Erin Hendry Photography

Growing Up Small: Life as a Little Person

2011-05-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

Below is the multimedia piece I developed from my 30-Day story.

Untitled from Erin Hendry on Vimeo.

When working on this project, there were many things that I found difficult as well as some other things that made me happy with what I produced.

Over the course of the 30 days I spent three weekends and two different weekdays in St. Louis working on this story. It made things more difficult because I couldn't just drop by whenever I wanted. I am used to having a lot more material because in the past I have been able to visit my subjects more often. It was also hard to visit with Brendan and his family while I was there because his mom, Sally, had just put their house on the market and had to be out for a lot of different showings.

It was also hard working with a 14 year old boy on this story. I could tell Brendan was getting a little impatient with me when I kept coming back to work on the story, which isn't surprising because he is at that age where kids don't have much patience. Also, it was hard to get great audio clips from Brendan. As any teenage boy, Brendan had somewhat short answers that didn't work well with a multimedia piece. Because of this, I had to use a lot of his parents' audio clips because they said what he wanted to say, but in a way that flowed a little better. I was worried that because I used so much of his parents' audio that it would turn into more of a story about them than Brendan, but I am really hoping that I stayed true to Brendan's story and his experience.

Although there were a lot of things that I wasn't too happy with, there are also things I feel I accomplished well. Even though Brendan did get tired of me, I was able to gain access almost anywhere (except school, unfortunately). I hung out with him and his friends for hours, followed him in a mall with no complications and was present for some great moments, including Brendan wrestling his 22-year-old sister.

I think it helped to have known the family a little bit before entering the project. Even though I hadn't spoken with them in 4 years, they still seemed pretty comfortable around me, which gave me some great access. I also was aware that their family was quite open about addressing Brendan's dwarfism, so I had a good idea of what kind of questions to ask and how far to take my questions. Knowing that Brendan was a positive kid who never seemed to let his differences affect him negatively also helped me tell his story as accurately as possible. I felt that because the family already knew me, they trusted me with the project faster than if I hadn’t known them to begin with. Their trust led to a lot of great quotes and photos that I may have not gotten if I had been a complete stranger.

All in all, I wish I had more time on this piece. This project was hard because I felt that I needed more material even though I did so much traveling to work on this piece. I also ran into a lot of difficulties that I didn't expect to, which made it more challenging. Although I feel the piece could be even stronger with more time, I am glad I stuck through it and hopefully told Brendan's story well.

30 Day Project: Works In Progress

2011-04-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

So far my 30 day subject, Brendan, has been really open to everything that I have done with the project. Not only have I done a second interview with him, his mom and two older sisters, I also hung out with his friends after their school day on Friday and took pictures/ gathered audio and video of them playing basketball and video games. I was also able to get some photos/audio of Brendan roasting marshmallows with his mom and sisters after they ate dinner on Saturday night before I did the second round of interviewing.

I am happy with what I have so far, however there are certain things that are a little difficult. The lighting in Brendan's home is really dim and dark, so it was hard to find a great place for the interviews. I was able to make the interview sound and look better than the first, which I was happy about. It is also hard to get much time with Brendan with his mom because they are in the middle of selling their house and house hunting as well. Because they are so busy I have to take the time that I get, even if it isn't as much as I would like. I've only been able to be around at night, which adds to the dim lighting problems.

This week I am planning out a morning to ride with Brendan to middle school in the morning to photograph his mom dropping him off as well as his homeroom and lunch/recess. He and his sisters are also going to be at their dad's house this next weekend, and I plan on interviewing him about his experience and gather more photos of Brendan with his family.

Here is what I have gotten so far from the past weekend (note: none of them have been toned or color corrected in any way yet).

I have really enjoyed this project so far and look forward to the final product.

Ann's Dancing Dogs

2011-03-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here is the multimedia piece I produced about Ann Gafke, who has been training dogs for 50 years. She started choreographing dogs and their owners to music, which has led to many practices, costumes and performances.

I was very excited about this project because I have wanted to work on a story dealing with dogs for quite some time. I found Ann Gafke last semester, but never used her as a subject. I felt her job was so interesting, especially since she is one who started up choreographing dogs to music in the drill team at her dog school. Although it was an exciting story to work on, there were also a lot of complications that went along with it.

Gathering audio for the interviews was quite a challenge this time around. When I conducted my first interview, I couldn't tell whether the wireless mic had worked (it was hard to judge even with the headphones in). I came home to find there was a faint background sound. When I set up for my second interview, the wireless mic that I had checked out did not work at all. I started out setting the mic as close to her as I could without having to hold it because I was worried my hands would brush it and make fuzzy sounds. When I didn't think it sounded good I immediately picked it up and held it right by her, which sounded much better. It was frustrating when editing because I had two different interviews with different types of background noise. There were some great quotes that I really wanted to use from the first interview, but couldn't because of how different it sounded from the other interview. It was definitely frustrating for me because I always use a wireless mic and have much success with it. This time the equipment just didn't work in my favor.

It was also hard to get ideal answers out of my subject. While she gave me great material, each answer took over a couple of minutes and wouldn't make much sense if I tried to edit it down. I attempted to ask certain questions multiple times hoping for a shorter answer, but wasn't too lucky. I edited as much as I could to make the story make sense, but it was quite a challenge. Overall I wish I would have had more luck with the audio equipment and had been able to gather shorter, quality answers for my interview.

I also had some trouble when it came to toning my images. The building that I shot in was completely white inside, which made it difficult when toning my photographs. I couldn't tell when things looked too white or too yellow because of the way the camera captured the lights. The final cut video also washed out some of my images, which I wasn't quite sure how to fix.

While I experienced difficulty in many things I did enjoy the variety of frames I captured. Along with using different lenses and getting low I also managed to climb onto a fridge that was in the building (with Ann's permission of course). It took me a lot of tries to master the video work, and although I'm not completely happy with the overall quality of the video, I really like the shots I took and am happy with how well the final shot went with the music.

I'm glad that I was able to create a multimedia piece out of this story with music and video included. I think the music captures the feeling of that specific environment. It also kept the story nice and light- hearted, which is the feeling it gives off in the first place.

Overall, I am happy with what I was able to produce. There were many challenges and even though I went so many times to overcome them I wasn't always successful (and there usually was a new problem). However, I learned to work with what I had and to make it the best it could be despite all of the factors that were frustrating me. I hope to attend one of their public performances soon so that I can add onto the multimedia piece and make it better in the future.

False Starts, Plot Treatment and How Do You Know When You Are Done

2011-03-02T14:37:00.000-08:00

Although they were short, each of the three chapters from Lamott brought up situations that I could relate to from a photojournalist point of view.

The chapter "False Starts" said so much about what we go through in the process of finding a subject and the story behind them. Just as Lamott said about an artist painting something completely different than what he had in mind, we tend to predict that our stories are going to turn out a certain way. The minute we find an angle to the story we assume we will be able to take certain frames and envision what the photos will already look like before we even take any. Most of the time this backfires on us. If a photographer gets too wrapped up in looking for the shots they feel they must have to tell this story, they may miss the moments and key situations that are really happening in front of them (and it is also likely they will never get most of the shots they were waiting around for).

There is also a section where Lamott explained, "So if you want to get to know your characters, you have to hang out with them long enough to see beyond all the things they aren't."

When I first started my Boone Life with the story about the hair salon owner in Ashland, I was really hoping to find a great angle to my story. At first, the only idea that I found was how small the town was and how she knew everyone. Then when I asked her about it, she started telling me how Ashland had actually been growing and how she didn't know all of the gossip anymore as she used to. Immediately I had tried to put my finger on her as the woman who knew everything about everyone in this small town, when really she feels more detached than ever. It wasn't until I hung around for a month that the true story came out about how she styles her deceased clients' hair, and it was something that I most likely would have never heard about had I not been around for so long.

Lamott also said, "But with luck their tendrils will sneak out of the sides of the box you've put them in, and you will finally have to admit that who they are isn't who you thought they were."

At the end of this chapter Lamott talked about how dying people can teach us this lesson more directly than most. When I first asked Bekki, the cancer patient, if I could interview her, she told me she was worried that she wouldn't have much of a story to tell since she really couldn't do much anymore. I told her we could try it and see what we came up with, and although she seemed hesitant she agreed. I was extremely nervous about doing this interview because I didn't want the story to be about her cancer, and I knew that's not what Bekki wanted either. I also didn't know how much she would tell me, especially if I didn't ask questions in the right way. I talked to my mom about it and she simply told me to ask her about her story and let it go from there.

When I sat down for her interview I simply said, "Tell me your story. It can be anything you want to say about anything."

I spent almost an hour with her, and that had been the only question I asked. She started out with how her family took in over 300 foster kids throughout her childhood. She also talked about how her favorite job was preventing people from foreclosure and how she loved to volunteer at her church. Then, without me even asking or directing, she transitioned through her life into the part where she was diagnosed with cancer last summer in 2010.

At the time I interviewed her, she was still fighting, but the doctors couldn't tell her how long she had. She talked about how one of the hardest things was not being able to do things for herself, but she also talked about death.

She said, "Whenever I do die, I want to be remembered for finding the good in people, for finding the good in life."

I believe that some of the things she told me came out the way they did because she was in a state of not knowing how long she had to live. She spent her whole life helping others, and I found this out by just one interview- by just listening.

She went into hospice a couple of weeks later on a Tuesday. She didn't make it to the end of the week. I often think about her and the things she told me. It is a message from someone who I only had met once before, but she was so open and gave me, as well as the people who saw her story, a chance to see who she really was.

Reading the "Plot Treatment" chapter was interesting because the part where Lamott described rearranging her story as well as cutting out favorite paragraphs to make the story stronger. After looking through our one-day stories, I noticed we did a lot of that as well. With certain stories we would change the order in a way that told more or told something different. In my story I had to cut out some of my favorite photos that I was sure should be in the story in order for the story to be stronger and more complete. Although it's a hard process at times, cutting and rearranging really does help out a story, especially when there are others to help with it.

The "How Do You Know You Are Done?" chapter was short and sweet, where Lamott basically said that while there is always more that you can put into a project, it can never be completely perfect. I have had that feeling of anxiety over stories where I feel that I could always have done something better, especially situations where there isn't a chance to retake any frames. For my one-day story, I really appreciated the photos I took during the day, while the story was more about the night. While I felt a little insecure about the piece, it was nice to be told that I had a story and that it was complete. It also helps to see from that story what I can do differently in the future with other stories.

Overall, I found a way to relate to each chapter while I read it. I really enjoy this book because there have been many experiences that I have had recently that I keep in the back of my mind. Without this book I don't think many of these ideas would have surfaced and helped me acknowledge how to grow as a photographer.

A Night with Miss Missouri

2011-02-27T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the final edit of my one-day story. The story focuses on Andrew Chow, the current junior class president at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. and his night at the MMA Valentine's Day ball with Miss Missouri. As class president, Chow was responsible for escorting Erika Hebron, 24, as she made her appearance as 2010 Miss Missouri at the event. He was extremely nervous at the beginning of the night, especially about their height difference (Chow is 5-foot-6 while Hebron is 5-foot-8 without heels, so there would be around a 4-inch difference between the two of them). As the night continued, Chow relaxed and even pulled out some Micheal Jackson dance moves. At the end of the night Chow escorted Hebron to her car and she hugged him goodbye.

Andrew Chow, 16, looks out the window in his barracks at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. on Saturday, Feb. 12. As junior class president, Chow has the responsibility of escorting a special guest, Miss Missouri, to the Valentine’s Day Ball taking place later in the evening.

Chow walks through campus as he makes his way to the band room to practice for the military review that was set to take place that Sunday.

Chow and his date, Erika Hebron, 24, greet cadets and their dates at the Valentine’s Day Ball. Hebron is Miss Missouri for the year 2010 and is 5-foot-8 without heels while Chow is 5-foot-6. “I’m really nervous about the height difference,” Chow said.

Chow and Hebron participate in the grand march at the ball. Chow said he was really nervous at the beginning, but as the night continued he felt more comfortable with Hebron. “She’s actually really cool,” he said.

Chow and Hebron slow dance after crowning the queen of the ball. At the end of the night Hebron thanked Chow for being her escort and gave him a hug. Chow completed his responsibilities by walking Hebron to her car.

Below are two outtakes from the edit.

Hebron and Chow walk through the crowd to crown the queen of the ball on stage. The ball was a big night for Chow as he was responsible for escorting Miss Missouri, crowning the queen and making announcements on the microphone throughout the night.

Chow leads Hebron down from the stage after taking a picture together at the ball.

When I first started out with this story, I wasn't exactly sure what the focus would turn out to be. I followed Andrew all day as well as at night. I was really happy with the images I captured during the day, getting detail shots as well as others with good lighting. The gym was a little more challenging with lighting and I also wasn't able to get many details or distance shots because of the commotion that was going on during the ball. If I were to do it again I would make sure to change up my distance more as well as find more details that I could include in my edit. It was also a bit challenging because my subject kept talking to me and not doing what he would normally do without me there. While I kept trying to refocus his attention to what he would do without me there, however it didn't always work. All in all, I am happy with the story I produced from this situation and feel that it helped me keep certain tips and factors in mind for when I work on my job profile as well as my 30 day story.

POYi Reactions: General News Picture Story

2011-02-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

Christina and I decided to attend the General News Picture Story category on a Thursday night where the judges looked at 420 different news stories. It was interesting to see what worked and didn’t work as the stories were narrowed down as well as what stories ended up placing.

The judges started out looking at a contact sheet view of each story for about 10 to 20 seconds each. From a missing child story to military stories to stories taking place in hospitals, both poor and standard, the judges were presented with quite a variety of international and local pieces.

Looking through this round alone I found certain stories that weren’t executed well and could have been done better. Christina and I both agreed when we saw the elementary level spelling bee that there was no way it would make it to the next round. The photographer didn’t change their distance from the contestants or use different angles or lenses. I would have loved to see tight portraits of the children’s faces while straining to spell a word or detail shots of the children’s hands fidgeting or their feet doing interesting things. Children give up so many interesting body movements and facial expressions and it made me sad not to see any of that in the story presented.

There was also another story that caught my eye that took place during surgery. The surgeons were wearing bright green scrubs and that immediately made it more visually interesting. While I am sure it is hard to get access, it was hard to see exactly what was going on. Even if the surgery itself is hard to get in the middle of, I wish there had been more detail shots on the tools and other things that are present during surgery. While it is a hard topic to cover, it is something that many don’t ever see. However, without the green scrubs I ‘m not sure if it would have caught my attention the way it did.

While both stories could have been executed better, even if they had been extremely well done they wouldn’t have likely placed in this category this year. Since there were many international disasters and issues, all of the general news picture stories that placed were on those tragic events.

While I agree that the first place winner, “Haiti Earthquake” deserved first place, I feel that the third place winner, “Wrath of Fire Mountain” and second place, “Marks of a Catastrophe: Toxic Sludge Spill in Hungary,” should have been switched.

Although the sludge story gave an eerie feeling by just showing the damage with no people present, I felt the volcano story brought out so much more fear and reaction in me to what was going on. While bodies and animals were covered in ash, there were soldiers and rescue workers fearing for their lives as the volcano still unexpectedly released heat clouds. Although it was after the initial deadly eruption, the story took place in the middle of the catastrophe and the danger that was still present. I also loved how the gray ash covered everyone and thing that was dead and damaged while the survivors popped out of each frame with vibrant colors. To me the colors represented life and I’m glad the story was presented in color. The photographer also captured emotion, details and different situations with different angles and lenses. They worked the scene and I feel they deserved second place.

When I first started watching this category, I wasn’t expecting all of the general news picture stories to be about international disasters. However, after it had ended and the winners were picked I felt that each story had something big to tell and told it in a way that worked well.

School Lunches, Polaroids and Selecting a Subject

2011-02-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Both readings from Anne Lamott and Bill Jay with David Hurn were helpful when thinking about what ideas and subjects compel us and take our interest. The two most important ideas that I gathered from the readings is that, one, you have to produce work in order to be able to use it, and also make sure that the ideas you hope to cover visual, practical, interesting to others and something that you know enough about to tell the story correctly. They seem like two loaded ideas, but when they were broken down in the reading they made so much sense.

The one passage that really grabbed my eye in Lamott's chapter, "School Lunches," is when she talks about writing down things as simple as school lunches.

She said, "Now, who knows if any of this is usable material? There's no way to tell until you've got it all down, and then there might just be one sentence or one character or one theme that you end up using. But you get it all down. You just write."

I think this is also an extremely important point when it comes to producing picture stories. During our one-day story pitches today in class, there were some who weren't sure if certain parts of the topic they chose were important enough to cover. However, students encouraged them to cover that certain part anyway because it would be worse to not have produced anything from that moment and need it later on.

I agree that even though we may predict that certain parts of our idea won't provide us with any photos that we will edit into our story, it is still important to make some images from it. It is only when we make the photos that we are able to use them in our story, which is the point that Lamott was making about writing. Even if it is something we think won't be any good, we at least still produced images. The images may end up guiding us to further ideas or ways of capturing a story. This chapter mainly encouraged to produce something no matter how successful you think it will be.

Lamott's next chapter, "Polaroids," also brought an interesting point to my attention. There is a passage where Lamott talks about why you focus on something or someone in the first place for a story.

She said, "You couldn't have had any way of knowing what this piece of work would look like when you first started. You just knew that there was something about these people that compelled you, and you stayed with that something long enough for it to show you what it was about."

When I was working on my Boone Life, I met my subject on assignment at the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival. She was an older woman who told me about her salon that she owned in Ashland and how it had been the first business on that street, which is now one of the busier streets in town. I immediately took interest in her and visited her salon so many times. At first I had a hard time finding a closer angle to my story about her hair salon, but after sticking through it and visiting enough, I found what I needed.

After hanging around for so many different days I found out that she does her clients' hair for their funeral after they pass away. It is like Lamott said, if you wait around long enough for someone or something that compelled you in the first place, there is a good chance you can find something further than what you first expected. Although I had no idea where my story with this woman and her salon would go in the first place, it ended up being one of my favorite pieces I have produced so far because I stuck with it for so long (I also just found out this month that it won third place in NPPA's multimedia contest for the month of January 2011!!).

This example also transitions into the main points that I found important in Bill Jay and David Hurn's "Selecting a Subject" reading.

The first point they bring up is that, "...you are not a photographer because you are interested in photography."

While it seems kind of strange, it is a great point to make. We don't choose this profession because we like the idea of photography, but we like to be able to show things to the world that they may never see with their own eyes. We like to interact and create relationships with so many different kinds of people that we would never meet in any other profession. I liked the fact that Hurn brought up this point because although it seems like a strange comment to make, it is pretty true.

Going along with this idea, both Jay and Hurn bring up the fact that you have to have an "intense curiosity" for the ideas and subjects you cover. While there are many things that we find interesting, Jay and Hurn also point out four main steps to help make a story more specific.

Is it visual? Is it practical? Is it a subject which I know enough? Is it interesting to others?

By following these four questions it can help us narrow down our idea into a specific story. By narrowing the idea down we can execute better research on the topic as well as make sure it will be interesting to a certain audience.

As I look further into my one-day story, I have looked at these questions and it has helped me focus in on what I need to as well as prepare for what I should look for while I am actually covering the event.

Daddy's Little Princess

2011-02-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

After meeting with Erin Stubblefield over the weekend, we came up with an edit that we felt best told the story of a father involved with his daughter's beauty pageants. For the headline, we chose the phrase "Daddy's Little Princess" because it is something commonly said, however has a little different meaning in this situation. Below are the eight photos we chose in the appropriate order as well as a layout we designed.

Reader's Theme: Exploring and Experience

2011-01-27T17:15:00.000-08:00

When completing the readings this past week, I found that it is important to gain experience while also exploring for new ways to tell stories.

Even though we had already been told in class that Anne Lamott's book about fiction writing, Bird by Bird, would help us with our creativity in photography, I was still surprised with how much I have identified with it so far.

Lamott's introduction really grabbed my attention. In certain parts she discussed that no matter how much we hope and dream to be as good as we expect to be, there will be times where we won't be published and our work won't be great. The part where she pointed out how hard it is to produce at certain points in life made me think about how stressful it is to have story ideas that fall through, end short or completely don't go to plan after researching and preparing for so long.

However, there is also that time where there is an idea that completely works and the story progresses in such a way that wasn't expected.

In the introduction of her book, Lamott recalled telling her students that when her ..."writer friends are working, they feel better and more alive than they do at any other time. And sometimes when they are writing well, they feel that they are living up to something."

Last semester I found two stories that clicked for me, but it took some time for me to finally see what direction to take. Once I saw my direction, I completely felt obligated to tell both subjects' stories the best I could. I felt like I had to put my whole self into the piece in order to do it right. It made me feel like I had a purpose and to see the final result was incredible. Although the final product was wonderful to look back on, it was the experience that really did it for me. Actually being with the subjects and making photos was the better feeling. I could actually see the story develop in my head and I got excited at the possibilities the stories could turn out to be. Although I know both stories could still have been better, I believe this is what Lamott meant when she explained that getting published is not always the most important thing and that the work itself might be more rewarding.

Lamott's other chapters had a lot to say as well. I agree that some of the projects we attempt to tackle are so overwhelmingly big in the beginning that it is better to start out with just a little bit, or as she explained, take it "bird by bird." By producing work in a day or in just a couple of hours, that work alone pushes the story a little farther.

It is important to remember that we won't be perfect in everything we do. I feel that as students, when we produce stories, we feel the need to be perfect and to make every project like the ones we see winning awards. I admit to being one of those people and believe that is where I get most of my stress from when looking for ideas. Lamott's chapter about perfection is really true in that the way to produce new and great work is by making a mess and seeing what comes from it. It goes along with the idea of exploring and not being afraid to throw in something new.

Authors Gross and Shapiro also bring up ideas in their book, The Tao of Photography, that encourage exploration and finding new ways of looking at life around us. By letting go of expectations of what we think we should be seeing and instead just embracing the moment, we can find stories and moments for what they truly are.

Along with finding spontaneous moments and taking fresh approaches to the shots we take, Gross and Shapiro also discussed different techniques for reconstructing stories. Changing prospective and rule-breaking are two of the four techniques that they found useful. When creating a new perspective by changing visual angles or lenses, we take on a new way of seeing the world. I also enjoyed that they encouraged readers to break the rules we have always known and using them to find a new way of seeing. It provides so many opportunities to see the world in a different way and is something to take advantage of.

The idea of experience is brought up in the Lenswork podcast, 10,000 Hours, where Brooks Jensen said that our abilities as photographers is based on the amount of time we are willing to put in. It takes time to explore and discover what works and what doesn't, and I believe this piece made a good point in that in order to be a photographer, one needs to practice photography for a great amount of time. It goes along with the idea that "you get out of it what you put into it," and by putting in the time and gaining the experience there is a greater chance at finding great work.

All in all, each reading gave a variety of ideas, which to me all seemed to come back around into this idea of exploration and taking the time to experience the explorations. It helped me reflect on some of my past assignments as well as mentally prepare on how to take on my role as a photographer in the future.

The Columbus Dispatch: Death Perceptions

2011-01-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

Out of all the topics I brainstormed for multimedia pieces in the past, death was never one that had crossed my mind much. However, death found its way into multiple projects I produced last semester. My Boone Life transformed from being about a hairstylist living in Ashland, Mo. to being about a hairstylist in Ashland, Mo. who fixes deceased clients' hair for their funerals. Another long term story that I worked on dealt with the process of what happens to blood after it is donated led me to meet a cancer patient named Bekki. I ended up conducting a video interview with her for another project and she was so inspiring. Receiving the news from her sister that Bekki was going on hospice care was really hard to deal with. It was even harder when she passed away the day before I had planned to visit her for the last time.

Although the stories were challenging emotionally, I was really happy that I was able to tell both of the stories.

When I came across this piece in the Columbus Dispatch, I immediately became interested in how the photos and multimedia aspect would go about telling the story. The team consisted of six different people, Doral Chenoweth III being the photographer for the piece and Randy Walk as the video producer. The team took on many different jobs that deal with death and I liked how there were so many different stories to step into. The amount of access they was able to get with each subject also interested me.

With something as emotionally wearing as death, it also becomes something a lot more intimate. To have experienced death with two different projects in the same semester, I was also able to invest my whole self into them. I look back on both experiences and although they were hard, they also taught me a lot about myself and the stories that I can take on.

I don't know how much I will work on stories dealing with death in the future, however I was able relate to this piece and appreciate it for the story it told.

Multiple Flash

2009-11-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

For the multiple flash assignment, my group (Christina Manolis and Irene Rojas) decided to go to Studio B and take photos of two different dance classes. The room was hard to shoot in because there were a lot of mirrors as well as lights on the wall and in the ceiling that were in awkward places when we were shooting. We placed a strobe high up in a corner along the mirror and had one on the camera as well as a third one that one of us would maneuver and work with while others were shooting. Here is my select from the shoot.

Instructor Frankie Humphrey teaches his hip hop students the next move in their routine at Studio B dance studio on November 17. The class is an hour long and focuses on hip hop.

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, an aperture of f/ 2.8 and shutter speed of 1/90. I had one strobe set up high in the corner of the room that is behind me, and Irene held the other strobe on my right side and held it near the floor and faced it up towards Frankie, which lit his face. I like this photo because it is capturing an interesting moment and students are visible in the background. The photo makes sense in that he is instructing and they are following him. If I could have done anything differently in this shoot I would have tried to get more interesting angles, although it was hard with the mirror and the terrible looking lights that were all around the studio. Here are some other photos that I took in the studio.

These photos are from the flamingo classes. I had a harder time shooting that class because the mirror as well as the lights in the ceiling were distracting and it was hard to get the light just right on the women dancing. I feel like since there were three of us shooting and only two hours to get good content, we felt pressure to get things done quickly. I feel that if we had more time to experiment with the light and different angles, we would have been a little more successful. All in all, I thought this assignment was a really good way to learn how to deal with multiple flash and I will able to take what I learned from this assignment and apply it to future situations and hopefully be more successful with my photos.

Fill and Balancing

2009-11-12T12:37:00.000-08:00

This assignment wasn't as stressful as the color correction for me. I was able to take fill flash as well as balancing flash. My favorite of the two is the photo that I got with balancing flash. I was walking downtown and looking for shops with big windows when I saw a group of girls in the window at ACME t shirts. I walked into the store and they let me make pictures of them. This is my select for the assignment.

Brianna Lawrence, Jodie Walker and Lyndsay Dickson look at examples of t-shirt designs in ACME t- shirt company on Ninth Street on Tuesday, November 10. "We're trying to design a shirt for students in the Ultrasound Program," said Dickson, who is also a part of the Ulrasound Program at Mizzou.

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, an aperture at f/6.7 and shutter speed of 1/125. I really like this photo because it is pretty clear what they are doing. Their emotion also seems to work in this photo because they are all staring that the design and debating what they want to do for their own shirts. The only problem that I have with this photo is that the background is too light. I wish that I would have taken more with a darker background so that the buildings outside didn't look so overexposed.

For my fill flash, I ran into girls in Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority who were giving away pink lemonade as well as selling "I Love Boobs" shirts for their philanthropy that benefits breast cancer research. Here is my favorite take from the fill flash portion of the assignment.

It was a little hard to shoot these girls because their booth was in the shade the entire time. I also wish that I had a different lens with me because all I had was an 18 to 55 lens that isn't full frame (it is from my older camera and isn't completely compatible with my new camera.)

All in all, I feel that this assignment was really helpful and it is something that I will definitely have to be aware of and use in the future.

Multimedia Story- "When No One's Looking" (Reported by Ian Urbina)

2009-11-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

When looking for a well done multimedia story, I found "When No One's Looking" on the New York Times website. This story is about the increasing number of homeless teenagers and the approaches they take on the streets in order to survive.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/25/us/1247465360380/when-no-one-s-looking.html

This story was produced by Lisa Iaboni and Amy OLeary. I thought that the introduction was creative and also felt that the audio ran really well next to the content of the photos. Both pieces worked together to keep the story strong and easy to understand. They have also included video, which helped enhance the story at certain times. I'm not sure how I feel about having the narrorator, Ian Urbina (who was also the reporter), narrating in certain parts of the story. I did feel like it helped at certain times, but it was at times hard to tell who was talking and text might have at times made more of an impact. Although there were some things that I feel could have been done differently, I really liked it overall. I think they told the story in a way that worked, and there is even a part two to the story below.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/26/us/1247465377685/when-no-one-s-looking-part-2.html

All in all, the way they reported this multimedia story gave a true look inside to homeless teenagers and told it in a way that will cause reaction to the audiences.

Color Correction

2009-11-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

The Color Correction assignment was a challenge for me because a lot of different things went wrong. What made it harder was that most of the problems were my fault. We had completed the lab for this assignment a couple of weeks ago. At the time I was feeling really good about how the flash worked and thought I could get it down. However, when it came to do the assignment, there were many things that I forgot to refresh on, such as what white balance to use for the fluorescent lighting photo. When I first started shooting at Andy's Frozen Custard, I set it on the right setting the first time, however thought it looked too blue. Below is the photo I took in the correct setting.

Andrew Luley takes out toppings for a concrete ordered by a customer at Andy's Frozen Custard on November 4. He has worked at Andy's for two and a half years now. "I really enjoy the fast pace and the people I work with mostly," Luley states.

This photo isn't the best content, however it was the only one I took in the right white balance. I wasn't sure if it was the right one because it looked to me like his face was a little to blue looking. So I switched it to daylight, which was a mistake.

I really wished that I had looked back over the notes before I went out and did this part of the assignment because it had been a long time since we had gone over it in lab. Andy's was also a hard place to get good shots with because of the set up. I kind of liked that it was a challenge because it made me look outside the box and find neat angles and different opportunities to make a good photo. However, the fact that all of them are in the wrong white balance makes me very frustrated. If I could have redone this shoot I would have made sure that I knew exactly what to do and try to take the time I need to instead of feeling like I have to rush through it.

I felt a little better about the Tungsten portion of this assignment because I was comfortable with the setting and was able to try a lot of different things to get a good photo with strong content. Below is my select for this assignment.

Ashley Cummins, junior, works on a project for her graphic design class on November 1. Cummins was assigned this project for the entire month of October where she had to design her own clip art from a real life image as well as their own font. By doing tracings, flattening the image and pairing it with typography, she was able to pull together her entire project to turn in.

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, aperture of f/3.5 and shutter speed at 1/45. I like this photo because it looks at the subject in a different angle. Even though I am shooting up towards her through the table, the glass allows us to still see her face and what she is doing.

All in all, I would have felt better with this assignment if I had gone over the assignment details again before shooting. I was also nervous because several others and I hadn't had time to meet with David before the assignment was due, but didn't want to pressure him as I knew he was really swamped with everything. Although I made some mistakes now it definitely taught me a lesson so that next time I will be sure to do everything correctly. I am really hard on myself when I make mistakes so it is really hard for me to turn in this assignment when there are things I need to fix, but I am also glad that I can learn from this experience so that it will turn out much better from now on.

Painting with Light

2009-10-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

After completing the lab for this assignment, I was really excited to go out and try it on my own with my group (Preston Guerra, Christina Manolis, and Lillian Kelly.) We went out to a farm in Millersburg around fifteen minutes away from Columbia and were able to shoot a big tractor as well as massive bails of hay. We got there a little before 8pm, and it was surprisingly warm compared to the weather we have been having. The sky was pretty clear too, which was nice for our photos. We started working with the tractor at first and did a lot of different stuff with gels and strobes. Below is our select for this assignment.

After being run over and chopped up by a tractor one stormy night in 1832, the young girl's ghost returns every dark and stormy night to seek her revenge on anyone who crosses her path. Many people have ventured out to this farm to see if the story is really true. Nobody has ever heard from any of them again.

We shot this with an ISO of 200, at an aperture of f/8.0 on the bulb setting with a 50mm lens. We really liked this photo because of the ghost that is sitting on the tractor. I was lucky enough to be the ghost in all of our takes and it was really fun! I used a small flash to light myself up on the tractor after all of the other lights were painted onto the tractor. I really like how we lowered the tripod down so that the camera is almost looking up at the tractor. This makes it look like the tractor is coming towards the camera. It looks really scary when the camera is on this level. I also like the colors that we used, especially the red for the tractor. Looking back on it the one thing I would have liked to have done would be to add another flash to the seat of the tractor when I wasn't sitting there so it would add more of a transparent look to the ghost. All in all, I had a really fun time with this assignment. Our group also worked extremely well together and we were able to come up with a lot of neat frames. It was hard to choose just one for this assignment! This has been my favorite assignment in Advanced Techniques so far and I'm really proud of the work we produced.

Here are some more frames that we produced.

Single Flash Second Take

2009-10-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

When I set out for my second attempt at the single flash, I was feeling a lot better because the first time I shot I was able to get a feel of what worked and didn't work. This time I focused more on a bounced flash instead of a direct flash.

Below is the photo I selected for my second take with single flash.

Alpha Phi members Megan Geisz, freshman, and Samantha Gillstrom, sophomore, observe their work at Which Wich during decorate the district on October 21. Different Mizzou organizations participate in decorate the district every year as a part of celebrating the Mizzou Homecoming tradition.

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, shutter speed of 1/60 and aperture of 6.7 on the daylight setting. I really liked this photo because I feel that the content is a lot better in this photo than my first take and the flash is less noticeable. I also bounced the flash off of a white card, so it made the photo look more even and not as bright. I wish that the flash didn't show up so much in the reflection of the balloons, but I don't think that it is too distracting. The sky also looks really hot because it was really gray that day. Other than that, I was pretty happy with the photo.

Although this assignment was challenging, it really helped me get a feel of how to work with a single flash outside of a comfortable environment. I was really worried about getting good content as well as have a good flash photo, but it ended up working out better than I thought that it would. All in all, I was very happy with the assignment because it forced me to go outside my comfort zone and it helped me learn a lot about single flash.

Single Flash First Take

2009-10-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Taking on the Honest Emotion/ Interaction with a single flash assignment was definitely scary. I was worried because many said it would be a big challenge.

Below is the photo I selected for my first take with single flash.

Westminster athletes Katie Morfeld, middle hitter, and Alex Berry, outside hitter, block the ball in their match against Blackburn College on Saturday, October 17. Westminster defeated Blackburn after winning an intense third game in their match.

I shot this with an ISO of 200, shutter speed at 1/125 and aperture of f/4.8 on the daylight setting. Since my guide number is 110 and I was about 20 feet away, I set it at 5.6 at first. However, the photo looked better when I set it at 4.8. The gym was challenging to shoot in because it was so dark. I was also at an awkward angle because the gym was small so I had to work around that. For this shot I used a direct flash. I liked this photo because not only was the light even on both players, it also showed how they interact with each other during a match as well as how they interact with the other team.

If I were in this situation again, I would try to get a photo with better content. Since I was so focused on how the light looked in the photo, it was hard to also try to get a photo with strong content. I am hoping in my second take I will be able to have a better quality photo with light as well as better content in the photo.

Metal and Glass

2009-10-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

In this assignment, I was responsible for working with glass while my partner, Andrew Williams, worked on metal. When I first started this assignment, I wanted to do something with a wide range of colors. I bought many different colors of nail polish and lined them up in a row against the black velvet material on a table. I had a light source behind the velvet and used a white reflector to place more light on the front of the nail polish bottles. I also placed nail polish bottles along with perfume bottles and other glass products on the fiberglass light table. I scattered them around and took pictures of them lying on the table with a light underneath it. I liked how these both turned out, however I felt like I needed something more creative. I looked around at different stores and found neat looking candleholders. I thought it would be really cool to use rubber cement and light them on fire. I also thought making the clear candle holders look red would look neat as well. I used the fiberglass white table and put a light underneath it with a red gel on it. I placed the black velvet behind the two candleholders and used a reflector to light the base of both candle holders.

Here is my favorite frame from the glass assignment.

Two glass candleholders catch on fire in the photojournalism studio on Monday October 12, 2009.

I shot this with an ISO of 200, a shutter speed of 1/250 and aperture of f/6.7 on the daylight setting. I really liked how this turned out becase it shows the shape of the glass. The red gel that I used in this shoot made the glass look really good and enhanced the photo. If I went back and redid the shoot I would try to light the bottom of the candleholders better. Even though they are visible, they are still a a little dark. All in all, I really liked this assignment. I was able to work with different shapes of glass and see what techniques worked in lighting them. I also learned a lot more about how to light metal after working with Andrew on his metal photo. We both worked together and were able to get through the problems we faced when it came to doing this assignment. After completing this assignment I have a better grip on what works and doesn't work when it comes to lighting metal and glass.

Classmate Portrait

2009-09-29T00:18:00.000-07:00

For the classmate portrait I was partnered with Wonsuk Choi. He was a very fun partner to work with and also helped me a lot with working in the studio. We were able to figure out a lot together when it came to experimenting with light sources.

Below is the photo that has a single light source, and it is my favorite photo that I shot for this assignment.

Wonsuk Choi poses to take a photo in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 28, 2009. Wonsuk is from South Korea and his passion for photojournalism has brought him to the University of Missouri to gain more experience.

This photo was taken with an ISO of 200, shutter speed at 1/125 and aperture at f/6.7 on the daylight setting. I used one light source on the left of Wonsuk as well as a reflector on the right side of him to reflect some of the light onto the other side of his body so that it would be more visible. The hard light and the shadows add more of a dramatic effect to the photo. I really like this photo because I feel like it captures Wonsuk's personality pretty well. He is a very determined person, especially when it comes to photojournalism. If I could change one thing about this photo to make it better, I would try to add more light on the camera so that it is easier to see the details on the camera. All in all I am pretty proud of this photo and think that it captures Wonsuk pretty well.

Below is the photo that I used two light sources on.

Wonsuk Choi poses in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 24, 2009.

I took this photo with an ISO of 200 at a shutter speed of 1/180 and aperture at f/19 on the daylight setting. For this photo I used a backlight with a blue gel as well as a light source on the left of Wonsuk. I like the pose that Wonsuk is doing in the photo because it describes his positive attitude and friendly personality. He gave me many different and fun poses, which made it really easy to shoot. There was never a dull moment! I wish that I had taken more close up shots with this light setup, however I still like the shots that I got while using two light sources. This was also the first day that we shot, and the more time we spent on shooting, the more comfortable I felt and I tried to improve my photos as I went.

The next photo below was taken with two light sources. Wonsuk had remotes that attached to his camera as well as his flash, so we thought it would be cool to play around with it and see what we came up with.

Wonsuk Choi poses with his flash in the photojournalism studio in Lee Hills Hall on September 24, 2009.

I shot this photo with an ISO of 200, a shutter speed of 1/125 at an aperture of f/16 on the daylight setting. I used a softbox on the left side of Wonsuk to make the flash that he was holding in his hand visible. It took us a couple of tries to get the hang of working with this flash, but it ended up creating a really neat effect. I really like this photo because it says a lot about him since he knows a lot about cameras and is passionate about photography. The lighting also falls on his face extremely well and I like how it seems to look like it is the only light source in a dark room. I still have a lot of trouble figuring out how to use the hand held flash, but Wonsuk helped me out a lot and I was able to see how it worked a little better.

All in all, I really liked this assignment and feel like I learned quite a bit from it. Wonsuk had a good feel of what to do in the studio, which really helped me figure things out since I am new to most of this. He was a great help and took the time to help me with any questions I had. I had a really good time being his partner and appreciate all of his hard work!

Portrait of "blue girl" taken by Dano Pendygrasse

2009-09-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

I came across this photo and thought that it was a really good representation of how the subject is feeling.

This photo was taken by Dano Pendygrasse.

http://www.danopendygrasse.com/Details/details/blog_files/tag-portraits.php

I feel that the bluish light captures her emotion of being sad or depressed. There are some shadows and it looks like there is a light above her coming from the left and there could also be another light source to light up the other side of her face. The shadows create a dramatic feel of her sadness. This portrait is well done in my opinion because it does a good job at communicating the subject's emotion.

Copy Test, Meter Calibration, and Light Exercise

2009-09-08T01:05:00.000-07:00

I have already learned so much from these three assignments.

First, there was the Copy Test, where I photographed a photo that I felt had emotional lighting in it and the other photo I photographed was a "Stump the Chump" photo because I couldn't exactly tell how what types of light were in the photo.

Here is what I selected for the "mood lighting" photo.

This photo was taken by Pascal Maitre from National Geographic.

I shot this photo with a 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/22 on the tungsten setting. The hard light in the photo focuses on the subject's face as well as casts dark shadows behind him. This gives off a feeling of discomfort and fear. This frame of the photo is actually one stop higher than what the meter on my camera told me to shoot at. By just going up one stop higher I was able to get greater contrast in the photo. By shooting one stop higher and lower from the meter I was able to see a great difference in how the photo turned out. From this experience I learned that I won't be able to always trust the meter since it always sees 18% gray!

This is the photo I selected for my "Stump the Chump" photo.

This photo was taken by Stefano Unterthiner from National Geographic.

I shot this photo with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 on the tungsten setting. I thought this photo seemed confusing because although the sun is visible and the use of natural light is obvious, I was confused at why the penguins aren't silhouetted since the sun seems to be behind them. I didn't know if there was some artificial light used or how the photographer went about making this photo.

All in all, I really enjoyed the Copy Test because I figured a lot out by just using the studio for the first time and working with my camera. Being able to do this activity allowed me to experiment with the meter on my camera and gave me more confidence with how to work around what the meter says to capture a better photo.

I also did a Meter Calibration test. In this test we had to make six exposures of the same white textured object. Here are my six frames below.

I shot this first frame with my 50mm lens at an ISO of 200 and an aperture of f/16 and shutter speed of 1/10 on the daylight setting.

I shot this second frame with everything the same, however I changed my aperture to f/8.

I shot the third with everything the same except my aperture is not at f/6.7.

The fourth was taken with an aperture at f/5.6

The fifth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.8.

The sixth frame was taken with an aperture of f/4.

As the aperture changes, the photos get lighter. It is helpful to see what differences are in each photo with just the aperture changing because it shows how big of a difference one stop can make in the photo. It has really made me realize how important it is to get the most accurate frame, which may even be a stop higher or lower than what the meter says.

After completing the Copy Test and Meter Calibration, I completed an excercise where I took photos of different lighting conditions. I took half of the frames on the tungsten setting and half on the daylight setting.

Here is my favorite photo with the tungsten setting dealing with artificial light.

Lucy, member of the Hendry family, stands in their kitchen on Sunday Sept. 6, 2009. She was adopted from Columbia's Central Missouri Humane Society in 2008 at seven months old and now lives happily with her family in St. Louis, MO.

I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 5000 and an aperture of f/3.5 and shutter speed of 1/45. I liked this photo because the hard light in the photo silhouettes the object and casts shadows, which makes it more mysterious and intense. Although the object is silhouetted it is still in the shape of a dog, which makes it a little easier to figure out what is going on in the photo. With this class I hope to gain a lot more experience with using flash so that in the future if I had a situation like this where I didn't want the silhouette I could figure out how to acheive that by using artificial light.

Here is my favorite photo using the daylight setting and using natural light.

A black praying mantis rests under the sun on a bush in Kirkwood, MO on Monday Sept. 7, 2009.

I took this photo with my 18 to 55mm lens with an ISO of 500 with an aperture of f/5.6 and shutter speed at 1/750. This photo was taken in the afternoon around 3pm. The light from the sun is hitting the leaves and also shows the object clearly. This is a softer light and there aren't as many shadows visible. There is a lot of information shown in the photo, which creates a more relaxed and pleasant mood. While I am happy with the way the photo turned out I hope that in the future I can learn how to get the best frame possible with the natural light that is provided.

I had some trouble with this exercise because right now I'm one of those people who likes to take a lot of photos. It is really hard for me to have a limit on how many photos I take. I am also feeling the pressure when it comes to making the frame perfect on the first try. I also like to check what I am shooting and go from there, which I know I shouldn't do as much. I know that these two things are my biggest weaknesses right now, and I'm determined to move away from that as soon as I can. Although I know it will be a struggle at first I am really happy that this class is going to push me to step out of my comfort zone and make the best photos that I can on the first try. I am looking forward to this semester because I know that I have a lot to work on and am willing to try as hard as I can to get rid of my weaknesses and grow as a photographer.

Rush it, Love it

2009-09-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that three years ago I was on the other side of recruitment at Mizzou. I was the little freshman who was about to make one of the most important decisions that would affect me for the next four years of my life. The first morning of recruitment I stood next to other potential new members. Each of us waited in anticipation for the horn to go off. We had been told what would happen, but I don't think there would have been any amount of explaining anyone could have done to prepare us for what really happened the second the horn blew. I have never felt so overwhelmed when the first chapter busted out of their windows and doors, chanting a song that echoed the love of their sorority throughout greektown. Throughout the week I ended up talking about anything and everything I could think of, and as it is supposed to happen, the houses on my list narrowed down each morning. It came down to three. I headed to my last chapter of the day, already feeling a sense of panic when I realized the next day was the end of recruitment. After I entered the last house, I knew where I belonged. I left with a rush of happiness and genuine love for those women who I didn't even know. But soon enough, the next day in fact, I was a part of that genuine love and sisterhood.
Alpha Phi has been my foundation at Mizzou, and although it is hard to explain it (and also hard for people outside to understand it), that will always be how I feel. Growing up is scary, and knowing the women who are older than me are about to graduate is hard. They were the ones who stood in that room on the last day of recruitment and reached out to me. I can never thank them enough for my experiences at Mizzou.

Alpha Phi Seniors infront of the Chapter House on "Mock Recruitment Day."

Women in Alpha Phi walkout during "Mock Recruitment."

Best friends in Alpha Phi share a moment during "Mock Recruitment."

Alpha Phi waits with other Panhellenic sororities as they wait to meet their new members.

Alpha Phi "Pi Chis" proudly unveil what chapter they belong to after a week of being disaffiliated from Alpha Phi in order to be counselors for potential new members.

Seniors have fun while waiting to meet their new members at Jesse Hall.

Two new members run to the Alpha Phi after receiving their invitation to be an Alpha Phi.

Alpha Phis celebrate receiving their new members.

Alpha Phis meet with their new members, happy to see that many are women they met throughout the week of recruitment.

A new member stares up at the sorority house as the new members approach Alpha Phi.

Older Alpha Phis wait at the house to welcome the new members.

Members celebrate and welcome the new members at Alpha Phi.