John Boal Photography

For the past month I have been “enjoying” 3-day weekends, courtesy of mandatory furloughs. So just as I was getting comfortable with a routine, and a paycheck, anxiety has reared it’s ugly head. Freelancing is something to do when you are ready. I wasn’t ready after my internship at the York Dispatch. While I feel more prepared now to handle the freelance life (with many thanks to the every day work of a newspaper), I find the prospect of venturing into the naked freelance world less than inviting. Nevertheless, freelancing can be an overwhelming prospect. This is why I spent my furlough day at the National Press Photographer’s Association’s Northern Short Course. A three day seminar, lecture, convention-type thing where we learn about business, photoshop and anything related to photojournalism. The last discussion I attended Friday was actually entitled “Layoffs and Buyouts and Closings, Oh My! Surviving the Experience and Charting Your New Course”. Since this is my first NSC, I can’t...

So we finally got our snow in this year. Only it’s March. March is such a terrible month. First it’s windy, then maybe a smattering of warm days are thrown in to make you think, “hey, spring is coming early this year”. Only it’s not. It’s Mother Nature’s funny joke. Like that joke your friends play on you that is really funny to everyone, but it just gets under your skin. Every. Single. Time. But it doesn’t matter, because every year Mother Nature trots out the joke, and every time I fall for it. About a week ago it was 65 degrees for a couple days. Now there’s 4 inches of snow on the ground and the high tomorrow is not going to reach 30, with lots of lion-like wind to accompany it. Thanks Mother Nature. Your jokes suck. However, when bad weather hits, that usually means decent pictures. The last one here makes me laugh. These teens were sledding, and just like teen boys are want to do, they create a jump and see how high and far they can go. I just wish his scarf were flying out beh...

The other day I watched the post-reaction to the Obama address to Congress. I couldn’t see the actual address because I was working. What I saw as Obama left was interesting to say the least. And I’m not necessarily talking about Rep. Kucinich among others, sitting for hours so they could get a front row seat to shake President Obama’s hand as he left the Capitol (this was reported on Anderson Cooper last night). What I am talking about is the groups of giddy teenagers waiting patiently for Obama to pass by so they could shake his hand, get an autograph, and generally act like they just met Justin Timberlake after he stepped off the Grammy stage. It was a remarkable sight contrasted against the sea of gray hair that preceded them. And it occurred to me, as it has on more than one occasion: Congress is being run by a bunch of old fogies. In this sense, at least, Obama is a much-welcomed change. I loved Bobby Jindal’s response, by the way. Despite sounding like he was telling a group of ...

I visited a research lab at the Manassas campus of GMU to speak with and photograph, Dr. Yuntao Wu, a pre-eminent HIV/AIDS researcher. He was a very friendly person who was gracious enough to take me around to his lab, office, and even the weekly journal club lunch meeting. Other than photographing him in his environs, we spoke about science. It all took me back about 10 years. I was a graduate student then, having recently finished my undergraduate program, I began my march towards my MA in Experimental Neuropsychology, and likewise my futile march towards a career in science. While conversing with Dr. Wu, I struggled to frame my questions coherently. I could visualize what I wanted to say, but the terminology escaped me. Five years was too long to be away from science. The facts were too foggy to recall and I simply admitted my failure, and followed with mentioning that this was probably why I was ill-suited for the field. Early into my career as a neuroscience researcher, I found it...

I had the opportunity to take pictures of a celebrity the other day. Interesting. I felt like a paparazzo. Kevin Bacon came to the Quantico Marine Corps Museum for the screening of his HBO film, “Taking Chance”, a story about a Marine who takes the body of a fallen Marine back home with him. Or something like that. I don’t get HBO, so if I hear it gets good reviews then it will goe on the Netflix queue. So I was ushered to the “press line”. Which is essentially a row of velvet rope where the celebs (in this case Bacon, the director and producer(s)), walk down the rope granting interviews to whatever press has gathered. It is my job to get a picture of him. I repeat: it is my job that I get a picture of him. This is why I have credentials. And this is why it is called a “press line”. Kevin Bacon talking about his movie, "Taking Chance" So, you may imagine my consternation when this exchange occurs about 5-10 minutes after Bacon shows up at the “press line”: [A man ...

School is too easy for kids these days.   This is my Andy Rooney post.   In my day, we didn’t have inflatable earth balloons, and we didn’t have limos take us to lunch just for showing up to school every day… Yes you heard me right, I saw and took pictures of students getting in a 30 foot Hummer limo to go to lunch.   Did they save a drowning child from a frozen lake?   Did they ace the SATs?   Is it the state championship football team?   Nope.   They showed up to school every day for a WHOLE SEMESTER!   J ust ridin' in a limo lookin' out the sunroof Hmm… I’ll get to the Earth balloon in a minute. Yesterday, I met about 40 very nice kids as they boarded (I say boarded because the limo was closer to a yacht than a car), the limo in two trips and arrived at a Ruby Tuesday’s for lunch.   All paid for by the Eagle Mascot.   He has a fund that he has corporate sponsor donate to.   He then uses that money to put together events for the students, like the limo ride to lunch.   He’s...

Today I went out with some homeless shelter volunteers to do the annual “count”, of homeless people. It was, more or less, enlightening. Luckily for us, there was a homeless man, entirely willing to talk to us and allow pictures. There, stashed away among the forests of Eastern Prince William County, was a sophisticated campsite. Several tents, a hammock, frozen pots and pans hanging from a line. Tables. Generally, a far more pleasing environment to live than I thought the homeless were accustomed. Don’t get me wrong. I’d never be interested in spending more than a day in that environment. But I suppose having grown up around DC, I always thought the people I saw sleeping on the grates was the reality. But it’s only a portion. 2 years ago, I participated in a more formal documentary mission of counting the homeless, in York, PA. And what we stumbled upon in that frigid night were people who didn’t want to be found. Surely there must have been those that wanted help. Perhaps ...