My good friend Sarah (whom you can find at www.sbglicksteen.com) introduced me to the tradition of Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath, or day of rest. She had these parties, each called a "Shabbatluck" where a whole pile of college kids would cram into her apartment and eat challah and drink wine and enjoy one another's presence. I really enjoyed them and would write more, but the sun is about to set and I want to be sure to keep the sabbath properly when posting about it on my blog.
It only took me ten years behind the camera, but I finally took a really nice picture of my mother. I like making her laugh and I finally got a picture of her laugh, even though I wasn't the source of this laughter. Enjoy:
Here is the character profile with audio that I did for my picture story class. It was my first time doing an audio story on something other than a musical group, which made editing the audio much more difficult for me. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, though there are a few types of shots I wish I could have gotten. The color is a bit dull because I forgot to convert the images to sRGB and had already done all the timing in SoundSlides and I didn't have the time to re-sequence the whole thing. I have to rebuild the show in FinalCut, though, so I'll convert the images and repost.
Contrary to what my lack of blog posts may convey, I am actually taking a lot of photographs this semester, even a few that I actually like. I've got tons of things to put up here, but for now I'm taking the time to only post a few shots from a rugby match I shot last weekend. While at the pitch, I redid my "Five Points of View" assignment (I think), the edit for which you see here, plus two extras (the first two). More to come later.
I went to St. James, Missouri, for about 24 hours this past weekend to shoot a story for my graduate component in Picture Story. After meeting with the people I needed to talk with, I drove around aimlessly, enjoying the rolling hillsides and nice weather. I happened to catch a sign pointing to Meramec Spring and thought I'd check it out, since I'd never seen a spring before. It's impressive to see so much water just pop (er, "spring"...?) out of the ground like this. The area is also a fish sanctuary and had several pools chock-full of various sizes of fish. [Insert lame joke about "shooting fish in a barrel" here.]
After a lot of hard work by a lot of talented people, the LBC gospel story is live on the Columbia Missourian's website. A big, exciting print spread will hit newsstands tomorrow, but for now, check it out:
Tonight, I listened from 1500 miles away as my Boston University Terriers claimed their 29th Beanpot Tournament title, wearing my BU hockey jersey and driving my Twitter followers mad with incessant updates reacting to Bernie Corbett's call.
While chatting after the game with some fellow Terriers, I suddenly remembered an article I had written for the opinion section of The Daily Free Press, the paper for which I began truly covering hockey. I cut my teeth with assignments here and there through the Boston University Office of Photo Services, but with Steve and Mike, with our road trips and access to behind-the-scenes, I started to understand not just the game of hockey, but the world of hockey.
And thanks to the Internet, keeper of eternal records, I found said article and am sharing it here. It's not just about hockey, but about my first season photographing hockey. I hope you enjoy it:
I took this last October during a moment of Zen on my way to the library. These are the stairs into the amphitheater outside the new RJI building here on campus. Purdy.
About a week ago, I was digging through some folders, looking for a photo, when I found other photos from an assignment I keep forgetting I shot. I'm not sure why, but it keeps slipping my mind that I shot a high school football playoff game in Jefferson City last November for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Real newspaper. Got paid, got a clip...plus it was sports coverage - my favorite. And, considering it was only the third time I'd photographed football ever, I was pleased with what I got. No real award winners were made that night, but here are a few of my personal favorites:
(If you're in the critiquing mood, #4 vs #5 and why? And image #2 is mostly just a photo of the weather conditions in which I was working.)
So, now for the second part of the title.
I'm in a class this semester that's really making me think (I know, the nerve) about my photography. Buzz words like "passion" and "personal" and "meaningful" are flying. We're on day three of this class and I'm already panicking. Probably because I'm thinking. And not shooting. I tend to do (or not do) these things.
I came to Mizzou to expand on my photo skills, which were firmly and fairly exclusively rooted in sports photography. I've made it a point while here to not shoot sports, to look for stories that in no way are connected to athletics or athletes or physical fitness or...well, you get the idea. And, aside from a wrestling picture (a bad one, at that) in February, some Show-Me-State Games coverage in the late summer (kickball, dodgeball, and geriatric darts - I hardly feel these count), and a few football slips in the fall, I've stayed pretty clean. Expanding the horizons. Getting out of the comfort zone. Learning new tricks. Yadda, yadda, yadda, personal growth and edification and such.
But then I looked through this Jeff City shoot. I thought about the experience. The game was frigid. Blustery. Excruciatingly cold. I could barely hold the metal cameras, lenses and monopod, even with the sexy grip gloves I had and, despite four clothing layers, two coats, a hat and a waterproof outer shell, I started shivering in the second half. At random points throughout the game, it rained, of course, and the wind was nearly constant. My 500mm lens kept spotting up from the rain, even though I had the hood on, had it wrapped in a trashbag, and kept it pointed down. The water was blowing up into the lens and also hampering the functionality of my glasses. Of course it was.
In addition to my personal trials on the sidelines, the team I was covering was having issues. They were kind enough to score a touchdown early in the game, right in front of me, so I could send that picture, but then the wheels fell off. I could only take so many pictures of their defense running away from me, after the opposing guy with the ball in the end zone, but I made my deadlines by camping out in the faces of fans and cheerleaders who were watching their team lose their playoff run and then forcing myself out on the field after the whole mess to document burly teenage boys openly sobbing and desperately trying to hide from me.
And I loved every damn second of it.
I did what I do best, which was photograph sports action and couldn't have been happier. The weather never bothered me, despite how terrible it was. I was prepared for it, knew it would suck, made the most of it. I made deadline, sent complete captions, gave coverage to both on and off the field, sent options. Sent good pictures. Rocked the assignment. Was encouraged to apply for an internship. Didn't destroy any equipment, didn't lose any fingers, wasn't hit by a football or a player.
Even though I hadn't been on a sideline in almost six months, I was home again, and never missed a beat. Fell right back in stride. In terms of how I felt during an assignment, that game was the high point of my time in Missouri.
My point here - and I do have one - is that maybe I've been trying so hard (too hard?) here to create a new passion when I already identified it. I seem to always want to take the toughest road I can find. If I'm too comfortable doing something, then it's just too easy and I'm not learning enough and I really must challenge myself more and move outside my comfort zone to grow as a journalist and a human and all of these other poetic things, yet all of this growth involves such an overwhelming gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands and, as you can see, late night blog posts about existential crises and ultimate purposes of grad school and life in general.
So, really now, what am I doing here?
--- [This question will be revisited, rehashed and, perhaps, if we're all lucky, may even be answered before too long. Hopefully before I graduate in December.]
As you can see, today has been a photo-filled day and I finally made some time to go through my take from the LBC gospel concert that I shot at the end of last semester. I posted two photos right after the concert and those two images were probably my favorite of the evening, but below is a slideshow of the runners-up.
I'm still frustrated with this project. I still don't feel I have really shown the story. I keep missing the little telling moments that piece together an accurate portrait of this choir and this genre of both music and worship. Feedback is much appreciated. Also, I apologize for the graininess, but I was not able to check out a camera that could handle the church's low light, so I did what I could with my 20D and RAW files. I hope you enjoy:
Josh and I took advantage of the amazing weather (it was 68 degrees when we went) and communed with nature at Rockbridge State Park, hiking to the Devil's Icebox and poking around a bit. We didn't realize that we needed flashlights to explore the caves, but we had some fun taking photos at the entrance. Please enjoy:
Nature is purdy, eh?
Josh Bickel, thinker.
Josh Bickel, statesman.
Josh Bickel, philanthropist.
Josh Bickel, intrepid newsman. (I have already secured the rights for this photo to be used on the cover of any Josh Bickel biographical paraphernalia. Let me know if you want to order the t-shirt.)
As one should do on one's winter break, I have been lazing about in a brilliant imitation of a pile of shoes or laundry and, as a result, have been woefully neglectful of my dear blog, though I have many images to post.
To ease back into the habit, I would like to share with you the image I shot for my "holiday card" (because I failed to get my act together in time to send out cards that would arrive before the most notable of winter holidays but could still be used to celebrate the dawning of the new year).
I shot it in my apartment (yes that is my (most beloved) K1000 modeling), then jazzed it up in Photoshop, had a stack printed up via one-hour photo and then taped the pictures to blank cards. I am quite happy with the final product - it's exactly what I was hoping to produce and share with my friends.
I work best when I have rewards waiting for me and tonight, while I plugged along on a paper, I decided my reward for doing such would be to post two photos on my blog from Mizzou's Legions of Black Collegians Gospel Choir's concert I went to Friday night. I'm working on filling in some gaps for my story, so I was glad to get to photograph them in a performance setting again.
Anyway, more on all of that later, here are two photos for you to look at:
Hooray, it's my birthday! I turn 25 today and so far, it's been going great. I got a cake from my Boot Camp family (...it's a j-school thing) and went out for some dancing and shouting and laughing. Lots of well-wishing AND, because I'm a Starbucks Gold Card Member, a free drink of my choice (and what a large one it is).
I am so happy.
So here are some of my baby photos, because those are always fun to look at:
Last spring, when I first started here at Missouri and was trying to figure out how to be a non-sports photographer, I took the photo you see below for my portrait assignment. I liked the shot but couldn't figure out why. It wasn't technically strong, in my opinion. But still, I liked it.
David Rees, my professor at the time and Mizzou's own Yoda, articulated why I liked it: it didn't just show something, it showed how something felt. It wasn't just "this is what I saw" but also "this is how it felt."
"Really good photos don't just show you something, they also make you feel something." That's roughly what David wrote in my critique and it was a bit of an ah-ha moment for me that I still keep with me.
Below are a few photos from a jam session that broke out my last night at Hazel Kinder's Lighthouse Theater and one from backstage that, for me, also convey this. They stick in my mind for the simple reason that they show how the scene felt at the time. Dark and mysterious, perhaps, but with intense and purposeful light in just the right places. Like the riffs played to the basic melody that evolved on stage.
Understanding and shooting this kind of photography is why I came back to school.
Here is my contribution to my group's final project on Hazel Kinder's Lighthouse Theater. I took most - but not all - of the photos and edited the pictures and the audio.
"Advanced Techniques of Photojournalism in a photographic nutshell"
In direct opposition to my previous post of optimism and serenity, I am putting up a picture that sums up the experience of using flashes/artificial light both for the subject and the photographer. I'm editing for my final project and found this very poorly executed gem in my outtakes.
