Yesterday at the Office: Veterans day in Virginia Beach

Link to The Virginian-Pilot for additional images and slide show.

Yesterday at the Office: Homecoming

Link to The Virginian-Pilot for additional images and slide show.

Reincarnation: Going to Virginia with a Banjo on my Knee

                                                                                                                                                        

Almost two years ago I returned to Virginia to begin freelancing. After serving three years in Abu Dhabi as a staff photographer at the English language newspaper The National I thought my career as a daily news photographer was finished. With job opportunities in the industry whittling away I was convinced that I would never work for a newspaper again. 

That said, before I left the United Arab Emirates I felt the need to document my observances of daily life so I created a visual momento of sorts. In the end I edited the images into the essay In-shallah-la-land. My plan was to possibly use the series as a promotional piece if I ever set up meetings with editors on this side of the pond. 

Fast forward to the States...

Literally less than 15 minutes after landing in Chicago via London my cell rang and I accepted my first editorial assignment as a freelancer. My goal was to hit the ground running but even this pace was a little more then I had expected. 

To be honest, I was really more concerned at building my wedding business Love Minus Zero. I felt that from a business perspective it made more sense to be a wedding photographer than an editorial photographer. It came down to numbers and I knew I would have a greater return on my investment with weddings.  

That said, I also worked at steadily building both an editorial and commercial client base. However, the girth of my energy was displaced to Love Minus Zero. Throughout my first year, I focused heavily on strictly building a presence in Hampton Roads and Richmond, VA. 

To be fair, I also kept an eye out for local publications and businesses that I felt might be able to use my services. I didn't dig too deeply, just enough to scratch the surface. Thankfully, between my wedding clients, editorial work and commercial opportunities my business plan was working, I was making more than my initial projections. Better yet, moving forward into my second year my income was growing at double the rate as my first year. 

I was grateful but there was something missing...

I assumed that a lack of creating in-depth work might hurt my spirit so during this time frame I continued to work on short and long form visual storytelling. One essay entitled Child Hope led me to Haiti where I developed a series of portraits that coupled Haitian children with their favorite item within the confines of the group home where they lived. In my essay Coming to America I spent a year documenting my son's transition back into the States after having lived more than half of his short life in a foreign country. I found it a fascinating topic and something I felt others might gain a little insight from viewing. Both projects fueled my fire but for only so long. 

Going Fishing...

A few months ago I stopped in at an office building in Norfolk, VA to meet with a creative director that I've been working with a lot lately. While I was waiting for my client to arrive I ran into The Virginian-Pilot photo editor Bill Kelley. We had a quick chat and in passing he mentioned they were looking to fill a staff photography position. I paused. Just then the elevator doors opened and my client poked her head out and smiled, I quickly  said my farewell to Bill and left. 

After my meeting, I went out to my car and called my wife to give her a heads up I was on my way home. I mentioned to her that I ran into Bill and about the job opening. As always, my wife encouraged me to pursue the opportunity - to seize the day. The next thing I know, I'm standing in front of the office doors of the photo department at The Pilot. 

The Future...

Once again I've been given the opportunity to document the history and daily on-goings of a community. What makes this region so unique and special to me is that I've spent the majority of my developmental years as a child, teenager and young adult growing up in the Seven Cities. In fact, my first real job was delivering The Virginian-Pilot many many many moons ago. 

Hampton Roads, or The Old Dominion - my pet name for the area, is by far not on my top three places to live list but I have an affinity for the people, the places and the things that make this area home. So, without further delay it gives me great pleasure to announce my new roll as a staff photojournalist at The Virginian-Pilot. 

I feel as if I've been reincarnated! 

Untitled Fluidity: Wandering

Untitled Fluidity is an ongoing column that aims to give insight into the creative process I work through while shaping, defining and producing a long term photo essay. My principal intent is to offer the viewer both an educational resource and inspirational tool to motivate one's self to get out there and simply create. 

Let me start by stating that projects, in general, always begin with an idea. We all have ideas, both good and bad, but most of us never get off the couch or out from behind our desktop to get a move on and make them happen. As a photographer I'm just as guilty of this as anybody from any line of work. All too often I sit around with my homies and talk trash all day long about my next Magnum opus. Then I sleep...

Ah man, what to do? 

I'll tell you, grab your expensive geeked out photo-j camera with that new fancy fixed lens and sit back down on the couch. No, but really, grab your phone, no I mean camera, wait aren't they one in the same these days? Ok, whatever the case, grab your weapon of choice and get out the damn door. Don't wait to win the next highly coveted grant so you can spend the money you made from your last winnings, just get out that door. 

Ok, so hopefully you're not reading this anymore because you're now staring at your favorite dish of food at the local Mexican dive as you procrastinate to go start your opus. If you are staring at your plate go ahead and snap a photo with the latest photo app and post it on Instagram. This act will give you a head start in the race as your peers and other professional photo-j intellectuals will waste time debating if its ethical or not to use filters on news photos, blah, blah, bladidity blah blah. 

For me, Untitled Fluidity, is aptly named. Essentially it is my pet project and more than likely not my opus. Like a lot of my personal projects, once I get out the door I just start to wander around with no real purpose other than to have fun. Well that and to have a justifiable excuse to leave the dull glare of my 27'' iMac, iPad and Macbook Pro. Yeah, I'm a walking cliche of photo-geekdom - more of that another day. 

Anyway, yesterday I did just this. I started a new project. My goal is to hit the streets of Portsmouth, VA and meet my community. Let me back track here, I grew up for the most part in an area referred to by the locals as the Seven Cities. Of those seven I grew up in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. I never really knew much about Portsmouth. It's sort of always been treated like a step-child by the other six cities. It's an armpit of a town, at least in many eyes. Personally, I really don't know much about Portsmouth, hence my new project.  

Now that I'm a grown up and own a home in Portsmouth I thought it was about time I actually found out what this city was/is all about. Right now the goal is not so much about being an objective observer but more so about hunting and gathering visual information. I don't have the facts, I don't have any intent, I don't have anything, just me and my eyes. 

I like taking on projects in this manner. It's liberating and good wholesome living. 

Let me tell you a little about my time yesterday... I jumped in my truck and drove around (I prefer to walk but this town is not really all that walkable), after the first 30 minutes I was ready to give up. Yeah, self doubt is an ugly friend. However, I pushed on and in the next hour and half I met a wrinkled school building, an 80-year-old retiree Corin Canady who rode a lawn mower for transportation after his license was taken away from him, a mother of seven Manervia Simmons and her son Reverend P.C. 

The images below are from my first time out testing the waters. 

On a side note, I don't think that the images shot with the Hipstamatic application at Mrs. Simmons' home work. Why? Well, they're sloppy, soft, and lack the quality of images I aim to make. However, I'm posting them because I want to give a sense of my work flow and thought process. Initially I'll take a lot of sketches with my camera - since the Simmons family have given me an open door policy to come by whenever I like I know I can perfect the photos later. Of course, it's always ideal to get great photos from your first attempt but sometimes I take it easy on myself. 

Lastly, I should also mention that I do have a reason and intent for using two different cameras but I don't want to divulge that information yet. 

Enjoy, and feel free to bash my pictures or my ideas, its good for you and me to communicate. 

P.S. Click on the photograph to view it larger.