Tae and North Carolina Greek Picnic

The North Carolina Greek Picnic Weekend was held this year from July 16-19th, celebrating the culture of Black Greek Letter Organizations, such as The Divine Nine, from college campuses across North Carolina. The Divine Nine consists of nine different Black fraternities and Sororities founded between 1908-1963 at colleges and universities across the South and has since expanded chapters nationally and internationally. 

Tae attended the first event on the first day of North Carolina Greek Picnic Weekend  – The Block Party at Victoria Yards. During the event he used both a GoPro Hero 3 and his Canon T7; he used a 55-250mm lens and stayed between aperture f4 for closer shots 

and f6-f8 for midrange shots into the crowd. 

His ISO stayed around 250-400 while the shutter was about 1/250-1/300 to capture the movement of people in the party. One of his biggest challenges was having enough space to actually get shots of the crowd in a small area. He either had to back away from the crowds completely or find something to climb on to stand over people and get shots from above. The second challenge was people declining to take photos but remained on their phones recording and taking pictures. Sometimes people will decline photos, and that’s okay. Continue to move onward! 

Since this was Tae’s first Greek event, he admitted it was a quick change from what he usually shoots but it helped him form an understanding of documenting future events. “There was a lot of union within this party. From unfamiliar hand signs and the dance choreography, I was clearly out of my element. Not that I hated it but more so it’s truly something those students would only understand.”

Check-out some of his photos below and show him some love on Instagram @_taeinfinite.

Written by Carmen Cummings (@naturalescenes)