It's All In The Details

Recently I had the fortune to photograph the Coyle family decorating their tree submission for the annual Festival of Trees held at the Maryland State Fair Grounds.

Christmas has and always will be my favorite time of the year. So naturally when the photo editor at Patuxent Publishing asked if I was available for a Christmas-related assignment I hoped right on it.

I arrive at the fairgrounds, call the family and we approach a very small and restricting space they had in a giant room filled with hundreds of others decorating their submissions. 

I navigated around the tree and tried to find the best perspectives to show all three members of the Coyle family enjoying themselves while they decorated. 

The tree was unique in the fact that it was decorated with photographs. The father of the family John Coyle was a local photographer and they decided to fill the tree with some of his framed work. 

As a fellow photographer I loved the idea. I started to make some detail images of just the photographs, but they lacked dimension. Even as they would reach in and adjust the frames on the tree it needed something else. 

Toward the end of their decorating they began an assembly line type system of passing the ornaments. I set up to get both the framed photographs on the tree and the hand off. When everything lined up and I fired off a few frames.

Although it only shows a small section of the assignment, the moment was in the details.

Until next time, take care!

Truth in Photography

The image above is not what it seems though no photoshopping went into the image. 

A speaker lit by an incredibly bright moon. Or so you would think. The giant floating circle is not the moon but instead a clock tower. The subject is also not lit by said clock tower instead by a spot light set up for the event.

Does this make the image less valuable? Maybe to some but to me no. It creates an environment that helps the viewer connect with the subject. Nothing is added or subtracted from the image, it holds to all ethical standards of journalism. 

It is crazy how much a simple black background can do for an image. I have talked about this before in past blog posts, shooting on black is something I will never get tired of.

Being able to find these black backdrops in my everyday assignments only makes it better. 

Until next time, take care!

Cold as Ice

When its cold the last thing you want is wind.

Well at tonight's final home game for Towson University's regular season we had both.

Fighting the horrible wind I was able to make a few frames that I liked so I decided to put up the entire gallery instead of a single frame. I hope to do more full galleries in the future to show more of the take than just a single image.

Gonna keep this post short and sweet.

Until next time, take care!

Welcoming

No one wants to photograph death. But in doing so you celebrate the life.

Last evening Towson University students filled the center of campus to mourn the loss of student Gilad Nissim. This would be my third vigil covered at this very spot and this was no easier than the first two.

What surprised me the most about this vigil was how Nissim's friends openly welcomed me as a part of the event. Many thanking me for coming to photograph them and all having such an inspiring positive attitude in such a tough situation.

Being able to be let in by people you had never met on an intimate level was remarkable. A peaceful coexistence between photographer and subject was born and images were made, helping to show everyone of this tragic event.

Until next time, take care!

Finding the Photo

Every assignment has an image to be made, some are just harder to find than others.

I was recently on a community news assignments sending me out to Laurel, Md. to make images of a Special Olympics of Maryland fundraiser.

Local police officers camped out on the roof of a Dunkin' Donuts for 24 hours to help bring in patrons and donors to support the cause.

Unfortunately when I got to the location the building was horribly back lit. To get any detail in the building I had to completely blow out the sky. Fortunately it allowed for some interesting silhouettes of the officers on top of the roof.

Waiting for the lone cloud in the sky to make its way behind the building I fired off a few frames. Going a little warmer on the white balance made for a great color coming through the clouds.

I finished off the assignment by yelling up to the officers on the roof to get their personal information and trying to hear them over the howling wind.

Until next time, take care!

Emotionally Invested

A journalist is meant to impartially document whatever assignment they are given.

Over the weekend I was assigned to the Maryland 4A State Championship women's soccer match. Local Catonsville High School was making their first appearance in the finals and it was my job to capture the game.

As we got closer to the beginning of the match the students of Catonsville were showing a level of school pride that I had not often seen. You could really feel that not only the players but also the student body wanted this win.

It is hard not to have a favorite team. You go through life watching sports always choosing who you would rather win. Sometimes the underdog, other times your alma mater or favorite pro team. Whatever the game, choosing a side to root for is natural.

Often I do not find it hard to separate myself from the games I cover but this game was different, I could feel the emotions in the air and everything was taking shape into what could have been a great win for Catonsville.

Unfortunately the game did not end this way. Even after 70 minutes of a score-less game, Catonsville's opponent, Walt Whitman High School scored two goals to win the game.

Many of Catonsville's players were devastated. Often I try to shoot more of the winning team, the excitement often makes great images, but so does the defeat. It only shows how much these young players wanted to prove themselves on the field.

Until next time, take care!

OUCH!

Athletes getting hurt is an unfortunate part of the game.

It seems that the lower the level the more injuries occur. Pro level sports have few injuries with players being more cautious, NCAA a little more and in high school they all just want there bit of the glory and hold back nothing.

Often the most painful plays will make the best images. It is an unfortunate nature of imagery but the emotion that is shown can often translate into captivating images.

With the image above the player was fortunate enough to return to game after a much needed break.

Until next time, take care!

Getting Ready

If photography has a lot of luck involved than luck must favor the prepared. Knowing what you need to make an image before that image even comes to fruition is a photojournalist's job.

It is similar to that of a fortune teller, you have to know what is going to happen before it even happens so you are ready to make the frame. The only difference is photographers don't have an extrasensory ability, well I don't at least.

That is where intuition comes into play. Anticipating the action, and being ready to capture it. When I was the photo editor at my college's newspaper I would often tell new photographers that if you see the frame you want you probably just missed it.

You cannot just see the moment you have to predict it, analysis the composition, prepare your settings, make sure everything is in focus and fire. A lot to do in the matter of a split second but there are things you can do to compensate. Don't get me wrong photographers aren't the fastest acting people ever, they are just the next best.

Some of the best photographer's minds work about as fast as Usian Bolt can run (I can only hope to be half that fast one day).

When the world's first psychic photographer starts shooting I can kiss my job goodbye.

Until next time, take care!

Shoot Everything

I had an assignment to make images of a few prominent community members guest bartending to help raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project.

My editor sent over the assignment information and said who they needed images of. I had the luxury of it being the final assignment so I was able to get there early and stay late.

As I was making my images I noticed a very intense game of shuffle board going on over at the other side of the bar.

Again with the luxury of ample time, I quickly ran over to make a few images of the game, trying to showcase all the different aspects of this one event.

The image may not have been specifically laid out in my assignment but it fit well with the rest of the take and gave another dimension to the story.

When I approach an assignment I want to create a story. Anything can be photographed in a way that helps create a narrative. Being able to capture all those moments is both the responsibility and plight of the photojournalist.

But that plight is one reason I love it so much.

Until next time, take care!

Community News

Recently I have been covering some community news for Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Within the greater Baltimore area exists smaller localized newspapers. One day may be The Aegis of Harford County or The Howard County Times or The Arbutus Times, etc.

Each assignment has brought me to meet new and interesting people I would never have had the opportunity of meeting. Before I knew it I started to really enjoy these types of assignments.

If you have been following this blog I mostly cover sports. Not that I enjoy sports more or anything like that, it just seems that the most work I get is sports.

When I was younger I would daydream about all the incredible assignments I wanted to go on one day as a shooter for the Associated Press. To me that was the big times. Although I do still have dreams of working with a wire service one day, I also could really see myself working in community news.

The image above was taken for a Veterans Day feature talking about a kid that wrote a book about his veteran grandfather when he was only ten years old.

I made a lot of tight frames, focusing on the the two reading the book together. Most of the images I pushed were like this but to me the space they were in was just as interesting as the two individuals.

The soft pastel colors worked well with the mood of the story. So I backed up, went wide and made this frame.

Until next time, take care!

Shooting Blind

Digital cameras give photographers the advantage of immediate gratification.

Speeds up workflow and allows the photographer to troubleshoot any issues on the spot.

On a normal assignment I shoot with two camera bodies, a Nikon D4 and a frankenstein D3. The D3 has definitely been through its paces and the LCD screen has been one of the casualites. 

No longer being able to review images on one of my cameras is something that I have not only learned to live with but often enjoy. One of the small quirky aspects of my photographic identity.

Reminiscent of the same excitement you get when pulling film out of the developing canister, loading the images from this camera in Photo Mechanic is always a surprise. 

The frame above came from the D3, I knew when I was making the image that it told the story well. A group of runners and the nice graphic sign on the warehouse in the background. Quickly trying to evaluate the lighting situation I exposed for the nice morning light on the warehouse and shot.

The result was what I had hoped.

Until next time, take care!

Exclamation

Volleyball is by far my least favorite sport to shoot. 

Often I embrace a good challenge but this one comes with a little colder of a shoulder.

Don't get me wrong, I will never turn down a chance to make images even if it is volleyball. It often just results in busy images with players making incredibly uncomfortable facial expressions. 

Normally the empty seats of a NCAA volleyball game annoy me and I end up shooting from above. For the plain and simple reason: cleaner background.

The frame was simple, a nice leap of joy from one of their players but it worked. 

Until next time, take care!

Pregame/ Postgame

Sports can often be a surprise.

Towson suffered an unfortunate surprise when they lost to their rivals University of Delaware in the last few minutes.  

TU had a 14 point lead going into the last two minutes of play and managed to allow 15 points before the end of regulation. To add insult to injury Delaware went for a two point conversion to win instead of the safer extra point that coul have easily tied the game.

The game had it's great plays but really the images that showcased it the best were not taken during the actual game play.  

A frame of West excited as he enters the field during the pregame and a frame of his anguish after the game. Together the images are able to tell the story much better than any photo taken during the game. 

Until next time, take care! 

Window of Opportunity

Photographs are made up of one simple ingredient: light. 

Over the weekend I had a marathon Saturday, a community news assignment up in Aberdeen, Md., an hour to transmit images and then an eight hour basketball showcase back down in Baltimore. 

In the eight hours I covered four different games, each with their own unique qualities. It is always so interesting to see how the same sport in the same venue can take on so many different forms. It was nice to be kept on my feet the entire time.  

One of these changing qualities was the much appreciated natural light coming through a set of small windows on each side.  

Whenever I go into an area to photograph I always make mental notes of the lighting. I saw the windows and just hoped one of the two sides were facing west. 

I was in luck. At around 5 p.m. sunlight started to creep in. By the time it reached the court I had already shot the majority of the game, knowing I made some good stock peak action images (thanks to a few dives by the athletes) I decided to stop down and wait till the players ran through the light.  

The above images were two that I made during the short window of light I had (see what I did there?).  

Until next time, take care!

Baby Steps

The field of photography is nothing less than intimidating.

Wednesday of this week I had the opportunity to make some images for The Baltimore Sun.  

Earlier in the week I took some great advice I had gotten from fellow photographer Patrick Semansky and started making some cold calls (or emails in this case). 

My first round landed me on the freelance list for Baltimore Sun Media Group also known as Patuxent Publishing. After this I continued to reach out to as many different outlets, Tuesday night I sent an email to the editors over at The Sun. Wednesday morning they had an assignment for me that afternoon. 

I prepared as quickly as I could and headed over to a local youth center to do a feature on a post-graduate basketball team from Mt. Zion Academy. 

The story was set to go to print on Friday, not sure if they liked the images I sent in I p̶a̶t̶i̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ waited for the story to go to print. 

I woke up this morning to find one of my images in print.

As I said earlier the field of photography is intimidating but maybe if I keep making these baby steps they will add up. 

Until next time, take care! 

Pairing

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with fellow photojournalist Patrick Smith.  

The way Patrick approaches imagery is unparalleled. Every photograph he makes is marked with his own creative direction and to see his style is inspiring. (Click the link below to see his work.)

Patrick Smith

I approached Patrick to do a simple online portfolio review of my website. He responded with more than I could ask for and we ended up meeting up in person and discussing my work at much greater lengths. 

One major aspect he went over with me was pairing images. A simple way to make your work flow from one image to another by finding visual similarities in the images. Although more or less not a complex idea the results were drastic. I found new life in old work and ended up going back and looking at both past and future assignments with a whole new set of eyes. 

Besides Patrick Smith, I have met with AP Photographer Pat Semansky, USA TODAY photographer Joy Absalon and Baltimore Orioles Team Photographer Todd Olszewski. Each photographer has been able to help me grow and develop both my portfolio and how I approach new assignments.

Having the ability to work along side another photographer for six months can have a profound result on your work. Working with Orioles photographer Todd Olszewski has not just been a pleasure but an experience that helped shape my direction in photography. When I look at the images I made prior to my work with the Orioles and after the changes are obvious. I shoot with a higher level of attention to details and really began utilizing my opportunities to their fullest. 

When I began to approach photographers for portfolio reviews Todd was an obvious choice. He had first hand experience with my progress and was able to really help start showcasing my better work. 

One of the most interesting parts of my conversations was how drastic many of the photographers opinions were. Pat Semansky may say to he did not think an image worked well while Joy Absalon said she loved the image. Hearing so many different takes on the same image at first was hard to follow but eventually became clear. 

When I look at these other photographers I see who I want to be. All successful, talented and helpful individuals but all with different ideas of what the final product should be. To some it may seem frustrating, never getting an definitive answer but to me it was refreshing. It reaffirmed the idea of how subjective photography really is. Pat Semansky said something to me that really hit home. One of his editors may love an image, then his editor's boss will hate it and someone else may love it you just have to find the images that you wanna make and the ones that your editors didn't even know that they wanted you to make. 

The most exciting part I find in photography is the growth. No matter if you are new to the field, or a seasoned veteran every assignment is an opportunity to try something new and most importantly learn from it. 

Normally I try to keep these posts short and sweet but the impact all of these photographers have had on me could not be summed up in a few short sentences.  

Until next time, take care! 

Art in Sports

Recently I have been working around the idea of art in sports.

Shooting sports can take the creativity out of my work, making images of good peak action, but nothing more than that. 

Don't get me wrong good action images can speak volumes but adding in a new dimension to a body of work can only amplify its effects. 

Now I just need to start making images without an athlete and a sky. Or maybe not.

Until next time, take care! 

Behind

Normally when I shoot football I shoot the players from the front when they run onto the field during pregame. 

After talking with their team photographer Rich Riggins I got the all-clear to head behind their tunnel and run through with the team.

Waiting for the last player to run onto the field I followed suit and began snapping as I ran. 

I wish that the smoke filled the mouth of the tiger better but overall I liked the frame as a whole. 

Until next time, take care! 

Change of Pace

Sports, sports, sports. 

It seems like all I ever shoot anymore is sports. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy covering athletes but something different always gets me excited.

I am not new to concerts, but it seems as though it has been quite a while since I covered one and after getting ear plugs in for the last set it turned out to be quite enjoyable.

More often than not I find concerts to be stale so I decided to try something unconventional. Instead of focusing on getting a nice skin tone and have legible faces I stopped my camera all the way down to f/18 and shot directly into the lights. Hoping to create an interesting star-burst that provides only a little rim light to the subject.  

I am pretty satisfied with the result (image on left) and just felt that the image on the right both complimented the left and showed an interesting start to twenty one pilots set. 

Until next time, take care! 

Revisit

I love re-edits. 

One of my first blog posts was about re-edits. The ability to go back and revisit images with fresh eyes is one of my favorite exercises. 

This was one of my favorite images I made during my first season with the Orioles. A very quiet and joyous moment for this little girl.

The beautiful smile that she generates makes this image what it is. 

Being able to capture these types of moments is why I want to be a photographer.  

Until next time, take care!