Color Correction Assignment

Elva Guerrero prepares a batch of biscocho cookies for the Bachman wedding Wednesday March 26, 2014 in her home in El Paso Tx. The cookies are a traditional cookie for celebrations in Mexican culture, they are eaten at weddings, birthdays, quinceaneras and other holidays.

In camera color correction... I really do not know how photographers pulled this off with so much precision before digital cameras.

What I am learning from my students...

This passed weeks PhotoVoice class was great! We got the upload issues from previous weeks taken care of and were able to see everyones images and spend some time talking about them. The project for last week was "life long learning." 

Each student took a very different approach to the subject, Zane (pictured above) shot a series still lifes that made a really nice essay, giving us a glimpse into what he felt would make it possible to have life long learning. (As we edit those in class, I will post the series).

After we talked for a bit, we started our photo scavenger hunt. Which was a lot of fun. We stayed with in the area of our building. The students hunted for photos finding some great shots. 20 minutes after we had started I had one student run over to me and tell me his card was full, once that little hiccup was solved he kept shooting. I felt like this was the perfect opportunity for the class to ask me any photography questions in real time and we could problem solve things out. I am happy to report back it was exactly that. 

Next weeks assignment is "Relationships." We discussed in class the types of relationships and how they can be varied and different. Sometimes I find myself explaining to much (or at least thats how it feels) then I step back and remember they are smart kids and always come back with photos and explanations to why they took a type of photo that blows me away.

Fill and Balance

Ami Jester a fourth year nursing student takes advantage of the warm weather that passed through Columbia on Saturday March 15, 2014, to set up a hammock and relax.

 John Langworthy a sophomore in the Chemical Engineering Department studies for a chemistry test at the MU Student Center Tuesday afternoon March 18, 2014. "Ive been studying off and on for a while, since about 2pm, but I can't really say I've been studying." Langworthy said with a smile.

 Fill and Balance assignment was a little tedious, because I have never been able to get comfortable with these techniques and off camera flash. Over all it was a good experience and I am pretty happy with the balance photo. I know I need to keep working on this and I'm glad I realized that as I was shooting this assignment.

PhotoVoice Class Two...

Brother and sister Hallie(left) and William

Thursday night was class two for the 2014 PhotoVoice Class. We talked about the students weeks, looked over some of their work. We had a few technical difficulties in getting all of their work downloaded, but next week those problems should be taken care of.  The lecture I gave on photography this week went well, using their work as examples of good photos helped keep them excited during the class.

Photo by William

The photo above was turned in by one of my students William for the Basic Needs assignment, when he discussed it in class he spoke of happiness, in the photo are Williams friends and neighbors. The discussion of basic needs brought up many topics and one that seemed to be present in a lot of the images was friends and family. As a kid your friends and family are your entire world so that was no surprise. I am curious to see where these assignments will lead and what the students choose to place in their viewfinders. 

For the up coming week we will view more of the students work and I am planning a photo scavenger hunt around the CMCA building Thursday afternoon. Should be a good way of keeping my students engaged with the class and help them build on their photo skills, allowing them to ask me some photo questions in real time instead of having to wait a week between classes.

Single Flash Assignment...

Single Flash this past weeks assignment. Had a little direct flash going with the second image and a little bounce flash going with that first image. I had a rough time  getting my brain around this assignment. I practiced a bit at home taking photos of Lindsey, who while slightly annoyed allowed me to snap a few frames with the added annoyance of flash for a bit (photo below).

So I went out into the world of Kansas Cities art district and found Erin Lavin in the frame shop she owns with her Dad. She was great! allowing me to shoot while she worked on framing a painting for a local artist. I also drafted Lindsey to be my VLS (Voice Activated Light Stand). While I realize my technique for the one light set up needs some work (A LOT OF WORK!), I am pretty happy with the way these turned out. Its a building process, right? Maybe for me its a renovating process, deconstructing the little knowledge I have and building from there.

One other thing... After I shot this assignment I dug into my archive and went looking for some strobed out frames. Found this one of my Grandmother at her 90th birthday party a few years back. That lady is still kicking, drives us all crazy but she is on track to make 100.(photo below)

Lindsey 

Mema aka Robo-Granny (inside family joke)

Helping find a PhotoVoice...

On Thursday night, I started working with Central Missouri Community Action. For the next eight weeks, I will be teaching photography to a group of kids. I have worked with the shoot-back concept before in Guatemala with a nonprofit organization, Voces De Cambio, and loved it. I've been looking for an opportunity to teach here in Missouri. While I was talking with my professor at the end of last semester, she informed me about the PhotoVoice program here in town. It's a two-fold win for me. One, I get to hand out and teach photography to kids that might not have the opportunity to learn this craft if it wasn't for this program. Plus, I get a course credit out of the way.

Thursday's class started off a bit rocky. Most classes the students were pretty quiet. (Well, with the exception of two students who were already friends.) Once we checked out cameras to the students, they ran around the room visually exploring the place.  This class feels like it is going to be a lot of fun.

The first assignment is Basic Needs, when Sarah (the other instructor) and I went around the room asking what the kids thought were their basic needs they shouted out suggestions "Bacon! Water! a House!" Then one of the more shy students quietly said "Family." I was honestly struck by that answer. I don't think I would have thought about that at his age.

I'm positive that this class will produce some insightful photographs. Perhaps when we have our gallery show, the community will have something productive to talk about.

Light on Metal

Working off the concept of GMO Potatoes that are resistant to blight, using what little I know to light metal, With help from Shelby my partner for this assignment I think we did a pretty decent job of giving this knife some life. 

Our first attempt to light this concept ended with a bunch of potatoes with holes poked in them and not one photo I was happy with from a lighting stand point.

Something a little abstract...

This past weekend has been very busy. Most of it either covering or trying to direct photographers to cover a partial building collapse at a student housing complex on Saturday. Sunday I spent a lot of time working in the studio on an assignment for my lighting class, which will be uploaded soon. For the time being I figured a landscape-ish shot could hold some space on the blog.

Studio Portait

This week I spent some time in the studio with Tiffany Melecio. I went with pretty simple lighting choices because I tend to over think when I get into situations where I need to light a portrait. The first two photos I used one soft box (camera left)and a reflector (camera right). For the third photo I used two lights again trying to stay simple. placing one behind Tiffany with a blue gel on it and using a soft box behind me. 

Portrait Inspiration...

For this assignment we were asked to find a portrait we admire and discuss it a little. My selection is a portrait of Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh. I love the light he used it almost seems like a painting on some level. One light camera right and slightly elevated. Now I am pretty sure Karsh used a light behind Churchill for some separation, but it could also be dodging in the darkroom. Karsh successfully makes Churchill seem heroic, but contemplative. Its a great frame!

Copyright Yousuf Karsh

Copy Work

 Gregory Heisler's portrait of Alonzo Mourning

Tim Hetherington's photo of Dawn on Broad Street Monrovia, 2005

This Copy work was done for an advanced technique class I am currently enrolled. I've done some copy work in the past, but never using a studio set up. Finding the right angles was tough to say the least.

The photos pictured in this post are copyrighted to Gregory Heisler and Tim Hetherington.

A change of course...

It has been a long time since I posted. The past few months have been insane! I quite my job in Temple in July, Spent some time in El Paso relaxing and shooting a wedding, went back to Temple gathered up the apartment into boxes and move to Missouri to start grad school. Missouri is a pretty nice place, Lindsey being in Kansas City for school and me here in Columbia is given me the chance to explore two cities. Which has really turned into where to get the best beer/food hunt.

Coming back to school has been an interesting ride so far. Already diving into research and photo projects. I am one of the Assistant Directors of Photography at the Columbia Missourian, so my work load is pretty heavy. Most of my free time I spend hanging out with the dog. I always told myself I wouldn't go back to school, but here I am diving into this program.

May Outtakes...

Two shots I liked from the past month. 

Silhouettes...

Spent most of my day in Salado dashing between assignments and hanging out in the Salado Visitors Center sending photos back to the paper. Last assignment was at a Salado Eagles Baseball practice. After I shot my assignment I had a bit of time so I hung out shooting silhouettes at the batting cages. I think this meets my silhouette quota for the month.

Waiting in the Wings

Last Friday I covered a talent show in Belton, a.k.a. "Belton's Got Talent". It was kind of a flash back to high school or college seeing how these kids were before taking the stage. Now, I never went on stage, but I remember being nervous as hell when I got my first real photo assignment via the sports department at the weekly newspaper in Las Cruces, The Bulletin. I was so scared I would screw it up, but the old sports editor there, John Keith, kept calling me for the next three years to shoot his assignments, so I couldn't have done that badly with the first one. Flash forward to me now: I'm shooting at least three assignments a day, plus roaming Central Texas for wild art, and I still get nervous once in a while. In the end, I've learned those nerves help me stay focused.

Slow week...

Last week was a pretty slow news week. Ended up at the State of Fort Hood Address at the Hilton, then made some story inquiries that fell through and started praying for some pink elephants to fall from the sky and make my week interesting. Kind of got my wish when a gust of wind tossed a mobile home from a trailer blocking traffic on I-35 for a few hours.

 I wasn't really happy with the shots from the wreck. I couldn't find an angle I really liked. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Ah well lets see what this week brings.

From the Archive...

Spent most of my morning trying to re-organize my archive, but I was sidetracked by looking at old images. The shot above I took at a football game in September 2011.  Now to get away from my archive and my machine I'm taking my dog and a holga for a walk.

Moment of Silence...

I covered the Bell County Rodeo this week. While I have covered rodeos all over the place, the first day of this rodeo was something new for me. Normally, you just hear the national anthem followed by a Christian prayer. But this time, the announcer spoke for all the faiths practiced in the U.S., mentioning that he had great respect for them. Everyone then bowed their heads in prayer. I don't know if this

is happening at other rodeos, but I was was pleasantly surprised to witness it in Central Texas.

My three-day weekend...

Spent my weekend with these two lovely ladies. Ok, so I spend most of my weekends with them, but this weekend was different since I had three days to hang out (not the normal Sunday/Monday weekend I get every week). We spent the weekend touring around the area, first at the Walker Honey Farm and Winery then Sunday headed out to Mother Neff State Park. I could definitely get used to three-day weekends, but tomorrow it's back to the grind stone. I feel pretty refreshed after all the wandering.

January 2013 extras...

 January felt like one hell of a long month. All these photos I snapped while either looking for stand alone or when I got to an assignment really early. I really need to keep up the blog entries, if not for the sake of blogging and shooting at least for my folks who are constantly asking what I've been working on and asking why I haven't blogged in a long time. Alright well I hope you enjoy the snaps.(Above) As the sun sets over Temple a large storm system moved into the area.

 Audrey Hubbard the Nursing Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the McLane Children's Hospital plays a few hymns on the piano in the Hospital's chapel before Bonnie Layton and Wayne Woolsey get married.

Rain that collected on my passenger side window early in January as I wandered Temple looking for weather art.

 Cattle wait in pens behind the equine arena at the Bell County Expo Center, before being brought inside to test the skills of Cutting Horses and their riders.