One A Day...So Far

Last week I started a fairly common personal photo project that I like to call, "One A Day". It's a technique used by writers and artists alike, and I feel like it has already started to help me expand my mind even further when I am photographing. I originally started showing my peers this project via Facebook, but I now that I have a bit of an audience, I'd like to start posting them to my blog so I can narrate how I see fit a bit more seamlessly. With this first post, I just wanted to bring the blog up to speed with what I have already posted. So here is April 21-26.

My Letter to Photography

So I was recently asked why I loved photography. While I could have given some type of answer, I felt it would just be easier to post my letter to photography here. Hope you enjoy it -

Dear Photography,

As I stare at this screen, I am beginning to comprehend just what you have done

to me. You are a friend, a confidant, and a contemporary. I am envious at your

strength. You have delivered me through the most difficult of times without

question. And yet you have helped me to remember some of the most joyful

times. The combination of my imagination and vision with your precision and

flexibility has literally created moments of history to be shared with all who care to

see. Such moments are not merely subjected to the frozen confines of a pose or a

portrait, but can write a memory of activity to a single frame. And while you are a

kind, understanding mate, you are also a cold, unforgiving foe whose insatiable

appetite for emotion destroys many. Your vast knowledge and infinite vision can

intimidate. What is there that you have not witnessed? You have captured

moments of hope, dismay, courage, revenge, justice, violence, love, and pain as

painfully blunt as you want. And yet you stay unwavering in your impartiality. For

these reasons, many fear you; reject you. I, however, accept you for this. Like a

delusional genius, you should not be scoffed at and dismissed, but accepted into

the fold for the visionary you truly are. For but are we not all somewhat of a

delusion? Whether it has been merely a hapless tryst or a permanent bond, you

have been there for everyone and everything. Mexico City in '68, Kent St. in '70,

Tiananmen Square in '89 and New York in '01, you have captured life-altering

images. For these examples alone cannot convey your prowess. These are but

four moments in history out of the millions upon millions to reflect upon. These

moments are not only to reflect on by an audience, but they are pieces of each

one of us. Pieces, for better or for worse, recorded for the posterity of tomorrow.

And because of these opportunities to partake in the record of society, I embrace

you. I love you. I hate you. I use you selfishly to help me through tears.

Moreover, I use you to selflessly remember the joys of others. You are a

doorway of creativity yearning to be opened, hoping to be locked behind those

who enter. I am proud to tell you that I have thrown away the key. Thus, it is just

you and I alone in the room of time. We better get to work.

Sincerely yours,

Some Casual Portraits of Katie

Katie is a friend of mine, and we went on a little mini-adventure the other day so I took some shots of her. Let me know what you think.

Hannah & Ashley

I just wanted to take the time to put up a few of my favorites from the "Volare" shoot with Hannah and Ashley Sanford. All designs are courtesy of Hannah, and makeup once again flawlessly executed by Maddy. So, here they are. The entire shoot can be seen here.

Holy Cross Process

Holy Cross Process, originally uploaded by stussyjoker.

Holy... What else is there to say? A LOT, actually. Today, myself, Bart, and Bryce went downtown to shoot some pictures on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon. You can check out my other decent stuff here. Anyway, back to this shot. We headed over to State Capitol Park to do some nature stuff, portraits, etc., and we came across the statue of Father Junipero Serra. If you're not familiar with Serra you can learn a jaded tidbit about him here. At the base of the statue is a map of California that is marked with all of the missions that Father Serra helped construct up and down the coast line. However, it is my feeling that this statue shouldn't even EXIST. Last time I checked, there aren't statues dedicated to the men that ran the Japanese internment camps in the '40's. Also, I don't think there are any statues dedicated to the auctioneers who sold slaves for hundreds of years in THIS VERY COUNTRY. Ok, so you get it, you're intelligent, I don't need to be telling you that our country has an marred history rife with human injustice. Yet, right at our state capitol there is this statue of Father Junipero Serra. When the Spanish began coming into what is now present day California and began constructing missions, they forced Christianity onto the native American people. These people had their own customs and practices; they did not need Catholicism to "save" them. Which brings me to the commentary I am using in this shot. I shot this at f/1.4 so the actual statue is completely out of focus behind the cross. This is how I feel about what the Spanish did to the natives. All they could see was their cross; their religion. They were so jaded by this that they could not see the men and women that were right in front of them. All they saw were savages that needed to be saved from their own hellacious destiny. I also decided to post the cross processed version of this shot, because I feel that it has just a little more of the feel I was looking for from this image. The original version can be seen with the set I linked in the beginning of this post. So, wonderful people, tell me what you think. About all of it. I'd love to hear from you.

Think X

Think X, originally uploaded by stussyjoker.

Alright, I was going to save this one for tomorrow, but I just couldn't resist. This is one of those shots that re-affirms to me why I love photography as much as I do. Some are turned off by the cross-processed look, but not me. I have a very loose photography personality. Some of my contemporaries get so caught up with the technical aspect of their cameras that they forget to be creative.
So to all you images with a soft focus, motion blur, accidental blur, light leaks, etc., I welcome you. I champion you. There will always be room for you at my table. Also, I titled this shot Think X. The original edit was Think About It. I am not exactly sure why I titled it the way I did, I just let the photographs decide most of the time. The ones that aren't ready, I just leave untitled. So, back to my original point I was trying to reach. Think X is a bit of a double entendre for me. Sure, it can be interpreted literally because of its cross processing, or x-pro, but I had much deeper motives than that. The day before this shoot, I watched Do the Right Thing again for the first time in a while, and I just love that movie. Definitely one of Spike's best in my opinion. But the reason I bring this up is because of the narrative that film gives about society. I'm not going to delve into that here, because I'd rather you watch the film and think about it yourself (and then discuss it with me!). But again, back to the point. At the beginning of the credits, there are two quotes; one by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and one by one of my personal heroes, Malcolm X. The quote is this :

"I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."


Now, at this point you're probably wondering, "What the hell is he trying to say?" Well this is what I am trying to say. Look what we have done to the Earth. Now, before I go any further, I would like to mention that I enjoy four wheeling, as trivial as a defense as that is, but I wanted to be clear that I am not negatively commenting on such a recreation. But, in a way, yes, yes I am. Because again, look at the taxation that humankind has put on the earth. Surely we must have technological advances, but it is a shame that we have do try and preserve what we have left, instead of being able to maintain what should have always been there. Ok, so here is where the quote ties in, at least in my brain. The polar ice caps, the ozone layer, the fires, the abnormal weather patterns, it is earth practicing self defense. I know what some of you are thinking, but at least try to understand where I am coming from. It was bound to happen. I don't know why that quote made that connection in my head after I processed this shot, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean it is such a heavy quote when taken in the right connotation, not to mention when nuts like me take it and pull it apart and use it for examples like that. I don't know, was that too much? Too far? You decide...