Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

Sea Cave, Oman

Oman, August 2001

Boys run from a spray of foam rushing out of a sea cave vent in Oman. They were balancing a soccer ball on the column of air rushing up as a wave flowed into the cave below. When the waves got too big, the air was replaced by salt spray soaking them and me and my camera. 

-Stephen Alvarez

Magic Lantern 0.1.6 firmware upgrade(?) for the 5D MK II

For the adventurous, Magic Lantern 0.1.6 firmware upgrade is ready (here). 

Speaking at Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar Dec 4-5

Church Service, Pabbo Refugee Camp, Uganda 2008

I am speaking at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar December 4 and 5. Not certain what I am speaking about, but it will certainly include the importance of working on personal projects as a way to expand your creative voice. 

The image above is from a long term project I am doing on the Uganda/Sudan border. After years of trying to get magazines interested in the project and hearing "oh, we are already doing an Africa story this year" I have given up on publication and just keep the project up as I have time and money. 

I am toying with a multimedia piece, but honestly being free of publication expectations has made me a better photographer.

-Stephen Alvarez

Rob Shone Guest Post: Deep Impact

Recently I ventured underground following a group of students from Oxford University Caving Club (OUCC) to an area of The Picos mountain range in northern Spain called Ario, north of Los Lagos.

Luther Dickinson at Zebra Ranch, Coldwater Mississsippi

Luther plays with his dog at Zebra Ranch May 1999

Last week's news (here) of iconic music producer Jim Dickinson's death was felt far and wide. His musical influence is legendary. From the Rolling Stones to the Replacements, Dickinson did it all.

His legacy lives on with his sons Luther and Cody and the North Mississippi All Stars. Music is the blood of that family. 

-Stephen Alvarez

Health Care Coverage for AARP

I put together this slide show for the AARP Bulletin. It went live over the weekend. It shocks me how skewed the media coverage is. It seems to me that people that are protesting reform and really just scared of the government, but even the craziest of the 10th amendment people admit that there is a huge problem.

-Stephen Alvarez 

tech note for those who have asked:

Images were mostly shot on Canon 5d MK II, the panoramas were stitched in photoshop cs4, audio recorded on a sony PCM-D50 with an Electro-Voice RE50/b and AZDEN SGMX1 mikes. The whole project was edited in final cut pro.

Canon announces the G11

It seems like Canon listened to pro users when it designed the G11 (announced here). It has a lower pixel sensor than the G10. 10 megapixels vs almost 15 on the G10. But that should give us a less noisy image.

It is available in September.

anyone want to buy my G10?

-Stephen Alvarez

Mobile Food Pantry Sewanee, Tennessee

Last Saturday Otey Parish's Community Action Committee and Second Harvest Food Bank distributed 18,000 pounds of food to families from across the Southern Cumberland Plateau in a mobile food pantry.

Organizer Laura Willis was expecting 200 families, 450 ended up receiving food. People waited in line 4, 5, 6 hours to receive a grocery cart of donated food. They are largely working poor families, people the economic stimulus plan has left behind. 

-Stephen Alvarez

You can veiw a hi def version of the video here

The Cove Movie directed by photographer Louie Psihoyos

Legendary photographer Louie Psihoyos  directed The Cove. Go see it (list of screenings here).

-Stephen Alvarez

Portraits from the Summer

Here is a sampling of the photographs that I have shot over the summer while working with Stephen. I have been focusing the past two months on shooting portraits, which have mostly consisted of my friends who were up in Sewanee this summer and kind enough to let me photograph them time and time again. Due to very limited lights and equipment [most were shot using one or two household stand lights and a piece of foam core as a reflector], they became very stylized with harsh lights and black shadows. Enjoy!

-Lexi Namer

Kate I, June 2009