7 Deadly Sins

This is my current project for my Conceptual Strategies class, it's titled "The 7 Deadly Sins" and for this, I asked each model to tell a story about their experience with one of the seven sins. I took pictures of their reactions to their own story. It's my hope that you can see the vulnerability in their expression and to see how they feel about the sin and their actions in the past.
Anger (Jaci Smith)


Pride/Vanity (Laura Welsh)

Sloth (Scott Sell)

Lust (Lauren Bruce)

Greed (Kerry Schenck)

Envy (Ryan Swift)

Gluttony

Hope you enjoy
-S

Scars and Marks

This is a current project I am working on, it is a documentation and archival of my scars and marks. Gross huh? Editing these has not been an easy task but so far I only need three more to meet my goal of 20!
I'm considering reshooting some of them, I'm not sure how noticeable they are to others, for example my leg in the second picture has a scar on the back of it from crew in high school, this is more noticeable in better lighting, can you even tell its there?
I will post as i get these done, I have been crazy busy! I turn in my final portfolio for my Portfolio Building class at the University of Oregon today. almost done with it all!!

-S

Golf Adventure

Ryan got new clubs a few weeks ago and I have been wanting to take pictures of him with them while they are still shiny and pretty. It was great to get away from school and work and go watch him hit some balls while i annoyed people around him by snapping tons of pictures! I got some pretty cool ones but I need to work on my timing to get better 'action' shots.

Happy Mothers Day

Deviant art picture of my mom

This is my favorite picture I have ever taken of my mom, and this site is the only proof it existed, it was destroyed in the horrible hard drive crash of 08. Tragic day.

but onto the reason for this post, my mom, and mothers day!
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I have been thinking about my mom a lot lately and I wish i could be with her today, but I will be visiting soon! I wish I could be there sharing a late morning/afternoon cup of coffee and just talking and enjoying the view of the ocean out the window. Some of my greatest memories with my mom have just been our mornings spent talking and just enjoying each others company.

I have so many wonderful thing I my life that I owe to my mother and she is the reason that I am who I am. She has always accepted me as a person and recognized my accomplishments and gently encouraged me to do what I am passionate about and do something that will make me truly happy. I am so thankful to have such a caring compassionate mother who even in my roughest times and my most rebellious moments has stuck with me and help me when I needed it.

She has give me so much and I will always, always be grateful!
She is the reason I am artistic, the reason I am kind, the reason I have curly hair, she is also the reason I have been so successful in school and life and she is the reason I will achieve my goals and dreams in the future.

Thank you mom,
I LOVE YOU!

Quote + Picture

“ Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. ” — Dr. Seuss

“ There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time. ” — Coco Chanel

Neighborhood Watch

Project #2
Preshooting:
Ever since growing up in a small suburban neighborhood in eastern Oregon, I have been intrigued by the suburbs and these houses that all look the same. They are lined up in perfect rows with their perfectly manicured lawns and their pathways that wind oh so perfectly to their entryway complete with a door mat that the owner has picked specifically to be welcoming to me. These types of neighborhoods at one point felt so welcoming and comforting to me at one point in my life, but now, they feel foreign and alien. I wander the streets wondering what happens in these houses and what they are hiding just behind their closed doors and drawn window shades. I am so curious about what makes the inside of the house unique to that family and how they have made it into their home. I can’t help but to notice how innocent these houses seem with their perfect flower gardens and their flawless yards without a branch or rock out of place.
Through this project I took inspiration from Sophie Calle in her use of the camera as a spy to get a better understanding of Paris and the people in it. For Calle, returning to Paris after many years of absence was lonely and frightening; she was determined to rediscover the city by following locals around and documenting their actions and travels. She was able to get a feel of how the people of the city lived as well as become familiar with a city she once knew very well. I too plan to use my own camera as a spy, I will be traveling through these neighborhoods and using my camera try to get a glimpse inside the suburban lifestyle and try to see what makes one house so different from another even though they look all the same.
Post shooting:
After several trips to a large suburban area that borders both Eugene and Springfield, I was able to compile a large collection of images of the houses, yards and garages from all around the neighborhood. As I look though these images I am seeing house after house that are all similar shades, shapes and designs, its funny to imagine that there is just this template for a house the builders use and it is all exactly the same. One thing that intrigued me about these houses was their willingness to open up and to show me a glimpse inside whether it is through an open garage or wide-open windows. I was able to walk right up to a house, someone’s home and take a picture of their possessions, their precious belongings and claim them for my own so to speak. House after house was just like this, while there were very few people out in their yards or visible at all, their garages were open, their cars where pulled out onto the street/driveway and their doors and windows were wide open. That familiar feeling of openness and comfort I once felt from these types of neighborhoods was coming back to me quickly, as if I could walk right though that open door and sit on a couch and be greeted warmly. The feeling of security and comfort was apparent in the willingness of the families to open up their space to anyone who might wander past. Is this a good thing? Or are they just opening themselves up to this big bad world we all know is out there? I can’t help but wonder why they all feel so safe, they live in the same world we do, and yet they are not afraid of burglars, kidnappers and criminals?

Andy Warhol Inspired Photo Shoot

"I believe that everyone should live in one big empty space. It can be a small space, as long as it's clean and empty."
This project is inspired by an article by Andy Warhol titled, 'From A to B and Back Again' (1975) He talks of his hatred for nostalgia and his ideas about how a person can rid themselves of this nostalgia in order to move on with their life and to truly live in the present. He believes that in order to have a life that is fully in the present, you cannot be hanging on to your past in anyway. A way to make sure you are not clinging to images of the past, is to get rid of anything around you that will make you think of it. He suggests that a person should go through a monthly ritual where you sort through and throw away things that have no meaning to you and to also take your possessions and things around you and put them into a box and put them away someplace where you cannot easily access it. I find this to be very intriguing, as I look around my room I see so many things that I keep just because they remind me of an experience, a person or a time in my past that I want to remember. Why do I hang on to them? Am I afraid that I will forget if I am constantly reminded? And how does this constant reminder effect my day to day activities? Warhol believes that it distracts from the present to keep things like that around. As I read his article I though more about my things and why I seem to think they are so important to keep around. My desk is an area where I keep a great deal of nostalgia, I have pictures, trinkets, notes and random gifts from friends all about my desk and computer area. This is the place where I do a great deal of my work and I sometimes find myself looking up at a picture of trinket and drifting off into memories of my past. This is not a good distraction!
For this project I am going to take this cluttered and nostalgic space of mine and convert it to a place where I can sit and feel at peace with fewer distraction to take me away from what I am trying to do. I will remove everything that I do not absolutely need for daily work activities and put it all in a box and put that box away and out of my sight for one whole month. The whole month of May this box will sit untouched and I will see how the change in scenery changes my habits, behaviors and productivity.
While doing this, I picked a small clean box and labeled it May 09 and filled it with pictures from my board, gifts from my friends, and colorful trinkets that cover my desk. It was surprising to see just how much stuff I keep around that I do not actually need on a regular or even monthly basis. Without all these objects, my desk seems quite stark and empty, but at the same time very clean and easy to look at. I took pictures before I removed everything to show how cluttered and unorganized it had been before, I then took a few pictures of the objects I removed and then the end result, my clean and bare desk just waiting for me to sit down and be productive!


Thank you for reading!
-S

First two edits

Beginning the editing process for my projects due on wednesday. So busy! So very very busy.