So, I was going though the class’ blogs to see what I’ve missed the past two Thursdays due to being away for soccer games, and I saw that there were a few postings that were done in class, so I figured I would try to make them up the best I could….it seems that there were a bunch of questions asked and we were supposed to respond to those on our blogs, so here it goes…
What are your major influences?
I think my major influence of why I photograph and what I take photographs of comes from what I am passionate about, and a little bit of National Geographic. I’ve never really studied photography, and have little experience with professional or structured photography. I took film photography my senior year in high school but that is pretty much the extent of my knowledge and “training” in photography. I pretty much got into photography because of my love of animals. I’ve been working with animals for as long as I can remember and have always wanted to work with them. Hence the zoology major and desire to work with elephants as my job. Growing up, we always had National Geographic magazines around and I used to love looking at the pictures, I would never really read the articles, I just loved the pictures (still do the same thing now). This sparked my interest in animal photography because it was a way for me to combine art and animals, two of my interests. So, since then I’ve managed to get my hands on a great camera and have been waiting for my chance to go overseas and shoot animals. Along the way I’ve managed to shoot what ever else is around, graduations, trips to New Orleans, zoos and whatever I stumble onto. So pretty much my love of animals and desire to try to do what the photographers have done in National Geographic have pretty much influenced why I shoot, and probably why I prefer a more documentary approach to my photographs.
What is your creative process?
My creative process is definitely an unconscious one and pretty much result from luck I think, and the wonderful invention of digital. When I go out and shoot, I don’t really have a though process of this is what I’m going to shoot and these are the settings I want to use or I want this kind of lighting. I pretty go out with my camera and shoot what I see, what I like and what is interesting to me, and often what is ironic. I pretty much set my camera to a setting and forget to change it when I shoot (which I probably shouldn’t be telling Julee). Occasionally I remember to mess with the aperture/depth of field. So pretty much my creative process is going out and wandering around with my camera in hand and documenting what I stumble upon. This is probably why I prefer the documentary style of photography and really dislike shooting with models and predetermined ideas or setting. I definitely struggle when we have assignments that have a predetermined focus or idea that I am supposed to capture, like the 7 deadly sins, that was a huge struggle for me until I realized I could use the cows. If I hadn’t thought of that then I don’t really know what I would have done. I enjoy photography that captures the magic of real life that can’t be staged or recreated.
Why do people take photographs? What do you want to take photographs of?
I think people take photographs because they enjoy the memories that they can’t forget when looking back at the pictures. I think everyone has a different reason why they are taking photos, whether it be to remember friends, family or a specific event, or being bored and taking mirror shots, or for the artistic purpose. Whatever that reason maybe I think it all comes down to the enjoyment of being able to capture an image, time, event or person that will never come again and knowing that whenever you look at the picture you will be able to remember the time, place, people and how you felt at that moment. It’s an ability that is unique to photographs, except maybe videos, which are really just a successions of pictures.
I want to take photos of what I discussed in my response to my creative process. I want to photograph the magic of real life that can’t be staged or recreated. And I would like to focus on the things that are important to me, animals, sports and wherever else I end up going in my life.
What do you remember of 9/11?
Looking back I remember quite a bit and pretty vividly of where I was and how I felt on this day. I was sitting in my 7th grade Spanish class, in Syracuse NY, when the principal came over the loud speaker and apparently told the entire school about what had just happened and what was currently going on. But at that point I had never heard of the twin towers or really know anything about terrorism so I don’t actually remember what he said or had any idea of what he was talking about, but I do remember watching some of my classmates get really upset and I had no idea why. So I continued on my day not really knowing something that would alter history had just occurred. I was just going through my normal 7th grader day. The time that I realized something was different was at the end of the day they announced that all after school programs and all sports games were cancelled and everyone was to go home on their regular bus. At this time I was on the modified soccer team and we were supposed to have a game later on that afternoon, and I remember being really upset that our game was cancelled. Its funny to me now thinking about how angry I was that our game was cancelled and that it was stupid because whatever had just happened was affecting New York City and didn’t have anything to do with me or the rest of Central New York. I just wanted to play soccer. So, I went home and walked in the door and saw my dad (I can’t remember if my mom or brother were there) watching the TV, so I went down the stairs and sat next to him and watched as they replayed the towers being hit and falling down. And then I began to realized that something major had occurred and thus began my awareness of terrorism, the twin towers and pretty much everything else that dealt with the current government, wars and everything else outside of my safe little world in Syracuse.
