Looking Toward the Stars

Daniel Reichart gave two other DTHers and I a tour of the planetarium and a demonstration of UNC's involvement in a series of telescopes are changing the way people can access data from space.

I'm supposed to create a multimedia piece from my footage, but we'll see how well that goes. Not much happened. The most interesting part of the tour took place on a screen, which is not very interesting to a video camera. I know I have to get an interview piece because the tour narration alone will not thread the story together. Unfortuantely, that cannot happen until Wednesday.

I like these two photos, though, and this experience would have been better documented by photos alone, as can be seen in the accompanying photographer's resulting photos. How this turns out will be up in the air.

Post-graduation Life

Kavita and I had not talked in about a month and a half, so we decided to finally catch each other about our summer lives over some drinks. In the meantime, she became the start of what I hope to continue forever: a photo diary. As simple as it may seem, the more you shoot, the better you are. I know my work is good but I just the experience to make it better and to find the Ryan Jones style the world of photojournalism just can't live without.

In the process, I hope to do portraits of people that mean the world to me. Most of my friends will disperse in the coming months due to graduating, and I want to have great images to honor their pressences in my life. I love them all dearly and hope the images do them all justice.

Alena's Senior Portraits

Photographing senior portraits isn't as easy as I thought. Alena, my friend and first paying customer, wanted my style of photography, which isn't typically difficult to provide, but she also wanted the standard graduation photos that everyone loves with it. Add a time crunch and you got an overwhelmed Ryan.

I really want to learn how to meet my style with customer's demands. Since most photographers have to be freelancers now, it will be territory I have to cross for most of working life. In this case, I think I did it moderately well. You get the mixture of the stereotypical landscapes for UNC grad photos, but all the emotions are true, and I feel each has a twist. I also placed Alena in swings and on a sloping hill for a variety of scenery one typically doesn't find. They were my favorites, especially the one with the gazebo background. Unfortunately, at the same time, I feel they could be quite typical still.

What are your thoughts?

Silent Partners

This installation of In Their Boots focuses on the gay and lesbian partners of deployed military workers and how their relationships and lives must remain secret thanks to Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

You meet three people: two gay civilian partners of deployed military workers and one non-deployed lesbian soldier dating a deployed one. Their stories are heart-wrenching, and captivating. If your eyes do not widen in shock when the second storyteller reveals his deployed partner was misinformed about his death but could not call to invalidate the information, then the whole piece will be lost on you. Besides the actual dishonorable discharge, that is DADT at its worst, which is brutal.

While the subjects and access blow typical documentary expectations out the water, the footage leaves me wanting more, especially the blurred scenes. The anonymity of these participants should be and were obviously the first concerns of the project workers, but there are various ways to approach subjects without giving away their identity.

In this case, certain shots are rendered useless because the attempt at protecting identities destroys the purpose of the scenes altogether (plus they even left the blur strips on footage that didn't require them). The tight face shot of the "Gay Solider's Husband" could not reveal the intended concentration, so why even include it? The final blurred result revealed nothing.

Varying the compositions, playing with body language and using silhouettes could have provided more visually dynamic shots while maintaining anonymity of those involved and the approachability of this work.

One of the best examples of such an approach to an unidentifiable subject I have seen was done by Eileen Mignoni, a graduated masters student from UNC. She forced her compositions to both hide and tell the story of an illegal immigrant currently living in the US and fearing to be deported, which would leave her American citizen daughter behind. To see this piece, go here:

http://facingdeportation.org/?page_id=6

A possible chance to merge these two types of works has appeared. I stumbled upon a deployed queer solider dating an undeployed one, and asked him about his story. I, as a queer and interested photojournalist, wanted to know more than anything why dealing with DADT was worth it.

"As far as the lies are considered, if that is what it takes, then yeah. I love my country and him. He feels the same way, so we do what we do. Serving is a sacrifice... each person has there own sacrifice. This is ours," he responded.

His calm, yet firm assurance in his duty instantly drew a desire to document he and his partner's lives. They live not far from my hometown, and I could spend time there while working on this project. I asked him about the possibility but he has not responded yet. It is a lot to ask of hidden people but I hope he realizes how important his story could be especially with so much recent contention over dissolving DADT.

I know I have posted a lot of possibilities on this blog but this one I want more than anything.

Best of the Triangle Party

Best Of The Triangle Party 2009 - Images by Independent Weekly

I just cannot seem to escape The Best of the Triangle assignment. Day after day following the completion of those 28 assignments and editing the massive amounts of photos that resulted, I waited to hear from my bosses of what they needed me to do next.

Nothing came. The photo requirements were light for each week. Finally, something broke: I needed to cover the Best of the Triangle Party celebrating the winners I photographed and the many more included in the paper.

From what I read, several vendors would attend and give out samples of their food, and the masses would flood in to wine, dine and enjoy music. My boss told me to just enjoy myself and snap photographs of people doing the same. Enjoying myself certainly sounded like fun, along with the abundance of free food.

It did pan out that way at the start. I ate ice cream, I photographed. I ate tacos, I photographed. I tried to figure out how people enjoy sound installations, I photographed.

The whole process soon became redundant, and I turned to the stairwells and to the outdoor concert for entertainment and photo fodder. While it gave me the varying the shots I needed for the assignment, the shifting temperature changes soon made me feel ill.

I asked my boss if leaving half an hour early would be OK, to which he said didn't mind. There was little point in forcing myself to photograph while sick because the results never turn out well. In fact, I'm mildly OK with my photos in the viewer (the others, as the footer says, are my boss's work). I did not record caption info for all of them, which makes me an awful photoJOURNALIST, and I only found few compositions I enjoyed.

In the end, though, I went home to rest and enjoy an evening of evenly air-conditioned rooms and talking with my friends online. It's just what the doctor ordered.

Sleepless and Assignmentless

At the hour of 4:15 am, I write this, wishing I could fall asleep. However, a late night dosage of Dr. Pepper has sought to make this dream of dreaming impossible. Having a lot on the mind doesn't help, either.

It looks as if I will not have another video for the Daily Tar Heel this week. All these great ideas I discover or attempt to create myself are all at the maybe stage, where they could happen, where the interest is there but the production isn't.

Two student poverty oriented stories have not left the drawing board. As for the idea that fell into my lap, it could never happen, it seems. The person that learned to read at 72 is currently in the hospital, and we have to see what occurs with his release and general health. He could be too weak to continue his promotional tour for the facility that educated him, or it may take him a good while to reach the point where he could do it again, lessening my chances of the DTH funding it (the editor completely supports this idea). It's all a waiting game.

However, I have great company to occupy me in the meantime. My good friend and UNC graduate is spending a great deal of her break from grad school with me to catch up and to have me do her senior portraits. Those will soon appear here along with photographs I plan to do for another friend that has graced his head with a faux hawk and wants to show it off to the world.

Photographing for fun is something I do not find myself doing often, and I always tell myself this should change. The more you shoot, the better you shoot. It is a simple fact that eludes me often, as well. And what better way is there to shoot than when the pressure to perform ceases and the laughter begins? I never want photography to become something I dread because all the joy vacated it, leaving only a job. As of now, I could care less if I died on a photo shoot. I would at least end my life doing exactly what I enjoy. Having that escape me, would leave me completely numb, otherwise.

Falling into my Lap

I awoke to find a delightful message from my good friend and former documentary coach this morning, detailing a project request she could not fulfill but one she hoped I could cover:

"I have a mini-documentary that I've been thinking about for awhile that I wanted to see if you're available and interested in doing? I am the Director of a nonprofit community based literacy council that works with illiterate adults. We have a gentleman that learned to read with us when he was 72 yrs old. He is now 76. He is our Ambassador, and does speaking engagements, telling his remarkable story, but I really would like to have it archived and captured on film. I thought you might be interested in the project, or might recommend someone who would? We aren't able to pay, but I think Perrin (the student) would be open to the piece being used for grad work, submissions for competition, etc. with the ultimate objective obviously being advocacy and outreach."

Personally, I think it's fascinating. Only financial issues stand in the way of me completing this, which I hope to overcome with some help from the Daily Tar Heel. Dunn sits an hour away from Chapel Hill, and I do not have the gas money to make that trek the several times it would take to make this a great story. I have to attend his speaking engagements, as well, and there is no telling where he will all travel in this time.

I'm crossing my fingers that the DTH will help with gas compensation. Their multimedia work thus far has been mainly limited to event coverage, which had its place in the field, but the true power of it all comes to play when you can tell personal stories of people like you and me.

This will be updated as soon as I hear the news of this project's fate. Even if I don't receive funding, I hope to somehow still do it.

Access Denied

At our pre-budget meeting for the Daily Tar Heel today, I felt great walking in with an idea that could possibly turn out extremely well. The feeling only grew when surprisingly the features editor requested a multimedia that had to be done tonight. While I hate rushed projects, documenting the closing of an iconic movie theatre on Franklin St. closing seemed interesting.

Unfortunately, my documentation of an ended era soon met the same fate at the theatre. A person greeted at the door and took me to the owner of The Varsity once he heard my request. I feared this encounter because he was already ignoring every other press member trying to reach him, but I had every intention of fighting for my right to be there.

He simply said no. I could only video the marquis because they were having a farewell party in the lobby, which was a private engagement they did not want disturbed (I was secretly screaming that it's also something that would be great to document. Plus, a series of reactions and goodbyes would have been beautiful from the people who worked and supported the theatre for all these years.)

After devastating my cause, he just walked away, leaving me with the rest of the part goers starring at me. One told me the owner refused to talk any press after the last time the family lost a theatre. People hounded their phone lines and "ruined their lives" somehow. Since then, they haven't given an inch of access to the media.

I took my leave and returned my equipment to the office containing my editor. He called them jerks, which made me laugh and want to agree with that idea; however, I know that hatred or at least fear for the media people experience. It has reared its ugly head in almost every project I have done. People seem to think we're out to exploit them by creating a false image and auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

A lot of that, I feel, derives from the paparazzi hounding celebrities while hiding in secret locales and waiting for their next move. It's an image people have to banish from their minds when it comes to true journalists. At the same time, we have to be persistent with our causes yet respectful of their wishes and uneasiness. It's a fine line to walk, but we all have to do it if these needed stories are ever going to be heard.

Bolshoi Experience

Weeks after my first video completion, I found the time and subject to do another. I feel extremely bad for not having the ability to do these assignments for a publication that is actually paying me, but the one not doing so wore me out completely. Fortunately, part of the work was done for me this time, because the assignment came to me from the arts desk editor. She wanted to see a multimedia project done on the Bolshoi since their presence in Chapel Hill meant a lot more than the fact they were performing two ballets.

I gladly agreed, as you can see, and found myself enjoying the experience. The best part was photographing Swan Lake, hands down. Besides being beyond pleased with the resulting images, I really enjoyed seeing these performers grace the stage and living up to their world renown.

I just wished I had been able to cover the Don Quijote performance, as well, for both the experience and photos. Instead, I had to use another staffer's photographs that did not impress me too much. They worked, but I just wanted to see angles and a closeness to the performers you cannot have by just sitting in the audience, the kind of experience photography and and video should bring.

The Carolina Performing Arts (and I'm sure the Bolshoi) would not allow me to video the two performances, causing me to need their footage. It looks grainy and small because they had already edited the piece together and compressed it for distribution. When I compressed it again for this project, it gave that result.

Despite those hiccups, I enjoyed the experience greatly. I hope to provide many more pieces before the summer goes up, but we will see. The one for this week failed, but I have hope for a mini-documentary piece this coming week. *crosses fingers*

Banned Bliss

Part of my summer adventures has included being the Multimedia Editor for the Daily Tar Heel. I took it out of the need to make some money this summer and not kill all the time needed for my internship. Before this, I had very, very little experience with video. I only used it for transitions in for my documentary project. But with that experience and my knowledge of visual storytelling, I knew I could handle it.

The first week of being editor went by so quickly after the semester ended, I could not manage a story. Then, I just had to do one for the second, and the above video was the result. I'm quite proud of it, especially for my first full video. Everyone had nothing but great things to say, which felt awesome.

The experience, while educational, was not completely enjoyable. I simply walked into the Hookah Bliss and asked the owner if I could do a story on his store as a visual explanation of the legislation that passed and what it meant for the establishments involved. He agreed without hesitation, and I showed up the next day ready to document.

Only the owner and various operators occupied the store most of the time I filmed. They filled their conversations with quite a deal of stereotypical hetero man talk, which included some queer slurs. I was getting pissed at those, but, surprisingly, the owner would shush them each time they uttered the insults (I think he knew my identity. The rainbow-strapped camera bag could have given it away).

His persistence of ending ignorance failed, however, when sexism arose in the conversations. One customer finally drifted in and bringing irritating baggage with him. He discussed sex, specifically about contraception and his wholehearted belief that women should have to take birth control. "Fuck their hormones, I don't care if they have to take a pill. I don't want to have to take it out on my 'guy'," were his exact words.

The patriarchal views made me pack up within minutes--even when I was worried about not having enough, non-visually redundant footage. I may not have been able to step in and berate him due to the photojournalist-subject relationship in place, but I didn't have to be there and further the owner's cause against this legislation if he promoted such hate speech.

So, I left to spend a night of American Idol and editing in the Daily Tar Heel office. Seeing the first out queer come so close to winning it all was much more rewarding along with the realization that I had plenty of footage to create a tightly edited, nicely shot video.

Best of the Triangle

Indy Best Of The Triangle | 2009 - Images by Independent Weekly

This summer, I decided to stay in Chapel Hill because I earned the opportunity to be the Independent Weekly's photo intern. My friend Jesus did me a great favor by allowing me to stay in her apartment for free since she would not be using it anyways and she knew I would not be able to afford a place on my own while doing an unpaid internship. I consider myself very blessed for having both opportunities.

My first and only assignment so far was enormous. Each year Indy has a Best of the Triangle competition in which readers can vote on their favorite establishments throughout Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. The very first day of working for them, I was given 29 of the winners to document in three weeks. While, compared to a daily newspaper, that isn't much, but I had to wait until I was paid for my work for being the Multimedia Editor for the DTH so I could afford all the traveling.

In the process, I met some great and irritating people. At one place I was turned around at the door because they did not have the owner's permission. When I finally reached the owner, he laughed at how ridiculous they behaved. Other places gave me free food and drinks and treated me very well. Some bars had ridiculously beautiful staff members (I think it's done on purpose) which made me drool a bit, but, luckily, I could keep my cool to perform my job.

My editors both praised me all my work, along with the higher ups. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, as well. My fave shoot out of all them had to be at Blue Flame, the tattoo parlor in Raleigh. One, I had never seen a tattoo placed on anyone before, and the process fascinated me. I found myself watching the art in progress as much I was documenting it. Two, the fact he chose a Blink 182 symbol after all these years of the band not having a hit made me a smile. Even Derek, one of my bosses, asked, "Now?!?" after I told him the design.

Since this finished, I've only had one assignment, which isn't a bad thing. I'm saving money by not having to drive only all over the place, but, at the same time, I could be working a paying job to help feed myself better. A diet of green beans, Cup of Noodles and Dr. Pepper does not provide much energy whatsoever (I'm working on it!). I will see what happens. The down time might become too much, needing me to fill it with a part time job, which will be so fun to find in this economy.

Oh, the other assignment was of course the Best of the Triangle Party, a celebration to honor the winners and give away samples of their free food to the people that voted for them. They will go on the website, and I will post the link on here.