Sunday, October 26, 2014

Beach Goth Party Photos & Reflection



     When I was 19, my favorite musician was Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls. I was going to college in Iowa and when my friend, Connor Mulhern, asked me if I wanted to photograph a Frank Turner show for dyingscene.com, I was very enthusiastic about the opportunity. I met up with Connor in Milwaukee, WI, and we interviewed and took pictures of Frank and the opening act, Andrew Jackson Jihad (AJJ).
     I photographed to the best of my abilities for someone who didn't know what an aperture was. Although I was dissatisfied with the images I took, I became enamored with the experience. This show was the inciting incident for what would soon become an obsession with photography. An obsession that would eventually take me across the country to Ventura, California to study photojournalism.
     I think it is significant that I photographed AJJ exactly three years from when these images were taken. I took the first ones at a very formative time in my life. Now, as I prepare to graduate in December, it feels like an important benchmark. Today, I am just as unhappy with the images as I was in 2011. My hope is that in three years I can photograph AJJ again and feel just as dissatisfied. If there is one thing I've learned during these last few years, it is that dissatisfaction breeds growth and powers improvement. LINK TO THE GALLERY 


This is a dancer for Alice Glass














Here are some photos I took from the show in 2011:



 Andrew Jackson Jihad


Connor, Mitch, Frank and I after the interview



Downtown Milwaukee




Wednesday, October 8, 2014

When I'm nervous I take pictures.

I realized that I haven't blogged since the end of Reno.

Since then, I've been unable to shoot as often as I would like and certainly not as much as I did over the summer. My main focus has been put towards shooting a documentary with Sarah Bourscheid and Chris Martinez out near the Salton Sea in Slab City.  The documentary is about a woman named Moria and her husband, Ben Morofsky... I won't say anymore now, but I'm very excited about it!

Anyhoo. Coming home is weird. No matter how long you're gone for it always seems to be strange. In these few days that I've spent here before I go to the Eddie Adams Workshop, I have been very nervous. I've found that the best way for me to deal with any emotion is just to photograph... so this is what I've been trying to do a lot of. Some of the things I've been posting are on my INSTAGRAM account, but here are the rest!



Sleepy Sarah after spending a very chilly night in the car in Bombay Beach


Reflection of a man reading a book


Adam Apple Orchard


Marcell and his tractor in Williston, Vt


So many apples


Polly Dakin. 


Apples


Autumn


Leaves


Found a lizard


Honky Tonk Tuesday


Honky Tonk Tuesday


My Aunt's birthday


And then I ran into Bernie Sanders... 

Monday, August 11, 2014

And then the sky was purple–– Last week in pictures.

Sports forever. Last week almost all of my assignments were sports related. Even the nutrition lab I went to was full of sports supplements. I have one week left as an intern at the Reno Gazette Journal and I still haven't had an assignment I didn't like. However, I will forever struggle with sports and portraits. I know I just need more practice but I hope it doesn't take me too long to figure out this whole sports action and posing people business. On Saturday I went back to the office to edit photos I took of the Tour de Nez bike race and I stepped outside to grab something from my car and there was a rainbow and the sky had turned purple and it was the most incredible light. I ran back inside and told my sports editor that I was sorry but I had to go make some images. She just laughed and told me to go on. I'm happy that my pictures from the crazy sky aren't as beautiful as the actual event of seeing it was... something are made better by memory. Anyway, here are some attempts I made at not being boring. Take a look.



Now Foods plant in Sparks gave tours to their western customers. 


Mister batter A.J. Pollock. The ball missed him and he got a good hit in on the next pitch.


Aces pitcher Lucas Harrell


 August Brautigam won the San Francisco Marathon. He is a Reno resident BUT is originally from Vermont! In fact, I found out that I've raced against his brother in Nordic skiing back in high school aaaand his brother went to college in my hometown, Middlebury. The world is very small. 


Will Lachenauer was paralyzed from the chest down in a motocross accident in 2008 but he is now on the US para-cycling team. He won the handcycling race on the Tour de Nez in downtown Reno.


Sports. 


Trying to take shelter from the rain in some tree branches. 


Michael Jasinski from Rose Valley.


More rain and bicycles.


At the end of the day it was nice to see that some people were having fun. 


From my car window on Second Street.


Cal Neva anyone?



Believe it or not, this is barely edited. I burned the sky a little and dodged the building. THE SKY WAS SO CRAZY. 




Side note, I can't stop listening to old blues music: 


Monday, August 4, 2014

The people of Hot August Nights.

This week all I photographed was cars and golf... so basically I turned into a 60 year old man. Instead of posting photos that I submitted for the paper, I wanted to highlight the people of Hot August Nights. Sorry, no golf photos. I think that this event really brought out the true, authentic people of Reno. I've always been one to try to interact with my subjects but this week I made a grand attempt to remain invisible and unknown to those I was photographing. I went up to them afterwards to get their name so they knew eventually but it was a tactic I just wanted to try out.

Hot August Nights used to be a weekend riddled with crime. One year there was a riot, since then the police have had a really strong presence at the event. Despite their attempts, I've been told that this event brings in massive amounts of illegal prostitution and drug use. To begin this, meet Lenny, Tammy and Coco. Lenny and Tammy have been married 30 years and in Reno for almost the same amount of time.

































Goodbye Hot August Nights. 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Compression, Crashes, Cars and Cheesecake

This week began very slowly. I didn't even have a real assignment until Saturday and then became very busy indeed. I'm grateful for the lull because I know this next week is going to be crazy with both the PGA tournament in Tahoe and Hot August Nights starting up (car shows).

Anyhoo, here are some photos from my week


Compression:


Native Reno resident, Tim, and his grandson.


Hula-hooping outside of the Calneva


This girl came all the way from Elko. It was her first Burning Man related event.


Katja on her mothers sholders


Milo the centaur


"Lady Luck"


The Calneva was a popular spot for people to dance during the event.


And of course what would a Burning Man event be without fire.

Plane Crash:


About forty minutes outside of Reno a privately owned aircraft headed for South Dakota had to do an emergency landing on Pyramid Highway. No one was seriously injured.

Cheesecake Factory Opening:


A Cheesecake Factory opened at the Mall.

Hot August Nights:


Had a long chat with Norm Croxon here about life and the secret to a long lasting vehicle and marriage. On his decision to buy this vehicle "[my wife] said I couldn't have a girlfriend so she let me buy this car." 


Otys Banks bought this car with his father 45 years ago