By Suzanne Vlamis

Associated Press Portfolio Commentary

As a general assignment staff photographer and the first full-time staff woman photographer ever hired by The Associated Press in 1973, after several years of freelancing for them, I most enjoyed doing portraits, architectural and human interest features, world athletic events such as Olympic Games, Super Bowls ,the US Open, and aerial photography whenever the opportunity arose to photograph from high places from a plane, another building or the top of the Statue of Liberty in order to illustrate the story more effectively as in the case of a nuclear protest next to the World Trade twin towers, or aerialist Philippe Petit tightrope walking across upper Manhattan to St. John the Divine.  Very often making the familiar or ordinary look extraordinary in your own home town is the best creative adventure because it moves you to look with fresh eyes versus just to see in order to find a different perspective or mood which you may have passed by and never noticed before.  Imagining with fresh eyes equals creativity to me.

FAVORITE PHOTO  – This is a tough choice considering the great historic moments in time, famous world personalities, and breathtaking vistas I’ve been blessed to experience and record first hand.  But in this particular selection of 25 images from over 1,000 photos currently in the AP Photo Archive that I’ve created, I select the multiple exposure of the young phenomenal gymnast Nadia Comenici.  Capturing history of a perfect 10 score, and working on the techniques months ahead of time in New York with various gymnastic competitions, the AP  used my multiple exposure for one of the first times in history.  This image made front pages in newspapers, magazines, and TV broadcasts around the world.  Witnessing history and capturing  an extraordinary young girl athlete in peak performance at the most prestigious athletic world Olympic event is a quintessential high.

By Suzanne Vlamis

Jazz Legends Portfolio Commentary

As a freelancer for The Associated Press, I proposed an idea as a speculative assignment to photograph a feature story on the Newport Jazz Festival which had moved to its New York venue in 1972 from Newport, R.I. I envisioned it as “The Face of Jazz” fusing the instrument with the performing artist om classic B/W film.

George Wein with Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954 in Newport, R.I., and brought it to New York where it continues annually . Listening to live jazz at New York’s Village Vanguard, the Village Gate, the Blue Note and Ryans on W. 52nd St., growing up, inspired  me to photograph this layout.  “The Face of Jazz” was my first feature picture story I sold to AP Sunday NewsFeatures. It is a special gallery within my photo archive as the jazz festival continues featuring jazz artists in both sites, Newport and New York.

FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH — In this jazz series, it is an ecstatic Ella Fitzgerald scat singing, defying her modest, humble persona.  As one of the greatest voices in recording history, I felt honored to capture her live in my hometown of New  York and share that decisive moment on film forever. It also reinforced my constant search for original ideas which translate into great photographs.

By Suzanne Vlamis

Abstracts: A State of Mind Portfolio Commentary

The inanimate becomes animate as it takes on the shape of metaphor.  This personal body of work, comprised of over 20 B/W photographs is a collection which took on a life force of its own entitled – ABSTRACTS – A State of Mind.  Imagination is the eye of the beholder.

Photographed  with B/W , 35mm Plus X ASA 125 Kodak film, the project manifested itself as metaphor which evolved as a subconscious interpretation of both the mean, and the meaningful of life. I photographed these abstract shapes which I perceived in the fossilized limestone formations within Rockefeller Center, N.Y. in 2005.

FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH – “Floating Heart” resilience of the human spirit to me and rises above it all.  Taming demons visually through photography became my objective as it acts as a vehicle to exorcise and also embrace the duality inherent in life, death, and beyond.  This collection is a celebration of the human spirit and a searching soul.

By Suzanne Vlamis

Walk on the Beach Portfolio Commentary

A walk on the beach for a photographer is a special nature journey.  You have the play of sunlight, water, wind and space surrounding you.  While walking you can capture all the different essences of the elements  — Fire, Air, Water, Earth and Sky — amidst wind-sculpted dunes, textured sand,

steadfast sea grass, and a roaring ocean buoying seabirds, driftwood, surfers, and sea-faring human possessions from far flung places.

This selection of photographs from a collection of 25 b/w photographs from my vintage photo archive represents a wonder-filled experience of sensations along a stretch of shoreline of the small barrier island of Long Beach, N.Y. on an Indian Summer October day in 1999.

Taking this beach walk to breathe in the solace, sanity and serenity from dawn to dusk with a full moon above was an hour’s daytrip from the concrete jungle wilds of Manhattan.

FAVORITE PHOTO — “Boardwalk – Summer’s End”  has sand, pebbles, fallen wild rose petals, tree twigs all snuggled together in a small space on a man made boardwalk as if they were seeking mutual protection at the season’s end signaling the sting of blustery autumn in their life cycle.

SEE THE WALK ON THE BEACH PORFOLIO