One of the tasks for my photo journalism course is to write a blog post about our weekly assignments. So about this time every week until the end of the quarter I’ll be posting my latest projects here for your viewing pleasure.
This week we were supposed to go off campus and ask people “What is your hope for 2015?”
I’m not a naturally outgoing person, an inherent flaw for a journalist, I know, I’m working on it. But that made this assignment slightly terrifying because I don’t really feel that I have the right to interrupt other people’s personal time with demands for my homework assignments.
Unfortunately, that mindset is a good way to fail journalism classes, so I gritted my teeth and took the plunge.
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Daniel Drevitch, 25, stands inside of Mallard’s where he works, Jan. 13, 2015, Bellingham Wash. “I hope the New Year brings more overcomeable challenges.” Drevitch said.
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Daniel was my first compliant victim. There was a crazy old man right before this who talked a lot about random topics and refused to have his picture taken, but he doesn’t count.
Daniel was working the counter on a slow afternoon in Mallard’s. I was so focused on not being nervous that I didn’t really pay attention to composition. If I hand been thinking, I would have had him face the store windows to eliminate the back lighting. As it is there are funny shadows and highlights on his face. Oh well, live and learn.
I enjoyed talking to him though. He first said he wanted 2015 to bring more challenges. After thinking for a second, he rephrased it as overcomeable challenges, things which add spice and flavor to the year but which wouldn’t drag on into never ending frustrations. I completely understand the sentiment.
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Rachel Conley, 25, explains about the art for a video game she and her husband are producing, Jan. 13, 2015, Bellingham Wash. “I hope 2015 is really fun, exciting, and successful.” Conley said.
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One might think that after working with Daniel I would remember to steer clear of large store front windows. Sadly I was still too nervous to have “lived and learned” from my last mistake. Oh well, live longer, finally learn the original lesson.
I found Rachel as she was waiting to meet her husband in the Bagelry. They are working on producing a video game together: she’s doing the art and I assume he’s doing everything else, but she didn’t actually say. Her hope was full of anticipation for the oncoming year.
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The first person whose picture actually turned out was a woman named Laura. But, in accordance with my luck that day, she made me swear over and over that I wouldn’t publish her picture. She said her hope for the new year was that people would have a higher capacity for relationships and wouldn’t get so stuck in the things which don’t matter. My conclusion was that she was either an undercover CIA agent or a strongly anti internet person. Based on her hope for the new year it’s probably the latter, but you never know.
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Jonah Evans, 11, has simple expectations for the year ahead, Jan. 13, 2015, Bellingham Wash. “I hope that I get good grades in math.” Evans said. He says things are looking good so far and he intends to keep them that way.
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Jonah was great fun to work with. I found him with his dad in a Starbucks waiting for their drinks to be made. His dad declined but Johan was all over the idea of talking to a college student and getting his picture taken.
Normally I try to shoot horizontally for class projects but this time allowed myself to revert to vertical (which is really my favorite way to shoot). Vertical framing allowed me to capture more of his boy posture, the carton of chocolate milk and the jaunty lean against the counter, which says so much about his personality.
I wish I could stalk this kid as he grows up. He had a happy go lucky attitude with an edge that I couldn’t quite name. It was too innocent to be called “cocky” and too young to be called “dashing”. Whatever it was, it made me smile.
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Andrea Rachl, 38, takes a quick break from distributing flyers for her piano concert, Jan. 13, 2015, Bellingham Wash. “I hope it’s just a forgettable year.” Rachl said. After several years of momentous change in her life she hopes that 2015 will simply offer smooth sailing.
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I stopped Andrea as she was walking her bike down the sidewalk on Railroad St. She was the first person I actively interrupted, a big jump on my journalism confidence meter. I stopped her because I thought a bike rider would add good variety to my subjects. I couldn’t fit the bike in well with the kind of close shot I was going for but I think the helmet does enough to hint at it and bring the variety I was looking for.
Another worry was the that parking lot and transit center would make the background to busy. But with a narrow depth of field it actually worked really well. I think the cars and buildings add just enough texture without over powering Andrea’s face.
As I was getting her contact info we started talking about my studies up that the university. Although the prospects for art majors, actually most majors, are sometimes bleak and daunting she was really encouraging. “I’ve bought two different houses on a art major and I’m sure you can make it too,” she said. It was nice to hear an upbeat outlook from someone who knows the fears I am facing about the future after school.
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Loren White, 23, expresses his hopes not just for himself but for all of humanity, Jan. 13, 2015, Bellingham Wash. “My hope for the new year is that humans will give their true intuition a chance, and do what they know is best for themselves and for the common good. This would result in a growth of intellect, compassion, selflessness, and unity with all living things,” White said.
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My last subject was by far the most interesting interaction. I walked up to him in a record store and asked if he would be willing to answer some questions and get his picture taken. He was open to it but he wanted a few minutes to think about what he wanted to say. So he wandered off while I stood there trying to look neutral and in control of the situation by checking the quotes and photos I had so far.
When he finally came back he asked if he could write down his hope for the new year instead of telling me. I agreed and handed over my notepad. After another five minutes of writing his epistle to humanity he stood up and handed it back.
Then came time for the picture. I had purposefully chosen the record store because of its open layout which would give me a nice empty background for my photo. But as I raised my camera, Loren looked around and pointed to the flag hanging as a curtain in the back of the shop. “Could we take it in front of the flag?” he asked. I didn’t see any reason to say no so I went along with it. I actually really like the way it turned out. Looking back it was good call on his part because the rest of the store was made up of, yes, huge store front windows which would have ruined the shot and added a cruel irony to my last portrait of the day.
In class we are always told to be in control of the interview or the photograph, but in this instance letting my subject do the leading was the right call.
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And that’s how my first assignment as a photojournalist went.
Next week’s assignment is photographing two people in their “natural habitat”. I’ll post the best pictures, the funniest pictures, and the ones I wish I could go back and retake.
This is life now: people through a viewfinder, voices in a recording. It’s an exciting new world, I just hope I can make it.
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Kesia Lee
Photojournalist. Working my way across landscapes taking pictures and telling stories as I go. I'm basically living the #InstagramLife but in a more down-to-earth, secondhand shop, accidental vagabond manner.
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Kesia Lee 
