Kid In The Park

So earlier this month I was glad I didn't have to resort to photographing kids in the park. This is one of several from the week! Hopefully things will pick up after the holidays.

Ring Flash/Pie Pan

I've been wanting to use a ring flash for a long time, but could never afford the roughly $1000 to buy the flash and accompanying lens. So I decided to rig one up and managed to do so for less than $3! Basically I just cut a few holes in a disposable pie pan (one for the lens and the other for my flash), set a camera up on a tripod and made adjustments until I got the effect. It's not as smooth as a "real" ring light, but I think it's pretty good for spending two bucks and some change. It does take some explaining when you break it out in front of your subject.

Happy Holidays

Light Warm Up

There was a window running the entire length of this pool and the sun was setting, which cast a single beam of light across the water before a high school swim meet I was sent to cover. I was hoping the light would stay around until the meet got under way, but it stayed only long enough for the warm-ups. Oh well, next time.

Casey Jones

It's Christmas time, which means it's time to wash the trains! This is a feature shot I found while driving around to find Springdale's lead art. I was glad I didn't have to resort to photographing some kid at the park.

Busted

This past weekend I went down to Little Rock to cover the 3A high school state football championship and managed to get what could be my favorite football photo of the year. As you can see above the quarterback has obviously fumbled the ball while being sacked, which was picked up and ran back for a defensive touchdown. But the referee said the quarterback was already down when he fumbled the ball and called the touchdown back. This is one of the coolest things about being a photgrapher: you always have instant replay. But of course my paper never ran the photo.

With A Rebel Yell

Last week I covered "historians" setting up for a Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Prairie Grove. During that battle, over 22,000 men fought and around 2000 men died. That's a pretty big number.

This was my first Civil War reenactment and it was about what I expected. It was definitely interesting to see all the people who literally recreate that period of history, but at the same time, it's kind of weird. There are no World War II or Vietnam reenactments, why the Civil War? No other countries try to recreate their civil wars. I understand people don't want current generations to forget about their history or past culture, but isn't that what reading is for? I mean, you are not seeing any black people out at these events to make sure people don't forget about slavery. Oh wouldn't that be fun!

Home Improvement

These shots are from an essay I did on Rebuilding Together's volunteer home rehabilitation project. The lady looking through the hole in the wall is the homeowner.

Krazy Kyle

The other day a couple of friends of mine decided the weather had turned too cold to go floating without wet suits. So we were off to the outdoor store to go shopping. A few hours later they had their skin tight outfits, but it was too late to put on the river. Instead we drank beer and Kyle went swimming.

Why Do You Look So Worried?

I'm not sure why, but this photo scares me little bit. It's from a story on nursing in Northwest Arkansas.

Bay Doors

This is from a story on how small construction businesses are suffering from the recent housing slow down. This quite scene with a single, beer-bellied worker told the story for me.

Welcome Home

I covered soldiers returning home from Iraq yesterday. It was an interesting assignment, especially with it being on an election day and also because of the fact it was held at a polling site; was this a coincidence? Maybe a last bit of propaganda for those filing into the booths before they cast their ballot? It was hard to say. These were my thoughts while waiting for the boys to return to their waiting family members gathered with "Welcome Home" and "I Love You Daddy" signs. Then they arrived, marching in formation. After a few speeches about how brave their service was, they were finally released from duty. So I scurried about shooting hugs and kisses with wives and kids. After I shot a few family reunions, I made my way through the crowd to find more moments of joy. Then I started to notice the soldiers with no wives or kids or hugs and kisses. They awkwardly stood around saying "hi" to their fellow fighter's families with uncomfortable smiles. Then the question dawned on me: I wonder if it is harder for a soldier to say goodbye to his family before heading off to war -or- for a solder to return home and find themselves alone in a sea of welcome. I have no idea, but I do know that's not the image you ever see in the media. And I found myself having missed that story while I tried to show the happy endings.

Happy Halloween

~ Bonnie and Clyde (aka Dianna and Neemah)

Colorful Times

Dianna tries to keep warm while taking in the sights and sounds of Times Square. If there was ever a church for Americans to worship their commercial lust, it would this sea of advertisement. It is the epitome of distraction, filled with nothing more than glorified billboards.

Daily News

A typical newsstand. You can get anything from the New York Times to gay porn. It's like the internet in print, plus candy!

Standing Room Only

A crowded subway ride after doing some grocery shopping. I swear if you lived in New York your entire life, I bet half of it would be spent commuting. iPods are a necessity.

City Stroll

Here is another shot from Washington Heights. Dianna and I took a break from running around the City and just had a casual walk through her neighborhood. I shot this right before we got back to her apartment.

Welcome to the Big Apple

I got to New York yesterday and finally got to start my long overdue vacation. This is a shot from the roof of my girlfriend's apartment in Washington Heights (upper Manhattan). I forgot how monochromatic this city is, especially on rainy days.

Fishing with Flies

A scenic shot for a story we did on water quality. This was a great excuse to get out to the river and enjoy the fall colors while getting paid!

Last day until my long overdue vacation! Be sure to check out the blog for updates on my trip to the northeast.

White Rock

The leaves have really started to show their color so I decided to head out to White Rock Mountain on my day off yesterday. I called my friend Ryan, filled the cooler with Pabst (and grabbed a bottle of whiskey for safe measure) and headed to the woods. It was really a great afternoon with great light so I decided to do a little recreational shooting, which I don't think I've done since getting on staff at the Morning News. If you want to see more, check out the gallery I made.

redruM

So I decided to rip off fellow photographer Michael Zamora for this next portrait idea. He's been using gels lately and I decided to give it a try since I've never really used them before. And I'd have to say that I really like the effect for a change of pace.

Getting Rid of Geese

Well I've really been in a shooting slump lately which is why I haven't been posting very often. But I have a vacation next week so hopefully when I get back I'll be motivated again. This shot is from a few days ago. I saw it again today and it made me laugh so I decided to throw it up here on the blog. Plus I love that beautiful sky.

Light Painting

I found this the other day while walking to another assignment. I was trying to mimic the girls painting with my photograph by incorporating the same colors and using the light pattern to give the image a bolder look, like her oil strokes. But of course the paper ran the photo in black and white, which totally killed the effect.

Going Up?

Dillards had their grand opening yesterday at the Pinnacle Promenade in Rogers. As soon as I walked in the front door, I saw the escalator, and new I wanted a "layer shot" of people riding it for my photo. The hardest part was mixing my flash with the ambient light and not having any big color shifts with all the subjects. But I still wanted the girls on the left to pop out a bit more to have a dominant subject. Awhile back I learned a trick to bounce the flash off my hand to make a reddish light (as apposed to a bluish light), which matched the color temperature of the stores lighting. I thought it came out okay. I wish I had a more interesting subject on the left, but sometimes not everything will fall into place.

Spike Strip

This should be the last shot from Bikes, Blues and BBQ. I wish I could of gotten a better looking biker, but this worked ok.

Born To Be Wild

Yes. More stuff from Bikes, Blues and Barbeque. This event just gets bigger every year. I'm glad I'll be heading out of town when it peaks Saturday night.

Easy Rider

Bikes, Blues and Barbeque kicked off this week so it's time to get ready for the constant rumble of over 100,000 motorcycles rolling through town. This shot is from a story I was working on, but kind of fell apart. I was hoping to document a custom bike being built to be published during the festival, but the builder wasn't able to finish the bike in time. So there went the story! Maybe I'll get a chance to finish it in the future.

Trash

This is from a story on how trashy the interstate is in Northwest Arkansas. The lady is part of the VFW chapter in Springdale helping to clean up. I'm not the biggest fan of having assignments at 8am, but it's hard to complain when you have great light.

Storming the Field

Last night while shooting Friday night football some crazy storms rolled through the area. They delayed the start of my Springdale v. Bentonville match-up and then evacuated the stadium for about an hour while a sorm cell, filled with intense lightning, rolled through. They finally cancelled the game right before half-time because another system moved into the area. I shot this when Bentonville ran onto the field. This is right before the second storm hit, and it was at sunset, so it made for a beautiful backdrop.

Allie and Josh

Mark your calendars: 22 Dec 2006, Allie and Josh are making it official. Congratulations!

Double Vision

Another feature shot from Springdale. It's a window washer in case you can't tell. I really don't like the photo all that much, but I haven't posted anything in awhile and figured it was time for an update.

Knock Knock

This week Springdale police, firefighters and building inspectors spent the day performing surprise inspections on run-down housing complexes in one part of the city. They were looking for housing that wasn't up to code, in an attempt to get landlords to fix the buildings. But, the part of the story that stood out to me was the humiliation of the people who lived there having city officials show up because their home was a piece of shit. While covering the event I saw a half-naked little girl amazed at the show of officers invading homes along the run down hispanic neighborhood. She then rested on the doorway after running around the parking lot amidst the excitement. While this went on I slowly walked up and squatted on the sidewalk, placing my camera on the ground (away from my eye so she wouldn't look at me) and waited until an officer was framed next door to shoot my image. Lately I've been making an effort to learn a bit of Spanish, and it paid off because I was able to get her name and age, which allowed the image to see print.

Playing in the Band

Well football is in full swing so that's what I've been shooting. I saw this shot while wandering around the field before the start of Arkansas' game against Utah State. I like to walk around with just a wide angle lense before the game to try to find features. But when I saw this scene I knew I needed a telephoto to get the right compression with the fans in the background. So I sprinted back to my gear to grab the 70-200 and luckily this guy was still standing in the same spot. I had to shoot through a group of about 6 other band members, but they finally moved around enough for me to fire off about three shots before the gap closed. I was also glad to get a good facial expression from the guy to add another element.

Karate Kicker

Okay, I don't really understand why the Arkansas kicker does this, but he performs this wierd alingment thing before he punts. It looks as if he's about to break out some kung-fu.

Wade in the Water

Shot an old-fashioned baptism the other day at Beaver Lake and I managed to not drop my camera in the water! "Grab the kids ma, we're a goin' baptisin'."

Katrina Turns One

The one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is here and most papers, including ours, are doing follow up stories. I wanted to share what the Dallas Morning News photo staff did because it is by far the best I've seen yet. After seeing this you'll know where all those Pulitzer's are coming from.

Football Feature

I've been shooting a lot of college and high school football feature portraits the past few weeks to get ready for the upcoming season. You usually only have a few minutes to set up the portrait and shoot it; so it's been a challenge to always come up with something interesting. But I think I'm getting better at shooting these things on the fly. Hell, most the time these kids are only wearing shorts and sandals, which limits your choice of shots. Or their coach is telling them to hurry up because they might miss 10 minutes of practice. But, it's still a privelige to be apart of these kids 15 minutes of fame. And because of the time pressure, I always feel that much more pleased when I come away with something decent.

Slick

We had a brief shower this morning and I found this in a parking lot. I wanted to incorporate it somehow into a picture with a person, but it just wouldn't work. Besides, the only way to get the colors was to shoot a few inches off the ground, and it didn't reflect enough to catch a pedestrian strolling by.

On the Fence

Summer's coming to an end, so I guess it's time for the County Fairs. I walked around the 4-H booths for an hour before I found something I actually wanted to photograph. This little girl was helping to take Arts and Crafts entries and I immediately noticed the great light leaking through an open door and falling across her face. Luckily she didn't get too distracted when I knelt down and starting shooting some images. I was afraid she was going to drop her hands from the fence, which would have killed the scene. I like the relaxed, quite feeling of it.

School

This is from an assignment about Fayetteville's new elementary/middle school that is opening this fall. Pictured is a teacher hanging some posters outside her classroom. Remember kids, Larry the Lion says learning is AWESOME!

Summer Football

Most of what I have been shooting are advances for later dates, so I can't publish them here until the Morning News does. So here is something I shot awhile back.


Also, if you want to be a cool photographer like myself, or are just bored, check this out:

Superman Returns!

I simply destroyed this game the first time I played it because of my amazing photo skills.

Dianna

Me and my "lady friend" Dianna.

Flames

It's pretty obvious what's going on in this photo. To me it has a macabre beauty with all the color: red building with a blue sky and orange flames.

Salsa Festival

This is a shot from Salsa Fest here in Fayetteville. Its Arkansas...its August...its a million degrees outside...let's have a salsa contest!!

Space Girl

I had a lot of fun the other day covering a kids swimming tournament. Unlike most collegiate/high school meets, it was held outside which meant lighting wasn't a problem. I've always wanted to get an image of a swimmer's head just barely breaching the water's surface, so that's what I was looking for. I decided to bring the 400mm (maybe a bit overkill), since I wanted my shot to only show the swimmer's face. The backstroke event seemed the best opprotunity for the shot, so that's what I concentrated on, even though my favorite images by other photographers using this technique are of the breast stroke. I didn't expext the bubbles, so that was a pleasant surprise (gives it a spaceman look as one other photographer noted).

Number 1 Dick

I forgot about this. I covered Cheney's visit last week and shot about 200 images. Out of those 200 and some odd images, only in 3 did he actually have some sort of a smile. This shot made me laugh. I call it, number 1 Dick.