HDR

This is my first attempt at HDR. I believe that for my final project in digital I will be doing a series of abandoned places in HDR. This shot is from a shoot that I had a lot of fun on, it's an abandoned house in Farmville. More writing will come later with more images.

Shooting Sushi

Studio photography is probably the facet of photography that I know least about. We had to do a food photography shoot in studio class, the image on the right is from the first shoot, the picture on the left was taken after some revision to the setup.

Abandoned Things

Of the things that I have been shooting lately outside of sports, the most common thread is places that are abandoned- houses, factories, anything. Venturing into such environments is very exciting to me, as is urban exploration as a whole. The city of Richmond provides several avenues for such explanation, and I have been fortunate enough to visit some with my brother. There is not much to see of the Church Hill tunnel, but the history of it is amazing. There's an abandoned skyscraper downtown, an abandoned theatre I plan to go to soon, and several other buildings including a church. The most in-depth shoot that I have done so far regarding this subject was last semester when my brother and I went to the abandoned Fulton Gas Works building in Rockett's Landing. A select few images from this shoot are what I chose for our artist statement assignment, which can be seen below.

This series was shot as part of an urban adventuring trip taken with my brother. Such endeavors have served a duel function of an educational experience regarding forgotten places as well as bonding time with somebody whom I feel that we are growing apart. The urban explorations have been confined to locations that were once thriving with life but now lay abandoned. Environments such as these inspire wonder, as if one were stepping into a time capsule that had fallen into a state of decay and must piece together the story. All scenes were shot with natural light in late morning to early afternoon, no tripod was used. None of the items were displaced from the state that they were discovered in. Coming from a background of sports photography, this subject matter could be considered recreational, or a break from my usual work. These unparalleled still lives allow me time to deliberately frame a composition. Where shooting sports is predominantly reactive, these scenes are primarily contemplative. I get to move around the subject matter and choose exactly how it will be captured. Certain elements of photography have been utilized to echo the feelings of abandonment and preserve these gazings into the past.

I hope to be able to return soon and continue shooting, this time with better equipment, more time, and more intent based on the first round of shooting.

Final Four Madness

There's literally a ton that I could say on the topic of VCU basketball, but I have other homework pending and I could rant for over an hour, so this will have to suffice for now. I couldn't be more proud of what Shaka and the team have accomplished. From the first four to the final four, only the third 11th seed to make the final four ever. This speaks volumes for not only the CAA, as George Mason reached this mark five years ago, but it also says a lot for midmajors as a whole. Just because a team is not in a power conference does not mean that they aren't a threat. Butler proved that last year and is doing it all over again now. I will be the first to admit that when we got the bid from the committee, I was outspoken against the decision. We legitimately didn't deserve to be there, we played at the level of the NIT. However, teams that got snubbed, like VT, already lost in the NIT and we have proven that we can hang with the big guys by making it this far. I didn't trash us or the selection committee like Jay Bilas did, but I disagreed with it- especially for a play in game. How can one of the play-in games be fore the 11 seed? All of them should be for the 16 seed. I also don't agree with play in games. But none of this really matters. What VCU, and U of R for that matter, have done for the city of Richmond is simply phenomenal. It was briefly the center of the college basketball universe, which is really damn cool. I love seeing all of the spirit being shown around campus, the city, and across the state. Even the governor cancelled a Republican meeting to go to Houston for the games. For the third year in a row, VCU is being put on the map- first with Eric Maynor, then with Larry Sanders, and now, which is hands down the biggest thing to happen to VCU athletics. It's amazing to be a part of it, this is a once in a lifetime experience and we definitely won't make it this far again while I am a student, and perhaps not again for some time, if ever in my lifetime. Having shot the team for the past two years, I feel that national exposure like this somewhat legitimizes my work. It breaks my heart to not be in Texas now. There was no chance I could get a press pass, but I'd even kill to be in the stands. I had a chance to go with a friend, which cost roughly $900, and then there was the raffle through the University. On an aside, I'd like to say that the University is doing a fantastic job of getting students involved in the event and promoting the team. The watch parties, emails, banners, and most importantly the two raffles they did for students to take a bus trip. The reason I decided against making the trip was that I have my first paying photo job on Saturday and there's no way I could get a flight in time, and though it would be unforgettable, it's hard to justify it financially in these times. I'm shooting someones wedding anniversary party, which should be fun, and I still get to watch the game in cap city and hopefully watch the streets explode into a mob of celebration. Of course I will be taking part, which brings me to the photographic purpose of this post. I have been able to document some of the celebratory rioting in the city and it's been crazy. Also, one of my friends Kyle Lafferriere has been fortunate enough to shoot all of the NCAA games and will have the opportunity to do so as far as VCU goes. I'm jealous beyond words, but happy for him- he's the photo editor for the Commonwealth Times. Here is a link to his blog, which is still under construction. Much more can be seen on his facebook page but I don't want to link that. I can't wait for the game tomorrow night. RAM NATION!

Favorite Photographer [edit: and a few tangents]

I never really have an answer to the question "who is your favorite photographer?" Part of this may stem from the fact that I do not consider my niche in photography as of now as art, while I also don't see myself doing art in the future. This all may just be a matter of perception, but part of my view on being in the photography department is that it wouldn't make much sense for me to try to make a living, or a start for that matter, in the photography industry without a degree in the field, even though I consider what we're learning not very related to what I intend to do. Ideally I would like to make a living off of being a sports photographer, primarily from the documentary aspect, though the art side of the genre does interest me as well. I'm digressing, I'll get back to the favorite photographer question in a second. I wholeheartedly agree that I am learning very valuable skill, and my work overall has improved greatly in just one year, and by no means would I change anything about the situation- but there are times where I feel like I'm just majoring in photography for the words on the diploma. Anyway, that sounded more negative than I intended it to be. I'm very happy where I am, and am learning a great deal. To finish off the aside, I will borrow the words of a photographer recently introduced to me by a friend. In Miles' "MUTE" photography blog, he answers the are you an artist query with the following:

I don't consider myself an artist, or the kind of photography I do art. I don't have anything profound to say, they're just images. In my opinion art requires intention.

This site isn't a portfolio, I'm not trying to build a coherent body of work, it's just a blog. I do love photography and it's a creative outlet that I want to keep on my own terms.

On the contrary, I believe that I shoot with much intention, and I would argue that his work reflects a significant deal of intention as well, but I understand what he means. One of my best friends opted out of majoring in photography because, like Miles said, she would rather keep it her personal thing and make the discoveries on her own rather than being instructed in a classroom. Okay, I'm done.

Neil Leifer is usually my answer to the original question of the post, though my favorite photograph is Timothy O'Sullivan's "A Harvest of Death".

Favorite probably sounds creepy when referring to an image of bodies ravaged by war, but an interesting parallel was drawn between this image and my work by my darkroom teacher last year. She said that they both demonstrate the defining moment of an event- this one, obviously not only symbolizes Gettysburg, but it represents the Civil War as a whole, the most defining moment in American history. Not that the picture of a winning touchdown holds nearly as much weight emotionally or in any other respect, but the both epitomize the moment that delineates the outcome of an event. Now, back to Neil Leifer. Leifer is a sports photographer, surprise, who was born in New York City in 1942. Leifer quickly rose in prominence as photographer from his teenage years when his work began appearing in publications throughout the country. As a child, Leifer gained admittance to Yankee Stadium by helping disabled patrons into the stadium, and would often remain for the entire game. According to his website,

In August 1972, Leifer became a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated . He left Sports Illustrated in February 1978 and became a staff photographer for Time magazine. In 1988 he was made a contributing photographer at LIFE magazine and spent the next two years dividing his time between Time and LIFE magazines. Leifer left Time, Inc. in 1990. By that time, his photographs had appeared on more than 200 Sports Illustrated, Time and People covers, the most covers ever published of one photographer's work in Time, Inc. history.

What Leifer has done in the photography industry epitomizes what my aspirations are. He has photographed 15 Olympic Games, 4 World Cups, the first 10 Superbowls, countless World Series games, and every important heavyweight title fight since 1960. Leifer's favorite subject and that which he is most famous for is boxing, more specifically, Muhammad Ali. He now devotes almost all of his time to directing films, but his legacy remains as his name is behind several of the most iconic images in sports.

What Is Great?

I first introduced this video in responding to an older blog post, "What is great?". I fell in love with this song after it was shown to me, and have found it very inspiring ever since. There are many level-headed, rational quotes within that have guided me through things when I have been neither level-headed nor rational.

Great is realizing your goals. Great is satisfying my viewers as well as myself. To be great, one must always be learning, always trying new things. To be great, one must be humble. In trying to verbalize my thoughts on this, I was reminded several times of Baz Luhrmann's 1997 commencement speech-turned-song, Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).

Elko Tract

I originally talked about Elko Tract in a presentation last semester for Shane's class. This will shed a little more light on what is known as the Lost City.I don't know if any of you watch the local news, but Mark Holberg is an independent reporter unaffiliated with CBS 6 who does several stories a month that are aired by them. He is an excellent reporter, and did a piece in 2008 on Elko Tract. I also saw that Shane started a blog about it. Winning.

On a side note, he did a story a few months ago on the controversial VCU parking lot on the slave burial site.