled to welcome her back,” said Dawkins. “She likes to push boundaries with music. We love that. We like to push boundaries as well.”
Mural of musician Rene Marie by artist Jasmine Holmes. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
Across from Marie is a memorial to Ron Miles created by Denver artist Detour. Miles ran the jazz program at MSU Denver. He taught for around 30 years, influencing countless young musicians. Much like Dazzle, Miles was known for going above and beyond when it came to caring for others.
“It’s really amazing watching some of the local musicians come in and especially when they didn’t know this mural was up, there were a lot of people who were overcome for a moment or two because he means so much to them,” said Dawkins. “A lot of people who have really enjoyed performing on the stage with him looking over them.”
At Dazzle, no good deed goes unseen, and the art curation makes it clear. Every detail of the space, from the room itself, to art sponsors, all the way down to the salt and pepper shakers were the result of community collaboration.
Just one of many community-contributed salt and pepper shaker sets. Photo by Peter Vo, RMPBS.
“Those are from Donald’s personal collection at home,” Dawkins said of the eclectic table ornaments.
“We have four owners and he is the primary owner, but he wanted to bring them in so that he has a touch of home in the space. And then he didn’t have enough. So we’ve been asking other people who have pairs of salt and pepper shakers, unique ones in particular the animals to bring them in.”
“Community is really important to Dazzle,” Dawkins concluded, “and why we’re still here today.”
Elle Naef is the multimedia producer at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at ellenaef@rmpbs.org.
Peter Vo is the journalism intern at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at petervo@rmpbs.org.
We all know that AI is changing every industry and photography is a long way from being exempt from that. What many may not know, however, is photographers have an edge when it comes to image-generating AI: Let me show you how.
When I wrote my last article on AI, I was concerned that people were experiencing burnout from AI news and debates, but the views said otherwise. So, here I am again. If you’re jaded with the AI topic, save yourself some time and click away, but if you’re not, let me flag to you something I haven’t seen spoken of anywhere else.
I have been using AI in various capacities for several years, but the past 18 months have given birth to a completely new breed of AI, more powerful than anything we’d seen before by lightyears. For the past 9 months or so, I have been experimenting with Midjourney, one of the premier image-generating AI software similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E (which I used before Midjourney) and Stable Diffusion (which I’ve barely used, but is held in high regard.) For the uninitiated, let’s do a quick summary.
Midjourney is a large language model (LLM) that utilizes AI to create images from text. By describing the image you want to see, Midjourney can generate results by using the enormous dataset of images it has. The text used to generate these images are called “prompts,” and they can be as simple or as complicated as you choose. While early versions of Midjourney were impressive, the most recent model version, 5.2, allows the creation of images indistinguishable from photographs.
The first thing to note is that anybody can get a photo-realistic image out of Midjourney, even with the most basic prompts. You might be surprised just how strong the results can be from prompts that are a few words. What many people misconstrue about this is that anyone can create anything, but that’s not necessarily true. What makes prompt-driven AI difficult is controlling the output. Yes, anybody could create a photo-realistic image of an elephant, but to have full control over the setting, the colors, the depth of field, the angle, the light, and so on, requires some know-how. Although it doesn’t pertain to Midjourney (but rather LLM such as ChatGPT and Bard), there is a reason why “Prompt Engineer” is the most in-demand new job with over 7,000 roles listed from June 2022 to June 2023, according to Workyard.
Now, having used many different AI software, I feel confident in saying that the skill ceiling for Midjourney is significantly lower than the likes of ChatGPT. Nevertheless, most people do not use text-to-image AI particularly well, just typing basic prompts and hoping to get lucky. You can improve this with various parameters, but where photographers and videographers have the advantage is using our expertise in the prompt.
Firstly, it has been proven that including cameras in your prompts can affect quality. It isn’t known how many images Midjourney has been trained on, but the general consensus is that it’s comfortably in the billions. When you include a camera in your prompt, it will likely find images taken with that camera (among many other images). In fact, some people found that simply adding H6D to the end of a prompt could yield higher-quality results. I suspect many doing this don’t even know that it refers to the $33,000 Hasselblad H6D medium format DSLR.
In my experience, which modern camera you choose doesn’t affect the final result all that much in terms of quality, though the sensor size of the camera does often affect depth of field. For example, the below images were identical prompts with the results varied only by camera; one was the Hasselblad H6D and one was the Fujifilm X100V. That is, one is a medium format sensor and one is an APS-C sensor.
What’s important here is not that the lighting changed, or some elements, or even the model — they’re par for the course when you regenerate. What’s interesting here is the depth of field. The background of the X100V image is far closer to focus than the medium format — this is accurate, and as photographers, we understand why this happened. So, using a combination of aperture and the camera, we can dictate the depth of field.
As I mentioned above, the aperture can be used to affect the depth of field of an image, just as it does in real life. If you want a narrow depth of field in your image, you want Midjourney trawling fast apertures. Although it is far from an exact science — primarily because Midjourney has no way of gauging the distance of the subject from the camera in the reference images — the results will be in the right direction at least. Below are two prompts for a headshot on the street, one I included f/1.4 in the prompt, and the other I included f/11 in the prompt instead.
You can see from the people on the left of the frame how much the aperture impacts the image, and you can see more extreme examples that this. Remember though, your words affect the depth of field too.
So, words — rather expectedly — play a massive role and often overpower the settings you use in your prompt if they are at odds with one another (for example, a “cinematic headshot” at “f/18” isn’t going to give you a headshot with everything in focus.) If you type “snapshot of a man on the street” your depth of field will likely be wildly different to “editorial headshot of a man on the street.” Below are the results for exactly those two prompts.
What’s more, you don’t have to use photography terms logically for them to work well. One example would be “macro photography” added to any prompt that has nothing to do with macro photography. Those two words will often cause your results to have a narrow depth of field and a generally cinematic look. The below examples show just how much the term “macro photography” can improve the results.
As every photographer and videographer knows, light is the be-all and end-all of our crafts. So, put that to work in Midjourney too. The average person doesn’t know lighting styles, but you can control the lighting in Midjourney by using them. As with every tip, remember Midjourney isn’t a simulator, and you’ll sometimes miss your target, but with some experimentation, you can control the output and look of generated images.
It wildly overcooked the eyes, but you can see how impactful it can be when you dictate the lighting.
Remember, there is a lot of what will seem like randomness in the results, but really, we just don’t know all the interactions or Midjourney’s source material. Here are some photography-centric tips:
I put some thought into whether I would add this section, but at this point, it’s a widely known functionality of Midjourney and other AI image generators, so I will address it. However, I have decided not to include any example images.
The “in the style of” component to prompts is arguably the most powerful influence on the look of the final image. This can be used ethically and to great effect, as I have shown above, with the likes of “in the style of a National Geographic photograph” or “in the style of a Vogue cover”, but by getting more specific, you tread on ethically difficult ground. For example, you could add to your prompt, “in the style of Annie Leibowitz,” and it will get you closer to her aesthetic. If you combine this with other details — which I am not going to provide — you can get to an image that I’m confident I could fool people into thinking is hers. These sorts of prompts make me uncomfortable, whether you’re referencing a photographer, an artist, or a DoP. This is also one thread to an entire rope of copyright issues surrounding AI image generation.
AI is a mixed bag for photographers; it’s powerful, valuable, and revolutionary, but it’s also scary, damaging, and legally uncharted. I resolved to practice using AI of all forms as part of my skill set, and while that is helping me in many ways, it’s also making me aware of where photographers are vulnerable. This is something that is spoken about regularly, so I thought I’d balance the scales a little with some of the advantages us ‘togs have with text-to-image generators such as Midjourney.
The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, presents Terraforming: Olana’s Historic Photography Collection Unearthed at Olana State Historic Site. Inspired by Olana’s significant collection of nearly 2,000 19th century international photographic prints, artist and guest curator David Hartt brings Terraforming, a selection of Frederic Church’s little-known photography collection, to reflect on the ways in which human culture and activity shape the land; eroding the boundary between human construction and the natural world just as Frederic Church did while creating the 250-acre earthwork that is Olana. This exhibition will also explore what this global photographic collection tells us about Church’s painting practice, travels, and ways of knowing and collecting the world. Terraforming includes historically significant works by photographers including Eadweard Muybridge, William James Stillman, and Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay, as well as new site-specific work by David Hartt.
Sculpture Milwaukee has named Wauwatosa native John Riepenhoff, an internationally-renowned artist, curator and gallerist, as its new executive director.
Riepenhoff is currently serving as curator for the 2023 Sculpture Milwaukee exhibition “Actual Fractals, Act I.”
Sculpture Milwaukee is an annual outdoor public sculpture exhibition focused mainly on Downtown.
“I see my leadership role at Sculpture Milwaukee as an opportunity to forward the direction established in the first seven years of our organization, with respect for major currents in art while giving attention to undercurrents and the unexpected, with a focus on underrepresented artists,” Riepenhoff said.
Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at American Family Field to commemorate Milwaukee Magazine Day with the Milwaukee Brewers! Learn more and get tickets here.
Riepenhoff replaces Brian Schupper, who had led Sculpture Milwaukee since November 2018, marking a shift in placing the organization’s day-to-day leadership in the hands of an artist.
“Curating this year’s exhibition, I experienced first-hand the visions of our artists, the strength of our bonds with community partners, the ambitions of our founders and the immense skill of our staff,” Riepenhoff said.
In his new role with Sculpture Milwaukee, Riepenhoff will continue to lead curatorial efforts as well as the organization at large.
“As planning begins for 2024, when all eyes will be on Milwaukee as host of a national political convention, John’s expertise, tireless commitment and well-earned reputation within the local, national, and global art community positions our organization to elevate from our foundational phase to a position of permanence,” Sculpture Milwaukee’s board chairman Wayne Morgan said.
Riepenhoff is co-owner of The Green Gallery, a contemporary art space on the East Side that he started in his attic in 2003 and has since become a destination gallery for artists worldwide. He also runs The Open Fund, an arts grant program, and the Beer Endowment, a line of beers inspired by and in support of arts projects.
He has also co-organized Milwaukee International and Dark Fairs, is an inventor of artistic platforms for the expression of others and is a regular food ideator.
“I have a lot of roles in the art world,” Riepenhoff said. “I’m an artist, a gallerist, a curator. Leading this organization, I have a unique skill where I can relate to a lot of our partners. I know how to talk to artists and meet their needs, I know how to communicate with galleries and lenders. I was an art handler and an artist assistant in the early years of my career. I really value all the labor and all the levels of collaboration and collective contribution and authorship that goes into creating culture.”
Riepenhoff said his vision for the organization favors collaboration over competition.
“I really believe there are so many world-class, artist-supporting institutions in our region, like the Milwaukee Art Museum, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Lynden Sculpture Garden, the Haggerty Museum of Art, among others,” he said. “I really want to continue to foster this environment in Milwaukee, where not only do artists work together to collaborate but so do institutions in order to share resources and project the voice of what culture can look like in this region.”
Milwaukee’s size and scale is conducive for the growth of artists, he said.
“There are qualities about Milwaukee that some may seem as challenges, but I’ve embraced the unique qualities of the city as incredible resources,” Riepenhoff said. “It’s a great city for artists because of the low cost of living and the ease of life. To me, it’s way more attractive than many bigger cities. One of the things I’m quite interested in from a curatorial standpoint is our location.”
Riepenhoff is also motivated by Sculpture Milwaukee’s ability to drive interest in contemporary art among many groups.
“Sculpture Milwaukee has a really big range of audiences, mainly because we are free,” he said. “You don’t have to be seeking out our art to engage with it. You can literally just bump into it on the street. It comes to you. We have 39 pieces on the streets right now, mostly Downtown.”
Artists and those who are educated in art have also shown strong interest in Sculpture Milwaukee, with some traveling from other states and countries to witness the programming.
“Then you have an audience of people who collect and patronize art,” he added. “We’re part of a really incredible, high-quality international art conversation.”
Most of the works that are part of Sculpture Milwaukee are for sale, driving interest among companies and individuals who purchase art, the proceeds which can benefit future programming.
“One of the qualities about having art in public spaces is just the radical accessibility of it,” Riepenhoff said. “I’m welcoming people to have opinions about it. That has the power to bring people into other conversations about art appreciation and bring them in the doors of these incredible institutions in our region and maybe they even bring some of the artwork into their homes.”
Riepenhoff, 41, graduated from Wauwatosa East High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
He said he’s seen a growing interest in contemporary art by a more highly diverse audience in the Milwaukee area over the past two decades.
“I see a growing critical mass of appreciation,” said Riepenhoff, who was named the 2105 Milwaukee Arts Board Artist of the Year. “We’ve had such a strong artist-driven community for years and there’s been more and more engagement with the general public. It’s a really exciting moment right now.”
Riepenhoff’s work spans the globe.
“I have an international art practice through my curatorial and gallery work. I have a big presence in the international art scene,” he said. “I was in New York City last week. Over the last year, I’ve also had solo exhibitions of my own work in Brussels, Dallas and Little Rock, Arkansas.”
Creating visibility for what he refers to as “underrepresented” arts scenes, like Little Rock, is part of his mission.
“I have a vested interest in participating in these places that have a ton of culture but just don’t have as many resources,” Riepenhoff said.
Riepenhoff sees an opportunity to create conversations around art when Milwaukee hosts the Republican National Convention in July 2024.
“Undeniably, having art in a public space creates an opportunity for a backdrop for a public spotlight,” he said. “For me, it’s just about supporting artists and getting their voices out in the public space. Hopefully, we can draw attention to this thriving, cultural scene here. We can obviously celebrate diversity and celebrate conversation and voices. There is the potential for a lot of attention on Milwaukee with the convention and I think that the sculptures and our programming will be visible as a backdrop.”
Riepenhoff envisions art appreciation gaining even more positive momentum moving forward.
“There’s this energy that’s been bubbling to the surface in Milwaukee,” he said. “There’s been growing patronage and public support, and I think it’s very symbolic that a young but quite established art institution like Sculpture Milwaukee has invited an artist to be its executive director.”
Fortifying Sculpture Milwaukee’s presence is among Riepenhoff’s goals in his new role.
“I hope, for people who can’t travel internationally, that we can bring things here and give them a sense of perspective just by walking through the streets of Milwaukee,” Riepenhoff said. “I also hope we can be a resource to artists and art lovers and that we can stimulate conversation while also being a resource for businesses and people who are looking to invest in art.”
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Fulton County Sheriff’s OfficeAs the mugshots of Donald Trump’s indicted allies rolled in this week one thing tied them all together: the photos, products of the Fulton County Sheriff’s office, all looked really, really bad.
“I thought these were all memes at first,” said Jake Olson, a photographer based in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s the perfect storm of bad photos.”
Last week, Mr Trump was charged with 18 co-conspirators with attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state of Georgia. Eight of those co-conspirators – Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Cathy Latham, Harrison Floyd, Mark Meadows and Ray Smith – have been booked and processed at the local jail in Atlanta.
Putting aside the political and legal consequences of the Atlanta indictments, all eight of the mugshots seem to be a photographer’s nightmare.
“Man…” Olson said, sounding almost overcome by the poor quality. “There are so many cardinal rules of photography that they are just not following.”
A key problem is the lighting – a single overhead source, which gives the images a slightly garish sheen and each person’s skin an unhealthy pallor.
“They have this one interrogation-style light, you can see they all have that little highlight on their foreheads,” said Pittsburgh photographer and professor Ray Mantle. “They all don’t look great… they all look tired.”
The grey background didn’t do them any favours either, Olson said. Neither did the watermark.
“It’s a bit egregious…it takes up 40% of the top half of the frame!”
Both Mantle and Olson commented on the range of expressions across the six suspects.
“If I were to try to pose somebody in a way that looks like a bad mugshot I would tell them to do exactly what they’re doing,” Olson said.
The expressions vary widely. Lawyer Jenna Ellis is beaming down the lens, while Ray Smith, also an attorney, glares into the camera – two strikingly different choices for a photo that, unlike most other mugshots, will be published far and wide.
“For a lot of these people, this is their major public debut,” Mantle said. “They know that everyone’s going to see these.”
And some of them, Mantle said, might regret it.
Still, pulling off a good mugshot can be tough, said Cooper Lawrence, a journalist who has written extensively about celebrity culture. It’s a difficult balance to strike, a challenge that celebrities like Justin Bieber, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton have all had to face.
“Don’t smile. A smile will make it look too arrogant,” Lawrence said. “You want to smirk like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton do. A smirk says, ‘yes, this sucks, but I’m gonna be fine.'”
Hair, makeup and wardrobe – even while in the custody of Fulton County authorities – is crucial, she said.
But “keep it simple”, she said. “You’re going to jail, not on an audition.”
BOCA RATON, FL (August 17, 2023) — Lana Davis Photography, a flourishing name in the realm of high-quality food and beverage photography, is pleased to announce its membership with the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce. This strategic affiliation marks a significant step for Lana Davis Photography in fortifying its presence within the local business community and enhancing its artistic contributions to the culinary sector.
Renowned for her exceptional skill in capturing the essence of gastronomic delights, Lana Davis has consistently demonstrated an innate ability to transform food and beverage imagery into captivating visual narratives. Her dedication to detail and design innovation has led to collaborations with culinary establishments, marketing professionals, and hospitality ventures seeking to showcase their creations in the most creative and tantalizing manner.
Lana Davis, the visionary photographer behind the eponymous brand, expressed her enthusiasm for the partnership: “Joining the Boca Chamber is an exciting new stride. I look forward to fostering meaningful connections with marketing professionals and engaging in collaborations that help culinary businesses draw attention to their offerings. My aim is to contribute to the promotion of Boca Raton’s culinary scene and its broader economic vitality.”
The Boca Chamber serves as a dynamic platform for businesses to thrive through networking, advocacy, and community engagement. The alliance with Lana Davis Photography exemplifies the Chamber’s commitment to supporting enterprises that bring a unique and artistic perspective to our local marketplace.
Visually translating the artistry of food and beverages is a remarkable asset to our community. We believe that Lana Davis Photography will play an integral role in our collective efforts to showcase South Palm Beach County’s culinary excellence.
Lana Davis Photography’s membership in the Boca Chamber signifies a collaborative venture dedicated to fostering creative enrichment in the marketing industry. As Lana Davis embarks on this new chapter of engagement, it is poised to elevate the art of gastronomic and commercial photography and contribute to the visual narrative of South Florida’s thriving culinary landscape.
For media inquiries or further information, please contact:
Lana Davis Photography
Phone: (561) 542-3275
Email: lana.m.davis@gmail.com
Website: www.lanadavisphotography.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – For the past 15 years, Clinton Lewis has been documenting life on campus at Western Kentucky University as the official staff photographer. If you’ve seen photos of campus life over the past few years, odds are that it was taken by Lewis.
Tasked with capturing and preserving unique moments in time, his photographs stand as historical records for the university.
To honor his extensive body of work and service to the WKU community, the Kentucky Museum is honoring Lewis’ work with an exhibition called “The Lewis Lens.”
“He’s been there for 15 years and what a great time to celebrate why he’s such an important voice and conduit for everything that has to do with WKU. He’s an amazing talent that’s long overdue in celebrating,” said Director of the Kentucky Museum Brent Bjorkman.
His photographs offer honest glimpses into the lives of the people on the university’s campus and beyond.
“I really took the ethics and the core of photojournalism that life unscripted is the best way to tell a story. That’s the way I prefer to take pictures and I think that tells the most genuine, authentic stories,” Lewis said.
The visual stories that he tells provide a modern historical record of college life.
“I like to think of my job as part as National Geographic photographer for the university, and part historian, visual historian, and part you know just really telling the story of WKU in a visual manner,” Lewis said.
His passion for photojournalism started when he was a student at Bowling Green High School where he met a photojournalism major who was working as a volunteer lab tech. It was from there he decided that he would study Photojournalism at WKU and make it his career.
Lewis went on to work for 8 years for the Bowling Green Daily News before taking the job at the university.
He also combines his passion for photography with an equal passion for outdoor adventures.
“Trail running, road and gravel cycling share equal passions with photography and they overlap but it also brings me balance. Just anything to disconnect from the hectic world and find solace in the natural world,” Lewis said.
The retrospective exhibit was the idea of Lewis’ wife who presented the idea to the Kentucky Museum. It was up to Clinton to go through his entire body of work to choose the 65 photographs that would be on display. This process took him around 4 months of consultation with his peers and other professionals.
“We average so many pictures every academic year, well over 100,000 a year and so after 15 years that adds up to a lot of editing,” he said.
He says that seeing his work displayed in the gallery on the campus where he works and loves gave him an overwhelming sense of pride.
“Definitely a high point in the career to have a full gallery in the Kentucky Museum. Just a gallery for sure anywhere is a highlight for any artist or photographer but one here that’s on the campus of a place that I work and love is even more special,” he said.
The Lewis Lens will be on display at the Kentucky Museum for everyone to enjoy. Admission to the museum is free and they are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
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