Week Seven

For the My neighborhood/My hometown activity I actually wanted to photograph two different towns as I feel very torn between the two. First, I was going to photography Hillsboro, where I grew up. I will also photograph Corvallis where my dad grew up and where I currently live now. For Hillsboro I planned on photographing Mcmenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, my very first job and where I spent most of my time outside of school I basically grew up there, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. This would be my landmark shot. The next two would be done in Corvallis. For the activity or portrait photo I planned to go to the West dining hall on Oregon State Campus and ask one of the workers at EGBG's café if I may photography them. A lot of my time freshman year was spent in this café, and a lot of good happened there...but it also has links to some of my negative experiences as well. For my event or feature photo I planned to attend one of the baseball game in hopes of getting a shot of people entering the stadium. This will be the hardest shot as I work two jobs and it can be difficult for me to get time to go out and photograph.

My first idea for a photo story stems from the #hashtag "T1D Looks Like Me" This has been an ongoing social media trend that was started by JDRF a few years ago.  Being a Type 1 Diabetic myself, I have a close circle of friends who also share the struggle of having an autoimmune disease...not to mention that my twin brother is also diabetic. Growing up we all went to a camp for diabetics called Gales Creek, and through those connections many of us stayed in touch. A few of these friends live in Eugene or close(ish). I plan on contacting them and setting something up in order to do a story on the daily struggles that diabetics go through.  I also plan on mentioning this to my Endocrinologist as I have an appointment this week and possibly posting a flyer or giving her m contact information in order to get a more diverse group (including other ages.) This would be something I would continue with after this assignment, as I want to work with JDRF to help spread diabetes awareness. I have sent them an email explaining my idea. I would first begin with contacting my brother, and my friends Matia, Hailey, Hope and Cierra. I want to do portraits, including supplies and different diabetic-necessities. I want to highlight the color blue in all of my photos, as the symbol or T1D is a blue circle. I want the images to be more candid than posed, I want them to look natural as the whole point of this hashtag is that diabetics are just like everyone else. I want to try doing more environmental style portraits, so that not only they themselves are in focus but where the image was shot also tells a story.
My second idea for a photo story would involve the motorcyclists of Corvallis. In hopes to help spread awareness of bikers on the road. I'm part of a group on Facebook for Portland motorcyclists and would post an "ad" here in hopes of getting a few people to allow me to take their environmental portraits. I also have a few coworkers that I plan to ask as well. I would take their photos where they most often ride (preferably with different backgrounds for each person).