Fun with the camera!

Today during class, I had a "painting with light" demonstration with a few of my students. We couldn't find a dark room, so we ended up in the copy room. It worked. I think they had fun. I did. 

It's always fun to explore the possibilities with light. Of coarse, they have to use film, but for the demonstration I used my camera. :-P 

Yep, that's me. 

Pretty darn awesome

New York Times photographer Damon Winter received the 2009 Pulitzer for feature photography. Amazing work. Congrats to him! Check it out HERE

Moving Along

I had the chance to work with, one last time before I'm out of Syracuse, my friend Greg Callen who is in the process of starting his non profit organization The Move Along Foundation 

We were at the Center for Human Performance where once a month families get together and enjoy activities like swimming and physical fitness. Greg volunteers there and likes to race the kids. :-P 

All of the children were so excited to go in pool. 

Am I? Crazy?

I'm having a lazy day and watching back episodes of Ugly Betty on my computer. I'm on episode 17 of season 3 and all of a sudden i hear this voice...... is that Mo Rocca!? Yes, yes it is.

Have I mentioned I love what I do?

I decided to do a story on Syracuse Paranormal. Why? Because where else would you get the chance to investigate paranormal activity in the middle of the night, in old military buildings from the 1800s with a bunch of adventurous fun folks with cool gadgets? I spent the evening with Lisa, Scott, and James my fearless guides into the unknown. It was awesome, to say the least, and I can't wait to do it again. 

We toured the buildings during the day.

Waited until the sun set.

I was channeling spirits here....
And then got our investigation on! I love shooting in the dark!! 

This is Scott and his night vision goggles. 
We spent a lot of the night in these buildings in silence in pitch black. Recording audio, shooting video, taking temperature readings, and trying to provoke the unknown. These are people after my own heart!!

Now THIS is what I like to see!

All I can say is wow. Certain things, whether it's fine art, photography, music, literature, etc. give you that "wow" moment that you can't exactly explain or even know how to react to but you get that little feeling of glee or something in your chest... And.. well its just a moment and if you've ever experienced it before, you know what I'm talking about. (as we all know, I'm not one for words)

Anyway, this is a piece by Liz O. Baylen published in the LA Times. The photography is gorgeous and it's a great essay. Shot with a Hasselblad?

Take 2 minutes and 47 seconds and check it out HERE

Horsing Around

Here is a short feature video I made on Mathew Borne, a rocking horse maker. It was fun, but I need a mono pod next time.

Baby it's cold outside... In April?

Two days outside to make an interesting photograph of lots of students on campus. Of coarse, I get the two worst days of the month. Today is nice.... go figure! These are some of the photographs that I found interesting that didn't make the cut. I was waiting and waiting and waiting some more for something or someone interesting. A facial expession, hair in the wind, lots of people, anything! but no. The few people that walked by walked briskly through the cold snowy rainy weather. Thank goodness Jamie and Sam and the Momenta workshops helped teach me to stay patient and wait for shots. Otherwise, my incredibly short attention would have had me out of there in a flash. I had my headphones on, got all "zen" about it, and just hung out, but, no magic was meant to happen on these days.

For Better or For Worse.

I'm still working on my Athletic Center multimedia piece. Here it is a bit revised. Thanks again for everyone input, it's really helping.

Woo hoo!

CLICK HERE

Day Dream Believer

I've been in a bit of snag lately photographically. It must be the weather. Or my stress about the very near future. Either or, my right eye has not stopped twitching for two whole days now. And I just stress ate six chocolate chip cookies in a row like a champ. I've been working on things for school and my attention problems are kicking into high gear and it's just not where I want it to be... My mind is definitely in a far off land. 

Today I spent all day, no joke, on the quad at SU trying to get an interesting overall of campus and students. I have one word to work with and that word is "Enrollment". The weather wasn't too agreeable, but I at least have my little list of shots to capture and kick butt on for tomorrow morning. 

It was right around this point where I began to wonder what in the world I was doing with my life.... (yes this is a crap shot but it's how I felt at this very moment in time)

And then I thought.... The best darn job in the world! Duh!! I'm soaked, I love it. But I had my gear strapped around me all day and i felt comfortable again. Maybe I just needed to spend the day outside. And now, i'm happy again. :-)
The end. 

However, my eye still twitches. bad eye. 

Steph's Sundayness

I made a panoramic of Syracuse University today, since I couldn't get a helicopter, on a roof, or find a good place for an overall. And... that was my day. 

Composing Ansel Adams

I heard this on All Things Considered the other day and thought it'd be good to share if you haven't heard it. Musicians Dave Brubeck and his son Chris have taken Ansel Adams's photographs and set them to music. Before he fell in love with  Yosemite, Adams was studying to be a concert pianist. Which I find really interesting because I know so many photographers, me included, who set out to study music before becoming encompassed in photography. 

It's a great piece with, of coarse, excellent interviews that gives us listeners a small peep into these creative minds. 

Check it out HERE 

Elisha Stasko's show

My friend Elisha Stasko has a show of her work from India at the SUNY IT gallery in Utica, NY. It's a great exhibit and worth the drive, you should all go. It's open for the next month. 

She has a beautiful eye and provides a delicate touch to the images she creates. 

And of coarse I had to get my picture taken with the photographer! Gosh, we're little.