In the past couple of weeks I've been asked by a few different people if they could use my photographic services. Of course I enthusiastically tell them yes, but when they walk away I start to internally freak out.
A good example would be a couple of weeks ago I met a vocal performance student at the Music Department. Her name is LaShera and the second she found out I was a photography major she inquired about my services. I said, "oh yes, of course I'm available to do head-shots and shows." The next thing I know, two days later I have a voicemail from her asking if I could photograph her performance that following Monday. I internally began to regret my own enthusiasm, because I had never photographed a live performance before and I knew, even with a flash, the low-light, high energy situation would prove difficult. The next thing I know I'm walking a mile (I got the directions wrong) to Reggie's night club to photograph her performance. Luckily, LaShera is a magnificent performer, which made my job a little bit easier.
Last night I finally finished editing the images she chose, and here are a few of my favorites.
As you can see, these are my non-flash images. I believe the first image is a combination of flash and natural light...I think I dragged the shutter? I was fumbling with the flash so much I can't remember what I did with which images. That first one is my favorite, it came out crisp, with little noise (most of them were so noisy I couldn't use them) and I like the mixture of warm and cool lighting. But in spite of this, LaShera seems to enjoy the images and has already asked me to photograph some more of her performances. I've always been interested in photographing live performances, so this is probably a good place to start. Maybe I should befriend all of the music department students, haha.
In addition to LaShera, my Fiction Writing: Advanced teacher, Randy Albers, is the chair of the Fiction Writing Department. And I don't know if I'm the only photography student he knows, but he's unofficially made me his go-to photographer for the fiction writing department events. I was supposed to photograph the "On the Road Marathon Reading" this Wednesday, but unfortunately I've been sick all week and had to cancel. However, he has already asked me to photography Story Week next semester, which is a huge task and really a great honor. I'm hoping by March I will have figured out this whole flash thing, hah.
So even though these are my first unofficial/official professional/sort-of-paying gigs and I'm nervous about doing them, I'm also very excited. A lot of my peers have already been paid numerous times for the photography services, and for me it's about getting over the fear and just doing it.
A good example would be a couple of weeks ago I met a vocal performance student at the Music Department. Her name is LaShera and the second she found out I was a photography major she inquired about my services. I said, "oh yes, of course I'm available to do head-shots and shows." The next thing I know, two days later I have a voicemail from her asking if I could photograph her performance that following Monday. I internally began to regret my own enthusiasm, because I had never photographed a live performance before and I knew, even with a flash, the low-light, high energy situation would prove difficult. The next thing I know I'm walking a mile (I got the directions wrong) to Reggie's night club to photograph her performance. Luckily, LaShera is a magnificent performer, which made my job a little bit easier.
Last night I finally finished editing the images she chose, and here are a few of my favorites.
As you can see, these are my non-flash images. I believe the first image is a combination of flash and natural light...I think I dragged the shutter? I was fumbling with the flash so much I can't remember what I did with which images. That first one is my favorite, it came out crisp, with little noise (most of them were so noisy I couldn't use them) and I like the mixture of warm and cool lighting. But in spite of this, LaShera seems to enjoy the images and has already asked me to photograph some more of her performances. I've always been interested in photographing live performances, so this is probably a good place to start. Maybe I should befriend all of the music department students, haha.
In addition to LaShera, my Fiction Writing: Advanced teacher, Randy Albers, is the chair of the Fiction Writing Department. And I don't know if I'm the only photography student he knows, but he's unofficially made me his go-to photographer for the fiction writing department events. I was supposed to photograph the "On the Road Marathon Reading" this Wednesday, but unfortunately I've been sick all week and had to cancel. However, he has already asked me to photography Story Week next semester, which is a huge task and really a great honor. I'm hoping by March I will have figured out this whole flash thing, hah.
So even though these are my first unofficial/official professional/sort-of-paying gigs and I'm nervous about doing them, I'm also very excited. A lot of my peers have already been paid numerous times for the photography services, and for me it's about getting over the fear and just doing it.
***
On a completely different topic, just hours after Obama won the Presidency, I wrote this in my journal:
Tonight was tremendous. I was shocked, thrilled, and oddly hopeful. I'm not a particularly huge fan of Obama, or the Democrats, or American politics in general. But Obama won...by a fucking landslide. I had scoffed at arrogant Chicagoans who said he would win by a huge margin. I was convinced that this election, in spite of the high voter turnout, would be yet another close one, neck and neck until the wee hours of the morning when a victor would finally be declared. 10:00 P.M. Central Time rolls around and Obama is announced the winner with 297 electoral votes, smashing McCain's measly...well, it was such a small number I don't even remember what it was..
I don't regret not going to the rally in Grant Park. Mostly because I'm ill with a nasty cold. But watching it on CNN gave me goosebumps. The crowd, some 125,000 went ballistic and all I could think was, this is history unfolding before my very eyes. I know it's because I'm white, but it didn't dawn on me how truly important Obama's win is until I watched him speak. I know I can say that I was in the same city, just a few miles away, from where the first black president of the United States gave his acceptance speech. To see the impact this win has made on African Americans across the country is just...humbling.
Now I look forward to the day when a woman becomes president. That day I will be even more incredible than today.
Dawoud Bey's most recent blog entry, eloquently expresses his reaction to Obama's win:
http://whatsgoingon-dawoudbeysblog.blogspot.com/
As excited and as hopeful as I was that night, on the day following the election it was announced the Proposition 8 in California had passed, and it was like a slap in the face, it was a reminder that America has not changed just because it elected a bi-racial Democrat into office. America has a long way to go before it overcomes bigotry.
Tonight was tremendous. I was shocked, thrilled, and oddly hopeful. I'm not a particularly huge fan of Obama, or the Democrats, or American politics in general. But Obama won...by a fucking landslide. I had scoffed at arrogant Chicagoans who said he would win by a huge margin. I was convinced that this election, in spite of the high voter turnout, would be yet another close one, neck and neck until the wee hours of the morning when a victor would finally be declared. 10:00 P.M. Central Time rolls around and Obama is announced the winner with 297 electoral votes, smashing McCain's measly...well, it was such a small number I don't even remember what it was..
I don't regret not going to the rally in Grant Park. Mostly because I'm ill with a nasty cold. But watching it on CNN gave me goosebumps. The crowd, some 125,000 went ballistic and all I could think was, this is history unfolding before my very eyes. I know it's because I'm white, but it didn't dawn on me how truly important Obama's win is until I watched him speak. I know I can say that I was in the same city, just a few miles away, from where the first black president of the United States gave his acceptance speech. To see the impact this win has made on African Americans across the country is just...humbling.
Now I look forward to the day when a woman becomes president. That day I will be even more incredible than today.
Dawoud Bey's most recent blog entry, eloquently expresses his reaction to Obama's win:
http://whatsgoingon-dawoudbeysblog.blogspot.com/
As excited and as hopeful as I was that night, on the day following the election it was announced the Proposition 8 in California had passed, and it was like a slap in the face, it was a reminder that America has not changed just because it elected a bi-racial Democrat into office. America has a long way to go before it overcomes bigotry.
http://news.aol.com/article/protest-at-temple-over-gay-marriage-ban/239699
I feel a new civil rights movement bubbling up from beneath the surface.
I feel a new civil rights movement bubbling up from beneath the surface.
2 comments:
You know, I am.. Elated that you finally grew some balls and accepted a photo gig for someone that wasn't one of our close friends. I have been waiting for this day since you started college, missy. You've always been nervous that you wouldn't do well enough, that it would suck, etc., etc., but the first few are always the hardest. Doing live shoots will teach you so much more than what you would learn in a classroom or text about shooting live.
I am really, really happy that you said yes to taking pictures at that show. I hope you start saying yes when people ask you to shoot for them more often. You can do it, I know you can.
As for Obamallama, I'm pretty psyched about it too. It's a small but huge step toward the future, and it opens avenues for change. Yet the Prop 8 thing was heartbreaking. The day after the election was both happy and sad; we got an amazing president in office, and it'd make Dr. King proud. But we also took a step backwards on civil rights. I hope that Prop 8 is overturned with a quickness, as it should be. It was hard for me to break the news to you. And it's harder for me to think of the people who were engaged, waiting to be married - when this proposition passed.
2 steps forward, 1 step back. We'll get there someday.
just digital
I wouldn't have time to shoot on film, I shot that at 11 to turn in at 330 = )
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