March 22, 2007
About me
Ok, this is my story...Contact info at the bottom of this quick run down...
I graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in computer graphics. After three summer internships working as a designer/programmer at Target in Minneapolis, NBC in Los Angles and Skyline Design Group in Los Angles I finished my degree. I focused on the digital and traditional printing process as well as multimedia programming. When I left Purdue I moved to Chicago and worked as a graphic designer/programmer. I spent my days and nights working for a startup called QuantumLeap. Don't bother trying to find this company...they went under after I left years ago. Back on track.. through the years of design/programming and my love for photography, I also worked part-time in several ‘mom and pop’ photo shops in the United States and London, England as a means to print my work for cheap and in most cases free!
Looking for a change, and after living in London, England for eight months I took a job with Kodak, supporting and selling the Kodak Picture Maker. Over time, I moved into the consumer sales division, supporting Kodak’s drug store traditional and digital imaging business in the Chicago land area. With the decline of traditional film business world wide, I then looked for new challenges in the Pro-sumer and digital markets working for ILFORD Imaging. I managed sales in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. Though my continued love for digital photography, I decided to upgrade my camera from an Minolta Dimage x (I know, I can't believe I used that thing myself) to a Canon 20D, buy a printing system (Epson 7600 and a rip que)and start my own digital printing business.
In addition to owning and running Hqprints.net and being an professional photographer, I also once taught photography to aspiring students at the college and adult level. At the International Academy of Design and Technology, I also instructed future advertising/marketing professionals about the business aspects of photography, digital photography and Photoshop. I'd still be there to this day if they actually paid instructors what they're worth. On the Adult side I worked at the Hull House to help adults find direction and more meaning in their photography. I taught Photoshop, the process of digital photography and technique at a beginning and advanced level. Hull house has recently closed their doors in the Uptown area due to cut backs and general lack of interest of the Hull House to keep this location open. And at the high school level, I currently work with After School Matters teaching journaling and digital photography. In the past with ASM I also did a few terms teaching cinematography and in the summer making short movies with the kids of the Chicago Housing Authority.
As well as Teaching 20 weeks out of the year three days a week, during the summers is when everything blooms and the grass is green. So I tend to work on the professional landscape photography side a bit more. This will be my first year where I'll be selling my creative work at Art fairs around the Midwest.
Below is a list of my current equipment. I did have a Canon 20D but I let my friend and business partner use it when he visited Napa Valley. Needless to say he was overserved and lost the camera while tasting wine. Oh Well, sometimes bad things happen for a reason. Insurance paid for it and I bought a better camera, a Canon 5d. The most amazing camera I’ve ever used. It really makes all the difference from the 20D and a world of difference from the Minolta Dimage x. The rest of the equipment list is below.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D 12.8 mega pixel
Lenses: Canon Tilt-Shift correction 24mm (lens can be shifted + or - 11mm to create a 13mm wide angel shot. The lens is amazing for perspective correcting, perfect for landscapes and architecture)
Canon 24-105mm (with Image Stabilizer. Extremely versatile lens, amazing picture quality great for still life, people and moving objects)
Canon 100mm macro (Amazing quality of objects where detail counts. Great for Jewelry or small objects, flowers or the things we often gloss over in life)
Canon 75-300mm (When you can't quite get close enough and need a pack and go compact zoom, this is the one you need)
Flash: Speedlite 580 EX (Its the best on the market if your looking for fill light or to shoot people)
Light meter: Sekonic Flash Master L-358 (This meter has changed the depth of my photos dramatically. I won't shoot with out it)
If you need a professional photographer please call me or email me...
312.738.0104 (office number)
312.498.7087 (cell phone)
or email me direct at robert(at)hqprints.net
(((don't forget to replace the "(at)" with an @ symbol. Sorry, spam is a problem with all the web crawlers out there looking for e-mails.)))
Posted by Robert R Gigliotti at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)