Needle In the Veins

[ Photo by Brit Worgan - Light in the Gutter ]

Male photographers are credited as the fathers of the medium, but let it be known, women photographers have been around just as long as the process, pre-1900s. Since the medium of photography was introduced in 1839, women have been creating images.

In eighteenth-century Europe, the academies were open to male artists (painters) to train and exhibit their work. But as a blatant denial to women, photography emerged as a form of artistic expression beyond still-life and portraiture. In the nineteenth-century photography became a socially acceptable profession for women, and respected as both bold and remarkable.

Regardless of gender, each photographer brings their own personality to their work. Does an image differ based on the gender of the photographer? After all, don't men and women view the world in different ways? Not necessarily. But personalities can (and will) shape the approach to a documentary.

This past year I started working on my first professional self-funded photo documentary which follows the lives of female strippers working at a rural small town go-go club.

When I first started work on this project I had to set myself up with a game plan; a mission statement. After thoughtful consideration of the lives and subject matter I was going to be documenting, I knew I had a duty to these women to approach this project in a sensitive and unique way. I wanted their stories to rise from the images. I did not want to take on an overly sexual - underlying negative perspective, or the opposite.

For this project to grow legs it had to be open, truthful, and nonjudgmental. With a few serious setbacks along the way, there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm really proud to be behind this project and I'm looking forward to its future. I will be posting updates as this project continues to evolve.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

[ Photos by Jessica Dimmock - The Ninth Floor]

Documentary photojournalist Jessica Dimmock is someone worth watching. Her work, The Ninth Floor, takes a serious and respectful look inside the lives of heroin addicts unlike ever before.

Propositioned by a drug dealer on the streets of New York, she was invited to tag along and take photos of his trade. As his clients and personal addiction started to unravel before her, Dimmock embarked on a powerful documentary piece.

Dimmock's situational photographs of the intimate and surreal will haunt your mind for days.

Uglified

[Photo from Connors934 on Flickr]

In less than a month I'm going to be in PARIS! Traveling with my gear is always a little nerve racking, and makes security check points a blast.....

Most importantly (all) the gear that's traveling with me.... needs to comes back with me.

Someone at Make had a similar conundrum and made their own theft proof device... check it out

This is ourselves, Under pressure

If you work in the publishing industry, you know

Nothing comes easy.

Everything needs to be your best product; every time. No excuses; your readers don’t want excuses. They want perfect, and they should expect nothing less. No pressure guy.

I feed off of this, as do many who work in editorial or any deadline driven industry. It’s something we can all agree on. There is no such thing as an excuse inside a newsroom, nor should there be.

Example:

If state police block off roadways, preventing you from getting a shot of the fatal car crash that is your page 1 story tomorrow … you better park your car at a gas station, pack up your gear, walk the 2.6 miles uphill through a foot of snow, and get at least 3 different angles before you go back to that newsroom.

Sometimes I wonder to myself, what is worse: the villainous 2.6 mile uphill snow journey or the grizzly despondence in my editor’s eyes if I was to come back with nothing.

the latter always wins.

A medical professional (or, your mom) would tell you it probably isn’t all that healthy to be held to such high expectations every day; you’re bound to fail someone. But it’s something I have learned to live with and it’s good to keep your ego in check. Being a photographer under these pressures makes me a stronger, more courageous, kinder, harder, driven, sassy, calm, appreciative, 23-year-old. And doggone it, people like me.

What do photographers love more than cinematography?

TALKING about cinematography.

Seriously, we get hard-ons for it.

My girlfriend Lindsey and I saw La passion de Jeanne d'Arc for her french film studies class. It's a silent film made in 1928, which in English translates to "The Passion of Joan of Arc". Throughout the years, the feminist pioneer's story has been written in hundreds of books and seen on the silver screen, depicted in many ways.

The cinematography was incredible. The simple lighting, set design, strong use of "the-rule-of-thirds", simple pans, and creative angles had me wide-eyed and note taking.

silent films are kinda awesome, who knew?!

WWKHD?

As a photographer, artist, journalist, queer, female, activist, faced with difficult situations, I ask myself "What would Kathleen Hanna Do?"

The great Jessica Valenti shared with me this interview she recently found on GRITtv with Kathleen Hanna

For those of you who don't know, Kathleen Hanna is: a musician, feminist, activist, three dimensional role model, zine writer, and my personal heroine

While studying photography she worked as a stripper in Olympia, Washington to make ends meet. Her work focused mainly on documenting underground feminism, sexism, and the stark realities of those dying of AIDS. In partnership with a fellow student, the exhibit shed light on what was happening to men, women, and respective queer community members in the late 80's. Before the work could be shown, the schools administration censored the exhibit

.... WWKHD?

Maybe... start her own photo gallery, front several punk-dance-feminist-activist bands, become a significant partner of the third-wave?

Of course! of course.

"Sniffin' Glue"

While I'd wait for my ex-girlfriends band to start their set, I'd sometimes sit in the back of the bands tour van and read the zines she had collected while on tour.

A punk zine is a subculture in and of itself. The underground free press operation of punk music also included punk literature, DIY living, and politically-charged, radical ideology. Written, designed, and pressed by you, me, and some library's photocopier.

I still get pumped, just like I did when I was 16 picking up an issue off of a merch table at a show, to I find a back issue of something when shifting through the freegan market's 'Really Really Free Market' in greenwich village. There's just something about the weathered edges, the off-center typography, that makes it unique and common.

This new video put out by Wired magazine showcases their new slick design template for a digital product. The verdict is still out on several things, such as, how will this translate visually onto a smart phone and how much will this cost?

I'm sure Chris Anderson and Steve Jobs are riding their respective segways' right now to an undisclosed location to geek it out work out those details.

But somethings are meant to be left untouched and kept simple, because sometimes that's just better.

Living for a Living

A fellow photographer once asked me

"What are you first, an artist or a journalist?"

"I'm an artist"

"WRONG" she said

Excuse me?? No, no. No no no.

Before I stumbled upon journalism I was an 11-year-old girl, creating a photo essay of my parents footwear choices; stealing the family video camera to write, direct, produce ( and star! ) in my very own TV commercials. I have always been creating art, and was well aware that I was way better at it than, say, quantum physics. So I stuck with it, and got better at it; it became apart of my person.

Now, as a 23-year-old professional, I can see how (and why) someone would loose sight of who they were before they started their career. Turning something you love into a profession can be tricky, and most artists will have to figure it out; cause starving is only a 3-week option.

What sets you apart from every other photographer/artist/writer/musician/quantum physicist is the creative mind. Your creative mind.

Loosing sight of yourself is like drawing a target on your back while waiting to be replaced by a machine.

And that, is a recipe for disaster.

My Snowpocalypse Concussion Story

Monday, I was at work covering an assignment when I slipped on ice and hit my head. Don't be alarmed, this happens a lot. As a photojournalist, you are walking places and doing things that normal people wouldn't normally do given the conditions; and mind you, this is upstate New York.

I take the necessary precautions by dressing for the weather, including my doc martins, and my hot-pink thermals. But no matter how prepared you are for the day, you never know when a thick patch of ice is waiting to meet the back of your head.

After I had fallen, in front of my subject no less, I quickly brushed myself off and came to my senses. I finished my assignment and quickly (and embarrassingly) hurried to my car. As I was driving back to the newsroom I started to get dizzy and felt a little.... strange. drunk strange. When I was talking with my managing editor I could tell I was slurring my words. I wouldn't normally tell them that I had fallen, because that is a lot of paperwork for all of us to deal with, but this fall was obviously different. After having spoken to our HR department and filled out the paperwork, I was on my way to urgent care where they concluded I had two different sized pupils and suffered from a severe concussion. They then sent me to the ER to wait for a cat-scan. As I was laying in my hospital bed drifting in and out of sleep, I awoke to my editor sitting at my bedside. I thought

"This isn't happening. Did I wreck my camera rig? Is he here to fire me?"

and then I thought of:

and it got weird.

What editor comes and visits their photographer in a hospital room while on a deadline? The best kind, thats who. Seriously, I'll be lucky to find another editor as gracious and as kind as Sam in my future.

It's been 4 days, and a case of whiplash later. I realize now that fall was a lot worse than I had originally thought. But I'm taking it easy, as to not really screw myself up the next time I fall on ice (and I will).

I've played, like, 72 games of tetris... Can I go back to work now?

Lite Brite

What's the difference between a amateur photo and a professional photo?

Light.

Truth be told, I'm a tiny lady.

I stand a little over 5 feet tall and weight 105 lbs. which means packing light is necessary (have you ever tried running with 50+lbs. of equipment hanging off of you? - military members, don't answer that).

When I go on assignment I pack 3 lens, 1 extender, 1 body, 1 flash, and 2 pocket wizards. My lenses give me a range of 14mm-800mm (with extender) and of course, without a camera body there wouldn't be a photo at the end of the day. But my most important (and least heaviest) part to my pack is my flash, PW's, and a super clamp.

Because I am the night photographer, I shoot a lot of sports for the paper. I like to mix it up a bit, for myself and our readers, by adding different light techniques when covering, say, a basketball game.

Many photographers will tell you that you will need at least two flashes (if not more) to evenly light a full gym. I beg to differ. When on an assignment, I need to get in and out of a game with enough useable shots as possible, before I'm called off to another assignment and with enough time to process and caption all my images.

I like to stick to one end of the court, the side the team I am covering is shooting towards. I set up my flash behind the hoop, just a little above head level of the players and off to the side, as to create a few shadows. I don't waste my time with light stands, even though they are always in my car just in case. Instead I use a super clamp. Also, if you are having a hard time finding a position above the basket, usually there are bleachers with railings set up that can give you that off the center position even though it's not under the basket. (you will want to shoot on the same side as your flash.)

So if you're concerned that you're not packing enough light, don't fret! Only you know what works for you (and your pocket).

Results:

Growing up photojournalist

Like most teenagers in high school I became fixated on finding my place in the world. I took to playing sports, but I lacked the aggression. I became a book worm, but have terrible reading comprehension. I even tried cooking, but I'm just not that kind of girl.

I felt useless. What on earth was I put here for? Definitely not to cook.

As the years went on, I got into punk music, feminism, started dying my hair ( awesome... ) colors, and picked up the camera my dad gave to me as a graduation present. I started with a lot of excitement, until I realized how difficult and smelly the job of a photographer was. Who the hell wants to stand in a poorly ventilated room that smells like rotting eggs, and OH NO! I spilled fixer on my favorite sleater-kinney hoodie, dammit.

So I brought my camera to everything... everything. I started taking photos for my friends bands, documenting my mothers cancer treatments, my first relationship, my changing life; whatever I felt excited, nervous or scared of, I photographed it. I got into experimental lighting, wide angle lens, and tried to emulate the photography style I saw everyday in our newspaper.

Then I landed a photo internship with said newspaper. I wanted to learn everything I could from these photographers - whose work I had followed religiously everyday in the paper. I became a sponge. I listened. I hardly ever spoke. These were the masters, the award winning, professional photojournalists who allowed me to refill the printer paper tray and recharge their flash batteries. I even got to shoot certain assignments, and received photo critiques from these pros. I was in all my glory. The amount of knowledge I walked away with from that internship was more than anything I could've asked for.

After that, I became a freelancer for as many places in the area that would hire me. I sacrificed relationships, I worked hard, I was a photographer.

2 years later I landed my first staff photo job at a small daily newspaper in central NY where I have worked for 3 years, recently winning my first Associated Press award. Now I am looking to take the next step in my career and move forward with self-training (and self-funded) multimedia work, going back to school or continue sharking jobs.

Documentary work is far from glamourous, and hardly pays the bills, but at the end of the day, I love my job. I know too many photographers who have lost their passion for photography and forgot why they got into this business in the first place.

The industry has changed, newspapers are closing, and staffers are being cut. Guessing what a job description will read for a staff photojournalist 40 years from now is just as exciting as it is pointless. Who knows, maybe we'll be taking photos with laser beams attached to our retinas, that will then FTP them to our newsrooms stationed on the twelfth planet in our solar system. or maybe not. I don't know. But regardless, I better be ahead of that curve.

Here is the journey from the start of my career as a professional photojournalist and onward. For your sake, lets hope I don't end up as a cook.