Salkehatchie Summer Service Week 1

So, last night I left my computer at the church I am working with this week, but I got it this morning and here I am to put up my first post on this blog.

So, for those of you who don't know what Salkehatchie is, the Salkehatchie Summer Service project is a camp that was started by a pastor working with some youth one summer trying to find something to occupy their time. the solution? Helping with home repairs for people who were underprivileged.

Now over 30 years later, Salkehatchie Summer Service has grown from one camp down in the lower-state of South Carolina to a growing state-wide phenomenon that over 2900 youth and adults will participate in this summer. Each camp is one week long, from Saturday to Saturday, and each camp's participants come from all over the state.

Our church has attended the camp in Summerville, South Carolina for the past 4 years, and I have gone each year. This year was a little different though because I was the "official" photographer for the camp. The reason I did this was because I have (obviously) recently become quite skilled and quite involved with photography, and I felt that the way that I could best help the camp was to document everything. At the same time I took it upon myself to try and get some really good shots that could become posters to promote Salkehatchie Summer Service next year, because the camp is growing and, well, let's face it, they need a new PR strategy (they don't really have much of anything in the way of marketing right now).

So, I set out to take some pictures that I though could be used as ads, and I am rather happy with what I managed to get.

This is the first one that I came up with, and I realize that it is not the best poster style ad. (It doesn't show anyone doing work, just playing.) While it is a cool picture, it doesn't really show what the camp is about, and the word play with the volleyball lingo, while creative, is not exactly compelling, because he isn't serving the ball. My original idea with this ad was a 2 page magazine type of ad, where you see the first part of the ad, and then when you flip a few more pages you see the other part that makes the whole ad come together, but it didn't work out because I wasn't going around with a group of models posing them the way that I wanted - I was getting candids and trying to use what I could to get an awesome shot. But, I liked the idea for the ad, and it was actually while I was playing around with this picture in photoshop that I finally had a breakthrough in design and discovered my own way of post-processing photos to give them a more "ad/poster" type of feel.

I may go into detail later about how I do one of the posters, but for now, I am going to keep my technique to myself ;p

So anyway, I got that picture on the first day and I got excited about what the following week would bring. My second picture came on the next day, and I have been told that it is similar to some older (50's-ish maybe?) style ads from back in the day.

I really like the post that I did on this one. It is more "new-age" and "video-game" looking than the later ads, but I like them all just the same.

I was having a good run, two days in and two ads, but then I hit a kind of wall. I did get a shot that I thought was good on Day 2, but I was a little too far to the left, and it was more risque than an ad promoting a church event should be (you can use your imagination because I am not going to post that one, well at least not in this post, and well, maybe you shouldn't use your imagination too much ;D) But then on Day 4 I somehow got re-inspired and had a case of being in the right place at the right time. I produced two ads from Day 4, and then on Day 5 I got another one.

I really like this one a lot, but after I finished it I was still feeling a little down because Salkehatchie camps are all about youth coming and serving God. So far all I had produced was a group of early 20 year olds playing volleyball, and two adults working. While they were all good pictures, they weren't really pictures that would bring many youth in, which is really the prime marketing target. But, as I was relooking at the day's pictures and trying to find one that I though would bring in youth, I did! (yay! haha)

And on Day 5 I got one with two people in it (this is actually a remake of the "rejected" ad that I got on Day 2, it wasn't this exact composition, but it was a shingling picture). I think that it is always good to get more than one person in them, but it is sometimes hard to do, especially when you are trying to have candid shots and not pose people too much.

In closing, I guess that I would like to say that I hope I get a chance to see some of these pictures that I am taking this week and last week as some posters that people actually use for promoting Salkehatchie, and who knows, there may even be a Salkehatchie PR role somewhere in my future ;) but we will just have to see where it goes, and be praying that it goes where God wants it too, since it is a church camp and all :)

Look for updates on the camp I am working at this week too,

-joshua

The first Salk post...

So, I said that I would try to post every other day at Salk, and that has proven to be a bit difficult. I don't get internet in the room that I am in...and I am worn out when the day is over.

I have some time this morning to post because currently I am filling in for the person that runs the Runner's desk (like the central command station for getting supplies out to all the sites) so I am going to take a little time, while it is still quiet on the radios (and of course as I type this the radio calls start...) and explain a little about Salk.

I think that some of the first posts on this blog, which date back to last year, are about last year's Salk, or perhaps it is now two years ago, not exactly sure. But at any rate, Salkehatchie Summer Service is a United Methodist Church ran outreach program that I have been going to for 6 years now. Each summer, hundreds of youth and adults from around the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and now some of Florida volunteer to go to a different part of the state and help build/repair housing for underprivileged families. This is a wonderful experience and perhaps the thing that I will remember most about my childhood.

And so, I am making a documentary this year about the Salkehatchie experience. Filming did go pretty well yesterday, and while I have a lot of filming left to do before this thing becomes a movie, I think that I am on the right path.

I don't really have much more to say, I am working on some stuff, but nothing is ready to go up yet, and I don't know if things will be ready by Friday (the last day of camp) but we will see. If I get something worth blogging about, then I will do so, but otherwise, next post will be back at home!

-joshua

Salkehatchie Summer Service Week 2

Well, two weeks of Salkehatchie almost killed me, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

It was really fun, and I had a great time getting to know 80 brand new people the second week at a new camp. I did more working at the Greenwood camp than I did down in Summerville, but I did end up getting two more good pictures.

I am about to leave on a trip to Hawaii for a week, so I don't really have much to say except I am glad that I will finally have some down time to rest. But I know that I will still be taking a ton of pictures, and I am ok with that haha.

I will be sure to share my trip with y'all when I get back, or, if I find a way to while I am there, then I will put out some updates there.

So, until next week,

-joshua

It's been a busy couple of weeks...

So, I did this post mainly to let people know that I am still here, and I am working on some things, but I have been pretty busy recently trying to make sure that I don't forget anything for the upcoming project that I am going to be working on next week.

But I wouldn't want to leave people empty handed. I have been really into collage work lately, and I have been experimenting myself with digital collage. I have made one piece that I really like and that I think I am going to continue to make a series out of.

"The Bringer of Fortune" (click for a larger view)

I wanted to post that now without a whole lot of explanation because I don't feel that this is the time for explanation on it. (If someone wants to post questions or thoughts then I will be more than happy to entertain them however.)

I think that I want to work some more with this series and idea, and further develop the idea of the "Myt Fckng O!" and the mythos around him, but before I do that I think that I am going to just explore collage more, and try to find some influences in that area of art.

Now on to the next week...

This week I have been I have been preparing for my upcoming week in Summerville, volunteering to document for a NGO. Among that I have been working 7 hour days at the local museum (my part time summer job, it is only open half the week) so it has been pretty busy trying to get everything ready and make sure that I am packed to go live on a church floor for a week along with all (and I mean ALL) of my computers and camera gear. But it should be a pretty amazing week full of still photography and a video project!

All thing considered, I don't have time to really blog tonight, but I will be blogging at least once every two days while at the camp about the things that I will be doing. I am using this camp next week as a test run for a project that I hope I will be working on all summer next summer for school, documenting, in both still and video photography the efforts of the NGO Salkehatchie. (I will go into greater detail about the Salk camps in my first post tomorrow night.)

So, until tomorrow night,

-joshua