The Piano Man: A Senior Profile Portrait by David Niehaus (2015)

Dirk Damonte is a pastor at LAUMC, as well as a piano god who occasionally writes music. Dirks goal in life is to provide music with the message for the community of Los Altos. His humble values define who he is and how he conducts his life. Inspiring people everyday is only a fraction of what this man does. Dirk manages to touch heaven, and change earth, with his head heart and hands all at once. This photo captures this humble side of him that speaks as to who he truly is inside.

My shot was unique and original because of how I took it at an abstract angle, questioning the everyday gazer. I accomplished this in order to draw attention to the emotions in his face and to what he was wearing. I had Dirk dress in his ministry clothes to convey his true identity of that of a pastor. In the end this photo was no small task. I worked long and hard with a broken light tethering system which lead to a very dim shot. Although, somehow I managed to scrounge up a ruble out of the dust In an Adobe photo editing system called Photoshop. Using Photoshop I worked out all of the kinks and edited my art to its full potential.