Here’s the short of it, during spring break of 2018 I will be going out to California to see my brother, Evan, who I haven’t seen since winter break 2017. However, going out there will give me the opportunity to see his apartment for the first time and getting to see/know the area that he’s in. While on the trip though I will take multiple photos, tons of photos so that I can document my trip and then be able to retell it through some text, but mostly pictures. To give some beginning to this project here are two images of the airports that I will be flying into and out of. From Boston to California.
I am considering doing a story about the voyages of 4 friends sailing upon the ocean, recently I completed a trip from Belfast Maine to Marblehead Massachusetts. The trip took 36 hours and involved sailing overnight. During the journey we passed by many beautiful places and saw whales, dolphins and various ocean birds. The story would follow the individuals and the struggles of the crew. The photos bellow are a demonstration of some of the content that I took on the trip. I love taking photos on the ocean, the amount of light and varying conditions make each photo unique.
My Roommate is recently going through some major life changes which are requiring him to be out of town for an extended period of time. This is a story of a man who is going through radical change, the un-willful abandonment of one life for another.
I edited these photos in Lightroom to be grainy and faded (a bit gray) on purpose. I think it reflects the mood of uncertainty and dismay.
My girlfriend, Julia has been getting into sewing. So far, she has sewn her first quilt, she’s sewn pillow shams, and is now sewing lanyards. She has developed a passion for sewing and creating and I’ve enjoyed watching her progress. Lately, she’s been selling lanyards as a way to make some extra cash and she has made an impressive amount of money in a short amount of time.
I’ve taken some pictures of her, her sewing, and the lanyards she’s created to capture the process of creating something she’s passionate about and how that isn’t always going to be easy. My favorite picture is the one of her sitting next to the sewing machine with her head rested in the palm of her hand. In that moment, she was flustered as her sewing machine wasn’t working properly and she couldn’t understand why. After some encouragement, she was back at it.
My family and I took a trip to Boston Mass, so my little brother Isaac could play between halfs at the bruins game at TD Garden. I decided to tell the story of our trip from Portland ME to Boston. The most enjoyable part of taking these photos was capturing the wonder and amazment through the eyes of a 10 year old boy from a small Maine town, witnessing the city for the first time in his life.
I enjoyed this time with my family very much and will cherish these photos for years to come.
I decided to tell the story of my families trip from Portland ME to Boston. It was amazing to see the trip through the eyes of my little brother. I got to see the beauty and wonder that a child would see going from a small Maine hometown to a big unknown city. I also thought it would be somewhat comical to tell the story of the difference in donut preference between my family. We went to two different donut places. It was a beatiful day in the city, there were no clouds in sight. Our trip to Boston was a great way to spend time with my family.
My idea for my story is following the guy that has appeared in my other photos doing his aerial straps training. There is a lot of passion that has to go with learning this skill it hurts, and can cause career-ending injuries. A cirque performer died just a few days ago doing the most mundane of this on this apparatus. You can see the work he puts into his skill, even with just the cuts, bruises, and bandaids on his arms. But once he gets home, he’s a regular person, just wanting to relax and play some video games.
Over spring break, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with some close family friends at their log cabin in Eastern Maine. One night, while I was up late with not much to do, I noticed that the log cabin had a very special quality having to do with peace and tranquility. It reminded me a lot of the saying “not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” Surely, not even a mouse would dare to stir simply because of the cats, Violet (not pictured) and Zoe, lounging about in the heat of the burning wood stove.
I sincerely hope that this narrative appeals to most people who experience it. I think that, just by taking time to look at the images, and the details within them, each individual will be able to feel sleepiness and peace that comes along with low, warm lighting, the fire, and relaxing kitties.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my parents, it’s to appreciate the little things and to rely on yourself sometimes, even if that means making life a little bit harder – let me explain. I grew up in a house in the middle the woods. Our neighbors are each at least a half mile away, and the silence at times can be deafening. We have terrible cell service. Internet and cable companies don’t provide service to us because of our rural location, and it’s a 15 minute ride to the grocery store.
This location isn’t ideal for many people. But among the few that feel that this is the perfect location, my parents are two of them. They built their home, which I fortunately got to grow up in, on their own (with the help of some friends) 28 years ago and have since been doing small but effective things to lessen their reliance on others. They each do their own part to grow food in the garden, cut wood from our property to heat our house (our primary and only source for heat up until 2016 has been wood), raise chickens for eggs, pickle and can food the winter, and collect and boil sap to make maple syrup. Obviously, we aren’t homesteaders or totally self sufficient, for we as a family still are very much relying on others, technology, modern-society institutions and systems etc. However, what has inspired me – more so in recent years – is the fact that even though it might be easier to buy all our food at the grocery store, install heaters that run on natural gas or oil, and be closer to the center of town, my parents have deliberately chosen not to do so. They believe that even if it makes life a bit harder, it makes it richer and certainly more lively. I plan to capture these kinds of activities and show that it indeed does make life richer.
The audience for this narrative are people who are interested in self-reliance, homesteading, or long for a more “back to the land” life, as well as my family and friends.
Dad heading out to gather sap
Sap flowing
“Mm, what do we have here?”
Capping it off
Proud moment
Filtering the sap before we boil it
The finished product.
Idea 2 – The Hikades
*Note:Because Tim Hikade and his wife are having another baby and the due date was during spring break, I was unable to meet with him or the family to take photos, however I visited the brewery, pub, and restaurant to give at least some sense of place*
Of the number of people that inspire me, the entire Hikade family of Blue Hill are certainly on that list. John and Beth Hikade started Arborvine Restaurant about 20 years ago, and since then have established a state-famous fine dining experience on Main Street in Blue Hill. Their two sons, Andrew and Tim have since taken over most of the business and a number of other parts to the business have been added on. The Hikade Family as a whole have founded and own Arborvine, a fine-dining restaurant, Deepwater Brewing Company, a three barrel micro-brewery run on solar energy, Deepwater Brew Pub, a pub that features the beers they brew and classic pub fare, and Moveable Feasts, a catering business that mainly serves smaller to medium sized gatherings, such as wedding or cocktail parties, but have also done larger gatherings such as a lobster bake for 750 people. The entire family works day in and day out to keep the business running smoothly, and the food they make is absolutely incredible.
If I were to choose this idea, my plan would be to capture their hard work, the various aspects of the family businesses, and then ultimately the pay off – watching customers smile and enjoy what they have to offer. The audience for this would be the Hikade family, their customers, the local population in and around the Blue Hill Peninsula, and people interested in starting a micro brewery, restaurant, pub, etc.
I think it would be interesting to document the different stages of recording multiple songs over a couple of sessions. This is a subject I’m pretty passionate about and believe that I could capture an accurate representation of the mood and hard work that goes into it. I think anyone who enjoys music would be interested in how a local artist records and creates their music to be listened to by the public. There would be an abundance of opportunities to create a compelling storyline from to live playing to decision making.
The changing of the seasons.
For this idea, I would possibly take a picture in the same exact spot at the same time each day or couple of days to represent the change of the seasons. This would allow the viewer to see the environment change around them as well as the light shift if each picture was taken at a time close to sunset. A more creative approach to this idea would be to take a step in a particular direction with each photograph taken. I think anyone who is interested in nature or time lapses would like to view this project.
-Cataloging my daily routine, as possibly mundane as it sounds. But everyone is unique, so the possibility of displaying my individual journeys throughout the day may be an interesting route. This may range from my countless walks in between classes, lunch with roommates, and extracurricular activities when I ought to be doing homework assignments.
-Capturing my walk through the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Ma. The exhibits within are incredible, and photographing that experience will interest art enthusiasts and laypersons alike. And the wide range of art pieces and angles to said works are likely to spark interest in at least some.
-My mother has had diabetes since she was eleven years old, and over the past year she had collected each of her supplies needed to taking insulin and testing her blood sugar. She then put some of these items in jars and has displayed them in our house, showcasing just how much goes into keeping someone with diabetes alive, and the physical waste that comes with that from needles to test strips. This will interest audiences with diabetes or to those who know of someone with this condition, and show them just how much goes into maintaining their health. Now imagine that amount of supplies times another 40+ years…
This new story idea is something I thought of by seeing an image of a girl looking in a mirror on the internet. I really liked how it captured her face even though the camera was pointed at her back. I decided I wanted to experiment with this, but I wanted to put my own personal spin on it. I really enjoy being in the woods, because I have spent much of my childhood and teenage years out in the forest whenever I get some free time. My parents have always taken me out to look for animals, and we own a farm that is now mostly forest, and some of my favorite summer activities are running around in the woods there. Because of this, I wanted to capture the feel of the space around you when you are in a forest. When you spend a lot of time there, you tend to notice things that others don’t notice at first glance like the layers of trees, branches, colors, ground, etc. I thought that a unique way to capture that would be to take a mirror into the woods and take pictures of the woods through the mirror.
Here are some of the first photos I took:
As I was playing with editing these, I found that I could make either just the mirror in color, and the rest of the space black and white, or the mirror black and white and the rest of the background in color. This gave me an interesting idea of a doorway into a new world. I knew that I needed to have a narrative that changed over time, and I thought that the perfect way to do this would be to have my friend act as a model who is walking through the woods, in a black and white world, and she discovers a mirror that seems to be in color. She uses this mirror as a door wayinto a colored world, which she enters and decides to leave the dull black and white world behind her.
Here are some of the edited photos:
OLD POST:
Polaroid storyboard:
I recently obtained a Polaroid CoolCam 600 camera and have quickly become obsessed. I love the way that the camera catches everything in one shot, mistakes and all. I think it would be interesting to try to capture a story from a literal “storyboard”, where I would take a bunch of polaroids and piece them together to tell a story. I was debating either taking a lot of abstract photos of random things and using the larger picture storyboard to create something different, or to take photos in a certain order of an event unfolding to create a story, like taking a picture of a growing flower (if the snow ever melts) once a day to see how it evolves over time.
Capturing my different personalities.
I have noticed that there seem to be three starkly different personalities that exist inside of me. Sporty, girlie, and kind of “rockish/punk” (if that makes sense) I feel like it could be an interesting project to capture these different personalities as they pop up during the day, whether it be in the clothes I decide to wear, the music I decide to listen to, the way I perform a task or the general actions I do every day. This might be challenging because it can be hard to photograph yourself, and usually, I get so caught up in my busy day to day schedule that things can get mundane and routine, but I think I would be up for the challenge. (Additionally, I recently lost all my clothes and belongings in a fire, so it will be hard to create this with the things I do have. But that could be another angle, how I rebuild my three selves after losing everything).
Making time for art.
As mentioned before, I tend to fall into mundane routines in my busy days. Because of this, my art takes the back burner, and I don’t get to spend a lot of time on it. I really enjoy sketching, drawing, watercolor painting, things of that nature. It is one of my goals to start working on my art again, whenever I get the chance. I think it would be interesting to capture all the different areas that art can take place and all the different places that I find a few minutes to make something, by taking pictures of my surroundings and my art in that time. This story idea will challenge me to actually find time for my art, and challenge me to find unique ways to capture my own creations.
Unfortunately, I was a fool and tagged this post as Assignment 6_17.
Proposal 1:
I am considering creating a multi-photo narrative of a student pulling an all-nighter. I think it is relatable for all in the class. To show change and the passage of time, I will utilize the natural light of the sun. As late afternoon becomes early evening which shifts to late at night, the photos will capture the mentality of a student who is stressed and lacking in sleep. For instance, earlier in the evening the snacks will be healthy, but as the night wears the student will begin snacking on junk food and getting weird.
Proposal 2:
I will document my hometown of Cape Elizabeth. I will visit the old haunts that I frequented, and hopefully, it will show the progression of how I’ve aged. The narrative will be how the town looks different as one age. It will be a sequence of photos, and hopefully, I’ll be able to play with light and shadow. There is some weird, lovely nostalgia that I get driving my hometown. Ideally, I want to make it nostalgic and dreamy.
-Documenting the coming snow storm and taking pictures of snow builds up
-Documenting a day skiing at Loon mountain with my brothers
-Taking pictures of the Maple syrup making process from sap collection to drawing off syrup
Syrup is graded from light amber (left) to dark amber (right), light amber is the most difficult to make and can only be made at the begining of the season.
A hydrometer is used to measure the density of the syrup. If the red line sits above the waterline at 217 degrees, it is past the density of syrup.
Syrup is drawn off to test the syrup density.
Patrick stoking the fire.
0 is really 212 degrees, the boiling point of water. Hours are spent distilling syrup to the point where it can reach 219 degrees.
The furnace at max capacity.
Steam begining to roll off the sap pan.
Getting the fire started in the furnace, we boiled continuously this afternoon for about six and a half hours and produced a gallon and a half of syrup.
Collecting the sap by buckets andemptying them into a holding tank in the back of our truck.
My dad carrying 2 full pails of sap from a holding tank in the woods.
Installing a bucket on a new maple tree.
Hammering a tap into the newly drilled hole.
Sap pouring out of the newly drilled hole. The burst quickly dies down after a few minutes.
Drilling a hole for a new tap. A specific bit must be used for the tap to fit.
My first choice is to photograph a young woman who wears elaborate make up everyday. She uses it as a form of self expression. I wanted to focus on how the make up represents who she is and how the public, in her job at a pizzeria, reacts to her self expression.
The audience for this piece would be the people she interacts with, the local population who might encounter her and people who enjoy human interest stories because this is taking a peak into her world and why she uses extravagant make up to express her self. I’m still in contact with her so I don’t have any pictures to post at this time.
My second choice is to photograph my sister becoming a first time mother. I would feature photos from late in her pregnancy to her baby being born in the hospital and after as she learns how to take care of a baby.
The audience who would be interested in this are mothers and expectant mothers because they have an emotional interest in the story. People who enjoy stories about life transitions, having a baby is a huge life change and some people enjoy watching how people’s life unfolds during a transitional time such as having a baby.
My water bottle goes everywhere I go. For some people their “must have” item is their phone, but this is mine. Everyone needs water to live, which makes the object a metaphor for life. I was thinking I could do a “day in the life” story of my water bottle and everywhere it goes on a typical day, and capture the photos in a way that personifies it. This would make it relatable to everyone who is just trying to get through their day, and survive their college career to emerge on the other side with a degree and some good memories. The audience would be the community of college students, who could identify parallels between their day-to-day rhythms and this story and realize that we’re all in it together.
For this topic, I would like to explore themes of community/belonging and loneliness/isolation. I thought it might be interesting to do this by using objects in different settings. For example, a bunch of shoes in a crowd, and then one shoe left all by itself somewhere. The story could be developed through a variety of subjects and settings, and could form a narrative that transitions from negative emotions to positive ones. The audience would be people who are interested in more abstract or artistic representations of the human experience, rather than concrete “true” stories.
Miller was a UMass Amherst police horse who was retired when they could no longer keep the police horse program going. He’s new to living in Westhampton Massachusetts where his new caretakers live. He’s never lived in a herd of horses before so he is new to the entire experience of making friends and horsing around. Miller is only 6 years old which is young for a horse but he’s a big guy! He is a Belgian Draft horse known for their height and wide body type. The horses he’s moving in with are smaller than Miller and don’t really like him. He’s been a loner for a few weeks.
This past week Miller was feeling braver than usual and decided to try and play with the little guys. They were hesitant at first but in the end, they started to play with Miller and race around the snow-covered pastures. Miller has never been happier, he’s now accepted into the herd and is loving retirement. He even became best friends with one of the other horses and they are now inseparable.
Maryanne and Brian had decided that they had, had enough of living in Massachusetts and wanted to move to New Hampshire where they originally fell in love. They went searching for their new home in December 2017. They both debated on many things such as buying just land and build their own home or buying a home that was already built. They also wondered if they would be able to build their dream home, a log cabin.
They were invited to come to the wilds of New Hampshire and hike through the woods to see a log cabin that had been already built. They began their trek through the forest climbing over trees and through the snow to see this potential home. The journey was not easy but it was worth the trip. They saw the house and new it was the perfect home for them to live out the rest of their days. “This is home.” said Maryanne, and they lived happily ever after.
Just showing the process of going through a regular haircut with some of my friends. It’s a mixture of laughing, critique and just repetitive work. I think that the main audience would just be people who are interested in both witnessing processes and haircutting. When you get a haircut it’s a long process, where don’t really get to see the entire progression all at once. I think photo’s would be a good way to shorten a haircut and make it look interesting.
The Start
1/4
The End
Visiting the Aquarium
The subject would just display all the different exhibits at the aquarium. From beginning to the end, including the progress of walking through the building. Although the story isn’t something outwardly deep or grabbing. I think just showing the wonderment and variety in a aquarium is something really special.
Lurking
Wonder
Deep Purple
Trip in Canada
I think this would be a really cool project to make. I’m taking a trip to Montreal, and then Toronto over spring break. It’s the first, long road trip that my girlfriend and I will ever take together and I can see a lot of different interactions resulting from that. I think the audience would be people interested in traveling, my personal life, and in adventure in general. I think people would be particularly interested in this for a few reasons. It shows an adventure, progress and personal connection. The traveling alone is an adventure, but also seeing the adventure between the interactions of two people would be really fascinating.
Pick-Up
Concrete Sea
Daily Commute
EDIT – Added pictures roughly showing what a fully fleshed out piece would resemble.
For my narrative project, there are three stories that I would like to create via photography. The first, would be a series of photos that represent a spiritual journey through a physical journey. This would take the form of a series of photos that begin with very industrial or mechanical photos and end with photos in a natural setting. For the second narrative, I want to do a “Day in the life of” series of photos. For the third narrative, I want to tell a few separate stories that are contained in single images that are related by the same emotion being expressed.
I have a couple of story proposals, but all of them hinge on events that have not happened yet.
My first idea hinges on going to Atlanta for Spring Break. My girlfriend and I are going to be looking for apartments, and we decided to do the City Pass, which gets us into the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN studio, the Atlanta Zoo, World of Coca-Cola (which we aren’t going to do), and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. The photos would be taken over the course of the week.
My next idea has to do with the women’s basketball game on Friday against Hartford. They would be playing for a shot to reach the NCAA tournament, so this game is a really big deal.
My third idea involves the snowstorm we are supposed to be getting on Wednesday night into Thursday. I’m hoping to get different buildings and capture the snow in the streetlights.
