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Hi, my name is Allison. I’m a photographer based in Boise, ID. I specialize in interiors with an editorial flair. I received my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Boise State University. I believe my education is what sets me apart from your average person with a fancy camera. If anything, it shows you how damn dedicated I am to my craft. When I’m not shooting for clients, I work on my personal projects. Work from my ongoing photographic series, “Spaces of Cultural Comfort,” has been exhibited locally at the Boise Art Museum and three pieces have been acquired by the City of Boise to be included in the Boise Visual Chronicle, a permanent collection of artworks. When I’m not photographing, I like to go out thrifting. Please check out my Etsy store for badass vintage housewares and accessories. I’m a quiet person by nature but contrary to popular opinion, I’m not shy. I curse like a sailor around my friends + family and sometimes on this blog.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Boys and Girls Club of Nampa- Stay-in-School Quinceañera Program

I grew up in the ghetto. Like, the ghetto-ghetto. In South Central Los Angeles to be exact. It took a lot for my sisters and I to stay out of trouble, away from gangs, drugs and teen pregnancy. I credit my mother for raising us to know the difference between right and wrong, but I also believe that we stayed out of trouble because of programs at A Place Called Home and the YMCA. I remember going to the "Y" to swim with my sisters and enjoying a free breakfast on Saturday mornings. I still remember how much I looked forward to opening that little box of cereal and carton of orange juice every week. But going to the "Y" was much more than just free food. It was safe place we could go to. A place to have fun, to be a child/teenager. This is why when Ross and I volunteered to work with the Stay-in-School Quinceañera Program at the Boys and Girls Club of Nampa as part of our service project for the Photographic Arts Collective, I was happy. Happy that we had chosen to help them out. Happy that these programs still existed. And happy that they asked me to tell the kids my story. I saw myself in those kids and I hope they saw themselves in me.

The kids get to learn the waltz in preparation for their Quinceañeras.







2 comments:

  1. lol, so I remember when we would go visit you guys when I was little, and I was scared that we were going to get shot or robbed whenever we pulled up into the 'hood :)

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  2. Haha! I remember your dad used to send Rene out to check on the truck to make sure nobody had broken into it.

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