A Swinging good time

Had a nice change of pace from my recent mood of edging on being burnt out with my job that still has my journalistic juices flowing after a fun weekend.

At the end of last week an a capella group, the Swingle Singers, visited the local college for a performance while they tour Texas. The group did a workshop for local schools and singers the day before their performance. It took forever to start because schools that were supposed to show up didn't, which was a shame for them, because everyone else had a blast.



They made the audience warm up by jumping around and being crazy, played fun singing games and then listened to local groups sing and gave them critiques, then performed themselves.



I was shooting video through the whole thing, trying to balance video and still photo. Sadly they both suffered a little, but it all turned out decent.  It was really fun to shoot, I had the songs stuck in my head and when I went home at the end of the day and I started throwing the video pieces together.

Quickly I realized I should have done an interview with the singers.  There wasn't really time to do it at the event though.  So I vented my disappointment on various venues of the www.  One of the singers from the group saw it and said they would be up for an interview.

So the next day after I finished work and hurried over to the venue they were performing at, not sure when they were supposed to be done or if they were even still around.

But the god of journalism, I call him Journalisto, was smiling down on me, because I got there just as they were walking out of the building to load their gear.

I got some interview stuff with two of the singers, the sound level was a little low but it was way better than the nothing I had previously.

So I left there on a journalistic high and it has been carrying me until now.  I spent a large chunk of my day off on Sunday putting the video together. I have most of my recent "highlight" videos boiled down to an hour or so production time.

But because I cared about this video (and am using a crappy free video editor) I spent hours nitpicking the placement and overlaps and transitions.  Now I feel like I know these people, I've developed crushes on the girls and fascinations with all of their talents.  I've watched a few of their videos online, one where they do a flash mob style singing on a subway in London was awesome.

So I present to you, my Swingle Singers video. Enjoy, I did. :D

...And now for something completely different

In the last week I have created six videos for the newspaper.

I was doing videos fairly regularly during football season but, due to both my work computer and my home computer being slow, making the videos became very annoying. My home computer was slightly faster, so I did most of them here...until it blew up.

Some stuff fried inside my computer, luckily I didn't lose any stuff on my hard drives, but I'm trying to be a bit more focused on archiving.

But I had to fix my computer. Luckily there was a credit deal at newegg.com, so now my computer fasterific! That's right, I'm making up words.

What I really want to do is make a true journalistic video about something that matters. I was hoping to get some help as far as subject matter, but it's looking like I'm just going to have to go it alone.

Anyway, instead of a pile of photos I thought I'd change it up and post some videos.  Enjoy.











Since I started posting videos I was looking at The Facts Video channel on youtube. I realized they aren't really credited except for at the end, not saying you shouldn't watch Holly's, but you are reading my blog...so just in case you are partial to my work, here are a few of my better ones.

This was the one I had the most fun shooting so far with actual voice interview describing the event to go along with the video and photos. And there is...ya know, ZOMBIES!

Rumors of my death have been exaggerated

Yes, I am in fact still alive.

I've been a swirling mix of busy, bored to death not busy, completely engulfed by some video games and tired. Most of these situations have also had a nice coating of pain from a re-occurring back pain that makes me so angry that I attach the hate to what I am currently doing.

It has some complicated thoughts and evaluations of my lot in life. But in moments of pain or the sweet joy of...not pain I still take photos.

I have quite the backlog to post, but luckily I have just put together my end-of-year contest submissions. I have total control over my National Press Photographers submission, but the ones through the paper were chosen from my initial selection by people I will admit I don't entirely trust as far as photo critiquing goes.

I love having eyes other than my own to look at my stuff, so I can get a unattached opinion, but if it is someone that has told me to stop doing my job creatively...well, come on.

Anyway, things are progressing.

I will admit in the months since my last post my passion for journalism is waning, which breaks my fucking heart. But I'm not sure how much validity to give to my thoughts right now, because I seem to have lapsed into one of my angry Ryan phases. It's been a long time since I've been in one and I have to say I used to kind of enjoy the distance it provided me from real self evaluation. But this one is different and I don't like it. So I've turned back to one of my old favorite venting techniques (besides video games), writing. Which is partially why I am clicking the keys right now.

Even if I hold back some of what I want to say, the process of just writing what is currently running through my head is like opening a gate to release the flood waters. Because at any moment something stark and truthful might just appear on the screen. Usually I will backspace over it, because this is a public forum and I don't want the entire world (Hi, world!) to know everything I think. But it works like those letters you write and then never send. Venting.

Okay, so here are some of what I think are my best work from the year that I haven't already posted. As I'm loading the photos on I may describe what I did or the story behind the image, if it is interesting.

I'll start with what I think is my favorite shot from the year.


Shot an event for a bunch of Marines returning from Afghanistan, but got there an hour and a half before they actually showed up. So I had some time to wander around and find interesting photos. I like almost everything about this photo.

Firefighter training. I felt brave standing right under this mock roof that they were swinging an axe into.





This is was a freaking awesome event. This local taekwondo studio hosted a squad from Korea that did some straight-up Matrix kung-fu shit. Jumping off a couple dudes to kick a board held on the top dude on a pyramid of STANDING people! I got some sweet stuff I was out loud saying "holy shit" about every other setup that they did. Then I got back to the office and my memory card corrupted and I lost every picture except this one and another. It was LAME!




He was trying to choke the chicken...too easy


He turned 11 on 11/11/11




Ending with my favorite sports shot of the year. Trying to do this same effect with a different runningback but the shot never worked with that kid.

Well, that's it for now.

I've had some decent stuff in January, including driving to Houston just to shoot tailgating at the Texans playoff game. It was kind of tease, but then I almost got run over by a car...so there was that.

I'll get to that stuff soon...hopefully. Or maybe in six months. :D

Driving Texas : Part 2 : The Roads

If you didn't read Part 1, well...do it! This is what Part 1 was supposed to be before the internet demons stole it. Sadly, this isn't quite as good as my original.

But it makes up for it by being really long...enjoy.

Fun Driving:
A big part of driving enjoyment depends on the road. I’ve found some fun roads in the area and I actually think it would be fun to do a story or something for the paper about driving in the area.

A lot of the roads down here are done well, there are some rough surfaces here and there, but most are good. No six month deathly winter freeze to crack and ravage last summer’s two inches of fresh asphalt on some sad Michigan road.

Here the roads, at least the new ones, seem to be properly laid. With depth and foundation that lead one to believe that actual thought went into the construction. It’s enough to amaze and confuse someone from a strange, snowy place.

There are definitely some nice roads around for an enthused motorist; curvy, smooth ribbons of beauty that just lay there, waiting for you to ravage them in whatever fashion you please. I haven’t got a lot to say yet about recreational driving, because I haven’t had a ton. But I'm compiling a list...don't you worry.

But aside from driving on the beach (which is so much fun it should be illegal…actually, I think at my speed it was) the BlueWater Highway is a beautiful, fun drive.

It’s a flat, mostly straight burn from Surfside Beach to Galveston. It follows the gulf coast for 30 miles or so onto Galveston Island. Nothing but grass, sand, water and in places loads of beach houses that rile up the envy in the nicest person. There is a two dollar bridge toll to get onto the island, but it’s worth it.

Actual Driving:
The day-to-day roads are where I have the most ammo to talk about so far.

Texas, in all its wisdom, doesn’t seem to believe in blinking red left turn lights. It makes for some long waits at lights where NO ONE is coming the other way.

One of the routes I used to travel frequently is Business 288 that runs from Clute to Angleton.

It’s only about 7 or 8 miles, but when the driving gods aren’t smiling down upon you it can be the mother of all multi-lane migraines.

About halfway to my goal I come to a stop under the sneering gaze of a light turned red for no reason at all. Not a single car coming the other way. Hey, whatever, keep moving after the light, all is well.

While moving along in a peaceful automotive momentum, I am halted yet again by the ridiculous command of a red glowing devil bitch hanging above the street.

Maybe there is another car, but most of the time not a soul. Nothing. Now, I’m a little miffed. This is killing my mileage, because I rarely just take off. I drive a fun car with a manual transmission, so on an average light in a good mood I still take-off with…let’s call it “authority.”

Now, bathed by the sweet green freedom the Rabbit hops away (clever, huh?) from the light, the night air ripe with my freedom. I get back up to speed, applying the accelerator a tad more exuberant now to undo the pointless stoplight inconvenience.

The motion of shifting into fifth gear soothes my burning vehicular irritation as the next light turns yellow well before the point of no return.

On the frustrating roll up to the intersection my hands grip the steering wheel tight enough to make the wrapping creak as I look each way down the insignificant strip that cuts perpendicular under the stop light in front of me.

Nothing in sight. Not a single thing, not even the lights of a house in the far off distance. The road just disappears into the yawning darkness of this coastal Texas flat land. The area is flat enough you could see the curvature of the earth if there weren’t a mess of trees and brush.

288 B cuts a straight northish-to-southish sporadic strip of illumination through the mostly uninhabited stretch near the center of Brazoria County. Most of the roads that cross it need a yield sign, at best. Most of the roads don't look like they carry on more than a mile in either direction.

I’ve seen maybe ten cars cross my path on this road, and most of them just turned onto 288 B. If you can’t do that without a stoplight, you shouldn’t be driving.

As I am angrily looking down the two lane strip stabbing into the sad and lonely darkness I contemplate a criminal life. Just flick the switch from my now true path to depraved deviant who robs banks and runs red lights.

“Woah,” you say. “There is a wide gap between robbery and a vehicular moving violation.”

Yes, but let me take you on a journey.

If I’m going to run one of these stupid lights I’m going to run all of them. But then someone sees it, reports me and I have to try outrun the police. Which would be a little difficult in my Rabbit. Sure it’s quick, but it’s light. In pursuit they’d just have to tap my back-end and I’d be done, spinning off the road in my well engineered little German coffin.

So I’d have to get in a shootout with the cops, to keep moving. Of course there is a gun in the car, I’m a Texas outlaw. Come on!

Crap, I probably stole the gun and the car. But screw it, I don’t stop for red lights and I won’t stop now!

Maybe I make it to Mexico, maybe I don’t. I think I’ll have a Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid ending for my criminal spree. Sure, I’m surrounded, but I’ve got two guns and a crazy blue eyes. Watch out, coppers!

But then I’m released from the hold of the amber bitch and I motor on; continuing the simple life of slightly odd photojournalist in Texas.

Cycles of Obsession

Been putting up a lot of words, already started Part 2 of my Driving Texas piece, but decided to throw some pictures on to break up the text-fest.

Since that is what I actually do.


This ran black and white in the paper, but still looked cool

I expressed my fondness for the newsroom previously and those feelings are the same for the Journalism vein of photography. I love it. But I love plain ol' photography at its most base level. I started in Art photo classes and that is where my eye grew and matured into the always searching, narrowed-by-the-sun Clint Eastwood-style blue hawk that it has become.



On a recent assignment I photographed some local artists who got together for a sidewalk demonstration/sale. It made me think about something I imagine every so often, having a show/sale of my work.

Obviously can't sell my newspaper work, but I could have it on display with work that I can sell. It would be fun. But expensive and that is usually where I stop thinking about it. But now that I'm near a huge city, I'm wondering if I could find a gallery or something that would sell/show my stuff at little cost to me.

Starting to look into it, but then I start to really go over what I have and doubt if anyone would actually want to buy stuff I've shot. At the paper people buy my photos but they never buy the cool ones, just stupid shots of their dumb kids. Haha


Intense


Some of the best ones I've shot people don't buy. It baffles my mind. If this were my kid I'd buy a freaking poster of this...and then find the photographer and give him a thousand dollars just out of gratitude. *fingers crossed*

But I've been thinking of making more of an effort to expand my artistic portfolio on my off time. Do a dual-time bike ride/art hunt around town or maybe in Houston every so often. But then I also try to look for actual work to do on the side, so there is a time issue.



The Texas AP awards came back and I got nothing. Which sucks. I was only working in Texas a few months of 2010, but still. Award time is always stressful and then fulfilling for me. But if I don't win anything it just leaves the first stressful part that sucks.

I don't know about Michigan contests yet. I was dumb and didn't enter anything in the Michigan Press Photographers contest, for some stupid reason I can't figure out. So I've got to rely on the hope that other people submitted my stuff in the two other MI newspaper contests. Which is tough for me. Relying on others, that is. I have done okay in the past and my two photo stories should do well, based on the quality of stories I've entered in the past. If everything got done right...again *fingers crossed*



Been working, thinking, working, thinking. It really keeps me from getting other stuff done. Like my taxes. Barely moved a bit on those and I really should, because I moved and all that. So I'm sure I've got a lot more to do. I HATE them. Even though I get money back. Filling out all these little boxes on the stupid forms makes my fucking head pound. But I'm stubborn and don't want to pay someone to do them. Then two weeks away I freak out. I'm done talking about it because it's stressing me out right now. Stupid little boxes!


This was fun. A quilt show...seriously. Lots of pretty colors, but it was to run in black & white, so I found a B&W quilt to focus on.

That's all I have for now. Actually, it's not. But I am going to stop here anyway.

I probably have another few driving related blogs in me, because it's something I've been fixated on lately.

I've been going in weird cycles of obsession. Cars, games, writing, exercise, games, writing, fish, beer, cars (not one right after the other though), and so on.