Bannack State Park - Bannack, MT

Eddie & I visited Bannack State Park for the first time this past weekend. Bannack, once a thriving gold mining town, is one of the best preserved ghost towns. The town was acquired by the state in the 50s I believe but it still had year-round residents until 1975 with summer residents until 1983. This is probably one of the reasons why it is so well preserved. You can walk through most of the buildings and one of the park rangers even let us into one of the locked buildings. The ranger also mentioned that it's very dry in that particular area with very little snow which probably also helps the condition of the buildings. Thousands once lived in Bannack, each hoping to strike it rich with the nearly pure gold found in the Grasshopper River behind the town. While most gold ranks at 80-90% pure, some of the gold found in Bannack rated at 99.5% pure - as pure as refined gold.This is a pic of the valley, taken near the town cemetery which is on a hill that overlooks the town:

The Uniform Project - One Girl, One Year, One Dress

I came across this project today in which one girl, who was raised in India and wore the mandated uniform to public school, just finished a year-long project to wear the same dress for an entire year. Actually, I think she had 7 dresses, one for each day, but the dresses were identical. She completed her outfit each day with vintage, hand-me-down, borrowed, and other used (sustainable) items to make a unique outfit each day. While doing this, she raised money for supplies, uniforms, and education for children living in slums in India. Check out this slideshow of photographs of each outfit from the entire year. There goes my "I don't have anything to wear" excuse!

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

A Sunday Poem: “Making A Fist” – Naomi Shihab Nye

I came across this blog post today by James Pomerantz, author of A Photo Student blog. The post is a beautiful poem along with a beautiful image by Michal Chelbin. I love Michal Chelbin's photography and it's especially fitting for the poem, so I thought I'd share his post with you.

A Sunday Poem: “Making A Fist” – Naomi Shihab Nye

Graduation Day!

Today marked the final ritual for my B.A. in Photography from the School of Film & Photography from Montana State University - graduation! This was me earlier today, waiting to "walk the line". It was actually pretty fun to sit and chat with my friends while waiting for the ceremony to start and the the final handing over of the degree (cover) was a nice bit of closure for the past four years. The real degree will apparently be in the mail at some point in the future. :)

I Heart America Exhibit

Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling pretty bad and with my throat feeling all swollen and sore. I set up my panels for the one night only MSU Senior Photography Thesis Show and then headed home to rest. Throughout the afternoon, I just started feeling worse and worse. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand there and talk to people about my work so I had to make the decision to stay home. Major bummer! My husband even went to break down the exhibit for me last night since I ended up in bed around 9:15. So, last night was the final time my work was exhibited as a student, and I wasn't even there to enjoy it! I'm hoping to feel better by the end of the week so I can attend graduation and feel the closure I'm hoping for. :)

Finished!

As of 4:15 this afternoon, I have officially completed all of the formal requirements for my B.A. degree in photography! After four more years of school, off and on self-doubt as to my ability to pursue this passion, and lots and lots of hours spent in both the black & white darkroom and the digital lab, I'm happy to see the end of this phase of my life.

Being in an academic environment for photography is so much different than just chatting with friends who like photography. There are both good and bad things about the academic environment, but overall I am extremely glad to have made the decision to get a degree in photography rather than simply self-teaching. Although the second option is more than sufficient for some, spending four years studying and practicing photography in a formal environment has been very beneficial for me. Now that I will not have regular formal critiques for my work, I will need to work to find similar constructive and honest feedback. I want to make sure I continue to push myself just as much as I have in the past four years. When I look back at my work from four years ago and compare it to my current work, the improvements I have made are glaringly obvious. I hope and pray that in four more years I can look back and say the same.

I Heart America

( © 2010 Leslie McDaniel)

At last...my project focusing on Americana has been edited down and is ready for showing! The project took a bit of a turn, which I kind of expected, from where I started. The work is now a collection of images that represents my personal homage to the iconography of mid-century Americana. Although the project is considered "completed" for my senior project, I do consider it a work in progress since it's something I would like to continue. The images that "made the cut" so to speak are different than most of the images I have put on the blog so far, so if you should come by the Montana State University Senior Photography Exhibition on Monday, May 3 at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, MT to check out the complete work!