Week 9

The end is near! I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I have one more week to photograph like a madwoman and then I can FINALLY start putting my final product together. I already have a solid idea of what I'm going to do and how I'm going to shape it, so everything is pretty much set, deadlines and all! One thing we did tweak is that instead of writing a paper to accomodate it, I will write an artist statement that will be included in the book itself (it will be about a page long and it is so much better to the overall aesthetic and message to the piece).

This week I was able to meet up with Jonathan. We shot our SRP interview and I also got to help him out with a promo video of his technology on his company's website! Let me talk a little about our SRP promo video. Jonathan explained his idea to me of how he wanted to shoot the video. He wanted to incorporate the technology he's been using in the course of our internship into our interview, so instead of a flat video, our interview will take a form of a full dome video! Here is a film still of the interview so you can get an idea of what it looks like:

The black part at the bottom of the image is called the Nadir. Since we only used 5 cameras instead of 6, we get that empty space. Since Jonathan was shooting this for a flat screen instead of a full dome, he only used 5 cameras.

I also attended my AP Art meeting. All the pictures are taken and ready to be made into the final book, however, one of the key things that Mr. McDonald and Mrs. Napier felt was missing was the conflict and movement shots. They want to see the conflict between the "religion" and the behavior. These conflicts include rage and failure. Once I take those photos this week, everything will be complete for the project!

In two weeks time, I will have ordered my final photography book, will have submitted my COMPLETE AP Studio Art portfolio and will have prepared my powerpoint presentation for rehearsals. How exciting!

Week 8

Welcome, welcome.

I'm going to open this post with a sentimental reflection of everything I've done in my project so far, so please bear with me. It has been incredibly difficult. As an artist, it's very frustrating to have a deadline and to struggle with getting everything done by that deadline. I have some very good photos and very cooperative subjects, and I also have 3 times as many bad photos and 2 times as many uncooperative subjects. I have had to change subjects multiple times in order to have the variety that I do. With that being said, I have decided to only focus on 2 or 3 different subjects and "religions" in order to complete the project. What may those 2 or 3 subjects be, you might ask, and the answer is that I have not a single clue. Yet.

I had family come in from Texas this week so there have been many schedule conflicts preventing me from getting some time in with Jonathan and Rick. But do not fear! I have been getting some of those religious and tae kwon do shots (may they be very few, but it's better than nothing. I think I'm having some sort of artistic block from all the stress I've been experiencing).

There's nothing new to report other than that, so I'm afraid I have to cut this post short.

By April 11th, I should have all photographs completed. From there, I will start shaping my visual story with the help of Mr. McDonald and Mrs. Napier. I will probably have to write a mini paper along with it too, just for formality reasons and also because I won't be able to explain everything in full detail in my 20 minute presentation.

Ta ta for now!

Week 7

Spring Break. It didn't really feel like Spring Break for me since I still went to work, but it did give me a chance to take a breather and kind of map out what I need to get done over the next week or two. It's mostly photography. I've said this in my last blog post, but I'll say it again just to keep on top of it: I've aimed to photograph more filler photos of up close and detailed "religious" (I will quote the term now since I've chosen to use a deconstructed definition of the word) symbolism, more church related photos, taekwondo photos and San Xavier Mission photos.

At the Daily Star I showed Rick some photos I've gathered for my final product and he gave me some great feedback. He said that if I were going to be photographing multiple subjects and different "religions" that I should add a filler photo in the beginning of each set of photographs as sort of an introduction. Another thing is that I should photograph the process of how my subject relates to his/her "religion." For example, if I take pictures of Luke at youth group, I should try and get shots of him interacting with others and doing specifically religious things like being in a prayer circle etc.

This pretty much sums up the week.

Oh! Jonathan has contacted me and next week we will be continuing work and coming up with stuff for me to do for my project.

Yeah. So until then!

Week 6

Hola! This week went by so fast that I didn't realize it was already Tuesday and I hadn't made a post for last week. But that's alright because to be quite honest, there was no work and nothing new has come up to report. However, I went on Thursday to the UofA library to do some research on the religious philosophies of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and I had found the PERFECT book. Unfortunately, the section the book was located in was having technical issues with the book aisles so I could not access it (or any of the other books of religion that I wanted in that section). Huge bummer.

On Friday I met with Mr. McDonald and Mrs. Napier (or as I will probably always call her, Ms. Stuart) and we had a very successful meeting. My photography is at the top of its game and it can only go up from here. Also, we've ruled that my objective right now with my SRP photos is just to go out and get as many photos as I can and we'll worry about cutting it down and making it work later. I'm instructed to take more church-specific photos and I'm also going to take pictures of my taekwondo classmate and his dedication to the sport (we're starting to play around with the idea of the word religion and what it means to be religious. I've asked my classmate if he was religious and he said to me in all seriousness, "Taekwondo IS my religion.")

One of the many problems I'm facing with the photography is the fact that my classmate will not be present in two weeks and I will not be able to photograph him. Also since we both are preparing for a very important test coming up, it is difficult for me to step away from that and take photographs for my project. Both are very important to me and I don't know just yet what I'm going to sacrifice - an extra day of much needed training or an opportunity for photography.

I'm really nervous and excited for the future of my project, but all seems to be very interesting.

Week 5

Hey everyone. This week I've caught up on some well needed rest and it feels really good to refresh my mind and dive into my project again. I've noticed that the less I have to do, the less I know how to structure my blog post so I'm just going model this one how my subconscious functions: randomly (I do this also to boost my creativity so I can translate it into my artwork). 

Jonathan should be coming back from his conference next week so I should have more information and pictures about the ostrich farm hopefully next week or the week after.

I also aim to find some books and sources about the philosophy of religion in the near future. I want to look at philosophers' theories about religion and use the knowledge I learn to incorporate it into the paper I'm going to write about my photo essay. So, to be clear, I will be producing a photo essay and also a paper explaining in words what's going on and the theories and ideas behind the photos. This is the time where I also give a shout out to Ms. Connolly for inspiring this idea (if you're reading this, thank you). Taking her Critical and Literary Theory class was unbelievably satisfying because I have learned to take in multiple perspectives and question EVERYTHING from linguistics to abstract ideas. I wrote a final paper for her class doing exactly what I've mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph and I earned a top score, so I hope I'm able to accomplish the same thing for my SRP.

On Sunday I went to youth group, as usual. Nothing new to report.

On Thursday, I FINALLY met Mr. Rick Wiley, Head of Photography at the Daily Star. He allowed me to sit in on a meeting to determine which stories were going to make it into Friday's paper. The meeting room was exactly like you'd see in the movies, beige and brown walls with a giant oval table in the middle of it. There were 3 main stories mentioned and those were about an increase in UofA tuition, the extension of hours for the street car downtown and the death of a 3 year old boy. The conversation about the tuition increase was pretty self evident as to why it should be included in the paper. The street car has extended its hours of operation to the UofA students because of all the partying that's done Thursday-Sunday. Also, the street car story included a picture with it. The 3 year old boy story came with photos as well but almost didn't make the paper because some of the editors weren't really buying the stories of the people involved. The editors determined which story to use as the center story by looking at which photo was stronger. The one with the 3 year old had a very emotional picture of the grandmother crying with 2 other women. The one with the street car had a street car making a stop at the World of Beer downtown. They said that because there's really only one way to shoot a street car, it wasn't as interesting of a sight, so they went with the 3 year old as the center story because the emotion in the image were so strong.

So just in case you were starting to lose interest in my project, photography DOES matter because the strength of the subject matter and composition can be the difference between a front page story and not a front page story. Photos are like an advertisement. If your photos are weak, no one is going to buy your product nor will they invest their time in your product.

I leave you, my wonderful blog readers, to a piece of mine that I've finished for art that will be displayed in the art show on Sunday. It's titled Live Unique.

Week 4

Hello everyone! This week has been extremely slow because I wasn't able to work alongside Jonathan at the ostrich farm. He is currently in Denver for a conference and won't be back until the 11th, so until then I will not be able to work with him. I have, however, made another visit to youth group and the Daily Star so I'm not completely job-less.

There's not anything new to tell about youth group. I decided to look into the religion of Methodism and came across a solid understanding: God died for everyone so everyone is entitled to his grace, and this is practiced through the helping of the poor and the average person. Richard, the leader of youth group, asked me what my project was so I recited the title I gave it. If his response could be represented as a physical thing, it would be a brick wall because I didn't see it coming, it hit me full force and stopped me in my tracks. It really turned my project around and I think it's headed in a better direction. Richard's response, "There is none."

I followed Fred Araiza on an assignment as well. He photographed a 13 year old gunshot survivor near my neighborhood. Come to find out, he was in his backyard swinging on his swingset when he got shot. When we arrived at his house, he expressed that he loves to play video games and aspires to be a football player in high school. Fred took pictures of him playing video games and I merely observed because I was advised not to photograph. He was very casual and interactive with the boy and not at all stiff and rehearsed. He didn't chaotically move around getting shots; he moved little by little and it wasn't overwhelming. Lots of photos were taken, to my surprise, but I realized that he was allowed by the family to take photos so it mustn't have been too awkward. Fred was there to take photographs, meaning that he didn't really ask many questions about the incident or of anything personal. He asked about the video game he was playing and just about the game. One thing that did snap my attention was that he asked the boy to look at the camera, tilt his chin down and smile.

Week 3

Welcome back to my blog. As my project progresses, I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to juggle all of my work along with my personal life, but I've decided that this is preparing me for the real world when I go on to university and get a proper job. It's not that I don't enjoy my work because it's always super fun to go out there and apply my skills to the tasks at hand, it's just that I didn't expect to be struggling to find a balance. However, I am so glad that this week has been a slow one. Here's what I've been up to this week!

Sunday: I made an arrangement with Luke Wohlford, one of my photographic subjects, to document his time at Catalina United Methodist Youth Group. Luke is very dedicated to this youth group; whenever he's available to attend, he does. It was my first time attending something of this religious nature and overall, I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed my time. Richard Jones, the guy who runs the group, was super cool with my attending and it turns out that I had actually met him before at a BASIS sports event so it was cool to feel comfortable there. I also encountered some of my friends who attend the group whenever they can. Some of the things that happened included playing games, eating dinner, getting to know one another and also a religious lesson. It was incredibly casual and not at all forced and I enjoyed it. I look forward to returning more often and learning about the religion and the youth group as a whole and it's impact. Unfortunately, I didn't conduct any interviews with Luke or Richard about the doctrine of the church or anything of that nature, but I'm okay with that because it just gives me an excuse to return (not that I needed one in the first place!). However, one of the things I did take away was intended as a joke from Luke during the dinner, but I took seriously: This is a very supportive place, so if you can't say something supportive then don't be here.

Thursday: Jonathan, Jeff and I went up to the ostrich farm again to start filming for his movie. We filmed portions of the lorikeets, the goats, the ostriches and the monster truck. My job was to make sure the recording device was placed properly under the camera and that the audio levels were correctly measured, to place editing markers in the overlapping sections of the cameras and to dust off the lenses after each location. I was so worried that I would screw something up or get in the way, but ultimately it was a fun time. The animals and people were well prepared and everything went well. Afterwards, we took the entire cast out to lunch at Dairy Queen and it was even better getting a chance to talk to the parents and getting to know their personalities outside of the film.

One thing I've learned about filming with Jonathan is that the technology is made in such a way that it's hard to hide something undesirable in the shot, whereas filming with one camera, it's a lot easier to frame the shot so that you can hide something undesirable. Also, Jonathan is able to control his subjects and create his desired shot. Since I'm focusing on documentary photography, it's sort of an unwritten rule that I can't control the subjects and I just have to capture the action and the mood. All of this makes way for a topic of "truth" in photography which has been a site for controversy in many aspects, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to discuss that in my presentation or how I'm going to approach the topic.

Hopefully next week I'll start to get some decent pictures in my camera roll!

Week 2

Hello everyone! I realized that I haven't really explained much of the concept of my project in my first post so I will take the time to do that now.

Since I'm taking AP Studio Art, what's required of me is that I submit a portfolio with 3 categories: Quality, Breadth and Concentration. Quality is 5 physical pieces that I mail to College Board. Breadth is 12 photos (electronically) displaying a variety of different skills using the elements and principles of art. Concentration is another 12 photos investigating a theme in an intellectual or thoughtful way. I still need to knock that category out, so Mr. McDonald suggested that I combine my SRP and AP Art together and kill 2 birds with one stone. For my Concentration, I wanted to tell a story using documentation because we found that it had been my strong suit in previous projects. Some of my well mastered elements and principles of art include shape, movement and value so those are going to be incorporated into the final product of my project which is going to be a photo essay. I chose to focus on religion and the effects of it in teenage behavior because I often photograph a friend group that loves to go out and do things and from what I know, they're not very religious. I'd love to compare their activity with that of someone who is a little more and even devoutly religious and investigate why it may or may not be different.


Sunday: I met with Jonathan and his wife Sharon. He introduced the 360 degree technology he uses, along with the basics of how to use it. He also showed me clips of the 360 films he shot in Alaska of bears to get me familiar with how they looked and generally how to construct the 360 film. He explained that I will be very involved with the filming process, making sure the technology is functioning properly and also shooting behind-the-scenes stuff along with taking my own film stills to distribute (with my name accredited to them!).

Tuesday: I went to the ostrich farm with Jonathan and his friend Jeff who is a photographer/filmographer who will be helping with the project as well. It was my first time ever going so this trip was to acquaint me with the area and different exhibits, and also to start doing tests with the technology to see what material works and what needs improvement for the actual filming. The whole experience of the farm was fascinating and very interactive. I got to feed the birds, the ducks and the goats along with seeing prairie dogs and the ostriches. At one point, we were able to go inside the ostrich pent and let me just tell you, the fear was real. They kept following us and getting close to us and pecking the camera. Getting the opportunity to be up close and personal with these animals is such a privilege. Also, I was able to drive one of the huge monster trucks there for fun. The people who run the farm are pretty cool.

© JEFFSMITH

© JEFFSMITH

Thursday: I met Fred Araiza, senior photographer of the Arizona Daily Star, downtown to observe an assignment he was on. Him and a reporter were following a man who's conducting a project on making a symphony from the sounds of Tucson, including Reid Park and downtown. After that was finished, he was so nice as to stay for an extra 2 and a half hours for a one on one photography session with me. I was able to fully follow him around downtown, listen to him talk about photographing tips, observe his manner of documentation and see his raw images. One of the things I took away was something I had already been taught but hadn't had the courage to apply: don't be afraid to take some measures to capture the perfect photo. This includes things like standing on tables, laying flat on the ground, waiting until the moment comes and getting up close to the subject. It's my job as a photographer to just do my job and not care if other people think it's excessive or dramatic.

Friday: Had my AP Art meeting with Mr. McDonald. Regarding my SRP, we talked about making more contacts and finding opportunities to start taking some shots so we can see what works and what to edit down.

Week 1

On Tuesday of this week, I spent 4 hours at the school working on gathering existing photos I have that could be used for this project, along with making new pieces.

On Thursday, I had my first meeting at the Daily Star. Rick Wiley, whom I intern under, could not make it to the meeting, so instead he set me up with senior photographer Alfred Araiza. With him I explained my project and what I expected from the Daily Star. He also taught me a little bit about the history of photojournalism from when he started working in the field in 1985. He taught me about how the changes from black and white to color prints and the change from film to digital really changed photojournalism for the better. I asked about current problems he experiences with the system of sending photos from anywhere with wi-fi. He answered with there being certain spots in town where he can't pick up a signal, also one time when the President came to town after the Giffords shooting there was no signal anywhere to send photos to the editors.

I have also emailed Rick to set up a solid work schedule for next week.

In addition, Jonathan VanBallenberghe contacted me about working alongside him to film his documentary about the ostrich farm. He wants to meet this Sunday to introduce the people I will be working with and also to introduce me to the unique 360 degree camera technology we will be using to document the film. He's asked me if I was interested in shooting behind-the-scenes stuff along with creating press releases for the film.

Today, I returned to the school again for 3 and a half hours to meet with Mr. McDonald about my project (which coincides with one of my AP Art category requirements for the portfolio). I have also researched the basic religious principles of Catholicism, Agnosticism, Protestantism and Lutheranism and have made contacts with people willing to be my photographic subjects.