Morning Love

This morning my first assignment was the Lifestyles portion of the paper. There is a series of stories about couples called “making it work.” These two actually met on Broadway while pursing their dreams of being singers/ performers. Now they both teach music and perform.

These are copyright the Commercial Appeal. Don’t steal them.

I learning a few important things from this little mini-portrait session. First of all, I was taught a lesson in the importance of patience and waiting, they showed up an hour late to their own house and didn’t answer any of my calls. Second, pay attention to the small details in portraits since you’re in control. I got home and half of my piano pictures had elmos big bug eyes peeping over th piano because I failed to notice his large red head. And lastly, while I was waiting for them to show up, the girls mom showed up and we chatted for awhile; she looked me in the dead eye and told me, “If you love what you’re doing and you wake up every morning excited about it, then you will become the best there is in that field. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” I felt like I should pay her for my little morning pep talk.

Aiport Security

Yesterday I had three assignments with maybe half an hour in between each in a city I’ve lived in for half a week. It was a very interesting day, and a challenge I throughly enjoyed. The above is from my 2nd assignment on an airport fire safety building dedication, It was one of the airport police standing off to the side.

The assigning editor liked the photo a lot, but its not very story telling, so we picked another for the story.

I’ll post more photos later when my computer stops hating my CF card containing them.

Field Work

Yesterday was my first day at the Commercial Appeal. In my first day there, I passed my drug test in truck driver Island, drove to Mississippi and back, got a key to the loaner gear room, and sat in the mud in a plantation. It was An AMAZING first day to say the least.

The first photo assignment I received was a little odd. My subject was a field in Mississippi that used to be a plantation. The Mid-south fair is moving there from memphis.

Im not incredibly ecstatic about either photo, but making a field visually interesting was a nice challenge for my first day of Memphis work.

Watch out Memphis, here comes Britney.

As I sit on a pillow on the hard wood floor of my new apartment, bumming internet from some man named Willie to write this blog post; so begins day one of my Adventures in Memphis.

The drive here was lovely, and it flew by. Today was moderately big fluffy cloud day, and my lovely mother drove a piece so I could annoy her with my camera and super long B&H wish list as I flipped through the catalog while the miles rolled by.

My apartment is uncannily like an odd mix between a nursing home and hotel. Its 11 stories tall with a lobby and is about 60 percent populated by old people. I love it. Every third Thursday is Bingo night, and the money you win is shaved off your rent. I have a large veranda, a good sized living area, and the glass doors cover an entire wall so I can jerk open the blinds and let the beautiful natural light flood in and engulf me like a rip tide.

The city is incredible and diverse in every way you could imagine. One minute your in richy rich-ville and the next minute you could be in the projects. Every where you turn there is life, and something going on. There are some amazing photos to be made in this town. And I’m so excited to find them that I may not be able to sleep tonight.

AND I live way close to the zoo. It really doesn’t get any better.

Strike!

I shot some in a bowling alley tonight, didn’t get quite what I wanted…. But sometimes thats the way the pins fall.