Joan Hutton Landis:: Media, PA portrait session

I received a phone call from Stoneleigh Burnham School - an independent boarding and day school in Greenfield, MA - asking if I could take a portrait of an alumnus of theirs. Joan Hutton Landis is the 2013 recipient of their Distinguished Alumna Award. As the school detailed,

"The Distinguished Alumna Award is presented annually and bestows institutional recognition on one alumna who has distinguished herself in her personal or professional life, in her intellectual pursuits, or in her dedication to service of community, country or society. Joan was nominated and selected to receive the award due to her outstanding (and lengthy) career in the humanities. She began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1977 and founded that school's Department of Liberal Arts, which she chaired until 2009. She taught English Literature and published poetry during her tenure."

I had the opportunity to go down and photograph Joan - in her home - a number of weeks ago. I thought it might be fun to walk you through my session a bit. I wish I had known I was going to make this a bit of a tutorial, because I didn't take any wide shots to show you the environment. But I feel very happy with the final image chosen, which will be used in the SBS's alumni magazine this summer.

When I arrived, Joan and I walked into their sitting room. There were quite a few couches and single chairs. On one long wall there were numerous tall windows with a window seat (would love to have that in my home). Across from that wall was a bookshelf, the opening to the foyer, and a bench of sorts. Along the short wall at one end was a large stone fireplace and along the opposite wall was a couch and some wall hangings, with a window on the right side of the wall.

Joan let me know that people often like to take pictures with the bookshelf in the background. I asked if we could pull the couch away from the bookshelf to give some dimension, and that's where we started. This is one of the first images I took - a nice straight shot of her. But her shoulders were broad and I knew she hadn't yet relaxed in front of the camera.

There was light from the windows on the left side of her face. While I liked this set up, I knew we'd take some with different backgrounds.  We took a bunch more frames of her near the bookshelf, but then I rotated her so the short wall would be behind her. I didn't quite like the distraction of the window, the window frame behind her head, nor the purple behind her on the right, though it did complement the sweater. It was simply too busy.

Here's a similar image, but I was trying to get Joan to lean a bit, so as to get a different angle. Still not there yet.

Then Joan mentioned she had a different top to change into, as I had suggested she have some options. So she changed her sweater, leaving on the black turtleneck. She also mentioned she had a gold necklace on and pulled that out from under the turtleneck. I left her where she was and took another image, not having her lean as much and letting some of the light hit her face a bit more on the left.

We rotated her yet again so she'd be sitting with the opposite short wall behind her - where the fireplace was. In all of the previous images, I was shooting with my 50mm 1.4 lens. I wasn't liking some of the distortion it was creating, and I knew I wanted to be 'closer' to her. I decided at this time to switch out for my fav lens -- my 70-200mm 2.8. I asked Joan to stand and wondered what that would do to the image. While I like this a bit more, I still wasn't satisfied.

I noticed there was a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase near the windows, and stuck it in the background. I knew it'd be blurred out, but knew it'd create some kind of wonder behind her and I asked her to sit again. By now she had warmed up to the camera, and I backed up quite a bit, zoomed in to 200mm and knew - as soon as I looked on the back of my camera - that I had my 'hero' image.

I love that there is some understanding of items behind her, but for all we know, she could be in one of a hundred locations. Behind her to the left is the vase of flowers. Knowing that, you can see the green stems and the pink flowers. It adds a pop of color, but you'd likely not know it was flowers. I love how Joan is the emphasis in this one...clearly the subject of the image. Her shoulders are relaxed and the sweater and necklace are laying nicely. 

I warmed up the image a bit, and this photo has become one of my most favorite images I've ever taken. There is a priceless beauty to this image. And to know a bit of Joan's story - the impact she has had on education - leaves me wishing I knew her better. I know there are so many stories behind her smile - countless lives she's affected, knowledge she's imparted into the lives of young people, and countless people who have likely looked up to her as colleague, boss, role model, teacher, and friend.

Joan and her husband lived in the Middle East for quite a few years before returning to the States in 1967.  Read more of Joan's biography by visiting Penstroke Press. Here's a woman who's surely left her mark on society. 

Joan, it was a pleasure meeting and photographing you. I wish you all the best. Thanks for your significant contribution; you are so very deserving of this fine award from Stoneleigh Burnham. Thanks also to Susanna for setting this up, as well as Pete Chilton - an instructor of mine while at Hallmark - who recommended me for the shoot.

Cairn University:: Student Teachers

In 2004, I graduated from college thinking I was going to be an English teacher. Little did I know that about a year following graduation I'd be working at my alma mater, in the department from which I graduated. Fast forward nine years and I am again working in the School of Education....nothing like coming full circle. My journey has been a whirlwind and there were some transitions along the way, but I am enjoying my job at Cairn University and working alongside the students in the School of Education.

Each semester we publish a prospective teacher brochure, and we include 'biographies' on the students who will graduate with their teaching certificates. It's a resource provided to hundreds of local schools, in hopes that they might be interested in hiring some of our students. Included with each of the bios is a picture of each of the student teachers. It made sense I'd take the pictures, and I had 15 minutes to introduce the brochure, have the students fill out their forms, and take their pictures. Did I mention there were approx. 20 of them? I was so pleased with how they turned out, and asked if I could share their photos with you.

May I introduce to you the next batch of future educators of America?!?

Philadelphia:: Mini Historical Tour

I have made it a personal goal for 2013 to get out more. What that means specifically is open for interpretation, but I live near so many cute towns/cities and am only a 1/2 hour from Philadelphia, and I rarely visit. I also got a smart phone in November and have enjoyed taking snippets of life and capturing them with Instagram. It's forced me to be more creative compositionally, and I've begun to follow complete strangers whose work inspires me. So the goal is quite simple: at least once a month, I want to spend at least a few hours out in a town/city that is near me. So far the list includes: New Hope, Peddlers Village, Newtown, Philadelphia, Manayunk (all in PA), and Princeton, Lambertville (both in NJ). I am hoping for my list to expand, but I figure that's a good place to start.

This past weekend, I took a trip into Philly with the family I live with. The weather was supposed to be warmer than usual for a January day, so we drove down, found great parking, and walked around the Historic District of Philly for a few hours. The kids have been learning about Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin, and so they were excited to see the sites. Our first stop was to see the Liberty Bell; I hadn't been to see the bell since my 5th grade field trip to Philly. Of course, when you're younger, everything seems larger than life, so when I saw the bell this time, it looked so small to me. But there's nothing like sticking 2 cute kids in front of it. They were a bit shy at first, but the posted guard told them they could get a 'prize' if they had their picture taken. Afterward, he gave them each a souvenir card with history of the bell on it.

Then we walked past the Constitution Center, Independence Hall, and the US Mint, and they posed for some pictures along the way.

We also passed the grave of Benjamin Franklin - contained within the Christ Church Burial Ground. We then made our way to see the Betsy Ross House. The house tour was quite informative; it was great to learn about her flag making from a reenactor. She was great with the kids, and showed them different materials Betsy would have used to fill pillowcases. She also showed them how to quickly make a 5-point star, and gave them a star to remember their visit.

We had a super fun visit, and the kids got really excited about each stop we made. With the exception of the Betsy Ross House, most places are free. Tickets are required at some points, but since it was a January day, not many people were there, and we walked right into the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross House. For more info. on what to see, check out this site. There are plenty of informational sites, but this one gives an overview and links to other pages.

Holocaust Education

I met a personal goal as 2012 ended -- I finished my master's degree through Cairn University. I had begun working on in in 2006 (don't judge!). I finished all the coursework in 2009, and only had my thesis to write (at Cairn, it's called an IDP - Instructional Design Project). But life was busy, and in 2010, I resigned from my job to attend photography school. I had high hopes of writing while in school; I soon realized that was a crazy goal! So the IDP kept getting pushed off, and with it went my desire to research for and subsequently write this massive paper.

BUT...I had many people pushing me along to finish it, and in May 2012, when I began working back at the university, I made it a goal to 'get it done'. So throughout the fall semester, I was on a personal quest to finish it. My topic was Holocaust Education, specifically the use of multimedia resources, and it was targeted toward teachers and helping them implement unique ways of teaching the Holocaust to their students.

I first became interested in studying the Holocaust in 8th grade, when my Language Arts teacher did a unit on stereotyping. It was followed by an introduction to the Holocaust, specifically to The Diary of Anne Frank, which is commonly taught during 7th or 8th grade. I don't know specifically what it was about the unit, but I remember being extremely interested in the topic. In the summer of 1998, I had the opportunity to travel with that teacher on a school trip to Russia. It was there that we met Miep Gies, who played a crucial role in hiding Anne Frank's family. Miep was also the one credited with finding Anne's diary, and later presented it to Otto Frank (Anne's father), when he found out about his daughter's passing. Miep later wrote a book about her experience, entitled Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family. Miep passed away in 2010, living to the age of 100. She experienced much and saw some of the major events in the history of our world.

A few years later, I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for the first time. It was incredibly sobering. I went back this past September and the moment I walked into the permanent exhibition, I was greeted by a large picture and a quote on the wall. I do not remember the exact quote, or even which picture was there, but I do remember the instant tears that welled up in my eyes. To think about the devastation of the lives of so many people brings me much sadness. I walked through the museum with a renewed passion for the topic.

While enrolled as an undergraduate student, I wrote lessons on the Holocaust, and was even able to teach a mini unit on the Holocaust in my student teaching experience. One of the most fascinating resources out there is the teaching trunk. Many Holocaust museums offer it as a tool for teachers, and free of charge. Teachers can - essentially - reserve a trunk and have it shipped to their school for a specified time. The trunk is customized for a certain grade level, but most trunks contain books (enough for an entire class), maps, pictures, videos, timelines, and survivors' biographies. I reserved a trunk for my unit while student teaching, and the kids loved it (I got the trunk from the FL Holocaust Museum; see their site for the details of what's typically included in a trunk).

At one time, I thought about going to school to get my Master's in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. I seriously looked at a program at a college in NJ. In not going through with that, I knew long ago that I wanted to write my thesis on this topic. It morphed into the specific topic as I thought about what I wanted to say and the part of its study that I enjoyed the most.

My thesis outlined pairing literature WITH multimedia resources, including videos, pictures, survivor stories, the teaching trunk, and others. I developed a 5-lesson unit that teachers could use to teach introductory material on the Holocaust. It was a long process, and I spent hours preparing the content. It was well worth it in the end. I am glad to have finished, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time on a subject that has become an interest of mine.

I am thankful for some of the leading Holocaust researchers - specifically Samuel Totten - who wrote me on numerous occasions as I had questions about teaching resources. I hope that schools continue to mandate Holocaust education. With many of the remaining survivors passing away, there need to be people committed to telling the stories and preserving the history.

I hope I can continue to explore the topic, and continue to read things that are written related to the topic. There are some dedicated people out there, writing books, resources, and teaching others about the events surrounding this period of our history. May those who have the opportunity to teach it be blessed for their dedication.

I included the following in one of the appendices of my paper:

Never forget...

I cannot forget. I will always remember.

I will remember that Auschwitz is not one but many places. I will remember
that Auschwitz happened. I will remember that there is no escape. And I ask
one thing of you– that you remember Auschwitz clearly.

Remember!

Auschwitz is not a camp or a museum or a memorial or a cemetery.
Auschwitz is an open grave that extends for miles beyond its walls and
fences and its official boundaries. And the remains of the dead are
everywhere.

Millions of men, women, and children were brutally murdered and lie dead
at Auschwitz. You cannot approach or enter without stepping over and upon
their bodies.

The air that you breathe there is their last. What grows there is sustained by
them. The Sola and the Vistula flow among them and over them and carry
them along. The rain there anoints them. The sun there cannot raise them
form their cold or take them out of darkness.

The nature of the beast…

Auschwitz changes things.

From time to time, my wife and daughter go for a walk around the block or
for a drive to the store. I know they’ll be back. But, watching my daughter
wave bye-bye as they disappear around the corner of the house or up the
street, I sometimes grieve for the murdered children of the Holocaust. They,
too, had turned and waved, secure in that simple gesture and certain of their
return.

(From: http://remember.org/educate/afterwrd.html)