Rebecca Crawford, Painting with Light, F 5.6, Shutter 73, ISO 100.
Dreams provide us with visions of ourselves in roles and places we never imagined. Sometimes the choices are similar to situations we are as facing in reality. The key is discovering if our dreams give us clues or helpful hints to what we should do, or if they are just bizarre thoughts.
To create this photo balloons were strung from the beam in the studio on both sides of the frame. I knelt first on the right of the frame and a strobe was fired. Then I switched positions to the other side, and another strobe went off. The balloons were hit with a little bit of light from a flash light with a little bit of blue tone. The background is a police flasher, moved around as fast as possible.
Rebecca Crawford, Painting with Light, F 5.6, Shutter 84, ISO 100.
Fear grabs hold over everyone. Awake or dreaming, the things we push away come back to haunt us. Although the situation may seem impossible to get out of, many times the answer is to face it and fight back no matter how afraid we may be.
On this photo a muted strobe was fired to freeze me and a blue filtered flashlight was swirled around me from top to bottom, around legs and back up. Then a red filter was put on the flashlight add starting from bottom went up again.
This assignment was a lot of fun, hard, but I learned a lot. Mainly keep out ambient light, it is difficult to stay in a position for too long, have something heavy enough to hold the shutter button down, and keep trying until it comes out right.
A saxophone player from the age of 10, Dustin Kunkel always was the "band kid". He played throughout high school, tried to learn piano, but found it wasn't for him. Around his 18th birthday his best friend bought a guitar which sparked Kunkel's interest. Now at the age of 23, he practices on his Washburn electric four times a day for up to one hour sessions. He says he likes music because "it is a universal language that everyone knows." Kunkel can be very outgoing, crazy, and even a bit dramatic at times. He does almost anything to get people to laugh or smile, especially while playing. It seems he is always happy. When he is away from playing shows and is by himself or a few people, he is nervous and shy. Having a crowd seems to make him feel comfortable.
I had a few issues in the studio, but for the first time using all the lights and setting up, I think it went ok. To shoot I used a Nikon D80, rim light, main, side, and small back light. Lens ranged from 50mm to 200, and shot at about F16, 200 shutter and ISO .
Always preferring to be outdoors than in, I have never shot much more than a snapshot inside...and I have never shot in a studio. I had not set up a soft box, used a strobe, known what a pocket wizard was, or a white lightening. Needless to say, up until mid-last year/ this semester, I was feeling a little behind. But though I love the outdoors I am not one to shoot landscape. Instead I love working with people, being crazy, and just having a good time. The photo above is my first attempt... on the the Nikon D80 with an 85mm and F16...white balance set on auto...wasn't working so hot....little blown out. The second photo was same, except I set the F stop to 22. The last few takes are my favorites. I learned that it is important to keep the rim ligt from bouncing back into the camera, as it will mess up your exposure or leave you with some glare. Keeping distance from the subject is important, or you will cut of body parts, or have to jump back to catch the action and will miss the moment. So stay back, use the zoom and that why you are prepared for what they do. Keep the subject close to the light, but keep in mind reflective objects they may be wearing. Like the chain and the glasses above. Keep relaxed. Remember to not "chimp" and stare at your LCD, once you have a good idea roll with it. Otherwise you waste time and your subject looses interest too. Keep your ISO at about 200 (because those lights are indeed plenty bright). And action and reaction and 98% always better than a straight pose for showing character. It is more than what I know or can see, but there has to be show emotion or moment to tell everyone else who they are. Lastly, stop freaking out, breathe, and just have fun. Learn as you go. The first time might not be the best but everyone learns and gets better. PS.-- I noticed that despite trying to get these in order they start off at the very top with last frame, then scroll down to first take. :)
With a slew of setbacks, I had to change my final project idea, and ventured in the direction of a young man leaving his wife and 10 month old son for the NAVY. Having almost joined this past June, I want to continue follow this story when he leaves for boot camp and comes home on leave----
“You can’t really be patriotic until you’ve done something for your country,” Carl Copenhaver, 23 of Ludington says, about why he has decided to join the military even with the current war. Copenhaver says that plenty of people say that they support the U.S a hundred percent, but he feels that actions speak louder than words. Married just last year to his soul mate, Jackie, with whom he has a ten-month-old son, Copenhaver decided to sign a six-year contract with the NAVY and will leave for boot camp this October. Fueled by the drive to be patriotic and gain a new experience in life, Copenhaver acknowledges that financial security for his family is also a deciding factor with the way the economy and job marketing have been. He takes comfort in the fact that the U.S government isn’t just going to lay off their personnel after they sign a contract with them. Having worked an assortment of various jobs, and having been laid-off since winter, Copenhaver is looking for something he can rely on, and to have a job that he can have fun at and enjoy doing. Support of his decision to join was slow to come from some, but for the most part, Copenhaver’s family and friends are behind him every step. Two of his best friends are currently in the Marines, his father and mother were both in the NAVY, and his stepfather was in the Army. Jackie, realizing that joining was something that her husband was serious about and wanted to do, has put her effort and love into being there for him and helping him prepare. “Everybody was just kind of like, whatever you need, just let us know,” Copenhaver says. Having scored unusually high, with a 95, on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), Copenhaver has a good chance of getting into the program for which he signed up for. Without any studying, or preparation, he scored a 92 on the pre-ASVAB given to him by his recruiter, and is now focusing on the physical requirements to enable him to successfully make it through boot camp, and pass the PST (physical strength test) for NAVY diver. “It’s a lot of them breaking you down. That’s all boot camp is. When they say jump, you say how high. Any hesitation can cost people’s lives.” Every day Copenhaver works out at the gym in his apartment complex, or outdoors. To pass the PST for diver he must be able to swim 500 yards non-stop, do 50 sit-ups, 42 pushups, 6 pull-ups, and then run 1.5 miles, all within a timed period. To make it more fun and spend as much time with friends before he leaves, he just tries to play basketball, go disc golfing, and rollerblade whenever he can. “The hardest part for me is going to be him not being able to see Brendan grow up everyday. Everyday he does a new noise, or moves more, just advancing everyday,” Jackie says. “I am nervous. Part of me just selfishly doesn’t want him to get into the dive program just so he’ll get home sooner.” For Jackie, as well as her husband, it is a mix of emotions. She is proud and supportive of him, but knows its going to hard to watch him go and to worry about the possibility of him going overseas with the war going on. To not be totally alone and to save money to use to enjoy little things together before he leaves, Copenhaver, Jackie, and their son have decided to move in with Jackie’s parents. “Whenever I’m away…it’s going to be nothing. I’m going to have nothing. All the comforts I’m use to and have, I won’t,” Copenhaver says. He feels the burden and worry of going away for so long, and knows he will miss his wife, son, and friends, but he feels the NAVY will be a good change and will benefit his life and his family’s.
For Journalism 423, this is my second video, focusing on the subculture and obsession of motorcycle riding.
"In Love With Freedom"
For Bryan Sanders, 24, riding motorcycles has been a family tradition, beginning with his uncle, moving on to his father and mother, and is now something not only he but his wife enjoy. After looking for a motorcycle for a few years, Sander’s mother sold him her month old Yamaha vStar 650, the very day he and his wife had been out looking for a bike. “I’ve always wanted one. The thing I like about being on a motorcycle in one word is just freedom,” Sanders says. He tries to go out for a ride whenever the weather is nice, and often rides his Yamaha to work. Although he enjoys riding, he admits that long rides, such as a 6-hour trip he and his wife went on to attend his cousin’s wedding, are not something he’d like to do all the time. This is especially true now that his wife is near the end of her pregnancy. Sanders fears her going into labor while he is out riding and can not hear his cell phone. “I just enjoy riding. I could care less about what people think,” Sanders says of the stereotypes that people have about bikers. Biking is just something he loves doing, not something he does to gain attention. He looks forward to when his wife can be on the bike with him again, and taking his son riding when he is old enough to go.
For the first video for Journalism 423 I wanted to focus on an illness or struggle. I wanted to show how it affected someone's life, and how they confronted and stood up to the issue.
Battling Bulimia
Brigid, 31, of Ludington has been struggling with Bulimia for the past 14 years, and admits that she has overcome many obstacles but is yet to wins some battles. Having grown up with overly busy parents, a shy personality, and Bipolar Depression, Brigid started to develop an eating disorder in junior high. “It was never a physical thing, it was much deeper than that,” Brigid says, combating the stereotype that people with Bulimia binge and purge solely because of appearance issues. While in treatment for Bipolar Depression, Brigid’s nurses suspected that she had problems with Bulimia, but Brigid denied it and was released. Two years later, during a time in her life where she consumed less than 600 calories per day, she passed out hitting her head on the bathroom tub. It was then it became clear to her that she needed help. “No one knew. My family didn’t and I just kept it secret. It allowed me to keep going,” Brigid says. After finding out that Brigid was fighting with Bulimia, many people in her family blamed themselves, especially her mother. She found it difficult to tell friends and roommates, but became friends with many of those in treatment with her, with whom she could confide in. Now, lucky to have narrowly avoided the worst of health complications from Bulimia, Brigid speaks to a counselor, make meals plans, tries to avoid the scale, and is excited to attend graduate school in Pennsylvania in the fall. Although she realizes that she is a long way from her view of being “cured,” she is just trying to take things slow. “You have some good days and you have some bad days. It’s just better to focus on one at a time,” Brigid says.
For the final months of Journalism 423, I plan to make a segmented video focusing both on subculture and drug addiction. The video will be about ten minutes long, splitting into three chapters. The focus is on a twenty year old man named Clifton, who’s currently in-between modeling contracts. He has no plans of attending college and has never held a long-term job. After being homeless the past few months, he has just moved back into the basement of his mother and stepfather’s house. Since a young age Clifton has struggled with alcoholism, and on frequent occasions drinks a bottle a day. He also battles bipolar depression and has tried more than once to end his life through overdose and cutting. To escape from his faltering self-image and to feel at ease around peers, Clifton experiments with marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy. He has not modeled for a company in over a year and is on the outs with his manager. His attempts at normal job have ended after only a few months from lack of motivation. He has not yet begun looking for a new job or a new manager to get his career back on track.
I plan to approach the story from a documentary standpoint. For the most part I plan to be detached form the subject and to film solely as a silent observer; the film will be broken up with occasional snippets of Clifton commenting about his life, like a self-biography. The story is to simply focus on the struggles of a teen model now approaching adulthood, without a career and no plans for the future, and who has turned to drugs for escape. The first segment of the video will show Clifton in his current state, with just an overview of how things are. For the beginning I want to introduce Clifton talking about his life so far, with shots of his basement residence, and comments from his parents on how they feel about his modeling and lack of aspirations. Shots of his piles of clothes, his unwashed appearance, the marijuana, and him lying around in bed; all to show the viewer an overall jist of the environment he is in. After establishing the atmosphere I want to cut to his outings with friends, and capture the times he actually leaves the house. I plan to film the parties and the persona he adapts to fit in with the crowd; the main focus being on the excess that he takes it to with the drinking and drug use. The first segment will end with shots of his condition after a few nights of partying, his parent’s reaction after he returns, and an interview with how he perceives his life and where he plans to take it.
The second segment will focus not on his current state, but on what he use to do and his attempts to find a new job. This part of the video story will flashback with a glance at his modeling portfolio, and work he use to do. To show this I want to use shots of him glancing through his old portfolio and commenting on where he use to be. I want to establish how he got started as a model and the amount of work he use to do, compared to now. I hope to film a meeting between his manager and him about his old work and what he needs to do to reinvent himself. This segment will close with comparison flashbacks between his old appearance and his current. I’d also like to explore the problems that has come along with modeling and the reason why he came to use drugs. The main issue will be underlying problems with self-confidence and possibly a look into how these views have come to affect his drug use, current employment, and relationships. It will start with a series of shots and interviews about what he use to do, flash to meeting with his manger about how things are, then shift to how he became addicted, and end with problems with relationships that drugs have caused. I plan to film arguments with his mother and stepfather who is also a police officer, his manager, friends, and string of on-off girlfriends. Through this I hope to show the contrast from how smooth things were to the destructive chaos they’ve become.
In the final segment I want to focus on his efforts to improve his life; the actions he is taking now, and his goals and plans for the future. I want to show his working out, speaking with mangers, delivering applications to local employers, and his efforts to start up his career again. Shots will include snippets from his workout routine, his meal preparation, and his interaction with potential employers. The very end will also have brief interviews with his parents as to whether or not they think he has made progress, and Clifton’s take on how things are going. Depending on what happens at then end of a few months, the story will end with either Clifton posing or walking for a fashion show, or staying stagnant in his parent’s basement and turning again to excessive drug use with his friends.
I decided to try to film this specific person and topic because many college age adults can relate to the pressures of everyday jobs, trying to focus on a career path, and the temptation of drugs and alcohol. Before making the decision to attend Central Michigan University, I was in nearly the same scene of life. I had few plans for the future, a complete lack of confidence, problems with relationships, and the crowd I associated with did not focus on reality. The people I knew wanted to be actors, poets, and artists; they took heavy amounts of drugs and modeled their lives after the past. Clifton’s story connects with me on a personal level because he seems to be living in the same mindset; he is stuck on his past career and is trying to ride out his wave of fame without realizing that he needs to open his eyes to his future. I’d like the film to give the audience the overall message of not to live through the past achievements, but to keep pushing for new ones. I’d especially like people who are my age to see that drugs can drag down the beautiful and talented. Falling into unrealistic career paths and using drugs doesn’t help you achieve creativity and fame, they only keep you stationary.
