lightwriter

I'm Moving

2012-01-04T09:42:00.000-06:00

I have decided to leave blogger and cross over to the wordpress realm. So you can now find my photo blog at:

kylekurlick.wordpress.com

-Kyle

Ironwomen

2011-12-22T23:05:00.000-06:00

I have recently shot a couple assignments at gyms and had these cool photos with leading ladies.

Best of Weddings 2011: Jeff & Rachel Maxwell: Memphis Wedding Photographer

2011-11-15T20:05:00.000-06:00

For my final "Best of 2011" Wedding Photos, I present Jeff and Rachel Maxwell who were married on June 18, 2011 at Bellevue Baptist Church.

And...Just in case you forgot, I'm still offering my 15% discount on wedding packages until Jan. 1, 2012. Vist my website or tell your friends to visit my website for wedding package info: here.

Enjoy the Photos.

Best of Weddings 2011: Becky & Jamin Carter: Memphis Wedding Photographer

2011-11-07T16:52:00.003-06:00

The second installment of my "Best of 2011" Wedding Photos features Becky and Jamin Carter who were married on June 11, 2011 at the Overton Park Clubhouse.

Also, don't forget to tell your friends looking for a wedding photographer that I am offering a 15% discount on wedding packages that are booked now through the end of the year. For more info vist my website: here.

Finally, I apologize if this post and the previous take a little bit to load onto the page. If you are patient enough, I'm sure you will enjoy all these great photos I want to share with you.

Best of Weddings: 2011 - Jeff & Katie Saunders - Memphis Wedding Photography

2011-10-31T15:40:00.000-05:00

Here is my first of three installments for my "Best of 2011" Wedding Photos. These are from the wedding of Jeff and Katie Saunders on June 4, 2011.

Also, I would like to announce that I will be offering a 15% discount on all weddings booked now until the end of 2011. Visit my website www.kylekurlick.com for wedding package details.

Yep, This was my Saturday

2011-10-22T16:28:00.001-05:00

'nuff said.

Top: Dressed up as a banana, Honeysuckle, a pitt bull, waits to receive a snack while trick or treating with her owner around the stores surrounding Three Dog Bakery, who hosted a "Growl-o-ween" event for dogs. Besides trick or treating, there was a costume contest and everyone walked away with a bag of snacks for their pets.

Bottom: New members of the ATO fraternity at Rhodes College prepare for the homecoming parade with some stretches before they have to pull their house's float around the campus while wearing nothing but underwear.

Remembering Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T18:25:00.002-05:00

The everyman's tribute to Steve Jobs.

Contact Sheet: Ganesh Festival

2011-10-06T18:02:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I covered a local Ganesh festival. Which can be explained here: but long story short, lots of parades and good food and sending Ganesha back to heaven by being sunk in water. Also, while researching this on wikipedia I came across this little tidbit that I thought was interesting.

"Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival, it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore and Chennai. Many artists, industries, and businesses survive on this mega-event. Ganesh Festival also provides a stage for budding artists to present their art to the public."

Utah: Mike & Djamila's Wedding

2011-10-05T16:51:00.001-05:00

In August, I flew out to Utah to attend Mike and Djamila's wedding. Both are amazing photographers whom I met and worked alongside at various photography workshops over the past few years. I am a big fan of both of their work. It was a fun ceremony, and one of the most photographed weddings ever. There had to have been at least 50 photographers present with their cameras, which made for a great day, especially when it rained part way through the afternoon. I wish Mike and Djamila all the best in their adventures together.

Contact Sheet: We heart Safe Streets Rally

2011-09-03T01:24:00.002-05:00

So, the color is the one I picked to turn in, but I am kind of drawn to the B&W photo as well. How are my choosing skills? Thoughts?

Steven Davidson holds up a white bicycle in memory of his brother, Chris Davidson, who was killed last month while riding his bike on Madison during a rally at City Hall promoting the addition of bicycle lanes on Madison Ave.

2011 Wedding Photography Preview

2011-09-01T22:20:00.003-05:00

One of these days in the near future I will present my best of wedding photos from 2011. For now, here is a little taste from a session with Jeff and Rachel Maxwell.

Looking Back/Looking Ahead

2011-08-23T23:13:00.004-05:00

White Pine Trail, Utah

More photo fun from Utah still to come.

Serving Kingsbury

2011-08-23T21:43:00.002-05:00

For some reason, nothing from this assignment ever saw the light of day. I don't know why, but here's my favorite one.

(right to left) Madison Salach. on a mission trip for First United Methodist Church from Tulsa, OK, Katie Foster of Fellowship Memphis and Brooke Greene of Makeover Memphis spray a new coat of paint on some chairs at Kingsbury High school for the teacher's lounge. Fellowship has had a 5 year partnership with Kingsbury with volunteering time, money and service to the school. Fellowship worked with Makeover Memphis and a youth group from First United Methodist Church from Tulsa, OK to give the teacher's lounge a much needed makeover.

Technicolor or Monochrome Mormons?

2011-08-06T11:36:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I was covering Elders Matthew Reed and Caden Scott of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for a story the Appeal is doing on how Memphians, outside of Mormon culture, view that faith. Reed and Scott are serving their two year missionary time in Memphis walking around door-to-door sharing their faith with a focus on Hispanic neighborhoods. I learned about this when I first tried calling Reed and discovered his voicemail was in spanish. My first thought was, "Okay...I hope this is the right guy because I didn't hear a name in there and I hope he understands and speaks English too; otherwise, I have no idea how I am going to make contact with him." We had a good chuckle about that when I met up with them.

The fever of heat Memphis has suffered the last week or so finally broke with some much deserved rain. I was a little concerned that no one would be around when the elders would be doing their door-to-door sharing, but the rain was light, and there were quite a few people out enjoying the cooled off air that we came across this group of hispanic men.

I'm a big fan of layers in my images, letting my eye bounce around the frame, and usually I don't like shooting from behind someone in my work. I find eye contact between people in the frame give a greater sense of story than not, but I find the body posture of the man in the foreground to be interesting enough to dust off that photo class on faceless people from my memory. Also, I like how the guy on the far right is framed in the arms.

When I get a photo from an assignment that I am satisfied with and concerned putting up on this blog, I do like to make a color and b&w version of the photo. I'm a really big fan of old-school, b&w white photojournalism and with everything I do for work being shot in color, I enjoy the variety and the simplicity of storytelling b&w can offer. All that to say, this image has stumped me as to whether it should go on here in color or b&w, so I'm putting up both. Ultimately, I think color would win because of the repetition of blues in the frame and the faceless man's posture stands out a little bit better. Still, I love how this composition looks in b&w and I like how the wrinkles and raindrops on the faceless man's shirt stand out and again, just the simplicity of it.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Agro Tech

2011-07-24T23:55:00.001-05:00

Farmers from across the country tour the fields of the Agricenter farm and listen from wagons to various presentations about experimental crops from companies the Agricenter provides space for research projects. Mike Saxton, a representative from Syngenta, explains to a group of the visiting famers about their genetically modified corn that has a trait to reduce insects ruining crops during the annual Ag Tech Field Day.

Swim Meet

2011-07-24T23:50:00.001-05:00

Jack Zanone dives into his lane during a freestyle swimming heat at the 2011 Memphis Summer Swim League Championship in which 23 swim teams from across the city and county met at St. George's Independent School for the end of summer swimming season. About 590 children competed with ages ranging from 4-18 years old. The championship was hosted by the Memphis Thunder Aquatic Club.

Ooh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'

2011-07-08T00:29:00.004-05:00

I don't know where I'll be tomorrow.
Or where I was yesterday.

So, I started with this first photo, thinking "oh, I should blog this." Then, I called it quits 13 photos later. For some reason of late, I sometimes have a hard time remembering what assignments I shoot in the past, even as recent as the day before. I'm going to chalk it up to some kind of tunnel vision as I churn out photos for assignments then mentally move on to the next and so on. As I was putting these together, I couldn't come up with a real cohesive theme to tie these together. I was originally going to call this post "slices of memphis summer," then I cleverly thought of one of the three Journey songs I have on my iPod. I guess what I like about this arrangement is that it's simply life happening and not completely the tradition summer fanfare of kids running around swimming pools or bbq competitions or whatever.

Haley Sanders of St. Louis gets her horse, Pas De Deux, energized with lungeing exercises before competing in the pre-adult hunters competition, a jumping competition that looks at the aesthetics of the horse while jumping, at the annual Germantown Charity Horse at Franklin-Morgan Woods-Cloyes Park. This is Sanders first time to the horse show.

Some detained youth exercise to a dancing video game during recreation time at Shelby County Juvenile Court. Even one day in lockup can be detrimental to teens, national studies show. So, finding alternatives to detention has become a growing national trend. Shelby County Juvenile Court has made enough strides that it will likely win a coveted designation Friday as a Casey Foundation site, meaning free resources from the Baltimore-based private organization to further help youth. Memphis would become one of the largest urban juvenile courts in the country to win this designation and would become a model for the rest of Tennessee.

Aaron Jaffe, a diabetic, streches before hitting the Wolf River trail to train for an upcoming triathalon.

Maysa Sem, a Memphis College of Art sophomore, works on a billboard painting that will hang along the cliffs of the south bluffs in demonstration against off shore drilling as part of the second annual Hands Across the Sand demonstration that will take place at Tom Lee Park. Hundreds of the Memphis chapter of Hands Across the Sand will link hands to join a global symbol of drawing a line in the sand in protest of off shore drilling.

Mary Eason tries on a pair of magnifying glasses to help with reading during an event hosted by Mid-South Access Center for Technology at Orange Mound Community Center at the Orange Mound Community Center, which aims at helping people with disabilities to learn about high tech and low tech solutions to help their needs.

(left) 4th grader Rishi Dubey, 10, battles robots with Spencer Scardino, 11 at one of Harding Academy's week long Leap Camps where the students learned programming concepts with Lego Mindstorm robots. Harding's Leap Camps are open to the public all summer focus on areas including sports, science, reading and music for grades senior kindergarden through 12th.

(center) Nokie Taylor, (right) Joe Hollingsworth and other musicians from around the city gathered to jam with friends and family of Rudy Williams, the Mayor of Beale Street, during musical tribute service in honor of Williams at the NJ Ford Funeral Home.

(left to right) Shai White-Gilbertson and Anna Santos play with Irish, a pit bull mix rescued by The Street Dog Foundation, at Hollywood Feed at 2015 Union avenue as part of one of their bi-monthly adoption days. Street Dog Foundation is an organization that helps dogs, usually found in the street, get adopted. They function 100 percent through volunteers and about 70 dogs currently ready to be adopted.

Gladys and Ram, dogs rescued by The Street Dog Foundation, sit at Hollywood Feed at 2015 Union avenue as part of one of the organization's bi-monthly adoption days.

9right) Stilian Kirov conducts the Memphis Symphony Orchestra during the annual AutoZone Sunset Symphony at Tom Lee Park.

(right) Joe Kent relaxes with his family at Tom Lee Park to enjoy the annual AutoZone Sunset Symphony.

Simone Patton tosses pebbles into the Mississippi River while playing along the banks as the Memphis Symphony Orchestra provides a musical background during the annual AutoZone Sunset Symphony at Tom Lee Park.

(right) Delana Turner kisses on her 8 month old daughter, Delajah Turner. For the past year, Delana has been a part of the Agape FIT, families in transition, program that helps early 150 homeless, pregnant women and their children in transitional housing by providing mentorship, life skills and counseling services.

Eat your heart out Norman Rockwell

2011-07-02T14:17:00.001-05:00

July 1, 2011 - (left) Ret. Marine Jim Brown helps (right) Selby Hancy, 6, with preparing a care packages for marines serving in Afghanistan. The summer campers at St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School and members of the Marine Corps League will plan to fill 50 boxes that will include toothbrushes, sunglasses, protein bars, cookies, coffee and other snacks, along with notes, prayers and letters of support. This is the second year the groups have worked together to fill boxes for Marines in Afghanistan as one of the weekly service projects campers participate in throughout the summer at St. Agnes-St. Dominic.

Head Shots

2011-06-19T21:05:00.004-05:00

Did some last minute head shots for my friend Natalie in my office this evening. The white background is courtesy of the window in my office that has a paper window shade, which I discovered today is awesome for portrait work.

Contact Sheet: Kevin Bezon

2011-05-29T15:46:00.001-05:00

Kevin Bezon celebrates his 26th birthday by performing an Elvis Presley concert for some his friends at Ave Maria Nursing Home. Elvis is Kevin's favorite musician. Kevin suffers from numerous brain tumors. Since the age of 11 months, Bezon has had 36 surgeries to get the tumors removed. Despite the numerous tumors and operations, Bezon's zest and optimism about life have yet to be slowed. Kevin spends the day at the nursing home while his father, Ron Bezon, runs a soup kitchen downtown. As much as his father strives to keep Kevin upbeat, it is often Kevin who reminds his dad what is really important.

This is another one of my Contact Sheet posts. I couldn't figure which one I liked the most, so I turned in all of these. Let me know which one you think works the best.

Stella & The Yellow Storm

2011-05-25T20:32:00.002-05:00

Memphis had a storm front move through the city around golden hour which gave the world this yellowish glow to just about everything. Stella was resting on the bed, waiting to go outside once the front passed on so she could contribute some yellow of her own to the world. It was an interesting storm to watch, color-wise. Most of the golden hour, the sky was this putrid yellow, then as the front passed and some of the blue sky returned, the color spectrum began to normalize. At the last few moments this fierce yellow color returned. Then, almost instantaneously, the sky was the black of night.

Earth & Sky

2011-05-23T15:07:00.003-05:00

This portrait is from a photo shoot I did for GoMemphis about a Ballet Memphis performance at the Memphis Zoo.

Caption: (left to right) Julie Niekraz and Travis Bradley perform with Ballet Memphis in “Connections: Earth & Sky," three new, modern short works and will be performed in the grove just outside of Teton Trek at the Memphis Zoo.

Hitchhicker

2011-05-20T23:34:00.003-05:00

Going my way?

Parkour

Bracing

Woosh!

CERTifiable

2011-05-07T14:32:00.002-05:00

Here are a collection of images I shot this morning from a CERT, Community Emergency Response Team, graduation class where they ran through scenarios of locating and aid victims of a disaster, like a tornado, in internal and external environments.

Spring Cleaning

2011-05-05T17:55:00.002-05:00

I want to share some images I shot on assignments from the past couple months as I prepared to clean off my computer and throw these into archives. I've included the captions if want to know what's what.

Work & Play

2011-04-09T22:20:00.000-05:00

Workers Union March

2011-04-08T23:13:00.002-05:00

Here are a sample of images I made of a march in Memphis honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. hosted by AFSCME.

Contact Sheet: SOS

2011-04-02T14:51:00.002-05:00

So, I want to do another contact sheet post for this assignment I did on a ministry called S.O.S. which does volunteer home repair in Urban areas. When I shoot, I ideally like to fill the frame with as many compositional layers as possible. I love layers because of the depth they add to an image, if done successfully. Not all layers rest on the surface, sometimes it's a look or posture of a solitary person in the shot which can say than if the image was crowded. Other times layers are a visual game of connect the dots as the eye to moves around in the frame. I don't think these images are the best examples of layers, but once again I wanted to show my visual thought process a little with an assignment and put my own editing skills under scrutiny. So, if anyone wants to, tell me which image you like the most and why. One of the problems of being a freelancer is that you are kind of left to your own devices on refining how you see. The reason the last one is in color is to show you which one I chose. Let me know if having it in color throws off you how you choose because I think I want to do more of these kinds of posts in the future.

Beth Spain: The Graduate

2011-03-29T23:11:00.003-05:00

So, Beth Spain here, my friend and one time photo protégée (that's the female version of the word as the wise wikipedia tells me) will graduate from Union University in May. She will spread her wings and fly away from the safe, warm, photojournalistic friendly nest known as college to soar high and far into the ambiguous professional world of professional media work.

Godspeed little photo bird.

PS: Start working on a photo blog of your own, you are overdue for one.

Groundbreaking

2011-03-23T19:50:00.004-05:00

Just another run of the mill groundbreaking ceremony for some new construction in Germantown, but I feel these aren't the worst ground breaking photos I've ever made.

Workers from Acuff/Scott Contractors clear the first half mile of the new Wolf River Blvd extension that will connect the eastern and western sections between Kimbrough and Farmington. Construction is expected to be completed by July 2013.

Germantown alderman Ernest Chism listens to the mayor dedicate the new roadway.

little bit of yoga

2011-03-22T16:57:00.002-05:00

I shot this in January and forgot about it until today as I was backing up files.

Claire Pinkstons stretches her back during a yoga session at Bikram yoga Memphis where the room is heated to about 90 degrees while the class runs through more militant yoga routines. Bikram yoga is holding a 60-day challenge, where students take classes for 60 days straight to raise money for St. Jude. Two students from the studio have offered to match every person doing the challenge with a $100 donation.

Kites, Mermaids, Hula Hoops and Sushi....Oh My!

2011-03-19T23:26:00.004-05:00

Children wrestle, tug and play with their kites to keep them afloat at the 4th annual Kite Day at WC Johnson Park in Collierville. The kite started four years ago with 5 kite fliers in attendance and has grown to over 60 this past year. Hosted by the Collierville Parks and Recreation Department and sponsored by Fogelman Properties, the day attracts fliers of all ages. Prizes were also passed out for most unique, most colorful and highest flying kites.

Memphis College of Art graduate student Emily Stout installs life size replicas of mermaids into the Wolf River on Mud Island across from the Pyramid as part of her MFA thesis. Stout's piece is a look at public space and using mythological creatures as a way of defying reason and the natural order of things. Stout will be present her work on Friday March 25 from 6-9 at the site on the Wolf river.

(front) Joquain Davis practices his hula hoop skills with his friends (left to right) Jamia Davis, Trinity Shannon and Ky Markel at the 1st annual "Healthy Today, Healthy Tomorrow" health fair hosted by the Junior Auxiliary of DeSoto County. Along with physically-based games and activites the fair featured several informational booths on nutrition and ways to keep various parts and systems of the body healthy.

(left to right) Hannah, 10, and Madeline, 9, Dickerson enjoy a sushi dinner with thier family at Bluefin Restaurant. Hannah and Madeline's parents have exposed thier children to various types of cuisines so they won't be bored of eating the same meals over and over. The Dickersons credit to the experience of dining out with the kids as helpful for the getting their children to try various foods.

Recent Work

2011-03-03T17:46:00.002-06:00

Courtney Oliver has worn many hats at Playhouse on the Square after ten years. Currently, the Director of Special Events, Oliver has also been an actress and choreographer with the company.

(left) Eve Pai, 4, listens to members of the IRIS orchestra's percussion section talk about the various instruments and why they play them during a dress rehearsal at the GPAC. For the first time, IRIS turned its regular Saturday dress rehearsal into The Young Person’s Guide to the IRIS Orchestra by focusing on two pieces from the evening program that provide a colorful and exciting introduction to the individual instrumental sounds and collective power of a symphony orchestra in order to get younger children interested in playing musical instruments.

Patrick Dockery celebrates after being declared the winner of the DeSoto County Spelling Bee for the third year row with his winning word, madrigal.

(right to left) Seth Goff and his father, Kent Goff inspect some anitque rifles at the 45th annual Civil War and Antique Military Show will be at the Southaven Arena.

Endurance

2011-03-02T11:45:00.002-06:00

Jon Simpson has run every day behind his house next to the University of Memphis for 39 years. He was diagnosed with polio as a child and credits the daily running to his health and the ability to still use his legs. This August will mark 40 consecutive years of running for Simpson.

2010 Retrospective

2011-01-25T11:12:00.002-06:00

Well, it certainly has been some time since I posted on my blog. As the year came to a close, I came off of a slew of weddings, holidays, vacation and life in general that kept my busy. So, now it's nearly February 2011 and I'm finally looking back at my collective work from 2010. I almost decided against posting these photos, because lately I’ve felt that I hit a wall with my photography. I've caught myself switching to autopilot several times in the past couple months as I march off to work. It really bothers me when it happens. So one thing I took away from my experiences this past year was to relax more with photography and return to some of the more simplistic pleasures of making images.

Also, I've been listening to A LOT of Cat Stevens music this past year. If you know anything about Cat Steven's music, then you know he can leave you staring into space pondering life for hours on end.

I was largely insipred to post these images after reading a blog post by my friend, Aaron Hardin and his drive to continually explore with his camera. Aaron's work has been amazing this year, but it was his words that really hit home for me:

"Seeing each image brings back sights, smells, emotions and ever lingering doubts. 'Am I any good at this?' 'Am I getting any better?' 'What defines ‘BETTER’?'”

I don't know if every I saw as put this together brought back sights and smells, but it definitely conjures emotions and frustrations of failed projects, repeated meaningless assignments of fluff and the question of "When did I shoot this?" as work starts to blur together.

Now, before I become a complete Debbie Downer, there were some positive experiences and not every image I made was from a mentally distant place. I wouldn't have called this past year a stellar year for me in my photojournalistic pursuits, but it was a great year with my wedding photography. Also, I helped start a wedding photography business with some friends, Hands Up Visuals. Go check us out. Not only do we rock, but also we really want to tell the story of your wedding day.
(A little shameless promoting for you, Brad.)

Now, these photos are not what I consider necessarily a "Best of 2010" slideshow, but rather a retrospective journey I took with my camera in 2010. It was one of those years were I could feel I was growing, except the results were more internal than external. Kind of like a flame getting beaten around by a strong wind, it's not as bright or as hot as it could be; however, it did not go out.

So, I learned to relax a little with my camera and made one of my favorite images of the past year, the lead photo in the slideshow.

“Kyle, before you go, I gotta have a beer with you. I haven’t had a beer with you yet.”

This is what my 91-year-old, great-uncle Dave said to me as I was walking out of his house during an impromptu July trip to New England. Needless to say, when a 91-year-old asks you to have a beer with him, you turn around and go back inside.

I will say 2011 has been pretty swell so far and I can't wait to see what becomes of it.

Enjoy.

Dance Redux

2010-11-12T00:08:00.003-06:00

Sometimes things I find interesting slip through the cracks of a deadline. I saw the shadows on the back wall and tried to make something out of it for the CA, but didn't feel it was accomplishing what I wanted. I came back across it today and did a long crop and threw it in B&W. Whether it works or not, I find it to be interesting and a nice break from things I'm usually shooting these days.

Dance

2010-11-06T22:28:00.001-05:00

Members of the Collage Dance Collective perform "Abandon-Salvation-Grace: An Evening of American Dance" at the Buckman Performaning Arts Center. This performance marks Collage Dance Collective's inaugural show to present their artistic voice to the city since the group moved from New York to Memphis in 2007. Drawing from classical dance to blend with more contemporary style, Collage hopes to increase diversity on the stage. Collage mirrors this with "Abadon-Salvation-Grace" by featuring a diverstiy of dancing styles in the performance that are connected through a classical foundation.

Preview: Kate Jackson

2010-10-25T19:58:00.000-05:00

Visual Storytelling

2010-10-08T20:34:00.002-05:00

You know your day is might be in trouble when an editor emails you an assignment and it begins with "I’m not that gung ho...." But that was my Thursday morning. It was Read for the Record day where all across the world, children were reading "The Snowy Day" on the same day to break last year's record of 2 million children reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." The gimmick I was sent to shoot was Mayor A.C. Wharton going to Sea Isle Elementary to read to the student. For me that meant some over-exaggerated photo opt by a politician that I had to somehow make look interesting. Usually, when I get these kind of "photo opt" assignments with politicians or other things like ribbon cuttings, the rule is don't shoot the actual ribbon cutting, but what's going on around it. The story was more about the kids reading than the mayor anyways, so I went to my every so ready backup plan of finding a cute kid with a book. Unfortunately, only three preschoolers in this entire cafeteria had books. So, I make a couple tight images of their noses in the books and when I went to get their names, every one starts signing all around me. Turns out these were the hearing impaired students, so I thought "ok, that will be some nice additional information in the caption." The presentation started, Wharton did not read to students because he was behind in his schedule and the situation was visually flat. As everyone was filing out, an administrator made an announcement for all their readers to wait to get their assigned rooms. I thought about the hearing impaired kids and thought, "Hmm, they'll be reading the story too, and it will be more interesting than some tight shot of a kid with his nose in a book." So, my entire shoot was from the hearing impaired classes, and how they are reading just as much as the other students, but in a more visual style of storytelling. I walked away feeling gung ho.

Preview: Brittany Ragon

2010-09-30T19:06:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the photo not filling in the width of the post box, flickr is being lame and won't give me a bigger size. But you know who isn't lame, Brittany Ragon, she was one beautiful and classy bride. John, her husband, is one lucky guy. There are so many more photos to come. Special thanks to Sarah Patch for helping me out.

Some Recent Work

2010-09-18T21:56:00.001-05:00

Here's some recent work I've done for the Commercial Appeal. I've included the captions if you want to know the context of the images. Enjoy.

Engagement: David & Melinda

2010-09-06T13:24:00.002-05:00

Here are some engagement photos of Melinda and David. They are getting married six months to the day that they met. I knew Melinda from college, she has become the fake big sister I never had growing up. So, it's a real honor to shoot their engagement photos and their upcoming wedding on Oct. 9th.

Crazy Saturday

2010-09-04T15:02:00.004-05:00

"A schedule is like a house of cards. Take one away and they all come tumbling down." -Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury, Richie Rich

This quote can basically summarize my saturday morning. When the call I got from my editor friday night started with "okay...so I'm going to have to give you a pep talk for Saturday." I knew it was going to be a long day. In short, a bunch of key stories for the weekend fell through at the last minute, except my 7:30 am assignment (lucky me). I was reassigned to a redistricting story (which was a bunch of people crammed in a small room starting at another person talking, not visually exciting) and then left to feature hunt in DeSoto County.

I quickly ran through the Hernando Farmers Market and found the two girls munching on cupcake cones between the 7:30 am race story and the redistricting meeting, but felt I needed one more image. I heard a rumor of a car wash for St. Jude going on at an Advance Auto parts, but it was untrue as I checked every store in the area. They had no idea of any carwash. I decided last minute to meander over to Olive Branch and saw some boy scouts holding these flaming signs of "Chicken" and "Butts." Though I knew butts meant pork meat, it was still kind of funny to see a boy waving a "Butts" sign at passing cars. So I pulled over and got my second feature. Scary thing was that I've been shooting in DeSoto long enough now some of the scouts recognized me. Finally, at 12:30 I made my way back home to edit and transmit. Definitely one of my crazier saturdays.

Contact Sheet

2010-08-31T13:15:00.002-05:00

“A contact sheet is a window in the thought process of a photographer. It can be considered a photographer’s “sketchbook”—something not often seen by others. Each photographer sees things so very differently from every other that it is almost impossible to compare them. Photographers are like musicians who play similar notes on their instruments and yet the sounds they create are completely unique.”

Steve Crist, “Contact Sheet”

Late in March, I was going through images I shot of Feras Hdaib, a hairstylist, for a little profile piece for the business section of the CA called “My Life, My Job.” It was an enjoyable shoot, because it wasn’t the usual lame portrait session of someone in a visually dead office, but a scene of action and potential moments where I didn’t have to direct the situation. It’s not difficult to get an interesting image of a hairstylist. Using the reflections from the mirrors is the easiest approach, and can quickly become cliché. The room where Feras worked was the about the size of a walk-in closet, so the mirror option was pretty much non-existent. I’m a big fan of layers in images, and you can see these images are very similar, but that was my point. I found the image I kind of wanted, not an exact image, but elements in a certain spots. Then it becomes a matter of chiseling and waiting for the elements to line up.

A problem came up in the editing process of selecting the right photo to turn for the paper. I got down to about 10 or so similar photos and ultimately went with a random reaction on choosing the photo to turn in. This, to me, is one of the downsides of being a young freelancer, a lack of unbiased perspective of working through the photographic thought process. In school, there is the benefit of the classroom and friendly competition of colleagues who would respond sometimes with the brutal honesty of something like, “Eh, this doesn’t do anything for me.”

As a freelancer, my newsroom is my Gmail inbox and I’m more or less my own editor. Which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the day. I know if I turn in a nut and bolts kind of shot as well as something a little more creative, I can usually bet the newspaper is going to run with a nuts and bolts kind of shot. If I’m feeling risky, I’ll send in only the creative shot and wait to see if I get called to give them something more nuts and bolts. The downside I feel is with little feedback comes little growth.

So, I’m left with the echoes of critiques I’ve heard at conferences and workshops I attended over the last 6 years I have pursued photojournalism. The big thing people ask you to show them is your portfolio. Now, I’m not going to say don’t have a portfolio, but I began to realize how little one can grow from a portfolio critique. Either you get response on the structure of your portfolio, which is handy, but everyone has a different approach and preference, or you get comments like “well if you had just moved to the left about a foot, this would have been a nice shot.” Good advice, sure, but it would almost be as good to say to get rid of a shot like that because its over and you missed. Just be sure to file away in your mind to move a little to the left the next time you are in a similar situation.

Most portfolio critiques I walked away from, I would always remember my flaws, and not necessarily learning to see images better. Where I learned to see better was at workshops with someone hovering over my shoulder looking at every frame I took on a project as they say things to me like “what were you thinking here? Why didn’t you stick with this? If a situation like this were to happen again, how could this shot be better?” Going through a couple days of that kind of experience can drastically change the way you see images.

Now, I will say again, I am not against having a portfolio. I think a portfolio is a photographer’s best marketing tool, but it’s not a sharpening block.

I read the book Magnum: Fifty Years on the Front Lines a while ago and one of many things that struck me about the early days of that photo agency was when an aspiring photographer plucked up the courage to seek out one of the giants like Henri Cartier-Bresson and show him their work, he would almost immediately go to their contact sheets rather than looking at their portfolio of their best work. He was more interested in the process of their eye than their final result.

I don’t know, but I feel we are losing something in our modern age with the need to generate more content for quantity and not quality.

Shoot, shoot and shoot.
Then, shoot some more (why? Because you can.) until you got that “perfect” image.
Then delete all the bad images.

But what happens when spend so much time shooting to cover all the angles that you stopped seeing the heart of the situation?

I am glad the paper I work for does not pressure me into shooting for galleries except on the rare occasion. Even then, it’s usually collaboration from the entire staff and no one person is dumped with the need to provide an overly large supply of photos.

I’m all for exploring a situation for the best image, but this mindset of just mindless shooting for content or for online galleries to get hits on a site, just feels so self-destructive. How is anyone going to grow by going into to situations, camera’s blazing and then editing in the aftermath of hundreds maybe even thousands of photos.

To what end I am writing this? Probably my frustration about my own solidarity, I guess a sense of nostalgic for the dark room days when there was time for people to stop and look and discuss the process instead of the assembly line way of life we currently live in. Also, to record a thought I had in between assignments that’s been brewing in my mind for some time and probably to complain for the sake of complaining. Maybe I’m advocating the idea of sharing our sketchbooks with one another to encourage communal growth. I’m still not really sure.

Well, for whatever it’s worth, here is an excerpt from my sketchbook.

Let me make a disclaimer: I’ve been trying to write this post since March and if I felt like I was sounding too pretentious or preachy I put would it away to try writing more a couple weeks later. My only intent here is to share an internal stream of thought. Also, I don’t want to imply these particular photos are anything extraordinary. Every time I look through them, I find more things wrong with them. I'm still not even sure I selected the best image. These are merely the photos that trigged the idea of this post and seemed like a good example I had of seeing something and working through the thought process of finding the image.

Engagement: Alex & Jenni

2010-08-23T23:14:00.002-05:00

There's a long story about Alex and Jenni's photos.

Alex will be marrying Jenni in May of 2011. So in the meantime they wanted to get some engagement photos done in the sunflower fields at Shelby Farms because sunflowers are Jenni's favorite.

(That might not seem like a long story to you, casual blogger. I salute you for visiting btw! But that's okay, because it's an inside joke for Alex's benefit. Not yours. But you can still enjoy the photos.)

You Have Been Warned

2010-08-13T18:06:00.000-05:00

True Bachelors

2010-07-31T00:46:00.002-05:00

As I ride with my uncle through Connecticut backroads in a Buick LeSabre he's restoring, he sees me shooting the floor mats and asks, "So when was the last time you had Betty Boop between your legs?"

Classy.

Water Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

2010-07-20T00:21:00.001-05:00

Would you believe this was an assignment about a summer reading program?

Because it was.

Nothing says hooray to end of summer reading program like a fireman shooting high pressured water up your butt.

"Good bidet to you too sir!" Is what the kid in the bottom image would say if he was French I guess.

B-Roll of My Photographic Life

2010-07-13T22:36:00.002-05:00

These are some things I've shot that were not done for the Commercial Appeal. Some more from those Sassie Seniors. Family photos for Michelle, these photos of her son were made about a week after he was born. Then a sample of some wedding moments I did for Dan McCleary of TN Shakespeare Co. and his wife Stephanie. So, if you need wedding or family photos. I'm around. www.kylekurlick.com.

How to name your dragon

2010-07-10T22:01:00.002-05:00

Montee Boulware holds up her new dragon, trying to think of a name, at the Animaland fundraiser to raise support for the Horn Lake Library.The event was put on by the Friends of Horn Lake Library.

Americana Pride

2010-07-05T14:24:00.003-05:00

Nothing says Fourth of July like parades, baseball and citizenship. Unless you want to include hot dogs, fireworks and Mom's homemade apple pie; however, none of those were a part of my holiday assignments. Ironically though, I did do profile on a pet grooming store called, Hot Dawgs.

Mmm...Dry

2010-06-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

Tracey Anderson cleans her golden retriever, Reagan, at her coin-op pet wash staion at the Jolly Car Wash located at Kirby-Whitten and Summer.

Justice for Kennedy

2010-06-24T14:45:00.003-05:00

Brittany Compton, an Iraq veteran, plays with her daughter, Kaitlyn, 5, at a relative's house in Collierville. Kaitlyn and her sister, Kennedy, were placed in foster care in 2009 after Brittany spanked the girls at day care. Both girls were abused in foster care and Kennedy died. Her death has been ruled a homicide. While police have a primary suspect, no arrests have been made since Kennedy's death in 2009 because the suspect refuses to take a lie detector test.

For the full story: click here

My New Backyard

2010-06-20T13:17:00.001-05:00

Never lived at a house with a pool in the backyard before. I know this is a cliche photo, but I found myself mesmerized by the movement of the water as I stood on the diving board.

Long Walk To Freedom

2010-06-15T10:09:00.002-05:00

I was going through some of my photos from my global trekking and came across this photo from Robben Island Prison off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. This place has been on my mind frequently for the better part of the last six months while I've read Nelson Mandela's autobiography, "Long Walk To Freedom." There's is a quote on the front cover from a Boston Globe review that said it is a book everyone must read. I agree. I want to go back to South Africa and revisit this place with the fresh perspective experiencing Mandela's life story. I only had a superficial perspective of South Africa and the apartheid on my first trip, and in hindsight I regret not having a greater respect of what Mandela and his fellow members of the struggle went through. I guess this has been a good reminder to me as a storyteller of the written word and visual narrative of the importance of having as much knowledge about an area I'm going to if I want to properly tell a story. Looking back on the photos I took from that trip, I kept thinking how differently I would have shot this had I read his autobiography before I went.

Well, if you don't have the fortitude to read Mandela's 600 page autobiography, even though I think it's worth it, you should at least watch the film Invictus. It will give you a small taste of Mandela's life and work, and the film even revolves around a world cup (rugby, not football). So it's sort of a timely film with the current World Cup going on in South Africa.

Does size matter?

2010-06-05T15:47:00.000-05:00

Sue Halperson gets ready to take her Chihuahua, Ginger, and her Irish Wolfhound, Ms. Georgia, for a walk at the American Kennel Club all-breed dog show at the arena in Southaven, MS.

Thanks to my former roommate, Conner Walker, I've become a big fan of Irish Wolfhounds. Here is the legend that made me a fan of these incredible dogs:

"Gelert the Great"
The grave of Gelert can be found just south of Snowdon, in the grey-stoned village of Beddgelert set among the wild mountains of Wales. Here, in a beautiful meadow below Cerrig Llan, is a large stone slab lying on its side with two upright slabs which owes its fame to the legend of Prince Llewelyn ap Iorwerth and his faithful hound.

Llewelyn (1173-1240 CE) was very fond of hunting and in the summer he lived in a hunting lodge at the foot of Snowdon. Although he had many dogs, his favorite was the brave Gelert, his great Irish Wolf Hound, not only a dog fearless in the hunt, but a loyal friend and companion at the fireside.

One fateful day on the hunt, Gelert refused to accompany his master further, but instead he ran howling back to the Lodge. When Llewellyn returned he was met by his dog, bounding to meet him, but splashed with blood around his muzzle. On entering his living quarters, Llewellyn found a scene of confusion with rooms disordered and articles scattered in heaps. Now Llewelyn had a son, barely a year old, and as the prince recalled how Gelert and his little boy used to play together, a terrible thought came to his mind!

He rushed to the nursery only to find the cradle was overturned, the bed clothes bloody and though he looked frantically for his son, the child could not be found.

Turning to Gelert, whose muzzle was still wet with blood, Llewelyn came into a great rage and cried, "Thou hast killed my only son", and drew his sword and drove it into the heart of the hound.

Then- as all was silent but for the steady drip of blood onto the stone flag floor, the wail of a baby could be heard. On searching further Llewellen found his son safe and well, lying next to the body of a large grey wolf.

It was plain to Llewellen what had happened.

Gelert had killed the wolf whilst defending the baby from attack. Overcome with grief at his hasty action, Llewellyn buried Gelert with all honor and raised a memorial over his grave.

From then on the settlement was known as Beddgelert, meaning "Gelert's Grave" and this is the traditional tale still told today.

Larry Emory takes takes a nap with Brogan, a two-year old Irish wolfhound, on the floor of the Southaven arena after Brogan won best in his breed at the American Kennel Club all-breed dog show.

One person's answer to prayer is another's logistical nightmare

2010-05-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

Today I photographed Will & Tori White's Wedding in Union City. Here's some portraits we did earlier in the week in Memphis. The weather indicated sunny skies, hot with classic Memphis humidity until Monday morning when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere. Well, it caught my iPhone's weather app off guard, and the storm threatened to ruin the shoot. I was scrambling to come up with alternative spots that could support some kind of shelter above us, with good light and were free. Turn's out that really isn't possible at the last minute, but I did manage to come up with a couple that were not my first choice, but would have functioned. After watching the clouds out my window move by and checking the doppler online, I decided to take my chances and go with my original plan. In the end, about 90% of the storm had passed before our scheduled time to shoot, so everything worked out and it left some nice overcast clouds to really soften the light. I found out during the shoot that Tori prayed for it to be not hot out when were shooting and she was well obliged.

Also, thanks to Natalie Newberry for helping me out for these portraits and thanks to Beth Spain for helping me out at the wedding today. Both of you are awesome.

Oh Henry

2010-04-30T10:11:00.000-05:00

I recently did some photos of young Henry for leaders in my community group, Nick and Morgan Hayes. We had a get together at Morgan's parent's house and it was one of the coolest places ever. There were many fun things to work with like Pete the Great Dane or giant mailboxes in nice golden hour light. Probably the coolest of all was Henry's Star Wars onesie.

Storm's brewing. It's past now.

2010-04-24T19:19:00.000-05:00

Some weather related photos from while I was out and about working.

Wasted Effort

2010-04-17T23:49:00.001-05:00

There is a very loose, slightly ironic, connection between these photos from two assignments I covered today.

One was early in the morning down in Horn Lake, MS to cover the city's participation in the Great American Clean-Up and made this photo of young Alex Freeze hauling a bag of trash that was practically as big as him.

The second photo is for a business profile on hair stylist, Feras Hdaib, working on Jasmine Crew's prom hair. As I am finishing up with Feras, he tries to get me to schedule my own hair cut. I politely and professional dodged the question, but in my mind I was saying "STAY AWAY FROM MY GLORIOUS MANE!" Then Feras runs out of the salon to hand me a coupon to give to my girlfriend for a 1/2 off first visit.

So, if I don't have a girlfriend, then didn't Feras technically litter by giving me a coupon I won't use since I will ultimately throw it away?

I guess my day was garbage in and garbage out.

Pulling Up By Bootstraps

2010-04-12T17:09:00.000-05:00

Photos from a wedding I shot over the weekend with Alison Ball.

Some Sass for Saturday

2010-04-03T10:11:00.000-05:00

Met up with the Sassie Seniors as they were getting ready to perform in a parade. Project is still taking shape, hence these vague one-liners about them.

The Shape of Things to Come

2010-03-29T13:20:00.000-05:00

I am beginning a project on a group women who call themselves, The Sassie Seniors, and oh yes, they are quiet sassy.

Storm Watch

2010-03-27T19:58:00.001-05:00

Storm Watch, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Hannah Huggins, fiance of my soon to be former roommate, Conner Walker, watches the weather as she checks the radio while her father installs window shutters on their home.

Road School

2010-03-25T18:59:00.001-05:00

Road School, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Christina Carrera, left, learns about the life and impact of Rosa Parks during a tour of the Civil Rights Museum with fellow child actors of the South Pacific cast currently performing at the Orpheum. While the young actors receive schoolwork regularly from a traveling tutor, their schedules are much different from those of normal elementary and middle-schoolers. In addition to keeping up with schoolwork, they must adapt to new cities and time zones, stay in touch with family and friends and find the time to be a kid.

Side note: When shooting in very low light museum situations, it helps to utilize the TV station's video light while they are shooting b-roll.

Pump It!

2010-03-20T19:41:00.001-05:00

Pump It!, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Gavin Steadman of Olive Branch, MS. learns how to function a manual water pump at Our Family Farm, in DeSoto County. Our Family Farm put on a family farm festival to celebrate National Agriculture Day with demonstrations of farm techniques and technologies both past and present.

Mayer

2010-03-20T02:26:00.000-05:00

I wish I had some profound witticism about covering John Mayer, but I don't. All I have to say it's cool to have the kind of access my job provides. Out of the estimated 11,500 in attendance, I could feel the pining to have my spot in the pit from 9,000 something girls aching to be physically close to Mayer. The remaining 2,500 were guys hoping by taking a girl to a John Mayer concert would ultimately receive some kind of "thank you" by the night's end. Still, I bet they probably wondered what it would be like to stand at the stage as they passed the time. One guy on the front row did reach out and touch the stage. That must have been a profound moment for him that I probably shouldn't mock. I hope he really likes the texture of carpet because that's all it was and not tell him he could have the same experience in a Home Depot or Lowe's.

My opinion still stands of concert photography being gratuitous. I think only one or two people in the world can truly make interesting concert photos. Or maybe I was a little hurt when a friend told me that another mutual friend, whom I won't drop their name, sorry, didn't "Follow Friday" me on their Twitter account of cool concert photographers. So much pain....ow. Maybe one day I will be a cool concert photographer and be followed. Oops! Don't have a twitter. Looks like I fail.

Spring Mix

2010-03-18T17:07:00.000-05:00

Some photos of Spring I shot for the CA.

The Force was not with me

2010-03-14T22:26:00.001-05:00

Saturday I had an assignment to cover a Comic Convention in Mississippi. I was looking forward to it because I thought a place where hobbits, stormtroopers, Klingons, zombies, and comic book heroes gathered would be a very visual experience. Maybe it was my insomnia from the night before or the weather zapping everyone's energy, but I really felt I failed on this assignment. Ironically, I was probably regarded as the most freakish person there, because I was armed with a camera and didn't want anyone to pose for me. I walked away with something that more or less worked of a zombie family shopping for little rubber ducks dressed in human clothes, but it felt just eh, passable. My advice to shooting a comic convention, Don't chase Klingons. Find something that's like a bug zapper for nerds, like the sword replica booth or the Harry Potter wand replica booth, and camp out. I wish I did. I think Gandalf was running the sword booth. Next time. These are a couple images I got from the assignment. I'm not a big fan of them, but in hindsight and attaching some Wikipedia definitions, found some mild humor from them.

deadpool's dayjob, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Wikipedia's summary of Deadpool:

"Deadpool is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary, Deadpool is famous for his tendency to break the fourth wall and is frequently referred to by the moniker 'Merc with a Mouth.'"

And apparently sells cuddly monkeys on the side. His sales pitch could use some work.

This guy wants to be taken seriously?, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Here's the chain of events:

Enter myself: strolling along this comic convention, look for an interesting image. See clone trooper looking at art.

Camera clicks (clone notices me too quickly, I miss the moment)

Clone: [Quite seriously] um, was I in your shot.

Me: Um, no. [Despite the fact I was four feet away and pointing the camera right at him, I was obviously way more interested in the dragon over his shoulder. Clearly.]

Clone: okay....good.

Exit Clone.

India Video

2010-03-11T00:56:00.000-06:00

GMF India from Kyle Kurlick on Vimeo.

Okay, so essentially why I went to India in October was to produce this project for the organization, Global Ministries Fellowship, GMF. It was my first time to pick up video in about 2 1/2 years, so it's a little clunky here and there. Also, I went over to India not 100% sure of what was going to come from what I gathered and it's really a combination of a couple things I discussed with GMF rolled together. It's things like this I hope to do more of in the future and get more opportunity to refine my ability with this kind of storytelling.

To make a long story short, I have experienced a lot of trouble making this project on a technical level and I am very happy its over. I would especially like to thank Mr. Ben Cole for helping me solve my problems. Also, I would like to say that my opinion of Apple's customer service was tarnished by this experience when they ultimately refused to help me by ignoring me mid-dialogue when I was trying to set up an appointment with their Final Cut person. Shame on you Apple! I have always been such a big fan too. Well, this is it. Please feel free to critique it. I embrace critiques. I couldn't imagine why people only want to get patted on the back and not have a legitimate chance to grow. Also, video isn't my thing and I feel it's important to get better at it.

Wedding Stuff

2010-03-02T22:52:00.001-06:00

B&W Wedding 1, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

B&W Wedding 2, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

B&W Wedding 3, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Bride Dana, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

As of late, I have been in editing mode on things like videos of trips that have caused me great mental pains and finishing weddings and updating my site, and I felt that it I would post a sampler of things that I did for weddings in late '09. The first photo made it to my web site, I like the toning on it so I thought I would re-post it here. The other three did not make the cut, but I felt they deserved to have at least a blog appearance. I usually don't post wedding stuff on my blog. I honestly don't know why since it is part of my freelancer lifestyle, so maybe I'll be better in 2010 of showing the larger spectrum of work I've been doing.

The Exchange

2010-02-21T17:55:00.001-06:00

The Exchange, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Sometimes you get lucky when feature hunting and things look like they are not going to shape up to anything interesting.

Here's the caption:

3-year-old Jessa Ellis barters with Nancy Yates over the price of a doll at a warehouse yard sale for the Children's Museum of Memphis. Grabbing collectible coins on the display counter, Ellis tried to bargain and purchase the doll for two coins until her parents decided to help and treat her to the toy with more up-to-date currency. The yard sale was put on by the children's museum to clean out excess office furniture and toys in storage. All the proceeds benefit the museum's educational exhibits and programs.

Saul 2 Paul

2010-02-16T22:13:00.000-06:00

Recently, I photographed a band called "Saul 2 Paul." This was my first legit band shoot. Always fun to have a new experience. Since my dad is serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan, I'll give him a little nod and share a slogan he always enjoyed telling me. "Kurlicks try things at least once." There you go dad. So that's what I did, I tried something new. Great group of guys to work with, especially since I made them stare into the sun for the better part of two hours and I'm still here to share these photos.

Snow Dog

2010-02-08T22:39:00.000-06:00

So for this round of snow in Memphis, I was at my folks home for the day because of the complementary heat, food, internet and family provided. I took some time to play with our dog, Bailey, in their backyard. She was born in Nov. '08 and is very much a winter dog as you can see.

Memphis actually had snow, maybe more like ice, but still was cool (no pun intended)

2010-01-31T14:36:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite work days working for the newspaper was this past Friday when the city was blanketed in snow and ice. I spent the day looking for features and watched the entire progression from freezing rain to fluffy snow flakes falling to the city crystallizing in ice. Memphis is completely schizophrenic when it comes to weather. Over early weeks of this year, I have gone from running in the park in shorts to dodging frozen branches falling in my back yard.

Coming from Northern stock, I possess an intrinsic connection to wintry weather. Some people complain about the cold, but I love it and love the fact I have a job that lets me spend my day trekking around my city, making images of this magical rarity.

Census

2010-01-12T12:24:00.001-06:00

Census, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

This was from an assignment I had for a ribbon cutting at a Census office here in Memphis. The top one was the one that ran in the paper.

Here's the caption:

Recruiting clerk, Betty Moses, works the phones to obtain temporary work positions for volunteers to get ready for the 2010 Census at the Shelby County Local Census Office off of Dexter Road in Cordova where an open house was held to formally kick the Census.

The bottom photo is of the new Memphis Mayor, A.C. Wharton. I posted a photo of A.C. over the summer on my blog with meeting some kids. I got to thinking of that photo during the press conference and thought I would try something again. I was told not to turn in any photos of politicians, but something a little more artistic or, dare I say, abstract. Well, I saw those flags on the back wall and had fun passing the time during the ribbon cutting getting a photo of A.C. with the flags, but not show his full face.

So this is Christmas

2010-01-08T10:38:00.001-06:00

This is a compliation of assignments I had over the holiday season and I thought I'd throw in some John Lennon lyrics to be a little more festive. Happy 2010.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now...

More India

2009-12-23T17:50:00.001-06:00

Here's some more images from my trip to India in Oct.

A little R&B action

2009-11-16T11:48:00.000-06:00

Generally, I'm unimpressed with concert photos, mostly because I grew up around musicians. I've shot people playing guitar and singing into a microphone while hiding behind growing piles of sound equipment more times than I could imagine while I was still a baby photographer. I feel concert images are pretty much handed to you and the situation becomes redundant very fast. Unless for work, I try not to bring a camera to concerts, but it is fun to watch groupie photographers attempt to come up with what they think is a cool attempt at the same image everyone makes. I've never been to a R&B concert before and I enjoyed it. I covered a pre-Thanksgiving concert featuring Charlie Wilson, Babyface and Frankie Beverly & Maze. They put on a good show. So, I had some fun in between getting things for the newspaper. These images are just as formulaic as the next guy's, but it was fun. Enjoy.

Date Night at the Shootin' Gallery

2009-11-15T15:57:00.001-06:00

This was from an assignment for Date Night at Range USA. So, I went to a shooting range and shot people. It's an entertaining life I lead sometimes.

Delhi Streets

2009-10-27T16:45:00.000-05:00

During my trip to Delhi, much of my time was spent riding shotgun through the renown Delhi traffic. These are some of the things I saw from the car, plus a couple of other shots I like.

Vijay and the Delhi woman

2009-10-24T00:20:00.001-05:00

Vijay1, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Vijay2, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Vijay3, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 7, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi

2009-10-20T23:49:00.001-05:00

Delhi 1, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 2, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 3, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 4, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 5, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Delhi 6, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Camp Half-Blood

2009-10-14T13:41:00.002-05:00

Finally! Here is my multimedia project on Camp Half-Blood.

Don’t read further until you’ve watched the Soundslide.

This is probably the longest blog I’ll ever post.

I attended a photo workshop in Austin at the beginning on August. Before the workshop started, we were told to come up with some projects to work on while we were in Austin. I struggle at the best of times to come up with a project. Never visiting Austin before, I felt really clueless.

I think it was the Friday before I left for the workshop and Lynn Johnson, one of the workshop coaches, recommended to me to look up this bookstore called Book People for information on things happening in Austin. So, I went to their web site to look up a phone number, was exploring their site and saw this banner advertisement at the bottom of a page that said something about this place called Camp Half-Blood. Curious, I skeptically clicked on the banner ad, because generally nothing good comes from clicking those ads at the top or bottom of web pages. The ad pulled up this web site for a children’s fantasy literature summer camp. They had some photos of kids fighting with swords and shields, and some of the other activities. I’m pretty sure the 9-year-old nerd in me shot up from sleep and said, “hey this looks cool.” The 22-year-old nerd concurred. I was still skeptical, because it was a summer camp. I immediately thought I would hit a wall of policy because I was this random adult male trying to go photograph an organization that works with children. Also, I did not think the coaches at my workshop would be super pumped about it. I definitely had some quizzical looks when I first pitched my idea.

Still, I figured it wouldn’t hurt. I contacted the camp’s director, Topher, and he was really supportive of what I was trying to do while participating at the Austin Photo Workshop. Within hours of first talking to Topher on the phone, he got me clearance and I was set. The camp ran Monday through Friday. I met up with Topher on Monday night and started my project on Tuesday. Monday night, Topher walked me through the camp, and explained a little of the back-story of that week’s main adventure for the kids. I had not heard of Percy Jackson and the Olympians before this week and Topher explained that one of the main locations in the books was a summer camp called, Camp Half-Blood, and this camp was the Austin satellite branch of the camp; the camp in the books is located on Long Island, NY.

The back-story of the week I attended was about this League of Machines and Monsters. They had kidnapped some Naiads (water nymphs) and deployed an army of Spy-bots to observe the kids at camp and prevent them from finding the key to freeing the Naiads. Ok, these Spy-bots were like these spider-like creatures with this camera lens body. I show up Tuesday morning, start shooting to get the kids use to my presence and making sure they weren’t going to stop, look at me and smile every time I tried to photograph them. They were cool with it in about 5 minutes. Well, almost everyone was cool with it.

I had this one group of kids giving me these very suspicious glances and whispering to themselves in a very conspiratorial manner. Great thing about kids is even when they are “whispering” they still talk loud enough for other people to hear. I heard one of them say, “He’s probably with the league. I mean look at him. We need to keep an eye on him.” Confused at first, I look down at what I was wearing, jeans and polo, and then just laughed. I saw the camera hanging off of my shoulder. They thought I was a Spy-bot in human disguise. Then counselors came up to me and were telling me how a group was out to get me because they think I was Spy-bot. Thankfully, the counselors talked to the kids and explained I was only a photographer. Most of the kids in the conspiracy accepted this, but it took a couple more days for the ringleaders’ suspicions to be quenched. With my name cleared, I was accepted as a mortal who had the ability to see the world of the demi-gods, which there are characters in the books like that as well. This helped the kids work me into their imaginations and how they were enjoying the adventure of the camp. Great for me because it relaxed them enough to enjoy their adventure and leave me free to document them. Each day, Topher takes a group of kids out on a quest and I would tag along. A couple times, I had kids seriously approach me and say to me that since I was a mortal and was unarmed; I would be at risk if we were attacked by Spy-bots. Some told me they would use their swords and shields to protect me. The pinnacle moment came on the last day when a parent approached me and asked if I was the “nice mortal who takes pictures.”

I was blown away by the power of the children’s imaginations at camp. At times, we would be out questing and a kid caught a splash of moment or a reflection of light, when nothing tangibly was there, and say it was a Spy-bot. They all drew their swords and get into defensive positions until someone could better assess the situation. I would be ducked low with them, thinking how I didn’t have a sword and how unfair that was. Even coaches at the workshop were amazed at the camp when they visited to coach me in field, because on the surface it’s a pavilion in a national park with some props; yet so much more goes on beneath that surface. Topher and the counselors really pull the kids into the story.

So, this is the finished product, more or less. I did not know what shape any of this was going to take ultimately. We had not talked much about distribution at the workshop or even audio. I had brought along my recorder to play with because audio is still a new frontier for me. I know on some level it’s kind of an out-of-date style with a single interview narrating over the photos and no ambient sound, but I’m learning. I don’t have a class or job to do this for, so it’s all on my own time. Also, I’m the kind of person who is way more productive in that threatening sense of a deadline, and something like this that has no set deadline has been tough for me to stay on focus. I’m satisfied with the result. It’s a growing experience. Now I that I have gone through this process of gather and editing both photos and audio on my own time, and have this experience to draw from, I feel I will being to dig deeper into this kind of storytelling.

Please leave any feedback, comments or critiques about the Soundslide. As I said, this is a growing experience for me.

Shakespeare at St. Mary's

2009-10-05T14:59:00.001-05:00

I do some freelance work for the TN Shakespeare Co. based here in Memphis. They recently began an education program in which they go into schools with actors, teach students about Shakespeare and play with the kids. The girls at St. Mary's were learning about combat and dance routines.

Thomas Mosiej

2009-09-18T15:27:00.001-05:00

Thomas Mosiej, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Thomas Mosiej asked me if, "I was the girl from Chicago" I said, "I was not." He was sad. The photographer who was originally going to do Tom's portrait called in sick at the last minute and I filled in for her. I guess they both were from Chicago and he was pumped to talk to her about their mutual city. I've never been to Chicago, not yet at least, and was a poor replacement for reminiscing purposes, but he showed me some of his architecture designs of a clock tower that he want's to be his legacy. It was cool. Designed completely in American style, but no one has wanted to commission to build it yet. I hope someone does.

Too Abstract

2009-09-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

I recently shot this assignment of a church support group and it felt like a dry environment to work in. Maybe 12 people were present and half didn't want to be photographed for sensitivity reasons. It was a big empty church room and the scope of it ran like a church service. So, I attempted to try to shoot things a little more abstract in order to keep my creativity going. It's not often I get feedback from editors on photos. On these, I was told they were different, in a good way, but the editors wanted to know if I had a general overall shot. Mistake: no i didn't. Shame on me: yes. I asked if they were too abstract. And I was told, "yeah, at least for you." What does that mean? Am I not allow to be or incapable of being abstract. Well, bummer either way.

Huntress

2009-08-15T00:34:00.001-05:00

huntress, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

A sneak peak at a project I worked on in Austin, TX while attending the Austin Photo Workshop.

Family Apples

2009-08-13T22:12:00.001-05:00

Family Apples, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Constantino

2009-08-06T01:23:00.001-05:00

Constantino, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Wedding Couple

2009-07-26T22:58:00.001-05:00

Wedding Couple, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

How Dan lost his legs.

2009-07-02T22:40:00.001-05:00

I shot this portrait in early May of Dan McCleary, Founder of the TN Shakespeare Co., for an article in the upcoming Summer '09 issue of the magazine, Shakespeare Scene. The story focus on how the city of Germantown allowed Dan to use their historic rail station as the temporary main office for the company. Dan is doing some great work with TN Shakespeare, it has been fun to a part of it, even if sporadically. I was kind of pumped about this because it was going to be my first published work in an international magazine.

About a month ago, I received an email from the editor saying that one of their advertisers was actually a train company and they had to send them a proof of the entire edition. Their "health and safety" people for this train company became very unhappy with the fact that Dan was standing on the track because it was some sort of "safety risk." So, of course the magazine yields to the advertiser and chops off Dan's legs to remove the tracks without informing me until after the fact. Personally, it seems like a greater health risk to amputate a person in a photo than to show them standing on an empty track to give the image some compositional flavor. But what do I know, I'm just some photographer.

It's a real tragedy, but that's the world we live in right. It was a learning experience for me at least, because next time I'm going make sure to include something about creative control in the contract. Well, the edition of Shakespeare Scene should be out in your nearest Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore by now, so go see the damage for yourself. I think the photo is on page 28.

Mind the horn

2009-06-30T14:34:00.001-05:00

Mind the horn, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

On Guard!, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

During a recent trip to the United Kingdom, I spent a lot of time in museums. 28 museums total, and after a while I started to get bored and was needing some sort of fun photographic opportunity. I came across this rhino on display in the Theatre section of the V&A Museum in London that was used as a prop in some play. Behind this rhino, images of various actors in plays and ballets were projected on the wall. I spent a good 30 minutes by this rhino, trying to get many different and fun combination and these two were my favorite from my attempts.

"Look, an elephant!"

2009-06-11T12:28:00.001-05:00

"Look, an elephant!" , originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

"I ain't no saint, but I've tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God...I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world."
-Elvis commenting to a reporter, 1950's.

Meeting the Mayor

2009-05-18T13:57:00.001-05:00

Meeting the Mayor, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

I had an assignment to cover a press conference at the Shelby County Cemetery. The conference was kicking off a week-long focus on infant mortality, and running along the edge of the cemetery was a sub-division. As the press conference continued, this group of kids started to converge to the stage as kids do when they see any kind of commotion involving a stage. The kid on the right, Garrett, walked from the farthest point of the cemetery, just be bopping along without a care in the world. A couple of the people attending the conference chuckled to themselves watching him cut across the cemetery.

So, this group of 4-5 boys, ages between 10-16, stood around and listened to the problems of infant mortality in Memphis for the last half-hour of the conference, but really enthralled them was the fact that the mayor of Shelby County, A.C. Wharton was present. They were dumbstruck about it. Garrett pulled me aside and asked me, "So, is that REALLY the Mayor?" quickly followed up with, "What's his name?"

They patiently waited for the moment to meet with the Mayor Wharton, and they got to meet him and get a photo taken with him. I kind of pre-visualized how I wanted to try to sneak a chance to snap this moment while I trying to find other little moments more geared for my assignment. So, this was kind of a shot in passing, but it's more or less how I saw it play out in my head. It's always fun when life happens as you visualize it.

Ageless Corndog

2009-05-10T12:46:00.001-05:00

Ageless Corndog, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

JAI HO!!!!

2009-05-05T22:50:00.001-05:00

JAI HO!!!!, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Christian Esgasane, right, shouts out for joy when Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao, knocks out his opponent, Ricky Hatton, in the second round, ending the match. Pacquiao is a popular national hero to the Filipino population.

You know that part in Slumdog Millionaire when 8 year old Jamal, covered in fecal matter, holds up the autograph.....yeah....that's what Christian here reminds me of.

Fan of Fans

2009-04-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

John Andrews has collected antique fans since the 1970s when he was a musician in Nashville and could not afford air conditioning, and today donates some classic and unique fans to the Hunter Fan Company's Fan museum here in Memphis. I shot this for the Appeal today and figured I would post these. Some of the fans were pretty neat. For example, the fan in the last photo originally ran on a water driven belt system back around the turn of the 20th Century. I don't know, but I've always appreciated technology from that time period with all the levers, gears and pulleys used to make things work. I mean I find today's technology cool too, but it's all circuits and chips hidden behind LCD screens. There's just something about old things like these fans where you can see how everything works to make the items run that stirs my industrial imagination.

Poppy

2009-04-21T14:42:00.001-05:00

Poppy, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

I shot this of my grandfather, Bill Bailey aka Poppy, at Thanksgiving. I was pulling into our driveway as he was having a smoke and shot this. I had it on my old blog before I shut it down. I came across it again, and just wanted to put it up on this blog.

Waiting in Line

2009-04-15T13:01:00.001-05:00

Waiting in Line 3, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Spent Easter in Disney world. Did a lot of line waiting. More fun photos on my flickr.