ALL ABOUT TRACY COLLINS

I met Tracy Collins through the world of blogging. I first saw his photography at the Third Annual Brooklyn Blogfest. Truly awesome. Then he co-presented a talk about photoblogging for Brooklyn Bloggers.

Tracy's work is powerful, beautiful, thought-provoking, and respectful of human beings.

Here's where you can learn more about TC:

Tracy's Blog
Tracy's Photography
A Walk Around the Blog with Tracy C. & Adrian Kinloch

TRACY AND.....................

growing up rural

• Grew up on a farm in the rural CT town of New Preston.
• Helped raise animals and tend to a vegetable garden.
• Effects of growing up rural: Tracy loves peace, quiet and alone time as well as being social and being in the city.
• He's drawn to the natural world, as you can see in his photography.
• When he visits home, he takes daily walks in the woods.
• In his own words, the walks are "a meditative thing - they ground me and remind me there is a planet and that the city is a small part of it."

going from rural ct. to silicon valley

• Tracy was en engineer in Silicon Valley.
  
• His older brothers were and still are engineers.
• When he was little, he was always getting into their elecrtonic equipment.
• From watching them, he saw he could make a living from his interest in math and science.

coming to brooklyn

• In 1999, he quit his job as an electrical engineer in Silicon Valley. He was burned out and he needed an artistic outlet.
• He moved to Brooklyn.
• Since then, he started focusing more intently on photography. (It had been a hobby for many years.)
• Since then, he's built a network of bloggers and photographers.

going to brazil

• He has already been to Brazil twice (and wants to go back again) to compare how development and gentrification are impacting Brooklyn and Salvador (the capital of the state of Bahia).
• His observation of Brazilian culture: "More than two Brazilians in a place and it's a party."
• He has been taking classes to learn Portugese.
  

being in washington during obama's inauguration

• After going to Brazil for a second time, Tracy came back to the US on election day.
• He went to the mall with three friends. At 6 am, it was "already a madhouse."
• During the"electric" event, Tracy felt "lightness, gidiness, like a kid on Christmas day."
• He remembers thinking "This is a day I will remember. This is history in the making."
• Afterward, it was hard to believe that is actually happened.
• And then, he thought: " What other things that I once thought were impossible are also possible?"
• It was the first time he was really proud of his country and proud to be American

thoughts about obama

• "He will be an inspiration to young Black boys."
• "He is raising the bar."
• "He makes it cool to be smart, to be intelligent."

hopes

• To grow as a photographer.
• To find his voice.
• To search for what he wants to say.
• To continue to work on his craft.

brooklyn

• "Feels like i've put down the deepest roots here that i've put down anywhere since graduating from college."
• "Seems like the optimal place to be. Feels like home."
• " I can be who I am without feeling out of place."
• "There's nowhere to go after Brooklyn."