Denny Henry

This Thursday, February 4th, is the opening reception for Jackie's  senior thesis at The Corcoran. Everyone's invited.

Before graduation, every senior at the Corcoran College of Art + Design has to complete a thesis project.  Photojournalism students spend the first half of their senior year researching and producing a photo story on a topic of interest to them.  Jackie started the semester with the idea of documenting sustainable living in Washington, DC.  Early in the process Jackie met Sidra, John, and their daughter Martin-Lane, they are a local family who run a restaurant out of there home.  The family and their restaurant are centered around healthy living and sustainable practices.  From July through December, Jackie  photographed Sidra, John, and Martin-Lane regularly to document their way of life. The final images offer a  view of a family living in an socially and agriculturally sustainable manner. 

If you can't make it on Thursday, her work will be hanging in Gallery 31 of the Corcoran Gallery from Monday February 1st through Sunday February 7th, 2010. 

Below are a few shots I took of Jackie during the final stages of her project.

Leaving the final shoot

Working on the edit and layout.Printing the invitations for her opening reception.

Picking up the the 12 final images that were float mounted by Joe Heintze

Recently I've been getting my feet wet learning video.  Most of the footage I've been shooting never ends up anywhere, it just helps me learn about the craft and process of shooting video.  While I was in college, I worked a little bit collecting audio and editing video in Final Cut Pro, but until recently hadn't done much with what I learned.

For the past few years, a close friend of mine, Mike D'Orazio has been running a custom guitar shop building and repairing guitars and basses.  I've photographed some of his custom guitars in the past, and been really impressed with what he's produced. 

Below is a video of Mike carving the neck of a bass guitar he's currently working on.  This version is still rough around the edges, but I wanted to get it out there to show the progess I'll be making on it over the next few months. 

I often photograph lectures and visiting artists who come to The Corcoran. This week's lecture was designer Stefan Sagmeister.  His lecture was different from many others I've shot recently in that it was more in depth than just a slideshow of his work.  He gave great insights into how he designs and the thought process that leads to new ideas. 

After the lecture, he met with a smaller group of Corcoran design students to answer questions.   His answers were candid and held the type of advice that is actually helpfull to people learning his craft. 

Stefan Sagmeister speaking to Corcoran design students.

Stefan Sagmeister speaking about his work at The Corcoran.

Stefan Sagmeister shaking hands with Corcoran Alumnus Kevin Robinson.

I set up a time-lapse video during the snow storm this past Saturday. I set my video to record one second for every minute that passed.  I started recording a few minutes after 6:00am on Saturday morning, and stopped just about 7:00pm. 

This past summer I upgraded my scanner to one that can handle 4x5 film.  I recently discovered that along with the ability to scan my 4x5's , it can also help me create substitute contact sheets for any 35mm film I shoot. These have been very helpful in determining what and what not to scan. 

The below is a scan of negatives from Joel and Chelsie's wedding.  Normally I only shoot digitally at weddings with a few sheets of 4x5 film thown in.  At this wedding I shot a few rolls of 35mm to go along with the rest of what I shot. 

Contact sheet from Joel and Chelsie's Wedding