|
 |
Photos to Inspire: Al Satterwhite
By DE Staff | Photos to Inspire |
Jun 1, 2007
|
|
 |
Water Baby
©Al Satterwhite
|
Saturated color images, a keen sense of design, innovative composition—these are the trademarks of Nikon “Legend” Al Satterwhite.
Having first been “roped” into photography for a junior high project, it soon morphed into a big, full-time hobby for Satterwhite. In high school, he started working for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, covering major news stories in the Southeast region and spending a year as the Governor of Florida’s personal photographer.
“I sort of stumbled into it," he says. It took me one year of college before I realized that I was already doing what I wanted to do. I started out in aerospace engineering, but I would spend all my time working for the college paper, the yearbook, United Press International, and The St. Petersburg Times. So I spent a lot more time working on photography than I did thinking about aerospace. Finally I came to the conclusion of, ‘Duh, this is it, dude!’ And I didn't look back—until around the early 90s when I started to get a little burned out on photography. Which I never thought would happen.”
Long before that slight burn-out, Satterwhite had moved into the second phase of his career as a freelance magazine photographer working out of Florida and Los Angeles. Over the next 10 years he worked on assignment for almost every major magazine including Automobile, Car & Driver, Fortune, Geo, Life, Look, Money, Newsweek, People, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Travel & Leisure.
 |
Edwin Moses
©Al Satterwhite
|
Satterwhite then found himself moving to New York City where he formed his own production company and worked on a wide range of national and international advertising campaigns, from action and aerial work, miniatures in the studio, to major productions in exciting locations all around the world. Some of his clients include American Express, Coca Cola, Dole, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Kent Int’l, Molson, Nikon, Oldsmobile, Porsche, Polaroid, R J Reynolds, Saab, Sony, Tuborg, Universal Studios, Westinghouse, and many more.
View Al Satterwhite’s PHOTOWORKSHOP.COM Portfolio
In recent years, however, his attention has been focused primarily on transferring his skills into making films: shooting commercials, features and award-winning feature shorts as Director of Photography.
“For about six months I drove my wife crazy trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life,” Satterwhite recalls. “Finally, a light bulb went off and I started doing feature films. I liked it because you work with a big crew, and you’re telling a story, and you spend a fair amount of time on a project. I spent about nine years doing that until I realized that you really need to start when you’re young because making movies is all about contacts and who you know, and I knew I wasn’t going to make a great living trying to shoot feature length films for the rest of my life.
“So I switched to doing commercials, and it was about that time that I got excited about photography again because digital was really making some great advances. I had been involved with digital photography since the beginning and I kept a hand in it and kept up with the technology, but it’s hard to do two things at once. While I was shooting features, I didn’t have much time to shoot stills other than a little snapping here and there. Now I like to do a bit of everything: I get to do film, I get to do stills, I get to make prints… you name it, I’m into it. I really like having lots of different things to do.”
Considered an authority on color and design, Satterwhite has won numerous national and international awards and has four published books to his name, including The Photography of Al Satterwhite 1978, Fotographa Satterwhite/Images 1984, Satterwhite on Color & Design 1986, and Lights! Camera! Advertising! 1991. He was a paid consultant to Kodak for digital imaging for two years and has lectured at Boston University, Brooks Institute of Photography, the Los Angeles/ Miami/Minneapolis/New England/New York Chapters of the ASMP, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, and PhotoExpos in Los Angeles & New York. He has given workshops at Dawson College (Montreal), ICP (NYC), Kauai Photographic (Hawaii), the Maine Workshops, the Missouri Workshops, Palm Beach Photographic Workshops, Santa Fe Workshops & his own studio in New York City.
 |
Jockeys, Santa Anita
©Al Satterwhite
|
Visit Al Satterwhite’s website at www.alsatterwhite.com
Recently, he returned from speaking at the Hallmark Institute of Photography and will be leading an upcoming course in August 2007 called Advertising & Product Photography at the Maine Photographic Workshops. He also has several promising book projects cued up for the near future: one called Titans which will contain photographs taken extensively in the 70s of Muhammad Ali and Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of their power, two books on race car drivers and racing in the 60s and 70s, and another book of photos devoted to the fisheye lens.
“My hobby is photography, which can be really dangerous,” Satterwhite reflects. “But I do it because I like it and because I couldn’t spend my life in a cubicle. Since I quit the paper, I’ve been self-employed for most of my life. It’s not for everybody; some people are better off having a job with people telling them what to do, having an assignment. To work for yourself, you really have to be motivated.
“When I’m not working, I’m out shooting,” he continues. “I used to do a lot of skeet shooting and bow hunting, but I haven’t done that in years. I was in London in February for the opening show of Gonzo, the Hunter S. Thompson book, which I have some work in, and in between having some meetings and going to the gallery, all I did was wander around with a couple of cameras shooting pictures. I love the concept of street photography. People are fun and interesting, but what I really look for is some sort of color combination/design thing going on, and I don’t know it until I see it.”
As for advice, Satterwhite recommends finding good photography books and looking at good photography, along with lots of practice and shooting. Some photographers he admires include Pete Turner, Ernst Haas, Art Kane, and Richard Avedon, to name a few. “It was just the way they thought and came up with new and exciting images every week, every month. It was exciting opening up a magazine and looking for something new that was going to be great. The thing about photography is that you’re constantly learning. If you’re not learning, why bother? It can be very enlightening putting aside your work for a few weeks and taking it out after the novelty of it has worn off. You’ll look at it and either say, ‘What was I thinking?’ or ‘Wow, I really like this!’”
Al Satterwhite currently resides in Dallas, Texas with his wife Valery and two Katrina rescued kitties.
Let us know if you found this article useful, and tell us what kinds of articles you'd like to see in upcoming issues. Send your comments and ideas to Lynne Eodice.
© Copyright 2008 by PHOTOWORKSHOP.COM
Top of Page
Last Updated: Jul 3rd, 2009 - 15:04:15
|
|
|
|
|
Photos to Inspire: Additional Articles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
