Inspirational Photojournalist

“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.”

~ Paul Strand

[Wire Wheel - Photographed by Paul Strand 1917]

Paul Strand is a famous photographer and filmmaker who established photography as a form of art in the 20th century. This allowed images of all kind to be visualized and perceived in a different unique manner. Photography today has gone into a new level. Strand's photography varies from different genres which has inspired my work as an aspiring photojournalist.

David Hume Kennerly

(Pulitzer Prize Winning Photojournalist)

He also inspired my photo journalistic work. He traveled around the world taking amazing pictures. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1972 of the Vietnam War. Currently he took pictures of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. This picture is an extraordinary picture because it's a rare case in which all 5 presidents are together to take a picture. He was able to photograph every United States President since Richard Nixon due to the fact that he was appointed as the White House's photographer.

Among his notable Pulitzer Prize photos, Kennerly also took very well known pictorials and portraits, which are two of my favorite categories in photojournalism.

Kennerly's Pictorials
Kennerly's Portraits
[Left: Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, Studio City, California, 1998]
[Right: Actress Mia Farrow on the set of John and Mary, New York City, 1969]

[Queen Elizabeth at the White House, Washington D.C., 1976]

Photography allows me to capture the precious moments in time. Especially with portraits pictures, I am able to capture the personality of the subject. I honestly stand by the cliche that "a picture is worth a thousand words." A picture alone can tell a lot about a person. A lot of my pictures have been inspired by the city of Chicago.

As a photojournalist, I am constantly learning new techniques and different strategies to capture insightful pictures. Although candid pictures are not my forte, I am trying out new techniques to capture images that will illustrate great emotions and personality.

I choose to take pictures in the most well defined areas to best capture the subject's personality. The use of nature lighting as oppose to florescent lighting really helps bring out the beauty of the picture giving it a natural finish. Here are a few portrait pictures that I have taken.