Portraits of Artists

Every year, the Rotary Club of Saratoga hosts an Art Fair at West Valley College. Since Saratoga is one of the wealthiest communities in the Bay area, they attract a number of high end artists, with some canvases selling for thousands, and some photos priced at $500 and up. We rarely buy anything, but it's always an enjoyable event, with music and good food.

I've brought my digicam in past years, but the artists aren't very receptive to people taking shots of their works, as you might imagine. This year, I went armed with my d70 and 28-70mm/2.8, and asked the artists if they'd mind if I took an environmental portrait, featuring them in front of their creations. To my delight, every single one of them agreed, and some asked that I send them a link to their pictures. Here's a few samples.

A recent graduate of art school, just starting out.


This gentleman likes to surround himself with beauty.


This lady creates fanciful necklaces and bracelets.


There were performance artists, too.


And custom crafted jewelery.


Stephen's work had a European fine art flavor.


A marvellous musician.


I was really jazzed when Robert Steiner agreed to pose in front of his wonderful images. He's one of the premiere wildlife artists in the country, and has a number of duck stamps to his credit. In fact, his sign advertised his availability for commissions, with fees ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, but warned that there's a two year wait! This is a very succesful artist.


I've still got tons of shots to edit, but I thought I'd share these with you.

 

It's interesting, Gordon, but I'm getting pretty confident in my ability to get a good shot with the 28-70, and I think the subjects sense it and respond.

 

Thanks, Leigh. That fiddle player may have looked a bit like Clint, but you'd never catch Dirty Harry wearing this kind of outfit...

 

Hey, Father's Day is coming up. If you're interested, I'm sure I could find one in Patrick's size .