African Diaspora Panel by Jennifer Kay

On Dec. 3, at the peak of Art Basel Miami Beach, a panel of artists, educators and Miami community leaders met at the Little Haiti Cultural Center to discuss African Diaspora art. 

Among the panelists were Iris PhotoCollective’s Carl Juste and Andre Chung. Other panelists at the symposium entitled “Miami Crossroads: Developing the African Diaspora Art Footprint” included Marshall Davis of the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, educator Frank Glover, Miami-Dade County community relations leader Larry Capp, Afro-Cuban artist Jose Orbein, artist Bayunga Kialeuka, artist and educator Gene Tinnie, and Marvin Weeks, an artist and member of the city of Miami’s Arts and Entertainment Council. 

The panel considered how to support artists from the African Diaspora, and how to help them make bigger gains in the art marketplace. To make progress, the panel suggested that artists collaborate to educate the public and art collectors, to promote their work and exhibits, to stage their own expos and gallery shows when art fairs shut them out and to support elected officials who work to support the arts.

One hot topic that invited passionate responses from the audience focused on promoting arts centers and galleries in neighborhoods such as Little Haiti or Overtown, which are challenged by the stigma of crime and poverty. If people are afraid to venture into unfamiliar and stigmatized neighborhoods, what can artists do to promote arts events in those neighborhoods or include those neighborhoods in the local arts scene? Again, the solution seemed to be collaboration, reaching out to local businesses and community leaders to help promote arts facilities and events.

The unifying theme of the symposium was “do-it-yourself.” Artists need to promote their individual brands and network to get the word out about art the large fairs such as Art Basel Miami Beach are missing.

Afterward, Iris PhotoCollective’s Carl Juste gave BlackArtInAmerica.com a tour of the IPC Visual Lab’s “Guerrilla Gallery.” The expo of student work -- curated, printed and hung in just a week in the Little Haiti Cultural Center -- illustrated the do-it-yourself initiative advocated by the panelists. Here’s a link to the video: 

Preparing for Concert Photography: Sacha Suarez

I recently received an amazing opportunity to shoot a concert for my company’s site and I was so excited I did not realize the minor details that make or break the assignment.  My purpose was to capture the concert for the fans for my company’s site  to view.   I will walk you through my challenges, my learning’s and finally the outcome.  A couple of challenges I faced were the following:

·                                    •  Access: Distance for stage to properly prepare for the lens    

·                                    •  Equipment: Unfamiliar camera with not tripod

      Access is a big unknown in most of these concerts but if you have experience it helps to know what to look for.This concert was unique in that there was three different artists playing and so I had three different opportunities to go and shoot.  The rules for the press was the first 2 songs for each artist so time was limited and taking the most shots in the short time frame was my goal.  They placed the press in the most distance space possible, behind the sound engineers which is usually in the middle of the center stage.  My lens went up to 200 – 300 and it was just fine.  I setup my camera manually with a high ISO and manually focused which I felt more in control.   Lighting on these stages is amazing and when you capture the wide shot, the set design really kicks in. 

I      

      I tried to capture the essence of each artists by shooting their expressions, body language and overall stage design.  Capturing the tight shot and the wide shot tells the story and captures the feeling of the moment. 

      
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      For example, on top one performer was in action while the other was connecting with the audience.  Another challenge I faced and overcame was that one of the camera’s I used was borrowed and so unfamiliar territory.  I setup the camera as best I knew with an assumed distance and lighting of a typical concert (high ISO and shutter speed greater than 250) and a low F-stop and once we were placed in our assigned Press Area it was very difficult to change the settings in the dark with a camera I was not familiar with.  Solution:  I just shot away for the first song and based on my knowledge it should be right with the lighting and distance and during the second song, I changed the lens to my second camera, in which I was very familiar with.   Once I changed cameras,  this allowed me to view the pictures I had taken to tweak any settings on the spot.  Another challenge with equipment was no tripod.  I saw all the other press representatives with tripods and said to myself “oh boy”.  

     

      At this point in time, I just held the camera as firm as possible and shot away. The result was just fine.  It would have been more comfortable with the tripod and also may have gotten some more focused shots, however; the downside is that it also takes longer to setup as I saw the other photographers go through.  I learned it was a matter of choice and next time I will bring a tripod that is portable and easy to assemble and disassemble.

  

OCCUPY 305

Occupy Miami Rally 
November 17, 2011

I went to the Nov. 17 Occupy Miami rally and march looking for faces, and I found one face everywhere: Guy Fawkes, the “V for Vendetta” mask that has become a symbol of the 99% protests, was reproduced in several forms. 

Some wore the pointed, smiling mask tipped back on their heads, leaving their own faces visible beneath it. The grin was also printed on cardboard with “We are the 99%” printed above its eyes in English and Spanish. One protester even had the image on the back of his smartphone, so it was visible every time he raised the device to take a picture.

I was interested in how the pointy, squinting shape of the Guy Fawkes mask played off the protesters’ real faces, and I wanted to see the protesters used the same image to make unique statements. For each protester that obscured his face with a mask, another stared boldly at the authorities and media around them as if to say that he, and not the image of a 17th century Englishman, was making a statement. 

Apart from the mask, I focused on individual faces in the crowd of protesters, and in the groups of people who watched them march on Miami’s financial district. Two McDonald’s workers caught my eye as the march continued from Little Havana to Miami’s financial district. The pair huddled together in the drive-through window, and the man appeared interested and excited about the protest passing by. The woman frowned deeply, and the exaggerated expression was the upside-down version of the Guy Fawke mask’s broad smile. 

I had a few problems to solve as I looked for faces in the crowd. To start with, I was using a new lens with a different depth of field than the 50mm wide-open lens I normally use. I worked on keeping my backgrounds clean so that each face stood out, but still appeared in the context of a a protest and not as a pedestrian in the street. 

Shot in the Dark

By Jennifer Kay

Photography is problem solving, Brian Smith told us at his Miami launch for his book “Art & Soul.” Photography is creating opportunities out of problems. Lately, I’ve made a point of shooting in problematic situations. I’ve only allowed myself to shoot with available light, which means I’m often shooting in the dark.

Solution 1: Find the Light

 I’ve incorporated a lesson from the spring semester into this exercise -- find the good light, and wait for something to walk into it. One night this week, some of the Occupy Miami activists held a candlelight vigil on the beach. My only light sources were the moon, the moonlight reflecting off the sand, the electric candles and cell phone screens. I set my exposure for those lights and kept my shots wide to allow for as much light as possible, and then I watched for how the activists interacted with the light.





Solution 2: Know What Your Camera Do

 My DSLR can set the ISO as high as 6400. The higher the iso means I can still shoot clear frames in low light, but it doesn’t solve everything. I wanted to make portraits of the Haitian musicians performing on an outdoor stage during South Beach’s Sleepless Night arts event, but I didn’t have the kind of up stage access I had when I shot Shenita Hunt at The Clevelander last month.

My 50 mm lens has a wide open aperture to collect the most light, but it wasn’t getting me close enough to the singers. To get closer, I switched to my point-and-shoot camera, which has a zoom function.
I set the camera to a “high grain” setting with a 1600 iso to compensate for the camera shaking in windy conditions.


Solution 3: Make Trade-Offs

Shooting in the dark means I have to give up some things. Changing the ISO to 1600 or higher means that I lose the mid-tones in my images. The singers appear as bright spots of light and color surrounded by darkness. I also get noisier, grainier images because of the high ISO. I get high contrast, black and white, without soft grays or soft light.

Solution 4: Move My Feet

My 50 mm lens shoots fast, letting in the most light with the widest aperture. On the other hand, it’s a fixed lens. I can’t zoom in, and I can’t shoot wide. The only way to change the perspective is to move. In the Hotel Urbano, a trio sat talking at a table in front of an abstract painting hung on a bold red wall. When I first saw them, I tightly framed the shot on one half of the painting, a sliver of the red wall and a small portion of the table. What made the painting, and the scene, interesting was the red wall framing the painting. In order to get the whole table and painting in my viewfinder, with enough of the red wall framing the scene, I had to physically back up several feet.

Iris Rising: Miami Ironman 70.3

By Jenny Romney/IPC Visual Lab Student


Since its inception in 2006, the Ironman 70.3 series has become the fastest growing triathlon series in the world. Events around the world qualify athletes for the Ironman World Championship 70.3. The grueling Miami triathlon took place this past Sunday, October 30 in downtown Miami and about 3,000 physically fit men and women participated to test their mental and physical endurance. The race started at Bayfront Park with a 1.2 mile swim in the bay waters. Participants then hopped on their bicycles for a 56-mile ride through downtown Miami, Hialeah and the Everglades and all the way up to Southwest Ranches in Broward and back to Bayfront Park for two loops up to to Star Island, completing a 13.1-mile run, which add up to the 70.3 iron miles.

Well, I also had he opportunity to test my mental and physical endurance as a photographer when Carl Juste, who was on a photo assignment for the Miami Herald invited me to come along.

I knew I would have to set up the 2 alarms on my radio and the one on my cell phone which I kept under my pillow. I needed to be at Carl’s house by 5:30 am and it was already 2:00 am when I went to bed after the IPC Masquerade Part on Saturday. When the alarm went off, I jumped out of bed and ran out of the house with two cameras, two lenses, an umbrella and the all-access media pass.



When we arrived at Bayfront Park, I was worried that the rainy day would ruin my motivation to shoot and I was seriously concerned that I would also ruin my cameras. Carl kept saying, what you can’t ruin is the opportunity to make some great photos. And he was right. It was an amazing learning experience that kept on my toes and forcing to be constantly problem-solving. Shooting for news coverage is very exciting and I couldn’t pass up this opportunity!

Inner Vision: Day 66 - 70

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog has been a common feature for the past several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 66 : Glorious Heat

At Carl's suggestion, I shot the free "road rally" on Biscayne Boulevard for Miami Heat fans, a concert followed by a live broadcast of the game in Chicago outside AmericanAirlines Arena. I thought a lot about what Andre Chung had told me the previous week about grounding the frames for the viewers. I'm still not 100 percent sure of what he means, but I interpreted it as making the scene more clear instead of focusing on abstract elements.

I knew I would have some limitations with my digital point-and-shoot camera with the low natural light and explosive floodlights. So, I tried to stay near sources of light while framing the scene without distracting splotches of white light. I stuck to the automatic setting on my camera because, despite some blurring of action, it was more steady than the manual setting.

I also tried to remember to show the things that make this scene in Miami unique: the good-looking people and the mix of people, excitement about the basketball game, the colors people were wearing and waving around.

There's one question raised to which there is no answer: What is it about T-shirt cannons that makes people lose their minds?



Day 67 : Sinful Pleasures

When: 27 May, 10:46 p.m.
Where: my balcony, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I got an iPhone! Finally! And so, I get a little lazy, because I've spent most of the evening finding cool apps to download.




Day 68 : Shadows

When: 28 May, 9:01 a.m.
Where: my apartment, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I woke up early on a Saturday for class, and I caught the curved shadows my curtains made in the morning light. Mmmm, abstract light and shadows, my favorite!



Day 69: Dock

When: 29 May, 9:01 p.m.
Where: dockside, South Beach
Exposure: F3.6 1/2.5 ISO800
Inner Thoughts: I waited so late to pick up a camera today. I think this would have ended up more interesting from a lower angle.




Day 70: Ride

When: 30 May, 6:41p.m.
Where: Venetian Causeway
Exposure: taken with iPhone camera
Inner Thoughts: I don't know if you've seen "The Killing" on AMC, but in the opening credits there's a sequence of a drawbridge and flashing red lights shot through a windshield, and it looks really cool. So, when I found myself stopped at a drawbridge and watching flashing red lights, I tried to make something out of it.

Aaaaand that's it!

Completion of the 7x10 Project

PROJECT 7x10

The purpose of Project 7:10 was to produce one image each day for 10 weeks. Taking a photo every day was the easy part. The challenge was creating a photo, on a daily basis, that actually illustrated my thoughts, concept, or vision of the subject or scene being photographed, and which had a strong composition. The real challenge for me was having to push myself creatively and seeing the familiar patterns of my routines in a new light—to see the shapes, shadows, faces and actions that I often overlook.

This exercise forced the discipline I needed in order to discover the shapes I was seeking in random places; and it also showed me how easily I can fall into a rut just shooting in my comfort zone. I had to push myself to look at streets differently, to seek out people, to be aware of what's in the background and to work with the limitations of my camera.

Project 7x10 is a reflection of reality. It is about the captured moment in time and embracing the truth of an image. I missed four days for reasons beyond my control, but I put my best effort into every one of 66 photos you see here. Of course, the true purpose of this exercise was to help me grow as a photographer, both from technical and creative aspects. Mission accomplished.

Carl Juste: Wow, you are finally done! What a amazing visual journey! It is really special to be able to see your improvements and set backs in one place. Seems like it was yesterday when took your first frame. Your hard work has paid off. Congrats and thank you for allowing us to tag along on your magnificent visual journey.

Seven days, ten weeks, and now it is over. What a ride! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, images, and inspiration.

Inner Vision: Day 61 - 65

Day 61: Dock

When: 15 April, 8:19 p.m.
Where: Publix parking garage, 3rd level, South Beach
Exposure: F3.3, 1/50, ISO1600
Inner Thoughts: As soon as I pulled into the rooftop lot I saw this guy half-illuminated under the light and I liked the near-symmetry of him and the shopping cart in the light at two otherwise equal picnic tables.

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 62: Bus Stop

When: 22 May, 7:435 p.m.
Where: bus stop outside Publix, 6th and Alton, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: Bus stops are things I notice more now, after having to shoot a photo a day for 60-some days now. I was shooting from the hip as I passed this one, but I didn't realize the exposure was so off. Still, when I played with the exposure in processing, I liked this frame better than anything else I shot this day.




Day 63: Shadow Walk

When: 23 May, 6:22 p.m.
Where: Outside Carl's office
Inner Thoughts: Several weeks ago, Carl pointed out the shadows these air conditioning units cast when the light was just right. Here's my attempt to repeat the frame he captured with my camera.

Uh, whoops! Day 64 is a blank. No idea what happened here, but clearly there's no photo to prove I did anything this day.



Day 65: Pool

When: 25 May, 12:47 p.m.
Where: The Biltmore, Coral Gables
Inner Thoughts: The light is really what's wrong with this picture. I was covering a lunchtime speech, and a few minutes to spare in a beautiful hotel space. Unfortunately, the light at lunchtime is generally awful. Not even the balloons going up the stairs could make this interesting.

Inner Vision: 56 - 60

Day 56: My Block
My third walk around my block, camera in hand and Carl in tow. Colorful scooters caught my eyes - colors and hues what a surprise!

When: 16 May
Where: my block, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I think I'm starting to get it now, thanks to a walk around the block with Carl.

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 57: Game
A tighter crop (sense a theme in this batch of daily frames?) draws the focus to the game that's just begun.

When: 18 May, 5:36 p.m.
Where: poolside, South Beach
What: A game of hide-and-seek begins.

Days 58-59: Blanks
Something interesting probably happened on these days, but I was too preoccupied to pick up a camera to capture it. Photo student failed.



Day 60: Mayor
I tried to fit in photographing someone I was interviewing at a conference before he had to leave. What I didn't anticipate was how routine the experience might be for him, a public figure in Haiti. As soon as I pulled out my camera, he began a series of "official poses" that he's probably accustomed to making before or after interviews at home. It was very formal, and I was kind of at a loss as to how I would make a portrait that was interesting while he was taking up what little time we had with his posing.


When: 20 May, 10:37 a.m.
Where: Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference, Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale
Who: Yvon Jerome, mayor of Carrefour, Haiti
Inner Thoughts: I'm trying to taking pictures of the people I'm covering, but under the time crunch this just came out as a headshot.

Inner Vision: Day 51 - 55

Day 51: Graffiti
The narrow view of the graffiti through the fences gives a "peeping tom" sense to this scene. It's as if the curtains are being pulled apart on a secret scene.

When: 11 May, 7:29 a.m.
Where: Alton Road between 9th and 10th, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I just liked how the light looked in this empty lot and coming through the green fences.

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 52: Light
Cropping out the tree at the bottom eliminates the composition problem the tree posed. Doing so focuses on the light and abstract elements in the building reflecting the morning light.

When: 12 May, 7:17 a.m.
Where: 6th and Alton, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I wish the tree was better framed here. This flyover is the favorite part whenever I drive onto the beach, and on this morning I really liked the tone of the light reflecting off the glass windows and the concrete.



Day 53: Imbalance
There would be symmetry, except for this group of people oddly clustered together at one end of the frame.

When: 13 May, 8:47 p.m.
Where: Terminal D, Miami International Airport
Inner Thoughts: I really like airports, the feeling of perpetual motion toward a vanishing point. This group of people had so much escalator space available to them, yet they all clustered together, even though I don't think they were traveling together.



Day 54: Red light
I could have solved the light problem by just focusing on the hand pouring the drink in the first place, instead of trying to get in the whole scene.

When: 14 May, 11:35 p.m.
Where: The Elbow Room, Pensacola
Inner Thoughts: Someday, I'm going to notice the bright white spot of light that distracts the eye in my frames *before* I press the shutter. Someday.



When: 15 May, 3:33 p.m.
Where: Pensacola, Florida
What: Sherman, my friend Kris' miniature pincher
Inner Thoughts: I don't know how to solve this problem: Where should I have been setting my light meter, on the dog or the porch?

Inner Vision: 46 - 50

Day 46: 2 Women

When I shot this frame, I mostly saw the symmetry of the two women on either side of the trash can. Carl saw an analysis in the frame: What the women carries reveals information about where each is in her life, how much she needs to buy from the same store.

When: 6 May, 7:02 p.m.
Where: outside Publix, 6th and Alton, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I saw these two women outside the grocery store, and the way they were standing immediately reminded me of something Carl and I had discussed: put something between two things, and you show that those two things are equal.

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 47: Blimp
The tiny blimp in the sky is the most interesting thing in the frame. I was initially interested in just the blank space of the white towel, about whether it meant someone was gone or coming back, and why someone would bring such a short towel to sunbathe.

When: 7 May, 3:32 p.m.
Where: poolside, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I should have kept trying for a different angle. I was really just interested in this white towel and the blank space it was creating in the frame, how it could mean either that someone was coming back or that someone was gone for good.



Day 48: Yulia
This is my second attempt at the round-my-block assignment. I met Yulia early one this Sunday morning, not long after she finished working at my neigborhood bar. I shot several photos of her and two other bartenders whose happy hour happened to be breakfast-time for most other passers-by.

When: 8 May, 7:41 a.m.
Where: outside Dewey's, South Beach
Who: Yulia, a bartender who's just finished work on a Sunday morning.
Inner Thoughts: I'm still documenting my block, and Yulia and a couple co-workers who happened to be some of the people I encountered on my block this morning.



Day 49: Reflection
A tighter crop enhances the monochromatic composition, broken by the red T-shirt. It works because there's a sense of scale, the curves and the straight lines play off each other, and the subject is interacting with his environment. There's also a distortion at his fingertip on the glass, where reality meets imagination.

When: 9 May, 5:29 p.m.
Where: "Morris" sculpture, Lincoln Road, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I love this glass bubble sculpture because it always has someone in it or walking right up to it, staring into the distorted reflections. I shot this from the second story of the parking garage on the north side of this plaza, and I liked how this angle gave a sense of the sculpture's scale.



Day 50: Circles and Lines
A tighter crop focuses more sharply on how the circles in the bowls and spoons break up the straight lines in the sink. The emptiness of the bowls and jars gives the frame an abstract quality.

When: 10 May, 6:48 p.m.
Where: kitchen, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: Sometimes it's really, really hard to leave the house.

IPC Visual Lab Open House - Sept 16th, 2011

IRIS Rising
IPC Visual Lab is holding its Open House and Exhibition on Friday,
September 16th, 2011 in conjunction with the Rhythm Foundation's Big Night in Little Haiti Third Friday event.

The photography of present and past IPC Visual Lab students along with the works of instructors, André Chung, CW Griffin, Carl Juste, and Jeffery A. Salter will be showcased inside the beautiful gallery of the Little Haiti Cultural Center.

Instructors and students will be present to answer any questions.




IPC Visual Lab classes begin September 24th and ends on December 3rd, 2011.
IPC Visual Lab offers Beginning, Intermediate, and Advance Study classes for both adults and youths. Registration for classes is $20.00 and tuition is listed below.


Youth/Adult
Beginning Class 400.00/550.00
Intermediate Class 500.00/750.00
Advance Studies tba/1250.00

Inner Vision: Day 41 - 45

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.



Day 41: Restaurant Reflection
This frame was from the first of my three around-the-block attempts. I shot this frame in the early morning and I wanted to get the reflection of the sunrise in this restaurant window, while also revealing glimpses of the restaurant's interior. I just needed to find an angle where the sun wasn't too high over the buildings across the street.

I woke up early on May 1 with really good intentions about documenting my block. I picked the early morning instead of the evening because the block faces east and the light is better in the mornings. For the first time, I noticed what a weird shadow the pigeon-deterring owl on my balcony casts on the drapes in my apartment. I knew the rising sun's light would make the colors of the buildings richer and make for interesting reflections in the windows; I was thinking about how the Caribbean Market was reflected in the windows of the building across the street. I thought I could find the graphic elements I like and then have them broken up by passers-by. What I didn't count on was someone seeing me with my camera and deciding I was some kind of threat; he followed me and kept yelling at me and generally made anyone who might have walked into my frame give me a wide berth. I cut my walk around the block short because he just wouldn't leave me alone. So, I tried, but I have to try this again, maybe on a less paranoid block.


Day 42: Shapes
There's not much to say about this frame, other than I found the repetition of the L-shape in the pipe and the dreamcatcher and then it's inversion in the wall interesting.

When: 2 May, 7:14 a.m.
Where: Garage, South Beach

Inner Thoughts: I really liked how the shape of the pipe was mirrored in the dream catcher. Also, I had never noticed the dreamcatcher until that morning.


Day 43: Alley
I like the blank white space of this house. It's like a blank canvas.

When: 3 May, 4:50 p.m.
Where: alley near Dewey's, South Beach

Inner Thoughts: For a few days, I kept passing an abandoned couch in this alley. By the time it occurred to me to photograph it, the couch was gone.


Day 44: Luke at Debate
The frame illustrates the problem with this particular candidates' forum and the special election in general -- no one showed up, so there wasn't a real exchange of ideas amongst the candidates or voters.

When: 4 May, 8:50 p.m.
Where: Booker T. Washington High School auditorium, Overtown
Who: Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Luther Campbell gets a little bored during a sparsely attended town hall meeting.

Inner Thoughts: Carl has assigned me the task of photographing the people I interview for work. The time management that requires is proving difficult. I need to find the time to pull out the camera when I won't be missing something I need to write down for a story.



Day 45: Shapes
Look, more shapes! That is all.

When: 5 May, 6:48 p.m.
Where: kitchen, South Beach
Inner Thoughts: I'm getting a little tired of taking a picture every day. I will never get tired of avocados, though.

Inner Vision: Day 36 - 40

Jennifer Kay is a Miami-based reporter for The Associated Press who has enrolled in Iris' IPC Visual Lab. Before moving to Miami in 2005, Kay was an editorial assistant in the AP’s Philadelphia bureau, and previously graduated in 2001 from Dartmouth College, where she was the photography editor of the daily student newspaper. Kay is looking to expand her knowledge of the visual language and to engage in the process of visual story-telling. Her blog will be a common feature for the next several month on the Iris PhotoCollective's Iris Rising series.

Day 36: Airport
We didn't have much to say about this frame, other than that it was a success.

When: 26 April, 5:29 p.m.
Where: Miami International Airport
Exposure: F3.3, 1/320, ISO80

Inner Thoughts: Yes, you've seen this composition before, graphic element, reflection, plus a person. But, this is what airports look like to me: people carrying bags hurriedly walking past windows.


Day 37: Problem Tree
The original frame I sent had a glaring problem: A tree sharply in focus in a distracting block of light between two boys sitting on a stoop. Cropping the frame down to just one of the boys eliminated the problem and revealed something interest about his expression and the distorted perspective of his hands.

When: 27 April, 5:24 p.m.
Where: 13th and Meridian, South Beach
Exposure: F3.3, 1/200, ISO80

Inner Thoughts: Can I at least get credit for trying? How is that I miss the giant block of light in the background every single time? #annoyed


Day 38: Dryers
After awhile, the machines start to look a little alive, like one dryer is trying to block the other.

When: 28 April, 6:47 p.m.
Where: laundry room, South Beach
Exposure: F3.3, 1/100, ISO800

Inner Thoughts: I fall back on the familiar when I'm still frustrated about the frame that I didn't get right the day before.


Day 39: Luke on camera
Again, relying on a crop to highlight what's interesting in the frame. I just didn't have the right angle or height to get the shot I intended to.

When: 29 April, 3:58 p.m.
Where: Liberty City youth center. Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Luther "Luke" Campbell poses for cell phone pictures with staff and teens.
Exposure: F3.4, 1/125, ISO1600

Inner Thoughts: I was thinking about a photo Evan Vucci recently moved on AP wires from a presidential news conference, in which he captured an image of Obama at the podium in the screen of someone holding up a cell phone. It was an interesting picture for a routine political event, and I wanted to capture something similar.