I met our next stranger after she and her companion got kicked out of a black tie event at Belk Theater.
Meet Katelyn.
“Well, I really thought there was an opera tonight, and there is an opera. My school told me I could come to the opera and it would be complimentary. We came on the wrong night and we just got kicked out of Belk Theater because we were so underdressed. And we didn’t realize it was such a big thing and I came on the wrong night, so we just got kicked out.”
Well, you seem well dressed to me… “That’s what we thought! I even asked them ‘do I look ok?’”
What advice would you give to your younger self? “Stand up for the things you believe in as soon as you can. Stand up for yourself because I didn’t do it fast enough.”
And what made you realize that? “Basically, I was always quiet, and I let people tell me what to do and just kind of push me around. I just hit this point where I got tired of saying yes to everyone and just wanted to tell them that I’m not ok with it.”
Do you have any goals? “Yeah, I’m actually in college to be a photojournalist. My goal is to travel a lot. I’ve been travelling a lot recently and I’m trying just to keep travelling as much as I can and meeting as many people as I can. And I’m sad I didn’t come out with my camera tonight, but I didn’t know…”
What makes you interested in photojournalism? “I started really young doing mission work, and a lot of people saw the people that we were helping as exotic and poor people and like Neanderthals. I just feel like I got on a different level with them and I understand these people. I want to use photojournalism as an outlet for people to see people for who they truly are rather than what they assume they are.”
Where would you want to go on your first assignment? “I started doing mission work in Honduras and that’s where my home is and all my people and my heart and all my friends. I would love to go back and just really show who they are.”
What would you do if you had a million dollars? “If I had a million dollars… I’ve actually been thinking about that lately. A large chunk of it would go to my mom… single mom, hard times, you know… love my mom. Probably to Puerto Rico… probably to Honduras and probably to Charlotte’s education system. And then I would want to buy or build a small cabin because I’ve always wanted a tiny house. 400 square foot… that’s what I’ve wanted my whole life.”
Thank you Katelyn and best of luck in your photojournalism career.
Technical Notes: This is the second night portrait I’ve attempted with a handheld LED light. I set the light to a warm setting (3200K) and correspondingly set the color temperature to 3200K in Lightroom. The ISO registered at 500, adding a little noise, and the bokeh lights got burned in a little bit. To fix this next time, I’ll turn the light up to a brighter level.
Dan Russell-Pinson 