Week 18/52 - A Contrast Paradigm
Hello! Welcome to Week 18! The portrait of the week for April 30th to May 6th goes to an awesome friend name Harrison! We met this year through a mutual friend when I attended Lucky 2017. To finally have Harrison in my project is amazing. Prior to this photo shoot, we worked together in a special juxtaposition theme of a construction worker with cherry blossom (Sakura) trees over a month ago. He wanted to do another special theme photo shoot of a lumberjack worker with tulip flower. This time, we wanted to combine my project with his idea. What you will see in this entry is a paradigm shift between his idea and my project following his authenticity. Within the paradigm, you will read about our experience together, a short info about Harrison, and what is coming up for him all combined with photography context. Let's do this!
A week after Lucky, Harrison approached me with his idea of two theme. As I mentioned earlier, our first time shooting was set at the Quad at University of Washington campus as a construction worker. Interesting to say, there were plenty of double takes because he was carrying a huge hammer and wearing a hard hat. The best part about that shoot was standing in the midst of a large crowd with the large tool in hand. For the second photo shoot, we traveled to Skagit Valley to visit Tulip town. Lucky for us, the festival was extended to the beginning of May due to the tulip being delayed in blooming so our timing was perfect.
Most would say the weather could have been sunnier, however, our intention to go early was for the gray weather. The diffusion of the bright sun allows for his outfit and the vibrant tulip to mesh seamlessly together. Lighting wise it was ten times easier to compose and focus on Harrison rather than be difficult with harsh lighting. In the beginning, we took the risk to go further into the patch. We wanted to get him immersed with the tulip. Sure enough, we got caught. Not as sneaky as I thought, but it was worth the trouble. Other than that, people were intrigued about our photo shoot. One commented on his outfit about being Paul Bunyan. We were striving for an untypical experience at most tourist destination.
Once we finished with Harrison's version of the shoot, it was my turn to direct. We went from a serious lumberjack environment to a fun, quirky vibe. Why quirky? The next few images will show the differences from the previous images.
Once we came back to Seattle, we stopped at a bank to grab money. After his errands, he went on full shuffling in the parking lot to a mix from Chace. This is the Harrison I know! During the car ride back, he shared with me an up and coming DJ he's into. We were bobbing and grooving to the music. Majority of our conversations, we learned we have a lot of mutual friends. Shocking to both of us, it's crazy we never met up until Lucky. This world is small as hell.
We have similar interests for photography and music. Harrison owns an Olympus Pen micro third camera. A respectable camera that fits him. He does it as a hobby and loves to photograph his friends. It's always a pleasure when we have a conversation about the art. It gets me rolling! For those wondering what is a micro third camera, it's a system which the camera' sensor is smaller than most DSLR. A sensor is the blank canvas for the camera to create the image at every single shot that then write on a memory card. It is still an interchangeable camera that you can swap lenses, it's a system that is small in form factor. Besides photography, it intrigued me more about our love for music. I shared with him artists that I liked and are rising stars as well as music not many listen. I was thrilled he liked them!
Harrison is up for new opportunity he is willing to explore. At the time, he told me about upcoming career interviews and fun adventures coming up later in the year. I'm sure he killed it!
Before concluding, I like to note what I see in Harrison. He's a respectable, energetic, and easy going friend that loves to dance and live his life freely. He is open to expanding his mind and what is possible for his life. I shared with him my experience at Landmark. It got his attention because I was authentic about the experience and our friendship. I am happy he will attend an evening with me and my other guests for him to see for himself.
Finally, thank you Harrison for being in my project. I had a lot of fun spending time with you, getting to know you, and learning what you are up to. I cannot wait to go to more shows with you and dance our butts off!
Thank you to my readers. Normally, these blog entries come out earlier than this and I am usually faster than this, however, sometime, I get busy. Nonetheless, I am publishing them! Week 19 is coming up. Stay tune for that!
- Sally