PWS (Post Workshop Syndrome)

Greetings my Hot Pink Stars!

I hope everyone is home safely and going through the decompression process. It was an amazing weekend....and you should all be very proud of the work you produced. The Hot Pink show was head and shoulders above everyone elses production.....a product of genuine collaboration, hard work and dedication by everyone on the team.

I am very proud of all of you. In my 18 consecutive years of doing this, we have not had a more talented group of shooters....and hands down....this was the best show ever!!!

In retrospect, my only regret was that I did not have enough time to sit with you individually to go over your work but at least you were able to see your selects with Keith and Bill....and perhaps the surprise of seeing what was used in the show at the same time as everyone else... made it as exciting to see as it was to put together.

Editing for a multi-media production (which is exactly what our show was) is very different than editing for a magazine or newspaper....we have to think about things like sequencing, transition slides, story telling, title slides, where we place the video and audio....and the all important choice of music, which can make or break a show on its own. The music was killer! Right genre for each of the sections we showed. During the "classic portraits" section in B&W....I glanced out into the room and there were people actually crying! And I say that because it's a good thing, not bad....as I said during my chat..."For a picture to be 'effective,' it has to be 'affective'."

Since I didn't have that "up close and personal" time with each of you, I am extending an open invitation to all of you to stop by the SI office any time your travels take you through New York. I miss you guys already. Please stay in touch.

Hot Pink Rules!!!

Jim

Time Warp

I've just agreed for an additional six months at my internship at the Dubois County Herald in Jasper, Indiana, a paper that doesn't yet have a website but has a devoted subscriber base. I will have been in Indiana for 13 months by the time the internship is over, a tenure I had no idea would be so long. On the downside, it's in a tiny town. On the plus side, the majority of the photographers' time is spent working on long stories that are published in what they call the Saturday Feature. I'm living in a time warp where photos run huge and help determine the content of the paper every single day. I have no clue what I'll do after this. I'm worried that I'll be ill-prepared for reality.



Before getting on the plane yesterday, I captioned two stories that will run while I'm away. I shot a five-part series of stories that dealt with election issues- the Iraq war, healthcare, the economy, energy, and the last will be immigration. Everything is in the can but the immigration story, about a family with a father and provider, Marco, who was jailed for false papers and is about to be deported. His two kids, both U.S. citizens, and his wife are waiting for him to be deported so they can follow him to Mexico-- but it's a hard time for everyone. Perhaps that goes without saying. It feels unreal to have all this time to work on stories. I'm scared about the future. Until then, I'll keep shooting.


Jesse tries on his father's hat. His father, Marco, is in jail awaiting deportation. His mother Norma says that ever since visiting his dad in jail on Saturday, Jesse has hardly eaten anything. "It was harder this Saturday," said Norma, "because now they say he won't be out until January."

Feelin' the Funk

After eight months of two consecutive internships at the Deseret Morning News and the Rocky Mountain News, I'm finally back in Gainesville, Florida finishing school, which with only two science credits left isn't too daunting of a task. It feels good to take a break from the 50-60 hour work weeks skipping from one assignment to the next. I'm finally able to process some of the work I've done and try to make some since of my journey out west.


At the same time, spending hours updating my Web page, making prints and trying to build what I have up in an attempt to make myself somewhat satisfied with my progress drains on me after a while. So, after bouncing from one extreme to the other I've realized that all I really want to do is make pictures that mean something to me and communicate something that I think is meaningful to the people. It seemed to me at one point that there are some hurdles in the way of doing this, but I think I'm slowly realizing that there don't have to be. I'm hoping to make the workshop a point for me to focus again on working on a project where I can explore something that interests me. The funk is getting too funky and I need out.

Two Projects

Recently I have been spending a lot of my time working on two projects which are quite different from one another. The more recent is more of a job than a project but it has been enjoyable nonetheless. A few months ago I was asked by a friend if I would be interested in working with her as an instructor and choreographer for a cologuard at a local high school here. I did cologuard in both high school and college and also was a part of a drum and bugle corps for a little while. So, even though it had been over two years since I was actively involved with a colorguard, I jumped at the chance to do something

 different for a change. I also would be taking over as the only instructor once school started since my friend was traveling to Germany to study abroad. It is very enjoyable to make up flag work and then see it come to life on a field. 

So, we are now a few weeks into the semester and although we have had minor set backs such as injuries and of course Hurricane Gustav, I am very proud of the girls progress, though they still have a long way to go. So, instead of shooting prep football on Friday nights, I am now in the stands with the colorguard and band during most of the game with the exception of before halftime when I take them down to the field level to warm up. 

In the picture above the girls were warming up for their first performance for parents. I bring my camera to the games to get pictures of the girls but I don't get much of a chance to shoot since I am usually answering last minute questions, reminding the girls of things to do (like count!), and helping calm their nerves before performances.

In this photo the girls were warming up in the hallway before the band marched to the stadium. They were goofing off of course. They do a little bit of dance in their performances so they were poking fun at a dance sequence I have them do in rehearsal. 

The other project I have been working on is a portrait series of the newly formed roller derby league here in Baton Rouge. They call themselves the Red Stick Roller Derby. I have done portraits in the past but never a series like this. It was originally for a photo class I was taking in the art department at LSU. I ended up doing action shots and video as w

ell in hopes of putting a little video together that kind of introduced the team. Anyway, I had a lot of fun with the portraits and I was at so many of their practices that they came up with a derby name for me "Shutter Up". For the portraits I decided to do both head shots which I combined into one image and then a full body portrait of each person in their roller derby attire but either in their work setting or at where they work. 

Above is several head shots I did of the women. It is kind of a team personality portrait. And the photos below are two of my favorite photos from the group of portraits. In the first, her derby name is "Abita Hoedown" and she is a bartender/waitress at the restaurant in the photo which is a more formal Italian restaurant. The second photo is of "Zoom Tang" and she is a horticulturist.

If anyone want to see all the roller derby portraits go to:

www.clogiudicephotos.com/rsrdseries/index.html

- Crystal LoGiudice

amelia's thoughts....

A week ago I left my job at a newspaper in Arkansas. It was an extremely difficult decision to leave newspapers, but I couldn't be more excited about my new adventure! I leave with some ideas in my head for projects and unfinished business.

I'd like to share a couple of stories and photos I took in the past few months that are closest to my heart...

This is Aretta and Harry Melvin. They are separated at different nursing homes after being married for 62 years. Harry has Parkinson's disease and Aretta suffers from dementia. After her dementia escalated she had to relocate to a nursing home that offers lock down. "It's easier to die than it is to get old," said Harry Melvin.






This photo is from a short story I worked on about a hip hop dance club at a junior high school. "The thing that I think they took away is to really own the moment, in the place and time," said Jeanette Arnhart. "If you've worked hard...just by owning your moment, you'll make people understand."



Finally, here are some children with autism. With no single known cause or cure, autism is the fastest growing developmental disability. At the age of 10, the future of these children will be decided. They will either send them on to school with all the other children, or send them to a special school based on their current skill level.





I'll leave the Hot Pink People with this...

"A new journey to be started.
A new promise to be fulfilled.
A new page to be written.
Go forth unto this waiting world with pen in hand all you young scribes, the open book awaits.
Be creative.
Be adventurous.
Be original.
And above all else, be young.
For youth is your greatest weapon, your greatest tool.
Use it wisely."
------Wonder Woman #62

a story

Here is my context. It may or may not be important this weekend. I think what is important is recognizing the power that images play in our lives - both creating and sharing.
-------------

"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened." -Albert Camus

-------------
I grew up in Atlanta and did a good job at being a kid.

I found out that I couldn't be a kid forever though it hasn't sunk in yet.

I studied landscape architecture. This opened the world of the great outdoors to me at the ripe age of 22 and convinced me that it would be better to explore and inhabit the great outdoors rather than study landscape architecture in a classroom.

During this jump I started shooting and I've continually pushed myself to further my commitment and relationship with photography. I haven't grown weary of this education yet.

HEY THERE EVERYBODY!!

I have finished the EAW paper and can finally come back to reality. Okay ya’ll, I have to start by apologizing for not being more sociable. Keith is right about not making up excuses, so I won’t bore you with any. Oh, I almost forgot, my name is Stacy Pearsall (www.F8PJ.com) and I am your I.T. gal for the Workshop! My little pal in the picture is Porter Lliam and he is my right-hand-dawg. Not unlike my husband, Andy Dunaway, he keeps me laughing. By the way, Andy is also on the Black Team at EAW. But, his team won’t compare to ours. If I know Bill, Jimmy and Keith, they have something pretty spectacular planned for us!

This picture was taken by a student photographer at the Charleston Center for Photography, (www.centerforphotography.com) where I work as the Director. I thought it was funny and would share it with you. You can pretty much expect me to be the “GOOFY” person on the fabulous Hot Pink Team. Would you agree Bill?!?!?!?