Too Abstract

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

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

Family Apples, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Constantino

Constantino, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

Wedding Couple

Wedding Couple, originally uploaded by lightwriter27.

How Dan lost his legs.

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

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.