Nick Rodriguez aka NicDanger

I got to photograph NicDanger, a young Columbia rapper yesterday. We ended up running this one photo. But here are some of my outtakes.

Fall fun

This weekend I made another trip to West Plains, Mo. On my way back, I wanted to go to this brewery, Piney River Brewery, that my friend, Ben Zack, has recommended. I had to drive on gravel roads for a good while to reach this place that used to be a barn and now an amazing place with some amazing ales. On the way there, I had to make several stops to appreciate what fall has to offer.

Sunday portraits

I got to hang out with some good friends and met some nice people yesterday. Here are some portraits of those who crossed my path.

This is Becky. She is the bartender at Lucy's in McBaine, Mo. She is pretty much my favorite bartender. That little roadside bar has the best afternoon light ever. I made this portrait in the kitchen as she was preparing a double cheeseburger for one of the guests.

We made friends with her over the summer as we started going there almost every Sunday. She is one of those people who is hard to get close to. But once you are in, you are in for real. It is a quality that I admire in people.

After we became regulars at Lucy's, she lost her house to a fire. She and her family are still in the process of recovery. You are always in my prayers, Becky.

This is Han Cheung, a good, old friend of mine. He was in town to work on the Missouri Photo Workshop's website and to defend his MA project, which he successfully completed. He had couple free days before he heads out to Portland with his girlfriend. So we went for a hike in the morning, which was really refreshing for both of us, before we went to Lucy's.

Han and I started the program at the same time. And it took both of us a lot longer than our classmates. We both are hopefully graduating this December. Fingers crossed.

I hope your girlfriend and you find good jobs soon. Wish you both luck with everything.

This is Jimmy. We met him yesterday at Lucy's. While we were playing with the good light, making each other's pictures, he walked up to us and asked us to photograph him. He said he is an ex-Amish. He left the Amish community when he was 26. He said, because  he wanted to be a singer and make music, the community asked him to leave three times. And the third time they asked, he did it.

This is Martin Wulf, another new friend we met yesterday at Lucy's. He is certainly a character. He said he is married to his wife for over 50 years. He wanted to make sure that I wouldn't put his picture on the paper, because his wife would be really jealous. We talked about his farming and this year's drought that hit the Midwest. He lives down the road from Lucy's. When I asked him if he drove there, he said, "Heck, yeah!"

Nugget

Here is another sample from my holga boy. This is probably one of the best pictures I have ever made. And I really mean it. Pups are the best.

Excited for Holga

I got my first two rolls of holga films developed last Friday. Love the feeling they give. I had a lot of fun shooting these.

Shot this one during a summer afternoon bike ride. Country roads are always very poetic.

This is the big tree in McBaine, Mo. I triple exposured it. Just playing around with my camera while on the wheels.

I don't remember this guy's name. He was at Lucy's with his friends and wanted us to take a picture of him. He surely had some cool tattoos.

This bizarre image, my friends, was made last year in the small town of Rocheport, Mo. I was there on assignment to shoot this monster bike bash, that was organized for the Halloween. Besides the assignment images, I snapped couple pictures with my Holga guy.

From the same bike bash. Yes, what you see on the background is a group of beer bottles (six pack) and a bunch of smurfs.

A portrait from last year

Chelsea Wolfe in St. Louis

Last night, Leah Beane and I did a short road trip to St. Louis to see the Chelsea Wolfe show at Firebird. It was great to be able to listen to her beautiful voice live. After the show, I got a chance to photograph her outside the venue. She looks gorgeous in this shot.

 

Remembering 9/11

Another set of pictures from my archive. Remembering 9/11 after 10 years. It is hard to believe that it has already been that long. I can remember that awful day like yesterday.

From The Archives: High School Softball

Here are a few shots from a game I shot last fall.

Football For The First Time

     I shot football for the first time last summer. It was a scrimmage and we were only allowed to be there for the first hour. Not knowing anything about the game, I was very nervous that day. Here are a few shots from that shooot.

Magic House

During a feature hunt last fall while I was a staffer for Columbia Missourian, I saw this house with many decorations in its yard. I knocked the door to see if I could get permission to photograph the house outside and inside. the owner was really nice and let me photograph his house from outside. Understandably he didn't let me in that day. This shoot never got published. Until today, it was buried in my archive. i think everyone should see this neat house. It is bizarre and beautiful at the same time.

 

Reflection on the Photographic Essay Readings

Chapnick said, "great photographic essays do not need complex, bizarre, unusual subject matter. They need not be shot in exotic parts of the world. Almost every conceivable subject that deals with the human experience can serve as the basis for an essay." I think this is one major issue that we are dealing with in today's journalism. Easy access to photographic knowledge and gear, which leads to increasing number of image makers, we see even more examples of stories that were shot but not understood well or shot in different places for the sake of the location. Chapnick's approach here basically goes back to the idea of finding or rather actually being able to see the stories in our back yard. Personally, I definitelly went through this romantic view of photographic essays. As I grow up as a photographer, I am realizing more and more the importance of actually seeing/understanding a story or a subject and not be drawn to cool sounding/looking things.

That being said, Chapnick also mentioned that "Ferratois accepting and receptive rather than judgmental of the behavior of her subjects." This is also a very important point on the path that leads to well told photographic stories. I definitely think that being judgmental as a photographer and not being able to see what is in front of you have a strong relationship. A lot of us look out there for the stories because of our judgmental and despising attitude toward what is closer to us. Again, being able to overcome this specific kind of attitude is part of maturing process as a photographer and even in general as a human being.

Another good point made by Chapnick was about attention to details. He said, "the success of a photographic essay depends on attention to detail. The photographer should have a structure in mind, written or unwritten, as the essay unfolds. All along the way, the photographer should have a mental or written checklist against which the photographs are being made, so that when the work is finished there are no unfilled gaps in the story." This is something that we already have been talking about in our classes. During my shoot for the one-day story, I literally wrote down a shot list. It was the first time I did such a thing. Last semester, when I was doing the staff I always tried to pay attention to shooting almost every assignment like a picture story. But this time it was different. It was, I guess, a more structured approach, which helped mew fulfill almost all of my shot list. On the other hand, as I stated in my critique, because it was my first try, I feel like I missed the point making good, story telling images. Like everything else, it takes practice. I will just need to shoot more until it becomes a natural segment of my thinking when it comes to shooting.

Chapnick was a really good read. But I also greatly enjoyed the dialogue between Jay and Hurn. They also made some really good points. They say "photography is about communication." If we are not communicating anything with anyone, then what is the point? If we are not sharing any information with outside world, why do we bother to make images? And here, I am not talking about only documentary/photojournalistic images. Whether it is a, artistic photograph that was made by an artist for the purpose of saying something about oneself or reacting to a situation or it is a straight forward documentary image, we have to communicate. and we have to be clear about what we are saying through this visual device.

I really enjoyed reading this section as it made me see a different facade of image making process, which also relates to the fact that photojournalism must be about communicating what is there, what we witness. It shouldn't communicate what we think the reality should be. We shouldn't put our preconceptions between our lens and what is in front of the camera. Camera should be able to witness life as it is. And we should be able to somehow assist it recording moments from what is seen. I think it would be a great practice to play the memory game when we are about start a shoot. Taking a short moment, observing and asking ourselves "what I would remember from this place?" rather than what I wish it to be.

Later on they refer to photographer's memory vs. what is captured issue one more time as they stated above.


For a long time this was the story of my life. It was a terrible strategy to have as a photographer. Since last semester I have been trying to change this situation. I have been trying to determine what I am after before I start shooting. This has been leading me ask a lot more questions about what I shoot. And I think it's been a great help for me to edit other photographers' work as I have a lot of responsibility toward fellow photographers this semester at the Missourian.

POYi Reflection

Machine Man won the first place for Long-Form Multimedia Story. It is more of a photo essay on "modernity and global development", as the filmmakers stated.

The judges had some great discussion in this category about the narrative layering and cinematic/ journalist quality in multimedia pieces, chaptering big piece as in A Chance in Hell or A Darkness Visible/how it can work or not and the visual quality of the pieces. I could agree on most of their ideas, except for the first place winner.

Machine Man is definitely a great piece on some grand topic. On the other hand, for some reason, the filmmakers used this lensbaby and its strange distorting effect in this piece, which I still can't understand why. I don't see anything added to the story by the usage of this visual effect. And it definitely affected my pinion of the piece. I really liked the second place, A Chance in Hell and the third place, Half-Lives, winners. They were beautifully shot and very well put together.

I had mixed feelings about A Darkness Visible. I was already familiar with photographer's that specific work that he has been shooting for a really long time. They are amazing images. But I don't know if they work that well as a multimedia piece. It feels like there was a vast amount of work that was really good as still images and they wanted to see how they would look in a multimedia work.

One Day Picture Story Critique

I am not vet thrilled with what I've got from this shoot. It was a fun even to shoot. But I think my mind and eye got too busy with trying to fulfill the kind of shots and the variety that I need to get a picture story done. At the end I missed the main point of making good, story telling pictures.

Unfortunately, this was pretty much the very first time I approached an assignment this consciously in terms of visual story telling. Therefore I think it is not surprising that I got lost in the details. I am hoping as I continue shooting, this will become a natural part of my shooting.

I am planning to shoot something new and resubmit this assignment within this month.

One Day Picture Story-Mr. Mizzou

Chris Henry juggles three water bottles to practice before the Mr. Mizzou pageant
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012 at his Columbia home. Henry learned juggling
from his father.

The sash for the winner of the Mr. Mizzou pageant is laid out on the table along
with the name sashes for the contestants before the contest Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012
at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.
Five contestants of Mr. Mizzou pageant dance on the stage Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.
Audience, that consisted of mostly females, gives an applause while one of the
contestants shows his talent Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler
Lounge in Memorial Union.

Chris Henry unties his tie after the Mr. Mizzou pageant Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.

Outtakes:
Chris Henry, right, walks on to the stage with Mizzou clappers along with Apollo Song Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Student Union.

Five contestants of Mr. Mizzou pageant dance on the stage Wednesday evening,
Feb. 22, 2012 at Stotler Lounge in Memorial Union.