nleoncavallo's photostream

Can you help?

I volunteer at PHILLIPS School, in Annandale, Virginia, by teaching a basic photography class.

The children at Phillips have emotional and behavioral problems that traditional schools cannot accommodate. Many of the students come from disadvantaged communities and foster homes in the Washington, DC and may have never held a camera before. The primary goals are to help the children/teens to use photography as a way to express themselves and to leave them with a desire to continue learning more about photography and taking pictures on their own.

We started from scratch, meeting in the school library, with no funding, a hodge podge of donated cameras, and a prayer that this will connect with the kids in a meaningful way. The results have been amazing.

Please consider ways you might be able to help. We're always looking for new and used equipment (digital, film, POS, SLRs, whatever), processing donations, photography books, guest speakers, anything.

Shoot me a Flickr email if you want to learn more. Your prayers are appreciated.

Thanks,
-- Nick

About me...

Hi. I'm Nick.

I've been in and out of photography nearly all my life. All of my training has been through apprenticeships...a great uncle who gave me his old equipment, a pro nature photographer who showed me how to develop film, a photojournalist who showed me how pictures can tell stories, a studio owner who taught me crowd control techniques and how the business works. All of them have influenced my photos in some way or another.

I ran the college newspaper darkroom for a while, shot 25,000 party pics for pennies a frame, photographed a president and first-lady, Pope John Paul II, Billy Graham, and about 100 adult baptisms. I now work for an accounting firm and mostly shoot pictures of my kids and of events at our church.

The images I post here are some of my favorites; either because of the stories they tell or because I just like them. You will find many photos of my daughters, a few of hot dog stands, and an otherwise random collection of pictures I've taken with my D70 or cell phone.

Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.
-- Nick

portraits

nature