"Unique" Jill

Jill came to the studio yesterday to be included in the series of Unique people. Tomorrow, I am "getting crazy" and going to be photographing another "Unique" on-location....away from my studio. Sometimes you just have to take a risk.

Congratulations to Kao

I have been working on a series of testimonial ads for the St Paul School District showing former students. Many of these students have faced difficult odds, but have gone on to do great things. One of these students, Kao Kalia Yang, born into a Hmong refugee camp, went on to write "The Late Homecomer'. This past Saturday, our paths crossed again. While covering the Minnesota Book Awards, I saw Kao receive both the Peoples Choice and Best Nonfiction Memoir for her book.

"Hanging"

This past Saturday I was shooting a wedding at Columbia Manor Golf Course, which is an old-school, city-run public golf course very near my studio in Northeast Minneapolis. This place has an old run-down feeling in a charming good way. Very comfortable place to work with beautiful light streaming in.

Roaming the facility while people were eating, I grabbed this shot among others. Couldn't stop seeing photos.

"Unique" Ayesha

Ayesha responded to my craigslist ad, " looking for unique individuals for personal photo project". She was quick to point out that she was not driving in all 10 of the car accidents.

McKnight Application Is In!

I just finished submitting my application for the McKnight Fellowship, which is huge for me. There is much time spent deciding on images and writing the proposal. An arts group I have worked with, Springboard For The Arts", based in St Paul, really helped me out with it. The staff over there has allot of experience in this arena and did me a huge service by helping me with my images and writing. I will find out if I made the first cut by May 11th.

Here is Ruth...one of the images I submitted.

PPL

Spent a few hours photographing for PPL (Project for Pride in living). PPL's mission is to work with lower-income individuals and families to achieve greater self-sufficiency through housing, employment training, support services, and education. They are really teaching people to fish. Being able to work with people like this is one of the great things about my job. Here is a selection of portraits that will be used for an up-coming awards program.

Challenges of Selecting Images

I have been at the computer all day working on photos for my annual McKnight Fellowship submission, which is due on Monday. I am again going to submit the "Unique" project.

They ask for 12-15 images along with a proposal and CV. The selection of the first 5 or so is easy. They are strong visually and have interesting quotes. From there it becomes difficult. I can't help but reflect back on the shoot..did it go well...or not (was the person rude or late....) The experience of the interaction enters into my determination of whether or not it is a good/bad image. It is hard for me to think of an image as being good when the experience for me was not, or I might think an image is great only because I had a positive connection and it may very well be mediocre. Of course those judging the photos, know none of this. It is really beneficial for me to show my images to other people to get their opinions.

Here is Jennifer, who will be one of the images I submit.