Photographer James Mignogna

These past few months, I've been privileged to have the chance to work at the International Center of Photography as a teaching assistant. I'm surrounded by students, teachers, and other faculty that love photography just as much as I do!

One of the people I've met while working there (and am happy to now call my friend) is photographer James Mignogna.  Last week when he was packing up to leave after his shift, he showed me an image that he had just recently printed ... I fell in love with it! James being the nice guy that he is, gave me a copy, and I thought I would share it with all of you.

I asked James to tell me the story behind this image...
"As far as the story goes it was on 11/15 the day after the big evection. Cops were standing in the otherwise empty park so all the people coming back to the park flooded the sidewalk. When these people saw each other... It was kinda crazy because they almost ran at each other, the crowd just seemed to give way for them which was crazy because I could barely move without squeezing and gently shoving my way through. Fortunately I saw it going down and saw where they would meet and went for that space, but really it was just dumb luck that I was in the right place to do so.

Honestly if I saw it in a movie I would have thought "that's nice but it would never happen like that in the real world.

I guess it's like the saying goes about truth and fiction."

Sunset in New York City

It's amazing to me how much stuff can be squished into a small island of 301 square miles (only 13.4 miles long and 2.3 miles at it's widest point).

I've lived here just over a year now, and I feel like I've hardly seen the island.  There's so much character on every block, street corner, and borough...

I recently took the Staten Island Ferry to shoot a some footage for a music video I'm making for a friend here in the city (video will be posted once it's complete), but I wanted to share some of the images I took while on my little outing.

The day called for rain, but I decided to head out anyways just before sunset, and the weather turned out to be more than perfect, with a beautiful sunset.

                                                              sunset at Battery Park

                                          view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

                     Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island ferry, on my way back to Manhattan

                                            view from the ferry as we approach Manhattan

Musicians On Call

I was asked to film a viral video for the non-profit organization, Musicians on Call.

I filmed people around the Nashville and NYC areas, asking them to share a song that makes them happy...

Musicians On Call: What Song Brightens Your Day?

My dear friend Rebecca Roubion let me film her for a videography gig I'm working on right now for a non-profit Musicians On Call. For that project she actually sang another one of her originals "Free" which you can also check out on her myspace ... but I thought I would post a new one she just wrote.... it's quite wonderful... singing her new tune "Fall Holiday"

This was all done in one take, so please excuse any extra movement or background noise that may be a little distracting... overall I think it turned out really nicely.


Rebecca Roubion "fall holiday" from Melanie Little on Vimeo.

Saturday Night Dance Party

Every Saturday night in Nashville, there is a local dance party known as Y2K.  Two good buddies of mine, Jeremy Todd (DJ 'Coach') and Samuel D'Ameilo (DJ 'Hands Off Sam'), bring the tunes and mood to the small venue, while I'm there to photograph the party!  I haven't posted anything in a while, so I thought I would post a few images of what my summer Saturday nights have consisted of.  Enjoy!

Keegan DeWitt: "Michel Bizot"

 I was lucky enough to be a part of filming this lovely music video for my talented friend, Keegan DeWitt. Enjoy!

 
Keegan DeWitt: "Michel Bizot" from Keegan DeWitt on Vimeo.

Keegan DeWitt featuring Madi Diaz and Peter Groenwald. Off of the forthcoming Daytrotter EP release "Nothing Shows"

Shot by: Melanie Little and Logan Matheny
Cut by: Keegan DeWitt
Recorded by: Justin Loucks

Ashes and Snow

A friend of mine from Rocky Mountain School of Photography gave me a book to read called Ashes and Snow - A Novel in Letters by Gregory Colbert. He told me that he found it to be artistically inspirational and thought I would too; he was more than right. I wanted to post a journal entry that is specifically more inspirational to me, due to being a photographer, but think any artist would relate.

I hope you enjoy.

P.S. thank you Jeremy for letting me borrow this book for so long.. I promise it's in good hands and will return to you soon!

Letter 184

As I lay dreaming, Montezuma waded with me into the Limpopo River. We crossed through the swirling eddies and shared a sun-baked stone in the middle of the river.

Montezuma said, "You are disoriented. Your journey is in danger of becoming an elaborate flight away from yourself. You are paying too much attention to numbers, compass points, altitudes, tides, temperatures. You are looking for patterns or logic in coincidences. Your movements are mathematical when they ought to be musical. You're doing steps. You still haven't learned how to become the dance.

"Remember, a compass and a pen can give you a reading on the lay of the river, but no mechanical instrument can measure the motion of the heart.

"Some maps are drawn in melting snow. By living in your mind, you are draining all the meaning from your miles and rivers. Your heart is a flute, but you are playing it like a drum. A camera is a musical instrument. There is a whole range of octaves you are leaving totally unexplored."

He paused for a long time. I said nothing.

"You are writing and photographing the miles. Are you really living them?"

Still I said nothing.

"Put away your pen and camera for a while. Prove that you are worthy of the gifts you have been given.

"Look at the world through the lens of your own eye.

"Then you will be ready to navigate in the spirit of birds.

"And know that one day, when you have crossed your last river, you will stand before an elephant who will measure the values of your life not by how many miles you have traveled and how much you have seen, but rather by how much you have loved."

 an image inspired by the novel