When a so-so assignment comes together.

I’ve had my fair share of lame to so-so assignments as of late but one today ended up producing several images I’m really happy with. Nothing like cute kids in cute costumes to make cute pictures!

Going where I never thought I’d go

Tonight marks a first for me. I’ve finally had my work featured on television. I’m not talking about the local cable station, that’s been going on for months though I never get to see it. Nope, tonight my video coverage of a little boy returned to his parents after being “missing” for about 12 hours, was used on the nightly news.

As still photographers, we always joke about TV photographers never missing the shot because they’re shooting 30 frames a second compared to 6 or 7 on a still camera. We always joked about it, but really, we as still photogs felt superior to the TV guys becase we could make one great image that told the story without b-roll or audio overlays or special effects. Just a stark photo of the news.

This afternoon, I completed my sixth or seventh video in the span of 14 days. I have two others underway. Back 20 years ago, I KNEW I’d never shoot video. Now I can’t get away from it. It was interesting today that I even included myself when describing the group of tv news photographers taping the reunion of the boy with his parents. My boss picked it up right away and laughed but I think I’m starting to loose my identity as a still photographer.  The tv guys and I chatted it up about video equipment and one joked about the fact that we as newspaper photographers are shooting video and they as tv photographers are now shooting stills to go on their websites. The line between medias is blurring more and more.

To get back to my roots, I’m going to try and do some out-of-the-ordinary things over the next week or two. I may even dig out some film and load up the old Nikon SLR and the nearly 40 year old Minolta rangefinder, if I can remember how to load film that is. Keep an eye out for some different stuff from me over the coming weeks!

Click on the photos to see the corresponding videos.

Midnight Madness

In the wee hours of the day, this morning, I photographed the official start of high school football season. York High decided to kick off the 2008 season with a “midnight madness” practice. Obviously, I volunteered for the assignment as it was something completely out of the ordinary.

I really banged out this project quick. Everything flowed in the right direction from the start and I was able to slide the video together with minimal editiing and already knew which stills I’d be using from the moment I shot them. My favorite image (above) came as an after-thought.

Click on the photo to see the video.

The eyes have it

Last night was National Night Out and things were hopping in downtown York. I was assigned to shoot video (click on the bottom photo to see the vid, warning, lots of rap and latino music with a bit of Doobie Brothers thrown in) but managed a couple of nice stills.

Davyne, 5, ran past me with blue beads bouncing in her hair and an orange snow cone. But what I noticed first was her eyes.  After photographing Davyne, I talked with her mother and she said “I saw her run past you and you turned right around,” she knew I was going to photograph her daughter and what drew my attention.

A lot can be said through five-year old eyes.

The South Side Steppers perform for a large group during National Night Out.

Water Sports

I’ve spent a lot of time on, in, and around water the past week or so. It seems that with the hotter weather, I tend to look for photos in the wet, damp places that make summer bearable. My Keen sandals have been constantly wet, and it looks like the trend will continue with a new self-assignment video piece I’m starting.