1 of 5
Photo by Kim Frost
2 of 5
Photo by Jeff Saxman
3 of 5
Photo by K.C. Johnson
4 of 5
Photo by Matt Licari
5 of 5
Photo by Jeff Ruisi
To kick off our "Take 5" theme, we asked a few of RVA's top photographers to send us their favorite landscape shots. Jeff Ruisi, whose work appears on page 37, shares this tip for shooting your own masterpiece: "For me, it is about going back to the same location time and time again and trying to come up with new ideas. This is the challenge and one of the secrets to making great images."
1. Sky Lights by Kim Frost
I was coming home from another assignment when I noticed the fireworks, so I was fortunate to have my camera and tripod in tow. I hiked down the staircase that descends from North 26th and East Franklin streets in Church Hill to Shockoe Bottom and found this nostalgic scene. The occasion was the 400th anniversary of Jamestown's founding, but Rocketts Landing also holds a fireworks show on Memorial Day.
2. Big Ride by Jeff Saxman
This was the Martin's Gran Fondo bike rally, held Oct. 5, a long-distance event in which cyclists ride 29, 59 or 102 miles. I shot it as part of an effort to create a catalog of biking images in anticipation of the UCI Road World Championships taking place here in 2015.
3. River City by K.C. Johnson
A similar version of this photograph from the 2012 Dominion Riverrock sports and music festival at Brown's Island appeared in Outside magazine (which declared Richmond the nation's most livable river town). I had just spent a long day with my company, Image Machine, which had been commissioned by Canal Cafe to photograph the event. I was headed home on the Manchester bridge at sunset, but I pulled my car over for one last photo.
4. Concrete Chic by Matt Licari
I was shooting a fashion spread for Relapse Magazine. Richmond's Manchester area always intrigues me (my studio and apartment are both here), and I'm used to seeing the city from the south-of-the-river view. The big slab of concrete where this image was made is a great vantage point to see the skyline, while also being a little less expected than shots that include the river.
5. Up the Wall by Jeff Ruisi
I had been photographing people at the Manchester climbing wall for more than a year. I had tried a few times to photograph a climber with the skyline in the background, but it just never panned out — the light was bad, the climber blended too much into the wall, etc. The one thing that makes the shot is the red shirt, which contrasts nicely with the wall. Also, it is important for a climber to be at an angle on the wall for the photograph to be interesting. This image has both. I don't know the climber, so it was me being in the right place at the right time.
