New work from my Karen refugee project

I spent a few hours today working on my project on Karen refugees. I couldn't have done it without the help of a member of the Karen community who took time out of his day to introduce me to families and translate for me for the time I was there. I'm not sure how cool he is about putting his name on my blog, so for now, he'll be anonymous. I will say he's been in the United States for almost three years and besides English, knows Burmese, Karen, and some Thai. He's a pretty impressive guy. That being said, I think I made some progress as far as getting a little deeper into the community. So far everyone has been great.

EK

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Karen refugees project begins

I started on a project today on the Karen refugee community where I hope to tell the story of their daily lives here in Houston. The Karen, to my knowledge, have been emigrating to the United States in large numbers since 2008 and are repressed by the government regime in Burma/Myanmar with genocide frequently used to describe their situation. The Karen, however, are a strong, resilient people who have been in active conflict with the Burmese military government since the end of World War II. I hope to find a number of stories in this community over the following weeks and months. It's so interesting to me what stories we can find in our own backyards.  

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http://vimeo.com/31701106

The tragedy of child brides

Last night, I had the opportunity during my visit here in DC to watch a discussion by Stephanie Sinclair about her work on child brides throughout the world. Her work was published in the June 2011 issue of National Geographic. Sinclair's first experience with child brides occurred during a visit to a burn ward in Herat, Afghanistan. She wondered why these young ladies were setting themselves on fire - one, a 15-year old who was married when she was nine, had broken her husband's television set and thought the consequences would be more severe than setting herself on fire. More than half at the burn ward were married underage. Sinclair wondered what issues led to this act, and her journey began. View Sinclair's photos here.

There are 50 countries in the world where child marriage is still practiced. There are many reasons child brides are wed. For instance, as in rural Yemen, it is a catch-22 situation. Girls can't go to school because there are no female teachers, but there are no female teachers because the girls are getting married before completing their education. Their education seems to come to a halt once they are married.

Sinclair said there needs to be more female teachers - education and empowerment and communities that change from the inside. Rules can't be forced on these communities. If a wedding is stopped by the authorities, it will only continue once they leave and the family will be disgraced for a generation.

Also, there is great cultural and practical pressure. For instance, if an unmarried woman is raped while working in a field before she is married, she is forever an outcast in her community. A girl's parents sometimes figure that having their daughter marry young will at least give her some respect and protection from this outcome. The weddings are also used as a way to connect families and to pay off debts.

I discovered that the issue of child brides is more complex than simply having authorities telling people to stop marrying their very young daughters. It will take education and an ability to incentivize communities to educate their daughters instead of marrying them off before they even have a childhood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYleXcpbzKY

New portraits

The last couple of months have been busy. I've started picking up assignments from the Houston Business Journal (hence the corporate portraits) and completed an assignment for one of my favorite clients, Columbia magazine, whose readership are members of the Knights of Columbus. I also had the opportunity to photograph Marcus Davis, the owner of The Breakfast Klub, a well-known and loved restaurant here in Houston. I'm headed up to Washington, DC next week and will be visiting with various editors to show my work and introduce myself. It'll be the first time I've spent an extended period of time there, never having made the requisite trip in middle school that seemed to be all the rage in the mid-1980's. Do kids still do that?

In other news, I've been busy revamping my digital asset management system. Not quite as exciting as making pictures so I won't bore you with the details. Needless to say, if you're a photographer, don't wait too long to get your files in order. Nothing hurts worse than the pain of a crashed hard drive with no backup.

Eric

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Scenes from the Suburbs - Day 2

Another set of photos from behind the scenes of the making of the Arcade Fire/Spike Jonze film "Scenes from the Suburbs" can be found on my website here.  

suburbs

"Scenes from the Suburbs" - Day 1

In April, 2010, I had the opportunity to shoot the behind the scenes still images for the Arcade Fire/Spike Jonze production of the short film "Scenes from the Suburbs." The movie, screen-written by Arcade Fire, illustrates themes explored in their Grammy-winning album of the year, "The Suburbs."  

For five days, I shot a mix of Illford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X film using two Nikon F5 cameras to shoot the images that eventually were included in a booklet released with the DVD of the movie. The grain you see in the film is a result of "pushing" the film three stops in some cases. It effectively raises the ISO (sensitivity) of the film. The trade off is increased grain in the film. For this assignment, it seems to work well.

100421_suburbs_KAYNE_0224

To view images from the first day of shooting, check out the link to my website here.

Artist Jordan Sullivan at Peel Gallery

I recently had the pleasure of photographing artist Jordan Sullivan at Peel Gallery for Gloss, a fashion and lifestyle publication produced by the Houston Chronicle. Sullivan was a little shy in front of the camera, but I think it's this sensitivity that is a part of what makes him a successful artist. [gallery orderby="rand"]

It's Not Like Work

I spent the last five days attending the 2011 Multimedia Immersion at Syracuse University. During the week-long program, we learned the basics of creating and producing a short video using Canon 5D Mark ii cameras and various microphones. The experience opened up a new world for me. Situations that traditionally might not make for a very good photo package of stills now have the potential to become rich narratives through the additional elements of sound and motion.

Our stories were chosen literally out of a box. I chose a character story about Ed Patterson. He owns and operates a custom golf store in Syracuse, New York. I thank him and all the great teachers and new friends I made at the workshop for making the experience so memorable.

http://vimeo.com/24430173

Surreal Arcade Fire moment

Last night, my wife and I watched Arcade Fire perform at the Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. The show was phenomenal and it was great to catch up with the band after the show. My most surreal moment, however, was seeing one of my images on a t-shirt in the merch tent! You can check it out here. The photo is from work I did for the band over a year ago. My choice of wardrobe for the next few weeks has been massively simplified!

April portraits

Hi folks,  

I have some portraits I made in the month of April, more or less, for your perusal. Thanks for looking and I hope you're enjoying the spring weather, especially in Houston.

Cheers,

Eric

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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

A few weeks ago, I had the honor to photograph Chitra Divakaruni for the Houston Chronicle. She is an award-winning author and poet who writes about women, immigration, the South Asian experience, history, myth, magic and diversity. She writes for adults and children, and her books have been translated into 20 languages. Born and raised in Calcutta, India, Divakaruni, 54, teaches creative writing at the University of Houston and lives in Sugar Land with her family.  

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Basketball hotshot Jenzel Nash

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Jenzel Nash, the nation's leading scorer at 39.9 points a game. She was great to work with and needed very little direction. As a senior, she is sure to be rocking it in the NCAA very soon. The photos were made with a single 580EX strobe and a STS transmitter. The Pocket Wizards are in the shop, so it's been a good push to try and keep things simple.[gallery orderby="rand"]

Red Rider

Yesterday morning, I woke up around 5am to make a drive to Hockley, Texas. My assignment was to photograph the Harris County Sheriff's Mounted Patrol as they participated in the 62nd Annual Pony Express Ride. The event consists of 40 horses and riders, primarily from local law enforcement mounted patrol agencies, who travel along U.S. Highway 290 to Austin in a relay fashion.  Their objective is to deliver 2011 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo invitations to the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas. Cold weather, horses and the people who ride them, as well as great light made the morning fabulous. [gallery orderby="rand"]

Mike Davis on newspaper photography

This is NOT Mike Davis

Ten years ago, when I was starting out in photojournalism, a very talented, sage, albeit cynical photographer told me that the majority of newspaper photography is about people and their stuff (see example of mine above).

That person was not Mike Davis. While Photo editor Mike Davis has always been smart about describing and interpreting photography in general and photojournalism in particular, he is much more articulate in his thoughts about newspaper photography than my early mentor. In this link, Davis digs deeper into this subject as he describes the qualities of a newspaper photograph and its creative limitations.

Toni Hickman - Overcoming Obstacles

Toni Hickman, an Atlanta native, overcame two aneurisms to become an aspiring hip-hop artist. Doctors originally told her she would be in a wheelchair the rest of her life. Through her own efforts and the efforts of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, she was able to beat the odds. We wanted a hip-hop feel, so we used the east-facing wall at Java Java Cafe in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. The owner was very accommodating and even let me use his AC outlet for my lights. Also, we had to shoot on what was probably the coldest day of the year, another testament to Toni's grit and determination underlying her beauty.

Natural light versus lit

Last month I had a couple of portrait assignments that contrasts how I work in different situations. In the first, the assignment was to photograph a long-haul trucker who was having trouble with his CDL license. Initially, I was told his truck would be at his residence. In fact, it was out at a yard that happened to be on federal property. For the moment, my lights are strictly AC powered although that is supposed to change soon. Instead, I had the blessing of a day with full sun, although clouds were slowly creeping in (at one point, we had to wait 45 minutes at a railroad crossing because his truck was just on the other side. Sometimes I really LOVE Houston...). I had him point his truck into the north so the grill would be in the shade. I then used a simple reflector to point the sun back into the shadow and photographed him with a 35mm/f1.4 lens. The next image was more controlled, but alas, the weather was crappy. I think it was Sam Abell who said bad weather makes good pictures. Because the sky was dark, it was a Saturday assignment and I had time and because I had a willing subject who was proud of his home, I was able to pull out some stops and practice my lighting. I lit the subject with a medium softbox from camera left and used a flood camera right to put a hard light on the side of his face and to also light up the house. Because I lit the scene, I was also able to create a more dramatic sky.

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A morning workout with MLB super-star Carl Crawford

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing newest Boston Red Sox player Carl Crawford as he did an off-season workout session in his hometown of Houston. It's amazing to see how hard this guy works out. I suppose I would too if someone were paying me $142 million dollars to play baseball. Nonetheless, I found him to be very humble and down-to-earth. He's a natural athlete and could have been a pro in a number of sports. You can check out the story here.[gallery orderby="rand"]

Making success its business

I covered a story last week for the Houston Chronicle about a neighborhood center that is doing great things for the neighborhood - helping people learn how to file taxes, open bank accounts, and learn basic entrepreneurial skills. I spent a short time with Candelaria Galindo, who teaches a piñata-making class to others at the center. The idea was to surround her by her students' work and put her in the middle. When everything was in place, I said "Sonrisa!" The image made the front page this morning.

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Jesse Dayton comes to Houston

Jesse Dayton is a honkytonk/rockabilly guitarist and singer from Beaumont who now lives in Austin. He's sold a bunch of records over the past few years doing soundtrack work for Rob Zombie films. But his new album finds him getting back to his honky tonk roots with a tribute album to Texas' great dance halls. I photographed Jesse at the La Carafe bar near Market Square in Houston. It was the middle of the day and the place was just about deserted. The very cool bartender, Gavin, let me utilize the place for an hour while I set up and made Jesse Dayton's portrait for the local 29.95 tabloid magazine.[gallery orderby="ID"]

New Arcade Fire tearsheets

On a random visit to the magazine store, I picked up a copy of the Nov. 28, 2010 edition of The Observer, a newspaper from the UK. I happened to find one of the photos I made of Arcade Fire on an inside page (the cover shot is a brilliant portrait made by Carl Lessard [fancy website - it will take some navigating to find his work, but it's well-worth the effort] originally shot for Vanity Fair). I was pumped. Then, I moseyed over to the music magazines and lo and behold, some other work of mine I did for the band is featured on the cover and also some inside shots for Billboard Magazine's Musician's Guide. Lastly, I received an honorable mention in PDN's Ultimate Music Moment contest. For those who don't know, PDN (Photo District News) is an industry magazine for photography. Christmas came early this year, or Hannukah came late, whichever suits your needs :-)

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