The American pursuit of happiness

It's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness. Poverty and wealth have both failed.  ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard

Happy Independence Day.

No Diving

Heading back to Charlotte

The Southern Short Course is back in Charlotte, NC this year, and for some crazy reason they've asked me to speak about this little cellphone project. So at 1:30 pm on Saturday I'm the opening act for Scott McKiernan and then William Albert Allard.

I remember my first SSC conference back in 1997. I was two years out of college. The freelance was starting to pick up but I was still working as a manager for a catering company because the pay and benefits were a necessity and my portfolio wasn't opening any doors yet for fulltime positions. Washington Post photographer Michael Williamson was doing portfolio reviews and a little crowd had gathered around him. He finally got to mine and subsequently started brushing each photo off, left and right. It didn't surprise me, as I wasn't exactly thrilled with what I had brought. Following other photojournalists advice I was shooting people, events, things, in order to check off categories. And this is what I presented; A check-off list and it was quite apparent. Instead of showcasing all of my strongest images no matter what the content, it had been watered down.
But halfway through, Williamson held up one of my slides and showed it to the crowd. "You have ten of these type photos... then you'll have a portfolio." He went on to use it as an example of what he was trying to get across to all of us newbies as to what made a good photo and a photo good. Years later I started to wonder if it was some sorta backhand compliment. But at the time, if I realized it, I didn't care. All I knew was that I was on some right track and I needed to keep motivated and keep working to get those other "nine" photos and then some.

There's a lot of great speakers on Friday and Sunday as well, plus portfolio reviews.
Today's professional climate is certainly different than the one in 1997, even 2007. But no matter what economy we live in, a few things still hold true... one being that what you get out of life (or anything for that matter) is what you put into it. And we all need a little help sometimes to figure out what to put in.
Conferences like these have been known to offer that help.
Hope to see some of you this weekend.

art punk

If you're ever in need of coffee in Asheboro, NC, stop in to the Coffee X Change on Sunset Avenue. Not only a cool place to relax and free wi-fi but if Zach's there, you may get your portrait drawn if you ask nicely. Even Sam Abell, (who was in town to speak at our yearly NCPPA meeting at RCC) took home a personal souvenir for his wife.

Speaking of... If you ever get a chance to hear Sam speak... do. It's a learning experience to see the evolution of a photograph and hear the process of thought and reasoning behind certain compositional choices.

I think many of us intrinsically know a successful photo when we see it and can explain why on one level or another. But like the layers in his photos Sam is able to expound in depth on what makes a photo successful.

He'll be at UNC-Chapel Hill on April 20th and it's free to the public.

room of death

We were in Florida a few weeks ago for a family function. My future uncle-in-law is an avid hunter and his guest room doubles as his trophy room or as the family is fond of calling it "the room of death." Kinda surreal to wake up in the morning surrounded by the kin of what you had for dinner the night before.

walled in no more

For 17 years Greg Taylor was locked away for a murder he didn't commit.

On Thursday he was "the first person in North Carolina to be exonerated using a new process established to handle convicted people's claims of innocence. Last September, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission voted unanimously that Taylor's case warranted further review." The commission is the only state-run agency in the country that investigates post-conviction claims of innocence.

Exonerating innocent men is a storyline that is sadly becoming all too common in this state over the past few years. Darryl Hunt, Joseph Abbitt and Dwayne Dail were in the courtroom today to hear the verdict and welcome another man into their unique group. DNA (or lack thereof) helped their cases. It did to a certain degree with Taylor. But it was the lack of any substantial evidence that led the the three-judge panel to their decision.

But for the grace of a higher power, any one of us could have been in a situation like Taylor's for whatever reason. He wasn't an innocent man, but he was innocent of this crime.

For more on this story by please go here.
And there's a photo gallery here.
And check out the video. If you don't get a bit emotional for the family who now has their son-brother-father back in their lives, you might want to check your pulse.

As for the photo above. Taylor broke away from his first post-incarceration meal with his family -pasta salad with shrimp and little pizza on the side- to speak with some friends he hadn't seen in a long time. Like many things in the coming days of his new life, talking on a cellphone is an unfamiliar experience to him. Funnily enough, he was constantly apologizing for yelling as he wasn't sure how the sound traveled up to the mouthpiece.

cherry

I'm teaching an intermediate photojournalism course this semester at UNC-Chapel Hill. We'll be concentrating on learning how to light with strobes; studio and the smaller 35mm flashes. But first we're learning to see light. Because it's all around us it's easy to take for granted. So to get everyone in the habit of consciously seeing what they can work with and to learn not to feel intimidated, I sent them out to create/take ten photos that use one light as the dominant and noticeable source. There's always going to be at least one. And if not, then you create your own. And sometimes that's all you want or need. So that's where we started.

Heading out after class I came across this scene at the bottom of the stairwell outside the East End Martini bar. It summed up my evening's lesson plan perfectly. Irony of the "tobacco" state's recent legislation banning smoking in most restaurants and bars aside, this is the kind of scene photographers-in-training, be it at UNC, the local camera club, or a mid-life career changer should be looking for when learning about lighting and what does and doesn't work. It may not be the best photo; it may not be the best for the assignment you're on; but by consciously photographing it, you're filing that experience away. And it's this compilation of experiences (and the act of compiling) that helps you become a smarter photographer and therefore a better one.