420 location lighting

Christiana Kurtz takes a moment to forget her academic worries on Monday morning to enjoy the sun in the courtyard behind the University Center.  Kurtz, a Mt. Pleasant freshman, is currently undecided on what to major in while at CMU.

Scott (left) and Cory (right) take some time out to have a duel while on the job at The Halloween Store on Monday morning.  Scott who has been working at the store for four seasons now says that they have a lot of fun with the costumes and props while at work.

 

Lighting setup for Halloween Store. There was also a strobe on my camera. 

Something Worth Photographing

Recently while updating my 365 project on facebook I was finally forced to work on the photos I took over the summer at my Uncles funeral. My Uncle Robin was a Vietnam Vet and therefore given a full military funeral. My family approached me with the idea of photographing the military service. Of course I couldn't say no, even though I knew it would be difficult. Robin was very proud of his service and a very patriotic person. Here the military was honoring that, that is something worth photographing. After returning from the funeral in West Virginia I sat down to edit the photos. I couldn't do it. I ended up sitting at my desk staring at my computer crying. It was to recent, I couldn't deal with it. Now two months later I've finally edited the photos.

The man in the maroon shirt on the right is Cameron Harding. He's a first year med student and was with my Uncle while they were working on the flood relief for the church in KY. When Robin collasped from a heart attack Cameron tried CPR. He tried for a half hour before the EMT's got there.

I don't normally like the whole one color while the rest is black and white because I feel that it is over used. But for this photo I felt it added rather than subtracted.

All I can say to other photographers is that this was the most difficult thing I have ever photographed. I know in our field we have to sometimes photograph difficult things. Especially if you're on breaking news. And I imagine doing breaking news would be terrible if it involved a death, I've heard other photographers and reporters talk about that. But when its a loved ones funeral it's not just difficult, it's painful. But even though it was painful for me I'm glad I had this experience. It was a lesson in how to photograph a funeral without being obvious and rude. And now my family has these photos of Robin being honored. Which in the end is worth it, even if it did cost me a few extra tears.

JRN 420 Personality Portrait

For our first assignment for JRN 420 we had to shoot a portrait that expressed the subjects personality. My model was my roommate Kat Reed. She partys hard and studys hard.  She's herself and she's goofy. I tried to show this in the photos.

 Overall I just feel luke-warm about the shoot. My model did great but I still need some work on getting the lighting right.

Couple of silly just for fun shots:

Get Sauced

First day of studio shooting in Kent Millers 420 class. We all took turns dressing in costumes and modeling for one another. My model Kay dressed as an 80's work out instructor. We each had 4 mins to pose and shoot our models. It was a good first day in the studio. Can't wait to be able to change backgrounds and play with the lighting more.