Grizzlies Week

As you might be aware the Grizzlies closed out their Western Conference Round 1 game against the Spurs Saturday night winning 4 games to 3. Last week there were 2 home games and here are some of the images I took during that week.

DRAG'N FROZEN TREATS

[ COURT SQUARE ] This is Sam wheeling around his custom made frozen treat cart the first day he was open for business earlier this week. He was selling Lemon Sorbet, Snickers ice cream bars, Klondike bars, and frozen lemonade. He even asked what sort of things I wanted to see him sell because he would change it up frequently. Look for him out and about today. See a photo of the lemon sorbet I ordered here.

MEET TOMMY

Today, we introduce you to the one and only Tommy Kha.

THE SCOOP Born and raised in Memphis, Tommy is receiving his BFA in Photography in just two weeks and has just been accepted to Yale University to pursue his MFA in Photography. He’ll be studying under great photographers/artists such as Tod Papageorge, Richard Benson, Philip Lorca diCorcia, and Gregory Crewdson. Here’s what he says about his work:

I believe whenever I'm photographing that I am performing for it, others are performing for my camera, even buildings! Documentary, staging and performance are important to my work because I believe in multiple ways to approaching truths and realities because I am multifaceted. I'm Chinese but also American and I'm from the South. Whether my work speaks of one or another, what I want my photography to confirm and subvert is the cultural differences that we have inherited.

PHOTOS The photos shown above are taken from several great collections he’s documented for his BFA work, friends, and Live From Memphis. They truly look like scenes from a movie.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS His genuine love for Memphis will bring him back often enough to contribute incredible photos for this project. Although he doesn’t necessarily call his work street photography, he’ll approach it with a documentary style and will look to works from Goldin, Alec Soth and Amy Stein whenever he’s photographing people and landscape.

LINKS Web / Blog / Twitter

MEET SOPHORN

Today (or tonight rather), I’m reluctantly introducing myself. I’m Sophorn McRae *chirp, chirp* and I honestly don’t know what else to say but that I feel like Mr. Brainwash among a group of Banksies letting me tag along and watch them work. Since none of them would volunteer to start a street photography blog, I took on the task to showcase Memphis through their talents.

THE SCOOP My full time passion is design – architecture, interiors, and graphics. Photography I would consider artistic instant gratification. I first used photographs to have nice artwork for the wall but soon saw much more potential. Since starting a blog on design and Memphis two years ago, I used photographs to support the story; and since starting this blog, I understand that a beautiful photograph can extend the image of the city much farther than we realize.

PHOTOS The photos shown above are taken in Cambodia, my home country, and in various, mostly kid friendly, places around Memphis.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS Still trying to understand the definition of street photography, I personally define it much like I approach architecture. People activate the space. I could not see photographing a place without photographing the interaction people have with their environment or with each other.

LINKS Blog / Flickr / Twitter

MEET SEAN

Today, we introduce you to the highly respected Sean Davis. My introduction to Sean was through our mutual friend Billie Worley, who said, “I can’t believe you guys don’t already know each other. His work is amazing.” I soon became a part of his fan base. The respect, especially within the artistic community, is well-deserved.

THE SCOOP Speaking of having a cinematic eye, Sean spends most of his creative time looking through a movie camera. He is a camera assistant on film and television projects here in Memphis. Some notable projects he’s worked on include Craig Brewer's “Black Snake Moan” movie and $5 Cover MTV series, the 80's punk rock movie recently shot in Memphis “Losers Take All,” and “Memphis Heat.” As he is working on these projects, he naturally takes the on-set still photographs, providing behind-the-scenes documentation and interesting portraits of the crew who are usually behind the camera.

PHOTOS The photos shown above were some of the ones I discovered when searching for the perfect images that represent the genuine vibe of Memphis. Some of these images have also won over the editors and followers of the Commercial Appeal’s Capture Memphis photography site.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS Sean’s ability to capture candid shots and his passion for architectural and landscape photography make him ideal for this project. Though he has some nice camera gear, he’ll also surprise us with some amazing shots with his iPhone photography using the Instagram and the Hipstamatic filters.

LINKS Web / Blog / Flickr / Twitter

MEET MELISSA

Today, we introduce you to the incomparable Melissa Anderson Sweazy.

PHOTOS The photos shown above represent a storyteller’s view of the world.  Her work as a whole possesses an honest sense of humor and general adoration for life, both the good and sometimes frustrating moments. As both a well-respected writer and photographer, Melissa also has future hopes as a film director, where all these skills will surely culminate into something even more captivating.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS Before she makes her grand directorial debut, Melissa and her cinematic eye will be contributing images to this project in various locations around Memphis. Where ever these may be, Memphis will certainly be a stage for the interesting stories that have yet to be told.

Melissa just had a beautiful new baby boy Declan. Congratulations to Melissa, Caleb, and big sister Harlow.

LINKS Web / Blog / Twitter

GRIT, GRIND, GRIZZ

These are shots from the the downtown experience of the Grizzlies' first home playoff game in five years.  The downtown spirit was amazing-- strangers hugging and high fiving all over the place.  Nothing like a scrappy, strong-willed sports team to bring a city together.  Grizzlies are up 2-1 now, with game 4 at the FedExForum on Monday.  Go Grizz!

MEET DIRK

Today, we introduce you to the always inspiring Dirk Olsen.

THE SCOOP It’s hard to get the scoop on the nicest, most humble person there could possibly be. Dirk never wants to talk about himself. He wants to know about you, and I have to give him credit for how much I’ve learned recently about photography and modeling. He'd rather talk about his work, portrait photography, creating beautiful images of people, and how rewarding that is helping people see the beauty in themselves. Always wary of labels, he does agree the one label that can be used to describe his work is edgy, which speaks to his vision to producing work more forward than most people are used to seeing. This is one of the main reasons I’m excited to have him still here in Memphis rather than some other much more urban city shooting for this project. One more interesting piece of information about Dirk is that he worked as a model while getting into photography. Friend and fellow photographer/contributor Melissa Sweazy says this about him - “Having once been on the other side of the camera as a model, Dirk possesses an artist's gift at putting his own subjects at ease and the craftsmen's ability of elevating the beautiful to the sublime.” / You can read more about his published work here.

PHOTOS Although most people who know Dirk are familiar with his studio controlled lighting portraits, Dirk has immense talent in shooting with natural light in locations such as those shown above – Cooper-Young, Downtown Madison Ave, Midtown, and Shelby Farms.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS Based on the shots taken for LuvMud shown above, you can expect to see his street photography to focus on people, catching the right moment and their emotion. You will probably find him shooting the streets of midtown and downtown.

LINKS/DETAILS Web / Email [ dcophoto at gmail dot com ] / You can say hello to him Wednesday through Saturday at Memphis Photo Supply.

MEET CHIP

Today, we introduce you to the humbly talented Chip Chockley. After mentioning the pressure he felt being among such talented photographers, he then joked that he needed someone to explain what the “P” mode on his camera meant.

THE SCOOP You probably know him best as the Memphis Rock-n-Romp official photographer but may not have known about the photography that he’s done for multiple publications such as Memphis Health+Fitness, Edible Memphis, Memphis Parent, Commercial Appeal, and Memphis Magazine which he credits to writer Stacey Greenberg. Chip got his college degree in philosophy with a minor in music from University of Memphis. After a couple of years waiting tables and playing in bands such as Garrison Starr and Native Son, he attended law school and has been practicing law for 10 years now, primarily civil litigation. Practicing law and having two kids, Connor and Chloe, sort of wreaked havoc on his music career ~ “I just had a hard time finding the time for band practices and late night gigs in smoky bars. Photography sort of filled that artistic void for me, and it was much more compatible with my life.”

PHOTOS Those shown above are various example shots he's taken around the country, again a little taste of what his street photography style has to offer, clean and context driven.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS Chip works downtown during the week so his street photography will mostly document downtown life during a vibrant workday. His passion for food photography mixed in with the street context will produce many mouthwatering shots of people eating at various sidewalk patios, on the go, and soon from regularly stationed food trucks.

LINKS Web / Flickr / Facebook / Twitter / Email

MEET AMY

Each day, we’ll introduce you to one of the contributors, all of whom are producing incredible photography in Memphis, and today, we introduce you to the unarguably fun and talented Amy Dale.

PHOTOS Those shown above are just a small selection of her current work as a wedding and portrait photographer that reveal her secret passion for photojournalistic street photography.

SPECIFIC TO SEEN MEMPHIS As a downtown Memphis resident, Amy has gotten to know the unknown characters of downtown. Her work for this project will give you an intimate look into those that may otherwise go unnoticed.

LINKS Web / Facebook / Twitter

HELLO

Nikon N75, 28mm, F4.5, ISO 800 film

HELLO MEMPHIS  This blog is for you. The world is watching us whether we are looking our best or not, but you know something, we don't need to put on an appearance of cool or charming. We are cool and charming.  Memphis is genuine, and we hope to show that in our love for the city and its people who make it genuine.

Read more on the blog's origin here.

PHOTO  Downtown South Main / Mr. Cory, the friendliest (and cutest) trolley driver you'll see, passing by just after he said hello to me. He's also my four year old Atticus' favorite trolley driver, and for the longest time, he has requested a photo of Mr. Cory that I finally timed just right.

UPCOMING  Individual introductions to the contributors showcasing their current work and what we may expect to see from them here on this blog. We hope you check back often.