UW-Green Bay Photographer/Videographer Sue Pischke’s top photos of 2022
My career in photography started as a photojournalist, which sharpened my visual storytelling skills. I’m always striving to find the next meaningful moment. I find light, perspective, awareness and the ability to anticipate the action, all very important skills in capturing an interesting photo. If you like these photos, follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoenix_uwgb_sue_pischke/ and view my colleague, Dan Moore’s, top photos of 2022.
Here are my top favorite photos from 2022:
Light Rays in Jean Weidner Theater
I love light rays and sometimes lens flare because they make a normal scene look dramatic and interesting. The Jean Weidner Theater’s ceiling studio lights are usually unnoticeable unless you get low and look up. I had a lot of fun capturing this communication student running a video camera during the production of a live television talk show in Lecturer Mike Schmitt’s Video Production class.
Perspective
I see a ladder, balcony, staircase, etc., and I’m climbing up because I love capturing different perspectives. So, when I walked into the Studio Arts’ Sculpture Lab and saw a ladder next to art education student Megan Reinke, I climbed it to the top. Lecturer Mark Sauter’s Sculpture class had students creating plastic art pieces from fencing and zip ties.
Beware of Baby Goats
I’m surprised this photo is in focus because it was difficult not to laugh as a baby goat nuzzles the neck of a student during Goat Flow Yoga in the Quad.
Need More Light?
I like how the smartphone’s rays concentrate the light to bring your attention immediately to the action in Assistant Professor Riaz Ahmed’s engineering class. It’s also nice to see teamwork when a mechanical engineering student needed to see if the metal alloy cracked in torsion fatigue testing, a teammate grabbed their smartphone to help.
Sunset Video Production Class
I was filming Assistant Professor Justin Kavlie’s Advanced Video Production class for a video project, as the sun was setting on campus during this outdoor lab. After I filmed a few backlit scenes, I dialed in my camera settings to capture this photo. It was a little bit strange filming a class on advanced video camera techniques.
Spooky Drawing
This was a difficult class to capture because the overhead lights were off, so that art students could see a historical painting projected onto models in Professor Kristy Deetz’s Figure Drawing class. Fortunately, I was able to use the window light for enough light to capture this art student drawing the spooky scene.
Theatrical Light
My camera is like a moth drawn to light as I photographed Instructor David Cook, right, showing two theatre students how to safely rig the flying bar to the theatrical rigging system as they get ready to lift and suspend a stuffed bear on the University Theatre’s stage during Stagecraft class.
Sunset Rays in Phoenix Park
I was on my way to the outdoor stage in Phoenix Park to capture a concert when I saw the sun starting to break out through the trees, so I dropped my gear and grabbed my camera to capture this group of students waiting for the band to start. Sunset rays always stop me in my tracks.
Momentum
The large window light coming into the Brown County STEM Innovation Center is a nice place for photography. This photo worked because the three engineering students were in conversation as they headed upstairs to the lab. All of the previous photos I captured of this scene, I deleted because every student spotted my camera hanging over the balcony’s railing. Waiting for a shot is all about timing and patience but when you get the photo that you want, it’s all worth it.
