Milwaukee Fishing Charter

In my photo essay, I wanted to capture the experience of a fishing charter on Lake Michigan (Milwaukee, WI). The experience of fishing is both relaxing and exciting. You can sit back, relax and leisurely coast along the Milwaukee shoreline with your friends and family on a beautiful summer day. You can take in the view of Milwaukee and the nature beauties of Lake Michigan. Then, the excitement strikes you when the rod begins to buck up and down and the rod hums from salmon pulling out the line as it swims away. You lunge to your feet to set the hook and begin the ultimate battle of tug-of-war between man and beast. The feeling is exhilarating as you fight against the power of the salmon fighting to be free. Finally, as the fish begins to tire, as do you, you give it your all to reel in that last few feet of line to get the fish in the net. At last you come face-to-face with your sworn enemy. You hold that salmon up high with a new scene of pride and accomplishment as you friends and family take photographs you and tonight's dinner. It really doesn't get better than that. It is one of the best time you'll ever have. Just look at the photographs in my photo essay; they say it all. The fishing charter that I joined to get these photos was "Salmon Specialist - Sportfishing Charters". These photos were only one of many fun and successful charters that have been provided by Captain Chris Busalacchi, my brother. Visit the website at www.wisalmonspecialist.com to see more photographs of the charter and how you can enjoy the same exciting experience. It truly is a unique experience that everyone should do once in their lives.

Company: Salmon Specialist - Sportfishing Charters

Website: www.wisalmonspecialist.com

Location: Milwaukee, WI

  

Additional PR

These photographs are of American Idol's Danny Gokey as he returns to Milwaukee as a one of the Top 3 Finalist. I had taken these pictures on behalf of WUWM 89.7FM - Milwaukee Public Radio to cover Gokey's homecoming. The photographs are of his first stop to Milwaukee's Fox 6 studios. (See Flickr link to WUWM's Flickr site to see all photographs)

PR Project

These photographs are of the representatives from WUWM 89.7FM - Milwaukee Public Radio and UWM - School of Continuing Education in their booth at the BizTech Expo which was on April 29-30.  These photographs will be posted on WUWM's Flickr site to show listeners of the their presence in the community and other events they participate in.  Other individual photographs of representatives from the UWM - School of Continuing Education may use the photographs are apart of the website.  

Photo Essay

 

People in Milwaukee live next to one of the largest lakes in the world (Lake Michigan), but have never had the chance to go out on to the lake and experience all that it has to offer, such as fishing. It is not that people do not want to have that experience; they simply may not have the means to do so. The experience is much different than fishing offshore or on an inland lake. And beyond having a purpose of being out on the lake, being on a boat in the lake and the scenery is an experience in itself.

This photo essay tells the story of the experience on Lake Michigan from the perspective of a fishing charter. I captured the experience of a six hour fishing charter, which is owned and operated by my brother. The photos tell the story of a fishing charter group going out onto Lake Michigan, the experience of fishing, and the general experience of being out on the open water. Since not many people get the chance to experience Lake Michigan beside its shoreline, this will give people the chance to see the other side of Lake Michigan they have never seen.

(See Flickr - Photo Essay link for the complete story)

Portrait

Who's Who? Which person do I know?

I find it interesting can contradictory that casinos would be classified as a restricted area for photography whereas photography of a window of a home, porch, or lawn would be considered appropriate at anytime.  In my opinion, casinos, though a privately owned-business, is no more different than other public places like schools or other businesses which can be allowed if there are no objections.  The only reason I could imagine that a casino would be more restricted than other places would be because of capturing the cash handling of the casino emplyees which could result in releasing sensitive information, but I would still consider that a stretch in comparison to being able to take photographs in a more personal/private environment like the home or hospital where only permission is needed or none at all.  This same question crossed my mind when doing the Document assignment because I felt a little uneasy documenting other people's homes without the permission.  I did have the concern that someone who be upset if they saw me taking a picture of there home which is why I tried to keep my distance and tried not to identify any individual persons living there.  I still believe there is a fine line between what is acceptable when taking such private photographs and permission required when doing so, for both ethical and legal reasons.  And the fact that a casino is considered to have more restrictions than does a hospital or rehab center is shocking to me since what takes place at the latter is much more personal/private than someone gambling and could be considered a violation of the patient's privacy.

When taking the photographs for my Portrait Set, I had to choose two individuals, one who I knew and one who I did not.  Those who viewed my photographs had to decide which person I knew solely based on the image.  The images can be deceiving on who I knew because they look similar, which was one of the difficulties when taking the photographs.  I had to ask myself, "Do I take a picture of a person I do not know without them knowing or do I ask their permission?"  Even though it would not be illegal for me to not ask permission, I felt that it would be more ethical to ask and it also allowed me to have the photographs look more personal than they could have otherwise.  So the question is, "Who do I know?"

Top Photo: KNOWN

Bottom Photo: UNKNOWN

Document

For my Document project, I was planning to photograph/document the homes throughout the city of Milwaukee. Milwaukee is not the biggest city in the US but it definitely is larger than most and as a result, has many different, distinct neighborhoods. The types of homes (styles, age, quality), the neighborhoods, the properties the houses are on, all differ from area to area or may not be traditional houses but multi-family homes. Also, Milwaukee has been know for being one of the most segregated cities in the US, so I thought that documenting the different neighborhoods would be something interesting to capture. As I work on collecting these photos, I also plan to see how the houses in different areas become distinctively different in comparison to their proximity to one another which may be only a matter of blocks.  The areas I photographed were the North, NorthWest, West, South, and East sides and the most southern part of Milwaukee (near the Airport).  When I took the photographs and looked at them as a whole, I realized that the defined neighborhoods of Milwaukee did not necessarily change much in style.  The most noticeable changes were in the quality and/or ages of the homes.  When the changes did occur, it was not from neighborhood to neighborhood, but in a radial pattern.  The type/style of homes started out very similar to one another but then gradually changed as I traveled further away from central Milwaukee.  The houses in the NorthWest and most Southern part of Milwaukee turned out to be the most different from the other neighborhoods.  I would assume that these differences occurred in a radial pattern due to the year the homes were built; closer to Downtown the older the houses.  Though there was the occasional change in style in some areas, where homes would distinctively change in a matter of only a few blocks and then go back to the typical style in those areas.  My hopes were to document something visual interesting and also give a closer perspective of how diverse Milwaukee really is because we may not always pay that close attention to our surroundings when driving or may never have to go to a certain area of the city.  From documenting these homes, I learned of this radial pattern of how the house style changed and how different, yet similar, Milwaukee really is.  Please do not assume that this photographs are an accurate depiction of these neighborhoods.  These photographs are general samples of the homes in these areas and do not represent ALL the homes in those areas, but they do still give you a general idea of the changes that do occur in the homes/neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee.

Light

When look back over the photographs I took for the light assignment, I realized that what all the photographs had in common was Szarkowski’s “frame” concept. When searching for what objects to take a photograph of, I was selecting them, not conceiving them as Szarkowski describes. The photographs show the viewer what I intended them to see and nothing more. The frame of the photographs blocks out the surrounding areas, which are common, everyday settings, but the photographs themselves show something more isolated. The photograph of the light reflecting off the water and the cement looks appealing, but it is simply a puddle in a parking lot that would go unnoticed by many. The same applies to all the other chosen photographs. You cannot see the surroundings but only the way an everyday object is seen emphasized by light though my camera. I decided to go with a mid-day sun and a nighttime setting for the photographs to capture the differences of lighting during opposite parts of the day. The sun plays an important roll in the daytime photographs but at night, the moon or other unnatural light is the dominant light source. And to take a different direction of only exterior shots, I choose the light on the wall, which had an interesting look. I walk past this light everyday and never really noticed what it looked like before taking that photograph. Another concept Szarrkowski discussed was of “time.” I noticed this is the photograph of the flag. The flag is captured as being still. In reality, it was whipping around furiously. The photograph captures the flag but pauses time, taking away the effect of motion, which was not an issue with the other photographs. .

Photojournalism 232

Favorite Time of Day

My favorite time of would have to be the morning. As painful as it may be to wake up early all the time, I feel better about myself and the day ahead knowing that I haven't slept it away. If there would have to be a specific time period of the morning I would say it would be about 7:00am- 9:00am. I like the tranquility of the morning; it seems simple and calm when the sun is rising and not many people are out doing their daily routine yet. Unlike popular opinion, I am not partial to bright, clear sunny days but I do like the sun in the morning. So a sunny morning and a overcast/cloudy afternoon would sound good to me.