Primo Post

So this is a journal of the project. So I’m just going to try to be as personal and straight forward as I can. Hopefully it will do a decent job of letting you learn more about the project, why I’m doing it, how I work. And it will probably be good for me as well.

I sarted this project in early 2006. I had already been doing photography for many years by then and had been straight edge even longer. I had this idea for a project for quite a while. As I got more involved in photography and crafted my skills more and more I realized that photography wasn’t only a job for me, but it was my way of exploring and learning about the world. I was always pretty shy as a kid, but now with my camera and my new found talent I was doing things I never imagined I would do. Making pictures allowed an exclusive insight to the world. And it allowed me a way to show everyone how I see it.

So one day I just decided I might as well get started with this project. What better time than now? I was also in a anthropological/sociological/photo class with a photographer named Bill Bamberger at Carolina. So I decided since I was starting this photo project I might as well use it for the class.

Doing my own photography book has always been a dream of mine, although it’s very hard these days to actually get one published. But I talked with my good friend Dave Anthem, of Prayer For Cleansing fame, who runs Southern Empire Records and now Empire Press and told him about what I was doing. He was into it so we decided to go for it, and things started falling into place.

So it’s been doing this all on my own, funding everything myself and managing all the logistics and everything but its been great. And now we’re approaching the release. So that in short is the life of the project to this day. I am still photographing for the book although I only have a few weeks left. Check the categories for more information and come back to the blog for updates often.

Ray

P.S. Matt Miller and I went on a midnight search through Atlanta the other night looking for picturesque vistas of the city. We found one good one but I’m not completely satisfied. I know there’s a better one out there.

This is what I walked away with from the night. Canon 5D, 15 sec. @ f/11, ISO 100, 28-70 f/2.8L