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Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Carolyn Wood

May 042014

Photo copyright Carolyn Wood

For weeks, I had no idea what image I was going to submit for this assignment. The only requirement was the timing of when I took it, and yet, not one image stood out to me among the rest from this semester. Insert crippling fear here.

After reminding myself to breathe, I began to think of the images I was excited to show people, and the qualities they possessed. That thought process led me to the photograph above.

I took this picture in the spot where my family has been camping since I was around 4 years old; down a forest road just 15 miles south of Flagstaff. The same camping spot that made me fall in love with both photography and the place where I now call home. In my heart, I knew that was where I needed to shoot for this assignment – and suddenly the anxieties dissolved, just like that.

This was where I took photographs I loved to talk about.

While I was running around the forest I found myself chasing the light and scouting for an image that would take me back to those moments of childhood; of growing up. Like camping, this was an outlet to escape my stress and my anxiety and for once, in what had felt like years, I inhaled – totally and completely.

The instant I hit the shutter I felt I captured an emotion I hadn’t felt recently – serenity. I knew I wanted this to be a macro shot, not only because it is one of my favorite techniques but because it also added the emotion I wanted to gain from the image. I got my Canon 60D as a Christmas gift (“…and birthday, and graduation, and wedding…” as my parents so often remind me) and this was the first time I took it into the forest. My macro lens took a bit of a tumble a few months back, so I settled for my 75-300mm zoom lens, knowing I would get the best shot by doing so. Due to the fact I was at f4 I could lower my ISO to 160 and have an average shutter speed, around 1/80. I shot this photo around 6:30pm, and allowed the light to do most of my editing for me, but in Lightroom during post-processing I did bump the vibrance and contrast slightly, along with other minor tweaks.

I love the image for what it brought out of me during a time of finals, studying, and assignments. I love the image for its aesthetic qualities, and the fact that I don’t need to ask “is this okay?” because my own emotional response fulfills any doubt.

About the Photographer:
My name is Carolyn Wood and I’m a 20 year-old Phoenix native currently studying Photography, Public Relations, and Advertising. Flagstaff has always been my second home, so it wasn’t a surprise to anybody when the only school I applied to was Northern Arizona University.

I never had an “ah-ha!” moment where I picked up a camera and knew (I have found life is rarely that simple). In fact, even when I received my first Sony digital camera in middle school I just assumed it was something everybody had. Somewhere along the way, though, I realized I was always in search of something to capture.
So my journey began.

I’ve been shooting photography for around 7 years, and have loved every second of it. I like to think that every picture I take is its own documentary, whether it’s for my life or the lives of those around me, and I view that as an absolute honor.

Being completely honest, there have been times where I’ve used my camera as a crutch; and as something to hide behind. This is probably why I hold candid photography so dear to my heart. Since starting college, I’ve realized getting out of that comfort zone requires actively participating and I believe this realization has made me a better photographer and person, over the past two years. The camera has been a sort of blessing to my life; making me see things I once walked over, which is why macro photography is also one of my passions.

Photography is more than the still after releasing the shutter. Photography is the story, the words, and the emotion behind any moment you deem worthy enough to capture.

To read more about the Northern Arizona University “Behind the Image: Guest Blogger” project on our blog, please read the introduction at youcansleepwhenyouredead.com/wordpress/its-back-the-2014-nau-photography-students-behind-the-image-guest-blogger-project/.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Rachel Richmond-Woodward

Guest Blogger, Making the Image 1 Response »

May 032014

Photo copyright Rachel Richmond-Woodward

This is a photograph of a man named Will McNabb who owns a jewelry making business store in downtown Flagstaff. The image shows McNabb making a ring out of plaster that is later placed in an oven to be processed. I went inside McNabb jewelry store to ask him if I could take a photograph of him making a piece of jewelry by hand. McNabb let me photograph him working a sculpture of a ring. I started taking the photograph of McNabb working the ring inside his jewelry store. I captured the photograph using my Nikon D40 camera and an 18-55mm lens with settings of 1/25 sec, f/5.6 and ISO of 400.

I wanted to take a photograph that could tell a simple story of a person who owns a real business in this small town in Arizona because they inspire me. I like to take images of people making art. I come from an artistic background where I like to take portraits of people doing things. The best way to capture this image is to place the artist at his desk where he makes the jewelry. I walked over to his work area to photograph him working on a small piece of jewelry. McNabb’s small workspace made it very difficult to photograph him making the ring, but I got in as close as I could to him doing his work.

About the Photographer:
My name is Rachel Richmond Woodward and I am majoring in photography at Northern Arizona University. I have taken photography classes at Northern Arizona University to become a freelance photographer. I have had an image of my work on display for a photography class for a spring show this year. As a photographer, I enjoy taking photographs of landscapes, editorial and nature scenes.

Making art with photography always inspires me as a photographer to create images that could be memorable and can stand out for people to look at. As a photographer I hope that my photographs inspire you as much as I’ve been inspired by other photographers.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Trent Heimerdinger

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May 032014

Photo copyright Trent Heimerdinger

The inspiration to capture this image came a long time ago. I decided that I had to get a photo of a friend of mine doing his first double gainer. A gainer is when you do a back flip facing forward. For the longest time my friends and I could only do single flips, until this day when Austin, a friend of mine, mustered the guts to try a double. This was taken at a place where we had been before, Fossil Creek, Arizona, so we were comfortable with the jump. This is the highest cliff jump the creek had to offer, around 30-35 feet, so I decided the double flip had to be done here. The water was a refreshing 73 degrees and the air was about ten degrees warmer and there was a small breeze so the conditions were almost perfect. After a few warm up jumps and flips it was time to get down to business and go for the double. I hiked all around the cliff looking for the best spot to take the picture. After a short search I found a spot where nothing was in the way of the shot but I was nearly hanging off the edge of the cliff. I got settled in as it was time to break the friendly record of just one flip. Austin did a few test run ups to make sure his footing was secure and he was comfortable. Once his mind was right he only had one thought, “Go”. It felt like there was nothing but silence as he left the rock because I was nervous, but in reality the people watching below were very loud as they were a bit shocked by what he did. Once he left the frame of my camera I instantly leaned over to see how he landed and what do you know, he was as straight as a pencil hitting the water with his arms tucked in to his sides. Once his head came up from underwater there was a big sigh of relief and an even bigger sense of pride because we did what we came to do. I was inspired to capture it long ago but became satisfied April 19^th, 2014. When Austin hiked back up the cliff to check the camera we were both very excited. I gave him a “thank God you’re alive” hug and instantly showed him the pictures I took. I took a look and knew right away they weren’t the strongest images I’ve taken but they were the most satisfying to look at because we knew what it took to get them, which was persistence and a lot of guts. I didn’t try to achieve any certain look with the photo because I just wanted to make sure I captured it. It wasn’t about being artsy at the time, it was about just taking pictures of what he did and having the proof to show for it. All I was trying say with this photo is that it happened. There is no message behind it, just truth. I captured it using my Nikon D3200 with a 17-55mm auto focus lens. I had the shutter speed at 1/500 seconds, ISO at 400, f-stop at f/10 and zoomed in to 48mm, on burst shutter mode. I brought the photo into Adobe Lightroom to make some minor touch ups. I lightened the background because there were a lot of shadows, toned down the highlights and whites, brought up the clarity just a bit, then put a light black vignette around the border to make Austin stand out a little bit more.

About the Photographer:
My name is Trent Heimerdinger and I am a senior at NAU, majoring in electronic media and film production, and getting my minor in photography. I have enjoyed taking photos and video for as long as I can remember. As a young kid I would take one of my dad’s cameras and shoot all day when I could, and I guess the hobby has stuck with me all these years. I now see why this is my major/minor, simply because I enjoy doing it. My favorite kind of photos to take are the ones that capture those once in a life time, or extreme moments. I have done a fair amount of trying to capture moments like that, and when i get just one good photo that can tell the world what happened without words, I’m happy. My process for taking pictures like that is to just simply be there, and take pictures to prove that it happened. I don’t think my work differs too much from others out there; I might take my camera places that most people wouldn’t, but that about it. My goal as a photo/videographer is to just show those moments of somebody doing something they will always remember. I am inspired by people’s reactions when they see themselves in that crazy moment.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – John Thompson

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May 022014

Photo copyright John Thompson

Macro Photography is always fascinating to me. We tend to find ourselves moving so fast through life that we do not stop and appreciate the beautiful details that are around us. Macro photography helps me stop and see the world’s small but stunning details. I purchased my first Macro lenses at the end of last semester. At the time, I was not entirely sure of what types of macro pictures I wanted to shoot. I just knew that I wanted to shoot macro pictures. Well, to my surprise it is not as easy to shoot macro as I thought it was going to be. I probably spent more time trying to get a good macro shot then I have on any other picture style that I have taken so far.

My first problem I ran into with this shot was figuring out what to take the picture of. I decided that bugs are not my thing. It is just starting to hit spring here in Flagstaff and so most of the plants around are just starting to get some green back in them. Then I remembered that my Dad had given me a geode about 8 years ago and it had just been sitting on my dresser gathering dust. Whoo Hoo! We have a subject. So, I set up my tripod, got my camera set up and started taking pictures of this rock. Well, the first round of pictures did not come out so great. Over exposed, under exposed, just a little too much out of focus, every picture seemed to have something wrong with it. So, I gave it a few days before I came back to it. During that time, I found an App on my phone that would allow me to use a USB cable and connect to my Cannon T4i. I could then use the app to preview a live image on my Hi-definition smart phone screen. I could then remotely trigger my camera to take the shot from the phone and get it immediately shown back on my phone for review. Well taking the pictures went a lot smoother after that. The photo that I ended up with I took while I was outside (trying to get some natural lighting). Because it was in the evening after I had gotten off work I was trying to get the photo taken before I lost my light. To get the photo I wanted, I ended up taking a 15-second exposure at f/32 with an ISO of 100 while using my Tamron 90mm micro lens. I played around with different angles, f-stops, exposure times, and some different lighting effects. Finally, I got an image that I thought was good. I ran into a few more problems because I had used this app I had never used before but it is what you can expect when trying something new.

I enjoy how this picture came out because of how often I have looked at the original geode. Before this picture, it was just a rock with some little crystals in it but when I got in further with my camera, it became a crystal mountain range. Maybe it is my nerdy sense of imagination that draws me to this image but it is an image that I enjoy and find wonderful to look at and I hope you do as well.

About the Photographer:
My Name is John Thompson, I am a 5 year Navy veteran who spent his time in the military as a jet mechanic. I separated in 2005 to pursue a degree in Computer Information Systems. While on my travels in the NAVY, I took many pictures of beautiful places that were just horribly taken. Therefore, when I had the opportunity to take a photography class in college I jumped on it. From that, I found it to be one of the more satisfying things I have done with my life. I do not think I will ever do photography on a professional level but it well always be a satisfying outlet for me.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Chris Martin

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May 022014

Photo copyright Chris Martin

The inspiration for this image comes from the emotion behind the place where it was taken. Alcatraz Island, “The Rock”, is known in history for being a prison that is escape proof, and was home to the most dangerous criminals in history. As I walked around the island, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of sadness with undertones of loneliness and isolation even though there were hundreds of people there. Around the perimeter of the island were numerous photo opportunities, but as I came upon this scene where the above photo was taken I sensed something different and a sense of happiness and freedom began to take over me; with the green plants and a ferryboat representing a way of escape, yet still staying true to the history of the island with an old run down building as my main focus point. This opposition of emotion all in one picture made it a very popular spot for other photographers there and gave me one of my favorite photos from the whole island tour.

I approached the spot of the image with my initial intent to take a horizontal picture, but no composition was quite right, and nothing captured the emotion that I felt as I stood there. I began to walk away, but in my head I told myself that I had to stay and figure it out. After a few moments I had the idea to flip my camera vertical and take a photo and the first one I captured was the image seen, and I loved it.

For the photo I am using a very small aperture of f/11, because I wanted as much in focus as possible. My ISO is at 125 at 1/40^th of a second.

As I took the image into Lightroom, there weren’t many changes that I wanted to make. I cropped the image to get rid of some clutter on the right side, I boosted the shadows and brought down the highlights in order to get the most contrast out of the image. Lastly, I increased saturation to give the greenery some nice punch and that’s it.

About the Photographer:
My name is Chris Martin, I’ve been interested in filmmaking for quite sometime, but just recently started to get into photography, and I’m slowly learning all of the subtle differences between the two when it comes to framing and composition. The type of photography that I enjoy most is landscape and astrophotography, although I’m still learning the latter. Also, almost every single photo I take I touch up in some kind of way in Lightroom for minor stuff, or Photoshop for more intense photo editing. To me post processing is an artistic choice that only you as the artist can produce and even if two photographers took very similar photos, they can look vastly different depending on the post work done. This ties in with my main goal as a photographer and that is to be different and set myself apart from the crowd.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Daniel Riebe

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May 012014

Photo copyright Daniel Riebe

Every image captivates a story. Whether significant or not, each story brings the audience closer to the photograph. The story told through this image allows the audience to understand more about the person and the specific background. Along with the story behind the image I want to present the man’s story as well. His name is Caveman. He’s a homeless man from Flagstaff, Arizona with a life that incorporates a very particular mindset of thoughts.

This story began with a downtown Flagstaff exploration while I looked for that image that would leave me in peace. I shot a couple photos of strangers while I explained to them my reason to why their photo had been taken that day, I had yet to take a photo which would allow for the completion of the portrait shot.

A couple of relationship shots, teenagers that had hung out together that day and of course the employee shot of a hard days work simply had not been the type of image I had in mind. I had been on the look for a different perspective of how individuals see the world. The day had slowly started to come to an end and I had been disappointed in the shots I found, to say the least. As I walked back to my vehicle I had felt defeated, with the mindset of the day to be over.

Suddenly, an individual that I had not seen earlier was perched directly in front of me with a very peculiar name, Caveman. His stern look seemed questionable whether to go talk to him or not but he had hand written signs that intrigued me. I walked up to this man, introduced myself and started a conversation that went further then I had expected.

One of the most kind, gentle and extremely enthusiastic individuals I had ever met in my life, Caveman told me stories I would have never believed I would ever had heard. The best part of this individual had been to learn about his ideas that a majority in the world would believe are insane. This man had a life with a house and a job to pay for it and one day had been tired of it all and dedicated himself to be on his own with his old life left as memories. He had a different ideology on the behalf of illegal substances, which he now had revolved most of his life around.

This however had been the most intriguing part about him. The belief that one-day he would be taken up, by what he called “the weed fairies”, which allowed him to be in a different world. This photo represents a different perspective on life. The story applies a specific outlook for people to look back on there own life.

On the mechanical side I used a Canon 70d and an 18-55mm lens. The black and white photo emphasizes contrast which provides more emotion to the photo.

About the Photographer:
I have personally found that the ability to capture a fleeting scene in order to depict its story is why photography has become so important to me. It is also humbling to think that each and every moment, which I choose to capture, is an image that testifies to my interests and passions. If you would like to know what I enjoy, cherish, and respect, look at my work, what I document, and choose to share for others to see.

My work consists of proposal and engagement photos while being able to sell my photographs to those who show interest. I prefer subjects that are not going to move around. Subjects that sit still and have me move to the specific angle I need for the perfect photograph.

Have you ever stopped and stared at something for a considerable amount of time; wishing that you could physically hold on to the image that you are currently tantalized with? The beauty of photography is that it allows an artist to express those moments that would otherwise remain nothing more than a memory for any who were there to witness it.

It is my goal to continue on this path, and further my ability to express myself. Truthfully, it is astounding to think that a hobby I have has also become my voice and my way to display how I see our world!

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Wuke Zhou

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May 012014

Photo copyright Wuke Zhou

Little Orange Juice (my cat) came to me on a Friday night. Since then, he occupied every inch of my apartment. At first, he was so into the computer. He could not stop watching my girlfriend typing her paper. However, one day, little Orange Juice found a new world.

It was a dark day, and I was alone in the living room. I created a small studio for my photo class assignment and was ready to shoot. Little Orange Juice was sleeping on a chair behind me. The moment I hit the trigger, I also woke up Orange Juice because of the light from the flash. I did not notice him until he “meowed”. He looked at me on the other side of the table, very still. I hesitated only for a second and took the shoot. At that special moment, I didn’t think twice or adjust my camera settings. It came to me that I wouldn’t have a second chance to take the shot. I believed that Orange Juice inspired me to create this image. As a matter of fact, he encouraged me to do so. I hardly ever have a chance to photograph him because he is so naughty. Also, animals don’t pose for photographers. Therefore, I knew I had to take the shot.

As I mentioned before, it was the trigger that drew Orange’s attention. When I took the shot, the flash fired as well. Thus, I got a very clear shot of him, full of details. I was surprised that the flash turned out to be perfect. It came from the side and added stunning shadows on Orange Juice’s face. Meanwhile, since I didn’t have time to change the setting or camera lens, the data for this photo is kind of interesting. Using my Canon 5D Mark III, Canon Macro Lens 100mm, ISO 320, 1/20 sec at f 10, at roughly half powered light from an off camera flash.

These settings actually worked well. Low ISO number means overly high quality of the image. Compared with the dark environment, 1/20 second might seem too slow. I didn’t recall if I used a tripod or not, but there is no sign of movement. Thus, I supposed that I did use a tripod, which makes 1/20 second good enough for this image. On the other hand, slow shutter speed ensures enough light. As a matter of fact, we can still notice a little bit more high light in this image. A very large aperture makes sure a deep depth of filed in this image as well.

During the post-processing of this image, the first important thing is to crop the image. I only used Lightroom to edit this image. On the original photo, Orange Juice’s head was in the center but only took about 1/6 of the image. I cropped it a lot because I didn’t want any distractions. Then, I applied 10 clarity, sharpness and contrast on the whole photo. I focused on the details next. I decreased highlights and shadows on his face to make him look soft and bright. I added some clarity on his nose and eyes. I increased the orange and red in this photo too. Therefore, he looked cuter. That’s all I have done for this image.

About the Photographer:
As a future commercial photographer, my initial goal is fulfilling my clients satisfaction in the shortest time possible. In order to achieve my goal, I will learn all the camera equipment that I need to handle and be creative during post-production process. I believe what makes me differ from other photographers is that I understand the difference between creating fine art and starting a business. My art piece will always show both the profession of skills and artistic values that my clients can appreciate.

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Ashley Carlson

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Apr 302014

Photo copyright Ashley Carlson

As a born and raised Flagstaff native, or “Flagstaffian”, I have always taken the beauty of Northern Arizona for granted and even at times hated living here. All throughout my primary education I had this grand dream of escaping Flagstaff to see if the grass is really greener on the other side. A series of events and decisions led me to stay in Flagstaff to attend NAU and that is when I began to realize that Flagstaff is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. After my freshman year of college I made a life-changing decision that came in the form of a Jack Russell puppy. That huge bundle of responsibility and endless energy made me take daily ventures out into the woods and that is when I fell in love with the place I had lived in my whole life.

Many adventures later led me to discover this beautiful open field right behind Pulliam Airport. After dozens of hikes in this field, I finally brought along my camera to take a picture I have been dreaming of capturing for years.

Standing in the middle of the field with my Nikon D600, 8mm Rokinon Fisheye lens, tripod, and my dog, I began snapping pictures. With my ISO set to 320, with a shutter speed of 1/80, and my aperture set to 22 I was able to avoid capturing the stronger shadows that surrounded me and also keep everything in focus. That day the clouds were wispy and moving quickly due to the wind so I wanted to track the movement of the clouds in one photo. Using my watch, I snapped a photo every minute for about 15 minutes. I had to stop after 15 pictures because the sun was setting extremely fast but I took enough pictures to give me the desired effect I had envisioned. I uploaded all the images to Photoshop as layers and created a stacked image, which I then saved into Lightroom to do the final tweaks.

This photo has a deeper meaning to me personally than any other photo I have taken. The time lapse of it represents all those days I never stopped to appreciate the place I grew up in. The field and mountains reminds me how much I have grown to love every part of the outdoors. The overall image gives me the warm, fuzzy feeling of home and how I have fallen in love with my hometown.

About the Photographer:
As a Flagstaffian, I have grown up around the gorgeous outdoors. So, I tend to photograph nature most of the time but I also strive to always push myself and broaden my horizons to other forms of photography. Photography is not just a hobby, it is a form of therapy; it relaxes me but also makes me exercise my imagination. I try to find the beauty in everything in life, to find inspiration in everything from people to nature. As a perfectionist, I am never happy until I feel my art has been completed to the best of my ability. My goal in photography is to capture something that pleases the eye and that I feel is my best work.

www.thealcstudio.com

Behind the Image: NAU Guest Blogger – Allison Jourden

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Apr 302014

Photo copyright Allison Jourden

When assigned to my photography class, this project bore the name “Painting with Light.” Earlier in class, my instructor dazzled the class with beautiful images taken by photographers that danced with a source of light in their frames while taking images of multiple second exposures. The effect I found breath-taking.

When my turn came to breakout the artists brush and dip it in a little light, I struggled. I found the hurdles of getting my camera settings right often took up most of my shooting time. Having taken dozens of images, many blurred, or my friend attempting to blindly draw cool designs in the air and seeing close to no success, I quickly became disheartened and quite frustrated.

Initially I had chosen an outdoors location to shoot this photo. My friend and I met in a rather-trafficked area of campus – one of which I would have considered very dimly lit, until trying to use it as a location to take this photo. Eventually, we moved to an indoors location, as I found avoiding the yellow glow of campus lights impossible. Dorm living limits photographers on the available space to take intricate photos, neither mine nor my friend’s room was big enough to get anything done, so we met in our resident hall exercise room.

I had purchased and was excited to use glow sticks for this project – I thought I could achieve something epic – so as soon as we got in the room we began suspending them from walls and taping them together, hoping to construct some cool device that would look incredible when moved in front of a camera for 30 seconds. Again, this was to no avail.

I was ready to give up. How could all of those images I saw on Google have such clean and beautiful lines of light seemingly put in all the perfect places to illuminate only intended areas of the images? Why weren’t any of mine working out the way I was picturing them in my head? Why had I left this damned assignment until the night before it’s due and given myself no room for error?

I remember sitting. I told my friend I was going to take a break and that I didn’t know what I was going to do next. I proceeded to plant myself on the floor. I was ready for the mother of all sulks. Just then, I looked around. What was I missing? Something I hadn’t noticed before all of a sudden jumped out at me, making me feel like a dummy for not realizing its potential initially. One of the walls in this room was covered in mirrors. Yes! This was that extra element I felt all of my other images had been lacking.

Quickly, I set up my tripod and camera to face the wall of mirrors. I armed my friend with my flashlight while leaving some of the glow sticks still hung from a wall behind us. I told her that when I said go, to trace my body with the light. She did so and we only had to do this once. The result is the image above.

About the Photographer:
“If you always do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” – My Dad.

My name is Allison Jourden and I study photography at Northern Arizona University. Growing up, I seemed to always have a camera in my hand. I enjoy memories – there was always something about capturing moments in time to be remembered in the future that always pulled me towards photography. In school, I was always very academic. When it came time to start thinking about college and choosing a major, the thought of going in to photography as a profession terrified me. What if I wasn’t good enough? How was I going to make enough money to support myself? Would I be happy? In the end, that quote by my dad is what pulled it all together for me. I finally believed that if I spent my time doing something that made me happy, everything else would just fall in to place. So far, it has.

It’s Back! The 2014 NAU Photography Students “Behind the Image: Guest Blogger” Project!

Guest Blogger, Making the Image 61 Responses »

Apr 292014

Introducing the 24 NAU students who will act as Guest Bloggers on this blog starting tomorrow through early May (their photographs in alphabetical order):
First row (left to right): Joseph AL-Ruwaished, Ashley Carlson, Caitlin Chesler, Areina Contreras, Olivia Franco, and Ryan Gelb
Second row (l to r): Trent Heimerdinger, Paul Hurd, Allison Jourden, Donna Kelley, Shelby Lynch, and Chris Martin
Third row (l to r): Kelsey McHugh, Ty McNeeley, Rachel Richmond-Woodward, Daniel, Riebe, Jamie Shrader, and Ali Springer
Fourth row (l to r): John Thompson, Carlye Townsend, Matt Valley, Meagan Wakefield, Carolyn Wood, and Wuke Zhou

After the overwhelming success of last spring’s Northern Arizona University (NAU) Photography Students “Behind the Image: Guest Blogger” project, I’m thrilled to introduce a new group of photography students who will serve as guest bloggers on my blog starting tomorrow through early May!

Last spring, I partnered with my good friend, fellow photographer, and NAU photography instructor, Amy Horn, to offer her photography students real-world experience to put their school studies to practical use. Thirty-five students participated in this inaugural project (to see their entries, select Guest Blogger and Making the Image categories from the right side of this screen). After receiving many positive comments from both the students and this audience, Amy and I decided to team up again this year to offer a similar opportunity for one of her spring semester class.

On April 17, 2014, I visited her Intermediate Photography (PHO285) class to kick-off this year’s “Guest Blogger: Behind the Image” assignment. During the presentation, the students received instruction to select one image from this semester. Then, they would describe why and how they made the image in 800 words or less and in active-not passive-voice. We encouraged them to share what inspired them to make the photograph, what process they used to create it, and the technical information for the resulting frame. We also requested a 100-word bio so we could get to know the person behind the image. The students were not required to submit nature or outdoor-related images, as their interests varied greatly (and I feel strongly that we, as an audience, can improve our own work by reviewing and evaluating photography outside of our preferred domains).

Starting tomorrow and extending throughout the next 12 days, in no particular order, these 24 NAU Intermediate Photography students will share their visual expression with public audience via this blog – some blogging for the first time! I hope you enjoy the diversity, the unique perspectives, and honesty these students will share!

However, this project isn’t just for the students. It’s for you too!

You can make a difference in these students’ lives by reading their insights and providing your constructive comments. What do you like about the image? What might you improve? Do you have any similar experiences with this subject, technique, or approach? By actively participating in this project, you can also get new ideas for your own work. As I often share in my presentations and the Austin Kleon book suggests, “Steal like an artist!” How can you apply what you like to your own work in a different situation? Not only will the students get to hear your unique perspective and encouragement, but you also have the chance to polish your own style!

So without further ado, let’s welcome the 2014 NAU Intermediate Photography students and enjoy their photography and “Behind the Image” stories!

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