John Boal Photography

Slam Dunks and other stuff

2012-01-27T22:33:00.003-05:00

The other day I had an assignment to get a photograph of a sophomore who would be participating in the upcoming dunk contest at Hoopsfest, a basketball skills competition/fundraiser our paper throws every year. The idea was to get a "clean" shot of him dunking the ball so we could use it in a variety of ways for the cover of the program and maybe a t-shirt or something.

I had an idea of what I wanted him to do, where I wanted the lights...etc. In these situations (without assistants, naturally), I need the subject to stand in so I can prefocus, then we can go through the 20 or so shots of him leaping into the frame. If I move my position, we do another "prefocus" and then repeat the shots until we get what we like. Usually these shots are throwaways, however, when I looked at the computer back at the office, there was a small collection of cool, wide portraits. I have no idea if he was posing (well, one of them he was, obviously) or not, but I love these shots. The dunk shot worked out well, too.

thanks for looking...

Year in Review 2011

2011-12-31T15:04:00.014-05:00

Yes, this is a year-in-review post. Yes, there are words and not just pictures. Scroll down to see the pictures and skip the words.

This year was quite a year for me. A year of firsts. A year of much growth, professionally and personally, although on this blog, I generally post my thoughts as they pertain to my professional life. However this year brought such profound personal change, it'd be silly not to mention it.

This was the year I learned (and continue to learn about) multimedia storytelling. In December of 2010, I purchased a Canon 7D with the understanding of its importance, but not yet understanding how powerful it would be. At that point I had already started shooting my project about Ricky (Live Fast, Ride Faster). I've already blogged about that experience, here. However I was pleasantly pleased to see that my first true multimedia venture was recognized in a couple contests. 2nd place in the March Multimedia Contest of the National Press Photographers Association, and a 3rd place in the Southern Newspapers Association year-end contest. However, I know that contests aren't the end-all be-all, and placing in any of them, while certainly an honor, does not diminish the fact that some luck has to be acknowledged. That being said, I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit "chuffed" (my Welsh sister in-law uses that word) that Ricky's story was recognized.

I can only hope that the year-end contests like VPA, NPPA, World Press and POYi might also yield similar

recognition, despite the larger and more competitive pools of applicants.

As Ricky's story was being published I was happily sitting in my in-law's kitchen in Albuquerque, stuffing my face with New Mexican food, waiting to head up to Santa Fe for the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop with Ami Vitale. I had been awarded a partial scholarship to attend their workshop and was thrilled with the opportunity. I blogged about it here. What an important week that turned out to be. Using that experience, I threw myself into several more projects, all on my website, here, and turned 2011 into a truly productive year for storytelling, no matter how simple (How to Execute a Shot Put) or metaphorical (White Elephant). The

White Elephant piece was also awarded a 3rd place in the NPPA monthly multimedia video category for November, and I think it's safe to say that Santa Fe and Ami Vitale had a lot to do with that.

There is no doubt in my mind that video/stills and multimedia are here to stay and any working photographer that wants to tell stories is going to have to learn how to do it, or be left behind.

Already there are incredible stories being told every day using a camera, some light audio gear, and a message. This is the future of journalism, and storytelling. In fact it won't surprise me when you begin to see the Academy Awards documentary category being filled with journalists like myself with a story to tell and a little bit of equipment. It won't take a $100,000 budget to create a film anymore. That much is true.

But the year wasn't all about video for me. I saw the aftermath of a devastating flood that got little coverage outside of our newspaper. This was the first time I ever witnessed any sort of disaster of any type of magnitude, and there were no casualties, just a massive loss of property.

So I gained a tremendous amount of respect for those photojournalists that covered the events in Haiti, Japan, and the Arab Spring. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to cover these events with the sort of professional acumen like what we have seen in the past year. But I also recognize that it may not be my "thing", so to speak. I see these disasters and I then see the hundreds or thousands of photojournalist who descend on the country looking to make pictures (and in some cases hope to make a name). I can't help but wonder how many stories in our own backyard are missed by people focused on trying to find images outside of the country. There are many images and stories to be found here, and that's what I intend to do in 2012.

However, I would be comically remiss to not mention the birth of my first child, Eva. She was born on December 6, and she is obviously the biggest event of the year for me. A game-changer, so to speak. So not only does 2012 look to be a year where I really focus on finding the best stories in my backyard, but I'll be doing this all with an eye toward a bigger responsibility than making nice pictures or video.

Here are what I thought were my best pictures of the year. For the best multimedia, visit here.

Monacan Powwow, Elon, VA. May, 2011.

Penn Quarter, Washington, DC.

Daniel Beard, owner, White Elephant. Multimedia, HERE

Children in a gymnastics class, Lake Ridge, VA. I'd never seen kids this flexible, before.

A series of fires swept through the county

Annual Hoopsfest Slam-Dunk contest.

While these aren't the greatest photos, it turns out that this kid, a freshman, is really developing into highly-sought after talent after starring in the U-17 World Cup for USA. Herbert Mejia-Flores (or Junior Flores). Look for him...soon.

Stephen Strasburg, the young phenom, made an appearance at the tiny Woodbridge minor league stadium to a packed house.

Marines Up Close

2011-12-14T15:56:00.004-05:00

Working for The News & Messenger in Prince William County often brings me into contact with the military. Usually, it is the United States Marines, being that Quantico Marine Corps Base is in the county, just of I-95.

So it was last week, that I was able to photograph Marines during the Montford Point Challenge, a race created to honor the first African-American Marines. It pitted 10 squads against each other in a type of obstacle course that valued team-building. It's nothing I would've been able to do. Leaping over obstacles, carrying 60lb ammo boxes and 300lb telephone poles, these candidates from officer candidate school did it all. Here are some pictures from the time I spent during their 45 minutes on the course:

Veteran's Day, Quantico Nat'l Cemetery

2011-11-11T14:49:00.003-05:00

30th Annual Veterans Day Ceremony, Quantico Nat'l Cemetery.

Brigadier General Mark R. Wise, USMC, delivered the keynote speech.

A couple footnotes I learned today: 1) This year's Veterans Day is the first without any surviving veterans (from either side) from The Great War (WWI). The last two surviving vets died this year. 2) When the Firing Detail line up to fire 3 volleys from 7 rifles, it is NOT called a 21 Gun Salute. Firstly, "Guns" in miltary parlance, refer to large caliber weaponry, like guns aboard a ship, or artillery. Hand-held guns are rifles. Second, the 21 Gun Salute is only for the President of the United States or Heads of State (I think I might have also seen that it is used on Washington's Birthday and the 4th of July, but I'm not positive on that). Incidentally, the number 21 is such because at the time the military adopted the salute, the idea was that there would be a gun for each state in the union. Obviously at that time, there were only 21 states.

Firing Detail delivers the Three Rifle Volley

Taps is played following the Wreath Presentation

White Elephant

2011-10-17T17:38:00.006-04:00

White Elephant Antiques

as seen on insidenova.com (smaller)

click this to see a full screen version on Vimeo

Daughter and Father, Cynthia and Dan Beard on the front steps of the White Elephant.

A couple years ago, when I first started working at the News & Messenger (it was The Potomac News at that time) I would sometimes drive around looking for inspiration and something to sink my teeth into. At this point I have such a backlog of ideas to get to and work to do on them, I don't get to wander and look around much these days. But in those days I wandered and sometimes I found interesting things.

I came across the White Elephant antique store and literally did a double take when I passed the store on Bristow Rd. I had somewhere else to be but was sure to jot down a note on the location so I could come back another time. When I finally made the trip I found more antiques and books than I could believe could fit into a house.

Cynthia on the back porch.

I first met Cynthia Beard and it wasn't hard to strike up a conversation with her, as she is one of those people that has that gift of gab. She could talk to anyone. Her father, Daniel, on the other hand, was a little more reserved. Cynthia was more than happy to tell me as much history about the house as she could remember, and I was hooked. The house is 200 years old. It's survived the Civil War (Oct. 14, 1863, was the Battle of Bristoe Station, within a half mile of the house), and there's even a story that a Mosby Raider rode his horse up on the porch, shot a man in the hallway, and rode off. I suppose there isn't much of a chance to double check that story, but a Civil War buff came by one day to tell Daniel this story and who am I to dispute it? It just adds to the legend of the house in my eyes.

Hallway inside the Davis-Beard House. Did a Mosby Raider really ride up on the porch outside this door, shoot someone right here in the hallway and ride off? Doesn't seem that unbelievable to me. Could've been a different hallway, I guess.

I thought I could tell a story about Cynthia and her father running the store. But over the course of 2 years, Cynthia eventually left and Dan would run the store with help from his son, Eric. I'm not sure what happened to Cynthia, but I hope she's ok. I remember when I came to the house to shoot with my Speed Graphic, she told me repeatedly that she would love a print. I told her I would make one as soon as I was finished with my project. I think I'll bring one to Dan and if or when Cynthia comes back, she'll be able to see it.

Stories often work themselves out in a way you hadn't imagined initially. You see something, take an interest in photographing, but as you finish the project it's become something different.

Dan on the back porch

After a few months I wasn't seeing Cynthia anymore, so I started talking to Dan. After a few more visits I started recording our conversations. And after a few more I shot some video of them. At this point I began shooting video almost exclusively. With the new cameras available, the idea of an audio slideshow almost seemed quaint and I couldn't imagine the project without video. He gave me lots of great quotes. My favorite: "It was country at one time. When country wasn't cool." Ultimately, after almost 2 years of popping in on Dan when I had a free hour or so, I had quite a bit of material, but did I have any narrative? I believed I did. So over the past week (and after about 20 gallons of coffee) I assembled and cut through about 50 GB of audio, video and stills and created my latest multimedia project. But

Daniel Beard sits on his antique, handcarved American Walnut bed, handmade nearly 80 years ago for his father. Daniel and his late wife built a business of selling antiques from the first floor of their 19th century home in Bristow, VA.

I don't know why I gravitate to these stories. It's eerily similar to another project I finished at The Santa Fe Workshops with my partner, Laura Feged, several months ago called "The Door Opens and it Closes". It was a narrative of lost opportunity, progress passing the town by, aging...etc. In this case, the White Elephant Antique Store is perhaps a little more relevant and alive. The Davis-Beard House, as the White Elephant is known on the National Historic Registry, is no longer the hub of commerce it once was. It's an antique shop inside an antique home, part of a landscape that is rapidly being scrubbed away, one development at a time.

77 years later, a Sailor remembered

2011-09-28T18:41:00.007-04:00

A couple weeks back I went to an assignment that, frankly, didn't appear to have much potential. The Freedom Museum, located at the Manassas Regional Airport, had received a tub of personal items that belonged to a sailor from WWII. A reporter and myself were going to the museum to have a look. Certainly there might be something to write, even if it were a press release type of story, but photos? What could be in the tub other than an old uniform and some shoes??

What we found instead was a fascinating collection of belongings and we pieced together an interesting story. Carson F. Powell, a Wilmington, N.C. native, joined the Navy as a 17 year-old (with parental permission, of course) in 1939. He trained in Norfolk and then transferred to San Diego to begin serving on the USS Selfridge, a Destroyer that was in Pearl Harbor that fateful day in 1941. The ship escaped mostly unharmed, continuing to serve at Guadalcanal, and other Pacific battles. However, on Oct. 6, 1943, at the Battle of Vella Lavella, off the coast of the Solomon Islands, the ship was blasted by a torpedo (although it didn't sink) and poor Carson Powell went missing, along with 35 other sailors. (See Joe's story here)

Was this Carson Powell and Gertie??

With love, Gertie...

I can imagine Carson passing his notebook down from his bunk, in between shifts, passing the time, playing tic-tac-toe with his shipmate...

Along with his notebooks was a math book for a correspondence course. Scribbled at the top of this page: "I think I'll go back to the farm"

There were personal notebooks, pictures and notes as well as the uniform. A young woman named Gertie sent photos with a loving note dated just 90 days before Carson went missing. Included in these pictures was one of Gertie clutching a young man's shoulder as they stood next to another couple. Was this Carson? I looked for clues. I wondered about the stories and the life cut short. The empty matchbooks. The lighter. The notebook with the geometry equations and tic-tac-toe. The worn Shellback certificate, asserting that Carson had indeed crossed the Equator. How did that hazing ceremony go? And the old shaving kit along with the nearly unused one with the birthday note, "Happy Birthday, I hope you like it, Virginia and David". The note from Virginia and David along with Gertie's notes and pictures makes me sad. They had no idea Carson would be lost at sea. The notes hang, suspended forever, as hopeful, loving greetings. Surely, they eagerly anticipated a reunion in the coming months.

But the mementos sit quietly in a glass case in a small museum, begging to tell a series of short stories to anyone who might listen about a young kid who joined the navy two years before the biggest war this world has ever known. His stories were long forgotton until a family finally passed them along 77 years later.

A comprehensive list of Carson's belongings returned to his parents on Feb. 28, 1944.

The Flooding of Marumsco Creek

2011-09-10T09:32:00.007-04:00

Heavy rains all week led to the flooding of Marumsco Creek, normally a small, quiet creek that dives off of the Potomac River and jut horizontally into Woodbridge, running below Route 1. By Thursday, after 3 consecutive days of monsoon-type rain, it overflowed, flooding businesses and destroying an adjacent trailor park. From what people had to say the flooding and destruction happened in the course of less than an hour. Here are my pictures of the heavy rains as I saw them in Manassas, and the aftermath the next day, after we realized what happened in Woodbridge. I should also mention that no one was killed or even significantly injured. The damage is pretty substantial, so this was very fortunate for everyone involved, even if they did lose their homes and most everything in them.

Visit insidenova.com to see all the stories.

The rain on Thursday was ridiculous. So I walked outside the office and strolled around Old Town Manassas making pictures...

Just outside Manassas, near Ben Lomond Park, the creek (Flat Branch) overflowed into dozens of houses backyards and basements. This was the first indication to me that the rain was not just an annoyance, but had real potential for disaster.

By Thursday evening the worst of the flooding had occured in Woodbridge. I didn't know about it until I was home and checking email, internet. First thing the next morning I checked out the Red Cross shelter set up at my old school, Woodbridge High. Then I went to their neighborhood, Holly Acres Mobile Home park.

It was pretty sad what I saw there. People just stuffing what they thought they could salvage into garbage bags and carrying them through the mud and raw sewage to their waiting trucks and cars. Many trailors had been tossed right off their cement blocks. SUVs ended up in trees. But again, no injuries. Pretty remarkable.

Everything beyond the cones was condemned. This was about 50-60 homes.

High School Football

2011-08-20T10:57:00.005-04:00

It's time for High School football again. After 2 weeks of tracking down about 300 players and 10+ teams, we're almost done putting the football tab together (although I'm finished with taking pictures). Here's a sneak peek of what will be in next week's News & Messenger High School football preview for Prince William County.

Woodbridge Senior High School looks to advance to the playoffs for the 8th consecutive year. The cover story is about the "Secret of Their Success". I tried to work with a concept of a magic or "secret" playbook...etc.

Woodbridge HC, Kevin Smith, who admitted during the shoot he sometimes thinks up plays in the coaches room and draws them up on the dry-erase board. So we threw this together as a last-second shot. When I heard him say this, I thought of Keith Barraclough's "Blackboard" portraits (see here). I'm always thinking of what other photographers have done and try to spin it in my own way.

Robbie Wood, Brenstville District High School.

Woodbridge's Andrew Maddox, right, destroyed his teammate in this trench fight drill. Big, strong kid, headed to Old Dominion U next season.

Woodbridge's D'Shaun Hand absolutely leveled this ball carrier (the ball went flying). Hand, a sophomore, already has an offer from Boston College.

Stonewall Jackson's Harold Romero lines up at corner.

Stonewall Jackson HC, Mike Dougherty watches a defensive drill

Gar-Field's Jordan Miles, during agility drills.

Gar-Field's Shakeem Copeland steps through ropes.

Forest Park QB, Calvin Michie.

Maybe the most talked about player this year, EJ Levenberry. A transfer from Annandale now at Hylton. The junior is at his third HS. His freshman year was at DeMatha. The LB/WR is already getting looks from the big boys like Alabama, LSU and VATech.

Big, strong and surpisingly agile, Damian Wilkins, of Potomac HS, works on his swim moves at practice. I guess they also call him "Big Sexy".

Civil War Sesquicentennial Pictures

2011-07-28T16:50:00.009-04:00

If you plan to attend Manassas National Battlefield Park, there is a Battlefield App. Really, there is. Look it up.

The Sesquicentennial “celebrations” came and went in Manassas. I figured I'd just make a picture page of what I did during the week.

Local representatives were involved. Sheryl Bass, Manassas City Councilwoman is preparing for a rehearsal of the 1911 Peace Jubilee reenactment at the Old Manassas Courthouse.

During the reenactment of the 1911 Peace Jubilee (meant to celebrate 50 years of peace between the north and south), a "film" crew eagerly documented the proceedings. I got a big kick out of watching them work.

I did not attend the First Battle of Manassas reenactments, the parade or the opening ceremonies. I was the evening guy this week, so I covered a rehearsal of the reenactment of the 1911 Jubilee, the reenactment of said Jubilee, the encampments (briefly), cleanup of said encampments, a blue-gray ball, and a Pringle House hospital tour.

Living historian, Noah Briggs, posing as a surgeon's assistant, holding a capital amputation saw insde the Pringle House Hospital, at Historic Ben Lomond.

Recovery room for the wounded Confederate soldiers from the First Battle of Manassas, at the Pringle House Hospital.

Almost 10,000 people camped out in horrible heat in the days leading up to the reenactments over the weekend.

Camptown Shakers, performed music made popular by minstrel bands in the mid 19th century. They were very good. One of my favorite parts of the week

It wasn't hard to see people like this walking all throughout Manassas. These "Union Soldiers" were headed to the bar for some beers.

Blue-Gray Ball. One woman flew from Alaska to be here with her daughter. I said I thought that was crazy. I don't think they liked me after that.

There were portraits of reenactors in the weeks leading up to the “celebrations”, and I met a man who was nursing his injured feet and injured horse following the reenactments.

Dressed as a widow at Sudley United Methodist Church.

The last of the vendors to pack up from the encampment site.

I don’t understand the fascination and the desire to reenact and “celebrate” an awful war made under awful circumstances. The War of Northern Aggression, the War Over States’ Rights, whatever they want to call it, it was a war fought over the southern states’ desire to keep slavery legal. It seems pretty simple to me. The only thing we should be celebrating is it’s end.

Maybe four years from now I’ll be in Appomattox making images of a southern surrender.

Jeff Smith, a living historian who plays the part of Col. John Mosby, injured his foot, and his horse injured his leg in a series of mishaps. He carries with him a stash of civil war-era personal items like tin cups, lye soap.

Portraits at the End of the Year

2011-07-06T13:09:00.003-04:00

The end of the school year means photographing area athletes and scholar athletes of the year. Because of scheduling conflicts I only photographed 4 kids this year. The boys and girls scholar athletes of the year, the boys soccer player of the year and the girl's track athlete of the year.

It's always a challenge to come up with something new. How many times can you photograph the soccer player of the year at the high school stadium in the bright light of 3pm (the time can't be changed too much b/c we shoot about 14 kids in 10 days, so the schedule just gets crammed between the end of the year and the dates the pages run).

I always try to approach a shoot with creating context. Metaphorical or literal. Often the easiest thing is to place a soccer player in front of the goal with the ball. A lacrosse player has a stick...etc. But I'm always trying to figure out a way to add context in a different way. What I've tried to do over the past few years is manipulate the light I use to create a more dramatic mood or look. So if I can't get anything other than a typical shot of the player with the ball, I can at least make it look cool.

Brentsville's Zach Willis, Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

For Zach , I was hoping we could do the shoot out in the variety of big lush tall grass fields around the school. On my way to the school I noticed many of the fields were mown, and the light was pretty drab, and overhead. So we checked the stadium, and the nets in the soccer goals were packed away. Damn. I went to a fail-safe idea of placing clouds/sun behind the player, throw stadium lights in the background and I had a safe, standard shot. But I did see a big orange paw beneath the scoreboard while we were finishing that shot. The diffuse sun was perfect as a gajillion Watt diffuser, so I raked a couple speedlights from the left and right, and made him look like a relaxed superstar. The pop of orange made it look nice on the page and in this case I definitely thought Different = better.

Brentsville's Zach Willis, All-area Boys Soccer Player of the Year

I really tried to create context for the Scholar Athletes, so we set up shop in a physics lab. The shoot was originally scheduled for the stadium, but I was not going to do the "books in hand, while on the field" shot. Screw that. So I had the physics teacher draw up a problem on the board, and in stepped Ryan McGreal, soon to be physics student/track athlete at George Mason, and I thought we got something kind of neat instead.

Woodbridge's Ryan McGreal, All-area Boys Scholar Athlete of the Year.

For Katie, I saw some cabinets in the back and a pile of stuff inside, so I tried to create a more fun shot with her. She'll be studying engineering at VaTech. Unfortunately, in this case the VanDerGraf generators on the bottom shelf were not working. We couldn't do a shot with her hair standing up, which I would have rather had.

Woodbridge's Katie Bolander, All-area Girls Scholar Athlete of the Year

Finally I shot Breanna Walker. And this is a case where I just saw something that looked right and went with it. By the time she got to the track I had worked out a couple different spots for her to stand. But she showed up in this hoodie over her uniform and her track shoes were slung over the fence. I thought "woah, that's it." I went ahead and did the regular stuff, just in case the hoodie idea didn't work. Many times when you're working with non-models, it's difficult to get them to look "right", and when you're shooting, you'll know it. It feels right, the pictures look right and as a photographer you can tweak this and that and get exactly what you want. Breanna was perfect. The way she looked at the camera was exactly what I wanted. I had her cross her feet, shove her hands in her pockets, and I slung the shoes around her neck.

Osbourn Park's Breanna Walker, All-area Girls Track Athlete of the Year

She didn't give me a big, bright, silly smile, nor a deadpanned stare. It was just enough of a smirk to look right. I love shooting beneath the stadium. I love how the light is diffuse and it looks industrial and rugged. I think this is an example of where I prefer to go with my athlete portraits. You know she's a runner, but you don't have to have her on a track, or physically running to know she's a badass. She looks like it and the gesture and the mood of the lighting hopefully enhance it. Cool.

The 30 minute life story

2011-06-28T16:53:00.004-04:00

Often at newspapers, you are asked as a photographer to show up at someone's house and make a picture for a centerpiece story about someone who deserves much more attention than the 30 minutes you have that day. This bugs me on multiple levels. One, it bugs me that we received a press release, and then responded with a hastily assembled story and published it 2 days later. And, two, it bugs me that when i do show up, there are 5 other people crowded around the family. It's almost always easier to photograph alone.

In many cases, the solution is to reschedule or return at a better time. In this case, we were in the throws of player of the year portraits, graduations, and I was trying to find time to wrap up a personal project that had been going on for months.

Joseph Briseno joined the Army Reserves and left for Iraq on his 20th birthday. "Jay" was supposed to help on civilian projects, until a civilian shot him in the back of the head. Somehow he survived, but he remains paralyzed and blind, although he is indeed aware of his surroundings as evidenced by his smiles and facial gestures. See the AP story or the News & Messenger story for more. Recently Azalea Charities stepped up to donate a 6-figure amount to help out the family who is as dedicated as they come. The parents essentially created an ICU in their home, and tend to Jay 24-7. It truly is an amazing story.

That's why it didn't feel right to pop into their lives for 30 mins and pop right out. Perhaps I'm sensitive because I expereinced a year and a half photographing a paralyzed young adult (Live Fast, Ride Faster), and I know it takes time to parachute into someone's life and come away with meaningful imagery. In this case, I fully understood the paper wanted nothing more than a picture of the family gleefully standing around Jay's wheelchair, and I'm embarrassed to say that I indulged them in it (you won't see that picture here). I also felt I captured images to the best of my abilities, under the circumstances. I still feel I'll return and take some more pictures, but for now these are the best of the take.

The mother, Eva, with Jay.

Jay would often move his eyes (although he can't see) in the direction of the person talking (his dad, Joseph, in this frame)

A peek into Jay's bedroom from the dining room. I look at this image now and wonder if maybe I made this because this was all I was feeling at the time, just a peek into someone else's life. A subconscious commentary on the assignment itself.

End of the Year for High School

2011-06-13T10:40:00.005-04:00

Generally the newspaper photographer calendar breaks down into different phases. During these parts of the year, the schedule gets pretty well filled up with assignments, and sometimes travel.

Each sports season (fall, winter, spring) has an end, and with it, at least one local team with state title aspirations. Along with the high school sports calendar is the high school academic calendar. This usually means coverage of the first day of school, and finally, high school graduation. The challenge is always to find something different. That doesn't always mean finding something that's never been shot before. Just something you, as a photographer, haven't shot before. And sometimes the light is so good, you have to shoot it, knowing it looks good, even if you've seen it before.

Here are some photographs of Osbourn Park's graduation, and Battlefield High School's unsuccesful attempt to win a state title in softball:

Osbourn Park seniors enter the stadium...

she was the first to get her diploma, now she anxiously waits for the ceremony to end, looking into the setting sun...

this was a sweet moment where an aunt traveled from NY to see her nephew graduate, and she was so proud...

the game was tight early, as Battlefield nabs the runner at the plate...

Not a lot of offense, mostly defense...

Battlefield couldn't rally and ultimately lost 1-0.

Monacan Powwow 2011

2011-06-06T08:41:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures from the most recent Powwow in Elon, VA. Still working on putting together the audio and video for a quick multimedia piece.

And of course we're still waiting to see if legislation is able to pass to federally recognize the VA tribes. Yes, the same Native American tribes that were essentially the first tribes to interact with Europeans on this continent. In fact the VA tribes still honor the Treaty of Middle Plantation (1677) offering tribute to the VA Governor annually in November.

This year was much more casual than last. I didn't set up a tent and do portraits all day for two days. This year my wife and I tried to just enjoy the event and watch. I shot a little video, recorded some audio, and tried to keep it simple for myself. Hopefully I can post something later this week.

Little League

2011-05-13T16:13:00.003-04:00

For the past several weeks we've been shooting kids in sports around the county. Recently I went to a little league game. The light was nice. the kids were silly, and I grabbed a few pictures that I was happy with.

I remember playing baseball when I was their age. Although when I was 7, I played T-ball. At that point I already loved soccer, but I took one season off and played T-ball. I seemed to be one of only two kids on the team that knew how to throw and catch the ball (thanks to my older brother, no doubt). My T-ball team was absolutely awful, so it wasn't hard for me to go back to soccer. I seemed to have pretty good luck with soccer teams.

Los Cerrillos, NM

2011-04-16T13:33:00.015-04:00

About a month ago I went to Santa Fe, NM to attend the Photographic Workshops there. I took a Multimedia Storytelling class taught by Ami Vitale (www.amivitale.com). By the end of a hectic week I produced a piece, with my partner, Laura Feged, about Cerrillos, NM, told by a 94 year-old woman who was born and raised there.

Click here to watch it on Vimeo

The music in the piece, "Origami", is from Jake Schepps (www.jakeschepps.com). Please visit his website. He was totally generous in allowing us to use his music. He also plays for the Expedition Quartet.

Mary was an incredible person to interview. As you might imagine, there is a bit of concern in driving to a dusty old town 30 minutes away to photograph and interview a 94 year-old woman whom I’d never met. What if she wasn’t interested? After all, she must be tired of talking to visitors and other Santa Fe Workshop folks who’ve drifted into and out of town every so often. But Laura and I walked into Mary’s Bar, and there she was. Sitting and doing word search puzzles with her cats scattered about the cluttered, hardscrabble saloon.

She looked up when we addressed her and at that moment, her son in-law entered from the rear of the bar (the house), and was less than inclined to oblige us to anything. But Mary didn’t mind (so long as we bought something) and she began to tell us stories about herself and what Cerrillos used to be.

“We had four dancehalls…a meat market…a grocery store…anything you could ask for…but it’s all gone…the mines closed...”, she told us.

There were gold, turquoise and silver mines in the hills surrounding the town. Cerrillos, means “little hills” in Spanish. But eventually the mines all closed for one reason or another.

She continued with her life, and how she lost her husband, not long after he returned from WWII,

“I’m ready for the good Lord to take me, but he won’t take me”, she continued.

At one point in its history, the Spaniards considered making Cerrillos the capital of New Mexico because of the wealth found in the hills. But alas, that honor went to Santa Fe. The mines closed, and Cerrillos dried up. But in the center of town, a saloon survived. Mary’s Bar.

A picture began to emerge. In researching the story idea, we thought trekking out to Cerrillos might make for an interesting story. An old bar, managed by an old woman. I visualized a scene where bikers filled the porch, drinking beers, while the grizzled old matriarch keeps them all in line. However, it was the beginning of March, and no one was hanging around enjoying the dusty, windy, cool weather. So instead of a lively wild west sort of image we had preimagined, we saw a more poignant picture emerge. Dusty old town, aged woman; each of them timeless. They’d seen it all. The good times and the bad.

“I don’t take crap from nobody, " she would say, “I tell 'em...the door opens and it closes...”

She didn’t need anyone to tell her how to run her life. If they weren’t happy to be in her bar, then they could find somewhere else to go. And I suppose that might be what happened to Cerrillos. The people, the government, the money and the jobs found somewhere else to go. The door opened for Cerrillos and then it closed.

Mary stayed, though. She’s visited Rome, and she loved it. A family member of hers used to go over to Rome to train or teach Bishops and Priests. She even had dinner with Pope John Paul and “...the whole shebang over there…” But she loves her Cerrillos. She was born and raised there. What’d you expect her to do?

We really wanted to stretch ourselves with this video. Laura had not worked with video much, and I had only used video as a supplement to stills. We really tried to focus on doing nothing but video. Mary had so many things to say, but we also wanted to give it space to breath, and not bog it down with a running commentary.

Most of her quotes were fascinating glimpses into her life and Cerrillos as she saw it. It was an excellent example of time constraints being a great editor. Naturally, Ami was instrumental in helping us parse out the best bits of audio into a cohesive narrative. How different would the piece have looked or sounded with 2-3 weeks to work on it? I think much of the success of the video is that we were able to find visual cues and metaphors and arrange them succinctly without losing the feel or the sense of place. We tried to key in on that sense of desolation and the mood that the town had a prime that passed long ago. We thought Mary personified Cerrillos in a remarkable way and we hoped we could capture video of Cerrillos and Mary while weaving the audio into it in a meaningful way.

Not everything appeared as if it would go so well, however. At the end of our first day of shooting, one of Cerrillos’ local drunks (who was initially very friendly) began to verbally abuse Laura from the porch while she was shooting. That was our cue to wrap up and investigate the rest of the town for more shots. But at that point I began to wonder if we had overstayed our welcome. I was worried we wouldn't be able to return to shoot anymore. Fortunately for all of us, the next day all was forgotten and our second, and final day of shooting went well. We started to drive out of town, happy with what we had, but I stopped the car. The sun was setting and cast a beautiful orange on the hills around Cerrillos. We thought this would be a perfect closing shot for our piece. So we ran about 5:30mins of video as the sunlight slowly faded from the hills with some homes in the foreground. At that point we knew we had enough material to create something good. All that was left was putting it together.

I’ve wanted to attend workshops for years and this year I was fortunate to receive a partial scholarship to attend the multimedia class in Santa Fe. As it happened, the first day of class was the first day my piece about Ricky Chang appeared online at The News & Messenger, so I really felt as if I was transitioning into another phase of my development as a photographer.

The most important skill I wanted to take away from the workshop was the ability to systematically approach and execute an idea. I wanted to save myself from the aggravation of staring at 50 GB of material, not knowing how to start. Completing the Ricky piece the way I did was such an exhausting process that I knew producing any multimedia in the future would be difficult as I assessed the prospect of the stress and aggravation against the potential reward. I knew there had to be a better way to do it.

Aside from learning so much, we were treated so well the entire time we were there. It was quickly apparent that we were surrounded by people that were not only passionate about what they do, but were also genuinely interested in what we did and had to say. The classrooms and halls buzzed with enthusiasm. It was a nice change to know that there was only one assignment and it was due at the end of the week. For sure, there was frustration and stress from the frantic pace at learning to how to shoot, what to shoot, and then producing something respectable in 5 days.

I do have a small confession, however. I probably slept more during this week then I do when I visit Santa Fe on vacation. The Workshops close the computer lab at 830pm. Once the lab was closed, there was nothing left to do, because all of our working material and clips were organized on the lab computers. So every night, I headed back to my friends’ house, relaxed for a little and went to bed. The only exception was the first night of serious editing, where I was worried we wouldn't have enough time to finish.

Cerrillos hills at sunset

The workshop was a great experience for me. Immediately after the week ended I began to think of how to pursue all the ideas I already had written down from weeks, months, and years prior. I knew I had a plan, and if I put something together in a week with a partner, I certainly, with a little planning, could do it on my own, given some extra time. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that video is here to stay. We always have to adapt as visual journalists. Learning HDLSR and filmmaking is just another way we have to adapt. Different skill sets, for sure, but it’s not impossible. Ami mentioned at one point during the week that she thought we’d all look back on these times and think of it as the Wild West. I think she’s right. Everyone is trying to figure out how to make video profitable, and good. HDSLR is too easy and too good not to become a permanent part of news gathering and storytelling. Who knows where we’re headed? I do know, however, that getting started on learning to produce these types of stories is a step in the right direction.

Cerrillos and hills at sunset

Mary Mora and Laura Feged

Mary Mora and myself (Laura Feged photo)

Hoopsfest 2011

2011-03-28T17:52:00.003-04:00

I really wanted to write a blog about my experience in Santa Fe at the end of February. I really did. But because of some unforseen circumstances that blog will wait 'til later. Suffice it to say, I had a great time, took a great class with Ami Vitale, and learned a bunch about myself and multimedia storytelling. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to post our story and talk a lot more about it.

But this blog is about hoopsfest. Josh Himan graduated from college. And then he decided to join the Marines. As an enlisted. He was part of the surge in Helmand province, and eventually an IED detonated underneath his Humvee. He is paralyzed below the waist and partially in one hand. He's been working hard to get home, and I had a chance to spend 1 day at Walter Reed with him. Then, a few weeks later, the paper I work for, The News & Messenger, held Hoopsfest. The event is a 3-point contest, 2-ball competition (2 players, time limit, score from various points on the court) and then the slam dunk competition. The proceeds (over $13,000) went to Josh and his family.

Live Fast, Ride Faster

2011-02-27T10:36:00.006-05:00

Today I finally have the chance to show you a pretty remarkable kid I met 18 months ago.

Click here for the link to my project.

Read further if you’d like to hear more about Ricky, his family, and my take on the whole experience.

Ricky Chang, a local Manassas kid broke his neck riding his bike with his friends a month after his high school graduation. He was performing tricks, much like what you see on X-games and MTV. Performing 360s off stairways, riding railings on the pegs of their wheels. He and his friends are really talented.

Check out some videos of them online.
James Lukas
Ricky
And a Powerbike shop promo (with Ricky, James and others in it)

Unfortunately for Ricky, one trick went a little wrong, and he landed awkwardly, breaking his neck, becoming a quadriplegic. Just like that, his life (and his family’s) was changed forever. Ricky could not breath, eat or drink on his own. His situation appeared grim. This was in July of 2008. I met him in November 2009.

Through a ton of hard work and of course, the advances in medicine at places like the Shepherd Center in Atlanta , Kennedy-Krieger in Baltimore, and the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, VA , Ricky has gained strength and movement in his arms, though not yet his hands. He is still paralyzed below the waist.

He has a great group of friends. These are friends that learned how to catheter him and drain his bladder. In time, he had a surgical procedure to permanently place the catheter directly into his bladder, but for months, they were doing it along with Ricky’s mother, and nurses. They routinely drop by, hanging out, shooting the breeze, and when they ride bikes or skateboards, Ricky will sometimes come along and film some of it. So while it might appear as if it is just a nice thing that his friends have stuck around, it’s actually more important than that. Morale, hope and patient recovery are inexorably intertwined (Frederickson, 2001). When you have a patient that feels better about themselves they are more likely to recover. Mood has a distinct effect on the body’s ability to repair itself. So think about it. If you have a friend or a family member in a dire situation (should you be in the unfortunate situation), just being there can actually be enough to help. Ricky’s friends have played a huge part of his recovery process, and Maria and Ricky are incredibly thankful for it.

(above) Ricky's friend James Lukas carries Ricky to his wheelchair, and (below) Kate Baxter gives Ricky a big hug, while they hang out at a cookout over the summer. You can't underestimate the value of friendship in the recovery process.

Maria tucks Ricky into bed, making sure to position him in the best way possible to avoid cramping, spasms and general discomfort.

The financial situation is another aspect of this that is so difficult for many families to handle. Maria quit her job so she could help Ricky at home full-time. She contributed about 40% of the family income at the time. In addition, insurance and Medicare can sometimes be very difficult to deal with. One of the reasons Ricky attends therapy only for 3-4 months at a time with an equally long break in between, is because the insurance won’t pay for continued therapy when there aren’t appreciable benefits (as they see them). No, he isn’t moving his hands yet, but a critical part of the rehabilitation process is maintaining flexibility, muscle tone and bone density. This happens with consistent therapy. So the family has to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on therapy bikes and other equipment to keep at home, so Ricky can try to maintain some sort of therapy schedule. Nursing is also very expensive, and their finding that insurance doesn’t really like to pay for a nurse to come to the house every day. The family has already held one fundraiser, and hopes to hold another soon to help pay for these things. Without veering off topic too much, let me just say that one of my biggest problems with health care as it is, is that it’s geared toward crisis management. If a situation isn’t dire, then insurance doesn’t like to get involved, for the most part. In the case of someone who is paralyzed, maintaining care for them can appear at first glance, to be a waste of time and resources. But then you see that after 5 months of therapy, he regained motion in his arms, and after 2 years, he was transferred to a semi-manual wheelchair. These minor accomplishments are actually huge victories, and can only be done through consistent hard work and determination. Sometimes is just appears as if the insurance bureaucracy stands in the way.

So Ricky and his family will keep working hard, and they’ll keep hoping for the best. He hopes to attend the Arlington Arts Institute in the summer to study film production, and he remains incredibly positive, and hopeful. Having seen some of the incredible advances in medicine , it isn’t hard to imagine that spinal cord repair isn't just around the corner, and Ricky will be able to walk (and ride) again.

If you are interested in helping people like Ricky out please visit:
http://www.ntafund.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/E7308EC6-FA69-6592-A801ADA1A92FA0DD

The National Transplant Assistance Fund & Catastrophic Injury Program is a non-profit group that helps families like Ricky’s. The financial burden is tremendous, and luckily for Ricky, his family has done ok, despite needing some help. There are many people out there that don’t have the financial ability to pay for any of this and NTAF helps these people.

When I know for sure about Ricky’s fundraiser, I’ll post it, in case you are interested in helping out.

-----

I shot all the video in this on my Canon 7D. There was a pretty steep learning curve. There was a lot of bad, shaky, blurry video. But a little patience goes a long way. The toughest part of creating a multimedia piece, however, is the audio. It is so damn hard to get nice crisp audio. Especially on a budget. Directional mics, lavalier mics, I tried a few different kinds, and until you’re in there really doing it, you just don’t realize how hard it can be to get solid audio. It’s a skill all unto its own (just like video, and stills…but don’t tell the editors that). So with a lot of trial and a lot of error, I was able to cobble this together into a piece that conveyed what I felt I saw and experienced when I spent 18 months with Ricky and his family.

The editing process is pretty ruthless, though. There are a lot of things left out, that I would have loved to add, but you just can't go on forever. I shot and recorded about 40 GBs worth of video,. The audio and stills probably added up another 20 GBs or so. Let’s just say that I just about lost my mind when it came time to distilling it down. I was a little paralyzed with a “where the hell do I start?” moment.

Naturally, there is an article as well. Kipp Hanley did a great job writing this, and I’m glad he helped out. So I hope the written piece supplements the multimedia, and vice versa.

Ricky keeps his bike and his guitar around for the future...

There are so many other people to thank, as well. Ricky and his family were unbelievably gracious. That is something you can’t underestimate with producing something like this. Without the full support of the people involved, there is just no way to produce anything. There was never any moment they became tired of me being around (or at least they never led on). And with that support and access, you can get some really great moments on film. Kennedy-Krieger in Baltimore and the Woodrow Wilson Ctr, in Fishersville, VA were great to allow me to spend time while they did their thing with Ricky. And last, but not least, the News & Messenger, for just leaving me alone. No one bugged me, and the story just evolved and when I felt I was done, I was done. That was very nice.

Portraits for an Aspiring Filmmaker

2011-02-24T21:50:00.003-05:00

I love Facebook. I love that someone can randomly send you a note asking if you can shoot this or shoot that. And out of the blue, you have a job.

I recently reconnected with a high school soccer teammate of mine. We soon discovered we were similar in a lot of ways. We both studied the life sciences at George Mason and came away with degrees. We are also in various stages of leaving those days behind us. He is an aspiring filmmaker with a full-time job at a large company, and I made the jump to photography 5 years ago.

So he recently asked if I could do some portraits for him to use on his website to help promote his filmmaking and production company. I was more than happy to do so. He had some good ideas to begin with, which always makes taking pictures more fun. You know you're working with someone visual, so we can each bounce ideas off each other and see what sticks.

So if you have a chance, check up on Lewis Long III ( his last film in 2008 was "Good People"), and see what he's up to. He's working on a film as we speak, and maybe it'll be out in a year or so. If he can step away from that other job, of course.

Trekking the Earth for Wind & Fire

2011-02-20T19:23:00.005-05:00

Saturday was a windy day. The kind of windy day where someone waves you to the side of the road to see if you could drive them to the top of the hill so they don't have to walk in the wind (this happened). It's was also the kind of windy day that blows trees into power lines. These start fires. Once these fires start, they aren't readily stopped because....you guessed it...the wind.

I-95 looking northward

Looking southward at I-95 before they closed the lanes

A couple of dozen acres went up in flames because of an incorrectly disposed trash fire in a homeless camp. This led to the closure of I-95 southbound for a period of time because the wind fueled the fires and carried the smoke across the highway, reducing visibility. A brush fire 15 miles away from there demolished at least one home and closed multiple roads. Finally, I saw another fire as I was on my way home. Not sure what started that one, but trees were on fire and as twilight drifted into night, it made for some lovely, if challenging light.
I also have to point out that the crews were exceedingly nice and allowed me plenty of access while they worked. Which curiously, is not often the case when there is a house fire. This, naturally, led to better pictures. Brush fires like these don't happen very often out here, so it was a nice change of pace. Especially since there were no injuries.

This man covered his face in a handkerchief as he walked home across the street from a brush fire that consumed at least one home, off Davis Ford Rd, in Woodbridge...

Firefighters cut a tree down that had caught fire...

Photography and Video, together forever

2011-02-13T11:50:00.002-05:00

I've been busy lately. Very busy. Between putting together a project I've been working on for about 18 months, and all of the end of the year contest entries, I've hardly had a moment to comment on this blog.

I've also been learning about HDSLR. Yes, the newest fandangled toy of the photographer. I've had a Canon 7D for about a year and a half (not coincidentally, it is about the same time I've been working on my aforementioned project).

There are a lot of neat things about the idea of shooting video. But I have to go back to when the idea of video and newspapers first came about...at least from my perspective.

I can remember when I was interning at The Potomac News and The York Dispatch. There were these occasional vague calls for using video to "enhance" our coverage of events and stories.

Mostly these calls for "more video, please...", came from above and not from other photographers. At that time, about 5 years ago, the calls for more video were not accompanied by any effort to inform us on how to do it or what to use video for. Just because you can shoot still photography, does not mean you can shoot video. They are two different things. This is something to remind the editors about whenever you get a chance.

I can remember attending a seminar during a workshop put on by NPPA. During this seminar, a photojournalist, perhaps an editor, extolled the virtues of shooting video and proceeded to show us how it could be done. Oh the possibilities! What we watched, however, was a boring 2 minute video of the scene of a house fire. "Oh my, what have we come to?", I thought. If this is the future of video and photojournalism, I'm out. It was awful. It was nothing more than a sad attempt to replicate what TV stations had been doing for the past 50 years. As a friend seated next to me said, moments into the dreadful piece, "...I don't understand the need to reinvent the wheel...". Well said.

Fast forward to today. The HDSLR is the "game changer". Vincent LaForet first showed us "Reverie" and since then, the creative potential has been unlimited. These HDSLRs produce stunning video. But how can we utilize this? That is the question for all of us still working for newspapers, or even freelancing.

Here's a hint: The people who most want you to produce video do not have a clue how to do it, nor do they have any idea of the financial and intellectual investment required to produce it. It is all on you. But there is a silver lining. It is worth your time.

When the first HDSLR came out in Aug/Sep. of 2008, I was still trying to figure out how to make money. I was shooting real estate and the occasional freelance job. In other words I was worried about that month's rent and bills, not about how to get my creative juices flowing by learning a new skillset. Getting a full-time job in November of '08 changed that. With some consistent (albeit, small) pay, it meant I could concentrate on getting back to finding good stories and honing my storytelling abilities. In December of '09 I bought the Canon 7D for myself.

Video is here to stay. It's that simple. If you aren't learning it, you'd better start. Yes it's a new skill. Yes you have to invest in new gear (don't forget the audio, software., that also goes with video). And yes, you have to think differently about what you're shooting. Because the bottom line is that with video, you can tell stories more richly and more vividly than ever. This is a good thing.

I go back to that day where I sat in an auditorium, watching a sad video of a house fire, and not 3 years later, I'm producing video of my own that looks more like a film than amateur video.

I've now attended a couple basic classes learning more about HDSLRs (@ Penn Camera and the Virginia Press Association), and I recently was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the Santa Fe Workshops, Multimedia Storytelling with Ami Vitale at the end of February.

I'm excited because producing my first piece (it will be online in two weeks) taught me that shooting basic video without thousands of $$ of gear doesn't mean you have to stand in front of an accident scene with a tripod and post 3 minutes of boring video. It can be dynamic. It can tell a story. And now, more than ever, video offers us all the chance to produce the most compelling types of stories.

The newspapers will still call for video of breaking news, and I believe this is shortsighted, at best, stupid at worst. This doesn't advance the art of storytelling, which I believe should be our goal as photojournalists. If you'd like to post videos of football games and house fires, then please, do so. You can compete with every other amateur out there. It's only becoming easier for citizen journalist XYZ to have the same gear you do. We can all stick a camera on a tripod and film something boring.

Or we can realize this is a moment to separate yourself from the pack. I see this as a blatant call to raise the bar. I can begin to think about ways to document and tell a story in a million different ways (and I have a book of ideas). There is a strange fascination with many journalists with trying to duplicate what they see on the local news. I think this is a huge mistake. Print (and now web) publication should be striving to produce meaningful, in-depth stories that defy traditional narratives. Joachim Ladefoged recently produced a piece called Mirror that defies normal storytelling. There is no audio, save for the scoring. There aren't any interviews. There are no voiceovers. Just powerful photography. It's only one example of shooting something in a different way. We should see this and be inspired to produce something different, something beautiful.

Storytelling has always evolved. 60 years ago, photographers like Robert Frank, and Eugene Smith raised the bar. They showed us you could sequence images together to produce a story without words. Video is a new tool. It's time for us to collectively raise the bar again and produce better stories than ever before.

The economy hasn't been too kind to photographers these days, but I'm still excited to be a part of it. I think there's more potential now than ever to create meaningful work. And there's no limit to who will see it. That's motivating enough.

My Year in Pictures 2010

2010-12-31T14:44:00.009-05:00

So the year has finally drawn to a close. Happy belated New Year!

Many things have happened since January. I think every piece of equipment I own needed replacing or fixing in 2010. So I can't exactly say I'm sad to see the new year arrive.

As for the pictures, I've seen and done many things this year, attempting to take pictures the entire way.

Here are some of my favorites...and what I learned...

an SUV is your friend during Snowzilla...

and keep looking for something different, you might find it...

Sometimes when you go to an event, you have to decide to do things differently. I decided I would actually talk to the Iwo Jima Vets, and take good pictures of them, not pictures of them sitting and watching a podium:

http://media.gatewayva.com/isn/slideshow/IWO_JIMA_022610/publish_to_web/indepix.htm

Strobist.com is your friend...and on the 20th try, the idea might work...

I can't get too upset when pictures like this don't run, and instead they run a submitted snapshot by a parent (sigh...). It's still a good picture, and that counts for something...

sometimes a portrait comes together nicely with just one strobe...(see above comment about strobist.com)

and when 2 out of 4 strobes stop working during a shoot, you can still make it work...

assignments usually aren't as boring as they seem...especially when there are kids around...

Stepping away from the field is never a bad idea...

I still love New Mexico...

But, ultimately, I learned that I like taking pictures of people and hearing what they have to say. When they have good stories, all the better.

Monacan Powwow

2010-12-06T08:38:00.004-05:00

This has been a long time coming. I finally have a refurbished website. And with the new galleries I can show off some of the stuff I've been working on over the past year. I haven't had the opportunity to share many of it until now.

Please check it out: http://www.johnboalphotography.com

Much of it has been shown in various posts regarding athletes of the year, fairs...etc. On the other hand, one of my favorite "assignments" I did this year was back in May. I went down to the Monacan Nation Powwow, near Lynchburg, VA. I have a little Native American heritage (Nez Perce´) in my blood, and it's always something that interested me. I read about Chief Joseph, and ever since I saw my first Ed Curtis prints, I've been fascinated by the idea of documenting indigenous people, and learning more about who they are.

Kenneth Branham, Chief, Monacan Nation

Robert Narcomey, Navajo/Seminole descent

I think it's important to distinguish what I mean by saying "Who they are." When I thought about taking pictures at the Powwow, I wanted to do it in the same tradition of Ed Curtis (despite the controversy over some of his images), William Pennington, or even George Catlin (who created hundreds, if not thousands of paintings during his travels in the 19th century). So I hoped I might document, in my own way, the ceremonial dress of a Native American during a powwow. This was all done with the idea that I'd learn more about Native America. Perhaps even record some audio of native languages. So I resolved to set up a shade tent, and simply ask for people to sit for a moment and have their portrait taken.

I hadn't anticipated a few things, however. First, I was a little unsure of the response. While I had made contact with a member of the Monacan Nation, securing permission beforehand, I wasn't sure how enthusiastic anyone would be. I certainly didn't want it to appear that I was there to exploit them. I really did have my mind on using that day as a first step toward documenting the Virginia Native American. The response was tremendous. And if not for the help of my wife, I'd have drowned in all the people that surrounded the tent, hoping to get their picture taken.

Like many, I had an image in my head of what a Native American looks like. Tan, black hair, dark eyes. You know. Indian.

Mel Glover, Cherokee, Eastern Band

Danny Hawk, Lakota Nation.

But what I found when I visited the powwow is that not all Native Americans are alike. Duh. There were a few men and women who looked the part, so to speak, but many had southern accents, blue or green eyes. Blonde hair. I don't know many people, if any, have ever asked me "how white are you?". But for many who are descendent of North American Tribes, the idea of Indianness has been tantamount to the survival of hundreds of tribes and reservations around the country. The concept and practice of determining "Indianness" is related to the continued decimation and suppression of Native American culture and heritage. But rather than go off on a tangent (at least for today), I wanted to address the idea of identity.

Ronnie Durie, of Lynchburg, VA, affiliated with Monacan Nation, descendant of Appomatock, wearing a mix between Northern and Southern Traditional Styles honoring his father's service in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Durie is brother in-law of Monacan Chief, Kenneth Branham

Quinton Talbott, Monacan Nation, wearing Northern Traditional Regalia, with an eagle feather headdress

Identity. Who are you? Who do you represent? To whom or what do you belong? How do we see ourselves, and how does that perception affect the way we see ourselves? These questions affect the Native American in a peculiar way. As I said, many of the people I met didn't appear very "Indian" in the traditional sense. Being in southwestern Virginia, most of those I met were Monacan (obviously), Cherokee, and a smattering of a variety of other tribes descended from Virginia and the eastern woodlands. Naturally then, they aren't going to look like the Lakota, Navajo, or Apache, perhaps the most “Indian-looking” tribes of all.

The reasons are two-fold, as it was explained to me. First, they are woodland Indians. They aren't tribes that roamed the plains and the high deserts. They lived in very temperate climates with lots of shade. I'm not sure how valid this reasoning is, since descriptions of the Powhatan Tribe in the 17th Century, by William Strachey, as “…generally of a cullour brown or rather tawny…”

Buck Tyree, Monacan Nation, wearing Northern Traditional regalia

Secondly, and I believe this to be the best explanation, they first met the European settlers over 400 years ago. Native Tribes were always known to take in outsiders, and in fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that European settlers intermarried with Native Americans soon after meeting them. So combine intermarriage with the eradication of 99 percent of the population and it isn't too hard to see why the modern Native American descendent in the East doesn't look so different.

Maverick Wallace, 13, Muscogee Creek, wearing Men's Northern Traditional Regalia

It was a bit disappointing that I didn't meet anyone who could speak in their native languages. I did meet on person who promised that if I came back next year, she'd have something prepared for me, which is encouraging. It's sad to think that the native languages of this continent are disappearing so fast. I hope I'm able to record some native Siouan language (language of Monacan Nation, along with other nations) next year.

So these are my first portraits of people belonging to (or descended of) various Native American Tribes. Hopefully there's more to document in the future.

Carlos Martin, "Lone Wolf". Cherokee, Eastern Band

Westboro Baptist Church

2010-11-15T13:26:00.004-05:00

Today I had the “opportunity” to photograph a picketing by the Westboro Baptist Church at my alma mater, Woodbridge Senior High School. If you don’t know who they are, they are perhaps the most controversial example of free speech in this country at the moment. The Westboro Baptist Church has embarked on a crusade to let everyone know that “God Hates Fags”. In fact, they believe that all the deaths from AIDS, 9/11 and the wars that followed are because of our implicit acceptance of homosexuality. God is apparently punishing us.

They’ve become quite infamous for their strategy of picketing funerals of AIDS victims, soldiers and Marines. I won’t go into the logic of their argument, but suffice it to say, they certainly get a reaction out of many people.

So about a half dozen church members picketed across from the high school and about 200 people responded to protest their presence, or message. As a photographer, I would have liked for them all to be within 5 feet of each other, but of course, the police knew that was a bad idea, and the two groups were kept 4 lanes and a median away from each other.

I’m split on the idea of covering such an event. Doing so certainly encourages them. Shirley Phelps-Roper (pictured below) patently admitted she loves that 200 people come out to protest her presence. And she should. Without them, they become irrelevant. So from that point of view I wish we could just sweep them under the rug and ignore them. But on the other hand, that they evoke such a response, is enough of a reason to cover it.

See the story here

Election day is over...thankfully...

2010-11-03T19:58:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was a long-ass day. Not only because of election day, just partly. I started off in Richmond at about 430am. This was completely unrelated to editorial content. Sometimes freelancing gives you interesting opportunities to shoot other things (translation: there is often good money in it). Like I said, I started off in Richmond at 430am. Actually, it's more like I started off driving to Richmond Monday night at about 530pm, got to my friend's house near richmond by 8, watched a little football (my fantasy football team is still undefeated, thank you), hit the rack and was up bright and early the next morning.

I shot some coffee tasting (a guerilla marketing set-up on the sidewalks of Richmond) run by a marketing group, done for a large company that happens to sell coffee, among other things, and by 930am was back on the road to NoVA. I fiddled with the pictures minimally at home, and was off to Manassas for some election day photos. Filed those for the next day's paper, and then drove to Fairfax for the Keith Fimian party. He is the Republican candidate to challening Democratic incumbent, Gerry Connolly for the 11 District Seat in the US House of Reps. Early on, everyone was very excited as it appeared Fimian was going to hold on to his slim lead. But in the end the Democratic incumbent, Gerry Connolly, won. Home by11pm, I sent a picture for the paper to use on the web, went to bed and didn't get up until 1130am the next day. I don't have any voice, either, but here are some pictures (not of the coffee tasting, mind you, because my client doesn't even have those yet, but the election stuff...).

The Polls...

Fimian Party....

VA Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, made an appearance at the rally. He has made enemies and quite a few friends with his stances on global warming, gay rights and health care legislation. Here he signs an autograph for some teens from "Generation Joshua", who also attended the Fimian rally, although they are from Lexington, VA, which is hours away.

The results appeared promising at first...

...but too close to call for most of the night...

Keith Fimian, center, finally made an appearance, before the final tallies were in, thanking his supporters...

...and then the tide turned for Connolly...

...a big night for the Republican party, overall...not so much for Fimian supporters...

Under the Lights: football in a better way

2010-10-13T10:52:00.004-04:00

About 18 months ago, I had an idea to alleviate some of the awfulness of covering high school football for a small daily in Metro DC.

What we were used to as photographers was going to 2, 3, and sometimes (if you’re REALLY lucky) 4 games, in order to come back with photos from the night’s action.

Needless to say, getting good images is next to impossible when the only thing you’re worried about is getting a sharp picture as fast as possible of each team, and then leaving.
And to boot, if you are shooting the “Game of the Week”, that might change on Sunday (yes, you read correctly, all these games will be published 2 days later, b/c our deadlines are at 730pm). The “game of the week” is basically an ad hoc reference to the game that turned out the best. You may even see a 3 column-inch photo in the paper!

So I thought this year, to battle this insanity, we could focus on one game. We can’t put it in the next day’s paper anyway, so why not cover it top to bottom? Get really good art from it. Get interesting quotes, and stories…etc Yes, it’s still high school football, but make it more than that. Open up a double-truck centerpiece for the paper on Sundays.

And we did, to an extent. There are still a lot of kinks in the system, but I have to give credit to the paper for letting us do something a little different. We call it Under the Lights, and for all of September (and October 1st), I covered the Under the Lights game. It turned out to be a much more rewarding photographic experience.

Here are some pictures I never would have had the time to get last year:

New Mexico, revisited

2010-09-20T15:20:00.006-04:00

I originally had a plan to write an interesting piece about New Mexico and how I love it. But really, as Forrest Gump once said, "...that's all I have to say about that...".

I love visiting the state. I think the landscape is beautiful, and the state, from Alamagordo, to Santa Fe is just a nice place to relax and not stress out.

Enjoying a sunset in Placito, north of Albuquerque...

Santuario de Chimayo

Skulls for sale in Santa Fe

The hearth in our rental condo...

Enjoying a couple cocktails, and then it spilled an made a "B". So I took a picture...

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Jumping for joy in White Sands...

High School Football (the final headshots...)

2010-08-25T15:50:00.005-04:00

Here are some final headshots I accumulated after thinking about it in a different way (like I talked about in my previous posts).

Anyway, creating these photographs made going to high school football practice a far more interesting endeavor, even if each kid stood in front of me for a maximum of 5 seconds.

(More) High School Football

2010-08-07T14:58:00.003-04:00

I've now found something to focus on when I shoot football practice. The headshots. Once a throwaway 3 second moment, I'm now realizing, with just another half a moment to compose yourself, some pictures can look great. That I just wrote that last sentence embarasses me. This is what should separate professionals from the others. But sometimes it's very difficult to embrace making memorable photographs when you are in the throws of trying to wrangle 20+ kids from the football coach in their first week's practice. If you last more than 5 seconds with these kids, the annoyance factor rises exponentially between you and the coach. So generally speaking, headshots never were anything I focused on, until the other day (my last post), when I stumbled into a couple I liked.

Here are some more, with an action shot to boot. The one headshot is in color, because, well, his eyes were such a striking color, that monochrome didn't do it justice...for once...

Maybe he's the next great running back out of Stonewall Jackson. CJ Burns is only 15, though. The last 2 years have produced the Ryan Williams (SJ '08, and ACC Rookie of the Year @VaTech), and Damien Thigpen (UCLA).

High School Football

2010-08-05T13:23:00.004-04:00

I was planning on sharing some photos from the early goings-on of the two-a-days that signal the start of the high school football season and school year. I thought of shots of players pushing the sleds with coaches shouting the whole time. I thought recievers catching, quarterbacks throwing and running backs, well, running. You get the idea. And then today happened.

Today was a black flag day. Meaning no one could practice outside. I had a list of shots to get for the preview page for this particular school. No worries I could still grab a few headshots while they were lifting weights. Lo and behold, the 10 seconds I took to make pictures in teh entryway of the gym, are some of my favorites in the past few weeks. Some nice natural reflective light while we stood in the shade with a white door to frame their heads. But when I converted them to black and white to archive into our system, I couldn't help but linger over some of the pictures. They just look a little more classic and interesting than anything I was planning for.

Sometimes that's the magic of doing what I do. Sometimes a picture, often for reasons unknown, can spark an interest. And many times it's nothing more than the fact that the people look unmistakeably...human. They'd been lifting weights, and they have a slight air of intensity about them, but they are kids, and to me it looks as good as any football picture I could have come away with on the practice field.

Summer

2010-07-15T17:08:00.005-04:00

Once summer rolls around, many of the assignments you are used to shooting aren’t there anymore because school is out, and people are on vacation. So instead, you find yourself searching community centers, pools…etc for interesting pictures. Sometimes you find them, and sometimes there isn’t anything to be found and you just make it up.

For those not on the east coast, it’s really hot. It is so hot, the A/C in the car doesn’t work unless it’s past 2. The sun just blasts away any feeble dribbling of cool air that whispers out of the vents. So you crank it, until you are cold, then turn it to 1, realizing a minute later you may as well turn it back to 2 or 3, and point the vents into the vacant space around your body, trying to create some cool environment in the car, and not so much blast icy air onto your face or chest. I’ve become pretty adept at figuring out the best positioning of vents to achieve that goal. I’ve also become quite adept at finding shade in a parking lot, or if there is no space with shade, then anticipating the path of the sun which will yield the most shady spot, when I come back to my car. This is very important when you own an SUV without tinted windows. It is also, I believe, an acquired talent, and there are certain parking lots in Northern VA where I have specific spots I try to find, knowing they have the best shade depending on the time of day in which I arrive. Damn those new parking lots with small trees!

Back to the point of this post. In the past few weeks I’ve come upon various scenes which illustrate all that I mentioned in the first graph. Good finds, bad pictures made better and the heat that affects it all.

When the heat was at it’s worst (I know the weekend hasn’t come yet, which I’m sure will be blazing), I trolled around the county to find people making due with the heat. Pools, beaches…etc.

The other day, I looked into local summer camps, finding a Cooking Camp for 6-7 year olds. Who knew?

Watching the 'teach add some generic green chiles to the tortilla soup. Too bad they didn't have any New Mexico Green Chiles. y que va...

I guess tomato paste is gross to 7 year-olds.

And then yesterday, I was assigned to photograph a middle schooler who has been invited to a USA Volleyball camp of sorts. She’s very good. Only when we arrived at the high school gym, the doors were locked and the sun was beating down on us, but not from too bad an angle, and I spied a white backdrop…

I used the sun like it was a 1.8gajillion watt octabank fill,

then popped a couple speedlights to create some shape.

Last of the sports year...

2010-06-30T16:10:00.003-04:00

I haven’t posted in a bit, and it’s generally the same reason as always. I decided I didn’t like anything from the past several weeks to post.

But often times, several weeks pass, and an opportunity presents itself for reflecting on the work you’ve done, and you are pleasantly surprised.

The school year is finished, but between the last weeks of May and the first couple of June, my days are full with sports. Player of the year for this, playoffs for that. And knowing I’m not much of a sports photographer, I brushed aside any of my work from this period, assuming it not blog-worthy.

Lo and behold! As I corralled my work for the quarterly VA News Photog. Assoc. contest, I found what I thought to be several interesting photos. Many of which, unfortunately, went unpublished. But that doesn’t deter me, because I know what I’m doing, even if the publisher does not. And my personal progress is ultimately what matters in this context. Naturally, I hope these are interesting to you, too…

At the State Tourney, we were allowed on top of the press box, a new angle for me.

Incidentally, he lined this pitch into right field for a single.

Area Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year

Area Soccer Player of the Year, Matt Carey. He was a great defender for the areas best defensive team. I thought this had a guarded, angry look about it...

I was able to add some layers in this picture to make it a little better than most

Pitcher-Winding-Up-for-the-Delivery-Home pictures...

Caught Stealing

Girls Lacrosse Playoffs...there is generally no contact, but they can get pretty damn close...

Scripps National Spelling Bee

2010-06-07T19:41:00.003-04:00

Greetings! Here is my annual These-Kids-Are-Either-Really-Bored-or-Tired-or-Anxious-or-Both at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. I generally had yet another good time at the Bee. It's a great time to run into other photographers I haven't seen in months, and drink tons of free coffee and eat free pastries.

Last year I posted much of the same. I find these things to be highly amusing, since, for many of these kids, this is as close as it gets to "Prime Time" as they'll ever get, and here they are being kids. They are bored waiting for everyone to finish. Or they are incredibly anxious. Or both. So when people yawn, or stretch, or rub their eyes, it's funny to me. At the very least, it provides entertainment, or a challenge for the 99% of the time I'm actually waiting for the one person I'm there to photograph.

Enjoy, until next year....

Record company? I don't need no stinkin' record company...

2010-05-11T17:54:00.004-04:00

Recently I had the privelege of photographing Brandon DeLaney, a local kid who's put some of his own stuff online, via Youtube, called "Imma Champion", in addition to the song(s) he has on iTunes.

Just another example of why the music industry is in better shape than ever for the consumer. Not so much for the recording industry, mind you. But with people like this, the creative possibilities are endless. And this is from someone who records out of his tiny Manassas townhouse bedroom.

This is why bands like Animal Collective and LCD Soundystem exist. Because record companies no longer hold sway over what we can record or purchase. Thank you technology. Because with you, artists like these can create, and people like me can blog about it.

The problem of course, rests with sifting through all the crappy noise. As a musician or as a photographer that means distancing yourself from the competition. Somehow being able to brand yourself 'special' is worth it's weight in gold.

But can we all be so successful? No. Just see the latest post from Kenneth Jarecke's blog, Mostly True. But it sure takes cajones to try. Or at least we should recognize it does.

I liked this Brandon. He seemed cool, and down to earth. I've photographed several "home grown" artists and many times they are basically jackasses. But he was not, and we even bantered back and forth about some indie rock, like Passion Pit, a band very much unlike his "Imma Champion" song.

So hopefully he does well. I'm rooting for him.

Wheelchair Basketball and the Costs of War

2010-04-22T13:04:00.004-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to travel to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to photograph some veterans playing wheelchair basketball. I met some men who sacrificed body and limb to be in Iraq, only to step on a homemade explosive device and just like that, both legs and part of their left hand is gone. They were going through a kind of therapy, playing sports, trying to regain some semblance of “normal” into their lives. Prosthetics have come a long way, and in no way are these men incapable of getting around and leading relatively normal lives. Nor are they, as evidenced by what I had seen, unable to enjoy themselves, albeit differently than before, by playing sports like wheelchair basketball.

But there is no way to spend three hours in a gym with a dozen amputees without calling into question the whole of it. I understand the broader goals of making a better world for those less fortunate than ourselves. But I wonder if future generations will ever figure out how to resolve dispute without war. When you commit yourself (others, actually) to invading a country and fighting a war, the ugly truth is that there is no way to escape death, destruction and torture.

These men were able to receive the utmost care and the best resources available. Then consider that the many civilians who suffer are not privy to such treatment. We can say that torture is unequivocally wrong when we talk about waterboarding. But when we go to war, we must assume a certain amount of collateral damage. Therefore we can acknowledge without a doubt, that there will be those that suffer because of our actions. Lives will suffer from the physical and mental anguish of war. If we know this is a truth, no matter the precautions, does it count as sanctioned torture? I’m not declaring my newfound pacifism, as it certainly appears that war is, in fact, a necessary evil in many circumstances. I only point out that when I see 23 year-old man with his legs gone, I can’t help thinking that maybe he’s the lucky one. But he’s not. He isn’t lucky to be a paraplegic, but there are worse fates than his. The men I met that day seemed to be able to embrace that fact, most likely because they’ve seen war up close.

Let me also add that I put together an audio slideshow. This has somehow disappeared into the ether while being passed along the chain of command at a Newspaper that will remain unnamed…

Athletes...and more athletes....

2010-04-10T18:26:00.004-04:00

Nothing much to say with this post other than they are a collection of what I've been up to over the past few weeks. Players' of the year, and spring sports previews. Here are some of my faves...

Freedom-Woodbridge. Tiera Williams, shot put, track preview

Forest Park. Jorge Mendez, Wrestler of the year.

Ariel Karabinus, winter track Athlete of the year

Forest Park. Paul Boehme, soccer preview

Potomac. Justin Burrell, hoops player of the year.

Woodbridge. Tyler Thomas. Top-rated sophomore in Virginia, Baseball preview.

and finally, Stonewall Jackson. Jerry Budd, Spring Track Preview.

VNPA awards

2010-03-20T23:39:00.005-04:00

I just got back from Richmond, Va where I checked out the Virginia News Photographer's Association yearly get-together. Mostly it was judging of photographs from all around the state. It is a weird feeling, however, when they see your image(s) and say "out". Or even stranger when they comment on how much better your essay would have been if...

But, I did win an HM for one of my photos, though. It was in the portrait category. It is of Amber, Miss ODS. She was part of a slideshow I did on the PWC Fair last August. Check the link here:

http://media.gatewayva.com/isn/slideshow/Fair2009/publish_to_web/indexpix.htm

Iwo Jima's 65th Anniversary

2010-02-26T13:14:00.012-05:00

This week (actually Feb. 19) is the 65th Anniversary of the Battle for Iwo Jima. 5 days later, on Feb. 24, Joe Rosenthal made his famous photograph. Possibly the most famous photograph ever made. The National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Quantico, VA, hosted a Commemoration event, and Medal of Honor recipients and retired generals spoke. Even the current National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, General James L. Jones Jr., USMC (Ret), made an appearance and closed the event with some remarks.

All in all it appeared to be a successful event. Most importantly, though, was the gathering of the 500 or so Iwo Jima veterans. This is probably the last time these men will gather, so I thought it was a nice opportunity to take some portraits and collect some audio. Of course, I’d have loved to get all 500 in pictures, but that seemed to be a complete impossibility. So I settled for about 10.

I made an audio slideshow but the paper is unwilling or unable to publish it (long, long story which is really about the idiocy of small papers with no budget trying their hand at multimedia, but I digress). When that gets on the web, I'll update this post and my facebook biz page.

Here's the updated link: http://media.gatewayva.com/isn/slideshow/IWO_JIMA_022610/publish_to_web/indepix.htm

Kenneth Fisk celebrated his 20th birthday landing on Iwo Jima.

Josias Villarreal, San Antonio, TX.

Edward McHenry, Rancho Santa Fe, CA.

Bill Johnson, Wimberly, TX.

Tom Hodge, New Boston, TX.

Leroy Hulser, Flagler Beach, FL.

Charles Tauser, Moscow Hills, MO, lasted 1 day on the island, getting shot through the throat, missing his jugular “by a hair”, sparing his life.

Paul G. Smith, Parkville, MO. Part of the only MP platoon that landed on Iwo.

But my favorite veterans I met were the Navajo Code Talkers. Bill Toledo fought on Iwo and was kind enough to speak in his native language, actually singing the USMC anthem in Navajo. Please visit navajocodetalkers.org for some more information. It really is a fascinating story.

Bill Toledo, Navajo Code Talker, Laguna, NM.

Bill Toledo and Frank Willett, Crownpoint, NM. Willett fought in the Pacific Theater, but not in Iwo. He came to Quantico to support the other Code Talkers who survived Iwo.

According to the Weather it's Snowing out...

2010-02-05T22:06:00.004-05:00

Thank goodness for the local news. Because if you weren't sure by looking out the window, it is snowing. A lot.

Empty Commuter lot in Woodbridge

Snowzilla, Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, Snowpalooza. The News & Messenger newsroom adopted Snowzilla.

Here are some photos from today before it became serious. Tomorrow should bring even more interesting pics. Some of these are inspired by Hiroshi Sugimoto landscapes.

There is something different about being in the snow. Particularly the kind of heavy, foreboding, this-will-go-on-for-a-long-time snow. There isn't anyone outside, and it's incredibly quiet. I was able to find a few parks in the area that weren't gated shut, and I wandered. I think these pictures are the best representations of how it felt to be on a beach, a fishing pier, or a wildlife refuge with nothing around but the echo of an occasional bird and the lapping of water on the frozen sand.

Leesylvania State Park

Belmont Bay

using music as a model for photography

2010-01-17T23:18:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to catch up recently. Well, always. But recently I was trying to thin out my CD collection and only keep those I deemed most vital. The great thing about doing such a tedious task was that there were memories long linked to each disc in some significant or insignificant way. Either an album held momentous appeal to me for years (Jane's Addiction, Nothing's Shocking) and colored my concept of what true musical artform was, or it was a CD that I heard 10 secs of one song on a listening station (Squarepusher, Ultravisitor), and bought it, listening to it once, never to be heard again. Ultimately this led me to compare the recent trends in independently produced music and the state of photography today, particularly my own.

I know many blogs and mags have done their lists a few weeks back, but I offer my convincing list of best albums and songs of the decade and the year. There are no top tens, just the best:

Best album of the 00's:

Not even close: Radiohead-- Kid A. 'nuff said. And this was at the beginning of the decade. Nothing even approached the genius of this album for the next 9 years. Not even Radiohead's next 3 albums. The next closest album I can think of is Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Best Song of the 00's

Well, I could take the easy road and say Idioteque from Kid A, but I won't. Only because this is my list and I don't care about the logic of it. I absolutely loved, from the moment I heard them, The Fiery Furnaces. And I think, Blueberry Boat, off of the same titled album is freaking brilliant. Love 'em or hate 'em (I currently only have one friend who likes this band). I love that song.

Best album of 2009:

Vecktamist-Grizzly Bear. Brilliant album. For me, it just edged out Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavillion.

Best Song of 2009:

My Girls-Animal Collective. Infectious, inventive. Just a damn good song, and I couldn't think of a better one this year.

I firmly believe there is more good, creative, inventive and simply brilliant music out than ever before. I also think this is inversely proportional to the grip the record industry has on music publishing.

The internet has essentially broken down all walls between artist and audience, and this schism may furthermore cut into the profits of said artists, but what it hasn't done is quell the desire for the aforementioned to venture into the unknown and send back genius.

I sat and looked down at my CDs. Jane's Addiction, The Liars, Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse. These are all artists that, to my mind, pushed the envelope in some way that opened the door for others. And they all did so on their own terms. Each with a unique sound. In fact, in regards to Jane's Addiction and Modest Mouse, I would argue that their success foretold their creative stagnation (i.e.--J.A--Strays, and M.M's We Were Dead....). Artistic genius is found in spite of the mighty dollar. There was great music 20+ years ago, sure, if you could find it and you had the kind of friends who would sift through records to discover Pavement and The Modern Lovers. But it was difficult. We mostly listened to what was fed to us, i.e. the radio. Anyone with an original voice was pounded into submission to churn out what the record companies knew would create a profit.

I heard from an interesting source in the music industry that Jim Morrison's descent into addiction and depression was because the vision he saw for himself and his band was not what the record company saw. The record company who saw it as profitable at the time, produced this “psychedelic” rock/pop. When the record company is your only outlet, you don't have any leverage.

But what happened? The internet and the personal computer put that power back in the hands of the artist. This is (finally) where I get back to photography.

There used to be a time (the good ol' days!) when the publications held all the power. Perhaps photographers were treated better then. Perhaps they were paid a much better wage. But it also seemed to be an exclusive club. Now the playing field is leveled. There is no reason anyone can't take pictures and put them out there for everyone to see. Your success largely depends upon your vision.

That also means that you must fight through the noise to get your vision out there. Musicians fought this for a while, iTunes and satellite radio was developed (though, corporate as well) and provided the (profitable) outlet for creative genius to take root. Now we can find anything we like. And the previously unknown artists like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, etc. can become industry leaders on their own merit. The ability to deliver your message means that you can do it your own way, and by doing so you can take more chances. Having to fight through the noise of mediocrity means finding a unique way to sing a song (or tell a story, visually) .

Ever notice how many TV ads have catchy tunes? I can recognize a handful of them as being indie-rock songs. The Outback Song (“Let's go Outback tonight….”)? That song was written by Of Montreal, and bought by Outback Steakhouse, who then rewrote their own lyrics to the tune. The new Cadillac commercials? Phoenix-1901. There is profitability in originality.

What I'm saying is that creativity, good taste and making money is not necessarily mutually exclusive. The mucky mucks and the bean counters don't know it yet, but our weird ideas are what they need. It's up to the us to put it out there.

Since I never put together a "New Year's" post talking about resolutions or what not, I'll say it now. I plan on doing better. I plan on making better, more original images. Images that you would not have thought of. Images I wouldn't have thought of if I didn't push myself. These are images that do not have the viewer in mind any more than it's important that my message is heard. I will not dumb my images down, and ultimately the only person I'm looking to satisfy with my images is myself. This is the year I get selfish about my pictures, because I've seen music do this with increasingly impressive results.

vacation

2009-12-30T09:56:00.006-05:00

The Williamsburg Inn

I went to Williamsburg for the first time this December. It is a little strange that I could live in VA for 25 years, visit Busch Gardens twice, and never visit Colonial Williamsburg. But I finally did at the suggestion of my wife on our way to visit my parents in NC.

The evening we arrived, they staged a lighting of the Taverns, which turned out to be a ceremony of sorts with fifes and drums, a volley of musket fire, and an announcer to describe the history behind each of the buildings illuminated by the glowing fires.

Musket fire during the Lighting of the Taverns.

Incidentally, I did not check to see if the guy in the middle still had his face.

I didn’t have too much to say about Williamsburg until I started going through the images again. Those Colonials must have led a miserable existence. These people didn’t even have centralized HVAC! We walked up and down Duke of Gloucester Street ( it’s pronounced “Glawster”, it is one of my pet peeves when people attempt to pronounce the –oucester or the -orcester in British words. Yes, Worcestershire Sauce, is pronounced “WOOS-ter-sher”…but I digress) and I had to marvel at how the town ever survived. Then I remembered that without the Native Americans' help, they wouldn't have. Nothing like paying back the good graces of those who ensured your existence as initiating mass genocide (actually, the first settlement, Jamestown, would never have been possible were it not for the benevolent native population, but once Jamestown was anchored, subsequent towns became possible). Happy Holidays!

Williamsburg is a swamp. Not so much nowadays with all the paving, but nonetheless, it’s a swamp. So the summers suck, and the winters are cold enough to suck, too. No big surprise to see, then that nearly every headstone in the historic church yard had January or February as the date of death. Catch Malaria in August, die in February. In fact there was a headstone that dated to the 17th C. Pretty cool. Not too often can you see things in the US that date back to 300 years ago. Santa Fe, NM is one of those places, of course…

But the charm of historic Virginia is still evident, be it the variety of wreaths on the doors, or the sheep in backyards of homes bathed in bright, raking winter sunlight under a blue sky. One thing I couldn’t figure out is why they paved over Duke of Gloucester St. I thought it would look and feel so much better as cobblestone. I suppose it’s inconvenient for the cars that do eventually get through to deliver goods to the shops.

You can drop a dime or two in the town, as it literally costs money to go into any building and should you dare to drink the horrid coffee served next to the Old Coffeehouse (they don't serve coffee except after the tour you take with them, and then it is a sample) is twice as expensive as Starbucks. But you can see fires lit, muskets shot and fifes and drums being played all in the setting of authentically restored 17th and 18th century buildings. There aren’t too many places to see that.

And speaking of awkward segues, you can’t see Santa too often, so when you do, you have to set up lights and be ready. After Williamsburg, we visited my parents in NC, and my dad dressed up as Santa to visit the neighbors’ grandchildren next door on Christmas Day.

finding new ways to take pictures...

2009-12-07T23:01:00.005-05:00

The holidays are upon us, and the new year is fast approaching. If it’s one thing I’ve rapidly realized, it’s that I enjoy pictures. Any kind of pictures. This doesn’t sound like much of a revelation, I guess. In fact, it seems almost like a revelation that I had to “realize” that I like taking pictures. But what I mean is that for the past couple years I’ve been dialed in to becoming as good a photojournalist as I can. Something I’ve tended to overlook is the potential of photographing not just people I don’t know (like at the newspaper), but also people I do know. I can help my friends by delivering a quality product that many people aren’t normally accustomed to receiving, while they can help me expand my business. So as I approach the start of 2010, I'm looking forward to something new to work on, in addition to being a photojournalist.

Fear is a terrible thing. It can be paralyzing in a number of ways. Fear of failure has often kept me from starting projects. These projects can either be story ideas in a photojournalistic sense, or can mean expanding my business. In this case, fear of failure has kept me from offering my portraiture skills to my friends. I finally took a leap of faith and have been pleasantly pleased with the results. I’ve also learned that taking pictures of children is a whole new skillset to learn. Thanks to my friends, and hopefully there is more to come, soon.

Sometimes schedules have to be flexible, so noontime shoots aren't ideal, but if there's some colorful shade, it can work out nicely...

Another thing I learned is that portrait ideas for a young child have to be flexible, they usually don't sit too long...make sure they have toys...

Sometimes the parents looking at their child are worth taking pictures, too...

They also like to see their reflection...

...and if they don't want to smile...just go with it...

...or if they can't sit still...just go with it...

...and if they intrude on the parents' photo...just go with that, too...

Working with nothing to work with...

2009-11-20T16:00:00.005-05:00

I haven't had much work in the past couple weeks beyond shooting sportraits...

Some have published, and some (like the players of the year for certain sports) have not.

Something I've definitely grown accustomed to is shooting with absolutely nothing to work with but your own imagination. Generally the assignments come in with little direction, beyond, "shoot cross-country runner xxx, they'll be practicing on the track at 3pm".

And if you know anything about what a high school track looks like, it ain't much. So you have to find something else. And for a couple years, now, I've been wanting to shoot a portrait in the cornfield behind Brentsville HS. But the last couple times I had the opportunity (Spring, Summer), there is no corn. Now only if they played baseball into September/October, I could do my "Field of Dreams" idea...

But I think, ultimately it's one of my favorite recent portraits.

I don't find basketball to be so easy for a couple reasons. 1. there are usually multiple teams practicing in the gym when you need the player, 2. the gym is generally a dreadful place to shoot, and 3. the weather outside generally sucks.

However, I have been pleased to find that if you truly concentrate on working backward through the frame you can find some neutral, or colorful backgrounds, and set up a mini-studio. The pads beneath the baskets are usually the teams colors, and maybe even have a logo or something on them. A simple two light set-up usually makes for a decent shot.

In addition, when the gym is occupied by multiple teams, the divider that comes down from the rafters almost always has a leather/vinyl bottom to it that reaches up about 7 feet. perfect for an ad-lib backdrop. Voila! You have a backdrop to match the team colors. Two lights...and boom, a solid portrait.

These tips also help if you happen to have broken 1. speedlights, 2. Pocket wizards, 3. or both. Right now I'm reduced to using one Canon 430EX, one Nikon SB-800, and one PW receiver. Nice. But you get by. Certainly the portraits start to look a little similar, but until someone (ahem...) pays for my gear to get fixed, I can only do what I can... Gels are your friend...

Execution of a Sniper

2009-11-12T19:33:00.007-05:00

On Tuesday, November 10, John Allen Muhammad, strapped to a table, silently accepted a cocktail of chemicals through his veins, and he died. I went to cover the “event”, driving 2.5 hours to the sleepy town of Jarratt, VA, with two reporters. We each recalled our own experiences of seven years ago. For three weeks, Muhammad and his 17 year-old cohort, Lee Boyd Malvo, terrorized the DC area, through random lethal attacks, striking out from the shadows of hillsides and parking lots.

The road to the parking lot in front of the correctional facility was guarded tightly...

We drifted down to the correctional facility unsure what to expect. The skies darkened and the night turned misty and foggy, creating an eerie mood. I walked toward the media crush, hours before the appointed execution time. Dozens of satellite trucks stationed themselves across from the prison entrance, while a makeshift podium, lonely, covered in bag-wrapped audio equipment, stood quietly, addressing the dozens of cameras in front of the shifty and impatient dozens of journalists who operated the equipment. We waited. We looked. But there was nothing to see. Nothing more than our own company. And that singular podium. Three flags fluttered in the breeze, Greensville County, Virginia, and United States, all at half-mast, honoring those who lost their lives in a similar outburst, though in a fury of bullets over the course of one day, instead of a month-long rampage. The skies continued to drip over us.

Suddenly, hope appeared in the form of an attorney. Muhammad’s stand-by attorney from Baltimore, spoke with a few reporters about his interactions with Muhammad. We were caged animals huddled around a piece of meat. What started as several, became a dozen, became a 20, became a big clusterf***. The lonely podium stood quiet before empty camera stands and tents, twenty yards away, until angry calls from photographers on the outside of the crush, prompted an “orderly” Q&A. The podium was now the center of attention. The execution was still 2 hours away but the deadline for the paper loomed larger. Safe shots in hand (first of the building, then of the attorney), I walked back to the car to send my photos into the ether.

The all-important podium...

Keeping dry is always important. Sometimes you just set up an umbrella in case you need it for later...

Satellite trucks abound...

J. Wyndal Gordon, stand-by attorney for John Allen Muhammad: "Muhammad is a dignified man...". When asked about remorse, he responded, "no, he doesn't have remorse, because he maintains his innocence...".

Protesters slowly filed into the general parking where we were. Computer in lap, I viewed, edited, and sent my photographs back to the office. The next task was to search for more photos. Technology is a wonderful thing…usually. But what it also fosters is a false sense of confidence. It is always ready to fail, and usually at the worst moment. Again, with a safe shot in hand, I tried twice to send it to the office over the course of 30 minutes, and it never worked. So as 9pm (execution time) came and went, I continued to sit in the back seat of our car, trying in vain to send one more photo. It never sent, and at 9:11pm, Amanda, our reporter, let me know that Muhammad was officially dead. His family, fortuitously parked right next to us, joined hands in prayer outside their vehicle. Protesters lit candles, tolled a bell, and said a prayer for both the victims and John Allen Muhammad.

praying for victims and perpetrators alike...

Muhammad's family holds hands and prays at 9pm, moments before he is executed...

Seven years ago, the nation’s Capital was held hostage by random acts of terror over the course of three weeks in October. We all searched for The White Van, and theorized who it might be. We zig-zagged to and from fuel pumps, and on Tuesday night, the case was finally brought to a methodical, anticlimactic end in the wetlands of southern Virginia.

The skies, once breathing a misty, dreary fog, opened up into a soaking autumn rain, and the wet, somber, quiet crowd drifted out of Jarratt, on their way back to their lives knowing they had been “there” when John Allen Muhammad was executed. For some, it was a measure of closure, for others an opportunity to protest and pray, and for still others living in the quiet, humdrum communities of these southern Virginia counties, it was an opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.

Elections and trying not to catch a cold...

2009-11-05T19:46:00.006-05:00

Local elections can be a little hectic. Generally, the paper wants to cover as much ground as possible (a bad idea in my opinion), so the two photogs at the paper must travel from voting location to voting location, party to party, all in the hopes that we can catch 1) voters (of course!); 2) a candidate greeting voters, themselves; 3) a candidate hearing the good/bad news (hopefully before 9pm—fat chance).

campaign managers are always texting, or checking emails. always.

On the other hand we are also simultaneously trying to avoid: 1) grief from local “poll police” for taking pictures at a polling locale. These laws depend on the county. In some places they are adamant you can not take pictures inside. In Prince William County, you are absolutely allowed, and a sign outside the polling place usually tells as much. 2) grief from local party volunteers about how your paper didn’t endorse their candidate. Such a remark is usually followed up with a quip, “we won’t hold it against you, though…nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…”. Oh really, you won’t hold it against me that several individuals with little or no contact with me will endorse a particular candidate? Thanks. And finally, we are really, really trying 3) to avoid criticism from the newsroom for not getting to 3 candidate parties, separated by 30 miles, and filing remotely in 1 hour.

I'm also trying not to catch H1N1, but that doesn't necessarily make me unique...
Here are more pictures…

It's Halloween

2009-10-31T23:05:00.004-04:00

I'm not young anymore. At least I don't feel it anymore. No more crazy parties. No more running around the city like a lunatic. In fact there was no alcohol consumed on this Halloween at all. Still trying to figure out if that's a first since my freshman year of college.

No, these days I chase down Halloween parades in Historic towns like Occoquan. Here's a sampling...

I wish I could still sit on someone's shoulders and nap...

just before I arrived back at the office...nice...

keeping the creativity from drying up...

2009-10-27T20:12:00.001-04:00

The funny thing about being creative (or at least believing yourself to be creative) is that creativity itself comes and goes. There are times when so many ideas clog my head, I have to record them into a notebook or in a word document. Then I spend the next several weeks trying to figure out how to make it happen. The flip side, naturally, are the times when the creative juices aren’t flowing at all. The assignments draw blanks, no new projects come to mind, and I’m left with a slate of unimaginative results.

I find that either results in a feed-forward type of cycling. The more creative I feel, the more ideas I generate, the ideas I generate beget more ideas…etc. On the other hand when I’m “slumping” I press more, yielding more blanks, which draws frustration.

I go Stuart Smalley on myself and tell myself, “I’m good enough, and people like me…”, or something like it, and I go out and force myself to take a picture, then another, and then I begin to feel better, and I realize the process of taking pictures is therapeutic in itself, even when the results aren’t great.

I’ve recently been “slumping”, but last weekend I had a completely free day. No assignments on a Saturday. Finally I could get back to checking in on some personal projects I’ve had on the back burner for weeks. I have been taking pictures of an interesting father/daughter antique shop in the west end of the county. The biggest issue is that it’s about an hour away from the office, so making it out to Bristow, VA can sometimes be impossible.

So I swung by, equipped with my gear, and laptop with photos from the last session of images a couple months back. Unfortunately, only the father was home, so instead of taking more portraits, I sat down with him and showed him what I had already worked on. His son was there to see as well, and we enjoyed a conversation over the next half hour looking at a dozen or so images.

And there it was…again. I hadn’t taken a picture at all, and yet I felt validated and realized that I was pointed in the right direction. These people enjoyed looking at my work, and appreciated my efforts. Sometimes keeping up with established relationships, however small, pay dividends. I know it will be easier to get back out there, and make more pictures, but as it was, it was just nice to show some work to people that really wanted to see it.

State of the Union...

2009-10-11T12:53:00.005-04:00

It’s the first week of October. For me this has become my de-facto State of the John Boal Photography Union address. The Eddie Adams workshop starts this week. Without me… again.
So there it is. I’m Oh for three. You can apply 3 times and that’s it. It's supposed to be for young and/or developing photojournalists. Although I think there is a caveat. I think you can apply as many times as you want as a student and then only 3 times as a pro. I can’t remember if applied as a student the first time or not. Maybe it’s irrelevant. I’m starting to get used to being rejected—current FT employment notwithstanding.

I think it’s a good thing to self-evaluate periodically. Hopefully during these moments I can look back at the past year, or several months and see progress. The first couple years of doing this, I was so concerned with seeing better pictures for my portfolio. Now, I’ve found I’m less concerned with having better pictures than making sure that I have an emerging vision on how I see what’s around me. I find that the good pictures tend to take care of themselves this way. I’ve stopped being concerned with how to win contests and get into workshops. Finding a personal voice in my photographs is more important to me now.

Something I’ve always held important is how we come to find pictures; that is, the ideas behind them. I believe it’s important to create images that mean something. In 30 years hopefully I can look at an image and see it’s value, even when perhaps the composition or the lighting may not have been ideal. Many times the value of an image lies in it’s ability to reflect history at that moment.

A year or two ago when the election campaigns were heating up, I emailed a well-established photographer friend of mine to ask the best way to go about getting to Iowa and New Hampshire…etc. And he simply said I’m better off covering what’s in my backyard. Save your money, find what’s in front of you and shoot that. And I did. It was the best thing I could have done. And so far, it’s been the best work I’ve done.

Committing to a decision usually will yield far better results than when you’re second guessing yourself. When I decided I wasn’t going anywhere I couldn’t drive to and take time off to go cover, my photographs became better.

So in the short run, maybe my photographs weren’t so compelling to judges of portfolios to various workshops. But I learned my backyard is just as often more compelling than what can be found thousands of miles away. And if everyone is so eager to find something somewhere else, then perhaps what I’m shooting here becomes more interesting because of it’s exclusion by the rest.

Money is drying up across the board in print media. To me it only makes sense to spend my time finding stories closer to home. The process has taught me that it’s a mutually rewarding experience. People like to feel that they are interesting. And as a photographer, I’ve found that I’m less reliant on some sensational event carry my photographs and instead I’m forced to make them compelling by knowing their stories and conveying that visually. Anyway, who is going to pay for me to travel to far away places? National Geographic hasn’t called yet.

Hawaii

2009-10-04T16:30:00.011-04:00

Here are some photos from our trip to Hawaii...not much to comment on other than the Big Island is beautiful, and I can't wait to go back...

sunset from the lounge at the Keahou Beach Resort Hotel...nice to enjoy Mai Tais while watching this...

sunset from the Onizuka Visitors Center at 9200ft on Mauna Kea...

even the bathrooms in Hawaii can be nice...here a shaft of light poked through a window at the Hilo airport before our helicopter ride...

what I thought was a "spared" home near the volcano, is actually an observation station for scientists...(thanks to the wife for the correction). All the black is lava rock.

Akaka Falls, 420 feet...

in the forests around Akaka Falls Orchids seemed to drop from the sky...

the lovely Alicia Boal...

one of the views from our suite at Keauhou Beach Resort...

On our way south after the wedding we stopped at Pu'uhonua Honaunau (The Place of Refuge)...here, Charlie talked to us about the old Hawaiian and Polynesian ways of life...very interesting...

this guy checked us out as we enjoyed some Ono sandwiches at The Coffee Shack...

the closest I was able to get to a Green Turtle...this time at a beach at Pu'uhonua Honaunau...

on the southern part of the Big Island is the volcano and the lava flows...here is the lava entering the ocean as seen from the viewing area 1/2mi. away...

lava flows as seen from above...

incredible amount of ferns in the rainforests surrounding the craters and volcanoes at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park...

hiking the Kilauea Iki trail around the inactive Kilauea Iki crater...in Nov. of 1959 this was a lake of molten lava below...

A Fair Remembered

2009-09-05T12:46:00.008-04:00

Get your tickets here!

I was going to write about health care and misplaced outrage of these people at the TEA parties, but I won’t. I’m tired of thinking about it, and frankly, I have better pictures to show….of the fair.

I love the fair. You can make an argument that it’s silly, expensive, and generally boring once you get past eating a corn dog and riding on the ferris wheel. This was my argument for not going to them for most of my life, other than when my parents took me to the NY state fair as a kid. Carnivals don’t count. They may seem similar but they aren’t.

All the games you could ever want to play are here!

But now that it’s my job to meet people and relate my experience with them visually to the rest of you, I love the fair. There isn’t a better spot to meet a more disparate population of people--in a good mood, mind you—in the country. Young, old, country, urban, they are all at the fair.

Arm in arm at the fair. Incidentally, he had "LOVE" tatooed across both his right and left knuckles. On the right, he had her name; across the left (pictured) must have been a previous lover. Let that be a lesson: Tatoos are forever.

So for a personal project of my own—because generally the paper doesn’t provide the space, except for the internet—I worked on putting together my own set of images and sounds.

Eat all you can before summer is over!

The first is about the founders of the fair. I mentioned them in an earlier post. Here’s the audio slideshow of them. You may have to turn it up, b/c I am admittedly learning how best to do this , and when you listen to audio through headphones, it inevitably sounds much louder than it really is.

A couple founders sharing a laugh.

On a side note, the last 2 nights of the fair, stormed like nobody’s business, and the wrestling match I attended was almost canceled, because of the tornado watch.

Should Jimmy Cicero tag up?

Snapping a picture of "Big Sexy", Kevin Nash, who made an appearance at Prince William County Fair.

Kevin Nash slams Bazooka Joe to the mat, and is ready to "bring it home"...

Kevin Nash, wrapping it up in their "locker room".

Beyond the founders and the wrestlers, though, is a collection of fair goers that like to eat funnel cake, and win giant stuffed bears. They like to walk arm in arm, ride the ferris wheel and the carousel. It’s the last escape of summer for many people. After the fair, everyone gets back to being in a big hurry. The universities start back up, and then the public schools. Here is a slideshow of who I met at the fair, and what they looked like to me.

Self-anointed Miss ODS (Old Dominion Speedway, a local racetrack) tours the fair promoting the track

In addition, if you really like fair pictures and stuff like that, you should visit Kenneth Jarecke’s blog (which should be linked on the right side of my blog--unless you're reading this through facebook) where he posted pictures from his hometown in Montana. And of course, NatGeo did this story a couple months ago on county fairs.

The first and only time I met Senator Kennedy...

2009-08-27T11:11:00.003-04:00

When I first came back from my internship in York PA, I struggled with being a freelancer in DC. I tried getting work from the wire services. The nation was in the grip of a compelling presidential primary season. And I couldn’t find anything to latch onto as a photojournalist.

I wanted to trek out to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but I came to the conclusion (via some helpful advice from other veteran photogs) that working close to home would be better. Force myself to work harder for good pictures. Nevermind I didn’t have the financial wherewithal to actually travel all over the place, there were plenty of pictures within 2 hours of DC.

I traveled to York, PA for the weekend prior to the PA democratic primaries. Hillary and Obama were campaigning hard in the blue-collar areas of the state. Having worked as an intern in York, I had some connections and knew I’d be able to make it to several events before the night of the primary.

Sen. Kennedy would be making an appearance at the Democratic Headquarters to stump for Obama in York, inside a tiny little office. As it turned out, one of the reporters from the York Dispatch, would be interviewing him afterward, and I begged to be allowed in the room to take a couple portraits of the Senator, during the interview. I promised I wouldn’t interrupt.

And that was one of my first lessons in why it’s important to know people and be friendly. There I was, the only photographer in the room with the Senator, answering questions from a local reporter. I know his photograph has been taken millions of times, but this time I truly felt as if I was somehow on the inside. I set up my 4x5 and sat next to Victoria, his wife, and popped off a couple frames.

She half joked that she expected a poof of smoke to rise in the air as I took the pictures. Not quite, I laughed. But I certainly have to say that I’m glad I took pictures with the film camera instead of the digicam. I think the picture looks a little more timeless, that way.

Les Paul, and Misplaced Outrage...

2009-08-16T16:50:00.002-04:00

I’ve mentioned this many times before, probably, but one of the great things about being a photojournalist, is the interesting people you meet.

The other day, guitarist and music recording icon, Les Paul, passed away. He was 94. It turned out that there were a couple of men in the area who had personal relationships with the man. Larry Muller, a dentist in the area, and an avid guitarist, has a custom-made Gibson Les Paul guitar signed by Les, “Larry, keep pickin’, Les Paul”, it says.

That he had a guitar signed by the legend. But Paul Wolff, his friend, a recording console designer, and founder of Tonelux, had some stories to share about the music recording industry, along with Les himself.

What turned out not to be less interesting was the caption on the cover of our next day’s paper: their names ran incorrectly. Doh! I promise that wasn’t my doing. I wrote in my caption that Paul was looking at Larry’s signed guitar, and somehow that evolved into getting the names reversed.

So speaking of people passing away, the health care debate has gotten feisty, eh? Not only is blatant misinformation being passed around, but so is the fake outrage. Or maybe I should say misplaced outrage. How’s that for a segue?

In today’s Washington Post a story ran about the mounting dissent and opposition to the health care proposal. In the article, a woman is quoted expressing her opposition at a recent town hall meeting featuring Sen. Arlen Spector. “What are you going to do about upholding our freedoms? We are the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Huh?

What does health care reform have to do with upholding freedoms? If anything you could argue that the health care reform movement is about giving more people the opportunity at a level playing field. Which might equate to more freedom.

I wonder if the same woman marched around the streets when the Patriot Act was being rushed through, or when we discovered our phone conversations weren't necessarily private? It’s ridiculous.

If you have a problem with the plan, why not argue about the costs, or it’s sustainability, or maybe ask how we can possibly have private insurers compete with gov’t subsidized care?

“We are the land of the free and home of the brave!” What an idiot.

That makes no sense and blurting it out that way only makes me think of Lois Griffin running for Mayor of Quahog in the show, The Family Guy. She rapidly realizes that in the debates, if she spoke about the issues, no one listened. Her best strategy was to answer every question with “nine-eleven”. Immediately everyone got behind her with raucous cheers and rabid support.

I can’t get beyond the fact that there are a lot of uninformed lemmings out there, and it frightens me that the debate for health care is now centering on debunking ridiculous claims of “death panels” or forced “end-of-life care”.

Have I read all of HR3200? Hell, no. I couldn’t tell you half of what was in there. But as soon as you see a claim of “death panels”, I tippy tap on my computer, and voila! There are a dozen links to web pages devoted to facts and analysis.

In fact, check it out. Here are some links, stay informed:

http://pol.moveon.org/truth/lies.html?rc=ads.adwords.ad12
Yeah, it’s Move On.org. not exactly unbiased, but still, some info in there…

http://factcheck.org/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/health-care-fact-check/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/22/fact-check-obama-health-care/

60 years and counting...

2009-08-09T17:10:00.005-04:00

I received an assignment the other day to meet and photograph the original founders of VA's largest county fair, the Prince William County Fair. All five were WWII veterans in 1949 when they decided that they wanted to create a competitive event for local farming families to get together and socialize. 59 years later, they are all still going strong. Each one has worked every year at the fair in one capacity or another.

The unfortunate part of the assignment was that before we took pictures (I was collecting audio as well), the fifth founder up and left. I asked the woman who was organizing this, "is he coming back?". Nope. He just left. Well, it is nice that people take your job seriously. And I don't blame the guy who left. They had been there for a few hours talking about the fair, and signing books. He was probably tired, and if people don't tell you that you have to stay for pictures, then I can't exactly blame you for wanting to go home.

I couldn't get there until a little before the event ended, and having spoken to the organizer the day before I thought I was clear about needing them all for about an hour to interview and take pictures. Sometimes what I think are clear requests, aren't clear at all. Not sure what part of "I need to take a portrait of them for the paper" means that someone can leave. Especially if it's a story about the "Original Five". Not "the original five minus one because he left and we didn't tell the photographer he was leaving...".

Ok, rant over.

Naturally, the Fair has changed over the years. Things aren't the same anymore in Prince William County. Years ago, the fair had dairy cows, cattle, sheep, and all sorts of livestock. Most of that has disappeared, these days. And those that do bring in their livestock are all from Fauquier county. It's mostly about the demolition derby, wrestling, rides and corn dogs these days, I guess. But since 1949, these men have brought families out to participate and learn about the agricultural world, and maybe enoy a funnel cake or two.

Eyes of a Veteran

2009-07-28T15:38:00.004-04:00

I work in Northern Virginia. This means that often I am in contact with the military or retired military. Today was a case that I met 84 year-old retired Marine Corps Sgt. Major John Henry, a veteran of three wars (WWII, Korea & Vietnam). He was certainly a fascinating character. Like many I’ve met over the years, he was very proud of his service and had more stories than you could hear in a single sitting. He was shot twice, although he refused the Purple Heart, because, as he said, “I didn’t feel nothin’, and there were a lot more guys that got it worse than I did…”

He delighted in recounting stories which sounded horrifying to me (think death and destruction), and yet, he was as cheerful as any 84 year-old you’d ever met. In fact, if it weren’t for his crew cut, you may not know he was a veteran if you met him on the street. Although, admittedly, I don’t know what veterans are supposed to look like. I guess, maybe many veterans are similar in that way. Walking vaults, filled with stories and tales of bravery and horror, and yet, they are able to carry on and live fruitful, long lives away from the wars.

Currently, he is giving back in a different way, teaching and speaking at Quantico Marine Base, to young Marines. He admitted every time he speaks he gets choked up, seeing all those young men, ready to take off to whatever corner of the Earth. Maybe in 50 years, some of those very Marines will be doing what he is: talking to young Marines before they jet off to some far-away war. But maybe, if we’re lucky, there won’t be any wars to jet off to.

Track Stars Need Their Feet

2009-07-12T10:45:00.005-04:00

About a week ago, the News & Messenger published the final in a series of All-Area athletes of the year. It only took about a month to get 12 pages out. Blame the economy, blame advertising. We just didn't have enough pages to make space for the page on many days. The athlete pages ended up appearing as a disjointed, discontinuous stream of pages sometimes shown consecutively for three days, only to appear again 10 days later.

But that's the state of newspapers, and I'll get back to that. What I did want to highlight were my pictures. Hopefully that's why you look at these pages, and not to hear about how bad the paper is doing. Or maybe both.

Scheduling these times to shoot the athletes inevitably is the biggest pain in the ass to do. This becomes especially hectic at the end of the school year, when we also have to cover every single graduation ceremony in the county.

The first I had the opportunity to shoot was the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year, Meredith Nelson, from my alma mater, Woodbridge. And of course the tricky thing with these shoots is to somehow convey that said athlete is also a scholar. My idea, was to shoot it in a library, and I went with the school library and tried to come up with something interesting and the school colors (something I've been trying to incorporate into my student/athlete portraits lately).

I like what happened with this, and I think overall, I came up with something that worked, and it popped off the page a little bit. I'll concede that the idea is a little cliché, with the books and the uniform and all. But I thought the lighting made and the little smirk made the image a little more interesting. Doesn't she resemble Ellen Paige (from the movies, Juno and Hard Candy)?

Later that day, I drove out to Brentsville District High School, in Nokesville, to shoot Justin Weaver, baseball player of the year. For those of you who don't know, Brentsville is in a rural part of the county, with lots of farmland around, and I started envisioning this “Field of Dreams” type of portrait with him stepping out of a cornfield, or tall grass with the stadium behind. All very dramatic, you see. But during the first week of June, corn hasn't grown higher than about a foot off the ground, and, for whatever reason, much of the grassy fields were plowed, throw in some rain and I had very wet shoes, and not a lot of options.

But I did happen to notice the orange tarp surrounding the tennis courts and decided to try to make something of that. So with a couple lights I went out to figure out how to make it work.

When Justin showed up, I had to make sure he had all his gear, because I thought the picture would work best if he were a pitcher in the photo. Naturally he didn't have his glove. Which I'm always wondering what kids are thinking when I say, “bring your uniform and all your gear”. This is not the first time an athlete simply didn't bring everything. But luckily, the reporter was there as well, and he just happened to have a glove in his car. I think the glove makes all the difference in this image and without it, we'd have to come up with something completely different.

He was player of the year for both his pitching and batting. But I've always thought the image of a pitcher staring down the batter is a far more intense and interesting image than something with someone standing with a bat in their hands. He was particularly proud of his batting numbers, so I shot both, knowing I wouldn't use the “batter” images. It's certainly something I've had to adjust to (taking control of a shoot) and much of that lies with the realization that I'm the one working, and ultimately it's my job to come away with what I had envisioned, not what the subject hoped for. And this is what we came up with (Brentsville's colors are Orange-Black-White) and I'm very happy with it.

Let me just say that despite the amazing convenience of dropping photos into a computer and instantly seeing results, there is the opposite horror at seeing a click of the mouse erase everything you just did.

The latter happened after shooting a track portrait. And without some rescue software I was able to rescue two images from Yvonne Amegashie, the female track athlete of the year.

So as it was, the track photo I think is interesting, but in retrospect, it didn't work as well in print, because they run the photo so large on the back of the paper, it really looked imposing and intimidating. Almost a little scary. When you flip to the back page of sports, and there's a huge menacing head on the page, it's not exactly the impression I was going for. I think if I try to go for something like that again, I might step back a couple paces. But the background was not the best, because the track was locked up and we were forced to do the shoot at a picnic table under some trees nearby. So under the circumstances, yes, I was happy, but it might have been a little too close up for a huge photo.

I saved my favorite for last. I met Damien Thigpen at Stonewall Jackson in the afternoon. Unfortunately for these portraits many of the students schedules preclude any hopes of getting nice light to shoot in. Usually you're left with shooting at 230pm (right after school). Indoors is usually a crap shoot, b/c you're left with either shooting in the basketball gym, or finding the wrestling room or something. But for this track star, I wanted to come up with something interesting.

As I walked to the track I passed underneath the stands, and I saw it. Perfectly straight and extending for 100 yards into the distance, the sun poked through the cracks in the bleachers and formed what looked like running lanes in the grass beneath. I was sold. We were out of direct sunlight, so I could control my lighting, and there was the perfect graphic element.

Ahh, but this is where I get upset. This is the original shot, above.

And this is what published. Nice. Next time I shoot the track athlete of the year, I'll have to reiterate that it's important not to crop off the feet.

But this is what happens when the copy editors and sports editors are your page designers. They crop images ridiculously, because it doesn't fit into the hole they cut weeks ago. Perhaps if we had more staff (or could pay for them), we'd have real page designers who could imaginatively layout a page to utilize the photo we shot. I have to admit, I was completely and fully aware of the space they had. But I wasn't aware that my photo was “too thin” to fit. Hopefully that is the reason, which isn't so insidious. Because if it's the original reason which briefly flitted through my mind--that they wanted his face bigger on the page--then I am seriously pissed.

But this is just a small symptom of what is happening at the small dailies. Pictures like these (at a parade on July 4th):

Turn into pictures like these:

It appears at times that Newspapers are their own worst enemy. If it isn't boring page design, cropping the meaning out of photos, or giving away content on the web (like most papers in this country), it's shutting down the printing press and moving your deadline to 8pm, like the News & Messenger (essentially removing sports and many breaking news stories from your next day's paper).

But this all points to a revenue problem. We've heard the story. No one reads the paper and the advertising money hasn't followed to the web.

I wish I knew the answer. At this rate, it won't be long before there isn't anyone left to write the news or take the pictures anymore.

But at the moment I'm just pissed my portrait of the track athlete of the year has his feet cropped off.

Photographer to Falconer

2009-07-01T13:58:00.005-04:00

About a week ago or so, I had the opportunity to photograph some Peregrine Falcon chicks as some conservation biologists checked up on the young at a Dominion Power Plant here in Prince William County. There are only about 20 nesting pairs in Virginia, so it felt pretty neat to first take some pictures of the falcons, and then I had the chance to hold one for a few minutes while reporter Aileen Streng took a couple photos.

The Revolution will not be televised...

2009-06-21T14:47:00.004-04:00

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
-Gil Scott Heron, 1974

Heron wrote his song in the 70’s and it was in reference to the black power movement. But it’s still relevant. It’s about empowerment, transparency, and ultimately, equality. But it's also about rising up from within, and not waiting to be told to protest. To find that fortitude, and courage to stand up when the act of doing so is a risk in and of itself.

This revolution will not be televised. It will be a link on facebook. It will be a twitter posting. It will not be classic journalism, and because of that, the Iranian government, notoriously controlling and paranoid, will not be able to suppress the will of the people. Journalists are already shut out, but this hasn't stopped the free flow of information out of Iran.

There are no borders. Not anymore. Cell phones, the all-in-one device that they have become, are now the revolutionary’s tool. The videos and pictures coming out of Iran are from the people themselves, and it is unflinchingly honest, and disturbing. What true journalism should be. The people who have finally reached a boiling point, enraged by the suspicious elections, and emboldened by the regime’s disturbing response.

But I think we need to be cautious about who we want to lead Iran. It appears, at least when you read one perspective on TIME.com:

Perhaps he isn’t exactly what we want in Iran, at least as far as US interests go. But these protests have turned from disputing election results into calling for a change of minds, of regimes.

This may be the end of the theocracy which started 30 years ago.

Perhaps there is a little sense of irony in that 30 years ago the people rose up to depose the Shah, installed by the US, and now they are rising up to (hopefully) overturn the government installed by themselves.

It appears to me to always be the better option to allow people to find their own way, instead of, as some leading Republicans might have you believe, sticking our hand in the pot to stir things around. As Christanne Amanpour said the other day: “what happens now?…the genie can not be put back in the bottle…”.

Indeed. And we need to let them find their own path. Instead of giving the Iranian elite fodder to feed their US paranoia, we have stayed relatively quiet. Thankfully. Some may argue that we didn’t stay silent when the Berlin Wall fell. But that was a situation where after decades of negotiating and discourse, a failed government finally collapsed under it’s own weight. If you want to follow the Soviet example further, it didn’t quite work out in the 50’s when we ran our mouths in support of Hungary. And they were emboldened by our words, and subsequently crushed. It wasn't time.

Let’s not make the same mistake. Let the Iranians find their own way. There is no way we would get involved if things get ugly over there, as they appear to be headed. Iran has a long history of suspicion towards America. Let’s not feed into that. Let’s give the Iranian theocracy enough rope to hang themselves, so to speak.

The Iranian people will march and continue to post videos, and pictures, and blogs. And the government will continue to suppress. At some point it will become completely obvious that it is the will of the people, and not some devious plot devised by the CIA, that the theocracy of Iran has reached an end. Hopefully with less bloodshed than these past few days would indicate.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.

Graduation surprises

2009-06-16T15:09:00.003-04:00

Another round of high school graduates has taken flight. Good night, and good luck. This isn't exactly the same environment I was lucky enough to graduate into in 1993.

Graduation ceremonies are, for the most part, exactly the same in many ways. The kids are happy, the parents are happy, and it’s usually hot and humid. I’m pretty sure the two hottest, and most humid days last year were the two graduations I covered as a freelancer. This year, while not as hot, was just as humid, but I was saved by having all of them either indoors, or under a pavilion.

Nevertheless, the interesting parts of the graduations ceremonies have always been the wide discrepancy of the featured speakers. I saw a former congressman, a former student (and recent valedictorian of the Coast Guard Academy), and a staffer from VA Gov. Kaine’s office.

The speeches were brief and long-winded, funny and serious. And generally spoke mostly about personal responsibility. Of them all, there was a particular speaker who impressed me. Josh Tetrick, a lawyer who specializes in bringing clean energy to impoverished countries spoke repeatedly to the Stonewall Jackson graduates about giving back. Particularly emphasizing that goodwill is not only the right thing to do, but can also be profitable.

In his speech he mentioned a quick anecdote about Thomas Edison, where a student once asked him why he invented the light bulb. Edison’s response: “I find out what the world needs, and proceed to invent”. Here's a link to an article he wrote in UNC's university paper.

What made the rest of his speech interesting was not just his delivery (which was spot on), but that Tetrick did not talk about the opportunity to create better iPods, or neater gadgets to occupy our time. He proceeded to cite startling statistics about the world’s need for potable water or arable land. He made references to malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB’s grip on the impoverished.

He wasn’t calling for better and “cooler” technology. He was calling on the graduates to save the world. The dot-com boomed and busted. Real estate topped off, then bottomed out. There are real issues to solve out there and with a little ingenuity, real solutions.

And I started to think about my own role in all of this. I always viewed the profession of photojournalism with a benevolent eye. I’ve always felt the best photographer is an aware and concerned photographer.

So I thought about the ways I could possibly turn my talent to help someone else. And I can’t say that I have answers, other than the obvious idea of shooting for non-profits. But I’m thinking. When I attend these assignments that, on the surface, can appear to be the same event you’ve always shot, something unexpected can happen. Even the umpteenth graduation ceremony can provide a pleasant surprise.

National Spelling Bee, in between moments...

2009-05-28T18:32:00.006-04:00

It’s as I said in yesterday's post, when I was blogging from the event itself. Having only one kid to shoot is an incredibly liberating feeling. They go on stage, you focus on them for a bit, and then your eye wanders. A spelling bee is quite the collection of bookworms and (how do we say delicately?) slightly nerdy kids.

All very nice, I presume, although I only had the opportunity to meet one of them. But despite any presumed nerdiness, they are still 11-13 year-olds. And sitting on stage for 2+ hours at a time, one can get bored, tired, or both. And many times they make funny faces, which I love as a photographer...

Here are is a continuation of a collection of images I made at the Bee while I was waiting for the News & Messenger's sponsored girl (who would not advance, by the way, despite spelling her two words correctly--there are written tests that supplement the televised version, and these inevitably whittle down the 293 to 41 semifinalists). I find them to be mostly interesting and/or amusing, and maybe are just a little different than most spelling bee photos.

It really did seem like a game show sometimes...

however bored they may seem

Scripps National Spelling Bee...

2009-05-27T15:45:00.003-04:00

Greetings from the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. I’ve never been to this event, although I’ve certainly seen my share of highlights on ESPN over the years. Having only one girl to take pictures of for the paper, I was left to spend the rest of the time hunting down the interesting pictures, which may or may not be interesting to those that have covered the event more than a few times. So I focused on what I noticed initially. After going to the stage to spell their word (I heard everything from Schadenfreude to Hydrant), they inevitably return to their seat to wait until their round is over. These preliminary rounds can last two hours or more, so you can imagine what I saw. And a sampling….

Track Part II

2009-05-21T14:00:00.003-04:00

Some more track photos....

Track...a little differently Part I

2009-05-17T22:24:00.005-04:00

I've been to a some track meets over the past few weeks and found myself working on a series of images I found interesting in between getting the publishable photos for the paper (as they are usually not one and the same). So here is the first of a few posts...