Sharing the Wealth

As I was going out this semester for my blog, I had friends that became really interested in what I was doing and asked to go with me. I never really considered taking more than one person out with me, but I loved the outcome. I love the feeling after I get back from a day of visiting with the homeless, and I found that I loved even more getting to share that with friends. 

Pictured above are two of the girls that got a chance to come out with me this semester. (Left:Careth Center:Myself, Right:Cierra) After we went out I talked to them and asked what it meant to them going out and giving back and getting to know the homeless. Seeing how much it meant to them to go out and give back, make me so thankful that I got to share that experience and to touch their lives as well as the people we were out helping.

In my next post I will share Careth's story with you, so stay tuned!

When You've Hit a Hault

As you can tell I have had a hard time getting the chance to post on here recently. I have noticed what professional bloggers talk about when they say you have to make this a priority. Life has gotten the best of me and I just kept putting off writing.

I also noticed that once it started getting painfully cold outside I didn't make time to go out and talk to and help the homeless. Which now that I sit back and think about, was very selfish of me. Even though it is cold, it doesn't mean that the homeless disappear. They are still living on the streets, and I didn't take the time to go out and to spend a few hours in the cold to talk to them.

After I came upon this revelation I really regretted all the time I didn't spend out on the streets befriending these people. From this moment forward I vow to not let the conditions stop me from going out and doing what I set out to do in the first place. And to keep blogging, I'm glad that I finally had this realization and I can stop being selfish and make time for others again.

Learning from the Big Dogs

In class we had an assignment to pick a blog and interview the creator, so being a photographer I picked the blog Fstoppers and got to do an interview over the phone with the cofounder Lee Morris. Below are my outline and a screenshot of what the blog looks like. Enjoy!

     Name and URL of blog: Fstoppers, https://fstoppers.com/

1)    History of the blog

a)    How long have they been blogging? 4 and a half years

b)    Who is the blogger? Co founder - Lee Morris (31 years old and is a professional photographer with his own business)

c)    Purpose of the blog: To create a community that photographers can learn from

d)    Geographic Location: Based out of South Carolina but the blog is published all around the world.

e)    Number of followers: 4 million page views per month

f)     Does it make money? Yes, the blog itself doesn’t make that much money, but the products they sell on the blog make the most money.

g)    Why do they blog? To help photographers around the world have access to a community to find help and answers to questions they have.

h)    Inspiration: http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

2)    What makes this blog unique? It is a large business with many different parts to it. There are around 50 writers for this blog, so it is a very wide variety of writers and opinions.

3)    What are its strengths? It has a lot of incredible part time writers, who are also photographers, so that have a lot of talent working for them.

4)    What are its weaknesses? Personally Lee said he doesn’t know much on the computer and technical side of the whole blogging process and that’s something he could improve on.

5)    What is the advice of the blogger? It depends on what the goal is behind the blog. If you want it to be a business, you have to have the mentality that it is a job, and you need to put work into it everyday. If you want to make money from it, you need to post at least once a day for two years before you can really expect to have any successful profit from it.

 

Media Ethics Conference

         Last week UCO held its annual Media Ethics conference. There were many different workshops to choose from, but being a photographer I clearly choose to go check out the photography workshop.           
         I chose to go to the workshop called “Touch Up or Too Much: The Ethics of Photoshop.” Our two UCO photography professors, Jesse Miller and Mark Zimmerman, put on this workshop with a guest speaker who is currently a photographer at the Daily Oklahoman.

            Being a photographer I already hear about this topic pretty frequently, but it is always something to remind myself about. I hate Photoshop, I rarely ever use it and I sometimes forget how often it is used, especially in advertising. I personally do not think it is right for people to be able to contort someone’s face, almost beyond recognition to make them “beautiful.” When I edit, all I ever really do is brighten up colors and remove blemishes.

            It is unreal to me that some people think that it is okay to completely morph faces and bodies in a photo. To me, a photograph is just used to capture a moment in its real form. So I agree it becomes an ethical issue if the editor is completely changing the appearance of someone, especially when it comes to advertising purposes.

            I think appearance is something that society definitely struggles with today, especially with women and young girls. With the advancements with Photoshop it has definitely not helped that mentality. Everyone strives to look like the “perfect” models they see on the magazine covers. I like that this has become a bigger issue, and that people are challenging the editors and the magazines to stop with the Photoshop and to show real life people on the covers and in their advertisements with real bodies.

Tips from a Vet

Tuesday we had guest speaker Dr. Hochenauer come speak to our class about blogging. Dr. Hochenauer is the creator of Okie Funk blog and he has been blogging since 2004.


Okie Funk is a liberal political blog. When asked why he started this blog Dr. Hochenauer said that he thought there needed to be more liberal voices in the media. He has been employed at many different newspapers and currently works as a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.
When Dr. Hochenauer came to class, what I was looking to get out of his discussion with us was to get the view of someone who had been blogging for a long time and how to keep it going.
When asked what he thought makes a good blog, Dr. Hochenauer replied that he thinks good writing makes a good blog. How to have a blog you love doing, you have to find something that you are passionate about and that is what makes a good blog. Measuring success isn't always about how many followers you have or if you're making money, its about the personal satisfaction you feel after you have written a post.
Listening to Dr. Hochenauer speak to us, I could tell that he was passionate about his blog and what he was writing about. He said its okay to have times when you just have no idea what to write about. Its okay to take a few days off to gather your thoughts, because something always comes up. 
I loves being able to listen to someone speak that has been blogging for a long time. Blogging is something new for me, it's something I've never really tried before. So getting to hear from an experienced blogger and having him put some of my worries about having a successful blog to rest. It makes me confident that since this is something I am passionate about, this blog will be great!

The Best of Friends

Most people can admit to taking their best friend for granted at least once in their lives. But these are two men that I can say truly never take those words for granted. Wayne (left) and Mike (right) have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They stick together no matter where they go. They sleep in the same place as the other so they can be there to protect each other if they need to.

People always wonder, how does somebody end up homeless? And Wayne was happy to tell us his story. He used to work at the Lunchbox in Bricktown for 11 years as a chef, but it was on the land that Devon Energy bought out. He said he didn't really have a good job history so he lost his job when Devon took over. Although he lost his job due to this expansion, he did not seem bitter about it. Instead he said it was interesting to watch the development of that area.

When I asked them why they were hanging around the Botanical Gardens, they said they were waiting for the mission to open to eat dinner. They seemed a little skeptical about even being on that part of town and they told me they hate going to the mission because "that's where you run into trouble. You're liable to get stabbed over there, but we have to eat."

Since they were so open with me, I asked what was the most interesting thing that has happened to them living on the streets. Mike said that sometimes people will drive by and throw things at them. He said people have tried to throw water bottles at their heads before. They never cause trouble, yet since they are homeless people always draw those assumptions.

These men really made me think. I never thought about how grateful I was to have friends that are there for me, but they know the true meaning of best friends. I've never thought about the lives that are impacted when big companies come in and jobs are lost. And the biggest one to me, is I've never had to fear eating a meal because I was worried I would lose my life.

It was very humbling listening to them, because everything average people take for granted everyday, these homeless men appreciate them more than anything in the world.

The Mystery Man

As I set out this week to downtown OKC, I was expecting to have my usual encounters with people and to learn more about their lives. But this week was a much different story. 

As I was walking around looking for someone to pass out a sandwich to, I couldn't help but be drawn in by the man sitting on the street corner. So naturally, being the outgoing person I am I approached him and started talking to him and asking him questions.

I offered him a sandwich and he gladly accepted, but then realized it was a ham sandwich and said he couldn't eat it. When I asked if it was something to do with his religion as to why he couldn't eat it, he replied with "Not necessarily. While I sit out here I've had time to think about many different religions, and I just don't think I should eat a pig." 

As the conversation progressed I asked him if I could snap a picture of him for my blog and he quickly, but politely, refused. He told me that he doesn't think we should have cameras because if God really wanted up to remember something he would keep it in our hearts and minds. And he didn't want a picture out and about of him because he said it could leave the story up to the viewer and he doesn't want that.

After we spoke some more about how "the japanese tourists are taking over the world with cameras," and he explained more and more about why he hated photographs, he asked if I thought he was crazy and I quickly replied with no. And told him he has very valid points.

And as I thought about it more and more I knew he made a great point. Every picture that's taken is left up to the disgression  of the viewer to draw their own conclusion of the subject. And I think this is what this blog is all about. Teaching people how to not judge a book by its cover, and showing them that there is always MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE.

A Fair Occasion

This is Ervin Waters. I had met him a few weeks back when I was downtown shooting pictures for one of my photography classes. For some reason these last couple weeks I couldn't get the curiosity out of my head wondering who he was and what he was all about. When we made eye contact at the fair, I instantly recognized him and I knew there was a story waiting to be told. 

Ervin graduated from Langston College just a few years back with an Organization Management degree. When I asked him what he does for a living he told me he is a writer. He lives in Oklahoma City, but hopes one day to move to Seattle to pursue a career with his writing. He is currently a writer for "The Curbside Chronicles." For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a magazine about homeless people telling their stories, and they sell them to help them make a little bit of money.

This was a true inspiration to me that he wants to pursue his writing so badly that he will do whatever it takes and take advantage of the opportunities he is given. I am so thankful that I was able to run into Ervin at the fair and get a chance to thank him for letting me take his pictures and to check up on how he is doing. 

The fact that he recognized me and thanked me for what I did for him makes me realize that this blog is more than just writing for you all to read. Its about the lives I get a chance to impact on the way, as well as they impact my life. I love that I get to share this wonderful journey with you.

What a Small World

As I set out this week to find someone I felt had a story to tell, I instantly thought of the State Fair. There are plenty of interesting people out there with very interesting stories. As I was trying to find the "perfect subject" I ran across a man that I kept making awkward eye contact with. 

I knew he looked familiar but I could not remember how I knew him. Then it clicked. As I was in a summer class I went out to downtown Oklahoma City and passed out sandwiches and water to homeless people, and in turn they would let me take their pictures. He was one of the people I had photographed so I went up and spoke to him and we remembered each other.

I found it so ironic that I ran into him at the fair and that we both recognized each other. I instantly knew that he would be my spotlight this week.

For You and Me

This blog sparked from my inspiration as you saw in my last post. It is something that I find that I am passionate about and think it is interesting. 

I can't help but wonder, if I don't tell these people's stories who will? If I don't take these photographs who will?

I plan to start by posting one blog a week to ease myself and my readers into this. As I get more comfortable I hope to start posting at least two a week so that it will give my readers something they want to follow and something they look forward to.

I would love feedback from my readers to hear what they enjoy reading about and seeing, because if it weren't for my readers this blog would just be empty words.

These stories have touched my life and made me view life differently, and if nothing else, I hope that is what my readers get out of this blog.

The Inspiration

Everyone needs an inspiration behind what they do, and this man was my inspiration behind my blog. His name is Mr. Blankenship and as I was walking out of the OKC Bombing Memorial I stopped to say hello, ask him how he was, and asked if he needed a water or a sandwich. As I asked him he first hesitated and thought I wasn't talking to him. Once he realized I was his face instantly lit up and he told me how happy he was I had taken the time to talk to him, because no one does.

As our conversation progressed he started sharing stories about himself and I learned that he had graduated from college with a bachelors degree, and had served 5 tours oversea. His life started going downhill after his divorce with his wife. He also told me that he loved poetry.  He then shared a touching poem about his life and all the struggles he has gone through. It brought tears to my eyes hearing some of the things he told me. He told me now he is just worthless and has nothing else to live for. I told him that was far from true and that there is a reason for everything in life we just have to find out what that is. 

After spending just 20 minutes with Mr. Blankenship it opened my eyes to the lives of the homeless and made me realize that there is always
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Here's the Plan

Many people go through their daily lives passing by the homeless on the street and not even giving them a second look. This blog will be about telling the stories of the homeless. I plan on going out in the OKC metro area to begin with, and photographing the homeless in the area. When I photograph them I also plan on taking the time to speak to them and learn about their lives. I will be writing about my experiences with them, because I believe that the best stories are those that are untold.