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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
