2010

In the past year, I graduated from Western Kentucky University, interned for a great newspaper, met new friends, traveled to Bosnia, was introduced to various communities, and made photographs unlike any I have ever made before.

I'm going to keep the text of this post brief, because it is mainly about the photographs; however there are a few things I would like to say.

I believe that the following photos from 2010 show more of who I am becoming as a photographer than previous years' have. During my last semester at Western Kentucky University, I not only made great memories with my friends but also continued work with the homeless in Nashville's tent city. I was given a difficult assignment to document the days following a car crash that hurt the Mennonite community of Marrowbone, Ky. Those two experiences alone taught me a lot in getting to know a community and not only documenting it, but sharing yourself with the communities.

At the end of my college career, I had the great opportunity of participating in the 50th Annual Hearst Journalism Competition in New York City. I spent a week competing against five very talented photographers as well as making new friends. I was awarded first place in the competition and felt quite honored to be recognized with such great competition. Immediately following the competition I moved to St. Petersburg, Fla. where I spent the next six months interning for the St. Petersburg Times. You will see that the bulk of the following photographs came from my time in Florida. My experience there was incredible. I was surrounded by so many talented photographers and was driven everyday to make the best possible photographs. I want to thank Melissa Lyttle, Edward Linsmier, Stefanie Boyar, Bill Serne, Edmund Fountain, Willie J. Allen Jr., Daniel Wallace, Skip O'Rourke, Kathleen Flynn, Dirk Shadd, Lara Cerri, Ted McLaren, Ben Fredman, Luanne Dietz, Bruce Moyer, Boyzell Hosey, and the many other people that made my time in St. Petersburg amazing and inspiring.

During my time in Florida, I traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to document the 15th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide. It was my first time working overseas and it was quite challenging. I didn't speak the language and most of the trip was spent hiking through East Bosnia to get to the ceremony site. My experiences there changed my life and I believe it also changed how I see in some ways. Documenting such a tragic scene can be difficult in many ways, but I learned that composing a series of images that shows deeper meaning rather than just the scene becomes quite important. I chose not to include images from Bosnia because the size of this post is already too large. To see the edit of images, you can click here-> http://tinyurl.com/yld4bqb

A few people have asked me what my New Years resolution will be and I have decided to try and make my 2011 better than my 2010. It will be a difficult task because this past year has been so good to me with great experiences, new friends, a few awards, but that's what goals are for. Happy New Year everyone.