AH Photography

The Sketchbook Project

2012-02-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

For several months now I have been working on this, The Sketchbook Project. This summer in Maine there were several of my friends that found this traveling sketchbook tour and we decided to do it. Now, I have never really done anything like this before, and I think some of my pages look hideous. But, it was fun to try something new and in a small way, it makes me feel like I'm still connected to good friends who are far away. I mailed this off to Brooklyn, NY this week, and was sad to see it go because I will never get it back, but I'm also excited and hopefully I will be able to make it to the tour when it comes to San Francisco so that I can see what my friends did for their sketchbooks!

Another week has flown by!

2012-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

Friday's are a good time to post I decided because then I have at least a week's worth of things to talk about. This week there are three main events that I'm going to focus on.

1. Letter from the Senator

That's right, I got a letter from the Senator of Nevada congratulating me on my new job as a computer artist and assistant photographer. Yeah, I know, his people probably make him write those letters and I doubt he really knows that I exist. But, he actually did sign it himself, no stamped signature, and it had a nice little official seal on it. Kind of cool in a small way. (I probably still won't vote for him, sad I know).

2. Lecture to Girl Scouts

I know this might sound lame, but we had a group of girl scouts come to our studio and I got to talk to them about photography. It was awesome. I love talking about photography to anyone who will listen. Enough said.

3. My solo show! It's tonight! I can't wait! I will try to post some pictures next week

Also, I started volunteering at the Nevada Museum of Art, and I'm kind of excited to do that.

Solo Exhibition

2012-01-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

I told myself that I would post one new thing each week about something that I have done that is photography related...well I'm a smidge behind. But here is the post for this week. I'm getting ready to do my very first solo exhibit! The work is from my Altered Abstraction series, check out my website for a full description. I'm so excited about it even though I am in a new area and I don't think that very many people will actually come to my opening reception. Despite that, I feel like this is a real accomplishment and I couldn't be more happy about it. I love having gallery shows, I love talking to people about my work and I love to see other's reactions about what I display. There is just something about it that makes me so happy. And I love to show off, who doesn't right? I feel like it is a step in the right direction. It also reminds me that I need to apply to more shows! I have been so busy with life that I have slacked the past few months. Goal for next week. Here are the details about my show....yeah!

Altered Abstractions

January 23 - March 9, 2012

McKinely Gallery East

925 Riverside Drive

Reno, NV 89503

Opening Reception

Friday, January 27

5:30pm - 7:30pm

2011 Review!

2011-12-27T22:07:00.000-08:00

Because I can. That's right. I'm going to list off all the major accomplishments and things that I have done this year, photography wise. It has been a great year and I already have big plans for next year! Here goes...

This isn't that exciting, but when you are in school and you are getting close to the end, you know that is the only thing that you are doing. So here are some of my favorite project pieces from my last semester.

Graduation and a huge gallery show, miss these girls so much!

Moving to Maine for an amazing internship at Maine Media Workshops. I am forever changed and I can't believe I was lucky enough to go there and meet so many amazing and inspiring people.

And my top three highlights from this summer:

1. Finally mastering Gum Printing

2. Making tons of wet plates

3. Making a giant Camera Obscura Tent, yep, that happened and it was awesome

Just writing this post about Maine makes me miss it sooo much!

After my internship I moved back home to Nevada. It was a hard transition at first, but things have worked out amazingly. I started a new job as an assistant for a great photographer and I couldn't be more happy. I've learned so much in such a short amount of time that it surprises me that I have come so far in one year.

2011-11-30T00:05:00.001-08:00

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Please be patient while I update...and prepare to be amazed!

Lucky

2011-11-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

Today is one of those days that I just feel so lucky to be where I am. I've always wanted to do photography for as long as I can remember and I feel like over the last year things have just fallen into place so perfectly and I'm actually starting to live that dream on a daily basis.

These are the small things that have happened to help me just this last week.

Monday: I got a piece accepted into the Industria Gallery in Tucsan, AZ, for their showing, "Mirror, Myself; a Self Portrait"...who doesn't love that?

Tuesday: I opened my purse to find, a jump drive, scissors, gaffer tape, a paintbrush, two freshly developed rolls of film, and at least 3 receipts with different sketches or ideas of projects that I want to start working on. This may seem random, and for most people it would be, but for me it meant that although I have my lazy days, I am still obviously a photographer, with big plans in mind for the future.

Wednesday: I was able to catch up with a good friend that I met through my internship in Maine this summer.

Thursday: I looked at my wall and realized that I have photographs from photographers that live all over the country, from New York, Seattle, Chicago, North Carolina to Pennsylvania. I have been lucky enough to meet other great artists.

Friday: I had a big photo shoot for my job and I loved every minuet of it! I have the opportunity to assist for a photographer where I live who is awesome enough to not only let me work for him, but to also help me get where I want to be later on in my career.

Saturday: I woke up this morning to a text from my friend, saying that he finally framed one of my pictures for his new house, and everybody that has seen it so far loves it.

So yeah, I'm lucky. Lucky enough to do something that I love for a living, lucky enough to do something that stretches me constantly, and lucky enough to have great friends who support my sometimes crazy, eccentric ideas so that I can live me dream. Every day.

Enough!

2011-10-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I've explained how I've been struggling with ideas because of this or that, nothing seemed to be coming together. And I think because of that I started to get discouraged and wondered what I was doing and why I even do photography.

And then I decided that I am in charge.

Not the economy, not my bank account, not that annoying voice in my head that constantly tells me I'm not good enough, and certainly not everyone else who tells me to be realistic.

I think 90% of success is being unrealistic when the odds are against you.

Today I decided to stop worrying and stressing about all the reasons why I can't and start getting my butt in gear and get something done.

And I did. And it felt great.

Oh yeah

2011-10-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

These are some experiments that I was playing around with at the end of the summer when I was doing stuff with gum printing. As they are, I don't think they are really anything special at all, but as far as what they could become, I think they might have potential. I really want to start working on gum printing again, I just have to wait until I get the money to buy the right equipment, oh the joys of being an adult and having to take responsibility....

Ok, this one really isn't spectacular at all, but I was more interested in testing out this kind of paper, it was some old RC stuff that I had....meh

Something new for me

2011-09-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been taking a lot of pictures....ha ha. Usually though, I don't take pictures without having a project in mind, I guess that's what art school does to you. I normally have a hard time just looking around and finding something interesting to photograph, not because things aren't interesting, but because I feel a little overwhelmed I think. I just look and I think, well, who hasn't seen this before. I try to look at it from a different angle, all those things that you are told to do, but for me that is just really hard to do because I still see nothing. When I think of photography, it's in the creation of it, in my head, before I see it, which really makes no sense but I usually have an idea before I just take a picture. This summer in Maine I was exposed to a lot of journalistic photography, which is just looking around and telling a story about the experience of a place with pictures. I guess what intrigued me about it was the fact that like all photographers, my photographs do tell stories. I have always created stories in my head instead of realizing that every day of my life, everything I do, actually is apart of the story of my life. So I decided to try doing just that, taking pictures of the things that I have been doing, as apart of my life in general. I don't think I'm very good at it, but it is not only making me take more pictures on a daily basis, but it's helping me to see things about places that I haven't noticed before.

This was a small cafe...I don't really know what you call it. It was a fly shop/lunch/breakfast/really good homemade pie, lounge. It was literally in the middle of nowhere at a place called Saddle Bag Lake, CA. It's one of the places that my brother-in-law sells fishing supplies to, and while driving through Yosemity, my family and I decided to stop and see where it was, and we ate there too. Delicious and quaint.

A few pictures of Yosmite National Park. I'm sure people have taken these pictures a thousand times before, but you know what? It was a first for me and I don't care!

This was at Twin Lakes, CA near my grandparents cabin. Someone had left this lawn chair by the shore...and I really liked it.

These are from my last few days in Maine. I went sailing with one of my good friends and I took these few snap shots just to remember the feeling of being in Maine and living right by the ocean. I miss is so much already!

A Voice

2011-07-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

This week has been so amazing in a lot of ways. Every day that I'm here I think about my work and what is it that I really want to say with it, what do I want to portray? I really wish I could just find answers to my questions. I've never felt the kind of intensity to actually give my work such a strong voice until I came here. I think that it's a good thing that I feel this way, but it is a struggle. I see different photographers every day, every week new ones come and they speak to us about their work and every time I think I'm blown away and that I can't handle any more because I'm on a brain overload. But I can't get enough of it at the same time. This week I was able to hear Joyce Tenneson speak about her work, and it was beautiful. She has been one of the greatest women photographers of our time and I look at her work and I think about how she has been able to do so much with what she does, and I think, how can I make photographs that can change lives like that? Is it even possible? I don't know...I don't know if I will ever know. But I know that somehow, I am going to create work that will change people's lives. I want to do that. I will find a way but when or how, I will just have to keep searching until I find those things out. It' so strange to be in this state of mind because I don't think I've ever fully understood it until now.

Here are some portraits from Joyce, they are some that I really like but I really like her book about Wise Women. Check it out on her website:

http://www.tenneson.com

Summer in Maine

2011-07-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. I'm in Maine for the summer working at Maine Media Workshops. It has been an adventure and so far I am loving it. It has given me a lot of time to think about my work and decide what I really want to do with my life, as a person and as a professional photographer. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the opportunities that are out there, and about all the things that I still don't know, but I'm willing to do what it takes to get to where I want to be. For now these are just a few pictures that I have taken for fun....hopefully I will be doing some real projects soon.

So I went on a 4am hike to watch the sunrise with some of my friends a few weeks ago. These were two of my favorites from that hike. It was so amazing. Sometimes I feel like things in nature are best experienced rather then captured on camera. The bottom one is above the cute little town where I live, Camden.

For a few weeks we had nothing but fog! This was so new to me but beautiful!

This was a view from my window. Caught is while I was thinking about nothing. Sometimes that is when inspiration strikes you.

These next few were taken at an antique barn that I went to and holy cow....it was incredible! The barn was seriously like four stories high and full of every kind of antique you could possibly imagine! I was in heaven. If I lived here all the time, this place would probably be my second home. It was seriously mind blowing, all the stuff that was there. These were some of my favorites.

This one really isn't a good picture at all, but look at those crazy shapes? I just had to put it up.

And in posting these picture I realized that I erased some of the very first pictures that I took while I was here....I thought they were saved in one of my files on my computer so I erased the disc on my camera, rookie flaw. Guess I will just have to take more pictures!

And we are starting all over again!

2011-07-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello! Yes, I'm going to blog again for my photos, sort of, but this time I'm going to get more into my work, the explanation of some of it. Well, maybe. Basically this is for all the random stuff that I'm doing, such as works in progress, current events and such, but my more professional stuff will be on the real web site. We will see how this goes...Enjoy!!