First off, congratulations to Leanace Armstrong--the 2009 Darnell Wilburn Scholarship recipient. I gave her a nice little laptop. I figured it'd be a bit more appropriate and hopefully a great asset to her throughout her college years. Brenden Lyshe, the runner-up received $100 as a consolation. This video is a brief behind the scenes look at my trip.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I looked upon this project as a chance to capture different aspects of Atlanta. I started with a broad overview, taking skyline photos. I then tried to capture a bit of fantasy and vibrancy. This was a conscious effort to show the city in a way that it's often talked about but rarely described visually. Eventually, I started focusing on smaller aspects of the city that I thought made up or formed the identity of the city itself. Still, any city is nothing without the people that make it up which is why a sizeable portion of the show is dedicated to portraits.
I wanted to highlight a cross section of people that provide the identity of Atlanta and makes up its character, each act as a piece to a larger puzzle.

More behind the scenes footage. This time around it's Atlanta's own Gorilla Zoe. This particular shoot was for an editorial. This took place at the beginning of fall. And yes, we shot in the middle of a busy street. It was worth it. Zoe was a good sport for going along with such a wacky idea. But don't get any ideas, you shouldn't attempt this feat. I'm a professional.