La Jolla News Nuggets: Ex-Jack in the Box; restaurant grant; photography winner; more

Jun 21, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Bishop’s School still seeking tenant for former Jack in the Box

Nearly a year after plans to rent out a former Jack in the Box property in La Jolla fell through, the building remains vacant, with no tenant in sight.

The Bishop’s School completed the purchase of the property at 564 Pearl St. for $5.5 million in September 2021, around the time the fast-food restaurant quietly closed. The site was intended to be leased out in the short term and later converted for student use that hadn’t yet been determined. The hope was for a tenant to open by the following summer.

In August last year, representatives of The Bishop’ School said a deal with a potential tenant fell through “late in the process.”

This month, the school issued a statement to the La Jolla Light indicating the building “remains for lease,” with no deadline to find a tenant before converting it for school use. There also was no timeline for next steps.

“If demolition is warranted at some point, we will follow the city of San Diego process for permitting and any work necessary,” according to the statement. “We prioritize the safety, health and wellness of our school community and greater community, and when we are ready to convert the property for school use at some time, the plans will go before community groups for review.”

In April, tarps covering the fences that surround the vacant building were vandalized during a rash of graffiti believed carried out by the same person at locations along Pearl Street and Fay Avenue. The tarps were replaced soon afterward.

Ambrogio by Acquerello receives $5,000 grant from Restaurants Care

Ambrogio by Acquerello co-founders at La Jolla restaurant

La Jolla’s new Ambrogio by Acquerello was one of 18 San Diego restaurants that recently received a $5,000 grant from the California Restaurant Foundation’s Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, a $2.1 million fund financed by California’s energy companies, including San Diego Gas & Electric.

The fund started in 2017 as a “safety net for food and beverage workers,” according to the organization, and was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants can be used for kitchen equipment, technology upgrades, employee training/retention and “unforeseen hardship.”

Ambrogio by Acquerello, at 7556 Fay Ave., is led by Michelin Star chef Silvio Salmoiraghi and chef-partner Choi Cheolhyeok and offers modern Italian cuisine using traditional flavors of Milan with Pacific Asian influences.

La Jolla resident wins Best of Show in county fair photography exhibition

La Jolla resident Kim SignoretPaar won the Best of Show award at this year’s San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography, which is on view at the fair in Del Mar through the Fourth of July.

The victory “has left me floating around,” she said. “I’m still amazed.”

The competition includes a wide variety of categories, from landscapes to sports to still life, according to the fair.

SignoretPaar’s winning photo, titled “Walking in Hanoi,” is a 40-by-20-inch black-and-white image depicting a traffic circle in Hanoi, Vietnam, near an area known for its street food and beer. The photo was taken during a trip across Asia in 2019.

“I stayed in Hanoi for two days by myself and did a street food tour in old Hanoi,” SignoretPaar said. “I took a few photos, but this one was shot down a street and I just loved it. It has so many people in it and shows the street and all the complexities of French architecture and what it looks like now. It looks old but it is new. This image needed to be big.”

SignoretPaar, a La Jollan since 2000, also won Best of Show at the fair’s Exhibition of Photography in 2014.

She got into photography in her youth with a “brownie camera” her father gave her, she said. Photography would go on to be part of her various careers. She now teaches phone photography.

She entered her first contest in 2012 and has been competing ever since. “Photography has really consumed me,” she said with a laugh.

Scripps Research receives $46 million in funding from NIH

The Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla has received $46.8 million in renewed funding over a seven-year period from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. As part of the nationwide Clinical and Translational Science Awards program, the funds will support the institute’s mission to transform human health research through technological innovations.

The institute, led by founder and director Dr. Eric Topol, combines genomic and digital technologies with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to transform personal health data into clinically useful knowledge.

“We’ve been very fortunate to be part of the CTSA consortium for the past 15 years,” said Topol, who also is a professor of molecular medicine and executive vice president at Scripps Research. “In that time, we’ve made tremendous strides in leveraging genomic, wearable sensor technologies and AI for the capture and interpretation of huge … data sets into actionable health information.”

The CTSA program consists of a national network of more than 60 “hubs” — biomedical research institutions and universities working together to advance translational science. The Scripps hub, led by the Translational Institute, includes Calibr (the drug development arm of Scripps Research) as well as long-standing partners Scripps Health and the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine.

La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee OKs two requests

The La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee supported two requests at its June 15 meeting without opposition.

The first was a 72-month extension for coastal development and site development permits to demolish a 4,453-square-foot house and build a new 8,697-square-foot single-family home at 2326 Calle Chiquita.

The PRC first approved the project in 2017.

Applicant representative Lindsay King said the original permits expired during the COVID-19 pandemic, when paperwork delays occurred. The owners then placed the project on hold because “they were uncertain of how things would happen with construction,” King said.

The plans have undergone “minor changes,” King said, with no changes to height or setbacks.

“This is a very procedural thing as long as there are no substantive changes to the project,” PRC Chairman Andy Fotsch said.

Applicants show plans for a new home on Prestwick Drive to the La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee.

The other item was approval of coastal development and site development permits to demolish a two-story house and build a new two-story house at 8283 Prestwick Drive.

The design of the new house is based on “modern architecture and appeal that is already existing” in the neighborhood, according to applicant representative Abby Sanchez.

Planned setbacks for the house range from four to 85 feet. The height will reach 29 feet, 11 inches.

The house will total 8,166 square feet with a floor area ratio of 0.32, Sanchez said.

— Compiled by La Jolla Light staff ◆

Local wildlife photographer captures rare image of cougar at Shevlin Park

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

David Willingham always carries a high-powered camera with a telephoto lens on his nature walks in Shevlin Park. That habit paid off on Sunday when he spotted a cougar and was able to snap a few photos before the animal disappeared behind a rock.

Willingham, an avid bird watcher and amateur wildlife photographer, was hiking in Shevlin Park with his wife and 13-year-old son when he spotted the cougar high up on the hillside, west of Tumalo Creek.

Helen Levitt’s groundbreaking street photography

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Street photography has been a popular medium for decades, standing in direct contrast to posed, commercial images. Often making a statement about the beauty, absurdity or horrors of everyday life, street photography captures the human condition in its purest form.

In her essay collection On Photography, Susan Sontag compared the street photographer to the “flâneur”, describing them as “adept of the joys of watching” and “connoisseur[s] of empathy”. Equipped with a camera and a unique sense of seeing the world, street photographers often capture the changing of a social or physical landscape, creating a time capsule of images through their work.

One of the greatest yet often overshadowed street photographers was Helen Levitt. Born in 1913 in New York, Levitt’s love for the vibrant city never faded, and she managed to capture its vivaciousness even when she shot in black and white. In the early 1930s, Levitt began working for J. Florian Mitchell, whose commercial photography practises allowed the young photographer to learn skills such as darkroom development.

However, she soon realised that this style of photography wasn’t for her, and after discovering the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, she decided to take to the streets to capture images. While working as an art teacher, Levitt found herself fascinated by children’s culture, how they played on the streets, and the styles of chalk graffiti they stencilled on walls.

The photographer regularly took her camera on walks around the city, where she would snap images of these interests, mainly depicting children playing without regard for their own safety, absent of parental supervision. She also photographed adults, and her work often highlighted social issues that were prevalent in New York at the time.

In the book Helen Levitt from the Photofile series, Jean-Francois Chevrier writes: “Levitt captured the vitality of the street as an unofficial playground – and place of interaction – in working-class neighbourhoods. She had seen the way that different ethnic minorities coexisted – sometimes peacefully, sometimes contentiously – in the Brooklyn of her childhood, or on the Lower East Side and the neighbourhoods of Upper Manhatten – Harlem, Spanish Harlem – where most of the images from 1936 onwards were taken.”

Levitt’s images were never obtrusive or exploitative, and her subjects were photographed with care and interest. Whether Levitt was focusing on tired subway users or crowds of children adorning the pavements with chalk, the photographer painted a picture of a New York that no longer exists in the same state. As she got older, Levitt exclaimed: “I go where there’s a lot of activity. Children used to be outside. Now the streets are empty. People are indoors looking at television or something.”

She took inspiration from Surrealism, which might not be obvious at first glance since her images focus on the unedited realities of everyday life. However, she was often preoccupied with taking an absurd angle, finding natural instances of surrealism in people, places and their relations to one another. One of Levitt’s most striking images features two children, one leaning against a tree and another straddling the trunk from quite a height. The latter is wearing a white mask and is looking directly into the camera, despite the distance, giving the image an uncanny, almost horror-like sensibility.

Levitt’s forays into colour photography were rich and almost dream-like, the vibrancy of the tones giving even the most run-down scenes a sense of innate beauty. Levitt’s ability to imbue the most banal locations with interest made her an extraordinary photographer, and she deserves more recognition for her contributions to the medium.

Not only was Levitt a skilled photographer, but she was also interested in filmmaking. She worked on several projects, including the documentary The Quiet One, which she co-wrote and co-filmed. It was nominated for ‘Best Documentary Feature’ and ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards, making Levitt one of the first few women to earn recognition from the prestigious organisation in a non-gendered category.

Check out some of Levitt’s photos below.

Remembering LeAnn Mueller—the Legendary Photographer Who Shot Some of Texas Monthly’s Most Iconic Covers

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Being Texan

Remembering LeAnn Mueller—the Legendary Photographer Who Shot Some of Texas Monthly’s Most Iconic Covers

Current and former staff members, along with her subjects, share memories of working with the revered “wild card” shutterbug.

By Texas Monthly

June 20, 2023

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LeAnn and Kacey Musgraves in 2017.

LeAnn and Kacey Musgraves in 2017.
Texas Monthly

If you ask an editor or art director, “What’s the key to a successful photo shoot?,” they’ll likely tell you it’s hiring the right photographer for the right story. LeAnn Mueller was almost always the right photographer. Barbecue royalty, LeAnn was also an accomplished visual artist and a beloved contributor to Texas Monthly for almost two decades. Her natural ability to disarm her subjects made for striking portraits, but she also had a gift for art in a broader sense, creating beauty in landscapes, reportage, and even the occasional photo illustration, which often involved more time in front of the computer than behind the camera.

LeAnn traveled to all corners of Texas on assignment (often with her wife and photo assistant, Ali Clem): to Sutherland Springs to document the grief of a small town after a mass shooting; to Crockett to tell the story of legendary bull rider Myrtis Dightman; to Archer to capture the gravitas of Larry McMurtry; and back to her home city of Austin to make portraits of Lyle Lovett and Richard Linklater. And every time, she came back with a collection of iconic photos—and a wild story or two as well.

Larry McMurtry photographed in 2016.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Kacey Musgraves, photographed on her ranch in 2018.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Willie Nelson, in Luck, on November 4, 2013.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Barry Corbin at home in Fort Worth on November 23, 2020.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

30 Things You Need to Know about Texas Music in 2017 — Gary Clark Jr. and Leon Bridges in the Heights, in Houston on February 3, 2017.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Phil Collins, photographed in San Antonio in 2011.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Myrtis Dightman Rodeo — Myrtis Dightman at his home in Crockett on May 29, 2018.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Snow's pitmaster, Tootsie Tomanetz. — Snow’s pitmaster, Tootsie Tomanetz.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

The First Baptist church where Stephen Willeford stopped a shooting in Sutherland Springs. — First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Lyle Lovett in water buffalo boots from Texas Traditions.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Kacey Musgraves, photographed on her ranch in 2017.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Greg Torti, photographed in 2015.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Charley Crockett at the Bunker recording studio, in Lockhart, on February 27, 2020.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

roy perez brisket kreuz market — Roy Perez slices brisket at Kreuz Market, in Lockhart, in 2013.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

The White Horse, honky tonk in Austin. — The White Horse, in Austin.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Bobby Mueller.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

pickup truck essay — Christian Wallace driving his truck at Halifax Ranch, near Kyle, earlier this year.

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

Here, her colleagues and subjects share their memories of working with her over the years.

Emily Kimbro, Texas Monthly creative director:

I first met LeAnn (who by then was already on speed dial in the art department) and Ali in 2015 at a photo shoot of a musician here in Austin. LeAnn spent exactly five minutes scouting and ten minutes shooting (she’d of course nailed the perfect shot within the first few seconds), before we spent the rest of the evening enjoying beers. In the years that followed, I was lucky enough to work with her on shoots for more stories. Her subjects ranged from artists, politicians, and other big Texas personalities to barbecue joints, rodeos, and honky tonks (and sometimes even politicians at honky tonks). LeAnn was up for anything, and she could make any moment feel iconic.

LeAnn Mueller, Ali Clem, and Christian Wallace in 2022.

Christian Wallace, Texas Monthly staff writer:

One truth about working at a magazine: it’s a team sport. The best work happens when everyone who touches the story—the writer, the editors, fact-checkers, and the art department—are firing on all cylinders. As a young writer mostly concerned about words, I didn’t really understand just how vital this team dynamic was until I saw the photographs accompanying my first cover story.

I had written a profile of Myrtis Dightman, a legendary bull rider from East Texas, and my editor and I had done all we could to harness his incredible life story on the page. But then we got back the portraits of Dightman, and those photos elevated the entire piece. They went beyond simple portraiture— they captured his essence. That cover is one of the most iconic images this magazine has produced in its fifty-year history. And the genius behind the camera was LeAnn Mueller.

I was lucky enough to work with LeAnn on two more covers, though her subject for these was far less compelling than Dightman: me. For the first, a story about honky-tonks, we traveled to Bandera to shoot in Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar, one of the state’s great watering holes. The art department wanted to shoot folks dancing on the sawdust floor, and I brought my two-stepping parents to act as models. LeAnn, accompanied by Ali, started shooting as the couples started twirling around the dance floor, but it was awkward without music. I was asked to drop a few quarters in the jukebox. While I was flipping through records, Lone Star beer in hand, I heard the camera start clicking behind me. One of those impromptu pictures ended up as the cover. Seeing and capturing those natural, unstaged moments was part of LeAnn’s brilliance.

I didn’t know LeAnn well. We didn’t spend much time together outside of these photo shoots. Still, it was clear that she was a rarity—an artist living deeply, close to the marrow of life. She worked hard and played even harder. While her talents were undeniable, she seemed to approach everything in her life with a fierce determination to wring the joy and beauty out of every moment.

The last time I saw her was at her Austin restaurant, la Barbecue. I had come by to drop off copies of our final collaboration, a cover she shot of me and my dog sitting on the tailgate of my pickup. It was the most personal story I had written for the magazine, but I was comforted knowing I’d be working with LeAnn. At least the pictures would be good. And they were. When I stopped by la Barbecue that day, LeAnn and Ali were having a party on the patio with a wild group of friends. They welcomed me and stuffed me with brisket and champagne. It was a damn good party. At one point that evening, I was talking with one of their friends. Nodding at Ali and LeAnn, he said being in their presence was something to not take for granted. I had to agree.

LeAnn and Shakey Graves, in 2015.Texas Monthly

Victoria Millner, Texas Monthly design director:

When I arrived to my first photoshoot on location with LeAnn in 2015, I think we’d budgeted about three hours of time with Shakey Graves. Little did I know, she was a wizard that could do multiple setups faster than anyone I’d ever worked with. And, of course, they were all winning shots, which made selecting photos a Herculean task. I think you could put together an iconic photo book just from the leftover photos we didn’t have room to publish. So the three hours of shoot time worked out to about fifteen minutes of photographing Shakey and about five hours of us all playing darts and shooting the breeze at Casino Southside. She had really figured out the whole work-hard, play-hard formula, and will be deeply missed for both.

Claire Hogan, Texas Monthly photo editor, 2017–2023:

I don’t remember when I first met LeAnn, only that I was an intern at Austin Monthly at the time and was probably intimidated. It may have had to do with the fact she had photographed and spent time with people I had only ever seen on screens. But more than likely, it was because she moved through the world speaking her mind—unafraid to ruffle feathers—and I’d never encountered anyone quite like her. But in the past nine years, intimidation was replaced by camaraderie.

When I think about my career thus far, she’s been one of the most consistent presences in it, along with Ali. I’ll miss witnessing LeAnn patiently coax some of the most stone-faced subjects into big toothy smiles on set. I’ll miss spotting her as she balances on a wobbly chair, hangs over the edge of a staircase, or pops up out of a sunroof to get “the shot.” I’ll miss her emails peppered with smiley faces with multiple chins. I’ll miss her.

And as a byproduct of missing LeAnn, I will also miss her photographs. LeAnn was truly a one-of-a-kind photographer, and she loved challenges so much she often created them for herself. She’d see something too beautiful and find ways to make it gritty and dynamic. She’d nail a traditionally well-composed shot, and then she’d be on the ground, shooting dramatically upward, usually directly into a light source, in a manner that’d make you think, “There’s no way these are turning out better than the first shots we got.” But those were the shots that always won out. She also rarely walked into a location having scouted it beforehand, but she’d almost always walk out with twice as many shots as we’d planned, the surplus being a result of ideas she’d had on the fly. I ended up huddled around a computer screen with our designers more times than I can count, trying to figure out how we could use more of her images in the magazine. And because LeAnn was also a master retoucher, her final images always offered a second chance to be blown away by her talent.

One of my favorite memories on set with LeAnn was a time I saw her a little out of character. For the December 2019 issue, we hired LeAnn to photograph Lyle Lovett. The two of them had never met before and yet when LeAnn walked through the door of Texas Traditions boot shop, Lyle recognized her immediately. “You’re LeAnn Mueller,” he said. This caught her momentarily off guard, but LeAnn responded after only a beat with, “And you’re Lyle Lovett. How do you know who I am?” The next words out of Lyle’s mouth made her grin because, a photographer in his own right, he was being sincere. “You’re famous,” he stated. Her grin broke into a laugh, and I think that’s one of the only times I ever saw a subject put the charm on LeAnn for a change.

Ali Clem, LeAnn Mueller, and Lyle Lovett in 2019.Texas Monthly

John Spong, Texas Monthly staff writer:

The first time I met LeAnn was when she shot a portrait of Phil Collins for a 2011 feature I wrote on his love of the Alamo. I don’t think she realized it going in, but the deck was stacked against her. Phil, it turns out, is a shockingly nice and normal person. But his nearly lifelong fascination with Davy Crockett, and the ever-growing collection of artifacts from the Texas Revolution it inspired, had become international news.

While his dedication may have made perfect sense to Texans, the wider world thought it was weird. So “press shy” doesn’t begin to describe how he was feeling when he ushered LeAnn and me into his room at the Hyatt Riverwalk in San Antonio, his favorite suite overlooking the Alamo, on a Saturday morning that April. When he noticed LeAnn’s preparation for the shoot—a coonskin cap fell from her bag when she pulled out her tripod—he coldly noted, “Well, I’ll not be putting that on,” and turned to look out the window.

That’s when LeAnn went to work. She had a quick, cut-to-the-chase charm. “Well, s—, I had to try,” she said, unloading the other props she’d brought onto his unmade bed. Somehow, this tickled Phil. They started to talk, trading stories about old trips to the Alamo, then moving on to other corners of Texas history and eventually, of course, barbecue. Maybe Phil realized he was encountering, if not Texas royalty, then certainly our peerage. Or more likely, he was just taken in by LeAnn being LeAnn. They connected. And he trusted her.

LeAnn’s portrait that ran with the piece is perfect. Phil’s gaze is formal, intense, and almost defiant. The collar of his shirt is popped, as is his wont. And on the shirt’s left breast is an embroidered patch depicting the famous façade of the old mission. LeAnn had picked up the shirt that morning at the Alamo gift shop, and Phil had been happy to put it on.

Andy Langer, Texas Monthly writer-at-large:

I consider myself lucky to have had LeAnn shoot the photos for multiple music profiles I’ve written for this magazine. I worked with her two or three times before I realized her role in maintaining and expanding her family’s barbecue legacy. Perhaps it didn’t occur to me because she was so confident, comfortable, and talented as a photographer, I just assumed this was her full-time livelihood.

In 2015, we met in Fort Worth for a piece on Leon Bridges a few months before he exploded onto the national scene. It was Leon’s first big photo shoot, and he told me he was anxious about it for days. LeAnn made those nerves disappear almost immediately by simply asking him to do the thing he was comfortable doing: playing guitar and singing. Truly great music photos are the images that pop into your head when you hear certain names mentioned, and for me, that series of photos of Leon, relaxed and smiling ear to ear, is still exactly how I picture him.

Two years later, for my cover story on the new state of Texas music, LeAnn shot Leon and Gary Clark Jr. together in Houston. We’d planned to shoot at the Heights Theater, but the lighting didn’t work. She quickly switched gears and fashioned a backdrop at Heights Mercantile, a funky clothing shop down the street from the theater. It made for one of the magazine’s most memorable covers in years.

We were almost always working when we saw each other, but I remain grateful for the opportunity to be a fly on the wall and watch her make my stories infinitely better. Like many great portrait photographers, she fully understood the nuanced (and often silent) conversation that has to take place between photographers and subjects. It’s rare to find someone who equally understood people, the mechanics of photography, and the demands of magazine journalism. Lots of people do one of those things well—very few can do all three. And I know no one else who could do all three while also changing the landscape of barbecue. She was truly singular. May her memory be a blessing.

Barry Corbin, actor known for roles in Northern Exposure, No Country for Old Men, and Urban Cowboy, as told to Texas Monthly staff writer Mike Hall:

LeAnn shot photos of character actor Barry Corbin at his Fort Worth home on November 23, 2020 (see gallery above).

LeAnn was so full of life, I figured she’d be going forever. I liked her a lot. She talked like a barbecue chef. We sat and talked for a while before we even started, just getting to know each other. We took some photos with me on horseback. I got on an old paint horse here and prodded it around a little bit in the backyard. That’s the first time I’d been on a horse in about a year. Then, we went in my office and she was just taking some portraits. And she said, “Have you got anything else you’d like to do?” And I started making faces and goofing around. She had that ability to put you at ease, you know? I’m used to photographers and I’m used to having my picture taken, but it’s always good to have somebody that you can, you know, relax with.

Leann and Willis Alan Ramsey at Devil's Backbone in 2022. — LeAnn and Willis Alan Ramsey at Devil’s Backbone in 2022.Texas Monthly

Brian Johnson, Texas Monthly art director, 2009–2014:

Such a loss in energy and talent. LeAnn’s process was definitely organic, but the final result was always beyond. The level of style and depth she could capture made working with her images both incredibly exciting and fairly intimidating. [Pitmaster] Roy Perez, cowgirls, the Playboy sign in Marfa: I can remember the feeling of seeing all of these shoots for the first time. So much joy.

Nicki Longoria, Texas Monthly art producer, 2008–2016

We first met on assignment for Texas Monthly, back in 2011. I was a newly minted member of the art department, and I was to ride along with her to shoot another real live wire, Billy Joe Shaver. I was nervous to go on the shoot because it was my first one for the magazine and I had heard LeAnn was a wild card. After a near-miss car accident mere blocks from the office, we both looked at each other, laughed, and instantly knew we would be friends.

We drove to Shaver’s house in Waco, listened to the clicks and clacks of him undoing the tower of locks lining his front door with raised eyebrows, and stepped into the dark, wood-paneled house filled with taxidermy. None of this remotely fazed her. She walked in there like she was walking into her own house. I watched her introduce herself, start setting up her gear, and make small talk. Little by little, I could see Shaver loosen up. She got him in place and went to work, keeping the chatter going and getting some laughs out of Shaver. He was so comfortable, he offered to show off a small pistol he had tucked away in his pocket. A pistol in the pocket of a Texan is not a rarity by any means, but at the time Shaver was in the midst of dealing with some legal issues involving a firearm—an outlaw is as an outlaw does.

Shortly after the story ran, LeAnn gave me two signed prints from that shoot, and ever since, the watchful eye of Shaver has been over my shoulder. For her to love you was to feel like the luckiest person on the planet. My luck started on that day and will be with me forever.

The Art of Photography: Through the Eyes of Earl J. Hooks

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Provided by ARTfactory

The Art of Photography: Through the Eyes of Earl J. Hooks is on display June 16 to July 29, 2023

The ARTfactory celebrates the life and photography of nationally renowned artist Earl J. Hooks (1927-2005). For the first time, “The Art of Photography: Through the Eyes of Earl J Hooks” brings together fifty photographs spanning over sixty years of the artist’s oeuvre. Click here to learn more about the exhibit.

Artist Reception: Saturday, June 24, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Sponsored by the Prince William County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

This free event includes live music by Theo Scott and refreshments.

Artist Panel Discussion, Saturday, July 15, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The topics of this panel discussion concentrate on Hooks as an artist, photographer, educator, and his lasting impact on the art world. Visit Tinyurl.com/HooksPanel for more info and to RSVP.

Jayson Rivas on joining Army after 9/11, retiring to start photography business | PODCAST

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Jayson Rivas owed a restaurant before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He sold the restaurant and joined the Army. After serving 20 years, part of that with the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, he is now running his own photography operation.

This week, Rivas joins Katie Gambill and Charlie Koon on Clarksville’s Conversation to share his story talk about the skills he learned as a Green Beret that have helped him in business.

For more, go to the JHR Photography website, or email jayson@jhr-photography.com.

BUSINESS OWNERS: Click here if you are interested in a free marketing and branding consultation for your business.

New photography tool in emergency rooms could help break pattern of abuse

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – A new tool being used in several emergency rooms, including Bethesda North and Good Samaritan, is helping break the pattern of physical and mental abuse.

The tool uses what’s called ‘forensic photography’ to provide critical evidence for victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, or sexual assault.

Once medically stable, it allows a patient in the emergency room to see on screen what potential damages are on their face or other parts of their body. It does this in several ways, one of them is by adding color, or what’s called a contrast filter.

It’s all made possible by using a Cortexflo camera. Forensic Nurse Examiner Christine Hassert-Blomer of TriHealth affectionately calls her “Flo.”

“She has a really high-resolution camera with a built-in light. She also has a built-in black light, where we can also take pictures of blood, urine or semen, which we couldn’t do before,” Hassert-Blomer said.

The camera records how an injury may have happened. It will contrast what looks like light bruising and even show hard to see areas of injury.

Hassert-Blomer said these images produced are powerful tools to potentially help turn around patterns of abuse.

“You know, most people, they say they leave seven or eight times before they leave for good, and I just wonder is this when it’s set in motion because now it’s real for you. You’ve been seen and you’ve been heard, and you’ve been validated with these pictures,” she said.

Each of these systems costs about $20,000. Hassert-Blomer said the value is priceless if just one of these domestic violence or sexual assault cases goes to court.

How to Quickly Improve Your Landscape Photography Compositions |

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Of all the techniques, philosophies, and approaches that go into making a successful landscape image, perhaps nothing gives new and experienced photographers alike more trouble than composition. If you find yourself often struggling with composition, check out this fantastic video that offers a useful approach to get you on the right track in no time.

Coming to you from Alister Benn of Expressive Photography, this awesome video tutorial discusses how to approach landscape photo compositions. Perhaps the single approach that helped me progress the most is remembering to simplify, simplify, simplify. There is a tendency to be awed by a scene and attempt to cram it all into one frame, but that does not always translate from what we in person to an image well. Sometimes, excluding things can make an image stronger. One simple way to do this is to simply use a longer focal length. While landscape photography traditionally uses ultra-wide angle lenses, a nice telephoto zoom can help you make stronger, more direct images. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Benn.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.”

Amazon to Sell DPReview, a Photography Site It Planned to Shut Down

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Amazon has struck a deal to sell digital photography website DPReview, months after planning to shutter the business amid a wave of layoffs the tech giant had announced in January.
Gear Patrol, a publisher specializing in product reviews, is acquiring DPReview and will keep it running, Gear Patrol told The Information. The sale price couldn’t be learned, and the deal is set to be announced as…

Exciting News: DPReview Has Joined Gear Patrol!

Jun 20, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Gear Patrol is excited to announce the acquisition of DPReview, an industry-leading publication and enthusiast community dedicated to digital photography gear and news, now in its 25th year of operation.

As a newly combined portfolio, Gear Patrol and DPReview will remain dedicated to their primary missions of creating authoritative product journalism that serves, engages and inspires their respective enthusiast communities.

Together, Gear Patrol and DPReview will reach over 7 million product enthusiasts globally across digital, print, email and social channels, making the tandem one of the largest product-centric media organizations in operation today.

Read DPReview’s official announcement of the partnership here.

The official press release and information regarding press inquiries are below.

Gear Patrol Acquires DPReview.com — A Leading Authority and Community for Digital Photography

New York, NY, June 20, 2023 — Gear Patrol, a leading enthusiast media publisher and pioneer in product journalism, announced today that it has acquired Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com), a trusted online resource for digital photography enthusiasts and photography culture, from Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

“DPReview is the internet’s original center of gravity for photography,” said Eric Yang, CEO and founder of Gear Patrol. “As a photography enthusiast, I’ve been an avid reader since its earliest days. We’re honored to receive the baton from Amazon and help the incredible DPReview team craft the next phase of their story. Editorial integrity and the passionate community are the heart of DPReview and we plan to uphold that charter.”

As DPReview celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, the acquisition marks an important milestone in the brand’s history. Under Gear Patrol’s stewardship and publishing offering, DPReview will expand its efforts to reach the next generation of photographers and creators while further cementing the brand’s reputation as an authority in photography and imaging technology. Most importantly, DPReview will continue being a premier gathering place for the photography community.

“DPReview has been a hub of digital photography content and reviews for nearly twenty-five years, with a passionate and engaged community of readers,” said Steve Downer, Vice President of Consumer Electronics at Amazon. “We’re looking forward to DPReview flourishing as part of Gear Patrol.

“In a nod to the exceptional team behind DPReview, Gear Patrol Has confirmed that current DPReview employees will continue and work to maintain the commitment to high standards and grow its renowned body of experts, creators, and expert content.”

About Gear Patrol

Founded in 2007, Gear Patrol is an award-winning publisher and content studio dedicated to guiding the next generation of consumers about the best products and strategies to pursue their lives. As an early pioneer of product journalism, Gear Patrol Reaches over seven million readers every month in digital, print and social media with its unique blend of product storytelling and service-centric journalism across its core categories of outdoors, tech, watches, motoring, home and style. Gear Patrol is driven by its core value that everyone deserves the best product.

About DPReview

Digital Photography Review was founded in December 1998 with the mission to provide the most authoritative coverage of digital photography gear in the world, including news, articles and expert reviews. DPReview has built the most comprehensive database of consumer digital cameras on the Internet, and provides an open, active forum and useful tools for our community.

Gear Patrol Media Contact

double e public relations
Ray Ecke, Sr. VP, Creative+Strategy
Email: ray@doubleepr.com
Phone: 1-201-741-1092
CC: press@gearpatrol.com

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Exciting News: DPReview Has Joined Gear Patrol!

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