John Boal Photography

Obama rally in Harrisburg I turned around and saw the gathered media typing away. Kennnedy visits Obama HQ in York. Hillary HQ in York City. Canvassing in the suburbs of York. Well I had a chance to scan some more negs/polaroids and edit my digital stuff. One of the things I had to balance out while doing this thing over the weekend was deciding between hanging with the local volunteers (like I originally intended, when I started covering this stuff several months back) or should I cover the candidates and the representatives who stumped for them.   I don't have a laptop.  That's not entirely true, but I don't have one with a fast processor, up-to-date software, or wireless internet capability, all staples of the travelling freelancer.  So I began my trip worried I'd be unable to find events, or contacts.  Downloading cards was time-consuming, but without the internet what would I do? As it turns out, photojournalists have been covering elections for years.  Even before

I decided to head up to PA to catch the last bit of the 6 week barrage up there, and with my leftover connections from my York Dispatch internship a year ago, I had a free place to stay.  So it was tough for me NOT to go up there.  This time, I brought my view camera, and had some fun.  Not having been in the midst of a primary battleground, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  Earlier this year I thought I might head up to NH or IA, and didn't go to either.  This was my first attempt at primary coverage.  But I knew I could never possibly compete with the horde of photogs on the heels of Obama or Hillary.  Hence the 4x5.  Something a little different.  I am so glad I brought the view camera.  My back isn't however.  Lugging a bag stuffed with a 4x5, film holders, along with the digicam + 2 lenses, tripod, and stepladder doesn't do too much for the shoulders and back.  But one thing I learned (which I should have learned a long time ago, but I'm getting better at)

just a couple more pics of my girlfriend's nephew, who was in town for his spring break.  I thought these two turned out ok...

This past weekend I went to my first competitive eating contest.  The winner of the pro division (not pictured--they were a little blurry) downed 5.5 lbs of frozen custard in 6 minutes.  Good gracious.  None of the contestants were big burly men, either.  The winner, Ian "The Invader" Hickman, is not much bigger than I, if at all.  I'm 5'11", 175, in case you wondered.  Nonetheless, watching people devour over 5 lbs of frozen custard in just a few minutes was pretty astounding.  I loved it.  Is there anything more American?  I know there is that Kobayashi kid who seems to win everything.  But it must be an American invention right?  The best I could do to uncover the origins was the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island which goes all the way back to 1916.   Funny thing about American culture, it usually isn't that old. Anyhow, the first picture is of the Kid's division competition, and the second, of the Amateur division. 5.5 lbs in 6 minu

This is (yet) another late post, but I don't care.  I've been busy.  Nonetheless I wanted to go back to something I witnessed on Easter weekend.   I had an assignment in Woodbridge to shoot an Easter Egg Hunt (an Eggstravaganza, they called it), only to find that the more interesting photo opportunity happened to be just up the hill at the pool where the Lake Ridge Pools and Rec, (LRPRA) stocked a public swimming pool with about 700 trout for fishing.  The money presumably went to helping out the association raise funds.  The website didn't mention what the money went to.  They were asking for volunteers to help, so they couldn't actually  run the event themselves, but nonetheless they charged $7 a person to sit poolside and fish for rainbow trout in an olympic sized pool.   But it's not the money that compelled me to write tonight/this morning. I was sitting at the computer at NVCC, scanning in my 4x5 negs and I came upon the one photo I actually captured there wit