Ray Pfortner | Instructor, Fall Quarter
About this Artist:
Ray has worked in photography for over 3 decades - as an educator, stock photography agent, photo editor, book editor, consultant and photographer - in New York, California and Washington State.
He teaches for colleges throughout the NW, including the University of Washington, Bellevue, Seattle Central and South Seattle. He is also an instructor for artist leagues, art centers and art stores, not-for-profits and the Seattle Public Library. His students range from teens to retirees. Ray’s focus is improving camera skills, image design, styling and the business of art for all art mediums. A prime objective always is sharing results to make change, especially to the environment and our impact on it through awareness and inspiration.
Ray is a Fellow of the North American Nature Photography Association. His photography is represented by Getty Images. He is a graduate of Yale and the Duke School of the Environment.
About this Work:
In days of film, we were all jealous of National Geographic photographers. Imagine having essentially unlimited film at your disposal. Well, imagine having essentially unlimited memory cards today.
Put this potential to good use, “working a situation” as thoroughly as the subject and time allow. Shoot landscape and portrait format, get closer, go higher and lower, and more.
But also work a subject over time in different light, different weather, different seasons. Almost like time lapse, taken not over minutes or hours, but days and months, even years. All 7 of these collaged photographs were taken of the same location - Vashon Island’s Tramp Harbor Fishing Pier, 10 minutes from my home. These were taken over more than 28 years, starting almost the day my wife and I moved in. There are other lessons in these 7 photographs. Photo ops are everywhere, not just out on the road. Don’t ignore what your town, even your backyard have to offer. Second, working locally is working smart. Most localities are under photographed. Localities have strong needs for local photographs - local newspapers, non-profits, and businesses, as greeting cards and wall art. Local images can make an enormous difference, empowering non-profits.
The appetite for local photographs exceeds our locality, like regional and state publications. Plus, if we photograph smart and capture local images with universal appeal, these can be multi-purposed into national end uses like magazines and calendars, uses limited only by our research and our imagination.
