APA Open Talk April 30, 2020
Host Travis Keyes, Panelists: Susan Magnano, Clifford Pickett
APA NY Chairman, Travis Keyes, hosts APA "Open Tak" online group chat so we can come together as a community and share ideas on how to get through this turbulent time.
Watch previous OPEN TALK
Susan Magnano is a photographer, an explorer and an educator who loves capturing the beauty of the people and places around her. As an award winning photography with over 15 years of experience, Susn is a respected educator in the industry and now shares her innovative techniques on her Photo Adventures. Photour Adventures was created out of Susan’s desire to share her passion for photography and travel through workshops and photowalks. She loves chasing the best light from sunrise to sunset through red rock canyons, lush forests and iconic city streets. Once the sun sets, Susan typically springs into action, teaching her favorite subject, light painting and shotting the stars till the wee hours of the morning. She leads photowalks for Canon & B&H, partners with Merrell & Campmor and is an ambassador for Litra & Light Painting Brushes. When she is not teaching, she is freelancing as a set photographer for the Food Network, working the red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival and documenting natural disaster recovery sites with 8 Days of Hope and The Salvation Army.
Clifford Pickett is an NYC-based professional travel, humanitarian and commercial photographer, videographer and educator. He is also an FAA Certified Drone Pilot and Adobe Lightroom expert. He failed his first photography class. He waited until digital photography was good enough to avoid film. He’s self taught, sourcing his education through modern methods rather than traditional ones. His approach to his work and his teaching is, as a result, both refreshing and rather unconventional, questioning everything about the standards and norms of creating images. He has learned to successfully operate at the edge of what is possible, leveraging the new capabilities of modern technology and developing techniques that allow him to overcome traditional photographic limitations while simplifying the process. His unique ability to take a complicated subject matter and distill it into its purest, most simple form, has led to a “more is less” approach to photography, workflow and editing. More often than not you’ll find him shooting with an iPhone and a small aerial drone.
Professionally, he’s developed several successful photographic enterprises, including an elite personal brand in digital photography, a commercial video production company, a 3D VR imaging business and a community-based platform for local artists in NYC to share their vision and work worldwide. He is an adjunct professor at NYU and a personal consultant for many of the biggest names inside and outside of the photographic industry. His work has caught the attention of many global brands such as Apple, Google, British Airways, Adidas, Estée Lauder, Sephora, Clinique and Lindblad Expeditions, among others, and his work has been featured by National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and various other publications and media outlets.
His approach to constantly adopting new technologies for creative means, paired with an unyielding drive to simplify the process has led to speaking engagements and curated photo experiences around the globe where he teaches others to “Lighten up” - to redefine image quality by focusing on what really matters, the light, the gesture, the moment and ultimately… the experience.
2024 Off The Clock Gallery - Curated by George Kocis
Rental studios known throughout the industry as a hub for world-class photographers and directors.