John Boal Photography

When I first changed careers in 2006 to become a photographer, one of the first things I had to figure out, naturally, is how to make money.  Weddings, events, portraits, and obviously photojournalism all pay to some degree or another.  What I didn't anticipate was my long-standing relationship to real estate photography.  After interning at two different papers and starting on my path toward a career in photojournalism, I came back to DC in 2007 with no work.  It shouldn't have been surprising, but it was.  So I had to find other ways to make money.  That led me to shooting real estate, while I figured out how to get paid to shoot photojournalism.  First I shot for the company Homevisit, then on my own.  To this day I shoot real estate, even if only for a few people that I like shooting for, but still, it's occasional work that is actually interesting. After walking into hundreds (thousands?) of homes, the furniture, the art, the books and...

Joseph Delaney, Mayor of Garfield, NJ, center, and Thomas Duch, Garfield City Manager, right, greet US Senator Cory Booker (NJ), prior to a hearing chaired by Booker, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works’ Subcommittee on Oversight, Tuesday, June 10, 2014. I followed Mayor Delaney into the halls of the Dirksen Senate Office Bldg during a break, just to keep shooting.  Here, he speaks to reporter, Herb Jackson, about their roots in NJ. Sometimes you get a phone call like this: "Hi, this is John Doe from That-Newspaper-You've-Worked With-Before, are you available to shoot a hearing in 3 hours?".  In this case it was The (NJ) Record, and the hearing was with the US Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works.  I always appreciate phone calls like this.  1) because it's work and I always appreciate work and 2)  it's work on The Hill, which I always enjoy.  One of the cool things about working in situations like this is ...

Not all assignments are created equal.  Sometimes you get an assignment and all the right ingredients of light and moments are seemingly lined up for you just to push the button.  And then there are the other 99% of assignments.  These fall into the categories of awful to not-so-great.  But there is opportunity in all of them.  Many of them are portrait assignments.  When I worked at The News & Messenger, I had my fair share.  Sometimes they were destined to be dreadful.  Horrible light, an unwilling subject combined with very little time. Recently I had the privilege of photographing Mike Infurnari for The Fairfax Times.  He was just named the new Executive Director of the Foundation for Fairfax County Schools.  I knew the setting would make the picture, but I did have time on my side.  Thankfully, Mike told me he had "the whole morning open".  To a photographer, this actually sounds like "you can take the whole morni...

It just occurred to me that it was 5 years ago this week that I officially started my first staff job at a newspaper, the News & Messenger.  In fact, my first job as a 10 year old, was as a paperboy for the Potomac News (what it was called back in ‘85). "The man who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." From the movie, Match Point It seems like a long time ago.  So many things have changed. I was full of optimism then, and in the time since it’s become more apparent how distinctly the role of luck and circumstance has played in shaping my career.  It’s funny ...

A week ago I spent two days (separately) in Gettysburg during the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Quick synopsis:  Robert E. Lee's Army collided with the Union around Gettysburg.  Three days of fighting ensued, 50K soldiers were killed wounded or missing from the battle, and the war was essentially over, because the Confederates lost the battle.  Flash forward 5 months in 1863, and you get Lincoln's Gettysburg Address at the Cemetery in Gettysburg, and the place is sealed in legend. What I've always found to be interesting at these Civil War events/gatherings is meeting the people go to these events.  The most successful images I came away were the ones that required getting closer and perhaps even talking to the subject.  First, I found that, often, as a photographer, we get to see things behind the scenes that many don't.  This includes reenactors sleeping.  Here are a few photographs of confederate living historia...

A couple weeks back I decided I was going to shoot the demonstrations and protests outside the Supreme Court, as related to Gay Marriage.  Specifically California's ballot proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), both of which essentially make it impossible for gay people to marry. So, not surprisingly there were measurable contingents supporting both sides of the issue, although those that supported gay marriage were visibly more numerous. One of the things I wanted to try was bring my trusty Speed Graphic (4x5 press camera) down there and shoot some B/W.  I figured everyone was going to get similar stuff. This reminded me of a blog post I read several weeks back on the merits of process, and how this can affect the way we view photographs.   Joerg Colberg discusses it at length here on his great blog, Conscientious . Do not rely on the process as that which solely determines the quality of the work. If your process is prominent use its stren...

Today was the last day The News & Messenger (Manassas, VA) published a newspaper.   I worked as a staff photographer at the N&M from November 2008 until I left to freelance back in March of 2012.   Before that, I was a part-time photo intern at The Potomac News (which eventually merged with the Manassas Journal-Messenger to create the N&M) from June to December of 2006.   Before that I was a 10 year-old paperboy for The Potomac News, which was then a M-F afternoon paper.   I can only speak from 7 years experience.   But what I see is this:   the biggest reason The News & Messenger closed is that those in charge were trying to fill the paper with “hyperlocal” news, when the vast majority of the county population were increasingly disinterested. While I was a staff photographer at the N&M, we received a bunch of demographic data from a company about who lived in the county, where they were from, what they preferre...