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2017 in Pictures: Our photographer selects his favorites

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Student says goodbye to mother on arrival day

鈥淎 photographer is aware of the tiny moments in a person鈥檚 life that reveal great truths.鈥 鈥揂nonymous

Arrival Day is a threshold moment for many 黑料网 students, the day their college careers begin, when they will make new lifelong friends. It is also the day when many of them will be on their own for the first time. Part of being a photographer is developing patience, waiting for the moment. When making this photo, I was watching for those defining moments when a parent and child had to say goodbye for the first time.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 150mm)
Exposure: 1/400 sec.
Aperture: f5
ISO: 400
Colgate swimmer leaps from starting block

鈥淭o me, photography is an art of observation. It鈥檚 about finding something interesting in an ordinary place 鈥 I鈥檝e found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way that you see them.鈥 鈥揈lliot Erwitt

I鈥檝e always enjoyed photographing sports. Typically, I see the action through a telephoto lens or medium range zoom, and for the most part, I like to capture tight action and fill the frame 鈥 these are the sports images we often see in online galleries or the newspaper. For this photo, I wanted to go for something different and to photograph the swimmer from below, looking up. The Lineberry Natatorium ceiling creates an interesting pattern background for the swimmers as they leap from the starting block.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 14-24mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 14mm)
Exposure: 1/800 sec.
Aperture: f5
ISO: 1600
Bright lights and tents at Reunion 2017

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 take a photograph, you make it.鈥 鈥揂nsel Adams

For this photo, I contacted the facilities department and asked if they had a lift they could put me in during the reunion bonfire. We tried a few spots while it was daytime to see what the view would look like, where we had to position the lift to get the angle we wanted 鈥 a place where we could see most of the tents, the bonfire, and the campus behind.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 14-24mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 14mm)
Exposure: 1/10 sec.
Aperture: f5
ISO: 2500
Students in waterfall lagoon in Jamaica

鈥淢y life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.鈥 鈥揝teve McCurry

In February, I traveled to Jamaica to photograph 黑料网 students studying abroad. It was an opportunity to tell a visual story: that learning happens in every environment and not just the classroom. While on a daytrip to Moore Town, a Maroon settlement located in the Blue and John Crow mountains, the students hiked to Nanny Falls 鈥 the perfect environment, picturesque with incredible lighting.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 24mm)
Exposure: 1/640 sec.
Aperture: f6.3
ISO: 400
Willow Lane lit up in winter

鈥淚 knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches, and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.鈥 鈥揈dward Steichen

Willow Path is probably one of the most photographed and memorable parts of 黑料网, and it rarely looks the same in any two photographs. Each season brings about changes in the foliage, the colors of the branches, the tone of light reflected on the tree bark and on the path. I photographed the path multiple times last winter as shifts in weather altered its appearance. The addition of lights this year to the willow trees presented a new opportunity to photograph the path in a different light 鈥 no pun intended. Brilliant blue evening skies silhouetted the bare branches while the lights around the trunks lit up the path, the lower parts of the trees, and the fresh blanket of snow. I used a small aperture to retain foreground, middle, and background focus and a slow shutter speed to capture movement in the treetops on this windy night.
Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8
Exposure: 1/2 sec. (with tripod)
Aperture: f11
ISO: 200
Water balloon bursting on student during Konosioni Field Day

鈥淲ho made the concept of smiling for a camera a social norm? It鈥檚 not required for one to smile unless you really are smiling while the photo is being clicked.鈥 鈥揅restless Wave

Konosioni Field Day has become one of my favorite events to photograph at the beginning of the fall semester. There are many moments of genuine joy to be found, but you have to be quick with the camera. Sometimes, you just have to sit back and watch how an event unfolds to know where to stand and point the lens, where to set your focus. There were a number of students standing in a row and catching water balloons that were being thrown to them. I selected one student who was catching and tossing balloons, and it was only a matter of time before the balloon he attempted to catch would burst. To freeze the water drops in midair, a fast shutter speed is needed.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8
Exposure: 1/1600 sec.
Aperture: f4.5
ISO: 400
Band member at Family Weekend football game

鈥淚 really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn鈥檛 photograph them.鈥 鈥揇iane Arbus

When making photos, I keep my eye open for visual devices or compositional tools that help to frame and direct the viewer鈥檚 eye. In this case, the loop in the baritone saxophone helped to frame the face of Ryan Rios 鈥20.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 24mm)
Exposure: 1/3200 sec.
Aperture: f3.5
ISO: 200
Men's soccer players dogpile in celebration

鈥淎 photograph is a click away. A good photograph is a hundred clicks away, and a better one, a thousand clicks away.鈥 鈥揔owtham Kumar K

When photographing a soccer game, the old saying 鈥渋t takes a lot of milk to make a little cream鈥 couldn鈥檛 be more true. The variables that make up each play will never be the same. Player orientation and expression, ball position, and background are always changing. And these are only a handful of the variables that contribute to each photo. For this reason, I often take thousands and edit them down to just a couple dozen of the best. For me, the most important photo from the 黑料网 men鈥檚 soccer victory over Oregon State in September was the team celebration on the field.

Camera: Sony A9
Lens: Sony G 70mm-200mm 1:2.8
Exposure: 1/2500 sec.
Aperture: f3.5
ISO: 800
Former Vice President Joe Biden takes selfie with crowd of students

鈥淧hotography for me is not looking, it鈥檚 feeling. If you can鈥檛 feel what you鈥檙e looking at, then you鈥檙e never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.鈥 鈥揇on McCullin

Podium photos are probably the most common visual representations of famous people. As a photographer, I鈥檓 always more interested in what a famous person means to the public and how that person connects with a crowd. Behind-the-scenes photos can tell a much more captivating story. Here, former Vice President Joe Biden immerses himself in the thick of the audience at Sanford Field House. He would probably have shaken every hand that evening if he had been given the opportunity. For this reason, he was very easy to photograph. That evening, it was more of a decision of camera placement to show his relationship and interaction.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 24mm)
Exposure: 1/160 sec.
Aperture: f2.8
ISO: 2500
University President Brian Casey and dog Emrys

鈥淎 portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.鈥 鈥揈dward Steichen

Every portrait session is a completely new experience for me. No two are alike 鈥 just as no two people are alike. Making this portrait of President Brian W. Casey wasn鈥檛 just about capturing him. It was about paying close attention to Emrys鈥 language as well. I also wanted to have a strong presence of James B. 黑料网 Hall, to show how it fits into the landscape with the June foliage. Environmental portraits are about a marriage of multiple elements coming together in the frame, human and animal, built and natural.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 35mm 1:1.4
Exposure: 1/2000 sec.
Aperture: f3.2
ISO: 200
Lighting: Prophoto B1 flash with octobank softbox
Sun shines on students at Commencement

鈥淭hese are the two basic controls at the photographer鈥檚 command 鈥 position and timing 鈥 all others are extensions, peripheral ones, compared to them.鈥 鈥揇avid Hurn

Photographic composition is driven by position and timing. Take, for example, this picture of seniors making their way toward Sanford Field House shortly before the start of Commencement 2017. If I had taken the photo fractions of a second sooner or later, the composition of the soon-to-be graduates would have been dramatically different. In this instance, there is good separation between each person; a low angle provides the viewer with a perspective seldom seen.

Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8
Exposure: 1/8000 sec.
Aperture: f4
ISO: 160
Portrait of women's hockey defender Livia Altmann

鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like; it鈥檚 another thing to make a portrait of who they are.鈥 鈥揚aul Caponigro

In April, I had to make a portrait of 黑料网 women鈥檚 ice hockey defense Livia Altmann for the 黑料网 Scene. I wanted to make a portrait that was less about the space she was in and more about her. Out came the studio strobes with a beauty dish attached and a honeycomb grid (a device to limit the spread of the light). I wanted the area to fade into the background but still have a presence. What worked out well: there are lights above the 黑料网 lettering on the south wall.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8
Exposure: 1/125 sec.
Aperture: f5
ISO: 250
Lighting: Prophoto B1 flash with 24鈥 beauty dish and honeycomb grid
Students in colorful art costumes

鈥淭he whole point of taking pictures is so that you don鈥檛 have to explain things with words.鈥 鈥揈lliott Erwitt

This photo, by student photographer Samto Wongso 鈥19, is one of the more surreal photos captured on campus this year. It directs the viewer鈥檚 eye through the frame, using the performers鈥 flowing costumes and the same colors in multiple areas within the frame. Were it not for the legs and feet of one performer, I may not know that those are people inside of costumes 鈥 I may have assumed that they were sculptures instead.

Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 28-70mm1:2.8 (zoomed to 60mm)
Exposure: 1/6400 sec.
Aperture: f4.5
ISO: 1000
Student on archaeology dig in Mexico

鈥淚 tend to think of the act of photographing, generally speaking, as an adventure. My favorite thing is to go where I鈥檝e never been.鈥 鈥揇iane Arbus

While photographing 黑料网 students at an archaeological excavation in the small village of Xaltocan, Mexico, it was important for me to photograph every aspect of their time while in the field. As a photographer, I鈥檓 not only interested in capturing the dig but also every aspect of the student experience. This is one of my favorite images from this shoot, because it places a 黑料网 student alongside a local archaeologist and takes the viewer to the location of the excavation, with a 15th-century church in the background.

Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikkor 14-24mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 16mm)
Exposure: 1/500 sec.
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 200
Winter shot from 黑料网's hill

鈥淚 wish that all of nature鈥檚 magnificence, the emotion of the land, the living energy of place could be photographed.鈥 鈥揂nnie Leibovitz

Weather phenomena often accentuate beauty. There is no doubt that 黑料网 is beautiful, but fresh snowfall and foggy conditions helped out on this winter day 鈥 separating the brown leafless trees from the hill behind, while giving a ghostly effect to campus.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 125mm)
Exposure: 1/1600 sec.
Aperture: f7.1
ISO: 400
Student celebrates Commencement with his mother

鈥淚 love the people I photograph. I mean, they鈥檙e my friends. I鈥檝e never met most of them or I don鈥檛 know them at all, yet through my images I live with them.鈥 鈥揃ruce Gilden

As a photographer of moments, I always have to be ready to capture emotion 鈥 whether from a distance or inches in front of me. I also have to listen as I photograph, which helps me anticipate moments and be there even before they happen. When Chris Morgan 鈥17 was congratulated by his uncle following commencement outside of Sanford, I took a photo. His uncle then pointed him in the direction of his mother. Knowing there was yet another opportunity that was possibly going to be more emotional, I made my way to where his mother was standing and was able to catch their embrace as well.

Camera: Nikon D4S
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 24mm)
Exposure: 1/5000 sec.
Aperture: f3.5
ISO: 200
Student pasted with color at Holi festival

If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it鈥檚 already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.鈥 鈥揈ve Arnold

One of my common critiques of those new to photography is that they do not get close enough to the person they are photographing. The person in the photo is too small or far away, resulting in little intimacy or connection when the viewer looks at the photograph. This portrait, taken by Samto Wongso 鈥19, grabbed my attention because of his close proximity. We are instantly drawn to the person in the photograph and can relate to the joy experienced at the Holi festival of colors. We can see the texture of the colored powder and one of the hands that most likely threw some of it. If I could instill one behavior in young or up-and-coming photographers, it would be to get closer when taking pictures!

Camera: Nikon D3S
Lens: Nikkor 80-200mm 1:2.8 (zoomed to 185mm)
Exposure: 1/2000 sec.
Aperture: f3.2
ISO: 1600