Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club-Halloween Project!

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It has been a while since I've posted about my class at Yellowstone, so I thought I'd make a quick post with our Halloween Project this year.  I've got a new class this school year with 7 new students, and they are eager to learn about photography.  We'll be meeting Monday afternoons this year, and Yellowstone has moved to an all year calendar, so the students are currently on Fall break.  Before they left for Fall break, I wanted to introduce some concepts dealing with shutter speed, but I didn't want to get into too much, as long breaks can lead to forgetfulness.  So, I came up with an idea to take some spooky Halloween photos of our class, and use slow shutter speeds and double exposures to achieve ghostly effects!  All of the students will return to school on Halloween day, so they will come back to Photo Club's terrifying 1st show of the year!

Incendiary-Washington Post Article

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My brother has co-directed a documentary film, and it is getting a lot of press and attention right now.  Not only because it is a great film, but also because it deals with an arson case that put a man on death row.  He was executed, but it seems perhaps for a crime that he did not committ.  Rick Perry had an important role in the case, and because of his recent presidential run, this has helped boost national interest in the case and in the film.

The film, Incendiary has been showing in Austin, at the Violet Crown, and opens in Washington D.C. this weekend.  The film will open in NYC the weekend of October 7th, then will travel to Dallas, TX the weekend of October 14th.  After Dallas, the film opens in LA November 18th.   If you haven't seen it, check it out.  It is very interesting, and extremely well done.  Incendiary is already an award winning film!

My brother emailed me a couple of days ago with this link to the Washington Post website, where their movie (and my photo!) was featured in an article.  Nothing like riding the coat tails of your famous brother!  You can check out the article and photo here.  And don't forget to check out the film if you can.  Click here for Incendiary's website, where you can find information about the film and showings.

New York

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In December, my wife and I got to travel with my family to New York for a little vacation.  It was Regan's first time to visit New York, and was the first time that I got to really experience the city.  I had been to the city on a couple other occasions (once to shoot photography for my brother's thesis on Jazz music...which was a pretty cool experience), but had never really gotten the chance to roam around the city, see shows, eat at resturants, etc.  The trip was amazing, and I loved our time in New York.  I brought along my old Nikon F5, and shot several rolls of film (mostly Ilford Delta 400 black and white).  It felt good to shoot black and white film again.

Regan and I got back and were like, "We've got to get back to New York again soon!"  Well, several weeks ago I got a call from a fellow photographer here in Houston, and it looks like I'll be heading back to New York to do some work with her!

Here are some of my favorites from our trip in December.

This is probably my favorite photo from the trip, I took this one outside of Macy's while Regan shopped.  I just sat at a street corner and tried to find interesting people as they crossed the street.  As soon as I saw this guy and got this shot, I knew I had what I was looking for.

Another one of my favorites.  On our bus ride into the city from Newark airport, we stopped right next to a school bus.  I spotted this kid staring up into the sky out of his window.  That is probably what I looked like most of the bus ride in, looking up at all of the incredible buildings that surrounded us!

My mom and dad.  Mom is going to get mad at me for this one, I'm afraid, because her eyes are closed.  However, this was the only photo that I had of her from the trip (I think she purposely eludes my camera...).  But I actually like it, it is kind of a light, fun moment...it has a good feel to it.

I never got the hang of the Subways.  My brother's wife, Alice, was a pro, and lucky for me, Regan got us from one spot to another when it was just the two of us.

Our awesome view from where we stayed.  Central Park was right outside our window...about 30+ stories down...

A visit to the Empire State Buidling was a lot of fun.

Looking down from the Empire State Building

These were the guards at the Empire State Building.  They did not like being photographed.  There was another guard that I really wanted to photograph, and I almost got the shot I wanted.  He saw me and just said, "NO" and turned away.  I snuck this one in from a bit further way, before he could notice.

I wish we could have stayed at the top longer.  The people were neat to watch, and the light was beautiful.  However, we had to get back to the apartment to get ready for a show, so I left some photos untaken.

This was a pretty funny moment, and I couldn't pass up taking a photograph.  These two guys were loaded down after a shopping spree at Hollister.  Nothing against Hollister, these just weren't the same guys from their ads...

This series is of my brother, Joe.  He grew out a mustache for Movember, and was looking pretty cool.  Joe and his wife, Alice live in Austin.  Joe is now a film maker...check out what he's been working on here.  He has co-directed a documentary film titled Incendiary that will be debuting at SXSW this March in Austin.

Joe's wife, Alice.

My beautiful wife, Regan, laughing with Alice.

A quick shout out to a job well done by Point2Point Movers

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About a month ago my wife and I moved into our first house.  We are very excited to have some more space and a yard for  Georgia, our 90 pound dog.  I have some space to print and work in at home, which is very nice because I recently bought an Epson 9900 printer!  It is HUGE...the printer itself is over 70" long, and it can print giant 44" wide prints!  I've wanted to own one of these for a long time, as much of my personal photography work is taken with large format cameras, and I enjoy being able to print large prints full of rich detail.  To my wife's joy, this monster printer wouldn't fit upstairs where I office, so it now lives in our back room!  Thank you, sweetie!  Luckily it goes really well with all sorts of furniture... ; )

Anyhow, the real reason I'm posting is to give a shout out to the moving company that we used, Point2Point (http://www.point2pointmoving.com/).  An old friend of mine and my wife, John Shaeffer, opened this business after graduating from UT, and they are the most professional, careful and efficient movers I've ever worked with.  The movers were extremely friendly and trustworthy, and we were so impressed with them.

They did an awesome job transferring my new printer.  I was very concerned about handling this machine.  It weighs several hundred pounds, and must remain absolutely level during transport (otherwise the ink could spill and require an expensive clean).  The Point2Point movers were so careful, and did a wonderful job.  They treated the printer (and all of our other things) as if they were their own.  If they can handle this beast of a printer, and move it perfectly, they can handle anything!

Point2Point does a lot of work with designers here in Houston, so they have a great reputation, and know how to handle anything, from cheap to very expensive, fragile to rugged.  After they left we walked through the house and there wasn't a single mark on the walls...they were so careful and respectful.  And, one more plus...they are priced very competitively!

Thanks, John for an awesome and easy move.  We will certainly be recommending you to everyone we know.  Here is their website again:  http://www.point2pointmoving.com/

Here's the beast...

Santa Fe At Last!

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Well, after two long days of traveling, I'm finally here!  And man, it's good!  Santa Fe is so beautiful, and there is so much I love about spending time here.  The food, the weather, the beautiful scenery everywhere, all of the different people, the art...I'm lucky to be spending some time here this week!

I've come for Katie and Patrick's wedding, which will be held this weekend at the El Encantado Resort.  It is going to be absolutely stunning.  I've come early to take some tintypes of Katie and Patrick.  We've got a shoot early tomorrow in a little town south of Santa Fe called Lamy.  Back in the day you used to have to come through Lamy to catch the train into Santa Fe.  There is an old bar called the Legal Tender, and the train station still runs trips into Santa Fe.  I'm looking forward to a fun morning of photographs tomorrow!

I'll try and post some throughout the week with photographs.  Thought I'd share some from tonight (see below).  I had plans of heading south of town tonight towards Galisteo for sunset, but when I got to my room after spending all day on the road, I decided getting back in the car to drive again was not what I needed to do!  Instead I got settled, then grabbed my camera and headed out to walk around town.  Ended up finding a cool live music concert on the square.  Listened to some music and watched as the light got better and better.  It was wonderful.  Then headed over to the Coyote Cafe for dinner, and ate on the rooftop.  The sunset was incredible.  The whole time while I was eating and watching the sun set, I was feeling guilty that I didn't hit the road to photograph in Galisteo.  O well, more beautiful sunsets to come.

After dinner I returned to my room to find two musicians playing a violin and cello on the street outside my window.  How pleasant that I get to open my windows and listen to them as I write this post. 

Time to rest.  I look forward to a beautiful morning of tintypes and photos with Katie and Patrick tomorrow.

 

 

This is how I arrived to my room.  The door was lit up beautifully by the sun.  What a wonderful way to be welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

Yellowstone Academy Photo Class Recap and End of Year Show

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As some of y'all know, I work with some of the 6th graders from Yellowstone Academy on Wednesday afternoons.  Several years ago, I began a photo class for their after school program.  For the first two years we did the class only in the spring.  However, this year the class lasted all year long!  It has been great, the kids have learned a lot, and taken some great photos.  I'm really proud of them.  I decided this past summer that I wanted them to be thinking more about their photos.  The previous two years we used Olympus point and shoot 35mm film cameras.  These worked great, especially for the age of the students at that time (they were in 4th and 5th grade during those two years).  However, last year students were spending too much time running around, holding their camera up high and just taking thoughtless photos.  I was not very happy with that.  Therefore, I decided they were getting old enough this school year (6th grade) to learn how to use a REAL camera...a true, FULLY MANUAL 35mm camera.  So I searched ebay for a couple months this summer, putting together a nice collection of used Pentax K-1000 camera (a classic, workhorse student camera).

A little background on Yellowstone and my history with the school.  Yellowstone Academy is a private Christian school serving underprivileged children of Houston (please click on the link and visit their website to really learn about the school and the students they serve).  It is an amazing place, with wonderful teachers and a strong sense of community.  Students get two meals a day there (for some, this is the only food they see all day!).  Most importantly, though, they are in a supportive environment, surrounded by people who want to see these awesome kids succeed!  I have been blessed to work with the school since my senior year in high school, when my high school's "Outreach" program sent me there.  During college I would return when I could (though not often enough).  However, my senior year in college I had an opportunity to create this after school photo class, and use it as one of my final projects in art school.  Thankfully, Yellowstone was willing to work with me, and allow me to teach their oldest group of students, who at the time were 4th graders.  Everything went great, and since moving back to Houston we've decided to keep it up.  It has been a wonderful experience, and I always look forward to what the kids can produce!

So, back to this year's class!  I decided, "No more, easy, thoughtless photos!"  I wanted my students to have to think about the photos they were taking, to OWN their photography.  Therefore, we were going to have to learn to use good old, fully manual cameras!  We spent the entire first semester of school learning how to use the cameras.  We talked about how to control them mechanically, and we also discussed things like perspective, depth of field, and the ability of photos to tell a story.  At the end of the first semester, all of my students took a test to determine if they had earned the right to have their beautiful, fully manual Pentax K-1000.  I nervously handed out the tests, got them back and graded them.  EVERYONE PASSED!  Hooray!  Now we could actually begin taking photos, and getting into projects.  Christmas break began, and I prayed that everything we learned from the first semester would not be forgotten over the break!

When we returned for the second semester, we did a quick review, and began on projects.  The students looked at their beautiful new cameras, and were like, "Huh?  How old are these things!  They must be from like the 70s or something?!?"  They wanted to know where the digital cameras were.  I assured them that these were great cameras, and that if used correctly, they would take photos as good or better than digital cameras.  So we began some different projects, photographing portraits, color, action, and self portraits.  Most of the time the students didn't completely follow the projects.  Most of my students enjoy photographing people the most.  But that is fine by me.

I've learned a lot this past semester, how to teach this group, and how to interact with them.  They are a great group, and I've had a lot of fun with them.  I'm excited about the photos they've produced, and would like to share some below.  We are going to hang a show in the school for the last week of school, and these are the photos that my students have chosen to be in the show.  Three of my students haven't chosen their work yet, and so hopefully they'll have the chance to this afternoon.  I hope you enjoy the work!

Photographer: Melquisha

Photographer: Melquisha

Photographer: Makayla (Self Portrait Project...what a cool idea)

Photographer:Makayla

Photographer: Blossom

Photographer: Blossom (I'm really excited about this photo.  Blossom told me that she also likes to write, and I thought this would be such a cool photo to write about.  I've encouraged her to write a narrative, or poem, or whatever she'd like, using this photo as a basis.  I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with!)

Photographer: Roneisha

Photographer: Roneisha

Photographer: Shundell

Photographer: Shundell

I'll post my remaining three students photographs for the show once they choose their two favorites.