Today is the day

IT HAS BEGUN. Today Ana and I are heading up to the pride festival in Piedmont Park. I have a good feeling about today especially since its Halloween. I'm planning to get something to use for my feature in photojournalism. It will be a little scary just like the last time I attempted to get a feature. Confidence is key and I'm just really excited. Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Its silly post time

Jogtography. what comes to mind when you see this word? Maybe jogging? Maybe photography? Well for those of you who are cinematically inclined, you might remember a movie titled Yes Man. It stars none other than the awesome Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. Well, in this movie Jim Carrey's character is attempting to woo Zooey Deschanel's character. She teaches a Jogging photography class. I wondered if such a thing existed and because of the movie it apparently does. There is a Flickr photostream dedicated to the art of Jogtography. There is also a facebook page.

Another TED post

In my last post I talked about the TED awards and James Nachtwey. Another notable photographer who won the prize back in 2005 was Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky is famous for showing the impact man has made on nature in his photographs. He focuses on our dependence on nature but the fact that were killing the earth as well. The photograph above is of a copper mine in Western Australia.

the TED awards

I've just recently become aware of something called the TED awards. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design. Each year the TED award is given to three remarkable people. These people are granted "one wish to change the world". After a few months they unveil their wishes at a conference with thousands of people. A notable photojournalist person who won this award was James Nacthwey in 2007. This is a video of Nacthwey unveiling his wish. If you would like to contribute to his cause and help out click here.

Sports Photojournalism

To all you who really enjoyed the Sports portion of our photojournalism class you might want to pay attention. According to Sports Shooter, there is a sports shooter academy to take place in April of 2010. The Sports Shooter Academy is scheduled to take place April 7-10, 2010 in Southern California. Click here to download the application. Check out the rest of the article here.

Check it out

Check out this photographer I found! His name is Chris Searson. His images are really nice but I was most impressed with the video he did titled Showreel. If you'd like to see more of his video work click here.

Hall of Fame

In Malaysia,  Ng Kok Leong, the photo editor at The Star was just recently inducted into the Canon EOS Hall of Fame. He is one of only nine Malaysian photographer to be accepted. Canon's EOS Hall Of Fame is a new exclusive and elite circle for photographers who are masters of their craft and who use Canon Equipment. If you would like to read the rest of the article click HERE.

As Promised

This is my favorite picture from The Wednesday Walk Ana and I took today. I just finished editing it. Today was a lot of fun and I cannot wait till next Wednesday. =]

Multimedia project

Last quarter we were given an assignment to make a music video. I made mine to the song Diary of Jane(acoustic) by Breaking Benjamin. This video isn't perfect but I was extremely happy with it for a first attempt. It stars my friend Beth who is an awesome sport.

Wednesday Walks

Every Wednesday Ana and I go on a photo adventure. Today we went to historic Duluth. We couldn't seem to find much there but I got some pretty cool shots that I'll share with you soon. This seems to be an every Wednesday thing so if you can join us, Do it!

A Break From Reality

Our next assignment is a glamour/fashion/fantasy shoot. I believe that I'll be doing a fantasy shoot. I'm gonna get my friend Casey to help me with this. I'm gonna drop him into a creepy alley with a top hat and cane. It might be a Jack the Ripper deal. I really want to keep this shoot from being a fashion shoot.

Dedication

Behind every photograph is a story, some more powerful than others. This photo may not be my best but it is by far my favorite just because of the story behind it. My grandfather always sits in this chair, underneath where the light is hitting. We just recently found out he has an advanced stage of bladder cancer. I know that once hes gone this image will mean even more than it does now. I'm not looking for sympathy and I don't want it. I simply want to show everyone that there is a point to photography. It is to tell a story. You have to figure out what that story is of course but once you figure it out, your eyes will open.

A Blog About Nothing

Well, I wasn't so sure what to blog about so I asked my mom. She said I could make a post about nothing. So I typed NOTHING into The Google and this website is what I got. I also typed NOTHING into google images and got this lovely picture. It is titled "Held By Nothing". The artist's name is Dennis Sibeijn. Further investigation of his work has proven very interesting and I think you should all check him out here.

I think, therefore I Blog

I was reading Ally's blog and she referenced this 100- meter photograph by Simon Hogsberg. It reminded me of the gigapan photo from Obama's inauguration. A gigapan photo is a GINORMOUS photograph. It uses a special camera called The Gigapan Epic which can take thousands of photos and stitch them together to make a single panoramic photograph. This is basically awesome. Check out some more gigapan photos here.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

I FINISHED!!! Bwahahahaha. This took me almost a day to complete. It's a composite with five images total. I'm pretty happy with it at the moment but let me know what you think. Constructive Criticism is always helpful. =]

SOS

HELP HELP HELP!!! I found this picture today and started messing with it in photoshop. I've gotten to this point with it but I feel like it needs something more. I need suggestions on how to improve it. This is a composite with a total of four pictures as of now.

The Bird Whisperer

Gary Walter is quickly becoming known as "The Bird Whisperer." He uses a simple point and shoot camera to get extremely close to wild birds. He is a self proclaimed Buddhist who believes in God. He says that he feels a mystical experience while photographing these wild birds. For all the geek minded people, Gary uses a Panasonic Lumix FZ 20. Check out the entire article here. It gave me quite a laugh. If you would like to support Gary check out his website The Love Of Birds.

Atlanta Adventures

Well, today was an amazing day, no lie! Ana and I tentatively ventured into Atlanta for a bit of an adventure. I say tentatively because everytime I drive into, near, or around Atlanta I almost get into a wreck. Needless to say I'm a bit frightened of Atlanta. We went around in circles trying to find Little Five Points but eventually found it. I met a rapper named Bobby who had really pretty eyes and very chill music. But most importantly Ana and I TALKED TO PEOPLE. Ana talked to this guy named Old Man Frank and I talked to this guy named Copper John. It felt great to come out of my shell and break that invisible barrier. I know that this is only the start of greater things to come. After all, the first one is always the hardest.

We're going to try to make this an every Wednesday thing. Which should last until the work picks up at school. In the meantime check out my flickr page to see the best photos from our Wednesday Walks.

Reading Material

Well the other day I was reading Zach Arias' blog and I came across a really good guide to street photography and portraits. He also mentioned a photographer by the name of David duChemin who has written a fantastic new book called Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision. Here is a review of the book. Well i bought the book on amazon for 26 dollars and I'm really excited to read it. I hope it helps!!! I'll keep things updated on all the great advice it gives.

Business Cards

So i know that later on in the year we will make actual business cards but I wanted to have something on me just in case I needed it. Well this website Vista Print gave me lots of options in what design I wanted on my card. It was free to make them and I just had to pay for shipping. For shipping I chose the cheapest option which guaranteed the card's arrival in at least 21 days. I got them in less than two weeks. So, in short I have 250 business cards that only cost me about 6 dollars.

Its a good choice if you don't want to pay a lot of money, which I never want to do. =]

Photo Shoot

I just had an awesome photoshoot with Amanda. She shot me for her low key assignment. It went really well. Be looking for some photos to go up from that shoot.

Get Low Low Low

Well, today we shot our low key assignment today and the most awesome person in the world, Ana was my model. She was very patient with every torture I put her through. Click on the picture below to be directed to my flickr photostream.

Put On Your Grr Face

So this weekend I went to the Highland Games at Stone Mountain. It was a lot of fun and I got some interesting pictures like the one you see above. I give major kudos to that guy. The weight he has in his hand weighs around 50 pounds. He had to swing that 50 pound weight over his head into the air and make it over a bar around 10 feet over his head. Even though he didn't win this competition, he did put his "grr" face on. So Kudos to him.

Low Key Assignment

Tomorrow we shoot the high key/low key assignment in Advanced Portraiture. I'm so excited. This is my idea. I have provided a picture of my thumbnail which is basically a sketch we have to show our teacher explaining our vision. The other picture is just the chains and rose I bought for the assignment. I bought about five feet of chain but I think I'll have to go back tonight to get more.

My New Flickr Account

I made my new flickr account and I'd love for you to check it out.

I'm feeling a bit Scottish

So today I went with my friend Beth to The Highland Games at Stone Mountain. If you don't know what the Highland Games are then click here because it would take way too long to explain. So today I got to see a lot of men(and women) in kilts, but mostly men. It was a lot of fun and I'll post some pictures later. I'm going to try and go back tomorrow for the last day. So if you'd like to meet up and shoot let me know. It was really cold and muddy there but the smell of tobacco seemed oddly comforting. All in all it was an awesome day.

Experimenting in Photoshop

I had a day where there was nothing to do so I decided to look up some tutorials for photoshop. I found this really cool one here. Let me know what you think in a comment. I would love some feedback. Its not finished but I had to stop since my eyes were glazing over. =] The image up top is the worked up one and the one below is the before.

Wedding Photography

So I set out to do a post on something totally different than wedding photography but the things I've stumbled across have intrigued me. Now if you were a bride on your wedding day would you want all those cheesy photos of the wedding party lined up and posed? Well, I say no to that one. I stumbled across the WPJA: The Wedding Photojournalist Association. They strive to take photojournalistic pictures of your wedding. If I ever get married then this is who I will call, even though they would be more expensive the quality of the images would be worth it. This is a list of the WPJA members around the state of Georgia, if anyone is interested. Franck Boutonnet is a French photographer and a member of the WPJA. He is the 2008 WPJA photographer of the year. The picture above is one of his images.

An Amazing Artist

So, this post isn't photography related but it is art related. The whole thing started when my sister called me over to look at a video one of her friends sent her. What I saw amazed me. Kseniya Simonova is an artist from the Ukraine who draws in sand on a light table. Now it may sound crazy but the results are just fantastic. Click here to watch the video and read the article. I highly suggest you do!!!

New Header

So as you can see I made my new header last night. I just simply took the three pictures on your left and composited them in photoshop. I played with opacities and added words. Voila!!! I made magic. 

Children's portrait

We had an assignment to shoot children for portraiture. This is my little pirate baby Danica. As of right now I will probably reshoot what I have. Enjoy!!!

Outtakes

This is just a funny moment I captured when I went to the lacrosse game yesterday. The other picture is just my shoes, in mud. It was muddy there, so very muddy.

Enjoy =]

Sports Sports Sports!!!

So our first major assignment for photojournalism was to photograph sports. Well, Ana and I went down to Windsor Park and shot some lacrosse! I must admit that I'm not much of a sports fan but this game definitely got me riled up. It was so violent! It was really fun to photograph sports. Plus, there was a lot of mud and I got a sunburn on only the left side of my face! =]

PS. always remember that whenever you're photographing anything outdoors after it has been raining, DON'T WEAR WHITE OR FLIP-FLOPS!!!!

Taking a Stroll Down Memory Lane

Well, the other day I was thinking back to the first quarter of the Commercial Photography program and I remembered our pinhole camera assignment. It was an interesting assignment to say the least. When I was making my pinhole I set out looking for resources and came upon an artist by the name of Justin Quinell. Below are two of his images that always make me giggle.

Dentist

Bath Time

The High Museum in Atlanta

So I just found out that during the month of October The High Museum of Atlanta is offering five dollar tickets for college students. There are two new exhibits this month. The Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit and the John Portman exhibit. John Portman is an architect from Atlanta. Plus the High Museum has a permanent collection of photographs that total over 3,900 prints.

Checkmate!!!

On Monday we shot the Animal Portraiture assignment. That was a doozy! I honestly had a blast with this assignments because I love animals. The only problem I had was that my cat Xander did not want to get into his cat carrier, so I recieved about a two inch long gash on my left hand from that episode. Other than that tiny mishap everything else went smoothly and I got some great shots. 

The First Post

Well, since this is the first post on my newly created blog I wanted to post about something interesting that I did. On Friday I went out to the Apalachee High School football game to shoot the marching band. Having been in the band myself when I was in high school, it was amusing to come back as a college student and shoot. I would love to go back and do this again. Below, is one of the shots I got that night. I will be posting more as time goes by. Stay Tuned!!