restauración

Our wedding website

2008-06-07T12:51:00.003-04:00

Yay! I created a wedding website for us...

BJ and Julie – October 18, 2008

A village

2008-04-08T23:49:00.005-04:00

So after trying to post a number of times the past few months only to encounter uploading issues, I've finally got it to go through. Hoorah.

The semester feels like it's both winding down and speeding up at the same time. Such a clash of energy! Either way, there's only a few weeks left before summer, which means working 2+ jobs while I try to make ends meat and fund a wedding. I did manage to get a quaint blog started for posting plans and information about our wedding, which you can find here: www.bjandjulie.blogspot.com

We just completed a big project in our APJ class entitled "Village," for which I documented Westmoreland, Tenn. Here are a few photos that turned out alright:

Projects and opportunities...plus some

2008-02-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

So for the first assignment of my most advanced photojournalism course this semester, we didn't get to use our regular cameras, but a dinky plastic one. I chose a crappy hunk of old plastic from the local Goodwill, and judging by the photos that came out of it, there's no question why the previous owners had deserted the poor camera. The camera, which has no flash, doesn't know how to handle window light at all. Grr..well, anyway, our assignment was supposed to somehow show an interpretation of the American Dream, so I found a woman who had moved to the U.S. to escape her old life in Colombia. With her 8 children, she ended up in Bowling Green after fleeing her hometown when her husband was killed defending their home against a group of combatants rebelling against the government. In BG she started up her own seamstress shop, a dream of hers.

While this obviously had a lot of opportunity, by the time I got in touch with her I only had one chance to take photos with her...and that one chance was at 8 a.m., NOT when all her children were around. There was only one daughter there, Viviana, who acts as her translator with her businesses. So I had a great subject, a crappy camera, and no moment in the resulting photo...oh how I missed my regular camera then! The main problem was the risk I was taking with every photo I took, not knowing if that piece of junk was actually taking the photo I thought it was. Many times, it wasn't. So this is what I ended up with...a roll of nearly wasted black and white, a bad photo and an opportunity to RETAKE a better photo with all the children at a later time...and with a REAL camera, dangit...

And I highly suggest you check out this project by Scott Strazzante...it's pretty amazing. I love the balance of the images and how they work together, and how much thought, planning and just plain luck and coincidence has to go into creating a project like this one...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-anothercountry-0801,0,5345584.htmlpage

The end is near. Well, sort of. And that means it's time for a change.

2008-01-11T23:49:00.000-05:00

I'm entering what should have been my final semester at WKU...I will be around for a bit longer than that, but I will be nearly finished by the end of May 2008. I'll be in one class in the fall, then I'm done. Finito. Almost to the end!

Because of this realization that I am almost at the end of my road, I am determined to do a lot of things during this semester that I thought I should have been doing all along. One of them? Keeping up with a darned photo blog. If for no one else, for I'm not sure who even reads this thing (though I'm sure it's not many since I've only posted twice in the past year), it is at least an opportunity for me to see where I am at. I realize I've made some choices in the past year and have had to deal with some hard personal/family stuff that have (VERY sadly) forced me to put my photography in a back seat. That's changing. Being at this pivotal moment in my student-photojournalism career, I realize what has been all wrong about my approach to my future as a photographer. I don't feel like I'm at the place I should be, but I feel it in me that I can still get there. I'm notorious for struggling for a time, then shooting off way past my goal all at once. I'm making this that breakthrough. Realizing right now, at this moment, how much I've NOT been a photographer in the past year makes me realize how much I am supposed to be one.

Here's something to wet your tastebuds. While not spectacular by any means, here's a my most recent photos. A couple of pictures from a wedding I shot Dec. 16 as a favor to a family friend.

To any of my photo friends, please give me a warm welcome. I'M BACK!!!

May as well not let this thing not go to use

2007-12-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, I've decided I don't want to neglect this any more. Finishing up the Coal Mining Blog has made me miss blogging.

A multimedia piece worth watching:

http://www.newsobserver.com/1181/story/819065.html

Neglect is a sad, tragic thing.

2007-05-02T01:59:00.000-04:00

Well, hello to any of you who still tune in to my blog. It has been a loooong while, yes, since I have posted anything, but if you know anything about me, you know I have my reasons. To say this has been a whirlwind of a semester is an understatement. But, nevertheless, classes end in two weeks, and photos will again grace my blog.

Hope you are all well.

The Fire

2006-12-20T13:05:00.000-05:00

Here was the scene of the fire...

(Nov. 1, 2006)

I'm a little proud right now...

2006-12-20T12:47:00.000-05:00

AP picked a photo of mine for Photo of the Month of November....for Indiana.

Exciting!

Nov. 1, 2006 Hanover firefighters console each other after the body of Greg Cloud, a Kent firefighter, was removed from a burning home at a Kent horse farm. This was the first firefighter fatality in the Madison-Jefferson County area.

loverly

2006-12-06T15:02:00.000-05:00

On my way back to Madison from Carrollton, Ky., to shoot a play promo, God gave me a treat.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

2006-11-30T22:50:00.000-05:00

My lovely cat, Birdie, as she tries to eat the Christmas ornaments off my Charlie Brown-sized Christmas tree. Good times.

I'm engaged!

2006-11-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

For those of you who didn't know, I spent the last week in Istanbul, Turkey. It was AMAZING. I will post some photos soon, once I get them (BJ has them still in Turkey). But, I will at least leave you with this news: BJ and I are engaged. :) Happiness. The wedding is still 2 years away (we're aiming for October 2008), but we're still engaged.

el presidente

2006-10-30T13:14:00.000-05:00

President Bush visited Sellersburg, Ind. Saturday in support of Mike Sodrel, our district's Republican candidate for Congress.

days like this are when i feel like a journalist

2006-10-19T23:47:00.000-04:00

Downpouring rain. DOWNPOUR. Forty degree temperatures. Even so, a house manages to burn to the ground out in the county near Madison. I had the unlucky privilege of having to go out to this fire. All the while that I'm shooting, I'm shivering from head to toe and praying my auto-focus is staying true, because I can't see through the water all over my glasses. My, do I wish I had decided to wear my contacts today. But, nonetheless, no one was hurt in the fire, fortunately, though they think the owner lost a rabbit. And so, to be a photojournalist apparently means you get to watch people sob in the rain about the loss of their home while, though you are most definitely thinking about the person and are sorry for their pain, the thoughts of them are nearly equaled by your own selfish complaints in your head about how cold your feet are, and did I remember to shut my car door (which I didn't. whoops.) But, in the end, all I can do is pray for the person that has a new obstacle in their life.

fourth grade

2006-10-11T12:10:00.000-04:00

Brianna and her Mom

2006-10-09T11:55:00.000-04:00

Brianna and her mom, Amanda, right before they released the balloons.

Brianna's Big Top

2006-10-09T11:33:00.000-04:00

Brianna Perkins, 3, (The girl in the bottom photo) was diagnosed with leukemia in August. The local community in Wheatley, Ky., came together to throw her a coming home party, both to welcome her home and help raise money for her medical bills since her family doesn't have health insurance. All the kids that came dressed up like clowns, and they released hundreds of balloons with notes on them. The notes listed her name, her situation, her address, and asked the finder to send her a card to make her day.

patriots

2006-10-04T12:04:00.000-04:00

members of the Patriot Guard Riders at a military funeral honoring a Vietnam veteran...this whole group was of one family; they were at a family reunion nearby and decided to ride together.

flaggin' football

2006-10-03T13:07:00.000-04:00

Little leaguers in Trimble County, Ky., waiting for a play to begin...

waiting

2006-10-02T22:49:00.000-04:00

I hope to post on here fairly often, if I get a chance to keep up with it. Here's something to start with. This photo is one that I took last fall, but I never did anythign with it. I came across it when I was rummaging through photos on my computer today; there's something I like about it.