Dreaming of Soufflé

(Above: Anthony’s favorite picture; a young girl’s reaction to the fetal pig she is assigned to dissect. Soufflé says the emotion in the image is raw and self explanatory, something that you are lucky to capture. That’s why he considers it his favorite.)

Anthony Soufflé is a talented and enthusiastic young photojournalist who has worked for various news publications all over the country. In an enlightening 30 minute interview I held with him he let me pick his brain about why he loves what he does, what really matters to employers in the world of photojournalism, what in his opinion makes the best kind of photograph, and much more.

Anthony earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Illinois, where he is currently working on his graduate degree. After completing five internships at various publications all over the country including his most recent internship with the Colorado Springs Gazette, he is headed to Augden, Utah to work as a staff photographer for the Standard Examiner. Anthony strongly recommends internships to photography students. He states, “Internships are going to let them know that you can hack it in the real world, you're not going to flake out on deadlines, you can cover spot news; that they’re not going to have to baby sit you.”

Many people’s definition of journalism is limited to people who write for a living; perhaps news reporters rushing around trying to write the next big exposé of the week, or a handsome, well groomed man with a microphone at the scene of a crime. What many people do not realize is that journalism comes in many forms; one of which uses a camera as its tool for telling stories in a way that is unique among others. Anthony explains, “I consider myself a journalist because the thing I enjoy most is telling stories. I enjoy getting to meet new people every day, getting to know them and getting to share in their experiences. I really think that's my favorite thing about this. I get to hang out and do things that no one else would ever really get to do except the people I'm photographing”.

Anthony likes the spontaneity of his job; and when he has no specific assignments for the day, he loves the thrill of finding the perfect opportunity for a photograph. On this he says, “I keep a change of khakis, dress shoes and a shirt and tie in the trunk of my car, because i have no idea if they're going to send me to the zoo to photograph a baby elephant that was born or if I’m going to a funeral. On [the days without an assignment], I can go out and find an interesting picture for the day. That can be a mom and her kid in the park or I’ll go to the wolf sanctuary that they have here in town and ask them if they have anything new going on”. This is one appeal of photojournalism to those souls who would rather staple their hand to a desk than work inside most of their days.

Being a student for most means constantly thinking about your future careers and the way that employers will perceive you. For all the photography students out there trying to compete, Anthony says that if you’ve got talent, it will come naturally. He says, “I have a lot of friends that worked really hard to try to get that style and to try to get that unique look to their pictures when they were photojournalism students. I think that's just a waste of time. Your style is going to develop”. With the many worries plaguing students in recent times is whether or not they are on the path that’s best for them, perhaps this is advice that can be applied to students inevery field of study; just be yourself.

Quetzal

I am making it a point to blog more than just once a month which has been the usual frequency as of late!

This is going to be a significantly long post compared to my usual blog length. I have so much to tell!

La Senda in Guatemala was such incredible experience that I can not fathom the words to fitfully describe. It will be etched in my heart forever, especially the children that I met there. They all were wonderful in their own beautiful way. Some with hearts like Lions, able to overcome any tragedy that has befallen then during their precious young lives. Others still with scars visible emotionally and physically. All of them with a life inside of them that exceeds that of men and women with ten times their lifetimes lived.

Each day we got up at the crack of dawn (well... it was for us Americans, anyway) to find work around the Children's Home that would keep us busy for that day.. and what an abundance of work to do there was! By the end of the trip we had moved (as Martha Lee calculated) 650 cubic feet of dirt and painted over countless tiny hand prints lining the walls. Each evening when the kids got out of classes we spent as much time as we could getting to know them all, playing games, and going to quiet prayer time.

I really grew attached to one little girl who I think grew attached to me too. Yeny was absolutely the most precious, amazing, funny, wonderful girl I had ever met. We would sit quietly together in quiet time every evening for a few minutes before going outside to play. That time was really a precious little moment that I will never forget, and it really put life in perspective for me. The whole experience did.

All the girls seemed to be fascinated by Brandon. I would always see them running up to him to ask him questions and giggling their little heads off.

The lives of these people, not only those who lived at the children's home, but those living in the surrounding city of Sumpango, were so radically different from mine. Their main concern was the survival of their family and all other things fell away. They did not notice when a new blockbuster movie came out and they didn't watch CNN. If they did have a tv it came on once a year to show the world futbol cup. Their world was what they saw around them. Their lives depended on how many avocados they could grow that year.

There were three gigantic volcanoes looming over the city of Sumpango. You could see them very well from the back yard of the children's home. Also, when we visited the town of Antigua, you could clearly see the monstrous volcano that had recently erupted, causing the deaths of many Guatemalans. Thankfully, it seemed that the rubble from the natural disasters had been mostly cleared and the most that remained to be seen from the roads were tall piles of ash and some small rock slides.

In Antigua I had my first experience with the people of the market, who were the most aggressive salesmen I have been solicited by since Mary Kay (especially if they knew you were American, which of course was obvious haha). Once I expressed interest in buying a necklace from one woman, what seemed like fifty of them swarmed on me, practically throwing their crafts at me. They followed us around the square until finally giving up on me, with very unhappy faces.

The last night at La Senda was an emotional evening, although we had only been on the compound for a few days. I realized that we had to leave the next morning and I would not re-unite with these people until next year.

They are all watching the World Cup and so am I, thinking of them every game. Especially my little Victor, the coolest kid I have ever met.

Transcontinental

I am officially going to Guatemala in a week and a half! I get to spend some time with some precious little childrens who live in a children's home and help them complete various tasks around the infrastructure that need to be completed. It is going to be one of the highlights of my summer so far! The children who live there (La Senda) are court-appointed children who come from either abusive or neglectful homes, or no homes at all, as I understand it. I believe currently their ages range from seven to seventeen years old. We are bringing toys and clothes to the young ones and

other various objects in attempt brighten their little lives.. and will be teaching some lessons and playing games with the young ones.

above is a picture from a previous trip that I have stolen of a boy that lives there named Gerson.

After spending a few days at La Senda, we will visit the beautiful city of Antigua where we will shop and eat for a while and check out the gorgeous Jade jewelry that is available for a good price. I love Jade jewelry so this is one (lesser) thing I am looking forward to doing while in Guatemala.

I can't wait to see their little faces. I have a list of their names and have imagined what they are like....

In other news, I am finally moving out again. My friend Erin and I found a townhouse and we promptly fell in love with it's little fenced-in mini-backyard and fireplace den. We move in on the 28th of June and are looking forward to having our first house warming party! It is going to be an extremely beneficial move for me since I will be closer to not only school and everything else I visit on a regular basis but also right down the road from the interstate so I can get to the city for bellydance class and such.

By The Way..... bellydance class at the little 5 studio has been entirely amazing so far. The perimeter studio was great, but there is something about this little studio, and that something is probably Dujana!! One of the best teachers I have seen thus far. My friends and I adore her and her day-brightening personality.

Many have given strange looks when they hear the word 'bellydance', and it's no wonder because it has, over the years, been thoroughly skankified by hollywood and it's popular image. It happens that it actually originated as a folk dance which would prepare the body's core muscles for child birthing (they didn't have the super pain-killers we have today), and was also used as a form of entertainment; but nothing really like the 'harem-sluts' that we see in movies.

It has been one of the most confidence-boosting, muscle-bending and fun experiences I have had lately. Plus it is fun to skate over to one of the bars or restaurants in the area after class is finished and celebrate.

until next tea time

Indomitable

Hello blog!

It has officially been over a year since I've written you. I suppose I was caught up in such a whirlwind of life experiences that I found myself having next to no time to remember to tell you... yes, this is my poor excuse. Since the last time I've written, worlds of changes have occurred. Such as life. I have gone, in just one year, on countless adventures and changed in ways that I never imagined I would. Yes, if I dare say, in just this past year since my last post, I have changed more than possibly any year in my lifetime.

I have made every effort to plunge myself into any and every form of mischief that extended it's invitation to me (yes, even some arguably stupid ones), and thus discovered that doing so is the fastest and easiest way to learn things. I've slept on the stomping ground of black bears; literally and figuratively. I have given way to change; no longer fearing it, but now craving and even inviting it. Where life once seemed like an average two-and-a-half star picture, it all at once seemed a grand adventure fit for Don Quixote himself.

Do I feel like this every day? If I did, I'd probably be somewhere wrestling some sort of amphibious reptile or getting some obvious part of me irreparably inked with the words of great minds. Fortunately, this hopeful, adventurous spirit that I never could subdue and that I for so long denied is a tame whisper unless summoned as of late. It has, however, been flaring up and distracting me from my scholarly duties from time to time. It also feels the need to convince me that I am trapped in the house of my fore-bearers. Like a wild cat it claws at the back of my mind until I become restless; convinced of my entrapment, all reason is eventually lost. The fact that remaining at home until I graduate is the more economically sound and logically conducive option is squelched with more furor than the devil hath.

So now that my extreme dramatization of my life is complete...

I should mention that one of the highlighted events of my life as of recent was a most exciting trip to a wonderful film festival in Athens put on by Robert Osbourne (AMC owner) in which my colleagues in the Cinema Society and I enjoyed with rapture and awe. We watched many great classic films such as "Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid (possibly my favorite of the trip), Stand By Me (which I should probably mention was followed by an interview with Corey Feldman himself), Double Indemnity, a midnight showing of The Shining and more. It was a great time...

All I am hoping for and putting my energies towards is finishing the semester with grades that are better than devastating.

and as always, "I get by with a little help from my friends".

Over and Out.