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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Shaving as a sequence

Posted in Capstone, Mizzou, Photography on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

As a second-semester senior, I’m now in my photojournalism capstone: a course titled “The Picture Story & Photographic Essay.” My instructor is David Rees, who is also the photojournalism chair at the MU School of Journalism.

That I’m finally in my capstone is a little daunting. Fortunately, we’re going lightly — for now. David is encouraging us to be active equally in making pictures and blogging. For partly that reason, I’m going to try to inject a little more life into this blog. Not everything will be strictly journalism-related, as has usually been the case.

On Friday, David presented to us a few examples of photographic sequences. Although we don’t technically have anything due until this coming Friday, I played around a little with photographic sequences last night, starting with the ever-patient Jeff.

Before you get in a tizzy over how these photos look, let me explain something about Jeff’s bathroom mirror.

It’s divided into thirds. And the middle panel is on hinges, too.

Hopefully that will help you understand some of the mirrored wackiness in the following photos that illustrate a sequence of shaving.

My original plan was to shoot the entire process using one lens (an 85/1.4 on a D700) and from one vantage point. This became boring.

(more…)

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Summer in the city: Ground Zero and the financial district

Posted in New York (City), Photography, Travel on January 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

90ish days of summer

It’s fairly ridiculous how long it’s taken me to resume posting photos from my weekend in New York City last summer, but hey — at least it’s getting done, right?

I considered just producing a slideshow of all the photos and posting it on my Web site, once I’ve revamped and launched that. I’ll probably do that anyway. But the weekend can’t be summarized by merely a series of photos, so because I want to publish commentary and not simply extended captions, here’s the second of a few more New York City photo blog posts.

After hitting up Central Park on Aug. 7, Jeff and I took the subway to lower Manhattan and the financial district. Having strayed into economics dorkdom for a few months last year, I couldn’t resist not visiting this part of the Big Apple.

The directory inside the World Financial Center.

We also took a peek at Ground Zero.

This photo was taken at the only gap in the construction barriers that allowed any visibility straight into the construction zone.

I had visited Ground Zero the last time I was in New York, in 2004. I don’t remember much, but not much had been done by that point anyway.

Taken with a disposable film camera, from the deck of a lower Manhattan apartment building.

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The Texas Bowl: The last college football game I’ll ever shoot

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on January 3, 2010| 5 Comments »

It’s the end of football season.

Missouri sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the Missouri players walk off the field after losing the Texas Bowl game.

Which means, on New Year’s Eve, I shot my last college football game.

Carrying two backpacks (one covered by the pink jacket), a camera messenger bag and a 400mm lens on a monopod, on the way to the media entrance at Reliant Stadium. Blame the wind for the bad hair. Photo by Jeff.

Okay — more accurately, the Texas Bowl game was the last college football game I’ll ever have shot as an undergraduate photojournalism student. And boy, was it a tough one.

I’d like to think that I’ve improved with every football game I’ve shot this season. I started out a little rough with the Illinois game, which I chalk up to my previously not having ever used Nikon equipment and shooting with a D3, a D2H and a 500/4 lens. Photographing the Nebraska game turned out a lot better, despite the personal misery associated with the inclement weather conditions. And I felt really on top of things when I shot Missouri’s unexpected victory at Kansas State and happened to be in exactly the right places to capture most of Missouri’s touchdowns.

But boy, did the Navy throw Missouri — and me — a curveball with the Texas Bowl game.

Marching Mizzou bandmembers Elysia Gooding and Alyssa Cowman perform as members of the Naval Academy band pass by and shout their cheer before the game outside the Reliant Stadium in Houston.

Going into the game, I had a few thoughts that shook me up a bit:

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From a former unpaid intern: Are unpaid internships a necessary evil?

Posted in Internships/Careers, Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism, washingtonpost.com on December 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

Being on winter break, I’ve had more time to patrol the Twittersphere than I do during the academic year. In the past day or so, I’ve noticed more tweets about unpaid internships and the dis/advantages thereof.

Earlier, @greglinch tweeted a link to a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece asking, “What if interns went on strike?” The author argues that hard-working interns are often not guaranteed or even tempted with employment with a company, despite their value in the workplace:

Interns are valuable. And as part of the workforce, they are expected to do many of the same tasks that professionals do (along with the menial jobs that no one cares to do).
Many people have, at some point in their lives, worked without pay. Some start businesses, others devote time to charities or nonprofits, and still more apprentice in lucrative mechanical fields. I am all for entrepreneurs, mechanics, and bleeding hearts.
However, conceiving of the unpaid internship as a means to secure paying jobs is as archaic as the corporate ladder model of employment itself. We no longer live in a society where hard work at one company ensures that we will someday reach the zenith of the American dream.

Greg also tweeted a link to a blog post with an internship opportunity offer from famed war photojournalist James Nachtwey‘s studio. Like so many other journalism internships out there, Nachtwey’s offer is unpaid. Unlike so many other journalism internships out there, Nachtwey is ultra-specific about what entry skills he wants his eventual intern to have. These include proficiency with particular scanning equipment and certain Photoshop tasks.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting a high standard for an incoming intern — but for those kinds of higher-end technical skills and know-how? For no pay? For at least three days a week for three months? In New York City?

Nachtwey is out of his mind.

But let’s back up and examine the general idea of unpaid internships altogether.

Many larger workplaces — such as big-name newspapers/magazines, law firms and more — don’t pay their interns for a variety of reasons. In many (or, I hope, in most) cases, these workplaces simply don’t have the budget for paid internships but still want to extend an offer so young people interested in that industry can still get good experience. In other cases, some workplaces justify not paying their interns by asserting that the internship experience is so valuable that the experience itself is payment.

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What this journalism senior is doing during winter break

Posted in Atlanta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on December 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

It’s finals week at many universities and colleges, including Missouri. Because I’m not entirely engrossed in scouring the on-line Oxford English Dictionary for my History of the English Language take-home exam, I’ve taken inspiration from an old 10,000 Words post and am instead announcing my journalism-minded goals and plans for this winter break.

(For those of you not familiar with the 10,000 Words blog — it’s a great resource for journalists/journalism students where blogger Mark S. Luckie provides tutorials, pontificates on relevant issues/questions in the industry and frequently refers to other examples of good journalism and/or branding.)

Without further ado, here’s what this journalism senior is doing over winter break:

  1. Revamping my Web site, especially the setup and some CSS. I’ll be changing some things around in my photo portfolio section and adding my written reporting clips. And nope, I’m not going to link to it now — once it’s more complete, I’ll post the URL and invite everyone and anyone to provide any feedback/criticism/praise.
  2. Going through the last two months’ photos. Thanks to projects, I haven’t had time to go over my recent Missourian assignments or my just-for-fun photos (Texas Renaissance Festival?). But starting next week, I’ll have time to do that, as well as post them for you to see here.
  3. Continuing/finishing posting New York City summer photos. Okay, so these photos are about four and a half months old now, but I’m still proud of and excited about them. So you can expect to see those soon, too.
  4. Tweaking my photo final projects. For one photo class, I produced an audio slideshow about on-site beer brewing at the Texas Renaissance Festival. For another photo class, I created a two-story package about what happens on a dairy farm after the farmer is killed by lightning. Both these projects are complete and on-line, as of yesterday, but I’m going to clean them up a little more before linking them to my Web site and sharing them with the general public.
  5. Covering the Texas Bowl game for The Missourian. As far as I know, Ivy and I are the only Missourian photo people credentialed to go — and she’s the designated editor, which means she’ll be in the photo workroom for most of the game. Which means I’m the only actual Missourian photographer for the game. Which is a lot of pressure. But hell if I’m not excited.
  6. Start reading The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regularly. If I’m going to be there this summer, I’d best get started on learning about the city and the paper.

Time for me to hit up the Oxford English Dictionary now. But — got any more suggestions for my winter break? I’d love to hear what you think!

(Of course I’ll also be sleeping and eating far more than is healthy for me, but that was already a given.)

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The best day: A summer internship and a college bowl game

Posted in Atlanta, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Internships/Careers, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on December 9, 2009| 5 Comments »

Today, I accepted a summer photo internship at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

And got credentialed to photograph the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31 in Houston.

Today is a good day.

In other news, I’ve been working on various projects for the past few weeks. These include:

  • my final project for Staff Photo (about a brewery at the Texas Renaissance Festival),
  • my final project for Electronic Photojournalism (about a dairy farm) and
  • my portfolio Web site.

These projects are the main reason why I haven’t had much time to continue posting New York City photos and other photography expeditions I’ve recently had. Rest assured, these blog entries will come soon. I’m hoping to unveil my portfolio Web site and share my final projects in the middle of next week, and to pick up the NYC and other photos during winter break.

But in the meantime, I’m thrilled to spend the summer in Atlanta and honored to receive the internship offer. I really can’t wait to work in a larger newsroom and be in a new city. And I’m pumped to photograph the bowl game — I’ve come a long way in my football photography this semester, and I’m excited for the opportunity to cover a big game.

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Why I’m thankful: More lessons from the courtroom

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on November 25, 2009| 7 Comments »

Introduction

As perhaps thousands of people now know, my conflict (for lack of a better word) with the Boone County Courthouse didn’t end a month ago.

If anything, these people know that:

  • the judge rejected my written apology and offered a second opportunity to send another apology,
  • I declined that second opportunity and did not send another apology; and
  • the judge declared a 30-day ban for me to enter the Boone County Courthouse effective Dec. 15 unless I filed a request for a hearing.

What the vast majority of those people do not know is this: I never declined that second opportunity. Additionally, the 30-day ban has — as of yesterday around 10:45 a.m. — been lifted.

In this entry, I will attempt the following:

  • explain how it was that I’d never declined that second opportunity,
  • divulge all relevant details, including associated court documents and e-mails,
  • discuss the importance of reporters’ getting ALL sides of a story and
  • express my gratitude to the many who helped me and supported me through this tough time.

This account will be told chronologically. As was the case with my first account pertaining to this incident, it will be long. But so many people have read my account about how I made my mistake and tried to atone for it, and I can only hope that at least half that many will read this follow-up.

How it happened

As was published first in a Columbia Daily Tribune article and then picked up by the Associated Press, I received a statement from the court on Friday, Nov. 20. This statement came almost a full month after the Missourian director of photography, the photo editor who edited with me on that assignment and I sent letters of apology to the judge.

Click on the image to view/download the full-resolution PDF file.

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Behind the scenes at Emily and Matt’s wedding

Posted in Analog, Photography, Weddings on November 21, 2009| 4 Comments »

Two weekends ago, Jeff and I spent three days in Houston for my brother Matt’s wedding.

Matt.

Emily. (With some negative scratches in her hair.)

Although we were not the wedding photographers, we both brought cameras. Of course. Jeff shot digital, which means his photos were up and ready the next day. I shot film, which means my photos are just now ready.

There’s a reason why I shot film, and particularly Tri-X 400 film. I’d grown up poring over photos shot by LIFE photographers. The black-and-white photos of JFK and Jackie’s wedding always struck me as wonderful wedding photography, and I wanted to capture a similar, candid look using black-and-white film.

In the bride’s dressing room an hour before the wedding, Emily reads a card sent up to her from Matt.

As a bridesmaid, I had special access to the bride’s dressing room at the Richmond House, where the wedding and reception were held. I knew the hired wedding photographer wasn’t scheduled to arrive until shortly before the ceremony, so I happily took it upon myself to capture some small moments among the girls.

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How everything came together: Missouri defeats Kansas State 38-12

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on November 15, 2009| 1 Comment »

Somehow, Missouri got it together and knocked the socks off of Kansas State yesterday, when the Tigers pulled off a 38-12 victory in Manhattan, Kan. This was a victory completely unexpected by almost everyone I talked to before leaving for the “Little Apple” to photograph the game.

A player (yet to be identified) embraces Missouri junior tailback Derrick Washington (No. 24) after Washington ran a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

But I’m not here to ponder, consider or explain how or why the Tigers secured their victory.

Senior Leslie Horn reaches out to senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon after Missouri defeated Kansas State 38-12 at the Billy Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.

Rather, this entry’s title refers to the facts that:

All this means that, now that I know the game and know I can get the action, I can and should focus on working different angles and getting shots unlike what editors, fans and readers expect to see from a football game.

But as it is for now, I’ve got a few action shots from the game I’d like to share with you.

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Summer in the city: Blogging New York City photos

Posted in Analog, New York (City), Photography, Travel on November 13, 2009| 1 Comment »

90ish days of summer

As I have previously mentioned, Jeff and I escaped the clutches of the greater D.C. area to spend three days in New York City in the beginning of August.

Strawberry Fields in Central Park on Friday, Aug. 7.

We spent those three days seeing the sights, mostly in Manhattan and mostly through our camera viewfinders. Jeff had his D700; I had my 30D and Olympus OM-1.

Here’s the conundrum: I shot on black-and-white film. Which means I have color photos (from my 30D) as well as black-and-white. The color photos are wonderfully vibrant, whereas the black-and-white photos lend a more old-fashioned look at the city. Because of the different moods they present, I’ll post the color photos separately from the black-and-white photos.

But today, I’m starting out with a bit of each.

Our bus from D.C. arrived two blocks from the New York Times building. So of course we stopped by the NYT before doing anything else.

We arrived via bus in Manhattan on Thursday evening. After swinging by the New York Times building — no longer in Times Square — we dropped off our luggage at my uncle’s apartment in the Upper East Side and ate dinner at a small, nearby diner. Where I had homemade ravioli for the first time ever. It was incredible.

By the way, here’s a photo of fellow Review staffers and me at the New York Times building in 2004, back when it was still in Times Square. Did you know Times Square was named after The New York Times?

From left to right: Andrew (future business manager), Armin (future sports editor and managing editor), Mrs. van der Pol (adviser), me (future features editor and EIC), Chanel (future news editor), Morgan (future scrivener, features editor and managing editor) and Anna. As staff of our high school newspaper, we spent spring break in the city for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference.

Jeff and I started out the next morning (Friday, Aug. 7) at Central Park, which was only a few blocks from my uncle’s apartment. We didn’t spend that much time there, though — lower Manhattan and Brooklyn were calling our name. But of course we took some photos.

Panoramic view from the north end of the lake in Central Park West.

This will probably be the only entry with both color and black-and-white photos. I’ll be posting more photos over the next week or so. Stay tuned!

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Flashback to the 90s: A Third Eye Blind concert

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism on November 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins likes to perform barefoot, apparently.

As I wrote last week, I photographed a Third Eye Bind concert last Tuesday. Two projects and a wedding weekend later, and upon the insistence of my friend Cat, I’m finally posting these photos.

Third Eye Blind guitarist Tony Fredianelli.

When I was assigned to cover the concert, one of the editors referred to Third Eye Blind as “everyone’s favorite band from 2000.” Since I’ve had my head (and ears) stuck in a 1960s/70s rut for the past 21 years, I wasn’t sure I was familiar with the band’s music.

So Jeff had me listen to six or seven songs. And of those, I immediately recognized at least five from the opening chords.

It was definitely a throwback to contemporary radio play during my adolescence, and it definitely helped explain why the concert at The Blue Note was sold out.

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City lights

Posted in Missouri, Mizzou, Photography on November 4, 2009| 2 Comments »

Last night, Third Eye Blind played a sold-out show at The Blue Note. I was there not as a fan, but as a photographer for The Missourian.

But before I photo’ed the show, I wandered downtown Columbia a bit.

Eighth and Cherry.

When I first came to Columbia three years ago, I fell hard for downtown. Having an eclectic assortment of restaurants, shops, services and government buildings right at my doorstep was a complete novelty after living in Houston for my entire life. Within a month of living in Columbia, I knew downtown better than I knew the MU campus.

Then I started exploring downtown at night. And downtown at night is a completely different creature.

It’s just more beautiful.

Ninth and Broadway.

This was the first time I had time to wander downtown at night since at least April, and the first time I’d done so with a camera since freshman year. So I kept it simple. Having no tripod, I couldn’t hand-hold long exposures for too long.

I love this parking garage, even though it doesn't have nearly enough public-parking spots. (Everything else is permit.)

I’ll have Third Eye Blind photos up either later tonight or tomorrow before I leave for Houston for my brother’s wedding.

No, I’m not the wedding photographer. But I will be bringing my film camera and a roll of black-and-white!

As for the severe lack of photo updates this past month? I’ll get on it. I promise.

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Lessons from the courtroom: A photography faux pas

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on October 23, 2009| 30 Comments »

  • UPDATE (10:38 a.m., Nov. 25, 2009) — By my general reckoning, at least thousands of people know there’s more to this story, as of this past Friday. Various editors, journalism school faculty and I have since worked to remedy the situation. Now that we’ve tied up our loose ends, I believe now is the time to clarify exactly what happened — at least on my part. Please read my blog entry for the second (and final) component to this incident.

“Hello, this is Chris.”

“Hi Chris, this is Josh. You need to tell me the truth about what happened in court yesterday. And don’t lie to me, because lying isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

That’s how, via a phone call today at 9:13 a.m., I found out I was in trouble.

Here’s why:

Yesterday, I spent almost six hours in the Boone County Courthouse as the pool photographer for the fourth day of William Clinch’s first-degree murder trial. Armed with a 300mm lens, a 70-200mm and a 17-35mm, I knew the following before I entered the courtroom at 12:45 p.m.:

  • Do not photograph the jury.
  • Do what the judge tells me to do. Do not anger or even mildly irritate the judge.
  • Be respectful and quiet. This means not firing off more than three frames at a time.
  • Do not photograph the jury.

I photographed the jury.

That is why:

  • the Missourian reporter was kicked out of the courtroom this morning,
  • the photo director (Josh, above) called me,
  • I had to explain exactly what happened to several editors,
  • I could have been put in jail for contempt of court,
  • I spent the next hour tearfully worrying and wondering what would happen next,
  • I wrote a letter of apology to the judge,
  • I ended up on A1 of The Columbia Daily Tribune and
  • I am writing this blog post.

More specifically, I am writing this blog post to clarify exactly what happened. I believe in transparency, and I believe that other journalism students and journalists can learn from my mistakes.

Therefore, I am laying out everything that happened. This is the truth and is consistent with my letter of apology and my explanation to various Missourian editors and colleagues. And the truth is long, so this blog post is long. But I hope you’ll keep reading.

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Lessons from Bill Eppridge

Posted in Internships/Careers, Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism on October 22, 2009| 2 Comments »

Ever seen this photo?

Photo courtesy of Time Inc.

Photo courtesy of Time Inc.

The man who captured this tragic moment, this stunning blow and this iconic photo is an MU photojournalism alumnus.

His name is Bill Eppridge. He’s shot for LIFE, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated, and he was in town for the past three days. He gave a presentation to about 150 journalism students and faculty, received a Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and talked to my staff photo class. He also reviewed my portfolio on Wednesday afternoon.

I’ll be honest here:

  • I haven’t seriously looked into summer internships/jobs (yet). Being in class 16 hours a week and working at The Missourian and the equipment locker for at least another 20 hours a week have stretched me thin on any other pursuits.
  • I haven’t given a good, long, hard look at my work over the past year. Plus, between photo editing at The Maneater in sophomore year, reporting in Jefferson City in junior year, working at Philmont for three summers and interning at washingtonpost.com this past summer, I haven’t had much time or many opportunities to be an actively shooting photojournalist until this semester.

But as soon as I heard that Bill Eppridge and his wife Adrienne — who is a photo editor — were volunteering to review students’ portfolios, I knew I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. So, in 10 minutes, I threw together a quick portfolio of single images (fortunately, I’ve been posting all of my best work from the past two years on my Flickr). And then I swallowed my nervousness as Bill and Adrienne looked over my work.

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Tony Hawk and Twitter bring skate tour to Columbia

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on October 18, 2009| 5 Comments »

Tony Hawk is a MAJOR twithead.

The one and only Tony Hawk.

The one and only Tony Hawk.

Using the hashtag #THTH (“Tony Hawk Twitter Hunt”?), Hawk has started a Twitter revolution in which he reveals stops on his BirdHouse tour. He tweets scavenger hunt-like clues to locations where more clues are hidden — and then, whoever finds a clue must reveal its contents and, therefore, the location of his next tour stop.

On Friday, Hawk announced he would be in Columbia… on Saturday.

So, of course, every little kid with a skateboard, every college student with a camera and a lot of other people showed up. And I showed up.

Simon Midkiff, Logan Prange and Bubby Rios-Diaz vie for the attention of Tony Hawks promoters, who were tempting the crowd with a free skateboard.

Simon Midkiff, Logan Prange and Bubby Rios-Diaz vie for the attention of Tony Hawk's promoters, who were tempting the crowd with a free skateboard.

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins warms up on the half-pipe before the demos officially start.

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins warms up on the half-pipe before the demos officially start.

Jesse Fritsch on the half-pipe.

Jesse Fritsch on the half-pipe.

I arrived late to the event after I wrapped up another Missourian assignment, so I missed Hawk’s street-skating demo. I wasn’t assigned to cover Hawk, but my editor called as I was walking toward the skate park. Turned out the assigned photographer was 40 minutes away — so, a darned good thing I was already there to make up for him!

Walking into the skate park knowing I was legitimately covering this for a newspaper empowered me to ask the promoter to get me behind the barricade and in front of the nets. A few complications and 20 minutes later, I got access.

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Study break: Dancing the Thriller

Posted in Mizzou, Photography on October 15, 2009| 1 Comment »

I feel sorry for our neighbors downstairs.

When I arrived back home after work today, I found all the furniture shoved against the walls and Chelsea saying, “Oh, you missed it!”

“I missed what?”

“We were dancing the Thriller!”

Apparently, at 12:30 a.m. UTC/GMT on Oct. 25, there will be “an annual worldwide simultaneous dance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.” It’s an actual, vaguely organized event called “Thrill the World.”

And my roommates are participating. And apparently have been practicing for much of the afternoon and evening.

After I declined their invitation to join them in their final practice run of the night, I decided to take photos. At the very least, it’d be a good break from editing… more photos… for a presentation tomorrow.

And why is every photo from generally the same angle? Because our living room is small, and they warned me in advance to stand on top of the sofa.

“It’s the only safe area,” Chelsea explained. “That’s why the computer is there.”

And now, back to work. I think it’s gonna be an all-nighter.

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Neither rain nor wind nor cold: Shooting my best football game yet

Posted in Introspection, Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on October 10, 2009| 10 Comments »

Missouri lost to Nebraska, 27-12.

Where to start?

It was cold, rainy and windy.

Missouri sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert runs the ball against Nebraska junior safety Eric Hagg during the first play of the game.

Missouri sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert runs the ball against Nebraska junior safety Eric Hagg during the first play of the game.

Tons of sloppy play.

Nebraska freshman running back Rex Burkhead fumbles a punt from Missouri senior punter Jake Harry IV during the second quarter.

Nebraska freshman running back Rex Burkhead fumbles a punt from Missouri senior punter Jake Harry IV during the second quarter.

We lost.

Missouri freshman Morgan Stephens covers her eyes during the last play of the game against Nebraska.

Missouri freshman Morgan Stephens covers her eyes during the last play of the game against Nebraska.

And I shot a lot, learned a lot and tried not to worry a lot.

(more…)

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Missouri vs. Nebraska: It’s college football game day!

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism, Sports on October 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Kickoff against Nebraska tonight is in five and a half hours. In an hour and a half, I’ll be meeting with other Missourian staffers to shoot the game.

versus

This means that right now, I am stuffing my face.

Last time I shot football, I became physically weak due to hunger during the third quarter, and I’d eaten the food provided to media. Now that Missouri Athletics no longer provides courtesy meals to the media at football games (instead, media can pay $7.50 for a cold-cut sandwich — ick), I’m currently loading up on carbs and proteins.

I’m also covering and taping up every piece of equipment I’m bringing out there. In stark contrast to yesterday’s sunny skies and 60 degrees, today features torrential rain and 50ish degrees. Last night, I went out to buy a rainjacket (something I haven’t had in fours of college, somehow), garbage bags and rubber bands. I’m also wrapping up the cameras in Ziploc bags — a trick that Jason learned from Sports Shooter Academy and taught me.

There are a few other complications that will make shooting this game especially interesting, but nothing changes the fact that I’m going to stick with this and do my best work regardless of what the weather, my body and anything else throws at me.

Two days ago, I tweeted:

5 inches of rain = Thurs forecast. If I survive shooting the Nebraska game, it’ll be a miracle. If I get good shots, the world will explode.

So, here’s to hoping the world will explode — for no reason other than I’ll have shot good photos.

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Belated lesson from Week 5: It’s all about the people

Posted in Jeff City/The Missourian, Journalism, Missouri, Mizzou, Photography, Photojournalism on October 5, 2009| 1 Comment »

The past two weeks have been pretty hectic, which is why I haven’t blogged about my Missourian photo shifts and assignments until now.

So here is Week 5, which was Sept. 21-25. Of that week, I worked Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday — but you’ve already seen Friday and Saturday’s material.

The big theme for the other assignments I completed during Week 5? It’s all about the people.

Wendy Savley, an instructor at the Show-Me Gymnastics gym.

Wendy Savley, an instructor at the Show-Me Gymnastics gym.

On Tuesday, I photographed Wendy Savley at work for VOX’s “On The Job” feature. Savley, who used to be a gymnast, is now an instructor at a local gym, and my assignment was simply to photograph her doing whatever she does at work. So I tried to have fun with it and play with the rear-curtain feature on my strobe, as you can see.

Savley gently reprimands two of her young gymnasts for lying to her about when they could come to practice last week.

Above, you can see another aspect of Savley’s job that I hadn’t considered before. Working with younger children so closely often results in the instructor’s assuming a mentor role.

After I wrapped up at the gym, I met photojournalism student Mallory Benedict for one of the stranger assignments I’ve had to complete.

Mallory Benedict drives to the site of her Aug. 2007 crash. Benedict had been driving home from a friends house at 4 a.m. when she texted the friend for directions out of the neighborhood. While typing her message, Benedict overcorrected her steering three times, which led to her rolling and totaling her car. Although her airbags did not deploy, Benedict, who had worn her seatbelt, was not injured.

Mallory Benedict drives to the site of her Aug. 2007 crash. Benedict had been driving home from a friend's house at 4 a.m. when she texted the friend for directions out of the neighborhood. While typing her message, Benedict overcorrected her steering three times, which led to her rolling and totaling her car. Although her airbags did not deploy, Benedict, who had worn her seatbelt, was not injured.

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I’m finally (kinda) building a portfolio Web site

Posted in Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism on October 5, 2009| 2 Comments »

Simply put, I haven’t yet made a lot of progress on my Web site.

Right now, all I’ve got are the index and a few linked pages that I created for my Electronic Photojournalism class. And right now, everything’s still on my school-sponsored Web space.

Picture 6

But soon enough, I’ll have a functioning Web site with my own domain name. In the meantime, with the help of 10,000 Words and a few other blogs, I’ve been exploring other photographers’ portfolio Web sites.

One of these sites belongs to Chase Jarvis.

Picture 7

Jarvis, who operates out of Seattle and Paris (!), is definitely a commercial photographer who’s had quite few big-name clients. For example, he did photography and video for the worldwide launch of Nikon’s D90. He’s done ad campaigns for Reebok, REI, Windows Vista, Volvo, Jeep and more. And he has a few more string projects that, it seems, he does for fun.

Jarvis also has a really good Web site.

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