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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Holding the universe together

Posted in Photography on January 8, 2011| 2 Comments »

For photographers, theatre tech crews and many other folks, gaff tape is what holds the universe together. Not duct tape.

Gaff tape, for those of you who may not be familiar with this essential item, is like duct tape but better. It’s a strong adhesive tape and can be ripped easily at 90-degree angles. Unlike duct tape, it doesn’t leave a residue, and its backing is a durable cotton cloth. Whenever I’ve had to borrow gaff tape, it was often either to tape ripped-up garbage bags around my equipment to protect it from rain or to secure a loose lens hood.

As of last week, I finally have my own gaff tape. How have I used it so far? Leaving notes for people.

The first time was when a reporter and I knocked on the front door of a homicide victim’s family and received no answer. The reporter wrote a note to slip under the door; I offered some gaff tape.

The second time was today at the Pennsylvania Farm Show (about which I’ll blog in more detail later). Trying to find people from York County at what’s basically a big state fair on opening day was pretty difficult — but eventually I did get in touch with Emily (through other means) and receive a call from another girl for whom I also left a note.

Thank you, gaff tape. So glad I finally have you in my life.

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Mood and photography, or: the National Building Museum

Posted in Diptych, Photography, Travel, Washington, D.C. on January 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I went to Silver Spring/Washington, D.C., for the day yesterday. One thing Jeff and I did was return to the National Building Museum to try to see the LEGO exhibit.

I really, really, really love LEGOs. When we were growing up, my younger brother and I were at peace only if we were drawing together or playing with LEGOs. Then, for about two years in high school, I devoted my free time (what little I had after schoolwork and the newspaper) to writing and producing a stop-motion LEGO movie. A friend/co-producer and I got so far as to record the full 100-something-page script with a cast of 30ish students, but the actual filming never took off.

Anyway. I really, really, really love LEGOs.

Unfortunately, the LEGO exhibit stipulates that tickets cannot be sold on-line or over the phone — and only so many tickets can be sold per hour. So when Jeff, his brother and I arrived at the museum in the late afternoon on Dec. 28, the tickets were sold out.

On the plus side, it was a beautiful day:

The National Building Museum, as seen from the Judiciary Square Metro station on Dec. 28. This photo was taken with an iPhone and processed with the ShakeIt app.

When Jeff and I returned yesterday, we were successful in getting tickets, admiring the LEGO sculptures and playing with millions of LEGO pieces available at the end of the exhibit.

On the minus side, it was an ugly day:

The National Building Museum, as seen from the Judiciary Square Metro station on Jan. 7. This photo was taken with an iPhone and processed with the ShakeIt app.

Long story short: Weather affects light, which affects mood, which affects photos.

(I really wish I’d been able to complete at least some decent footage for that LEGO movie.)

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Hello, Jack Frost

Posted in Pennsylvania, Photography on January 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This morning, I walked out to my car — and for the first time since I’ve had it, its windows were frosted over.

The front windshield, from the outside.

Of course I’ve seen frost before, and of course I’ve had to scrape car windows. But that was my roommate’s car several years ago, and when I had my car in Missouri, I also had covered parking for it.

The front windshield, from the inside of the car.

I’ve also never seen frost so light and pretty and snowflake-y.

The back windshield.

So yeah, I had to snap a few shots before I scraped it all off and drove to the newsroom.

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High school basketball: Central York defeats Red Lion 66-43

Posted in Journalism, Pennsylvania, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports, The York Dispatch, Weddings on January 5, 2011| 2 Comments »

It’s been almost a year since I last shot basketball, but on the evening of my second day at The York Dispatch, I tagged along with John to photograph a high school game.

This was my first time…

  1. shooting high school basketball
  2. using my new full-frame camera to shoot sports
  3. having a lot of mobility and access during a game

For example, there was a wheelchair-access space cut out in the bleachers right in front of one of the baskets. Because no one in the crowd had a wheelchair, a photographer could sit there and shoot. So I did.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Central York's Jalil Ford attempts a shot during the third quarter against Red Lion on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2010.

A drop-down curtain separated the full court from a half-court, so that made for a nice, clean background on one side.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Central York's Corey Hartz attempts a shot against Red Lion on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2010.

The gym also featured a track that ran above and around the entire court. I spent most of the first quarter up there, and wished the whole time that I had at least a 300mm lens.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Red Lion's Eric Althoff unsuccessfully attempts to score at Central York High School on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011.

One thing I’ll have to wrangle: how to avoid back-/front-focusing with my new full-frame. I’ll be experimenting with different focus modes and techniques every chance I get.

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Day 2 at The York Dispatch: Arson

Posted in Journalism, Pennsylvania, Photography, Photojournalism, The York Dispatch, York on January 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I spent Monday and Tuesday shadowing the York Dispatch‘s two staff photographers. Monday was a series of wild-goose chases — checking this out, looking for features… you know, the typical newspaper photography experience.

Tuesday morning, a fire destroyed two homes in nearby Red Lion. It was later ruled as arson, and John and I were sent to follow up on it in the afternoon. Three men were on-site, boarding up windows of the duplex that housed two families. I figured out that two of them were hired by one family to cover up one side of the duplex, and the other was hired by the other family. So John followed the two men, while I followed the single one.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Blake Cooper hauls a piece of plywood to board up a lower-story window of 136 W. High Street in Red Lion on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. Cooper, who works for Major Restoration Services, said the fire damage at this duplex was among the worst he has seen.

In such a disastrous scene, there were beautiful colors and beautiful light. I did my best with both.

© 2011 by The York Dispatch. Blake Cooper screws in a piece of plywood to board up a lower-story window of 136 W. High Street in Red Lion on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. The fire, which was called shortly after midnight Tuesday and was later ruled as arson, was caused by trash bags filled with gas that were thrown onto the porch of 136 W. High Street and ignited.

It’s a horrific thing for the two families who lost their homes — and for those whose neighboring houses sustained significant fire damage — but I think I did all right with these photos. As Cooper said when I spoke with him, “One man’s loss is another man’s gain.”

Coming up next: high school basketball!

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Two-pound lobsters? Must be New Year’s Eve

Posted in Food, Photography on January 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

YORK, Pa. —

It’s the eve of my first day of my photo internship with The York Dispatch. I’ve spent the past two days getting set up in York, so here — belatedly — are some shots from New Year’s Eve with Jeff’s family in Maryland.

First, what’s New Year’s Eve without a mini-bonfire in the backyard?

Jeff's dad lit up the charcoal/wood grill to keep us warm. When the gas grill flaked out, he ended up toning down the fire and cooking our steaks on the wood grill.

Next: the NYE lobsters, which we began cooking/eating just before midnight.

Lobster: alive.

Lobsters: still alive.

Lobster: dead.

Lobsters: really dead.

Delicious!

And, happy New Year!

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Duckpin bowling

Posted in Photography on December 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SILVER SPRING, Md. —

Jeff took me bowling the other day. It was unlike any bowling I’ve done before: It was duckpin bowling.

Jeff, gentleman that he is, let me beat him on our third game.

There were, of course, balls and pins and alleys.

But we had to keep our own scores. (Something I’d always let the computers and TV monitors do for me.)

Duckpin bowling allows you three attempts to bowl, as opposed to two tries in the bowling I'm used to.

Instead of being sent back under the alleys, the balls were sent up via a tube aboveground and between the gutters. We also had to manually reset the pins and clear the alleys of fallen pins by pushing buttons on the ball bank — rather than having the machinery do it for us.

The balls and pins are smaller in duckpin bowling.

It was bowling at its basics. No fancy machines or flashing lights or neon decals.

What you see when you walk in.

And it was great. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

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Throwing things

Posted in Photography on December 25, 2010| 1 Comment »

Today may be Christmas Day, but my younger brother was in his usual state of lethargy — until he opened his presents from my older brother and sister-in-law. Then he was so excited that he flailed his blanket-wrapped legs in the air.

What did he receive?

A set of throwing knives…

In the backyard.

…and a throwing axe.

The targets: A wooden board and my younger brother's archery foam target.

So, naturally, my brothers had to make sure the gifts were functional.

A target later on: Two soda bottles filled with water.

Merry Christmas indeed.

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I think I killed Christmas Eve dinner

Posted in Food, Photography on December 25, 2010| 2 Comments »

A month ago, I took my first significant step toward domesticity by volunteering to take care of Thanksgiving dinner, sans the turkey. The soup, three side dishes and condiment were a rousing success, which led me to declare confidently that I had “totally killed Thanksgiving.”

My Martha Stewart-esque Thanksgiving success emboldened me to volunteer to take care of Christmas Eve dinner.

The full Christmas Eve line-up, sans the soup.

This decision was noteworthy because:

  • My brother and sister-in-law, whom we haven’t seen together since their wedding last November, would be returning to the 48 for the holidays. (The Navy has stationed my brother in Hawaii since the wedding.)
  • We have not had a home-cooked Christmas (Eve) dinner in years. For at least six years, we’ve joined my grandparents and uncles at some fancy restaurant whose food is always overcooked. While complaining with my parents about the formality and the bad food, I impulsively suggested that our nuclear family (plus my sister-in-law) have Christmas Eve dinner on our own — and at home. Pretty major.
  • I volunteered to take care of the whole thing, meaning, this would be my first time being in charge of a significant piece of meat. I left the Thanksgiving turkey up to my mother, but for Christmas Eve, I decided to go all-out. (Fortunately, my sister-in-law was on-hand to assist.)

So, the meat? I ordered a dry-aged rack of prime rib — four bones.

This 8.something pounds of meat cost $172. When I ordered it over the phone two weeks ago, I heard only the "$72" part of it. Talk about sticker shock at the Whole Foods meat market when I picked it up on the 23rd.

The price of this piece of meat directly correlated to my nervousness in prepping and cooking it right. Following many anxiously-taken temperature checks, the meat turned out to be a perfect medium rare. Unfortunately, the jus wasn’t that great, which is why I say I think I killed Christmas Eve dinner — in contrast to my confident declaration of victory over Thanksgiving.

Red meat off the bone!

(more…)

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Christmas cookie No. 2: Chewy chocolate gingerbread

Posted in Food, Photography on December 22, 2010| 1 Comment »

I’ve never made gingerbread, and I’ve never seen molasses before, and I’ve never used cocoa powder in a cookie recipe before.

Until today!

Today, with the help of my sister-in-law, I made chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies. They contain ginger, molasses and chocolate chips, and are dredged in sugar before going into the oven.

Dredge dredge dredge. We took our rings off our fingers for this part of the process.

Oddly, they don’t taste quite like gingerbread. My sister-in-law said she’d never before known of a recipe that called for so much molasses, so maybe that’s it. Also strangely, our cookies are much darker than the ones in the recipe‘s photo. Regardless, these are fantastic cookies, and I wish I’d gone ahead and made a double-batch as I’d planned to do but didn’t.

Cracked tops!

Delicious.

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Christmas cookie No. 1: Peppermint bark

Posted in Food, Photography on December 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

My family has, for as long as I can remember, made only one kind of Christmas cookie each year: Spritz cookies. The concept is fun and simple, especially for young kids: The same basic butter cookie dough is pressed into different shapes that are conducive to different kinds of sprinkles and toppings.

This year, I’m trying to shake things up. We’re still doing the Spritz cookies — mostly because my brothers would probably mutiny if we didn’t — but I’m adding two other kinds of cookies to the bunch. I made the first one today, thanks to Cookin’ Canuck’s recipe and directions: peppermint bark.

Peppermint bark cookies: one big sheet of baked cookie, topped with chocolate, peppermint snow and white chocolate.

Tomorrow, my brother and sister-in-law arrive from Hawaii. I’m not sure when the second cookie will get baked, but it’ll happen soon!

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Just dance… the Y.M.C.A.

Posted in Photography on December 20, 2010| 2 Comments »

How old were you when you learned the “Y.M.C.A.” dance?

A bridesmaid and the bride's brother-in-law help the two flower girls - both in the first grade - learn the Y.M.C.A. dance at Hannah and Nathan's wedding reception.

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The fridge from outer space

Posted in Food, Photography on December 19, 2010| 5 Comments »

It’s well past Thanksgiving, but boy do we ever have bountiful food and reasons for thanks.

Earlier this week, my mom bought a bunch of groceries from the Asian supermarket. My brother and I went grocerying later so I could make dinner in time for my parents to arrive from the hospital on a few separate occasions. Finally, one of my dad’s coworkers brought food yesterday while my brother and I were at the wedding.

I don’t normally post vertical photos at full width, but for this, I am. Here’s our fridge:

From outer space.

My dad’s coworker rounded up food from other coworkers and brought:

  • a lasagna big enough to feed 20 people
  • a mystery casserole that’s just as big and heavy as the lasagna (this casserole has since been transferred to the freezer)
  • a bucket of KFC
  • a big thing of salad from Olive Garden (that’s the alien-yellow whatsit in the top right corner — yellow because of the fridge light)
  • soups from Le Madeleine
  • breadsticks from Olive Garden (not pictured, because they’re on our kitchen table)

Not to mention leftovers from each of the dinners I’ve made this past week, some prepared foods my mom bought at the Asian supermarket and a whole slew of produce and other random foodstuffs.

And there must be room for the rack of dry-aged prime beef roast that I’m getting from the Whole Foods meat market on Thursday.

Believe me, I’m thankful for all this food. I just wish my older brother were here already to help us finish it all before the Christmas Eve feast.

  • ADDENDUM — Dec. 19, 6:10 p.m. CST —

One of my mom’s running partners also made haleem for us. This dish will not be going into the freezer alongside the mystery casserole.

Additionally, I forgot to mention that we have a full soup pot of homemade chicken stock, made from chicken thighs that had to be cooked soon or get tossed out.

  • ADDENDUM — Dec. 19, 7:45 p.m. CST —

With a little help, Jeff has identified most of the foodstuffs in the fridge and tagged notes on the photo in Flickr. Check it out — hover your cursor over the photo to see where the tags are and read the notes.

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This week

Posted in Introspection, Photography on December 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s been kind of a rough week. Inexplicably, “I’ll Fly Away” (as sung by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch) is playing over and over in my head.

Hence, these pigeons at sunset, on the top level of the Virginia Avenue Parking Garage in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 19.

Life this week, in brief:

  • I ordered a dry-aged prime rib roast for our Christmas Eve dinner. I’ve never prepared a big chunk of meat before, much less ordered one, so I’m reading up on the subject and accepting any/all advice.
  • All my Christmas shopping is done — and the wrapping, too!
  • Except, we are to shop for gifts for ourselves (to be “from” my parents and grandparents) because…
  • …My dad is now undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, which has him and my mom pretty preoccupied.
  • This also means I’ve been assuming more responsibilities in the house, to help out my parents.
  • Finally, I’m also trying to nail down my housing situation in York, Pa. I’m supposed to start my six-month internship in almost three weeks, so this is pretty crucial. I hope to get that wrapped up by early next week.

Next week, the holiday baking starts in earnest, my brother and sister-in-law arrive from Hawaii and I should really start packing for my upcoming move.

And breathe. Breathing is important.

(I also created my about.me profile/splash page. Check it out!)

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Never before have I been this preppy

Posted in Photography on December 11, 2010| 3 Comments »

Two weeks ’til Christmas, and I am about 90 percent done with my Christmas shopping.

As of last night, I am also about 90 percent done with wrapping presents (or, 100 percent of the shopping I’ve completed thus far). And, despite my attending prep schools from kindergarten through high school, I have never, ever, been this preppy before.

Grosgrain ribbon, stiff card tags and tissue paper wrapping.

Dad: “So, how did you get into this Martha Stewart moment?”

Me: “I think Martha Stewart would’ve done better. Sharper corners, you know.”

But I do enjoy my occasional fits of domesticity.

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I totally killed Thanksgiving

Posted in Food, Photography on December 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

I can’t believe it’s December.

I also can’t believe that I volunteered to take over Thanksgiving (choosing the menu and cooking all but the turkey, that is).

My mom's reaction while chopping up cremini mushrooms for the stuffing: "Look! It's a Siamese!"

And, furthermore, I can’t believe that I’ve now volunteered to do the same for Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas cookie-baking.

Anyway, I’m a bit behind in blogging, but here’re some goodies from Thanksgiving. I’ll backtrack from there and post some earlier photos — later.

I wrote the recipes out because inkjet printouts tend to smear if they get damp.

We — my grandparents, some of my immediate family and another family (10 people total) — began the meal with squash and corn chowder. This was one of the dishes we made when I visited some friends in Roanoke in July, and it was a resounding success.

I doubled the recipe for 10 people, and it was far too much. I also added a lot more seasoning and herbs, as it was otherwise a little bland.

One of the reasons why I volunteered to take over Thanksgiving was, I was a little tired of the usual dishes. Squash casserole? My older brother is the dish’s biggest fan, but he’s in Hawaii. I nixed that one and decided to introduce the soup course.

Then, with the turkey, we had three other dishes plus the usual Thanksgiving condiment.

Mushroom, onion and sourdough stuffing, a la Bobby Flay:

I forgot the egg and the parsley. It still came out fine and tasted great. Definitely the most labor-intensive and time-consuming dish to prepare, though.

I’ve never been a fan of stuffing — or dressing, whichever — but the week before, Jeff and I watched the “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” episode wherein Bobby and The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) went head to head on a full Thanksgiving meal. This was Bobby’s stuffing, and both Jeff and I decided to give it a shot in our respective homes.

It was pretty good.

(more…)

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It’s official: A six-month photo internship with The York Dispatch

Posted in Internships/Careers, Journalism, Pennsylvania, Photography, Photojournalism, The York Dispatch, Travel, York on November 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

I have a few photos from Missouri and Thanksgiving I really should blog, but before that happens — I’m excited to announce I’ve accepted a six-month photo internship at The York Dispatch.

Front page courtesy of the Newseum.

So, after Christmas, I’ll be driving up to Pennsylvania via Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland. Then I’ll spend the next six months photographing for one of two newspapers in York, Pa. (That’s right — the other daily is The York Daily Record, with which The Dispatch has a joint operating agreement.)

York is a small town. Population-wise, it’s less than half the size of Columbia, Mo., where I went to college. I’ll be there for six months, and I’ll be joining a staff of two photographers.

Needless to say, the next six months will be very different from this past summer in Atlanta, and I’m very excited and honored to have been offered this internship.

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Why I’m keeping my wide-angle lens for my full-frame camera

Posted in Missouri, Photography on November 23, 2010| 7 Comments »

I’d been using the Canon 30D for almost two years — until recently. With it, I had the 16-35/2.8 lens, which paired well with the camera’s 1.6 sensor crop.

Now that I have a full-frame camera, my heart is set on the 24-70/2.8. (Yes, I love primes as much as anyone else.) Several people, including Jeff, have advised me to sell the 16-35, especially since its wide-angle spectrum becomes super-wide on a full-frame.

Well, I can’t and I won’t. I used my 16-35 on a full-frame for the first time while at Poynter this summer, and I absolutely loved it. As much as I want/need to add the 24-70 to my arsenal, I’m not doing it by selling my 16-35.

On a very related note, I tagged along with Jeff during one of his Columbia Missourian photo shifts last week while I was in Columbia. For one quasi-enterprise assignment, he went to photograph the two rather large cranes on campus.

These two industrial cranes are being used to help construct a new seven-story patient tower for the hospital. The path of a passing airplane adds a nice touch to this sunset silhouette shot. This was shot from the top of a parking garage.

While I went to the side of the parking garage to make the above picture, Jeff noticed a puddle and decided to try to make a reflection picture. His first attempts were not up to his (or my) standards, and he moved on.

After I made a few standard pictures, I went to the puddle to see what I could do with it. Quickly realizing that crouching down and pressing the shutter button wouldn’t work, I got down and dirty — by lying down on my stomach. And, careful not to get my scarf or jacket or camera in the puddle and using my 50mm, I got this shot:

Shot with the 50/1.8.

Then I changed lenses and used my trusty 16-35.

Shot with the 16-35/2.8, at 16mm (and later cropped from the top and bottom). Much more epic.

After I showed Jeff my results and told him not to be afraid of getting down and dirty, he immediately did the same and was able to make the picture he’d wanted to get.

Make sure you check out his eventual photo — as well as his picture of my getting the shot.

Back to the issue of wide-angle lenses on full-frames. Yes, sometimes the results are slightly ridiculous. But as you can see, the frame with the 50mm wasn’t large enough to capture the tops of the cranes without losing the border of the puddle. Tally up one more reason for me to hold on to my 16-35.

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So long, Columbia

Posted in Photography, Travel on November 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

COLUMBIA, Mo. —

Well, this evening I’m leaving Columbia, and so is Jeff. We’re off to our respective homes — him to Maryland for Thanksgiving, and me to Texas for however long.

I spent two weeks in Columbia. Overall, it’s been a good two weeks and a good break.

Sunset over Broadway in downtown Columbia, a few evenings ago. This was taken through Jeff's newly-washed windshield as we drove downtown.

I still have a few more photos to blog from this trip. Those will come soon — but without the “COLUMBIA, Mo.” dateline.

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Ice cream at Central Dairy

Posted in Food, Photography, Travel on November 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

COLUMBIA, Mo. —

A few evenings ago, Jeff and I hightailed it out of Columbia and drove south to Jefferson City, where Central Dairy awaited.

Trucks, in the back of the dairy lot.

Jeff only buys Central Dairy milk (when he’s in Missouri), but neither of us had been to the ice cream parlor before. There’s a Central Dairy building in downtown Columbia — it’s now an appliance store — but the parlor in Jefferson City has been around since at least the 1950s.

The storefront of the Central Dairy ice cream parlor.

We ordered the banana split to share.

Two scoops each of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, topped with marshmallow sauce, chocolate sauce and nuts.

We almost finished it — but not quite. I’ll just say that that banana boat and wax paper were full of ice cream carnage, and leave the rest to your imagination.

But it was very, very good.

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