Because I'm sick and feel horrible so I don't really plan on going anywhere else.
On the plus side, though, I have a few models who have agreed to help out with my project. So I guess there are perks to hanging out on the model websites all day while you're sick. Now I just have to start feeling better so I can do the shoots.
Hope your Christmas is better than mine :)
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Not to be too overly cryptic...
But I'm beginning the initial plans for a photography project that's been in my mind the past few years. I finally feel like I have the equipment, vision, and talent to pull it off the way it's been playing in my head. It's going to be rather dark and violent and the large majority of people won't like it, but for some reason they're images that won't go away for me even though I'm happier now than I have been the rest of my life. So I guess it's time to get them out of me and into prints, then maybe they'll leave me alone and I can move on.
That's all for now. I'll begin commentating on the world again shortly.
That's all for now. I'll begin commentating on the world again shortly.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
About the media. Part 2.
So when I was talking about the article in Pop Photo, I didn't mention the coolest part of the article.
After they finished profiling the three photographers, there was a page called What You Can Do. That page is basically something I took as a sign. On that page of the article, they were talking about the process of volunteering your photography to help out these non-profit organizations with promo shots and just showing exactly what they're doing for the people in various villages they're working in. That page was when things really clicked for me.
I'm a weird tourist. I don't really have much interest in touristy things but I love traveling and exploring new places without any real plan of what I'm going to see and without much knowledge of what I'm getting myself into. That was really evident in my trip around Europe where I was like 'Hmm, this place sounds fun. Let's go check it out.' and next thing you know, I'm on a train there.
I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to go to all the tourist resorts if I ever went to Asia. I wanted to see the real Asian life. Sure, if you're in Tokyo or Hong Kong or anywhere else like that, it'll be very Americanized. But if you go out to Cambodia or Nepal or Mongolia, you're in for a bit of culture shock. And that's what I want. I read an article once about the difference between traveler and tourist and there was a sentence which was something like 'If you're going to another culture, immerse yourself in their culture instead of bringing as much of your own as you can.' And what better way to do that then to go join them in their own villages?
So I decided one of the safest ways to do that was to volunteer with these organizations. They'll send you out to real life in whatever country you sign up for instead of sending you to see the sights all the travel books tell you to check out. That's how I've decided to spend my time in southeast Asia. I'll volunteer somewhere for a few months working with the project, taking pictures to chronicle it all and then head somewhere else to do it again. I can't really come up with a more meaningful way to trek around than that. And on a practical note, my lack of knowledge in foreign languages won't be as much of an issue since the volunteers there can speak English.
This trip is beginning to get more and more exciting by the day. 23 days until I catch my flight to Auckland. And I can't wait to get started.
After they finished profiling the three photographers, there was a page called What You Can Do. That page is basically something I took as a sign. On that page of the article, they were talking about the process of volunteering your photography to help out these non-profit organizations with promo shots and just showing exactly what they're doing for the people in various villages they're working in. That page was when things really clicked for me.
I'm a weird tourist. I don't really have much interest in touristy things but I love traveling and exploring new places without any real plan of what I'm going to see and without much knowledge of what I'm getting myself into. That was really evident in my trip around Europe where I was like 'Hmm, this place sounds fun. Let's go check it out.' and next thing you know, I'm on a train there.
I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to go to all the tourist resorts if I ever went to Asia. I wanted to see the real Asian life. Sure, if you're in Tokyo or Hong Kong or anywhere else like that, it'll be very Americanized. But if you go out to Cambodia or Nepal or Mongolia, you're in for a bit of culture shock. And that's what I want. I read an article once about the difference between traveler and tourist and there was a sentence which was something like 'If you're going to another culture, immerse yourself in their culture instead of bringing as much of your own as you can.' And what better way to do that then to go join them in their own villages?
So I decided one of the safest ways to do that was to volunteer with these organizations. They'll send you out to real life in whatever country you sign up for instead of sending you to see the sights all the travel books tell you to check out. That's how I've decided to spend my time in southeast Asia. I'll volunteer somewhere for a few months working with the project, taking pictures to chronicle it all and then head somewhere else to do it again. I can't really come up with a more meaningful way to trek around than that. And on a practical note, my lack of knowledge in foreign languages won't be as much of an issue since the volunteers there can speak English.
This trip is beginning to get more and more exciting by the day. 23 days until I catch my flight to Auckland. And I can't wait to get started.
Friday, December 15, 2006
About the media.
For those of you who don't know me personally, I work as a freelance photographer. I do mostly live band work and some model and portrait work on the side. Due to my photo nerdness, I have a subscription to Popular Photography. I got the new issue yesterday and cracked it open tonight. They have an article in there that I'm taking as a sign that I figured out what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.
The article was a simple 6 page feature on three different photographers. The feature is called "Saving The World One Photo At A Time". Basically it chronicled three different photographers who use photography to show people different things they normally would never get a chance to see. The first photographer, Stephen Wilkes, went down to New Orleans about six months after the hurricane and took pictures of the survivors there, showcasing their hope that their life will return to normality. The second photographer, Shannon Eckstein who normally works as a child portrait photographer, volunteered for a nonprofit organization to go to one of their missions in India and take pictures of the children there for promo and ad use, showcasing the work the organization was doing. The third photographer, Robert Glenn Ketchum, takes pictures of landscapes in Alaska. Those pictures spurred the passing of the Tongas Timber Reform Act in 1990 to preserve over a million acres of old-growth forest.
While I'm all for protecting the environment and believe we should be doing more about that, the first two photographers are what really caught my attention. Shannon Eckstein is the one in particular who really got me into this article. She got me thinking, what would happen if more people used their cameras and photography ability to open peoples' eyes to the world around them.
I've always thought it would be cool to be a photo journalist. I think war torn areas in particular would be amazing. Now, as much as that sounds like I'd love for a war to break out so I can go take pictures of it, ya got it wrong. I'd want to go, not so much to document the war, but to document the lives of the people in the lands where the war is being fought. Instead of photographing the explosion as the bomb goes off, I'd rather show people the irreparable after effects. While the destroyed building may be a powerful image, a much more powerful one would be of a family watching helpless as the war destroys their jobs, their homes, and their family. But that story isn't what the media wants so it's rarely told.
Maybe if we'd come to learn that people really are basically the same no matter where in the world you go, we wouldn't be so eager to drop bombs on them. Maybe if we saw what effect we were having on the citizens, we wouldn't cheer when city after city is "liberated" at the cost of only 24 U.S. soldiers and over 1,000 Iraqi "insurgents" (On a side note, I am in no way saying there aren't insurgents. But when we're in a kill first, ask questions later mindset, there's no way of knowing how many were insurgents and how many were civilians caught in the crossfire). Maybe then we'd find a way to help them that didn't destroy their land, their lives and their cultures.
But hey, I'm only 18. What do I know about the world?
The article was a simple 6 page feature on three different photographers. The feature is called "Saving The World One Photo At A Time". Basically it chronicled three different photographers who use photography to show people different things they normally would never get a chance to see. The first photographer, Stephen Wilkes, went down to New Orleans about six months after the hurricane and took pictures of the survivors there, showcasing their hope that their life will return to normality. The second photographer, Shannon Eckstein who normally works as a child portrait photographer, volunteered for a nonprofit organization to go to one of their missions in India and take pictures of the children there for promo and ad use, showcasing the work the organization was doing. The third photographer, Robert Glenn Ketchum, takes pictures of landscapes in Alaska. Those pictures spurred the passing of the Tongas Timber Reform Act in 1990 to preserve over a million acres of old-growth forest.
While I'm all for protecting the environment and believe we should be doing more about that, the first two photographers are what really caught my attention. Shannon Eckstein is the one in particular who really got me into this article. She got me thinking, what would happen if more people used their cameras and photography ability to open peoples' eyes to the world around them.
I've always thought it would be cool to be a photo journalist. I think war torn areas in particular would be amazing. Now, as much as that sounds like I'd love for a war to break out so I can go take pictures of it, ya got it wrong. I'd want to go, not so much to document the war, but to document the lives of the people in the lands where the war is being fought. Instead of photographing the explosion as the bomb goes off, I'd rather show people the irreparable after effects. While the destroyed building may be a powerful image, a much more powerful one would be of a family watching helpless as the war destroys their jobs, their homes, and their family. But that story isn't what the media wants so it's rarely told.
Maybe if we'd come to learn that people really are basically the same no matter where in the world you go, we wouldn't be so eager to drop bombs on them. Maybe if we saw what effect we were having on the citizens, we wouldn't cheer when city after city is "liberated" at the cost of only 24 U.S. soldiers and over 1,000 Iraqi "insurgents" (On a side note, I am in no way saying there aren't insurgents. But when we're in a kill first, ask questions later mindset, there's no way of knowing how many were insurgents and how many were civilians caught in the crossfire). Maybe then we'd find a way to help them that didn't destroy their land, their lives and their cultures.
But hey, I'm only 18. What do I know about the world?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
