Portraits of Jonathan Colon & Perry Aston.
Greg Biondo Portraits
It was nice to be back in the studio. Thank you Greg for posing! :)
CORE 4 with Lynn Johnson
At Newhouse, students have the opportunity to take a summer class with National Geographic photographer Lynn Johnson called "CORE." During the class, we have conversations about the industry that we haven't really talked about before. Some of the conversations include (1) removing the "labels" between photojournalism, photo illustration, fashion, portraiture, art photography, etc. and blurring the lines, (2) balancing personal life and work life, (3) how to tell real emotional stories without getting emotionally invested (since journalists are supposed to remain "objective," and how being objective doesn't exist,) (4) being a woman in the profession, and many other questions that a lot of visual communicators are beginning to address.
(l-r) Xiang Wei, Sam Maller, Shira Stoll, Melissa Scott, Viola Wan, Martha Swann, Jasmine Purdie, Vi Nguyen, Kathy Hua, Sophia Little, Xixi Zhou, Elizabeth Krist, Lynn Johnson. Photo by Allie Hootnick.
The class is designed to help us work on a summer-long project (ideally our Master's Thesis project), in which we plan our projects during the 10 days before the summer with her, communicate with her all summer while we're off shooting, and then meet up with her for the last 10 days of summer to show her work and discuss what we learned. We also have daily photo assignments during the first 10 days.
Our first assignment was to photograph an abstraction of light. This was in order to remove the stigma of those labels, blur the lines, and to get back to the basics of photography, which is light. These were my 3 photos:
The second assignment was to take lyrical portraits of strangers:
Our third assignment was to photograph the Multimedia Immersion Workshop as a class in order to get a full-coverage of the event. We each had our own task which was outside of our comfort zone. For example, people who usually shoot eye level, had to shoot high or low, people who normally shoot tight shoot wide, people who normally have very structured compositions had to shoot with their eyes closed, etc.
The Multimedia workshop, while extremely intense for the participants, was not the most intriguing location to photograph. There was minimal "good light," as we were in an auditorium on the 1st floor of Newhouse, and everyone was sitting at a computer editing their videos. So, the challenge was to shoot for 2 hours in this space where not a lot was going on and we had to shoot in a way that we don't normally shoot. Lynn told me that I usually shoot wide and have a lot going on in my frame, so she challenged me to shoot only "tight faces" with a 70-200, which is my least favorite lens, by the way. This was definitely a challenge for me because there was minimal light that I could use and I was only taking one type of photograph. I found myself just waiting and looking for little pools of light that would come in from the window to hit someone's face.
Here are 6/20 of the images I handed in:
At the end, we put together a final video for the participants of all the photographs that we took:
The fourth assignment was to tell a story in 2 hours and we could only take 32 frames (as if it were taken on one roll of film). We couldn't delete anything and the photos had to be taken IN ORDER of the story that we wanted to tell.
My story was about overcoming a dark time and trying to move forward. The photos literally move from darkness to light, but the subject matter/use of light were meant to hint at undertones of a person struggling with a broken heart and moving towards letting go of what hurt them. It starts and ends with a window, insinuating a new day in both the first picture and the last.
The truth is that shooting this story in order was probably the hardest part. I really had to think about it, and sometimes the photo wasn't exactly what I wanted & I had to move on rather than wait again for the right moment. For this slideshow of images from the story, I cut it down to 24 frames in order to make the story more clear/I took out some of my less-successful frames.
We all were standing in the Multimedia, Photography, and Design Stele Center at Newhouse talking about our projects when Lynn told us to get a giant piece of paper and write down the first 20 words, collectively as a group, we could think of. We shouted them out as someone wrote them down. Once we had all 20 down, she said "ok. now go out and shoot. I'll see you tomorrow." That was at 7 PM and we had to shoot a good, lyrical frame of each of these 20 words by 9 AM the next morning. It was extremely challenging; especially because the main point of all of these assignments were to think less-literally and to really capture the essence of the words. Let's just say, none of us slept that night. BUT - it was amazing. It allowed me to really think hard about photography and how to get through tough assignments. I was researching, brainstorming, looking, and shooting all night. In the end though, while not all of the frames were exactly what I wanted due to the time constraint, I learned something from each experience and I came away with many that I was really proud of. Here are 15/20 of the words:
"Power and Control" was the final assignment. We had to find a stranger and take a photo of them that was observed and photo of them that was constructed. The "power and control" name comes from being in control of the photograph vs. being completely observant and not in control of the photograph. It was a good exercise in learning how to communicate with people and also how to understand when it's ok to be in control and when I need to step back and observe a situation. I photographed Bradley Burman, who was putting in hardwood floors in the Park Point Syracuse apartment building during their summer construction period.
Overall, it was an inspiring, informative, and wonderful 10 days where we not only had great conversations and planned our summers, but we also took a yoga class every morning with Jennifer Masters. This allowed us to really think about syncing our mind, body, and breath. Doing yoga (phoga, or photo-yoga) every morning at 9 AM changed the way that I work and the way that I am. It allowed me to be much more present, alert, patient, and relaxed.
It was a great start to a wonderful summer and I'm excited to see how everyone's projects develop throughout these next few months.
Core 4. Photo by Lynn Johnson
NKLA Super Adoption
On June 4 & 5, NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles) had a Super Adoption event in which numerous volunteers from animal shelters came together in Griffith Park for people to adopt dogs and cats. NKLA is an initiative led by Best Friends Animal Society, to turn Los Angeles into a no-kill city by the year 2017.
According to the Best Friends Animal Society Facebook Page, 520 homeless dogs and cats (plus 5 bunnies) were adopted.
Maleatra Montanez Portrait
"She'd called the police to report her teenage daughter missing and hours later Maleatra Montanez was being compelled by the responding officer to have sex with him in her living room." (New York Daily News)
On May 14, 2016, I photographed Maleatra Montanez for the New York Daily News. Here are the selects from the portraits that I took of her:
The Present
A very wise man told me something yesterday which changed my life forever, and I'm going to share it with you because I think everyone deserves to hear this:
Your body can physically only exist in the present. YOU can only exist in the present. Your mind can be somewhere in the past or the future, but all you physically have is now.
You might be thinking: "Yeah, duh, everyone knows that. People always talk about 'living in the moment,' and obviously you can only exist right now." But have you ever been somewhere where you were physically present and your mind was somewhere completely different? I'm sure you have. We all have. Think back to a class, a conversation, or any moment in time when you physically were standing in a place but you were daydreaming about something else. It was probably a moment when you were bored or you had so much on your mind that you forgot to pay attention. But what if you had been present? You wouldn't have missed what your friend was saying, or you wouldn't be behind in that class. You would have been there, both physically and mentally.
Think about it. Think about how productive your day would be if you stopped thinking about all of the things you had to do, but if you actually just focused your mind on one of those things. Today, I have to write a blog post, create a video, and send photos to a client; but for just this moment in time, I'm writing my blog post. I have so many other things going on, but right now, I'm not done writing this post, so I'm not going to think about anything but this exact moment that I'm living in. I'm just going to write.
I have been living in the future. I'm guilty of it. All I had been thinking about was my next move and I forgot to live in the now. I wasn't productive because I so was caught up in my to-do lists, that I never actually did anything on the lists. I pushed them aside because I was so overwhelmed by my work load. I never thought about what I should be doing now, I would just think about all of the things that needed to get done, and nothing would get done. When I was in class, I thought about the projects I needed to complete. When I was talking to someone, I was thinking about when I could leave the conversation so I could go do the next thing. I wasn't present. I was anywhere but present, and believe it or not, I wasn't productive and I wasn't happy. I was always on the go, always onto the next one, and I wasn't really living. I was just existing.
I find this advice to be specifically useful when you're extremely stressed. It's easy to think about all of the things you need to do, and it's easy to complain about them. But stop yourself and just think: what am I doing right now and what could I be doing right now? Who cares about what you need to get done or what you have done or haven't done. What are you doing right now? And do it. Focus on it. Cherish it, and you will be productive and you will be happy. I guarantee it.
So thank you, to this very wise man, because you have changed the way I live my life. In one conversation, you have switched my gears in an entirely different direction. This second, I'm writing this letter and thinking this thought, and that's all that matters.
The "Me Time"
So, here we are. It's a month and a day into the new year, a few weeks into a new semester, a few hours into a new morning, and we're already stressing.
You received those rejection letters from all of the internships and grants you applied to and spent hours working on. You're swamped with homework, or you're switching jobs. Maybe you're moving to a new state, or a new country. Whatever the situation is, it's stressful.
As a graduate student who is working 3 jobs and trying to also tell 3 stories, I get you. I received some of those rejected letters, I'm swamped with all the work you can imagine, and I just took on another job.
I especially felt the stress last semester. I was constantly doing that workaholic thing I do where I don't make time for myself and I just run around trying to get everything done and make everyone happy. Instead of going to the party on Saturday night and having a few drinks, I volunteered myself as the designated driver so that after I drove everyone home, I could continue editing whichever video I was working on. I would listen to music, but only when I got ready in the morning or walked to class. I wouldn't even let myself get through one episode of New Girl on Netflix because while I was in the middle of watching, I would feel this guilt come over me which whispered in my ear "you should be doing homework." I didn't go to the gym because I felt that instead of 30 minutes on the elliptical, I could spend 30 extra minutes on the paper I had due the next day. Yeah, it was bad. I drove myself crazy. I was so busy, I barely even let myself sleep, let alone have time for myself.
Winter break was good for me. I needed time to travel, be with my family, watch some Netflix, and clear my head. It also made me realize that I was crazy for taking on so many tasks and for not letting myself have any fun outside of work. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was totally having fun. I love what I do. I can't imagine myself doing anything else, but what I didn't realize was I had to do other things once in awhile too. We all need a change of pace to keep our minds creative.
So, here we are. It's a month and a day into the new year, a few weeks into the new semester, a few hours into a new morning, and we're already stressing. However, this semester I'm trying something new, and for those of you who are also feeling this stress, I invite you to join me on this.
My roommate and I created a list of "Semester Goals." Similar to a New Year's Resolution (although not really similar since those resolutions never seem to actually happen), it's a list of things we're going to do for ourselves that is going to keep us healthier both physically and mentally. My semester goals include: more play and less work, using the elliptical just 3x a week for 30 minutes, especially in times of stress, cooking more and eating less chocolate. They're simple, and not hard to accomplish, but so far they've made me so much happier.
You need time for yourself. Everyone needs a little "me time." Maybe that means working on personal projects, or maybe that means taking a nap. I realized that I needed time when I wasn't photographing or editing. I needed time to have a drink with my friends on Saturday night after a long week of working 3 jobs, telling 3 stories, and taking Graduate level classes. I needed time to binge watch Parks and Rec on a Wednesday night after working from 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM straight. I needed time to go to the gym to clear my mind and exercise.
So, whatever stressful situation this new year has brought upon you, make sure you make time for you.
Snowy Portraits II
Say hello to Chase Guttman! This awesome dude right here has been teaching me all about drones. He's extremely fun to hang out with... especially when he's singing along to the songs on the radio, or making jokes about how young he looks. He's only 19, but is already an accomplished travel photographer. Today we went out to fly and also had a little fun in the snow.
First, Chase was my model for my 1st-ever drone photographs. Seen here:
And then we decided to have a spontaneous shoot in the snow:
Snowy Portraits
I've been back at school for a total of 6 days now, and it's been snowing for 5 of those days. So, I decided that in order to show how much we in Syracuse love the snow (and by love, I mean hate, but force ourselves to love it), I decided to create a portrait series of my friends enjoying the winter.
Say hello to Melissa Scott. She's known on campus for the amount of coffee she drinks. She just recently cut down her coffee consumption from 7 cups a day to 3, which is a huge deal. There's nothing this girl loves more in life than a nice, hot cup of coffee... and who could blame her? In grad school, I'd say we all need about 7 cups a day.
Here's the lovely Melissa Scott from today's photoshoot:
Piranha Fishing on the Amazon River
The Amazon rainforest travels through numerous countries in South America including Peru, Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. There are approximately 3,000 fresh water fish living in the river, including the piranha.
Movies have created the myth that piranhas eat humans. However, the diet of a piranha usually consists of insects, small fish, plant materials, and decaying animals and fish. Some piranhas are even vegetarians.
Corey Axelowitz catching a Piranha.
Jesse Axelowitz, Ryan Axelowitz, Jason Stoll, Corey Axelowitz, Nico Frost, and Juan Carlos look over as the people on the second fishing boat catch piranhas in the Amazon River
Many local indigenous communities fish for piranhas and use their teeth as cutting tools, sell the piranha teeth and/or bodies as tourist gifts, or sometimes eat them.
Sources used:
• All Photos: © Shira Stoll
• Juan Carlos, Zafiro Amazon Riverboat Cruse, Dec. 26, 2015.
• Smithsonian Magazine: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-piranhas-180951948/?no-ist
Captivating Cusco
For the past few days, I've been exploring the beautiful city of Cusco in Peru, which was once the capital of the Incan Empire. I've mostly been drawn to the Incan history, gorgeous views, and incredible architecture. Through these in-camera multiple exposures, I wanted to show the beauty of this city and the chaos in the marketplace during Christmas time, which is the peak time for tourism. Catholicism is also the main religion of Cusco and a huge part of the culture, so in almost every single one of these images, there is a Catholic reference (Jesus Christ, Cathedrals, etc.)
Many of these were taken today at a Christmas celebration in the main square, Plaza del Armas, which closed its roads for the next few days to open an enormous Christmas market and have many performances from musicians and children.
Sky Chasing
I've recently been obsessed with chasing the sky at beautiful times of day. I really can't explain it, but it's the only thing I've wanted to photograph/film for the past two weeks. I think it's just one of those things where I've been so caught up with finals, that the sky seems so peaceful and relaxing. I've never been one to want to wake up at sunrise, but for some reason I found myself awake at 5 AM almost every morning aching to go out and shoot.
It's funny, because during my first photo class ever, my teacher told me to never photograph the sunset. "The sunset," he would say, "is a cliché thing to photograph, so just don't do it." So, I told myself I would never photograph the sunset. Here I am, however many years later, finding myself just wanting to photograph the gorgeous sky. To get myself over this statement, I told myself that the sunrise was different from the sunset, so therefore it was not cliché. Then, I realized I just wanted to photograph the sky regardless of it being "cliché" or not.
Skyworks first post!
My first blog post on the Skyworks website is up. Be sure to check it out!
http://skyworksproject.com/this-weekend-at-skyworks-dec-11-12-2015/
Skyworks Project
I'm really excited to announce that I'm one of the newest member of Skyworks Project , which is basically a group of (really awesome) students who are extremely passionate about drone technology. I've been photographing what they do, learning all about drones, as well as writing posts for their website.
Here are a few frames I made this weekend for them! The first two are in-camera double exposures.
4 Amigos and Michael Newler
Yesterday was an incredible day. Newhouse worked extremely hard to put on this amazing event of the 4 amigos: Seth Resnick, Stephen Wilkes, Clint Clemens, and Eric Meola. It was an entire day of critiques, talks, Q&A sessions, and having the opportunity to meet some really talented people in the industry.
I made a new friend, Michael Newler, who is the founder of the Canon Explorers of Light. At about 11:30 PM at the reception, he called me over to talk and the next thing I knew it was 4:30 AM and we were still chatting about photography. I learned so much more about myself, math, and photography in that 5 hour conversation. Thank you so much Michael for your words and time. It was an honor to meet you and hear all about your life long incredible journey.
I also had the opportunity to not only listen to Seth Resnick, Stephen Wilkes, Clint Clemens, and Eric Meola speak, but to share my work with them as well during a critique session in Mike Davis's class. It was really great to have them give feedback and advice on how to move forward on our 'bodies of work in progress.'
RECAP: Some words of advice from our guest speakers:
Clint Clemens:
•Photography is problem solving
•You can't just photograph one thing. You need multiple things to happen in your life
•Advertising is about telling a story in one picture
•If you shoot with a telephoto lens, you're an observer, and if you shoot with a wide angle lens, you're a participant
•Invest in yourself and take small chances
•Focus on and do what you love
•Learn something new every day; you're always a student
•Embrace technology and change
•Your greatest teacher is failure
Seth Resnick:
•Find your MUSE
•Come up with a written vision statement for yourself
•Keyword images and keyword yourself: see which images that you take also have you in them
•We're only as good as our last picture
•Take breaks. Your mind needs them
•Write down why you love places
•He started photographing his thoughts that he would write down in the morning
•Great quote by Imogen Cunningham: "Which is my favorite photo? The one I'll take tomorrow"
Eric Meola:
•"What is a photographer?" - He collects quotes about this to try to define what being a photographer means
•If you're "freelance" - you're unemployed
•Stop always looking down at your cellphone. "You want to look out and dream, not look at the little thing in your hand"
•Make a statement: This is who I am and this is what I do
•Everything is out there happening every day, but we are not out there everyday, and so we don't see everything
•Sometimes you just start photographing things and you're not sure where they're going to go
•What's the story?
Stephen Wilkes:
•Work on a body of work
•Find a mentor
•Day to Night series -- he considers himself to be a "Street photographer 50 feet in the air."
•Don't show the work that you don't want to do
•Find a creative way to innovate yourself into the market
•Be your own rep for awhile
I'm so thankful to be able to attend a university that can make these kinds of events happen. Thank you, Newhouse, and all of the staff who made this event possible.
(Left to Right), Stephen Wilkes, Eric Meola, Gregory Heisler, Seth Resnick, Clint Clemens, being photographed by Mike Davis and JC Carey, as Dean Branham of Newhouse looks on.
Michael Newler & I.
One World Observatory
A few frames I took at the One World Observatory at One World Trade Center in New York City this weekend.
Thanksgiving Part II: The Dinner
I'm thankful for my family, friends, food, education, and health.
Here's a collection of images from my Thanksgiving celebration:
Thanksgiving Part I: The Macy's Day Parade
The Macy's Day Parade, New York City, NY. Happy Thanksgiving!
Photo credit: My Dad, Sandy Stoll.
Some days are just about experience and having fun. Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks and enjoying spending time with family.
This morning, my parents and I walked over to watch the Macy's Day Parade. I had never seen it live before because usually I'm traveling during Thanksgiving time, so it was fun actually seeing it in person. We mainly watched it from afar - we were standing around 33rd and Broadway and then later walked to West 35th and 8th to greet those who had just walked in the parade.
I knew I wanted to get a few frames, just for fun from today, but it was such a funny experience trying to take a picture! Every time I was about to snap a photo, dad would pull me over to take a photo with someone in costume, or he would hand me his iPhone to take his picture. At first I was frustrated because I would wait for something to happen and just as the moment would happen, he would pull me away so I didn't get the shot. I realized though, that today wasn't about getting the shot. It wasn't about working hard to work a scene. It was about spending time with family and enjoying the experience. I'm just thankful to have had the opportunity to spend the day with my family.
Here are some photographs I took today (even with Dad pulling me away, haha).
Supporting the World
This past week, Syracuse University has shown its support for tragedies around the world. On November 14, 2015, the Hall of Languages building was lit with the colors of the French flag in order to commemorate those who were affected by the tragedy in Paris, France.
The Chancellor of SU, Kent Syverud, sent out an email on Saturday titled, "Our Thoughts are with Paris." On December 21, 1988, 270 people, including 35 Syracuse University students, were killed in a terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The email begins with describing how SU was changed forever after this day. He continues, "our hearts ache for our friends in France and for all the men, women, and children affected by yesterday's terrorist attacks. It's a feeling all too familiar for the Syracuse University community."
Last night, the Syracuse community gathered around the Wall of Remembrance for a candle vigil and moment of silence in support of Paris, Beirut, and the Russian airliner crash in Egypt. (An article and gallery of images, including some of mine, are featured on The Newshouse.)
I'm thankful to be a part of a community who can join together during hard times around the globe.
First Post & Drones
Here and there I've had little blogs about various things, but I realized it was time to have one universal home base. So, welcome to my official blog where I'll post some pictures, talk about life, and occasionally rant about my ideas or some really good food I just ate.
° ° °
Today I met some really awesome people who taught me all about drones. I spent a great amount of time talking to Arland Whitfield, a senior at Syracuse University, who is extremely passionate about drone technology. He's the founder of the Skyworks Project, which "aims to discover what is possible with drone technology, both technically and socially." (http://skyworksproject.com)
Also, a special thank you to Chase Guttman for teaching me how to fly them!
