Sunday, March 7
The top-page photos are photos from various programs proposed to be cut by University of Georgia administrators in the wake of a massive budget shortage. I went to the State Botanical Gardens of Georgia first and photographed a meeting of a group of garden volunteers. The gardens are one of my personal favorite places in Athens, so I hope everything works out for them.
Next I went to a 4-H club meeting, which is also possibly going to have its funding cut. This part of the assignment really struck a chord with me. There were a lot of small town kids like myself in the group who found something that allowed them to see a future outside of the county limits. Not that there is anything wrong with being a Madison County farmer, but every young person in America should have endless options for a future.
The down-page art was a story about Kim Frey and her relationship with her middle daughter Ellie. Kim lost 40 pounds to be healthy enough to donate a kidney to Ellie. I spent a few hours with the Frey family at there home to document the love in the family.
Tuesday, March 9
This series is a group of college students from around the country who came to Athens to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity to renovate an old apartment complex. It was harsh light, so I tried to shoot tight and keep it simple. This was a very busy day with other assignments, I also shot the portrait that is teased on the top of the page, so I didn’t have as much time with the group as a I wanted to, but overall it was a good shoot .
Wednesday, March 10
I shot these photos on Tuesday at an elementary school in Auburn, Ga. Basically the school there is a pilot school for a program that might get picked up in Athens. They use music and other performance arts to teach science, math and reading. With kids, you know a good picture is always around the corner, right after they stop staring at the bearded guy with the big camera with a gaze of wonder. I worked a low angle on both of the large photos, placing the camera on the ground and shooting in live view. I was also looking for a good detail that would explain the process being used at the school and found one with the teachers hand guiding the students through the lesson.
Thursday, March 11
Wednesday night I headed over to St. Mary’s Hospital to shoot photos of a new robotic surgical tool. The hospital was having a kind of public showing for the hospital staff where people could sit in the surgeons chair and drive the robot. I found an cool detail when I looked through the eyepiece for the remote control, so all needed a was a good overall of the machine and the event. I stuck by the robot and used the shape of the robot to frame a group of interested on-lookers.
Friday, March 12
This was just a stumble upon something cool assignment. I saw a large group of people heading into the Classic Center and decided to exercise my curiosity. I love that its my job to be curios. I found a meeting of a Georgia Technology Student Association meeting. What is that you ask? It’s more robots picture wise. Good times.
Saturday, March 13
Wednesday I shot photos of a new clean room at UGA. This is basically a almost completely dust free room used for nanotechnology research, so obviously I couldn’t go into the room. I shot with a low shutter speed to give a bit of action to an otherwise stagnant moment. While I was there, Lee Shearer who wrote the story about the clean room, asked me to take some photos of one of the professors in charge of the room. Rather than a quick mug, I decided to grab a lightstand out of my car and put up a few strobes in an area outside of the clean room with lots of cool industrial type equipment. Took about five minutes to set up and less time to shoot.
So, that’s a weeks work for me. Thanks for stopping by.
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