Web Profiles

www.quantzgallery.com
South Carolinian Jay Quantz is a Shutterbug reader who, like me, enjoys infrared photography and cars, although I am not sure he's combined them yet. When clicking "Gallery of Images" you're presented with a large image and small thumbnails that you can turn off to focus your attention on the photographs. Quantz kicks off the gallery with breathtaking landscape images made in vibrant color, monochrome infrared, and some that combine both for a deliciously old-fashioned look. He tosses in some wonderful portraits of a jazz musician then carries on with a breathtaking nighttime cityscape called "Game Night" whose heightened sense of reality produces the kind of "gee whiz" effect most of us only dream of achieving. Then he goes on for a series of monochrome "middle of nowhere" landscapes, some of which, such as "Storm Over Monument Valley," look like they could be Mons Gruithuisen Delta on the moon, but turns out to be Muley Point in Utah.

While black and white landscapes have the most representation in this series, it's the lone color entry with white, white sands and blue, blue skies that caught my attention. Clicking on "Portraits & Prints for Purchase" takes you to another more cluttered area of the site that includes an artist statement, a place to purchase prints, and a gateway to other galleries, amplifying the series that appears in the main gallery. Poke around and enjoy them all.

© 2007, James Quantz Jr. Photography, Inc., All Rights Reserved

www.kentsmithphoto.com
In his Profile, Kent Smith is photographed whimsically lying on top of a stack of slides! His gorgeous website includes portfolios for Advertising, Portraits, Personal Work, and Snap Shots. "Advertising" features everything from dynamite sports action to provocative hot babes to black and white photography that's to die for. While the keyword in "Portraits" may be drama, there's an undercurrent of humor seen in a falling-down funny portrait of Underdog, a woman and mannequin in a store window, and a guy lying on a giant stack of clothes echoing Smith's own portrait. I couldn't bring myself to give a nudity advisory to one of these portraits (you'll know which one) because I don't think it's necessary, but if you're even slightly uncomfortable if women are not wearing burkas, skip this section.

You might also want to skip "Personal Work" because of an interesting series of photographs of nude but mud-covered people. OK, there's a pensive portrait of a cross-dresser here, too. "Snap Shots" is safe for the squeamish and contains vignettes of Smith's world from a peaceful moment in the park to a howling primate to the fattest prairie dog I've ever seen. Through all of this versatile work, it's Smith himself who shines through as a beacon of technical skill wrapped up in a guy who has a job to do and knows how to do it. Yet he still has time to take a moment to capture those humorous moments that make life, well, life.

© 2007, Kent Smith, All Rights Reserved