I Like Vans

Street Photography

Today I did some street photography around Blacksburg, VA, a small college town where Virginia Tech is located. I mostly shot on campus and in the downtown area, it's pretty much a quiet place, nothing really going on especially since most of the college students are gone for the summer. I went out at about 7 just as the sun was beginning to set.

I have recently been inspired to try street photography after seeing Eric Kim's video of him doing some street photography. Eric is a Los Angeles street photographer and has some excellent work on his blog, be sure to check it out. I was a little sacred at first when going out to shoot people because I didn't' know what their reaction would be, but things worked out well, most people where very nice, and some people didn't even notice me taking their photo. So let me know what you think of the shots.

A little bit of everything

I fill these collection of photos demonstrate the variety of things I like to shoot as a photojournalist. Things ranging from dress rehearsals to nature I like to capture it all in the best way I can. As a photojournalist I feel that there is no limit to what I should shoot, I need to be able to have that photographic eye for everything I come in contact with.

Nature

Flowers

Storm

This is just your classic pretty flower photo and your thunderstorm photo. As for the flowers I was out on assignment and just happened to see these beautiful flowers and wanted to capture them in a unique way, and for the thunder storm photo I was stuck in my schools tech hub for about 4 hours waiting it out, and just decided to take photos from the parking garage bridge.

The Artist

Painter and Sculptor Chris Reed

Adam Silver

Freshman art student , Ryan.

Random piece in the Art Building on campus.

The art building on campus is one of my favorite places to take photographs because you never know what you're going to find students working on. I first meet art student Adam Silver working on this sculpture and went back to photograph him again and started to photograph art student Chris Reed as well. I documented the journey of Chris attempting his first sculpture project here .

Dress Rehearsals

A Street Car Named Desire dress rehearsal

While on staff at my schools news paper this spring, I got the opportunity to photograph a dress rehearsal for my schools Theatre Department's production of A Street Car Named Desire, and ever since then I've been wanting to shoot more and more dress rehearsals.

Journalistic

I took this photo for the school paper, to go with a story about a particular women's organization on campus. They where practicing an opening routine for there upcoming women's conference.

Heels

A day of self portraits

The self portrait. Some photographers hate it, some embrace it, but I think its safe to say that every photographer has taken a self portrait at least once.

The most notable photographer I'm aware of that is a master of the self portrait is Cindy Sherman. Sherman's conceptual photographs gained her international recognition when she came out with the series Untitled FIlm Stills, 1977-1980, in which she poses in different roles reminiscent of American film's of the 1940's ,'50s and '60s.

I recently got inspiration after seeing a body of work by photographer Victoria Sorochinski while looking at a feature about her in the British Journal of Photography . On her web site she has a continuing body of work titled Anna & Eve which included portraits a mother and daughter. Which to me came off as self portraits when I look at them, I don't know why but the images just have that self portrait feel to them.

Photo Credit: Victoria Sorochinski

I was also inspired by french photographer Aglae Bory, when I saw his body of work titled Correlations had won a first prize Kl International Photoaward in the Portrait Story Category. Correlations is a series of photographs which portray the daily life of a woman living alone with her child throughout out several years during different seasons. Bory used a shutter release cable which is visible to the spectator in order to indicate the shooting moment.

Photo Credit: Aglae Bory

I can't compare my work to either Sorochinski or Bory, I just used their photos as inspiration, what I tried to do with my photos is just captures my self in the most unique was as possible, while doing everyday things. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Light . . .

. . . and its many forms.

As a photographer I look at light differently, than the average person, any other photographer would understand this perspective. Light is what makes the image, and can be interpreted in all kinds of ways. Indoor, outdoor the light makes a difference but the question never changes, what type of lighting situation am I in. A building at 12 o'clock make look better at 6 o'clock if you think photographically.

What I tried to do with these set of images is just interpret light in a different part of the day, particularly late afternoon, but what I tried to capture is the light at different angles and heights which changes the way my camera metered the light. Shooting on manuel I found it easier to capture the light in which I saw it in real time, and I've come along way in understanding light from when I first started photography. My shutter was my best friend in this series of photographs.

With that in mind I want you to interpret these photos. What do you see, What do you think.

Let me know in the comment section below.

Enjoy!