reality bites

Okay guys, let's be real here. I never use this blog. Why?

1. I started it to update cyberspace on my trip to Thailand last summer as well as my internship at the News & Observer.
2. Those purposes are now fulfilled and if ever I had greater intentions for this blog, they have slowly atrophied, become vegetables, and died.
3. It's kind of ugly.

In truth, I've been blogging since high school and never considered that blog "professional" enough to link to for employers, co-workers, etc. But I've now deemed my old blog safe for public consumption, so you can find it here:

www.thelankeshankie.xanga.com

I post pictures and job-related things there, but it's also a repository for whatever thoughts are bouncing around in my brain or whatever adventures I'm up to.

So there's that. let's hope this blog, now dead (ish) doesn't become a blog zombie and come and eat the other one's braaaaains.

Zion

I took this photo yesterday while tagging along to help another shooter light a portrait at Knott Street Boxing Club in NE Portland. I like it. I like this kid. I have yet to see if there's a story here, but at least I made a nice frame.

Still keeping my nose up for stories in this town.

hipsteria and the river

not a whole lot of documentary shooting going on lately. life has been full of programming, editing, papers, statistics, nietzsche, etc, etc... who would have thought that my last semester of college would be so busy?

anyhow, all that to say that when i shoot, its especially for me. sometimes i prefer nothing more than playing dress up with fellow photographers and having a fashion shoot in the woods. so on saturday, that's exactly what we did. luckily, roxanne, kate and zach are all fantastic models.






...zach does look a bit amish.



then sunday i did a shoot with "real" models at a place called hipsteria in downtown raleigh. clothes were provided by revolver, a consignment shop just up the street. oh so hipster. if you need a definition of hipster, watch this.

good clothes, good color, good light, good times. my camera got quite a few actuations this weekend.

favorites

pics so far: 

victor and rashim help hetal, goalie for india's first special olympics women's floor hockey team, suit up. 

smita waits for game time on the bleachers. 

little tiny afghan players versus big giant austrians. this is the story we worked on today, i'm super attached now. they are the sweetest kids in the world and i have to visit afghanistan now. they are the youngest delegation at the special olympics, as the youngest player is only 8. because of this, there are no other teams their age and they have to play adults. they play with so much spirit though. love them, and their coach abdul. 

coach abdul with the kids in the locker room (apparantly i wasn't supposed to be here and i got rudely ousted shortly after this. but not before i cried a little while taking these pictures). 

abdul with suliman. six months ago, suliman couldn't feed himself or go to the bathroom unassisted. now he is one of the most passionate players on the team, and had to be called out of the game today because he was so aggressive (playing incredible offense even though he was on defense). cried when i heard this story too. 

check out the site at live.specialolympics.org. lots of videos and pictures. i think i might still have the homepage picture up. 

love to all. 

special olympics live

do you need a passport to get to idaho? i don't think so, but it is so very far. 

last time i posted, it was from frigid washington d.c. now it's from surprisingly warm idaho. 

we're covering the special olympics winter world games, which start today and run through feb 13. we'll go back home on the 15. 

our group is broken into a few big teams, and then smaller teams within those. i'm on the documentary team, asia pacific. this includes countries like india, bangladesh, thailand, vietnam and the philippines, but also australia, new zealand, pakistan, and afghanistan (?). how afghanistan fits into asia pacific beats me.  also given the fact that there is just an ASIA team, but they are only covering china and we are covering everything else. 

we'll be finding interesting stories about athletes, families, coaches, rivalries, etc. one story is about a champion figure skater from new zealand who has a rivalry with an american figure skater and is also an eagle scout. not sure what else yet. 

we are contracted by media outlets around the world who didn't send news teams here. so not only are we producing for the special olympics organization, but also mainstream news outlets like al jazeera or cnn. 

i'm also helping to shoot the opening ceremonies, which is lots of dignitaries and celebrities (maria schriver, arnold schwarzenegger, kenny g, hootie & the blowfish, sarah palin, kristi yamaguchi, etc). i listed to kenny g over and over and over yesterday as he practiced his new piece written specially for the ceremonies at the dress rehearsal. his hair has never changed in the decades my dad has listened to him. ha. 

it's really beautiful here! hope to ski too!

inauguration eve

we're on the brink of something big.

could there be a cooler place to spend the night before barack obama takes office than the washington post newsroom? i think not.

pretty stoked, but i'ts 11:15 and we have to be at our locations (mine is on the mall, roughly in front of the natural museum of american history) by 4am. because of blockades, the walk will probably take 40 minutes.

so i'm looking at approximately 3 hours of sleep tonight.

but i'm excited.
honored.
thrilled.
humbled.
freakin out.

reject technology: shoot film

there is something deeply gratifying about dropping off film to a lab and having no idea what will come back. it's a total surprise.

i have always liked surprises. i was never the kid that wen poking around in closets or shaking boxes before christmas hoping to find out ahead of time what i was getting. i much prefer suspense. it's much more rewarding.

so sometimes i feel the same way about photography. yes, i am old enough to "remember" film... it's what i first learned on. 35mm, of course, but two years ago i began shooting medium format on a holga that i got for christmas (which was a surprise — surprise!).

it's an on again, off again kind of thing. because yes, digital really is a lot more economical. but if i'm going on a big trip or just want to cut loose and not be a journalist for a bit, i use film.

and so in thailand, i shot a fair amount with my holga. then in the fall i had the privilege of borrowing a rolleiflex, which is a beautiful old medium format camera.

anyhow, though scanning negatives is a slow and arduous process, here's one of a batch i finished scanning the other day. for more, click here.