Sanctuary Art Center changes lives of homeless youth through art and creativity, and I recently started working with the center to document some of their work. The center operates two spaces, including a gallery in Seattle . The pictures below are during a gallery show at the downtown Seattle space, where screen-printed shirts are also on sale.
Hello all: Please mark your calendars to have some drinks and look at some photos if you can be in Seattle on Friday, February 1 from 6-8pm at Lucid. My work will be on display with prints for sale. The evening is curated by the talented Priya Frank and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Bruce Lee Inspired “Community Peace Garden”. See below for more info:
With the reelection of President Obama, the legalization of marijuana in Washington state, and a gay marriage referendum looking set to pass in the state, Seattle hit the streets and partied like crazy. See pics below.
I’m happy to present a video that I recently created for the University of Washington Bothell about the commitment to diversity on campus. I believe that the Bothell campus is doing a great job in becoming a leader of diversity recruitment, outreach, and retention. Please have a look at the video below:
I’m working with the Diversity Recruitment & Outreach team at UW Bothell again, this time to document a special project at McKnight Middle School in Renton, Washington. UW Bothell student volunteers are spending time with the middle school students each week to build leadership and communication skills as well as self and cultural awareness. The volunteers are also facilitating conversations about how McKnight Middle School can better serve these students and set them up for success in college and beyond. The middle school student group consists of mostly African American and Latino young men, which are largely underrepresented groups on college campuses. Programs like this one can hopefully change that. It really is a remarkable program.
At the end of the year we will be producing a short documentary film that explains what we were able to accomplish. In the meantime, you can watch the first video installment of a series of updates about this outreach work. I am doing some of the filming, taking photographs, and most importantly mentoring a UW Bothell senior, Amen Mengesha, who is the director of the project. He is a media production star of the future, so be sure to watch that first video installment here, or below, to see what he created. I’ve included some of my photographs from week two below.
Shot for ZUMA Press. If you want to license these images please contact sales@zumapress.com.
Happy Diwali!
These Diwali pictures are from celebrations near Seattle on the first day of Diwali, October 26, 2011. Special thanks to the Hindu Temple & Cultural Center as well as the Gurudwara Sikh Centre of Seattle for your hospitality.
It was a great pleasure to finally see my work on the walls of Mary Gates Hall at the University of Washington last week, part of a light box installation that I designed and photographed over the summer. You might have seen periodic blog posts featuring the portraits and other photos I had been working on, which are now featured in the large 3′ x 5′ light boxes in the Center for Experiential Learning and Diversity. I shot most of the photos in the displays and designed the layout as well, which turned out to be a lot of fun. The Center approached me last spring because they were moving to a new office space and they wanted a bright, colorful, display with photos that featured a lot of natural light and outdoor scenes, while also telling the story of their programming and outstanding students. I think the project turned out amazing and I’m especially happy with the final quality of the printing. The detail and texture of a light box is really unique – something that I don’t often get to see with my photos.
UW Bothell hired me to produce a short film at their commencement ceremonies again this year. For you techie types out there, I used a Canon 5D mark II on a monopod to shoot most of the footage, and my lens throughout the day was generally a Canon 24-70 f/2.8. I cut the project on Final Cut Pro 7, probably my last project on their version 7 before I switch over to using strictly Final Cut Pro X … but we’ll see.
It was a long day of filming, during which I also broadcasted the ceremony live online with the assistance of Seattle photographer Karlie Roland. I was exhausted after the long day but very happy with the results. A funny side note: I too was graduating this year with a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies, so I got to film my own ceremony. Keep an eye out for the folks who are in my graduating cohort (bonus points if you can spot them. I managed to avoid being in the film myself!).
Well, have a look at the project below!
With these photos I’m continuing the project of documenting UW student researchers and experiential learning for the University of Washington. This is what the Literacy Through Photography program looks like. It’s great because UW students visit a local elementary school, teach photography, and help the students develop writing skills by having them write about their photos. The young photographer-scholars also learn about ideas of self, community, communication, family and dreams.
University of Washington undergraduate Vanessa is studying b-girls and the ways in which these female breakdancers negotiate the male-dominated culture of breakdancing. We scheduled a shoot with a great graffiti wall to serve as the backdrop. Everything at the shoot was perfect, Vanessa was a great model and the graffiti looked awesome, but after 30 minutes of waiting … our two b-girl models were nowhere to be found! We made do with what we had and I think the photos will still look great in serving their purpose, which is to highlight outstanding student researchers and add color and natural light to the newly remodeled office space where they will be displayed. I’m looking forward shooting the rest of this project, so stay tuned to see the other students that I photograph.
A short film produced for the UW Bothell’s African American Student Union.