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Q&A: Jordan Hartman
November 09, 2007
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University Photographer Jordan Hartman ’02 recently learned that one of his photographs snagged a top honor in the University Photographers’ Association of America monthly image contest.
The association’s 251 members vote each month to select the top photographs submitted by its members in six categories. Photos are scored on a scale of zero to seven. The photo with the most total points in each category places first.
The image of the September lightning storm earned 286 points from 52 voters, placing first in the personal vision category. The category is the only one in the competition not related to school events.
We sat down and chatted with Hartman about the honor last week.
When and where was this photo taken?
It was Sept. 3, about five minutes from my house, which is off of McKinley, so this would’ve been near Stanley & Seaforts restaurant. It’s kind of up on the hill above the Tacoma Dome.
The reason I ended up going out was that I was sitting at the window with my daughter – she’s 16 months, it’s obviously the first storm she had gone through and we wanted to make sure she wasn’t scared – and then 10, 15 minutes later it’s still going. I’m like, gosh, it seems to be getting closer and more frequent, what if I go out and tried to get some shots? And then it was like, no, it’s really late, it’s like 11 o’clock, do I really want to go? Yeah, ok, I guess we’ll take a few shots, and I ended up with a handful that I like.
In your opinion, what makes it such a great shot?
The fact that I captured a bolt of lightning, I think. And the city’s really pretty. It just worked out. You know, the night was really nice, no rain, but a great show and plenty of opportunity to try capturing it in multiple ways.
What was your process to capture this shot?
Well, the first handful of attempts failed only because I couldn’t time it just right. I didn’t have a quick enough finger. The moment the lightning bolt, you know, the moment your eye sees the lightning come down, press the trigger, there’s always the delay there and by the time the shutter goes, it was gone.
So, the process was a lot of try and fail and then just say, “Ah, pooh,” and think, “well gosh, how can I capture a lightning bolt instead of just pretty blue sky?” And so I came to the conclusion: I’m not fast enough, so I’ll make my camera do the work. I did a 30-second exposure, set it so that the city would be lit really nice, and I knew that lightning, you know, even if it comes in for a second or two into the frame, it’s gonna be so bright anyway that it’ll light itself up.
How many times have you placed in the competition?
This is my very first first place. It’s my third placement, because there was a second place in May (2006) and a second place in March (2006).
How does this first place honor feel?
At first I was kinda mad. I hadn’t read the rules in a while. I thought that the way they do it, the picture that scores the most is considered “Best of Show” for the month, and everything in its category gets bumped up. Mine scored the top point total, and so I though mine would be best of show. But I came to find out after reading the rules a little bit more closely that personal vision is a category that’s not eligible to be best of show. So it was after I read that I was like, “Oh. Ok, that’s good, I like first.”
University Communications staff writer Megan Haley compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.
The image of the September lightning storm earned 286 points from 52 voters, placing first in the personal vision category. The category is the only one in the competition not related to school events.
We sat down and chatted with Hartman about the honor last week.
When and where was this photo taken?
It was Sept. 3, about five minutes from my house, which is off of McKinley, so this would’ve been near Stanley & Seaforts restaurant. It’s kind of up on the hill above the Tacoma Dome.
The reason I ended up going out was that I was sitting at the window with my daughter – she’s 16 months, it’s obviously the first storm she had gone through and we wanted to make sure she wasn’t scared – and then 10, 15 minutes later it’s still going. I’m like, gosh, it seems to be getting closer and more frequent, what if I go out and tried to get some shots? And then it was like, no, it’s really late, it’s like 11 o’clock, do I really want to go? Yeah, ok, I guess we’ll take a few shots, and I ended up with a handful that I like.
In your opinion, what makes it such a great shot?
The fact that I captured a bolt of lightning, I think. And the city’s really pretty. It just worked out. You know, the night was really nice, no rain, but a great show and plenty of opportunity to try capturing it in multiple ways.
What was your process to capture this shot?
Well, the first handful of attempts failed only because I couldn’t time it just right. I didn’t have a quick enough finger. The moment the lightning bolt, you know, the moment your eye sees the lightning come down, press the trigger, there’s always the delay there and by the time the shutter goes, it was gone.
So, the process was a lot of try and fail and then just say, “Ah, pooh,” and think, “well gosh, how can I capture a lightning bolt instead of just pretty blue sky?” And so I came to the conclusion: I’m not fast enough, so I’ll make my camera do the work. I did a 30-second exposure, set it so that the city would be lit really nice, and I knew that lightning, you know, even if it comes in for a second or two into the frame, it’s gonna be so bright anyway that it’ll light itself up.
How many times have you placed in the competition?
This is my very first first place. It’s my third placement, because there was a second place in May (2006) and a second place in March (2006).
How does this first place honor feel?
At first I was kinda mad. I hadn’t read the rules in a while. I thought that the way they do it, the picture that scores the most is considered “Best of Show” for the month, and everything in its category gets bumped up. Mine scored the top point total, and so I though mine would be best of show. But I came to find out after reading the rules a little bit more closely that personal vision is a category that’s not eligible to be best of show. So it was after I read that I was like, “Oh. Ok, that’s good, I like first.”
University Communications staff writer Megan Haley compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 8691 or at haleymk@plu.edu. Photo by University Photographer Jordan Hartman.