switch your eyes

Birders

2012-01-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

George Clark fills one of five birdfeeders in the backyard of his Norwich home yesterday. Clark, a retired ornithologist, says he doesn't have a favorite bird, but rather enjoys seeing many types of birds feeding in his yard. Valley News - Sarah Priestap

Two weeks ago, I covered a story on how there have been less bird sightings around the area this winter, most likely due to the warmer weather and abundance of vegetation. I met up with two area birders, and it brought back my memories of Alaska and all the birds (and the birders) I saw. It was fun to be able to talk to these people about the Kittlitz Murlet and Oystercatchers. It was also fun to take out the long lens and photograph more common eastern birds like chickadees for this story. In Alaska, that was a bird not seen.

Young and Famous

2012-01-31T15:06:00.000-08:00

Jack Snyder, a Woodstock resident, is a junior in High School, and an excellent musician. Local friends of mine showed me a Youtube video of him performing a couple months ago, and he is quite talented. It was fun to be able to experiment with the stage lights at Woodstock Union High School.

2012-01-31T15:04:00.001-08:00

During a typewriter salon hosted by Left Bank Books owner Nancy Cressman in Hanover, Cressman helps Fran Wang, of Philadelphia, load paper into a typewriter while Gabby Josebachvili, of Great Neck, N.Y., consults a book. Also pictured are Laura Bergsten, of Long Island (upper left) and Sarah Morse, of Albany, N.Y. All are part of Stonefence Review, a literary magazine written by Dartmouth College students. The students changed places every five minutes, using a sentence from a book to start a story and finished it themselves. Valley News — Sarah Priestap

Unexpected

2012-01-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

First graders in North Tunbridge at the Wellspring Waldorf School skate during their movement class on Monday. It was the first day the school used the rink, made by parent volunteers. Part of a hill in front of the school was sprayed with water for sledding. Valley News - Sarah Priestap

I do a lot of driving around the coverage area looking for features photographs (or as we call them here, standalones), and especially this time of year it isn't always easy to find people outside of their homes, especially when the temperature is hovering just around 0 degrees F. Because of this, I spend hours rubbernecking, listening to the radio, and praying that I'll find something interesting.

I was driving through Tunbridge when I saw some figures on a hill. At first glance, I thought it was children exploring a field, so I turned around and drove up the hill. When I crested the hill, I saw that they were skating on a makeshift rink, that, at the bottom of the hill, had been hidden by the tall grass. These first graders were skating for their wellness class, which would be a super fun thing to do at any age. We never had activities like that at my elementary school!

At the Montshire Museum in Norwich

2012-01-05T16:46:00.001-08:00

The State of the State

2012-01-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin meets with aides after his "State of the State" address at the Capitol Building in Montpelier.

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Having been through several internships, mostly in different states, I've seen my fair share of state government in each of them, and in the past, have been pretty uninterested beyond trying to get a good picture. Now that I live in Vermont, and I will most likely be living here for a while, I really tried to listen to the words of Governor Shumlin as he spoke of the trials that Vermont has gone through over the past few months. It feels good to feel more a part of a place, and I think even in a broader news situation such as this that community journalism plays its part.

Oh, and he mentioned Phish in his speech- where else would that happen??

First Assignment of the Year

2012-01-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

I photographed at a Buddhist retreat on January first. In the middle of a nine day week, spending a few hours in a serene, modified mansion at a silent retreat was more of a respite for me than an assignment. The lama, or teacher, Lama Willa, was the leader of the week long retreat of silence, which focused on teaching, meditating, and chanting. If you think one week of silence is difficult, get this, most Lamas will take a three year retreat of silence. I was told Lama Willa took TWO three year retreats of silence.

Favorite Photos So Far...

2011-12-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

Galleries of all of the favorite photographs by the Photographers/ Interns at the Valley News have been posted this week to the website. I'll include mine here, but I'd encourage you to look at everyone else's work too- there's some good stuff from both staff and interns!

Dartmouth vs Hartford Womens Basketball

2011-12-13T18:39:00.001-08:00

2011-12-13T18:33:00.001-08:00

The North Country Community Theatre rehearses for an upcoming show in the Library of Hartford High School.

2011-11-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

My sister and I photographed each other in the back field behind our house in Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving Night.

Visitors

2011-11-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

My mom and my Aunt Becky came to visit my little house in Tunbridge- we took a walk to the top of the property.

Two Standalones from this Afternoon

2011-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Elder Mike Charchenko winds a string of clear twinkle lights onto one of the trees lining the driveway of the Joeseph Smith Birthplace Memorial in South Royalton while his wife, Sister Jane Charchenko, operates the lift. The Charchenkos, who are LDS missionaries from Arizona, said the decorating, which has taken about a month, ending tomorrow evening, is in preparation for their Living Nativity display this weekend.

Susan Spain of Tunbridge hugs her horse "Raz" in the middle of a ride on the afternoon of November 21st. Spain and Raz compete in endurance races together though a bout with Colon Cancer kept her out of the saddle for a while. Now that she is in remission, Spain says she hopes to ride in her next endurance race in April.

2011-11-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Earlier last week I photographed Richard and Donald DuBreul of R and D paving for my "All Through The Night" Column, which focuses on people who work strange night time hours at interesting jobs. R and D paving workers woke up around 2:30 am to get to work at 4 to pave sections of NH Route 12a in West Lebanon.

2011-11-18T13:38:00.001-08:00

Sally Page and her dog Ella

Election Time

2011-11-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

Was last week.

Bassettes, Year II of Hunting

2011-11-15T08:36:00.001-08:00

I went hunting again with the Bassette family this year, this time with Elizabeth, who was able to shoot a pretty good sized buck. It was her first deer in 4 or 5 years.

This picture was taken after dragging the deer three miles through the woods.

Enfield La Salette Lights

2011-11-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

For my October photo page, I followed Brother Claude and Rick Smith, who are responsible for the massive Christmas Lights Display at the La Salette Shrine in Enfield, NH. For a solid month, the pair tests lights, hang decorations, and wire up the whole display.

Roller Derby, Part I

2011-11-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

Working on a photo page on the Upper Valley Vixens, an up and coming Roller Derby team in Enfield, NH.

They had their first scrimmage on Saturday.

First Day

2011-11-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

First day of basketball practice at Stevens High School in Claremont, NH.

Cross Country, part II

2011-10-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Vermont State Cross Country Championships

2011-10-29T17:17:00.001-07:00

... more to come

Snowy Soccer

2011-10-29T17:16:00.001-07:00

A couple photos with windows

2011-10-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Night Shift

2011-10-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a new photo column for the paper, which originally was going to be an E-Front, or a picture page featuring people who work late at night/ early in the morning. I had my first shoot this morning, in Claremont.

While I normally don't mind getting up early in the morning, this was a little new for me, as I had to wake up at 3 and leave my house at 3:30 to get to Claremont by 4:30. Todd, who gets to work at 4 or 5 every morning to make doughnuts, is no stranger to early mornings, but we both were rather quiet as he methodically cut and fried doughnuts. It was peaceful, to be some of the only people awake in the town at that point.

I'll share some more photographs from this column as soon as I can.

Hartford Rest Area Construction

2011-10-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

2011-10-21T14:33:00.001-07:00

Cardigan Mountain 8th graders shovel mulch at Williams Field in Canaan, NH during a community service day.

a few of the Bassettes in black and white

2011-10-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

I have the privilege of being able to continue to photograph Beast, Buddy, Icky, Lizzie, and Kitty or otherwise known as the Bassette children, and will get to photograph them again during hunting season this year. I'm no longer photographing this project for the newspaper, but for the simple purpose to see where the story will lead. I honestly have no plans for the story as of yet, but am excited to see what I will end up doing with it.

For now, it is really become a forum for me to try new things in my photography. In a way, the project has become a collaboration between the subjects and photographer. Not only do I show them the work in progress often, but I also am able to hear their viewpoint about what it was first like to have me come in and photograph their life, what they thought how how they were made comfortable with my presence.

I think the subject of how involved ones subjects become in ones work is not discussed nearly as much as it should, as usually the question is how much one should become involved in their subject's lives. If I am working on a long-term story, I will sometimes show an edit of my work to my subjects. Now, this can get tricky, but what I will do is explain to them that the edit they give will not be my final edit, but their edit is rather helping me understand their story more. They will often point out important things in photos that I would have not chosen in the first place. In this way, I am taking myself out of the story more, and letting my subjects really tell the story.

I know some of you who read this may think otherwise, or agree, and I'd like to hear what you have to think about this idea.

2011-10-13T11:46:00.001-07:00

Even though I didn't get to go and photograph Occupy Wall Street, I did get to photograph a small part of the movement in my own town. "Occupy Tunbridge" brought out about 50 people, mostly citizens of Tunbridge, a little town in Central Vermont. While there were some signs and chants, the majority of the event was a public forum, where people stood on the steps of the town hall and spoke their mind about local and national current events.

A Few Protest Photos from the Bloomberg/ The Washington Post Presidential Debate at Dartmouth College

2011-10-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T11:28:00.001-07:00

Here's a rarity- a vertical image!

Into the Woods

2011-10-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

Mount Lebanon Elementary second graders take to the "Forest of Life"to identify bugs and other woodland creatures.

2011-10-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Fitting that my 350th post would be of a 250th anniversary celebration of Norwich. I took this a couple of weeks ago, back when I was still freelancing, and just found it on my computer again.

2011-10-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to improve my portrait lighting skills, and while this portrait may not be incredible, it is certainly something new for me. Thanks to my friend Michael Conti, I was able to steal a basic lighting video from him in trade for a block of VT cheddar cheese. Though the skills in the video are things I have learned before, it was great to get a visual refresher.

Americana

2011-10-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Shot this in Claremont this evening.

Hartford vs Springfield Boys Soccer

2011-10-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Its been about 10 months since I photographed my last soccer game- I really missed it!

2011-09-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

Norwich, VT kids are hardy- though the Bike/Walk to school day was cancelled there because of bad weather, many kids and their parents still biked to school in the pouring rain.

2011-09-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

For my first photo story for the Valley News this time around, I though I'd photograph a subject I know well- horses. I though the idea of following a farrier around for a day would be fun, so I photographed Audrey Tacy, who shoes horses in the Plainfield, NH area. It was a good time, and I was happy with the results.

2011-09-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Found this today while looking for standalones, a class of 3rd/4th graders looking for bugs in front of their school. These are my favorite kind of things to find, lots of movement, constantly changing elements, and people who are too interested in what they are doing to pay attention to me.

A New Start

2011-09-20T16:15:00.001-07:00

Started working at the Valley News! I'll be updating more frequently as I'll be shooting daily. Here's one from last Friday:

Principal Jurg Jenzer of Windsor's State Street Elementary School stands on the roof of the main entrance of the school dressed as a Tellytubby. This was the result of a challenge issued by Jenzer for his students to collectively read more than 8,000 pages over the summer, which the students beat by reading 56,236 pages. "If we give the students an assignment to read, they'll find any way to get out of it, but if we give them a challenge, they'll show us that they can do it," said Principal Jenzer. The students were allowed to vote for which costume the principal would wear for the morning, which also introduced voting to the students.

Another Post From Alaska

2011-08-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Still continuing to sort through my archive of images from this summer.

Yellowstone

2011-08-11T18:41:00.001-07:00

There and Back Again

2011-08-11T18:37:00.001-07:00

a couple photos from our trip to and from Alaska

2011-08-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

2011-08-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

Guess I got to my Niagara Falls photos from today faster than the ones from Alaska. This one gull kept fighting and squawking at all the others.

Update

2011-08-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

New photos will be posted soon! Currently working on a backlog of Alaska photos, and will be sticking them here.

I'm currently in Erie for a few more weeks until I move to Vermont to become an interim photographer at the Valley News- lots of story research started already, so hopefully I'll have some good juicy blog posts before you know it :)

The Harbor at Dusk

2011-07-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I spent our 4th of July evening (well, the evening of the third, actually), sitting on one of our company's boats with Steph and Sean, watching the midnight fireworks show. Since it doesn't ever completely get dark here, the city of Seward holds the fireworks display until it is as dark as possible.

2300 Miles

2011-05-31T01:23:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I drove from Calgary to Seward, Alaska, where we are now working for the summer. On the way, we camped on the Alaska Highway, read books, listened to the Moth Podcast, and played Tiny Wings on our phones. We also took pictures.

Changes

2011-05-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

After four years in the Photojournalism program at the Rochester Institute of Technology- I graduated yesterday, packed my things, cleared out my locker full of old freshman assignments and film processing things, and am now at the airport, waiting to fly to Calgary where Jeff will pick me up and we will drive to Alaska to begin our Summer together.

The summer is meant as a breather for me, and also a time to decide what Jeff and I want to do-photo-wise, where we want to work, what projects we'd like to research, etc. I'll be updating as much as I can on here this summer with photos, writing, and videos/writing about my last projects at school.

For now, I'll leave you with this photo of nearly my entire photo class (sans Michael Conti) yesterday.

my room

2011-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Fire Spinning

2011-05-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

At the post-apocalyptic vegan straightedge party.

More Dacha Reflections

2011-05-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Dacha House

2011-04-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on both my video and photo documentaries. I'll put the video up on here when it is all done, but for now, I'll leave you with some photos from the Dacha House, where a group of friends is building a sustainable home and community in Ithaca.

PS: I'm looking to redesign my website- suggestions?

And the winner is....

2011-04-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

Sarah Ortiz! (I'll be contacting you to get you your print today)

Check back for a photo update soon!

Print Giveaway

2011-04-11T12:05:00.001-07:00

All of my What We Do Show work came back to me, which means that I have some extra prints for print swaps and gifts, but I want to give one of them away on here. Comment on this post and I'll draw from a hat the winner on Thursday. If you win, you'll get a 16x20 matted print of the photo shown above!

Good luck Everybody :)

2011-04-11T12:04:00.001-07:00

My African-American Cultures teacher, Dr. Crawford, learns how to Crank dat Soulja Boy.

2011-04-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

After photographing a wedding in Boston this weekend, seeing some good friends, and eating equally good food, I stopped over for a bonfire at Salim and Katrina's house. Jonathan, who works with PUSH physical theater, was using the light cast from the house next door for his shadow play.

2011-04-02T22:22:00.001-07:00

After a morning of documentary research, I took the afternoon off to longboard with some friends.

2011-03-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm in Maryland until tomorrow evening visiting Jeff. Mostly been hanging out but I've been doing homework and practicing my new banjo too.

More Holi Photos

2011-03-21T18:35:00.001-07:00

My first video in a while

2011-03-21T18:17:00.001-07:00

... a little exercise for my advanced multimedia class. I thought I'd share it with y'all.
Click Here to see it

2011-03-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I photographed the Hindu celebration Holi, which celebrates the beginning of spring and the arrival of colors back into nature. Each person had a bag of colored powder which they rubbed onto each others faces. I'm posting one of my favourite photos from the shoot, but I may post some later as well.

2011-03-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

While driving to Ithaca to do some documentary project research I saw these birds flying back to the north for the spring.

This bird was having some trouble getting in the air, most likely because he had a stick up his butt.

Elderly Workers

2011-03-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

A piece from the project I finished last quarter on elderly workers.

I promise more updates more frequently this quarter!

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

... or lovers appreciation day or singles awareness day or whatever y'all like to call it.

Ice Fishing Derby

2011-02-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

Polar Plunge 2011

2011-02-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

More Ice Fishing

2011-02-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

This project will be coming to a close within the week.

A student photojournalist's bucket list

2011-02-08T11:22:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking of posting this for a while now, of things I've done/ wanted to do as a photojournalist, and things I ultimately will help me (as well as you) be a better and more educated photographer.

- Live Off Campus- you understand and have access to a place much more if you are actually living there. How convenient to have your subjects/ contacts as your neighbors?

- Go to Church or Volunteer- I have found 75% of my photo stories by asking people at my church- they are more involved in the community than I am and have lived in the area longer. Even if you don't normally go to church it would be a good idea to adopt one, or if you are uncomfortable with that, find an organization that you believe in to volunteer with. Who knows? The church or organization may make a good story in itself.

- Get at Least One Internship Before Your Junior Year- Time and time again I see juniors/ seniors who have good portfolios get rejected from good internships because they have no previous newspaper experience. If you get an unpaid internship at your local paper, you'll not only get amazing experience, but you'll have some street cred in the photojournalism world.

- Go On a Ride-Along With A Local Police Officer- I actually just did this yesterday, and it was relatively easy to set up, I just called the City's police department. It was a great experience too, you have a good opportunity to shoot breaking news because you'll be the first to arrive on scene, and see life from a police officer's perspective.

- Photograph Sports with Lights- It's hard the first time, but after that, everything looks awesome.

- Adopt a Neighborhood- (kind of similar to the live off campus)- now I haven't done this, but a lot of my friends have, and this is a great exercise to get contacts and to simply be in a community for an extended period of time.

- Keep a List of Possible Shoots/ Photographing Possibilities - I started a list like this the summer after my second year at RIT, and am amazed how easy it made shooting features/ shooting for myself. I would find ideas for shoots online, or by asking people I knew if they knew any interesting things going on. Sometimes, I'd miss a yearly event by a week or a month, and write it on the list to come back to it later.

-Shoot at Least Twice A Week Regardless of if you Have Assignments- This is pretty self-explanatory, not enough people photograph for themselves, and no one photographs as much as they should. Set a weekly quota to keep yourself accountable.

-Photograph Things that are Outside Your Comfort Zone- Because you'll be doing that all the time at a newspaper or as a freelancer. And, you'll have a way more diverse portfolio, and you'll most likely learn things along the way.

- Photograph for a Whole Day With Your Least-Used Lens- James Patterson, one of the photographers at the Valley News, gave me this challenge while looking for a standalone on a quiet day at the newspaper this fall. I never use a 200mm lens, so I grabbed mine and went to find an assignment that would lend itself to a 200mm lens. I went to the nearby aquatic center and photographed a man who swims miles every day at the pool, and shot it all with the long lens. It taught me to see differently, and it certainly got me out of my 24mm lens shooting rut.

There are definitely more that I'm not thinking of right now, so once these come to mind, I may post a part two.

Ice Fishing

2011-01-31T10:07:00.003-08:00

This Weekend

2011-01-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

Because I've been away in Vermont/ Rochester/ Erie for so long, it was time for me to go visit Jeff and his family- I flew in on Thursday and certainly haven't been lazy- Jeff and I made a box for me to put letters from him in, and I printed most of my What We Do Show entries for school while he worked on Saturday.

You can check out a detail photo of the box on Jeff's Blog

I'll be shooting a ton of Ice Fishing/Elderly Workers things this week/ next week, so this was kind of my last break before the craziness starts.

Another for the Archives: Nutcracker 2010

2011-01-17T15:59:00.001-08:00

From the Archives: Tourists, Quechee Gorge, Fall 2010

2011-01-16T19:58:00.001-08:00

Ice Fishing: Day 1

2011-01-16T18:41:00.001-08:00

2011-01-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

For my first post of the New Year, which, being 15 days into 2011, is starting a bad habit already for not posting as much as I should. I have a couple of shoots from this year that I will be posting soon, including photos from the two projects I am working on back at RIT, but for now, I'm posting three photographs that were either published or shot in the past two months or so, but I just haven't gotten around to posting.

Views from My Office

2010-12-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

For the past four months I've spent roughly 4 hours a day in my car, not only driving to work, but working, looking for standalones, driving to faraway assignments, and going on day trips on my days off. I've listened to NPR, the occasional country music station, and hip hop when I am deep in the country, eaten most of my meals in the car, looked unsuccessfully for moose, and talked to people on the phone. I've made hundreds of u-turns, and almost as many stops at the gas station, as I have driven 11,000 miles since September. I've only gotten one ticket up here, and changed the oil twice.

I've seen some really neat things along the way, some that I didn't get to photograph, others, that I did take a quick shot of and now am compiling on the blog. All of these photos shown were taken from my car within the past four months. The last one in the collage was taken today.

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

I worked on Christmas Day this year, the first time I've been away from home on this day, and I think I made the most of it. I worked most of the morning until early afternoon, photographing a bustling ski resort and a large community dinner, then headed to the Bassettes' home, where I enjoyed some venison tenderloin and then went sledding. Finished the night with a goose dinner at Laura's mother's home, which was built in the late 1700's, and now am pretty tired.

2010-12-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Woodstock Girls varsity hockey game.

2010-12-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

The horse farm where I work.

2010-12-07T13:01:00.001-08:00

Caught in a wave of Nutcracker rehearsals and things like that.

New Post and Contest Winner

2010-12-05T12:02:00.001-08:00

The winner of the contest from the other week is Brendan- he gets my Batman photo from the Polar Plunge :).

Christmas is Coming

2010-11-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

#300

2010-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

(An old photo from the summer)

Because this past week was Thanksgiving, I'm gonna extend the deadline of the giveaway to this Wednesday- if you don't have a particular choice as far as photograph I can always pick one for you, and you are welcome to comment on this post or the previous as your entry.

Visit, and a giveaway

2010-11-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

Jeff came to visit this weekend- we dyed my hair, watched a couple of movies, went to portland to see the ocean, witnessed a very awkward conversation in a bar involving squash, made up a couple of new songs, played on a playground in West Lebanon, shared the back seat with a couple of old movie theater seats when driving with James and Amelia, and we snuck into the Mt. Washington hotel and snooped around.

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I don't ever do giveaways, as this is mainly just a photo blog, but because my next post is my 300th, I figured it would be pretty sweet to do something.

So, to celebrate, I'm going to give away an 8 x 10 matted print to the winner of the giveaway. The deadline is Thursday, and I'll pick the winner out of a hat, and send you your print :D

So all you need to do is comment on this post along with which photo on my blog (or website: sarahpriestap.com) you would like if you would win.

Good luck!

2010-11-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to process the deer.

2010-11-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

As I was reorganizing one of my harddrives, I found this gem in a folder of 2009 thanksgiving photos I never bothered to look at after I took them. It's fun seeing how I've changed photographically, and how though my family gets older, we always manage to stay the same.

Hunting: Edit 1

2010-11-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth loads her gun before she hikes to hunt.

Justice, Kathryn, and Elizabeth unload their guns after the first hunt of the day, a spot a mile behind their house.

Matthew and Justice on the swings with the deer Matthew shot the day before.

Elizabeth and Kathryn rest between hunts.

More of the Bassettes....

2010-11-07T14:14:00.001-08:00

2010-11-07T14:06:00.001-08:00

The Rivendell girls' soccer team surrounds their teammate Brianna Wood after she scored the winning goal in triple overtime during the Rivendell versus Arlington girls soccer for the Vermont State Championship game at Proctor High School field. Rivendell won in triple overtime 2-1.
Valley News - Sarah Priestap

2010-11-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Started my new F front today on a family of homeschooled kids that all hunt together- today they took recess to play in the woods.

2010-10-31T15:36:00.001-07:00

Soccer photos from the other day in Hanover, NH. Thanks James for the edit.

2010-10-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

2010-10-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

2010-10-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Because today is Friday, the day where i'm not taking pictures or cleaning stalls, I drove to Middlebury with the sole purpose of getting myself some of their super limited edition pumpkin Cider at Woodchuck, and then took a tour of the plant. I took some photos on the way back too.

2010-10-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Driving around looking for stand alones today- I found these kids swinging. The girl definitely didn't want to have her swing messed with.

2010-10-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Progress Update and Website Info

2010-10-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just updated my Website, which now includes my butcher project in its infant stage- which includes a few repetitious photos that I still can't decide between. I also added a couple new singles, and took a few old ones away.

The past two weeks, I've felt kind of stagnant, like I haven't been pushing myself hard enough, or looking at enough of other people's work. I've set some goals for myself in the next couple of weeks, especially since we are beginning to hit hammer time for internship deadlines- especially the big guns (Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times, Virginian Pilot, etc, etc). I want to expand my current story, as well as work on my new one on the family tradition of deer hunting.

Goals for my current story:

I have plenty butchering photos of Chet and his son as well as the VT mobile processing unit. Now, I need better photos of Chuck teaching the gang to butcher. I also need photos of the slaughter classes in a few weeks, and some photos of buthchers at home, their overbooked calenders, etc. I have two shoots planned for this week, one for next week, and hopefully more to come.

I think I also need to polish my singles to the point where I am happy with all of them 100%. I am happy with them on an individual level at this point, but I want them all to flow together when in my portfolio.

2010-10-20T16:49:00.001-07:00

Jeff came to visit me this week. We met up with Ian for his birthday, then went to a dive bar to play darts. We were all terrible at it.

It's Starting to Come Along....

2010-10-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

My in-progress story on the changing face of the meat processing business in the Upper Valley- I've been photographing a lot and thinking a lot, and both will hopefully get me somewhere...