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For my last studio project with my intermediate & proficient students, we decided to do personal projects. They had to develop something that was deep and meaningful to them. They also had to use at least one extra medium or technique. These projects came out awesome! I’m so proud of the work they did this semester & these projects show their skill, but also their personalities. Here are some of the best!

 

A Family Album-By Shadell Lowe, 10th grade

 

Freedom-by Rachel Gilbert, 12th grade

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Mom & Dad- by Ashlyn Scoggins, 10th grade

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Confetti-by Stephanie Gilbert, 12th grade

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Beauty is Life- by Jalisa Reed, 11th grade

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Family Connections-by Rebecca Andrews, 11th grade

 

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Class Clown-by Dominic Taylor, 10th grade

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Past, Present, & Future- by Andrea Thaxton, 12th grade

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Heart Leaves- by Rosa Ramirez, 12th grade

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This week in intermediate photo, we did light painting! We needed a fun project to get us back up on our feet after our Art Gallery last week. The students did most of their light painting in-camera then photoshopped for contrast and saturation. Here are some of the best from class!

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This is a self-portrait…that wasn’t shot by me, but rather some awesome photographers. Or as we’d call each other #badass #fotoninjaz. This project was for my black & white film photography class. I’m quite certain thousands of hours went into that darkroom for this one, but it was well worth it to just stare in awe at the fotoninjaz’ work. I love each and every one of you guys and am so blessed to be surrounded by so much creativity!

Photo by Erin Hull

Photo by Spencer Bakalar

Photo by Daniel M. N. Turner

Photo by Daniel M.N. Turner

Photo by Ariana van den Akker

Photo by Allison Russell

Photo by Julia Wall

Photo by Nivi Umasankar

Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Photo by Spencer Bakalar

Photo by Daniel M. N. Turner

Photo by Ariana van den Akker

Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Photo by Allison Russell 

Photo by Stephen Mitchell

Photo by Ariana van den Akker

Thank you all so much! It was one of the best projects I’ve done because it allowed me to experience the scrutiny of the lens, learn to relax, and learn to trust others more!

My final project. And I mean, my FINAL project. Whoa, I can’t believe that was my last photojournalism class. It took a whole lot to get to this point and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

The idea of my project came from my Grandpa. An inspiring man who strongly believes in never forgetting your roots. He is strongly rooted in his heritage and as a result of him, his children, grandchildren, and even his great-grandchild are proud of their  culture.

I worked with three dance groups, Ballet Folklorico, Bhangra, and Native American, and documented how dance has preserved their culture. Here are some shots I took of Bhangra Elite and Ballet Folklorico Espiritu Latino, to go with the video! I’m so thankful these dance groups accepted me into their groups. They are so dedicated to dancing and proud of their culture. It was very inspiring to work with each group.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a la Viedfinder!

 

In 2009, I started this blog, cool name and all (at least I think it’s cool & clever), as a way to keep myself motivated to shoot. But also as a way to connect with people, show them the stories of those I’ve worked with, and to keep transparency while I’m in the midst of shooting large projects, in which, I typically fall off the face of the earth. Sorry ’bout that. I hope that over the last two years, you all have enjoyed my images, the stories I helped to tell, and all the people behind this blog, not just myself.

As I go into my terrible two’s, I leave a sneak peek still image of my upcoming documentary in hopes that the future leads to more posts and more stories to visually show and tell.

So to all my viewers, thank you all for the motivation, praise and help to keep me going! 🙂

Pre-visualization:  “the importance of imagining, in your mind’s eye, what you – as a “photographer” (not just a snapshooter) – want the final print to reveal about a subject (and to communicate of your artistic vision),” according to Ansel Adams and this photo blog.

Well, I did it. I let pre-visualization get the best of me.

For those who are aware of what I’ve been up to with my documentary piece, you know it’s been a turbulent ride full of access problems and idea conceptualizing. Basically, my original vision, my pre-visualization as you could say, got the best of me. I was so wrapped up in my brain’s film reel, I couldn’t see reality. And reality sucks. So tonight, I’ve sadly resorted to Photo Booth for a webcam self-portrait to capture a wish and have gone back to the drawing board for a new outlook on my documentary.

Thanks to the video above, my loved ones, friends and Pat, HOPEFULLY, I’ll get back to being a #badass #fotoninja by Christmas.

Last weekend, I went to the Charles B. Aycock H.S. football game to shoot an assignment for my documentary photojournalism class. The resulting video is an interpretation of the game through 11 different words: mystery, flow, freedom, colors of life, unbridled joy, dew, shooting away from the eye, mood distant, drama and layers. I hope you enjoy this quick little video!

Besides doing random videos and photo assignments, I’m starting work on 2 documentary pieces, one based on social interactions and the feeling of loneliness and the other on biofuels for our military. If you are interested in learning more about either of these projects, comment, email, tweet or Facebook me!

Here is a piece I did on Dreamweaver, an artist, American Indian, activist and community gardener based in Goldsboro, N.C. I enjoyed spending a day with him shooting this mini-documentary on his quest for food justice and helping the world realize that good food is clean and local.

For more on Dreamweaver’s nonprofit, please visit www.firstpeopleheritagecenter.com

As the year has come to an end, I’ve been rushing around scrambling to study for exams and finish my final project. For my studio photography class, I decided to do a portrait series on different types of family farms in North Carolina. This is a project, I hope to continue and even get more of the Hispanic aspect of it, so this is just a taste of a future of shooting farmers.

 Bob Nutter, a 5th generation farmer, owns Maple View Farms in Hillsborough, N.C. He moved his farm to N.C. from Maine in 1963 and started milking cows on August 1st of the same year. Maple View Farms is known for its ice cream, milk and other dairy products.

Roger Nutter, Bob’s son and 6th generation farmer, works at the Maple View Bottling Co. He started working at the company in 1996.

Jimmy Outlaw of Outlaw farms is a 3rd generation farmer. His farm in Dudley, N.C. was started in 1907 by his grandparents. He did public work before coming to work on the family farm and hasn’t left since.

Gray Outlaw, a 4th generation farmer at Outlaw Farms, works with his father and son. Outlaw Farms grows crops such as tobacco and soy beans. They also raise turkeys for Butterball at Goldsboro Milling Co. and hogs.

Marshall Outlaw, an 8-year-old 5th generation farmer, works on Outlaw farms with his dad, Gray, and his grandpa, Jimmy. He loves to ride the tractors and helps his dad in the turkey houses. His knowledge of tractors is absolutely phenomenal and he could tell you anything you ever wished to know about them.

Wayne is a farmer at Wiggins Bros. Farms in La Grange, N.C. He drives the tractors and the 18-wheelers to transfer goods around the farm.

Arnold Marin works out on Wiggins Bros. Farms with Wayne, and the next photograph of Chuck. Marin helps work with the tractors out on the farm, which grows corn, beans, wheat, tobacco and raises hogs and turkeys.

Chuck works with Wiggins Bros. Farms as well. He helps run the trucks and the tractors on the farm. The Wiggins Bros. Farm is a family run farm but on an industrial size.

Like I mentioned earlier, I hope to continue this portrait series on so if you know any family farmers or Hispanic farmers in N.C. let me know!

My last studio assignment was a photo illustration. I decided to do a food illustration based off delicious mediterranean foods such as olives, fresh bread, parmesan, red wine, and spicy salami and other deli meats. Let’s just say I had a delicious and scrumptious dinner after my shoot. I hope to do a more conceptual illustration in the future maybe with faces and another food shoot with cupcakes, hopefully before the semester is done. But for now, please enjoy this virtual meal :).

 

This wine shot was fun to shoot! It did take a lot of preparation and making sure my focus was correct and lighting was overexposed just enough. A very tedious shot, but well worth it in my opinion.

 

This was a pleasure to look at while shooting. I really love the natural color palette of this shot and the pimentos in the olives give it just enough pop of color for me. The deep purple alphonso olives mixed with the manzanilla olives. Mmmm, I practically drooled over this until I was done.

 

This one lacks a focal point just a little bit in my opinion. It’s more product placement than anything with the three-buck chuck cork in the front. However, it is still one of my favorites because of its delicious nature, but definitely not something I would turn in for class.

 

I just love the knife. It’s epic and I had epic fun with it.

 

Now, go grab a snack and succumb to your cravings :).