Rodney J. Cartasegna

LIFE magazine award winning photographer

  Hello… and thank you for your interest! Here is a very brief summary about my photography. I was born in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in Portland, Oregon and enrolled at Oregon State University in 1976. In the spring of 1978 I took a beginning black & white photography class taught by professor Harrison Branch. I became so captured and absorbed by photography’s process and the newfound appreciation and discovery of nature that I decided to make photography my career and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1982, shortly after graduating, I began assisting photographer Shedrich Williames of Portland, Oregon. In November of 1987 I was honored to be one of Life Magazine’s award winners in its contest for young photographers open to both amateur and professionals (see below). I continued assisting Shedrich for over two decades while pursuing my own photographic career. I also assisted photographer Ruth Bernhard at her home in San Francisco periodically until her passing.

  My work is in numerous private collections and in several public collections as well, including:

Portland Art Museum / Portland, Oregon

Oregon State University / Corvallis, Oregon

Metropolitan Arts Commission Permanent Collection: “The Visual Chronicle” / Portland, Oregon

Columbia Arts Center / Vancouver, Washington

and the Kresge Art Museum / Michigan State University.

  My passion is capturing the beauty of creation surrounding us, whether in the natural or urban landscape, a flower, or the face of a child. And I love to create precious portraits in time of individuals, young and old, family and groups. Please have a look at my portfolios of work. It gives me great joy to share what I have been blessed to see and create.

  In addition to my portraiture and individual Fine Art photographs, I love to incorporate biblical text with my photographic art, giving honor to The Creator of the heaven and the earth. Customers can even participate in creating their own personal inspirational work of art by selecting their favorite image from my portfolio and combining it with their cherished biblical text. The font style, layout and optional over-matt are also discussed.

  Your home is your sanctuary, a place of rest, love and nurturing. And what better way to enhance your surroundings than with beautiful photographs of creation, accompanied with your favorite encouraging and inspiring biblical passage. I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with you in creating that special piece for your place or a cherished gift for friends and family. An investment in fine art today creates a loving space where beauty echoes.

See samples by clicking here.         

  So, whether you want to beautify your home or office with sensitive works of art or individual and group portrait photography, I am available for you.

  Please go to the Contact tab on my website so we can discuss your individual needs. And thank you for your time to view my portfolio and for considering a work of art to make your own.

Sincerely & Gratefully,

Rodney J. Cartasegna          

photolight7@yahoo.com
503-860-5127

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  In March of 1987, LIFE magazine announced its second Contest for Young Photographers. Eight months, and more than 60,000 photographs later, here are… THE WINNERS.

  "You may not recognize their faces, but the young men and women on this page represent the latest wave in a long tradition. They are among the finest of a new generation of photojournalists whose vision may help shape the way we look at the world in the decades to come."

  LIFE invited photographers age 30 and under (this outraged many of you) to submit up to 25 pictures "on any subject that reflects American society." By the time the last manila envelope had been opened, we had received 3,078 entries, almost twice the number of submissions to LIFE's first contest in 1951. Winners in that competition included Robert Frank, Ruth Orkin, Elliott Erwitt and Dennis Stock, all of whom later made their photographic mark.

  In June the magazine's former deputy picture editor, Mel Scott, took on the herculean task of sifting the entries down to a mere 250. It took him two weeks to look at more than 60,000 photographs. Then Scott was joined by six other distinguished judges for the final selection: Cornell Capa, executive director of the International Center of Photography; Van Deren Coke, director of the Department of Photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer; Jane Livingston, associate director and chief curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; and David B. Travis, curator of the Photography Collection, the Art Institute of Chicago.

  After two weeks of judging, the panel had selected eight finalists. Although there was spirited disagreement over the order, enough so that two third prizes were awarded, there was unanimity on their excellence.

  Below is the caption that accompanied the photograph in LIFE magazine, November 1987.    

  The landscapes of Cartasegna are in striking contrast to the work of the photojournalists. Cartasegna, 28, a "fine arts" photographer in Milwaukie, Oregon says, "Light is the first thing that catches my eye. Light is what gives something life...transforms it into a deeper reality." Cartasegna likes to drive around the countryside looking for scenes and situations to photograph. One evening he drove through a town called Harrisburg. "The town looked about 30 years behind the times," he recalls. "The day was dark, cloudy and it had rained earlier. I drove down a dirt road and the white fence caught my eye. It had a kind of inner glow. And there were a lot of textures surrounding it- the ground, the foliage, the sidewalk. There was such a quietness about it."