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.