Jenn Hair

The FOOOOD Issue

2011-11-18T14:42:00.005-06:00

I had a REALLY fun month working on the November issue, because its theme was food- something I'm very much a fan of. I was able to photograph delicious things across the city, some of which ran in our "Best of Austin" food feature. The sushi at Roll On Sushi Diner was great, and their menu featured quirky Austin-ified rolls like the Guaca-Rolly. Tasty drinks like the Balcones Prosecco Cocktail from Sagra and our "Best Margarita" pick from Polvo's were also fun to shoot. However, my two favorites for the month have to be my favorite taco from Taco Deli, the cowboy taco, and the delicious mini-pies from trailer-turned-brick-and-mortar shop Cutie Pies.

Icenhauer's

2011-10-20T15:11:00.003-05:00

For Austin Monthly's October issue, I shot a cocktail for our "Pour" spotlight at Icenhauer's, a rad bar on Rainey Street. Their custom cocktails all have lady names (yes, there is "The Jennifer," and yes, it's delicious). For the next issue I shot a whole bunch of food, can't wait to post all that!

Manny's Uptown Kitchen

2011-08-12T09:27:00.006-05:00

I shot another little food piece for the August issue of Austin Monthly at Manny's Uptown Kitchen, which is a New York-style restaurant and deli (imported H&H bagels, anyone?) with some twists (reuben egg rolls? jalapeno chicken waffles? let's talk later, I'm a bit busy). Everything was pretty delicious and we barely made a dent in their extensive menu.

Baguette et Chocolat

2011-07-19T14:36:00.003-05:00

I went and did a quick shoot for Austin Monthly's July issue, a dining spotlight about a newer French Cafe out in the Bee Cave area called Baguette et Chocolat (their website is a little nuts... ok, a lot nuts). Great food AND super close to the office, so plenty of opportunities for a delicious lunch (like today - ham, swiss and tomato crepe, mmmmm).

I haven't been shooting much since I started working at Austin Monthly, so it's nice to get out and take some photographs. I also shot a dining spotlight for the August issue, so I'll post that soon too.

New Orleans Labor Day

2010-12-22T23:30:00.004-06:00

Obviously long overdue, but I went to New Orleans over Labor Day Weekend.

Book Design- Big Bend Photography

2010-07-18T13:10:00.003-05:00

Big Bend by Spencer Selvidge & Rebekah Workman | Make Your Own Book

I recently designed a book for photographers Spencer Selvidge and Rebekah Workman and some of their work from the Big Bend area of West Texas. You can check it out on Blurb!

Moving Forward in Time

2010-06-06T16:00:00.004-05:00

The 1950s, courtesy of a great model, a great location and some great wardrobe options. My model is my friend Jen Reel, a local multimedia journalist with the Texas Observer.

Dani and Sparks

2010-05-19T23:10:00.002-05:00

More work from my portrait portfolio- with my very awesome models Dani (first pictured) and Sparks.

Elisabeth

2010-05-12T17:49:00.003-05:00

I shot these this morning for my portrait portfolio- they're of my friend and amazing pilates instructor Elisabeth.

Imitation Civil War Portraits

2010-05-12T02:08:00.003-05:00

More work from my portfolio for my portrait class! These were a lot of fun, and I taught myself several new photoshop tricks in the process of trying to make these look authentic. The first image is my friend Ben Cholok, and the second is of my roommate and fellow photographer Curt Youngblood. Next up for editing is the 1920s, which I'm really excited about. I was hoping to get another shoot in before my Thursday deadline for the 1940s (picked up an amazing hat/gloves/dress combination this weekend) but it's not looking like I'll have time. Maybe that will be a summer project.

Christina Burke Logo Design

2010-05-11T16:09:00.003-05:00

Between finishing my master's report and helping to organize the UTNPPA's spring photography show, I did have time for a little design last week. Christina is a colleague/peer/friend here at UT and I designed her a simple identity system and resume. Check out her blog here.

Sneak Peek

2010-05-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

I JUST turned in my Master's report, so I haven't had a moment to work on processing the shoots I've done for my studio portraiture class, but this is a sneak peek of what I'll be doing. I've arranged shoots for different decades and had some excellent models help me recreate the feel of older photographs. Here's Jen Reel as my fifties housewife.

See this photo tonight at The Picture Show!

The Picture Show

2010-05-05T19:14:00.003-05:00

The UT NPPA's third annual spring show, titled the Picture Show, is this Saturday, May 8th at Midtown Commons from 7 - 10 pm.

I designed the logo and PR materials too!

Burnt Orange Magazine Digital Edition

2010-04-30T22:23:00.004-05:00

I was just told about this website, Issuu, that you can use for free to host digital flip-through magazines. So... game on. Here's Burnt Orange, in all it's page-turning glory.

Should have an update soon on all the million things I've been working on- in short, they include copious amounts of PR Design for the UTNPPA's Spring Show, as well as numerous photo shoots (involving costumes).

(Click the magazine to full full screen)

UTNPPA Spring Photography Show- Final Deadline Apr 14th

2010-04-13T17:20:00.005-05:00

The University of Texas Chapter of the National Press Photographers Association is holding open submissions for its third annual Spring Photography Show. This is the first year that we have the pleasure of having three guest judges choose the final images to hang in the show. Any UT student can submit and it's free to enter! E-mail nppa.utexas.austin@gmail.com for more info. [click to see flier larger] [also, I designed the flier, with photographs from top to bottom by Christina Burke, Dawn Jones-Garcia and Jess Williamson]

Burnt Orange Magazine Spreads

2010-03-30T20:28:00.005-05:00

Burnt Orange's Spring 2010 issue has been out and about campus for awhile now, so I finally wanted to post some of my favorite spreads that I worked on, as well as the cover.

Cover image by Blake Gordon

Images and logo provided by Texas 4000; Story by Kate Hull

Photo and Story by photographer L.A. Reno

Image from Library of Congress, of UT's Battle Hall c. 1945; Story by Kate Hull

Illustration on the right by Melissa Reese; Story by Adam Aldrete

You can click to see them a bit larger!

Outdoor Portraiture

2010-03-24T17:12:00.003-05:00

More portraits for my photography class this semester. Trying to get better at artificial lighting, so while the first one is natural lighting, the middle one is shot with the bright sunlight softened through a large diffusion screen, and in the last I used a flash shot through an umbrella on camera left. I love that Spring is finally here and it's green outdoors. It was a gorgeous 80 degrees that day.

new magazine spreads

2010-03-21T02:01:00.003-05:00

These spreads started as an attempt to enter SPD's student design competition, BUT I didn't make the deadline. Still wanted to finish them though, so here they are! Except for the images of the band members of Vampire Weekend (credit Søren Solkær Starbird) all the photographs are mine. I photographed a Coke bottle and a Blue Moon bottle cap to transform for the first spread. The second spread features an image from the CMPBS, from a last semester project.

I've been working on my website, and I'm hoping that I'll finally (only three years in the making) have it up within the week. I re-approached my logo (as you can see above) and I'm excited about getting all my stuff together for the upcoming job search.

Ray Charles Postcard

2010-03-06T22:00:00.001-06:00

inspiration --> experimentation

2010-03-06T01:21:00.003-06:00

I made this:

After being inspired by these:

This set of vintage bottle caps was featured in a post on the official Society of Publication Designer's blog, called Grids. I was intending for the final image to go into a magazine spread for SPD's upcoming student design competition deadline, but I haven't gotten far enough to submit. Thought this turned out nicely, though. I conveniently snagged a Blue Moon bottle cap on the way out of my friend's house, and adapted it to my own uses.

Ready for Spring

2010-03-04T14:44:00.001-06:00

Seriously I do this for fun

2010-03-03T16:21:00.002-06:00

I'm playing around with something new as I contemplate the job search that looms on the horizon. [click to see larger]

Voluntourism

2010-02-28T22:47:00.004-06:00

This posting is long overdue, but that's how it usually is. Last October I went with a group of photojournalism students to New Orleans to work on independent projects. I chose to focus on "voluntourism," a trend that sprung up after Hurricane Katrina in which out-of-towners come to NoLa for the joint goals of volunteering and tourism. I was especially interested in this topic because of my own personal experience with it (my first trip to New Orleans was in the Spring of 2006 with a volunteer group to work for Common Ground Relief) as well as my family's interest in it (my Dad, brother and sister have volunteered through Katrina Corps). Our group's focus on the economic downturn as it relates to New Orleans gave me an opportunity to reflect on the changes in Voluntourism since Katrina in 2005.

What I found and tried to document for the few days we were there was a continuing influx of outsiders, though diminished in numbers as the years have passed, as well as a consistently active internal volunteer structure that has attracted people from across the country to live more permanently in the city and devote their energies to more long-term opportunities like those through AmeriCorps and City Year. If anything, the effect of the economy on voluntourism was in the corporate sector, which had hitherto been active in promoting volunteer opportunities for convention and conference attendees in the city.

Hi Key / Lo Key

2010-02-18T02:36:00.002-06:00

I photographed James Scheuren, of James Scheuren Photography for my next assignment in my studio class.

BURNT ORANGE MAGAZINE IS OUT!

2010-02-10T13:14:00.004-06:00

The Spring 2010 issue of Burnt Orange Magazine is out finally! I took on the art direction for this student magazine as an independent study this past fall semester and it was an amazing experience. If you're a UT student, you should be able to find copies of the magazine around the Communication College!

Portrait Studio Practice

2010-02-01T22:44:00.003-06:00

Practice for this semester's studio photography class, with my classmate and fellow photographer Erich Cullipher. This first exercise was to just experiment with one light and various techniques. These are my three favorites.

Details: CMPBS

2009-10-26T17:47:00.001-05:00

The recent project I finished on the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems made me realize that I love shooting detail shots. I sometimes forget to get in close and shoot those inanimate objects that help advance a multimedia story and provide visual variety. I think these shots from CMPBS almost tell a story in and of themselves; at the very least they set the scene by telling viewers that we're at a site where things are built or repaired, where architectural models are used for planning, and which (through the lawn flamingos and bumper sticker) is at once environmentally conscious and whimsical.

And We're Back Again

2009-10-23T22:30:00.004-05:00

Two years later, same guesthouse, same city, different stories to tell.

The CMPBS

2009-10-18T00:23:00.006-05:00

Here are some highlights from my most recent multimedia piece on the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems and their interns. A friend of mine from college, Sebastijan Jemec, introduced me to the Center through his work there. The sustainability initiative was founded in 1975 by Pliny Fisk, and has survived over the years partly because of the strength of their internship program, which brings interns in from a wide variety of educational and geographic backgrounds. The site itself was a great place to photograph, and I was fortunate enough to get to experiment with a Canon 5d Mark II. While I didn't explore its video function, it was a great camera to work with and I loved the quality of images I got from it.

Next weekend I'm headed to New Orleans with a group of 14 other graduate photojournalism students and I'll be pursuing a story there that I will hopefully be able to use for my second project in Web Publishing. I plan to shoot some video and some stills to improve my multimedia skills. Also, it's New Orleans, so it should be an awesome weekend.

Project for Web Publishing

2009-10-13T01:30:00.001-05:00

“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.”

2009-09-30T12:43:00.012-05:00

The title quote is from graphic designer Paul Rand, who is in turn quoting architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

As a teaching assistant for an introductory print design class, I’m often teaching design rules that are meant to be mastered and then later, broken in intelligent and purposeful ways. Within these rules there is certainly room for the new and different, but without a structural framework for beginners, learning can be a vague and undefined experience.

As I’ve been learning design on my own, the above quote from Paul Rand has been a comforting relief from the pressure of thinking that everything has been done or that the only creative pursuits of worth are those that are entirely innovative. Rand allows designers to seek out quality without having to worry about tearing one’s hair out to be different.

In that vein, I’ve told my students in the past to approach furthering their design education by finding things that they like, and trying to copy the techniques. This may not be a legitimate path to producing work for class, but it is certainly a useful exercise for teaching oneself things to add to an ever-expanding arsenal of skills.

When inspiration comes from one source, the result runs the risk of being merely a copycat product. However, when inspiration is compiled from a multitude of sources and new skills that have been internalized, products can become innovative on an individual level, tempered by the quality of one’s inspiration.

I’ve been inspired in the past by various designers’ approaches to negative space, as in Paul Rand’s design for an exhibit postcard (above right) and Lanny Sommese’s poster for a rape help line (left). Both of these pieces of graphic design use negative space to convey a visual message. As I was recently trying to design a logo for photographer L.A. Reno, I called on my cache of inspiration to incorporate the meaning of her full name (Linda Reno) in Spanish (“pretty reindeer”) into her logotype. The result is below, with added “bling” to reflect her unique personality.

Long Overdue

2009-09-28T18:01:00.000-05:00

Last spring I travelled to New Orleans with L.A. Reno to meet up with my dad over Easter weekend. I found out prior to the trip that the Annual Gay Easter Parade (AGEP) would march through the streets of the French Quarter on Easter Sunday, and had been doing so for the last ten years. I made contact with Rip Naquin, a member of the AGEP's Board of Directors and set up an interview. He was nice enough to give me a great interview right before the parade started, and when I asked if there were anyone else in the staging area that might be willing to sit down with me, he promptly sent over the Master of Ceremonies, Marcy Marcell. The whole experience was generally amazing!

The project was part of a multimedia work that I completed for one of my classes last semester. The final product was actually a flash package that you could navigate through to see interview video, a map of the route with points at which pictures could pop up, and an audio slide show component. Unfortunately I don't have a website to plug that into yet, but hopefully soon!

11/5/08, 12:49:05 AM

2009-09-24T14:53:00.013-05:00

Two weeks ago I was asked by one of my oldest friends to relate a time in my life that I felt was extraordinary. Typically when faced with such questions on the spot I stutter and hesitate, replying with “I’ll get back to you.” Fortunately for the flow of our conversation, I had been prompted to evaluate my “personal template” for a class recently. The exercise forced me to look at the motivations in my past that have influenced the choices that I have made, with a specific mind for my path into journalism.

One of the readings that we did for this class was a letter from reporter David Halberstam to his daughter, published in Parade Magazine in 1982. Halberstam was one of the primary New York Times reporters during the Vietnam War, and within this letter to his then 2-year old daughter he writes of a feeling of homecoming he experienced when he landed in Saigon as a foreign correspondent.

I remember it as if it were yesterday, the ride in from Tan Son Nhut Airport, driving through the semi-rural outskirts of Saigon, sensing the rare combination of energy and beauty, yet aware as well of the dark shadow over the land, for there were already troops everywhere. Never as in that moment had life seemed so real to me, never had I felt so connected to a particular moment; it was as if, and I know this will sound odd and possibly arrogant to you, I had finally arrived at the place where I was always destined to go.

We were asked in class whether or not we had experienced a moment that resonated with us as this moment did for Halberstam. My first instinct was that I hadn’t, and the ensuing spiral of self-doubt that I was actually pursuing my passions was troubling. However, once I cleared my head and sat down to write on the formative experiences in my life, things started to stand out in my personal timeline. One of those moments occurred last November, in the late hours of the night that Barack Obama was elected president.

I was working on a semester-long photo and audio project on the election, and I found myself in a cluster of celebrants in the streets of downtown Austin, holding my audio recorder aloft in one hand while I shot feverishly with the other. The people around me started reciting the pledge of allegiance, and as I took part in a ritual I hadn’t performed since high school, I realized that I felt the weight of its words as never before. I was surrounded by democratic supporters, many of whom had been disillusioned with the previous administration, who were actively and publicly participating in an overtly patriotic ritual. The significance of the moment as I joined in with my own voice reminded me why I was still in school, working on a masters degree in photojournalism.

Behind the Scenes

2009-09-23T00:01:00.006-05:00

For Charleston Magazine this summer I was asked a handful of times to shoot behind the scenes for various large-scale shoots, and those assignments were the closest thing to journalism that I did for them. I got to ease back into just recording the moments and catching the candid shots, as in the last photo. Things didn't all need to be in focus (as they did say, when I was shooting a pair of shoes) and I could have a little fun with it. This was a wedding fashion shoot for the winter issue of Charleston Weddings and it was on location at Drayton Hall, a place I visited later to take these shots.

"102 Minutes That Changed America" (2008)

2009-09-15T20:33:00.024-05:00

Last Friday, on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, I watched an unconventional documentary on the History Channel entitled "102 Minutes That Changed America." The film was constructed in real time as the events of that morning unfolded, and was broadcast without commercials. The film has no voiceover or formal interviews besides the voices of people filming or short on-camera conversations, no structure beyond the occasional punctuating timestamp, and only the subtlest underlying musical score. What was most intriguing about the film, however, was that the video footage was entirely drawn from normal people who picked up their cameras that morning in various points throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and even New Jersey.

In my classes we are constantly talking about the nature of journalism and the state of the industry, which leads ultimately to discussions about the rise of blogging, and the increasingly interactive role of the non-journalist. In these discussions, “citizen journalism” has become a buzzphrase for an element of this new technological world of ours that signals a drastic transformation of professional reporting, if not its death. News consumers are increasingly turning to free, easy forms of information that more easily adapted to their fast-paced, blackberry-toting lives, while printed news slowly (and in some cases, quickly) fades from recent memory. Bloggers, twitterers and aggregate news websites that link out to articles are becoming more prevalent avenues through which people are learning about their world. It’s typically a grim picture for a journalism student to be told that they are become more and more irrelevant.

However, this piece from the History Channel highlights the positive aspects of relying on citizen journalism, as well as provides a reaffirmation of the continuing need for media professionals. Many of us have argued that without trained journalists, the quality of news gathering may suffer and the handheld footage for “102 Minutes That Changed America,” collected by people on the streets as the buildings were hit and as they came tumbling down, is by no means perfect. However, put into the hands of capable editors who were able to sequence the footage chronologically and make choices about which footage to cut to at key moments (the striking of the second plane, the collapsing of the first building) creates a strong picture of the chaos, the terror, and the sadness. Without these multiple perspectives, the only vestiges of that morning may have been mainstream media coverage, by reporters who were often unable to get close enough as things happened so rapidly. As it was, there were cameras of all kinds trained on lower Manhattan that morning, capturing what happened from a hundred angles.

The documentary is also notable for its almost complete lack of dramatic restructuring. In my reading for one of my classes this week, writer J. Herbert Altschull (in From Milton to McLuhan) states the following:

"What purports to be reality in the newspapers and on radio and television is inevitably a reconstruction of reality to fit the needs and requirements of journalism. A story rarely starts with a 'lead' that begins at the beginning of the event. Events are reorganized so that the most important (that is, the most important in the judgment of the writer) comes first. Journalists who seek to make their stories interesting by pulling out for the lead the most dramatic aspect of an event are inevitably distorting reality, for reality is always neutral."

This film is the exact opposite of this critique, and tries to approximate the reality of September 11, 2001 for the citizens of New York City who experienced the attacks firsthand. It was highly worth watching for me, not only for its unconventional documentary structure, but also to better understand the events that took place when I was only sixteen years old, at around 6 AM when I was living in California.

Charleston Mag: "Dining Verde"

2009-09-14T00:23:00.007-05:00

I shot a story for Charleston Magazine about a restaurant called Taco Boy that was making an active effort to go green. Karalee Nielsen (pictured above) and her co-owner had salvaged all kinds of things for the restaurant, including most of the tables and chairs, glass for the stained glass windows, and tin cans which were used to make the lanterns in the last picture. It was a great exercise in interiors as well as detail shooting. Check out the story and an extra photo gallery here. (FYI the early construction photos in the web gallery are not mine despite their lack of a differentiating photo credit)

Tomato, tomato (...that doesn't really work in print)

2009-09-01T23:38:00.004-05:00

This summer I was an art intern for Charleston Magazine, and I got the opportunity to shoot for editorial articles, like this one on a local Charleston chef, Kevin Johnson. The theme for the September issue of the magazine in which this was published was "luxury," but in this economic climate the term was applied in several ways to the luxury of the everyday. In this case, the locally grown tomato.

Chef Johnson prepared a (delicious) BELT sandwich (check out the story and the recipe here) as well as an equally delicious caprese salad. At any rate, it was excellent practice with food photography, and with the great natural lighting and the chef's proposal that we cover a table with all kinds of tomatoes, it was genuinely fun.

thoughts on my readings

2009-09-01T00:38:00.005-05:00

The reading for my course "Reporting the World" started off with introductory articles and chapters about the practice of journalism itself, what motivates the doers and what (if anything) makes the industry necessary to society. I was reminded of this excerpt from the "The Ethics of Belief," an essay by nineteenth century philosopher and mathematician W.K. Clifford:

"Men speak the truth to one another when each reveres the truth in his own mind and in the other's mind; but how shall my friend revere the truth in my mind when I myself am careless about it, when I believe things because I want to believe them, and because they are comforting and pleasant? Will he not learn to cry, 'Peace,' to me, when there is no peace? By such a course I shall surround myself with a thick atmosphere of falsehood and fraud, and in that I must live. It may matter little to me, in my cloud-castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive."

I first read this essay for an introductory philosophy class my first year of college, and at the time I was immediately struck by the logic that lays the responsibility of truth on the shoulders of all people, citing careless ignorance as a disservice to society. In this respect I see the relationship of the thought to journalism, as a validation of the practice as necessary to a self-governing citizenry.

The journalistic pursuit is often expressed as an ideal search for truth that will engender democracy. However, the recent failings of newspapers and other media companies have thrown a pall over the industry, and myself and others currently studying journalism wonder if there will be a place for us in its future. While print news outlets are struggling commercially, there are those critics out there that argue for government subsidies of the fourth estate, as in this article from The Nation back in March, "The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers" by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney.

To quote: "The economic collapse and Internet have greatly accentuated and accelerated a process that can be traced back to the 1970s, when corporate ownership and consolidation of newspapers took off. It was then that managers began to balance their books and to satisfy the demand from investors for ever-increasing returns by cutting journalists and shutting news bureaus." (p 2)

And then later: "The old corporate media system choked on its own excess. We should not seek to restore or re-create it. We have to move forward to a system that creates a journalism far superior to that of the recent past. We can do exactly that--but only if we recognize and embrace the necessity of government intervention. Only government can implement policies and subsidies to provide an institutional framework for quality journalism." (p 2)

The article argues that the "impartiality" that has so long been understood as journalistic independence from government influence has suffered under corporate dominance in an equally disturbing way. The solutions put forth in the article end up being comprehensive, albeit expensive: a projected $60 billion over three years on government-sponsored programs to encourage consumer tax credits for money spent on newspapers as well as promote heightened journalism education at all levels.

Rationalization for the whole plan, and the industry in general, hinges on the argument that a free press is necessary to an informed populace, and thus to self-governance. What else besides a strong argument that journalism is necessary to the function of democracy could possibly entice a new administration to dive into legislation that would subsidize its production? If a widespread press were to dwindle to a handful of freelancers working for pennies and citizen journalism, where would that leave society? As W.K. Clifford puts it, "it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive." So should it matter much to our government if the state of our national press is doing a similar disservice to its populace?

You shoot with what you've got

2009-08-11T16:40:00.003-05:00

And what I had was just a camera phone. Driving on the border between storm and not-storm in Charleston, SC.

Details at Drayton Hall

2009-07-31T20:47:00.005-05:00

Check out the house

a leftover from Austin

2009-06-16T16:59:00.008-05:00

From the end-of-the-year video installations at the Comm College at UT

duotones in Charleston

2009-06-13T19:17:00.002-05:00

Playing around a bit. Duotoned with Pantone 475C for that warm old photograph look. Seemed appropriate.

rang like thunder

2009-06-11T21:26:00.004-05:00

An amazing storm rolled into Charleston, SC.

Esquina Tango final slideshow

2009-06-08T20:03:00.003-05:00

Esquina Tango, a Latin American dance studio and nonprofit organization in East Austin

boom bam flash

2009-05-02T19:42:00.003-05:00

I'm working on a flash package for my multimedia class with content I produced (photo, audio, video) at the Annual Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans. Here is a sample of the work I've been doing. The first is a screenshot of the opening page (the multitude of beads I received without even trying), the second is one of my better photographs from the day, and the third is a map I've been working on in Illustrator (I am going to ATTEMPT to animate the parade route... we'll see how that goes).

the book

2009-05-02T14:14:00.005-05:00

I spent a ton of time this past month working on a guidebook layout for my design class. The information came from a boring text document provided to students headed to Prague for study abroad, and we were handed the task of making it more accessible and attractive. We were given pretty loose guidelines for book construction, so the results were widely varied in materials and size. I chose to keep the layout as accessible as possible, and experimented with Japanese bookbinding (with the help of this book) for the construction. The photos are from previous attendees of this study abroad program, though I don't have any names to provide credit to. I also promise I did a better job on the stitching for the copy that is actually going to Prague (this was the first go!).

who // what // where

2009-04-28T19:10:00.005-05:00

The UT Student Chapter of the NPPA, or the Texas Student Photographers Association as we have dubbed ourselves, is putting on a show in a little over two weeks! All are welcome to come, and there will be free drinks and food too :)

Also, I designed the postcard!

Alphabetz

2009-04-28T11:03:00.006-05:00

I've not been good about updating with what I'm working on this semester, but I have been busy. I'm currently working on two different multimedia packages for two different classes due in two subsequent days next week. For my documentary traditions in Latin America class, I'm putting together an audio slideshow on Esquina Tango, a Latin American dance studio in East Austin. For my multimedia journalism class, I'm assembling a photo/audio/video extravaganza flash package for the web on the Annual Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans, which I photographed when I was there over Easter weekend. Lots of computer time to look forward to in the next week.

In other news, here's a project I completed at the beginning of the semester for my design class. It's a pictorial alphabet based on images I took in and around my car.

click to see it bigger!

more swirly twirly tango time

2009-04-06T20:21:00.003-05:00

they're all pretty blurtastic, but fun i think

Esquina Tango

2009-04-02T08:38:00.006-05:00

Esquina Tango, a Latin American dance studio in East Austin

three old images

2009-04-01T14:47:00.003-05:00

just noticed the resonance among these photographs

Kite Day in Austin

2009-03-09T22:10:00.002-05:00

Finally online

2009-02-01T20:20:00.001-06:00

Home Room from Jenn Hair on Vimeo.

The second edit of the doc video I made last Spring.

Inauguration: the day before

2009-01-27T14:23:00.003-06:00

found: experiments in portraiture

2009-01-27T14:11:00.007-06:00

Alice

Richie

Inauguration: The Metro Crush

2009-01-24T11:15:00.004-06:00

a two-hour train ride into the city on the morning of the inauguration

the fog rolls in

2009-01-01T22:30:00.003-06:00

my semester in a nutshell

2008-12-04T19:42:00.003-06:00

Obamanomenon: The Texas Democrat from Jenn Hair on Vimeo.

Here's the link if you want to view it all big and nice

the pledge of allegiance

2008-11-17T16:34:00.002-06:00

Election Night in Austin

Election Night in downtown Austin

2008-11-05T16:56:00.003-06:00

a day trip to georgetown, tx

2008-11-02T23:22:00.003-06:00

with my friend Thibaud

Obama Mama Family Picnic

2008-10-10T19:44:00.001-05:00

Austin mamas for Obama

debate #1 watch party

2008-10-08T16:28:00.004-05:00

Watching the debate in a local barbershop, Texas Sport Cuts

more democratic headquarters

2008-10-08T16:26:00.002-05:00

Travis Country Dem Party Headquarters

2008-10-08T16:19:00.005-05:00

college self-portrait time

2008-10-01T01:11:00.004-05:00

again, the autobio has me digging through old images. thought I'd post some here.

back in the day

2008-09-29T00:46:00.005-05:00

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Kathryn

Libby at the Tea Bazaar

Sarah out on the quad

the hometown.

An autobiography photography project has led me to dig up some of those old high school and early college photos.

Screenprinting for Obama

2008-09-25T17:25:00.004-05:00

haunted house info session

2008-09-14T16:50:00.004-05:00

fake body parts are kind of amazing

Batfest

2008-09-03T14:51:00.004-05:00

Some color slide film shots from Austin's Batfest this past weekend.

roommates

2008-09-01T23:50:00.004-05:00

A little b&w 35 mm action at the 618 house.

Independence Day

2008-08-20T10:19:00.003-05:00

I haven't done much this summer, but I can't pass up good fireworks.

my (old) house and my dog (get excited)

2008-08-20T10:11:00.005-05:00

this is Annie

she never got to go into this room before we moved out

my old room

blank slate after 18 years

various unblogged-about images

2008-05-01T13:33:00.005-05:00

Cliff and Erin

James

Joe

Alice

These are some of the images that made it into my location lighting class portfolio. The first two are from my ill-fated (only because I'm physically inept) roller skating birthday party and the second two are portraits taken at my house with studio lights. I've taken so many pictures of Joe and Alice this semester that my professor suggested I put together a book. And I probably have enough images to do so...

Bay 6 Gallery opening

2008-04-22T20:49:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Audrey I was encouraged to play around with my flash and some remote triggers, trying to light this band, Mediums, playing at night. The last picture of Elizabeth of course was just a fluke of exposure.
Almost done with my documentary video!

Saturday night

2008-04-17T01:19:00.004-05:00

Alice, Joe

Brad

Alice, Joe

Reno

I'm not sure you should ever take graduate photojournalism students to a party. That usually leads to you being the subject of that week's lighting class assignment.

my latest gimmick

2008-04-02T23:11:00.003-05:00

More from the cracker box snoot, stoned wheat thins style.

film stills from doc video

2008-03-31T20:13:00.006-05:00

Some film stills from the documentary video I've been working on about homeschooling.
Could these kids be more photogenic?

I put these up because it's what I've been spending most of my time on.

San Antonio

2008-03-24T15:21:00.006-05:00

Walking to the Alamo

Market Square

Products of a day trip to San Antonio this weekend. I'm supposed to be shooting hard/soft lighting in the same image for class this week- this is all natural light but some of the images incorporate both, with some people in the shade and others in the bright sunlight.

some spring break portraits

2008-03-18T15:02:00.005-05:00

Jess & Brian

Priscilla

Mike, Keevil

Tori

Derek

I went back to Virginia, New York and Philly for Spring Break and had an absolutely fabulous time. I also used my birthday present flash to take these pictures, some of which I'm showing in class as examples of shooting "against the light" and adding light to shadow areas in the daytime.

some other things I do in grad school.

2008-03-11T21:04:00.007-05:00

a "go green" grocery bag design

A CD cover redesign for The Shins "Oh, Inverted World"

A photo spread layout design, with pictures from our class trip to New Orleans.

my roommate and some children

2008-02-27T01:46:00.006-06:00

Currently filling out numbers 21-24 of my summer internship applications.

Obama Rally

2008-02-26T12:42:00.004-06:00

I couldn't go to the debate, and I got to the Obama rally too late to have any chance of getting in. SOOO.. here are some crowd shots from the side of event, where I was constantly blinded (as well as aided in exposure) by the night-into-day lights set up to put Obama on TV.

for lighting class

2008-02-25T18:26:00.007-06:00

experimentation with lights, instruments and hats.first two were with a softbox white lightning.

last two were with on-camera flash made into an angular spotlight with a snoot made out of a cracker box.

new blog

2008-02-22T00:21:00.009-06:00

Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, 4x5 pinhole negative

New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village.