John Boal Photography

Continuing my long-term project documenting Monacan Indian Nation, I traveled to Richmond on Tuesday to photograph the dedication ceremony of Mantle: Virginia Indian Tribute, a monument on the Virginia State Capitol grounds recognizing Virginia Indian Tribes. The current governor, Ralph Northam spoke, and there was the official ribbon cutting.  Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam, performs the ceremonial ribbon cutting, during the dedication ceremony for Mantle: Virginia Indian Tribute, a monument designed on Virginia State Capitol Square, in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. Michelson, a New York based artist, designed the monument in Capitol Square next to the Bell Tower along North Ninth Street. John Boal PhotographyContinuing my work documenting Monacan Indian Nation, I traveled to Richmond to photograph the dedication ceremony of Mantle: Virginia Indian Tribute, a monument dedicated to Virginia Indian tribes on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol. Monac...

Saw this interesting blog on Photoshelter. https://blog.photoshelter.com/2018/01/celebrities-serious-photography-2/ I love their product and their advocacy. However, the dark secret of photography (especially photojournalism) as a profession is that it's basically only available to privileged people with a lot of resources (or special access). Not all of us are on tour with a world famous rock band, or are famous movie stars married to other famous movie stars. To me, it seems entirely predictable that celebrities are "accomplished" or "serious" photographers. A basic professional kit of 1 camera, 2 lenses, a flash, and a computer with software and peripherals etc. is $10,000. Thankfully I have parents that helped me get started. The best piece of (sobering) advice I've ever heard is that if you want to start out as a freelancer you should have $20-30k in the bank. It would've been impossible without that help. I was also in a relationship at the ti...

Maintaining a foot in the photojournalism world has been difficult lately, because often assignments come with very little notice, whereas the corporate and event planning worlds generally schedule jobs weeks in advance.  It's tough to keep the calendar open for occasional photojournalism jobs to get through.  I wanted to be proactive and change that in 2017. I've always enjoyed the unpredictability of photojournalism.  The feeling that you're "in the middle of it".  January 3rd is that date that the new Congress convenes and newly elected representatives are sworn in.  There are lots of opportunities for pictures.  Open houses, lots of back slapping, friends and families are all around.  I circled the date on the calendar and found a couple freshman congressman whom I thought would be interesting and were from parts of the country where I had connections to the newspapers or magazines.  My first idea didn't pan out, so I contacted The (NJ) Rec...

Corey Stewart speaking to attendees and political power players at the Page County GOP Jamboree on June 25, 2016. Recently I had the opportunity to work with Jonathan Hunley on a political story.  He and I go back several years to our days at a community paper in Woodbridge/Manassas (The Potomac News/The News & Messenger, '08-'12).  This was our first time in 4 years to get the band back together, so to speak. In March, Jon and I were munching Tex-Mex at Bar-J in Occoquan when he talked about wanting to do a political profile story on Corey Stewart.  Stewart was gearing up for his run for Governor of VA and had a schedule of appearances throughout VA.  He also happens to be the Virginia State Chairman, Donald Trump for President. After a few weeks and several emails pitching the story to various publications,  Northern Virginia Magazine  said "yes".  Pick up the issue, if you have a chance.  Jon did a great job putting it tog...

I was honored and excited to get the call to photograph a portrait of Dr. Charbel Moussa (Georgetown University) for an article in the relatively new medical news journal, STAT . Some of you may already know that I used to have a career in Neuroscience Research before starting my photography path in '06.  It was nice to dip my toe back into that world, and after we did our pictures I had a nice 15 minute conversation about what he was working on and how he got there.  It's a fascinating story and definitely worth a read. https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/30/parkinsons-study-fox-foundation-feud/ This article is so illustrative of the obstacles presented to trying to cure major diseases.  It isn't all about the science.  Politics and money (doesn't it always?) play a role in the race for the cure.

Last month I had the opportunity to photograph Sherron Watkins speak at George Mason University.  Sherron Watkins is known as the whistelblower of the Enron Scandal , which happened 14 years ago this month.  I don't suppose corporate malfeasance started with Enron, but it sure feels like it.  Since then we've had the recession, and countless numbers of corporate shenanigans. Knowing I had a chance to photograph someone who participated in something so historic, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to shoot a portrait.  We all worked out the particulars, and I assured Sherron that I'd be ready for her and we'd take 10-15 minutes of her time. For a larger selection of portraits, visit my photoshelter gallery, here . Watkins has been touring and giving speeches for years, now.  I thought the most interesting observation she made was comparing the leadership of Enron to the fable, The Emperor's New Clothes. Those that did speak up, Watkins admits...

I recently received an email request from New York Magazine regarding a portrait I took of Dan Backer.  It was a little surprising, if only because the picture they were thinking of was one I did of Dan 4 years ago.  He and his wife are personal friends of ours.  In 2011, I was a staff photographer at the News & Messenger and working on getting better at portraits and specifically business-style portraits.  So we agreed to meet up.  He needed professional portraits, I needed to practice, so we met up and spent a little time doing some portraits.  He's still using those portraits.  Which is how NYMag found me. Shot in Dan's apartment, 2011.  NYMag eventually selected this one for their article. 2011 I contacted Dan and we met up quickly on a Saturday morning before one of his meetings and we did a little refresher session.  NYMag ended up going with the one I did 4 years ago, but that's ok.  I have more portraits.  An...

I don't usually use this blog to talk about causes, but two days ago I became aware of one of the more perplexing land swaps in U.S. history.  Perhaps for the first time ever , the U.S. Government is attempting to transfer sacred Native American land into the hands of a private foreign interest.  How?  Why?  Maybe we should follow the money. The pictures are from the demonstrations held on the U.S. Capitol lawn yesterday.  These are the San Carlos Apache and their supporters. To see a full edit, check my gallery here: http://johnboalphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/SaveOakFlat-DC-Rally-2015/G0000n9TZ0_2pwKc Carrie Sage Curley, San Carlos Apache, dances to music played by fellow members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. In December of 2014, as we drew near another shutdown, the Defense Authorization Act was passed in Congress and at the last minute, a rider was slipped in... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ndaa-land-deals_n_6264362.h...

I am a "generalist", as they say.  In some circles this might be the kiss of death.  Often the advice is to specialize and market the heck out that one thing you do really well.  But as someone who cut their teeth as a photojournalist at community newspapers, I rapidly found  that I enjoy doing different things.  The mix helps keep me fresh, and engaged alowing me to always be thinking about how to do something better. Even though I consider myself a generalist, I do tilt toward the editorial and portrait world.  So when I shoot other things like events, conferences, often I think about how I would shoot this if it were an assignment instead of a commissioned job for a corporate client.  The dilemma as a generalist is keeping my portfolio up to date.  So I'm always looking out for the moments that might work for the client and for my portfolio. Here are some of the best of those from the past couple months: ...during a video shoot. ...

I had the distinct honor of photographing Jessica and Patrick for The Boston Globe in December for a story that ran in late January (see the story here) , who happened to be victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Both had lost their left legs as they watched the marathon.  Jessica, at the time of the assignment, had been considering amputating her right foot, due to the pain and continued rehabilitation/recovery.  Ran with story, here .  Initially, the idea was that I would accompany her on a visit to the doctors and therapists at Walter Reed.  When that idea fell through (permissions, especially when it's close to the holidays are especially difficult to come by).  So the best we could do was meet in front of the NIH metro stop and shoot for about 30 mins.  The initial story (a year after the bombings) is here , and you should read this one and the one that ran in January, because Eric did a great job following this story over the...