Before I Go

So, I'm driving to Staten Island today. Thanks cousins Audra and Anthony! And I have found out that with my nerves comes along severe procrastination. So, I felt like adding just one more post before I have to shower, finish packing, clean my apartment, and drive to class for 9:30 AM.

This is some more work from the North Area Athletic Center that is in trouble because of all of the budget cuts from NY state. I need more time there!!! I feel like i'm just taking pictures and I'm not capturing anything. I can't wait to shoot more when I get back.

My rules. hahaha. The only one I keep breaking is the no cursing one... I swear like a *@%$* sailor. Kidding.


This girl has a punch that can knock me out.


So far, I shot about 15 GB of at this place, but these are the ones I found interesting this morning. Like all self critical people, I'll be wondering why the heck I posted these... in about an hour.

In the words of David Sutherland at the end of the Alexia judging....Someone can take crappy photos in Spain and someone can take amazing photos in Dewitt NY.
:-)
I love my life.

Celebrating the 24 a little early

I drove home today to spend the evening with my parents and pets. And my lovely mother and father pleasantly surprised me with a birthday dinner and cake!!! We had my most favorite meal ever for dinner, fajitas, and my most favorite cake ever, marble cake with chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles. My real birthday isn't until March 8, but I'll be away.

It was a really nice day and I'm lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive family. And, it's great that they know how to make me feel so special and how I look forward to our simple traditions... Because dinner and cake and cheesy hallmark cards are my favorite.
And, I 'd like to accept this award on behalf of the... hahaha kidding, but enough of the sappy.

Thanks mom and dad!

Hey look that's me! I know I look a mess. Nice shot mom!
Lola my baby.
Willow my cat.

My Week

I've had a busy week, and I have absolutely no idea if I'm all set for Uganda or not. Regardless, I'm getting on that plane.

Some highlights from my week:

I had the pleasure of going along with two students on a class assignment and teaching them some down and dirty location lighting. It was fun, I hope I helped.

What do you get when you put professional journalists, students, professors, and visual story telling lovers in a Syracuse University Newhouse professors home? A chili cook off of coarse!!
This weekend was the annual Alexia grant seminar and judging. After the competition, there is always a cookoff. This year, chili master Prof Doc Mason won first place! Congrats to you sir!

Also, congratulations is in order to all of the Alexia winners: First place, Carl Kiilsgaard and second place Yanina Manolova, for the student category. All the entries were outstanding and it was really fun and educational to watch the judging.

And then I ended up at Singers, and much to my delight... It was 80s night. dot dot dot.

I do what I do because I do what I do... because I do. :-)

These economy stories for class have got me thinking! I have so many story possibilities lined up... but most of them don't fall into our one requirement.... "between the ages of 18-25"...
However, so much is being affected by the economy, I know I'm going to be focusing on it for a while.

I'm starting to feel a sort of activism play into my work and the work that i want to produce in the near future. I know at times we are supposed to remain objective. However, with the current circumstances, I feel like people and organizations and education need a voice that I might be able to give them.

So many budget cuts in all of the wrong areas, so many centers that have a positive impact on our local communities face closure because they can't afford to stay open. it's just not right!


Public schools? Deaf schools? Youth Centers? Homeless shelters? After school programs? Come on people!

hrmm....

Alright, so I just thought about it.... and I am SUPER SUPER excited about Uganda... No really.. I am. I've got 11 days until I leave... holy cow. I need to not think about it until it's time to go. Are you ever really fully prepared for something like this?

Oh, and I just created a pinhole lens for my camera. Why? Why not I say. I'll have photographs tomorrow. 

World Press!

The World Press winners announced! 

Check it out HERE

Congrats to everyone, it's all extraordinary work. Love it! 

On Assignment

Some heres and theres while working...
I have no problem working in low light. However, I do have a small problem with working in low yellow light. yuck! It was a fun job though!
However, I started losing my mind because the concert hall was so old and there were some really really quiet parts in the music. You could here every creaky step I made and every time I released the shutter it was like CLICK!!!!!.. holy cow, it was funny. The only thing I kept saying to myself was, " don't trip or drop your camera steph". My nerves!




Only 13 more days until I leave for Uganda!! The other day, someone actually asked me if I was excited... That's like asking your friend who just obviously shaved his or her hair off if they got a hair cut! How could I not be excited!!

The Elements of a Good Story

"This American Life"s Ira Glass ( I love you Ira!!eek!) talk about the elements of a good story. Very very good for all of you story tellers out there. 

Check it out HERE on gelconference.com. 

Caught in Between

image from PDN online

Alright, so I've been trying to avoid blogging about this for some time now. But, I can't resist anymore.... My reason for not wanting to talk about it is because I really don't know what to say. 

I've been following this issue for some time now (pretty much since the beginning) and it's been making the news more frequently in the past couple of days...I've been trying to ignore it. 

Former AP photographer Mannie Garcia photographed President Obama back in 2006. Artist Shepard Fairey used the photograph to create one of his famous style posters. The poster was a HUGE hit during the campaign and one could see it everywhere. It became an icon. AP caught hold of this along with other photographers and bloggers wondering where the original image came from. It was later discovered that it is Mannie Garcia's photograph. 

Now, AP is claiming copyright infringement and there's going to be a court battle and all of that legal mumbo jumbo. AP wants compensation for whatever profits the poster took in. 

My predicament... I LOVE Shepard Fairey's work. I LOVE Obey Propaganda and wear the overly priced t-shirts regularly (mine are always the clearance ones because I'm cheap, and I found two for super duper cheap because a store was going out of business. lol! okay enough about shopping). I've been a fan of Shepard Fairey since the early years where you'd just see the Obey Giant stickers or stencil spray painted images on walls and signs in cities. When the poster came out, i was like yeaaahhh Fairey! But.. I never thought about where the original was from. 

 

What I can't get past is the photographer in me and that I believe that Mannie should be credited with the image. It is very much altered and not the same but it is from a photograph. I don't know how I feel about the whole compensation part though. And the other half of me feels like AP is just jealous because their image wasn't popular like Fairey's (hahaha and that's just the Obey fan in me talking). And the thing that really gets me is that you don't really hear much about what Mannie has to say, and he's the one who took the photograph. Not AP. Even though they own the rights to it. 

So basically, I don't know how to feel about this because A.) I'm a photographer. and B.) I'm a huge Obey fan...... 

I do know this. I would be honored to have one of my photographs turned into a Shepard Fairey work of art, but I would like credit for the original.

I would love to read comments and opinions from all of you out there reading this blog. So comment away!!!!

You can read more about this topic on pdnonline.com HERE

and nyulocal.com HERE

...or just google it.  :-) 

Radio lab

One of my new favorite shows to listen to in the car is Radio Lab. I discovered while driving to Pennsylvania and searching for a NPR station between Binghamton and Scranton (which is darn near impossible sometimes, and it's like torture when you're listening to the All Things Considered and the station drops and you're like NO NO come back!! And it's gone... I have turned around and pulled over numerous times to get the signal back and finish my news..phew I talk too much). And this delightfully funny and well produced, informative and intriguing  show came on between 7 and 8 PM. They discuss a wide range of topics in a This American Life style with really interesting audio edits. Some of the blending of the audio clashed at times, however, and it was hard to concentrate on the stories. BUT, I was listening through the car radio so that isn't a fair critique. I thoroughly enjoyed the program and even sat in my car to finish listening to it after I arrived home. 

Check out the site on WNYC.org HERE

February 4, 2008

Well it's been about week since I've posted anything good. I'm still trying to make a multimedia piece of my road trip to DC, but FCP was being a boob and it kept crashing on me. I needed to clean up my hardrive. It has been a super duper busy week. I mean.. super duper! Not that I'm complaining, but you know you're over tired when things start moving that shouldn't on your computer screen.:-)

I've been having the best time ever working, being with excellent company, being goofy with my friends, and just being good ol' me without anything else to worry about.

Anyhoo, last week Jamie Rose and Chris Anderson visited campus for the day. It was excellent to meet them. I'm so very very excited about the momenta workshop. I just got all of my vaccines (ouchy), bought my plane ticket, and I'm going to mail out the rest of my fees tomorrow. The only things left I have to do are get a visa, get my lens fixed, and get there. phew... not too much left.. OH and keep up with school and teaching while I'm at it!!
I was a bit out of it today while teaching my class, but I believe I explained aperture and shutter thoroughly. We shall see!

Before the Ra Ra Riot concert, Sara made dinner for all of us. It was mmm mm good. Especially her home made floor pie. As shown here! Five second rule and whipped cream make any pie good. And yes, we ate all of it.

We've been working on economy stories at school for the past three weeks. They're not really my bag, but I've been shooting some interesting things. I haven't really been thinking "outside the box" on this one though...

Look mom! New Business cards! wooooo. They were a must. I as running low on my old ones and they didn't match the rest of my ensemble for portfolio packages. The photograph on the back printed a bit low, but it's livable. What do you think? Want one? That'll be 5o cents please.. Kidding Kidding,