Out with the old & in with the new

Photo by last year graduate Demetrius Freeman

The last two days have been full of hustle and bustle at school. We have been working hard on our holiday portrait set and will be all finished tomorrow. We have also had a lot of visits from the graduates from last year (photo above) , who are picking up all of their images that have been hanging in the media gallery the full year. All of the recent grads (photo below) have been there to put up their current work. Its beautiful and BIG! It gives me hope and excitement that our day is coming too. It is so much fun to see the new work, its a breath of fresh air for a while. You can see a lot of the work on our photo website or come by and see it in person at the school!

Photo by recent graduate Ryan Tyrl

Sleep..who needs sleep

I have decided that I will not sleep until this quarter is over. I have a feeling I am definitely not alone with this one. I have learned a lot about time management and how to prioritize. If I have time to go to bed, I lay in bed thinking what to shoot/edit/blog/ the next day. Its been a fun ride, I just have a feeling I may need to start drinking coffee or buy these glasses for class...

European Vacation!!

Wow...Europe has no idea was is going to hit next september. Today Mrs. Harkins told us a few of the locations for our study abroad program next september. Our photo dept gets to travel with the culinary dept for 11 days. I cant stand it, this is far worse than any christmas excitement! I am going to pack my bags now, sit on the curb and wait for september to come! Germany, Switzerland and Italy are part of the trip with opportunities to visit other places on our "off days". Looks like we have a lot of research to do to keep us busy the next few months. Dig deep people and help send our photo dept. to europe!

I cant wait to hitchhike with chelsea. World here we come!

Shooting for a feature

So, it took two weeks of shooting, and 7 contact sheets turned in, for one image to be selected. But it only takes one and I keep telling myself that. This is one of the contact sheets I turned in and my teacher selected one of the images from it. Cant wait for critique tomorrow should be a fun one to see what everybody shot.

No recession here

Here is a video I made for my Multimedia class this summer. We had to create a "statement" video, and I decided to do mine on Alpharetta and the non-recession. I strongly believe that as long as we have h2 hummers, apple computers/iphones and 800,000 homes we are not in a recession just a displacement of money. Check it out!

Impromtu Photo Shoot

The neighbors came over today to grab just a few headshots for a modeling event they have this weekend. They went to a casting call last weekend on whim and they all three were asked to come back for the second call with lots of different agencies. They were so much fun to shoot with and it turned into a little mini photo shoot. We had a great time and my husband gets an A for some great assisting. I shot with Photogeonic Strobes and a 50mm 1.8

Lily's Run

A few weeks ago I set out to shoot my feature for photojournalism. I found out about an event near my home that was a 5k event for an 8 year old little girl named Lily. She was recently diagnosed with advanced neuroblastoma, a cancer in the abdomen. Just a few weeks prior she had started school and was a cheerleader in a youth league. I went to the run not sure what to expect. The place was packed and full of energy with bouncing tunnels for the kids, a live band, lots of vendors and a few falcon cheerleaders. In the middle of the event the forsyth county fire dept brought Lily to be with her family. This part was unplanned and a big surprise to most. With a weakened immune system she is not supposed to have close contact with others outside her immediate family. She spent most of the time in the truck waving to friends but made a special appearance onstage to sing a song. She sang "The Climb" from Miley Cyrus, one of her idols. There was not a dry eye in the crowd, including myself. Its hard to shoot and cry at the same time. I met many of the family members towards the end of the event and they couldn't have been any kinder and thanked me for coming. Lily has such a fighting spirit and is ready to conquer this. Her family lives by the phrase "Anderson Power!", their last name. I am very moved by this little girl. I am not sure if it is her love for peace signs and neon green, or her willingness to move forward acknowledging she has a long road ahead. I don't complain about being tired, or having too much to do anymore. I hope to have her same outlook in my life. I had the priviledge of meeting "Aunt Kristen" a few days later and showing her the video. I will remember this for a long time.