MAY: Faces and Places

May was a busy month, starting off with my first ever workshop, the Sports Shooter Academy, which was conveniently located just an hour south of me. It continued with a visit from my new friend Sam Navarro (who I get to see again soon!) and then a visit to see my grandfather in Seattle with my sister, and then a visit here in LA with my sister for our once a year get together.

I took a lot of photographs - some good, some bad - and had no idea how to blog about them. SO, I condensed them into big collages to break them down into basically three blocks of what this past month has been like.

I also released my first newsletter, for those interested. You can sign up for my quarterly newsletter here: Sign-up And you can see the first one here: Newsletter

Thanks to everyone who has signed up! And thank you for taking the time to look at my work here on the blog.

Sam's Visit

 Venice with Sam

Visiting Grandpa and Family

 Sibling Time

Good "Build It Yourself" Blood Marys

Some experiences need to be lived through video... or GIFs

Picture Story: Take a picture, tell a story - Frankie Humphrey

My Instagram feed @justnlstewart)

I was fortunate enough reconnect with Frankie, who I met and briefly photographed on New Years Eve, but didn't really talk to. The internet is an amazing place from which I was able to track him down through Twitter and arrange a shoot and interview for a Picture Story assignment called "Take a picture, tell a story," based on this project by Robert Gumpert.

I think both the shoot and the interview went well. Frankie was really open with me and has a great voice and some interesting stories. I wish I'd taken a couple more variations of the close-up, but I was feeling a bit nervous because we were running behind schedule (because of me) and Frankie had to leave town at 2.

I should have slowed down, but I'm always feeling like I'm inconveniencing my subjects and I still haven't realized that I'm the photographer and they're just listening to my instructions - I have the power.

That led to me forgetting my wireless transmitters as we ran out the door to shoot in an alleyway. I think that actually ended up playing out in my favor, but it was still a mistake.

Originally I was hoping to photograph Frankie in his home or a studio, but I didn't realize he didn't live in Columbia and with the way things played out, this is how it was. When I said we should shoot in a studio, he said the dance studios were "basic" and that we should shoot in an alley.

I was hesitant at first, trying to remind him that I was a photojournalist and it wasn't a commercial shoot; I wanted the background to say something about him. Then he told me that he grew up dancing on the streets and I figured an alley was perfect.

We turned on some music, he did his thing, I did my thing and this is what resulted. Below is a second version of the video I edited in a little different fashion, with a larger selection of photos.