Ben McKeown

It’s been way too long.

Over the past few weeks (as I indicated in the last post), I’ve been in the middle of making a big transition. I’ve now officially completed my move from quaint little Boone, NC to not-so-quaint Raleigh, NC. Though I am sad for many things that I’ve left behind in Boone, Raleigh is opening its arms (slowly, granted) and offering me an array of opportunities that I would’ve not otherwise seen.

Really, as far as the move is concerned, it’s not a move away from home, rather back to home. I grew up in Raleigh and Wake Forest (a small suburb just north of the capital city). Only 2 years of my 22-year existence thus far have been spent away from this area - “The Triangle”, as it is known here (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). In September of 1985, I was born at Wake Medical in Raleigh. Since then, I’ve attended two elementary schools (Wake Forest, Pleasant Union), one middle school (Durant), one high school (Wakefield), and one college (N.C. State) in the area. I learned to sing, to play the piano, the clarinet, the guitar, and the saxophone in this city. I grew immensely under the tutelage of my High School football coach, Steve Rivers (father of San Diego Chargers QB Philip Rivers) at Wakefield. My first job was a dream one, at 850 The Buzz, the sports radio station in Raleigh. I’ve made brothers of friends, made reality of dreams, made messes and art alike here. I’ve failed, succeeded, been inspired, and incapacitated in Raleigh.

I’ve fallen in love in Raleigh.

Nearly every drop of my story bleeds from the trees and walls of here. It, I can assuredly say, is my home.

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So what, in that case, have I been making of my history here?

For starters, I’ve gone (and am still going) door-to-door here, looking for work as a freelance photojournalist around the area. And though it has at times seemed futile, the doors are beginning to open.

Most notably, I’ve been commissioned by WRAL, the local television station, to cover ACC basketball games for their website, WRAL.com . The work is thrilling, to be frank, for as a product of my growing up in this area, I’ve been taught to love ACC basketball. Additionally, I’m excited to be working with a company that takes immense pride in its quality. The studios at WRAL are truly beautiful, a stark and refreshing change from the often less-than-stellar condition of the facilities in Boone. The website is a serious and meticulously-operated entity in and of itself. In this case, as has most always been the case for WRAL, the company is working on the front lines of the industry, innovating and realizing the importance of modernity in journalism. (Over a decade ago, WRAL-TV was the first company in the world to broadcast a high-definition television signal of any kind.) Really, I could carry on for a while about the good things that are happening there, and thusly I am quite happy for the opportunity to work with WRAL. (Pictures of this coming soon.)
Other opportunities are slowly emerging.
I’ve been given an assignment from The Independent, the area’s leading independently-owned weekly newspaper, which serves a very creative and generally open-minded audience. The assignment (a feature on locally-grown beef being served at UNC-Chapel Hill) has been postponed twice due to weather yet, so I should be snapping some frames sometime next week.
The wedding business is hastening its stride; I’ve officially booked two for the summer and am working on a few more possibilities.
On the downside, I seemed to have run into a few instances where people have been a bit lackadaisical in their communication. There have been times (a few too many for my liking) where I feel that I’ve been told I’ll be called or emailed back, yet received no such courtesy, despite my attempts to re-open a dialogue. Hopefully, this is a symptom of pure busyness rather than an indication of the dire unprofessionalism that I experienced so often in Boone. I may elaborate in the future on issues like these.
On the whole, the situation seems positive. Just how positive is yet to be realized, yet I am optimistic about the potential.

In the days to come, I’m going to try to be much more deliberate and diligent in my updating this blog. Writing, as you may surmise, is a passion of mine, so to effectively deny myself the opportunity to use this ability is a tragedy in my mind - i.e. I have a blog, why not use it?
If you’re reading and have a thought, please feel free to comment or email me. I love discussion.

I hope everyone is having a good January and that the Winter is not proving to be too gloomy. Enjoy the cold. There’s something exciting about it.

Peace.