nerves

Posted on August 11, 2009 by admin

This summer I have been relatively unconcerned about upcoming move to China starting this September. I’ll be studying at Hunan Normal University for an academic year, hopefully getting pretty good at Mandarin and working on some photo/multimedia projects.

But now I am pretty nervous. I just got my visa back from the Chinese Embassy. Not only is visa for the wrong dates, my birthday is wrong. It reads September 6th instead of 5th (I promise I did not mess that up on the application).

I’ve been told to extend my visa when I’m in China, and am trying to get my birthday fixed.

I also got an email this week from Hunan Normal University, saying, “oops, hope you haven’t bought your plane ticket because we changed the academic calendar to 2 weeks later.”

So, I am getting very nervous about my trip. Not about the whole being alone in a strange country part, but the part where I can’t finish the year because they deny my visa part, or that the university forgot to tell me they couldn’t get housing for me, or something.

I guess I have got to go with the flow. I’m pretty laid back.

One month till Changsha….

-ab

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sparklers

Posted on August 11, 2009 by admin

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Summertime

Posted on July 31, 2009 by admin

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Andrea and Chris

Posted on July 30, 2009 by admin

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being the photographer at Andrea and Chris’ wedding at Sampson’s Hollow in the Smokey Mountains. It was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful place. I really love doing weddings, especially when I know the couple.

Here’s some of my favorites.

They are super cute, right? :)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

My favorite cliche

Posted on July 28, 2009 by admin

I love Dear Photographer. It’s a sarcastic, ongoing “letter to photographers” advising them on different issues.

For example:

Dear Photographer, Just because you saw it on a greeting card doesn’t mean its good. Say no to selective coloring, it’s what Jesus would want.

That’s all good and fun, but I get a little irked when I get to remarks about flowers. Even though I am much more interested in documentary photography, I still love to take an ungodly amount of photos of plants.

Dear Photographer, Still with the flowers? Ever hear the saying “there is nothing new under the sun”? Please, get it out of your system and move on — unless of course your ultimate goal is to be hanging in the hallways and bedrooms of hundreds of Marriot Courtyards throughout the south-land.

So what? Just because the subject matter is extensively covered doesn’t mean I can’t try to do something new. Even if they do suck, I still enjoy it!

So, what’s your favorite photography cliche? Sepia toned abandoned houses? Extreme vignetting?

Posted in ramblings | Leave a comment

Ironic

Posted on July 25, 2009 by alexblackwelder

Irony is an overused word…. but I’m pretty sure this is an example. Time Magazine recently used Istock to find an image to use on their cover about frugality.

The photographer posted on Model Mayhem about how he was paid 30 dollars. Not bad for a magazine with a distribution of over 3 million!

Although the photographer is happy with a tearsheet, the magazine only gives Istock the photo credit.
The discussion over there is pretty interesting. One commented “To put it another way, Time magazine paid the bike messenger more to carry the proof from one office to another.”

I’m not a  “biz whiz”, but I’d say this isn’t a happy thing for the photo world

UPDATE: You can buy a matted copy of this cover for 20 bucks, 2/3 of what the picture cost!

Posted in the biz | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Introduction

Posted on July 25, 2009 by alexblackwelder

Keeping a photography journal is a huge part of my learning process.

My first entry, January 20th 2005, described my experience in a darkroom for the first time. I collaged photos, test strips, quotes, technical information, and more.

I love being able to see the evolution of my ideas and photographs throughout the five years I’ve been enamored by taking photos, even though sometimes I am a little embarrassed about things I wrote when I was fifteen.

I want this blog to act like another one of my journals. The fact that it is public will push me to create better content and improve my writing. My last attempt at a blog failed miserably… mostly because I never set clear goals about the purpose of it.

So here we go

GOAL: To create an honest record of my photography exploration, to grow by pushing myself to create content/photos/writings, and have a place where my friends and family can see what I’m up to wherever I am in the world.

Every once in a while I will post an embarrassing page from a notebook. The images behind the cut are from 2005.

Continue reading →

Posted in introduction | Leave a comment