Cleveland Orchestra Photographer Roger Mastroianni in Plain Dealer

Self Portrait, Roger Mastroianni

Saturday's Cleveland Plain Dealer contains a nice feature on my uncle, Roger Mastroianni, and his 20-years of serving as the photographer for the Cleveland Orchestra.

Roger has what can be pretty much summed up as "the best gig ever": he follows the orchestra all over the world and produces interesting photographs - while listening to some of the world's best musicians perform. That's pretty tough to beat!

The story says that he began working with the orchestra in 1988. I can remember kicking around their place back then (as a kid) & being really interested in the way "Uncle Rodge" would use his camera; bouncing the flash, rubber-banding an index card on it for catch lights, etc. It took a few more years before I was able to understand & appreciate classical music, but I'm sure that his library of CDs was at least a catalyst for my interests there today.

I enjoyed his admission in the article about being "the gadget king"; both inside and outside of the world of photography this is an accurate description. Visiting Roger's studio in Cleveland is like entering a photo wonderland - there's just so much gear quite literally everywhere you look. He's got pretty much everything you've ever heard of, from cheap gimmicks to ultra high-end medium & large format systems with digital backs. Of course, most of the stuff never gets any use but Roger has a deep bag of tricks at his disposal when the need arises. (Which is a valid justification in my book... though I suspect my aunt wishes he'd trim some of the fat via eBay once in a while!)

If you haven't followed the link already, give it a whirl and check out the slide show of some of the great images Roger has made during his time with the orchestra. Roger also does some outstanding corporate, industrial and medical work; check out his portfolio at RogerMastroianni.com.