Way back at the end of June I took a trip to Brooklyn to visit my sister and some friends. I had my X100s on my shoulder the whole trip and made plenty of images, but life got in the way and I never published any. I just downloaded a demo of Silver Efex Pro, and decided to use that as an excuse to reedit and share a few of my favorite images.
In the past few months, a busy school and work schedule has kept me from updating the blog – an unfortunate recurring theme. However, as I make the transition into doing full-time media work, I hope to get better.
With that in mind, it’s been ages since I debuted a video. Here is a piece I shot earlier this spring on The Big Cheeze, a food truck in Bloomington. The owners were nice enough to let me spend a couple nights with them shooting for a class project, and here’s what I came up with.
It was an interesting shoot. My background is in DSLRs, but because of the class this was shot on a Sony NX-5. Working with a traditional video camera definitely has its advantages. The troubles came with the fact that I was working at night and the camera has a tiny chip. That said, I made it work and the experience made me want to work with a large-sensor camera like a Canon C-series or a Sony F5.
Over the past couple of months I have been saving for glass for my 5D Mark III. After considering who I am as a photographer and what my medium-term goals are, however, I decided to take things in a different direction. Long story short, I’m the proud owner of a new Fuji X100s. It’s a fun little camera that I’ll review in earnest once I’ve had some more time with it, but for now let’s look at some pictures.
An attendee plays Tetris while hanging upside at the End of the World Party on Friday, December 21, 2012, at Big Car Service Center.
The world didn’t end after all, but Big Car was ready if it had. The arts collective’s Service Center, housed in an old Firestone dealership, decided to ring in the apocalypse in style with a celebration in partnership with the Latino Youth Collective and Know No Stranger. Games were set up to teach post-apocalypse skills ranging from the useful (knot tying) to the silly (upside down Tetris). Local band Sweet Poison Victim performed, as well as several DJs.
It’s great to see arts and community collectives working in Indianapolis. The 38th and Lafayette neighborhood that the Service Center calls home has long been in dire straits. The past 5-10 years have been good for this city thanks in part to organizations like Big Car, and I am excited to see what the future holds.
Saturday morning found me where all Saturday mornings should: at the Bloomington farmers’ market. As I was strolling the market shooting, multiple people told me to check out something happening that night called Bloomington Krampus. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I had nothing better to do that evening, so I decided to check it out.
For those of you aren’t familiar with Krampus, it is an Alpine Christmas tradition. Each year Saint Nicholas comes to give candy to the good children. The bad children get terrorized by beasts called the Krampus. Early in December, men dress as the Krampus and roam the streets. Turns out a group in Bloomington decided this town needed to be part of the tradition.
I met the crew, and an admirably large crowd of spectators, on the B-Line. After they paraded down the trail, they entered their “lair” to get ready for the rest of the night. One of the event’s photographers got me in, and I spent the rest of the night traveling town with the beasts. It was quite the night.
Moral of the story: when people tell you to check something out, do it. You just might end up hanging out with monsters.
Freddie Sturgeon works December 4, 2012, at Central Emergency Dispatch Center at the Bloomington Police Department in Bloomington, Ind.
Over at American Student Radio, one of the producers is working on a piece on 911 – what happens when you call it, who is behind it, etc. Today I paid a visit to the Bloomington Police Department to make some photos inside the Central Emergency Dispatch Center, which handles calls for all of Monroe County not under jurisdiction of the Indiana University Police Department.
This was only my second time taking the new 5D Mark III out on assignment. The low-light capabilities of the camera, combined with a 50/1.4, were very helpful. Lighting still proved a challenge because the operators’ faces were lit by computer monitors, but I produced a few images I am happy with.
Big thanks to the crew at the center for welcoming me with open arms. Keep your eye out for the final 911 piece, which will be released later this month.
A couple days have passed since the election, and no one wants to think about it anymore. So it’s naturally the best time for me to give you a set of the work I did on Tuesday.
Gloria Campana watches election results come in at the Ohio Republican Party election party Tuesday in downtown Columbus.
After ages of leaving my portfolio out-of-date and my blog sporadically updated, I’ve finally made a new push on my web presence. I have abandoned my old site for a brand new one. The portfolios here are updated, and will stay that way. The blog, too, is going to be updated much more regularly.
Thanks for checking out the site, and keep coming back for new content!
Rabi Abonour | Visual Storyteller 