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Just what is Not Quite Right Photography?
Not Quite Right Photography is Greg Barnett, a not yet world famous photographer.
My first exposure to photography was in High School, where I took a semester long black and white photography class focusing on traditional darkroom processes. The frustrations, limitations and costs involved with film led me to pursue other interests. Years later, when digital photography became affordable, my interest was rekindled. The first digital cameras I had the opportunity to use in the Nineties left a lot to be desired. In 2003, I purchased my first really good digital camera, a Canon 10D. It was with this camera that my personal style really started to develop.
Starting with parties and graduations ceremonies, I have developed an approach to event photography that is a mix of documentary, glamour, the Ansel Adams zone system and other influences. My fine art photography shares most of the same influences. The biggest difference between my event photography and my fine art photography is my method and speed for composing. For candid photos of people and wildlife, I compose as rapidly as possible, reacting to the subject. With fine art, I take as much time as I need to get the composition perfect, finding where the elements of the subject need to be. When shooting candids, I may be shooting 10 times a minute, for fine art, setting up for one shot can take 10 minutes. With both approaches, the level of concentration is total, it just gets used differently.
From the documentary school, I've taken the idea of capturing "the decisive moment" (coined by Cartier-Bresson) as well as composing in such a way as to tell a story to the viewer with each photo.
My approach to photographing people isn't strictly documentary though. I like to add a bit of beauty and glamour, to create images that present an event as just a little bit better than reality. By paying attention to creating or finding the most flattering light, to minor retouching of the images, my images transcend the banality of the typical harshly lit snapshot. Selective focus is also a part of my style.
Occasionally, I like to use my 4x5 large format film camera instead of digital for portraits. The nature of the large format requires the subject to be very still for long periods, and setting up a shot isn't fast. In this more contemplative mode, I like to think my work is slightly reminiscent of Mike Disfarmer (if he shot on location instead of in a studio).
When it comes to lenses, I am very picky. Instead of using the more convenient zoom lenses, I use fixed focal length prime lenses almost exclusively. Using prime lenses allows me to take photographs using less light than required by a zoom lens, which also has the effect of allowing for even more selective focus.
Ansel Adams biggest influence on photography has been on black and white landscape. His zone system is the basis for how most black and white photographers choose to expose and print their images. Lots of color photographers do not follow the zone system, or spend significant amounts of time adjusting the tonality of their photograph. Instead of using the traditional dodging and burning in the darkroom, I've used his ideas as a basis for how I use Photoshop to finish an image. Since my digital camera takes color photos, I also think of zones when adjusting the color saturation, in addition to just adjusting luminance.
Additional influences are painters, other photographers, sculpture, architecture, nature, cinematagraphers.
My prime idea is that every photo I take is not just an image, but an attempt to create art. Due to the nature of my approach, I typically spend much more time working in Photoshop than I spend on location. This is especially true for events, where I take hundreds of photos.
So that brings us back to the name of the company.
"Not Quite Right" comes from a few sources.
Perfection and excellence in every photo is what I strive for, or as a cinematographer might say "every frame a Rembrandt", but even Ansel Adams only came up with 20 or so images a year that he thought were good. By looking at each image I take in a critical fashion, I find what is not quite right about it. In addition to learning so that the next image I make does not have that flaw, I use Photoshop to fix as much of what isn't right as possible, and enhance everything that is good in the photo. I treat each photo as a unique work of art. No cookie cutter special effects are used, although I do have a few standard approaches. I let each image speak to me, so that I can find what needs to be done. This can range from subtle tonal corrections, to making multi-image composites to extreme modifications.
Some people find some of my subject matter to be disturbing. In addition to discovering and enhancing beauty, I find that photographs of things that are ugly or strange can create compelling images.
All my life, people have been telling me that I'm not quite right. I'd like to think that a bit of eccentricity is integral to being an artist.
"Not Quite Right" also allowed me to get something which is becoming increasingly rare, a 5 letter domain name that no one else had taken.
Service Packages
If you need to hire a photographer in Washington/Oregon please contact me.
Events Engagement/Couple Wedding Headshot Fashion / Glamour Model Online Dating Portrait Group or Individual Portraiture Cats Movie/TV Set Macro Product Band/Musician Photojournalist/Documentary
Custom, if none of the other packages meet your needs.
Image Licensing
If you wish to use any of these images for commercial purposes, please send an email to photobuy at irgth.com. All of these images have been resized for use on the web, if you purchase a license for commercial use of an image, you will be provided with the best quality digital file possible.
Copyright and allowed use
All of the images here are copyrighted. Permission is granted to download copies and/or print these images for your personal noncommercial use. Please note however, that the files posted to this site are not high resolution. If you want high quality prints or digital files, you will have to purchase them.
You may NOT include these images on your website without my express permission. You MAY link to these images in a 'blog posting, provided that you clearly attribute the source of the image, and include a link to either this page, or the page the image was featured on.
References available on request.
Contact
email: photo at irgth.com
cell: 253-592-5147