Katy Mooney: Photojournalist

The End

2011-06-03T23:16:00.002-05:00

My new blog is here. Please keep reading!

Salute to Veterans Air Show

2011-06-03T10:14:00.007-05:00

On Memorial Day weekend I dusted off my gear and headed out on my first photo adventure in months - the Salute to Veterans Memorial Day Air Show at Columbia Regional Airport.

Final Project & Facebook page

2011-01-17T13:54:00.004-06:00

It's a new year, and you deserve a new blog post! The first order of business is to direct you do my remodeled Facebook page, which you can access by clicking on the Facebook widget on the top left side of your screen, or by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katy-Mooney-Photography/137083396306958

Secondly, my final projects for my fall photojournalism course are posted online. Three of my classmates and I spent a chilly weekend at a civil war battle reenactment in Arkansas. We told the stories of the reenactors in two multimedia pieces. It's a peek into a colorful and little-known world. You can view our projects at the following link:

http://katiecurridphoto.com/handson.html

Have a happy New Year!

Thanksgiving... On Christmas

2010-12-25T20:15:00.007-06:00

Hello faithful readers! I have been extremely busy with school for the past several months, but I've had a couple days to relax during my Christmas holiday. Being a photographer, my idea of "relaxing" is toning photos. So here, at long last, is my newest blog post!

I spent some time at my friend Jane's family's house in Harvard, IL around Thanksgiving. Dennis and Mary live on a farm with their five extremely happy (and extremely hairy) dogs, as well as several horses. They are lovely people, and I had a great time!

As sunny as the weather appears to be in this photo, it was actually freezing. The dogs' coats protected them, but Mary and Jane had to don Carhartts to stay warm.

Brillo, a tiny Jack Russell terrier, has a hard time fitting in with the other dogs, all of whom are at least four times her size.

Rowdy grazes in the pasture.

Mary and Jane make cider with an antique apple press.

Finton roams in the fields.

Jane pets a friendly horse.

A Happy Accident

2010-12-01T14:40:00.003-06:00

Hello faithful readers! I return, hopefully not to leave you stranded for much longer! My photo today was taken on an assignment for my advanced photo class. My partner Nick Schnelle (view his fantastic blog here: http://nickschnelle.wordpress.com/) and I used two handheld flashes and an infrared transmitter to photograph a bike polo team. This assignment was dangerous, difficult and by far the most fun I've had all year.

Pete Abram and the other members of the COMO POLO Bicycle Club practice two nights a week atop the Hitt Street parking garage in Columbia, MO. Pete almost ran me over a few seconds after this shot was taken, but it was worth it.

Portrait: Kristen DiFate

2010-09-19T20:58:00.012-05:00

Here begins another semester of wacky photos from assignments for class! Our first lesson: learning to use studio lighting to enhance the meaning of a portrait. My subject is the lovely Kristen DiFate.

Kristen leads somewhat of a double life. Three days a week she is a grad student in Columbia; the other four she is a professor at Webster University in St. Louis. I hoped to convey this with the use of a strobe to create a shadow behind her in the photo. This shadow symbolizes her ever-present second life.

A second pose.

I asked Kristen to pose with one of her bike tires to symbolize the huge role transportation plays in her life. Not only does she commute 252 miles a week to and from St. Louis, but she is also an avid bicyclist.

Katydid

2010-09-13T15:58:00.003-05:00

This lesser anglewing (Microcentrum retinerve) found its way into my apartment one warm night this summer. It's as though this bug wanted to remind me to start taking photos again!

The Last Hurrah

2010-08-11T19:15:00.015-05:00

Last weekend my family and I took our final road trip of the summer, up to our land in Vernon, AZ. I found beauty in some unexpected places and took the time to relax before starting another full semester at the University of Missouri. It will be hard to post very much during the school year, but I'll do my best.

Our camping spot. The area received about eight inches of rain over that weekend.

Ellie blowing bubbles. The tall pine trees created a beautiful horizon mirrored in each bubble.

My beautiful sister.

This male rufous hummingbird was extremely shy and wouldn't come to the feeder when I was nearby, so I didn't get any shots of him in flight. However, I did get these photos of him perching. The different angles show how brightly colored his plumage is.

This female rufous hummingbird was a little shy at first but quickly warmed up to me. She allowed me to get closer every day. I photographed her by a feeder.

Another angle of the female rufous.

My dad, at a great and notoriously spicy restaurant in Springerville called Los Dos Molinos.

I set my camera timer to capture all of us circled expectantly around our table.

Frogs: Because They're Awesome

2010-08-08T11:58:00.005-05:00

Recently I went outside at night to photograph the toads that abound in this humid time of year. Some people think that these creatures are "gross," but once you see one up close you realize that they are actually very beautiful, and their appearances vary greatly by species. Toads are great subjects because they are slow and not very shy. The flash didn't even seem to phase them.

I rescued this Couch's spadefoot from my swimming pool.

This Great Plains toad was lurking around the side of my house. It was great that I saw two such different species in the same night.

After The Rain

2010-08-03T13:52:00.004-05:00

Raindrops on the pistachio tree in my backyard.

Hummingbirds

2010-07-27T23:13:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who reads and views this blog. It means so much to me! Here's some great news - you can now share my blog with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and email. Just click the icons at the bottom of every post! Now let's get back to the fun stuff.

National Geographic photographers travel thousands of miles to photograph rare and beautiful wildlife. However, being a college student, a flight to Fiji isn't in my budget . I have to get creative and look closer at my surroundings. Sometimes beautiful photo ops are lurking right under my nose. In this case, it was right in my yard, which is home to a pair of hummingbirds. These two were fighting over who got to drink from the hummingbird feeders hanging on our house. During the summer in the desert, this is a common occurrence because nectar is so scarce in the dry environment.

A male Anna's hummingbird is silhouetted by a rainbow created by one of Arizona's famous (and sometimes violent) summer monsoon storms.

A female Anna's hummingbird perches on a blooming red bird of paradise plant (sometimes called the Mexican bird of paradise).

The male on a coil of wire.

The male singing in a palo verde tree.

All images were made using a Nikon D40 with a Nikkor 80-400mm zoom lens.

Love

2010-07-19T14:46:00.001-05:00

Love - the most beautiful of human emotions. Josh and Ashley Wells are living proof. If you want your love immortalized in photos, check out my Facebook page by clicking on the widget on the left of your screen. If you like what you see, give me a call or e-mail!

2010-07-11T17:26:00.000-05:00

This weekend, in celebration of my sister being home from Spain, we hiked the Siphon Draw Trail in the Superstition Mountains. It was one of the most difficult and beautiful hikes I've ever done. We only got halfway before we had to stop - but it won't be that way next time.

The view from the bottom.

My lovely sister, framed by yucca plants.

The monsoon season is in full tilt right now, and a big storm was centered over the valley. Luckily, it didn't rain on us too hard, and it sprouted a rainbow right as we reached the top.

Shangri-La?

2010-07-08T13:18:00.000-05:00

This weekend, my parents and I fled the 110-degree heat of the Valley for the refuge of our ten acres in Vernon, AZ (near Show Low). We spent the weekend mountain biking, hiking and in my case, making photographs.

My dad had a great time fishing for trout in the west fork of the Black River. A flat, easy and breathtakingly beautiful hiking and mountain biking trail runs parallel to the river for about three miles.

A Lupine Blue butterfly stood still long enough for me to snap a few photos of it.

Large, black ants (I'm unsure of the species) invaded this blooming yucca plant, evidently for the nectar.

Our trailer at 9:30 p.m., silhouetted by ponderosas and the night sky. This is a 30-second exposure.

A Morning Cloak butterfly seemed eager to be photographed and showed little fear, even as I moved within two feet of it.

My mom and our dog, Harpo, at the Black River.

A mountain chickadee atop a juniper tree in the early-morning light.

An Ode To Dad

2010-06-20T16:19:00.001-05:00

My dad, Mike Mooney, has taught me a lot of things - how to shoot a gun, how to love the outdoors and how to be a good person. So here's to you, Dad.

Harpo is our Brittney and Dad's one true love. I caught him running through our neighbor's irrigation on a bright summer day.

My dad is a professional knife maker. This is a bird-and-trout knife with a snakewood handle and a bullfrog-skin sheath.

The man himself.

Dad shooting a .45 ACP Kimber compact stainless at Caswell's shooting range in Mesa.

Contrast

2010-06-19T01:19:00.000-05:00

A mesquite tree at sunset today. Arizona sunsets are some of the best in the world, and I try to see them as often as I can.

Road Trippin'

2010-06-08T14:53:00.000-05:00

I was invited by my friend Moe to spend this past weekend in her grandparents' cabin in Pinewood, AZ (near Flagstaff). So seven of us college kids crammed into a couple of cars and headed north. I was shown yet again just how much natural beauty this state has to offer.

A male Western fence lizard somehow let me get this close to him.

A peaceful moment, and another reason why I need a polarized filter.

My first sojourn into night photography. I definitely have a lot to learn here.

An unidentified spider.

A nymph pallid-winged grasshopper blends in with leaves on the ground.

We hiked the famous lava tubes and made it to the end, where we of course took ridiculous photos. What a fantastic trip!

My Sojourn Into Food Photography

2010-06-04T14:59:00.000-05:00

This summer, unemployed and home alone, I have taken up cooking as a hobby. It was only natural that I would photograph it.

Yesterday's menu: Bruschetta made with yellow tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden.

A bowl of chili peppers I found on our counter. It's a Southwestern thing.

The baguette slices before they went into the oven.

Millions of Peaches

2010-05-30T15:28:00.001-05:00

My hectic college life is on pause for two and a half months while I recharge for the summer in Arizona. The day after I got home from college, I picked up my camera and went peach-picking with my parents. Later on the same day, I went for a sunset walk with my sister. I hope these images reflect the peacefulness of these long summer days.

I finally got my dad to take off his sunglasses!

Our neighbor sells peaches by the pound.

My beautiful mother picking peaches.

And my sister Ellie, silhouetted by the sunset.

Final Project

2010-05-22T12:24:00.000-05:00

After much ado, I present to you my semester project for Fundamentals of Photo-j! I learned so much from this experience, and I would like to thank Kaycee and Jamie Blackburn a thousand times for their patience and kindness, and for being so photogenic! :)

Three Jobs and Counting

Kaycee Blackburn, 19, of Columbia, MO, works three jobs to scrape by. "I like being busy," she said. "I feel more alive now that I'm busy than I've ever felt before." She is a street performer, a customer service associate at a shop downtown and a model for nearby college art programs. She also finds time to volunteer at a nonprofit organization.

Kaycee Blackburn and her brother Jamie perform in downtown Columbia on April 27, 2010. Blackburn calls her art "living statue". On this occasion, she was playing the role of a tree.

Blackburn says that her personal record for money collected while street performing is about $15.

Blackburn works every day at a downtown store. She adopts a persona even more outgoing than her usual personality for the job.

Blackburn helps clean up after Earth Day festivities for the nonprofit organization on April 29, 2010.

Blackburn volunteers at a nonprofit organization downtown for several hours each week. Here, she inspects a cup to see if it is fit for recycling.

Blackburn loves her unusual life. "I wouldn't take back anything I've ever done in the past. And I like me. I wouldn't like me if I changed anything I did in the past, I don't think."

Crawling, Climbing and Running

2010-04-19T23:24:00.000-05:00

Visiting my ASU friends is always eventful. I captured these images while I caught up with my friend Nick Koenig, one of my best friends and favorite photo subjects.

Nick, a music major, told me that he often hangs out in a particular spot in the ASU music building, fondly known as the birthday cake building. This spot turned out to be the top of a wall three stories up. We ended up getting chased by a disapproving campus police officer, but luckily we escaped unscathed, and, more importantly, I got my photos.

This beetle was basking in the sun outside the music building.

The Tale of a Wide-Angle Lens

2010-04-12T00:24:00.000-05:00

This spring break was a good one. It began with my dad giving me his father's old lenses - manual-focus ones that had last been used in the '70s. Not a bad way for a young photographer to start a vacation. During the week, I fell in love with a wide-angle lens, a type I had never used before. It was perfect for where my family and I went camping - the beautiful Sierra Ancha near Young, Arizona. It is a place that makes you feel small, an effect captured by the wide-angle.

My parents and our dog show the scale of the looming Sierra Ancha.

My dad enjoyed the view from the edge of a bluff overlooking Roosevelt Lake. The lake is full for the first time in years.

My parents huddled around the campfire on the chilly spring nights.

This cliff, located on a nearly inaccessible gravel road, holds a secret. Ruins of Native American cliff dwellings are tucked underneath a rock overhang hundreds of feet up. After a tough climb, my dad and I made it to the top and saw them for ourselves.

This is the view from the top. My worried mom and our dog waited patiently at the bottom to welcome us back down to earth.

Devil's Icebox

2010-03-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

To celebrate warm weather and high spirits, I went hiking with some friends in Rock Bridge Memorial State Park on March 6. I was using my friend's D80 with a 24-200mm lens.

Grace Gaines peers down into the entrance to The Devil's Icebox from the viewing platform above the colorfully-named underground river. Many other people had chosen the same day to explore Rock Bridge.

The small amount of sunlight that filters into the Icebox landed on Jane Monaghan and Taylor Chandler.

Jane and Grace react as Andrew Monnig swings from a branch that hangs over the trail.

Interaction

2010-02-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

On Feb. 17, I went on a photo adventure to Jefferson City, MO with my friend Jane. This is what we found...

Jane's mom gets her hair done at Studio 1 Salon.

18-year-old Kiea Hulsey reads to her daughter Isabelle, 13 months, in Barnes & Noble.

Young Life

2010-02-14T13:55:00.000-06:00

On February 10, I photographed the great people in the Mizzou chapter of Young Life, an evangelical Christian group that concentrates on outreach to local high school students. I spent four or five hours with them at their weekly meeting. I was working on a school project about emotion.

Rock Bridge High School student Jason Hamilton was dared to eat pigs' feet as part of a game. He not only finished the feet, but drank the brine in the jar. Mizzou students Lindsay Riddle and Erica Steinbach look on in horror.

A Young Life staff member talks to high school students about her religious beliefs.

In the basement where Young Life is held every week, Jen Fleming found a place to sit that was just her size.

An Introduction, and Pockets

2010-02-09T20:28:00.000-06:00

My name is Katy Mooney, and this is my blog. All we have in life are little moments, and it is a photographer's job to capture them so that others may appreciate their beauty, and hopefully learn and grow from seeing them. I hope this blog is a learning experience for both me and you. Welcome, friends, and enjoy my first post below.

On Jan. 25, 2009, I roamed the streets of downtown Columbia, MO and asked the people I met if I could photograph the contents of their pockets. It was part of an assignment for my photojournalism class at the University of Missouri. The photos below were of three friends who graciously allowed me to photograph them even though it was well below freezing outside.

Andrew Procter's six-pocketed jacket turned out a surprising array of keychains.

Jordi McGrew's red peacoat provided a vibrant background for the contents of her pockets.

"You should have seen all the stuff we carried around with us when we were in Japan," said Greg Brostoski. "That would have made good photos."