As a photographer, I am always excited to try something a little different or new, and the cover shoot for this month’s 225 was one of those times. We had a vision for what we wanted the cover to look like and what it would imply, and the challenge was just making the shoot actually happen. However, to make this illustration happen, I would need some different equipment and some models to make the scene come to life.
Writer Adrian Hirsch and I worked closely to pull the shoot together and throughout Adrian’s research/interviewing process. We traveled to several schools, talking with and photographing students about bullying in Baton Rouge.
The cover shoot was a little more complicated, though, and we ran into many stop signs before finally finding The Possibility Project, which had a location that had lockers and students who were more than happy to help us out.
The students were perfect for the shoot — all being high school ages and all having a performance background — and they contributed ideas as we started shooting. And we got many, many wonderful images, some of which are being featured in this month’s magazine.
This is one of my favorites that didn’t make it into print:
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION. Ebony Sylvester, from left front, a home schooled senior, stands next to her locker as Baton Rouge Magnet High School students Morgan Bicknell, a freshman; Brittany Dykes, a senior; and, BreAnna Smith, a freshman, look her direction at the BREC Teen Center on Sat., Mar. 3, 2012. The students are involved with the Possibility Project. Each Saturday, these teenagers attend a workshop that combines issue-oriented discussions, training in diversity, conflict resolution, leadership and community activism, instruction in the full range of performing arts and the creation of scenes and writing. The teenagers write, produce and perform an original musical based on their lives and their ideas for change. (Photo by Erin Parker / 225)
To read Adrian Hirsch’s article on Bullying in Louisiana and the Baton Rouge area, click here.
It’s almost the weekend! And boy, what a beautiful week this one has been.
I arrived home from the beach on Monday afternoon, and I’ve been working on and off ever since. I’ve been doing a lot of reading. And I have (unfortunately) started peeling since my sunscreen applications clearly were not good enough for the sun in Orange Beach.
However, it’s all good. And it’s FRIDAY!
Here are some of my favorite things from around the Internet this week:
Photography
- I loved Dan Milnor’s essay on the power of personal projects in photography. I think we’ve all felt the frustration he details here, and in reading this, I am truly going to start pursuing some personal projects… for me and me alone.
- I love Alex Garcia’s blog (via The Chicago Tribune) and completely agree wholeheartidly: Photojournalism is an awesome job.
- Forbes‘ Senior Photo Editor Michele Hadlow talks about how killer portraiture is king on this Photoshelter video.
- So, apparently, there are professional mermaids in Florida. Great job with these photos, Annie Collinge.
- Getting married? Please, please, please hire a professional who has a professional portfolio and who you trust. Stories like these break my photographer heart.
- I’m a huge fan of organizing objects by color, hence my understandable fascination with George Benson‘s images of record sleeves.
- Jimmy Chin, an adventure photographer and filmmaker, has an amazing rock climbing photograph, and thinking about how he got the image, for me, is even more impressive than the image itself.
- Ilona Szwarc‘s portraits of American girls with their American Girl dolls are beautifully creepy. … Just me?
- Anyone want to join me at Photoshelter’s Luminance in September in NYC? Seriously considering going to the workshop and crossing my fingers (and toes) that things will fall in place so I can.
Odds & Ends
What are YOU loving this week?
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Stylist Jason Keller blows out Lucy Mercer Foval's hair on Tues., Feb. 14, 2012, at Mercer Studio. Keller works at Mercer Studio, but also travels to New York City monthly to work at a salon there. (Photo by Erin Parker / inRegister)
Jason Keller is a local stylist who is making waves in Baton Rouge, as well as L.A. and New York City. The Mercer Studio stylist works in Baton Rouge during the week and travels to New York monthly for hair appointments.
We got the opportunity to chat about his career, his travels and what he’s up to. All I will say is I want to be able to make an impact like he is here in my town, and I want to be able to travel like he does!
To read more about him and what he’s up to, check out March’s edition of inRegister.
I’m positive my husband thought I was crazy when I sent him a message one fateful Friday afternoon asking him to be a hand model.
We were leaving town later that afternoon for a wedding in his hometown, and I needed someone to hold a few gourmet popsicles for me to take the images, then immediately turn them for the magazine. Unfortunately, none of my friends were available. And unfortunately, I have not yet mastered holding an object while photographing it. (Sadly, this still looks super awkward when I try this, so I never do it for assignments. It’s a recipe for disaster.)
When he got home, he said he’d help me out. We unwrapped the popsicles, and we went outside to photograph.
It didn’t take long, and I had my shots. He made it through the shoot unscathed, though one fo the popsicles did start melting on him.
And as someone who has never entertained hand modeling (or any kind of modeling) before, he did a darn good job. However, I doubt he’ll want to be my model again, despite hearing positive feedback to his photos from my boss and friends.
A Summertime Geauxsicle is held up on Fri., Feb. 17, 2012. Geauxsicles are a gourmet ice pop company based out of Shreveport, La. and are for sale at Maxwell's Market in Baton Rouge. (Photo by Erin Parker / 225)
To read more about Geauxsicles, check out Maggie Heyn Richardson’s article, “Pop goes the ‘sicle.”
To learn more about Geauxsicles, check out their website.
The Bar Method instructor Jean Chou leads a Bar Method class on Wed., Feb. 22, 2012, at the De Frances Academy of Dance in Prarieville, La. The Bar Method is currently building a studio on Bluebonnet and is offering free classes to everyone until the studio opens in May. (Photo by Erin Parker / 225)
I’d never heard of The Bar Method before being handed this assignment. And after this assignment? I definitely wanted to go back to check it out because it looked like a fantastic workout.
The Bar Method combines various dance moves to sculpt the body to be long and lean. It was developed by physical therapists over years, and it provides full-body exercise for many muscles that would normally be neglected.
It didn’t look easy… but it looked like it could be fun.
…
To learn more about The Bar Method in Baton Rouge, read Caroline Gerdes’ story “Belly Up to the Bar.”
To learn more about The Bar Method nationwide, check out their website.
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this is a very powerful photo!
Agreed! This is so powerful. I knew right away what the photo was trying to capture.