DU Swim Meet

On Friday, I was fortunate enough to shoot the DU vs. Air Force vs. UNLV swim/dive meet for the DU newspaper, the Clarion. Guess my portfolio did some good. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Journalism Photography Portfolio

.2011.

Despite the fact that these last 4 months have not been my greatest, in this last week alone, I have remembered what I am blessed to have:

F a m i l y.

Tori is fond of taking solo showers now. Yes, the shots I took were of a naked child in a shower. But the pictures I took are among my favorites I've taken with my new camera because they range from images of purity (a small, innocent child playing in water), to silly shots that remind me how hilarious my sister can be, to ones that feel like deja vu, because they look so strikingly like pictures my mom took of me. 

If Sally Mann can do it, so can I.

F r i e n d s.

I was this close to not being with my best friends on New Years. I was going to let my fear and stubbornness get in the way of being in the company of people I treasure. But as I pack to return to DU tomorrow, I'm reminded of how much I missed these friends and how much every moment I can steal with them nowadays must be cherished.

I have faith and every confidence that the New Year will bring me the same magic that 2010's New Year brought me. I have faith that what everyone says is true: second semester of freshman year is infinitely better than the first. I have faith that I can turn this thing around. 

Because if we don't have family, friends, and faith, what else do we have?

a.xmas.story

The bad news: I am a blog failure.

The good news: I am no longer under the restraints of my FSEM class, so I can do whatever my heart desires with this blog...but it will probably just continue to be a photo blog.

On the off-chance that people are still actually following my blog, I apologize that I am about the worst updater ever. Yes, I have been on break for 5 weeks, having had nothing to do for 3 of those weeks. I am ashamed. BUT a gift was sent from the gods (or Amazon.com) today: a brand new Canon Rebel XS DSLR camera. My adoration for photography is renewed. And on top of that, my whole extended family went up to my grandma's house in Nederland for Christmas dinner. We started out the day with a hike; my stepdad's family owns tons of the surrounding land, complete with an old mine. I got to put my new best friend to use.

This year, there was a mini-crisis with the roast beef. Much dispute was had over what temperature to cook it at and for how long. It was 3 hours before we got to eat, and it was still under-done. Luckily, Aunt Lori saved the day by stir-frying it. Not your typical Christmas dinner, but I guess it's better than having duck at a Chinese restaurant, "A Christmas Story" style.

Sophie, my 7-year old sister who loves to show-off for the camera.

Tori, my 5-year old sister who refuses to take a normal picture.

henri.cartier-bresson

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to experience a life like Henri Cartier-Bresson. What would it be like to be the original photojournalist, covering King Henry VI's coronation and Ghandi's funeral; China's fall to communism and Indonesia's rise from Dutch control; taking portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Martin Luther King Jr? As a journalism major and a bit of a photography nut, photojournalism was a dream job of mine at one point. That profession wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Cartier-Bresson. 

In a sense, I adamantly feel that photojournalism is the greatest style of photography there is. Photojournalists capture real life--no perfect models, no makeup or styling, no special effects or equipment--just them, the subject, and the camera. All those things are able to so easily ruin what a photograph should truly be: a slice of time (real time) frozen forever. With a journalistic approach, it's ethically impossible to elaborate 

a photo, 

life, 

truth.

Henri understood the power of photography, saying that "photography could fix eternity in an instant." I believe this is essentially why he gave it up. Shortly after his divorce from his wife of 30 years, he retired from his photography career and returned to drawing and painting. I think he found life too bleak and photography too honest. In drawing and painting, the artist is able to mould reality any way they desire. In photography, the moment is captured forever, with no way to alter it.

"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif."

—Henri Cartier-Bresson

camera.obscura.:.cultural.event

The second amazing person we met on our little trip to 16th street was this man right here. Hal Gould. This man is quite literally a sage of photography, 90 years old, and has his own official "Hal Gould Day" (February 19). He founded the Camera Obscura gallery--one of the oldest purely fine art photography galleries--after the director of the Denver Art Museum refused to show photography as an art medium. Hal opened Camera Obscura right behind DAM (as a kind of "up yours") and it was immensely successful. Although some of the photographs he curates are not my cup of tea (mostly old western-types), I can certainly appreciate the man himself. Hal has an amazing life story, having travelled to every continent, taking pictures along the way. Without Hal, photography may have never been regarded as the art form it is today.

"Art is in the artist, not in the medium."

byers.evans.:.cultural.event

After our visit through the DAM, we had lunch at the restaurant there with Mark Sink, a Denver photographer and friend of Roddy's. I was fortunate enough to sit at the same table as him and got to hear all about his life and why he chose to live in Denver and how he came to be a photographer. After having lunch, we went to the Byers Evans House Gallery where Mark was showing his collection. Having the artists there, giving us a personalized tour and explanation of each piece was such an honor. I never realized how many different techniques there are in photography until I saw his collection. It astounds me that he is able to make such beautiful art by simply scattering sugar or a flower on a scanner, or with a simple, old school Diana F+ camera. He proves that simplicity is bliss.