Four Concentration Pieces

Just for fun

Exciting news from a stranger

My last day on Maui for spring break was a very good day. There were three major components that made this day great, but only one is worth blogging about cause it relates to art. I don't really remember how I found out about this photo contest, but a couple weeks ago I entered a picture, "Feat", into a contest about health or something. Like the 2010 youth photo contest...this year's issue was health in communities. Or something like that. Anyway, when I was in Maui I got this phone call from a 503 number. I immediately assumed that it was someone asking me to cover them for work. I answered anyway. "Hi, this is so and so calling from the department of something or other" I was dumbfounded. I thought I was in some kind of trouble. "The department of what?" Then she told me that she was calling about that photo I entered. "We just wanted to let you know that your photo won first place." And then it went on from there.

Im kind of jacked. She said that there would be 300 dollars coming my way, too. And I get to go to the award night at the Hollywood Theatre next week. And my photo is going to be at one of those first thursday events in portland and at the state capitol and some other places around Oregon. But I'm really trying to be humble about this, because, well when I took that photo of that boy's feet my intention was never to get money for it. It was to show how bad things are and to give people a glimpse of perspective and how good they might have it and not realize it. Hopefully, since the photo will be around Oregon more people will see it and it will impact more people in that way. That's what photojournalism is about.

I don't want to exploit.

Snowboarding shots

So there's the sequence above, or the individual photograph below. I don't even know if I'm going to use either of these photos. This was my first time shooting snowboarding. It was actually really hard because snowboarders usually don't like to stop and wait so I can 'set up' because to someone who doesn't know the troubles of photographing, all there is to it is clicking the button. But no. It was extremely bright outside and I had been wearing goggles all day so when I took them off, by eyes couldn't adjust to the blinding white snow in the sun. So I pretty much had to guess what shutter speed and f-stop to use. I chose 1/2000 and f11. Iso was 200. But, now that I see how it came out, I'm not complaining. I'm pleasantly surprised with these first tries.

exited for school

Yesterday I was talking to this guy on facebook that is already a student at Brooks Institute. His name is Krishna, from Singapore. I asked him which program he is doing, because I have to eventually decide between the 'professional photography' program or the 'visual journalism' program. He was originally in the pro-photo program but recently switched over to VJ. I gave him the name of my website and he took a look. He thought my work was really good and told me that it's better than some people who are halfway finished with their degree at Brooks. He said many people come to Brooks without a proper foundation, and he's glad I'm not one of them. So that made me feel a lot better about going there, and I'm less nervous.

Concentration Statement (Again)

My grandma Zoila hails from the land of Costa Rica. She has raised four daughters there and has lived the majority of her life there. When I get to see her, she always talks to me about her younger life back in the rich coast. It's not the kind of talk that most people experience with elders...that rambling...unrelated, obselete talk. No, she always grabs my attention. One of the things she usually brings up is that people in the northern united states never cease moving. It's always go, go, go with no breaks. She views this in a somewhat negative light. She says that people walk briskly past each other on the street without making eye contact, just trying to get to their next appointment, after which they will dash out and run on to the next demand...ignoring anybody that they might have passed. I agree with her. I agree that people need to stop and take a breath, say hello to a stranger, take a nap, laugh without reason. (In Costa Rica people have designated nap/snack times in the middle of the work day).

With that background in mind, my goal is to capture the reality that everything moves without ceasing. The water moves up along the beach, the cars streak by in the night, the weather is always pointed in some direction, even the earth is spinning. Spinning and spinning for ever and ever. And when you take a look at the human body, everything of use is pointed forward, ready for advancement, ready for what's next.

So, whether it be organic or inorganic, my concentration is movement. motion. moving movers. moving because the earth doesn't have a choice, moving for the sake of reaching a destination, or moving just because moving the body is fun...so fun. My grandma said that things need to slow down once in a while. But, this is where I live, and my pictures are going to show that things just don't slow down.

movement: eli jumps onto the hide-a-bed

So this is one of my favorite sequence shots i've taken. The kid in the pictures is my cousin Elijah, who lives in Boca Raton, Florida. These shots were actually taken inside the house of David Dobson, a renowned world photographer who I had the opportunity of staying with and learning from for a few days when I was in Miami. David was taking a shower at the time and my cousin and I were having a very lazy morning. My favorite part about David's house was that he had so many plants...they were strewn about the area with no restrictions...they were big, green, hydrated, and happy. So in the first picture I focused on the plant that was right in front of my lens. I wanted to capture the feeling that his house was like a jungle, and I was peering through the foliage to see my cousin on the other side, amidst more plants. In the second picture, I am peering through the same plant, but this time I focused on eli as he leaped from the white tile floor to the white-sheeted hide-a-bed to sleep once more after a late morning omelette. You can still see the blurred plant in front of the lens in both of the second pictures. The third picture is just a simple shot of Eli after he is settled...with the greatest look on his face. I feel successful in using depth of field well in these images. I made them black and white because everything in his apartment seemed to be white save for the green plants. Shooting in black and white just made what was already white even noticably whiter, not to mention there was a window directly behind Eli that at mid morning shone more brilliant softness into the room and on the sheets. This sequence shot just goes to show that even something as relaxing as sleep requires initial movement...