"I shed blood for my art"

That is a quote from Al Rockoff, another war photographer. I found him when looking around the Creative Loafing website. He has a exhibition at the Composition Gallery. I am really interested and plan on going soon! Its running until December 28th so head out there is you get the chance!

Other Thanksgiving Festivities

They call it flying. Its when my uncle Jimmy throws his youngest daughter, Clara, up in the air as high as he can then catches her. Its pretty crazy!



As we were picking pears, we used a hoe to get the fruit from the top of the tree. Jimmy threw the hoe to hit the pears to knock them out of the tree. In the process, the how got stuck in the top branches...so he had to get it down. My parents' home is extremely exciting during the holidays! After it all, we feed the rotten pears to the cows.

Cleaning your keyboard

So brilliant me, spilled a drink.... all over my keyboard! Immediately, I unplugged it from my computer. Then, I spent 2 hours of my Sunday removing each key, cleaning it then replacing it after cleaning the base of the keyboard. So, here's what I looked at for those 2 hours...

Photoshop Tutorials

I love photography! And in this digital age, as a photographer Photoshop can be your best friend! I use it almost everyday but it is definitely not my strength. I often have to look up help tutorials online for tips and tricks. One site I've gone to more than once a week is this one. Not only is it helpful it uses video so I can actually see the physically changing his images! Love it!

Holt Webb

Peggy and I were talking in class one day and I told her I'd love to travel in an RV across the States shooting whatever I came upon. She told me about a photographer she'd heard of named Holt Webb. This is what he wrote on his website as his mission:

"Using photography as a medium of preservation, I'm traveling across America on veggie oil, with an artist's eye and camera in hand, capturing those unique aspects of our country and culture that are in danger of disappearing within the next few generations."



I am as impressed with his photography as I am with his pro environmental morals.

Environmental Portrait

This is a picture of my dad that I turned in as an environmental portrait. He works as the Director of Instruction at Altamaha Technical College for the Jesup and Baxley campuses in south Georgia. But, his real dream job is to be a farmer/cowboy. You can find a few other shots I took here.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving in Jesup is a little different than it is here in the big city! My dad raises registered Texas Longhorn Cattle. The first bull he ever bought escaped twice in the 30 hours I was home for the holiday! Once the night before Thanksgiving and again after we cooked and ate lunch.



Our neighbor, Kyle, was driving past out home and saw we needed help. So, he chased Jerry down with his Suburban. As you can see, it took an team effort but we caught him!



My dad said we'll be having beef for Christmas dinner!

Another interview!

Only this time Stevie Dubose is interviewing me! Listen about graduation and a some of my hopes and dreams after I'm finished with school.

We didn't have anything due in Photojournalism today. Ms. Finch showed us a video on war photography and then coached us individually on our final photo essay project. The video was about James Nachtwey's career. It was really inspiring. I wondered if I'd have the courage to take chances like that if given the chance...

BMW Portraits

Monday, I took portraits of all the Sales Associates for United BMW of Gwinnett. These are the images they are going to use for their website. I am doing it as a favor because I work there so I'm not getting paid but it was a really good experience. This is my boss, the Sales Manager, Chris Dunbar.

Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar 2008

I am looking forward to this year's Photojournalism Seminar. While looking through the website came across the best student portfolio. The winner was Justin Maxon from San Francisco State University. Here's his winning portfolio.

My Photo Essay: Poker!

This is not my image. Just found it on this blog. But, I am really excited! I spoke with Ms. Finch today and we decided that my best bet for final four photo essay was poker tournaments. I've played in one tournament and had a blast. I'm really going to enjoy capturing all the different personalities that come together to enjoy the same hobby... Texas Hold 'Em!

All I want for Christmas....

Should I really say anything else? I've been looking and hoping for an upgrade soon. When I bought my poor little Rebel it was the newest thing out. Now, it's definitely outdated! I'm pretty much ready to go into debt to get some incredible equipment. Soon, my friends!

I LoVe night photography!

I used night photography as my final four topic for color theory. I posted about it earlier and you can find them here. Lately, I've been looking at night photographers and I found a few that were very interesting. I love the simplistic, dramatics of light at night. J Wesley Brown was one I really enjoyed.

Photography Rights

I've heard stories in the news, from friends and from school mates about photographer's rights; about what is legal and what isn't. Most public places (including the people in those public places) are free game when it comes to photography. As photographers it is very important to know and stand up for our rights. I did a little research and found a page a lawyer put with a printable version of photographer rights. I found if helpful. You can find it here.

Even though this isn't about my photography, it's WAY too rad to not post it! I was digging around on the web at work and ended up on the CNN news. One of the articles in the Other News section was titled, "First images of new planets captured." I clicked and was pleasantly surprised to see pictures of the first and most recent images captured in outer space. It's incredible to see just how far photographic technology has come!

The set is finished and yesterday our first customers were shot! Here are a few test shots of our finished set.



And here's a picture of our whole class.

Interview with Stephanie DuBose

In the above link, I interviewed Stephanie DuBose for my Multimedia class at Gwinnett Technical College. It was interesting to ask her questions and see her point of view and goals about photography.

Holiday Portraits!

After tons of preparation and work, the Holiday Portrait set is finally finished! After having to pick up all the rubber mulch because it gave someone an asthma attack...

we replaced it with wood mulch and made the final finishing touches on Tuesday!

Fill Flash Assignment

This is my friend Dave. He is the guitarist of a 3 piece band called Miles From Pangaea. They play a great fusion of atmosphere, reggae, and metal music. This pic was taken at Sweetwater Bar and Grill. I used it for an assignment in photojournalism calling for fill flash lighting. To get this effect, I simply left the shutter open and popped my flash three times. I am really happy with the way this image turned out! Here are a few more from the same show.

My Art

Along with bring a photographer, I am an artist. I want to allow you to follow my paintings as well as my photography. This is a painting I am doing for a commission. At this point the background is finished and I am next going to glaze the horse into a more chestnut color and begin adding details. The buyer wants a heavy brushed texture so the outcome won't be perfectly realistic. My goal is to finish it by Thanksgiving so I have a lot of work to do!

My Child For a Day

This is Jaila. A friend and co-worker agreed to let me shoot her for an assignment a few weeks ago. The criteria... photograph a child. This is the shot I turned in. I think it all came out ok. Mom is definitely going to be happy. Click here for a few more.

This was a fun day in class....

Ms. Finch interrupted Ninja Dave's multimedia II class to call us all outside to see the amazing light and rainbow. It had been a while since I had seen such a rainbow. If you look closely at this picture you can see the reflection of the rainbow! The light was insane and everything was yellow! I post a few other untouched photos here.

Annie Leibovitz

One of my favorite photographers is Annie Leibovitz. A job taking creative, story-telling, photo journalistic portraits would be my number one choice of my career. I found the homepage of PBS's American Masters television show. Seeing I don't have cable... I'll have to enjoy the episodes online. ENJOY!

The US Air Force Cadet Chapel, Colorado Springs, Co

I recently had the chance to visit the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel. It is one of the strangest and most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. There wasn't much time to shoot it because I was there for a friend's wedding but here are a few more pictures.

Mr. President

This election will be something my generation will never forget. Our nation electing the first black President makes me proud to be an American. But there will definitely be some challenges. Here is an article describing election details and generically what is in store for our future. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.