Words and Light

When my editor assigned me to photograph Usher, Justin Bieber and Bill Clinton for tonight — well, I thought that was a pretty interesting combination of people to group together and cause the Internet to explode.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery on ajc.com.) Usher.

Turns out, though, that press photographers could photograph only the red carpet and the finale number. And that Bill Clinton would not be walking the red carpet (and, in fact, would be photographed only by the house photographer).

So my editor told me just to do the red carpet. So I did.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery at ajc.com.)

Some notes:

• Usher is shorter than I expected him to be.
• Justin Bieber is about as short as I expected him to be.
• Some of the other photographers seemed to really enjoy shooting the red carpet. I’m glad they were having a good time.

If you ever do a red-carpet assignment, make sure you bring comfortable shoes and a small step-ladder. And make sure your flash has fresh batteries. And format your memory card before shooting.

Fortunately, I did all of those things. And I survived my first red-carpet photographer experience.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to read the relevant article on ajc.com.) Close-up of actor Chaz Wolcott in his "Mister Mistoffelees" makeup, before hair and makeup supervisor David Hanson starts painting the nose, whiskers and mouth.

Earlier this week, a reporter and I went behind the scenes to see how the make-up is done for “Cats” the musical. The U.S. tour is in Atlanta until Aug. 8, which means every night until then, you can see audience members flocking to the Fox Theatre in costumes of various feline extremes. (No, really.)

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery on ajc.com.) Actor Chaz Wolcott, in full "Mister Mistoffelees" costume and make-up, demonstrates a few dance moves characteristic of the central character in "Cats" the musical.

Anyway. If you’re at all familiar with this 4th-longest running show in musical theatre history, you are aware of how intricate and elaborate the costumes and make-up are. Continue Reading »

Last-minute rally. Last-minute assignment.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery on ajc.com.) Art Izzard, an organizer for Queer Justice League of Atlanta, waves a rainbow flag at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and 10th Street on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, after a federal judge overturned California's gay-marriage ban. Izzard acknowledged that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling is the first of many steps before gay marriage is legalized but said each step is reason to celebrate.

I’ve lived 18 of my 22 years in Houston, Texas — so it’s odd that the first time I worked on any aspect of an illegal immigration story was this summer.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image to read one of several relevent articles on ajc.com.) Jessica Colotl stands behind Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights president Teodoro Maus during a press conference in Plaza Fiesta on July 15, 2010. Colotl has become the poster child of illegal immigration conflict after her illegal alien status came to light in March.

I’ll be updating this blog steadily over the next few days. The past almost-two-weeks have been abnormally busy, so I’m now finally getting around to keeping my blog current and updating my portfolio.

I’ve already alluded in this blog to the fact that I’m not the girliest girl. That said, I absolutely love weddings — and wedding dresses.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery on ajc.com.) Bridal consultant Amanda Bauer helps Katy Kennedy of Savannah into a dress in Wedding Angels Bridal Boutique in Roswell on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. Kennedy's wedding will be in Charleston next summer.

Yesterday, I followed four soon-to-be military brides as they tried on wedding dresses that they would receive for free, thanks to the Brides Across America program. Each girl was completely thrilled about her dress, and photographing that excitement was a real pleasure.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Leah Owens (center) looks at a dress brought to her by bridal consultant Amanda Bauer (right) as Owens' 3-year-old daughter Alissa and soon-to-be mother-in-law Rebecca Wood (left) observe, in Wedding Angels Bridal Boutique in Roswell on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. Owens, who is six months pregnant with her and her fiance's second daughter, had to make sure her dress could be altered to fit after she gives birth in November.

A side note. I’m finding myself increasingly attracted — as a photographer — to “girl culture” with every “girly” assignment I complete. (Bra-fitting, makeup session, hair salon and now this.) Having pored through her books during downtime when I did work-study at the journalism library, I know photographer Lauren Greenfield has covered this area extensively. But the culture of femininity is very much a fascinating thing to me, especially since I don’t understand it very well — and I hope I can develop something out of it.

If you have any suggestions or feedback or anything, I’d love to hear what you’d like to share!

Last week, I was assigned to go to a hair salon and make pictures. Could’ve been boring. But I had fun.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to read the related article at ajc.com.) Roswell resident Cheryl Jones gets her roots colored by Fantastic Sams franchisee Helen Nguyen at Fantastic Sams in Roswell on Friday, July 2, 2010. The Roswell location opened at the end of Aug. 2009 and already has a regular customer base.

On Saturday, I got muddied at the Redneck Games.

On Friday — the day before — I got soaked to the skin at the Atlanta Motor Speedway while photographing Fastlife Friday.

I photographed some of the performers and a few of the vehicles in queue on the track… and then it began to rain. By the time I made it to a concession stand — the closest shelter — I was thoroughly wet and my hair was dripping buckets.

But I kept making pictures.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery at ajc.com.) R&B artist Justin Crowder, who performs as part of Swagg Team, lifts his 4-year-old niece Zoe Tolbert into the air and waits with others under a concession stand while a thunderstorm soaks the Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, July 9, 2010. The storm canceled the remainder of Fastlife Friday activities that night, including all the races that were scheduled.

Today on assignment — I got mud on my face. Big disgrace.

Photo courtesy of Lewis M. Levine.

How and why did this happen? Well, I’ll wait for the powers that be to publish the photo gallery — and then I shall disclose more in a proper blog post.

But hang in there, folks.

Surely every kid has played some version of “cops and robbers” at some point in his/her childhood.

I remember my elementary school classmates and I modified the classic game of “tag” to include teams (of boys versus girls, of course — boys had cooties!) and jailtime. It was a playground classic that we played every day after lunch until the recess ladies told us to stop because we were getting too rowdy.

The next year, we weren’t allowed to play soccer. That was too rowdy, too.

Anyway. For one week this summer, some kids got to learn more about the cops’ side of things, and I got to photograph them.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constutition. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery at ajc.com.) Max Waterhouse, 15 of Decatur, leads fellow junior police academy students, Captain W.S. Richards (in black) and Sgt. Christopher Clark (in red) up the stairs in the Decatur City Police Department station on Tuesday, June 19, 2010. The Decatur police department offered its first-ever junior police academy, for which Decatur students of middle-school age could apply.

Confession: I never wore makeup until January 2008.

Yeah. Somehow, I lived more than 20 years without lipstick, eyeliner, blush, foundation and other powders, liquids and other goops with which I am still unfamiliar. And yeah, I know many women have survived longer than that without applying makeup.

My point is, I’m still a novice to the very complicated world of cosmetics. I haven’t worn makeup for a few weeks now — no point if I’m going to be a hot mess at the end of an outdoor assignment — and even when I do, it’s no more than a quick application of eyeliner and a swipe of lipstick.

So I learned a lot one night, when I photographed a makeup session attended by the Atlanta hockey team’s spirit squad.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal Constitution. (Click on the image above to view the full photo gallery on ajc.com.) Atlanta Thrashers Blue Crew member Allison Dekle applies bronzer at the Pur Minerals headquarters on Monday, June 28, 2010.

For example: There are at least four different things you can do to your eyes. And like three different things to do to your lips. And different brushes are used for different things.

Okay, I really didn’t learn that much — at least, nothing that I would ever be able or care to do for myself. But at the very least, I was intrigued. And bewildered.

I’ll stick to being a bit of a tomboy.

Well, not quite. The two guys, I later learned, were very adamant about their job title.

“‘We’re not window washers — we’re window glazers,'” one of the firefighters recalled them saying.

I was downtown in the early afternoon, and not feeling too good about myself. Traffic on I-75/85 was heavier than I’d anticipated, and I was late to a last-minute assignment. No more than 10 minutes late, but I’d missed the important part. So as I was driving back up to the newsroom, I was beating myself over the head (figuratively).

My only consolation? That it wasn’t a hugely important assignment. But I still wasn’t feeling too good about myself.

Then my editor called and told me to turn around.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image to read the relevant article on ajc.com.) Firefighter Justin Hodges helps Atlanta Contract Glazing window-installer Paul Barker up to safety after Barker and his coworker William Miller were stranded outside the 47th floor of the Bank of America building for several hours on Monday, June 28, 2010.

The Bank of America building is the tallest in Atlanta, for those who may not know.

This was definitely one of the more fun assignments I’ve done this summer. I didn’t see another AJC person there, so I knew I had to do well in reporting. I haven’t done breaking news in quite a while, and I hadn’t done the reporting and photography for a breaking news story since an April 2007 homicide in Columbia. So it was really refreshing to have to get the visuals covered, as well as make sure I talked to all the right people.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Click on the image to view the full photo gallery at ajc.com.) Firefighter Justin Hodges, of Company 14, exits the Bank of America building after assisting in the rescue of two window installers on Monday, June 28, 2010. Hodges was the firefighter who was harnessed to help the window installers attach their own harnesses and ascend the cables to safety.

Afterward, I got in touch with the reporter who was in the newsroom, fed him all the quotes and facts I’d gathered — and got my first story byline!

Once I filed the photos, it was off to yet another assignment. Some days, the news just doesn’t stop. Those are my favorite days.