For the past five summers, I have worked for Greg Ammons at Ammons Portrait Studio in Pendleton, South Carolina. My heart was shattered Saturday morning when I heard the terrible news - Greg had passed away during the night from a severe heart attack.
Recently, Greg loved to tell the story of how I got my job. A shy, young girl came in to pick up her photos and said, "Mr. Ammons, do you need any help this summer?" What he would often leave out of the story is that initially, he turned me down. He had already promised someone's mother that she could work that summer because she really needed the help. But I pushed a little further... I told him that I was good with computers and knew Photoshop. Later that evening, I found a message on our machine - "I've thought it over, and I could really use you this summer. Come in tomorrow morning."
Most of my work was in post-processing and printing, and Greg and I taught each other new tricks. A few weeks ago, Greg admitted to me that he used to spend the evenings learning Photoshop on Youtube so that he would sound knowledgeable when he was explaining things to me the next day!
Greg was an outstanding photographer. His natural talent combined with lighting and composition skills are a rare find today. He was a perfectionist, and though I would sometimes get a little huffy when he wanted me to "take out more of the red in his face and print it again," I admired his determination to only produce his best work. The longer I worked with him, the less we had to redo.... because my eye for imperfections improved.
When I started working for Greg, I was not a photographer. My introduction to photography was quite backwards, actually... I became interested in how the photo was made through my work in post-production.
Last summer, Greg invited me to bring my own camera and shoot alongside him at the Clemson Open Water event. The coordinator of the event had arranged for him to go up in this airplane and take aerial shots. Greg wasn't too fond of heights, so he suggested that I go up in the plane, instead. I was so excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, the sky wasn't clear enough for me to go up in the plane, but Greg insisted that I at least pose in front of it for a photo...
Greg's attention to detail would often astound me. He could interpret so much about a person just by their expressions and mannerisms, as well as the clothing they wore and how they styled their hair. Sometimes after talking to a potential client, he would tell me that they were definitely serious. "How do you know?" "I could tell by her shoes."
