Job Profile: Wa-Wanda

Big post! The multimedia is not really multimedia as much as it's a picture story over an interview, so the photos linger longer than what most viewers are used to, so be patient! If you'd rather just see some photos and forgo the audio, scroll on down!

Wanda has worked at Glasgow school as a bus driver for 50 years, and a cafeteria worker and custodian for 22 years. She loves her job and retirement is the farthest thing from her mind.

Job Profile Preview: Wanda

I met an amazing woman today in an amazing place. Thanks to Rob Bratney for helping me get started on this story and introducing me to the beauty of Glasgow, Mo.

Picture Story: Reading Reflections #3

One Day Outtakes

We all have to kill a few puppies to get a story. These were mine.

One Day Story: Rock Bridge Courtwarming Dance

My goal for my one day story was not to cover the typical progression of a high school dance. I wanted my photos to convey the mood/feel of being in a social situation during high school. It's awkward, exciting, and painful,  and while you're experiencing it, it's the most important thing in the world.

Picture Story: POYi Reactions

One Day Story Preview

 Took my big chance at the high school dance...

Picture Story: Reading Reflections #2

Selecting a Subject -Jay and Hurn 

I found Jay and Hurn's take on selecting a subject to be extremely helpful. Is it visual? Is it practical? Is it something that I know enough about? Is it interesting to others? These are questions I need to think about when I brainstorm story ideas. Usually when I'm thinking about ideas, I psych myself out with the words "it's been done before." The thing is, it's all been done before. What I need to realize that if I find a subject that means something to me, then I can shoot it in a way that makes it different.


School Lunches and Polaroids- Anne Lamott

What struck me the most about this reading is how a story develops. I get easily discouraged when a story doesn't seem to be shaping up immediately, but what I need to realize is that it takes time. Getting access to a story can sometimes even take more time than it does to shoot it. It takes patience!

Picture Story: Editing Exercise

For my picture story class, we were given a previous student's one day take and told to make it into a story. I paired up with Eve, and this is the edit we settled on.

Picture Story: Reading Reflections #1

Tao of Photography by Gross and Shapiro
One of the main points of this reading was letting go of preconceived notions and just letting the photos happen. I know when I am going into a situation, I always end up previsualizing the kind of shots I want to take. The idea of losing yourself behind the camera seems to be contrary to what we were discussing in class the other day about making a picture story. If you just take all of the shots you feel like taking, you're going to end up with a parking lot of photos and no story. On the other hand, if shoot according to a strict formula, your pictures aren't going to have any emotion or feeling to them! It's a tough balance.

Bird by Bird by Anne LaMott
I really enjoy the candid way LaMott addresses her readers because it makes me feel like I am conversing with an old friend of mine. Although the subject matter is about writing, I can see how the word "photographer" can easily replace the word "writer". One of the sections of the reading that stood out the most to me was LaMott's descriptions of the writing classes she teaches. Of those students in those classes, so many just want to be published and have no concern for the actual craft of writing. Those people will not succeed, just like the people that shoot for the sake of winning contests will not succeed. Maybe they'll make money, but I don't see any real fulfillment in that. Whether you use words or pictures, what matters is that you told the true story of something that matters to you. And it doesn't have to be perfect! Writers make "shitty rough drafts" and photographers make some terrible test frames. It's not the end of the world if you don't get it right the first time (because let's face it, you seldom will).

Lenswork: 10,000 Hours
How much time do I spend on my photography? It's nowhere near 10,000 hours, and I could stand to gain a few more. I spend a lot of time on my own images, but I need to spend more on others. I love times like CPOY or POYi when I can completely immerse myself in images, but it has a strange effect on me. I am inspired and discouraged all at the same time. Perhaps what I need to do is spend less time looking at images and more time making images.

Picture Story: Inspiration

This photo is by Matt Slaby, not me...although I wish it was mine.

For my capstone class, Picture Story, I was assigned to comb the interwebs for inspiration. While I was perusing for picture stories, I looked through work at Luceo, a well-known photo collective comprised of young photographers, all of whom seem to be doing some pretty interesting work. I was particularly interested in Matt Slaby's essay "The Last Good Kiss: A Lovesong to the American West

I was drawn to this essay for a number of reasons. I took a class on western films last semester and the topic of discussion has always been about the myth of the frontier. There's such a mythos that surrounds the American West, even know. I still picture gunslingers and cowhands, even though I know that ideal was romanticized in the first place. The photos in Slaby's essay are a mix of the expected and the unexpected. There are expected shots of rugged men on horses, but they are interspersed with photos of pure surprises. In a way, each picture is its very own short story.

I also chose this piece because I'm intrigued by essays and knowing how make one that is interesting and cohesive. The structure of a picture story sometimes seems stifling to me: opener, portrait, transition, closer, what do I need, what am I missing?. The essay format seems to leave more room for breath and creativity, but I'm still struggling in how to execute this storytelling device in a successful way.