Putting your subject in their environment

I like to add visual story telling details when taking environmental personality portraits.  By including tools of the trade in the foreground and background says a lot about a person and what they might do for a living.  The reporter wanted to go to the city hall and produce a personality story on the new major.  Since I already did some prior research, I found out the mayor was a pilot and suggested that a good time for the assignment, would not during the week for a boring at the office photo, but go photograph him during an upcoming weekend fly-in at a nearby rural airport.

 You can imagine the reporter’s delight, when the editor agreed that the shooting the mayor on the tarmac with lined up new and vintage aircraft wing tip to wing tip would be an interesting twist to the story. So happened the mayor also pilots a 1941 Stearman Biplane.  Reporters, some reporters think their job is an 8-5 job, five days a week. Unfortunately for photographers, it's 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 While the reporter interviewed the mayor, I took various pictures, ranging from a medium telephoto to a wide angle of him walking around the plane. Now, if any of you know what it’s like working with a reporter, it’s rather a pain in the butt, trying to keep them from getting into every photograph.  But, to the reporter, most of which are visual impaired, to them the written word is all they care about and the photos are something to go along with their story.

 Afterwards, the reporter, said, “Well I got want I needed, you ready to go?” No, I was just getting started taking pictures and mentioned. “You know, it’s not the headline or first sentence to your story that grabs the readers attention, it’s the photograph.”

 The mayor mentioned that he was due to give a public performance in about half an hour and asked if I wanted to take some pictures of him as he flew touch and go landings above the airfield in the background, would most certainly give me the environmental details needed that would show our readership something about the mayor’s life.  When you go out and pictures of people doing interesting things, it’s a plus for the readership we serve.

 I like to get my subjects involved in making the picture better.  Try to get them involved in such a way that they are assisting you instead of you forcing a set up on the subject.

 My style is to surround the subject in their environment with things that might make them different from other people.  To me, the mayor’s vintage aircraft was a symbol that made him something special and then having him also fly it, put him in a setting that provided a greater identification for the readers.

I can't believe she did that

Being a photojournalist, our job is to capture life's moments. Those might be the good, the bad, the ugly and sometimes, the bizarre. While assigned to document Port Orchard's annual Fathom O' Fun's Frog jumping contest, one of the best shots of the day I took was the Queen planting a kiss on the winning frog. As she gently, but firmly held it in her hands, puckered up and planted one on tip of the frog's nose, I pressed the shutter button, that captured in one instant, a photo that she'll be remembered by for the rest of her life.

Sometimes, you just have to stop

While on my way home from shooting the West District 2 Big League (16-19 year olds) Championship baseball game in Silverdale I happened to crest a hill and lo and behold I saw the crescent moonset over the Olympic Mountains. Didn't take too much effort for me to think twice about stopping in a nearby parking lot. Pulling out the tripod, attach a shutter release to one of my MK II's with a 300mm f2.8 lens attached. I set the camera on manual, f-stop at f4.0, and used a variety of shutter speeds, ranging from 30th of second to one second exposures and capture this beautiful moment. Granted, it was a long week covering 20 baseball games in six days and I was wanting to get home. Even through I was hot, tired and hungry, I'm glad that I stopped, and took the time to capture this unique photo. I believe the end result was worthwhile. So enjoy the photo.

“Help me Mr. Wizard!”

Have you ever been stuck in an embarrassing situation where you just wish that Scotty could beam you up out of there or get a little help from Mr. Wizard?

While driving around looking for a feature picture on a slow news day a police call came across the scanner concerning a man perched up in a tree with a rifle near an elementary school. There’s nothing like the possibility of getting a spot news photograph that get’s one adrenalin flowing. Arriving near the address, I was stopped a deputy, whose car was blocking access to the scene. After a few minutes, he told me it was not a guy armed with a rifle, but someone up in a tree with a rope around his neck threatening to jump. Still, because of the nature of the situation, the officer explained that I was not allowed near the scene, but if I wanted to back up and drive down his neighbor’s driveway, I could possibility get some good shots from that location.

Sounding like a plan, I backed up, pulled over at the entrance, grabbed a camera with a 300mm lens attached and quietly positioned myself behind some bushes that offered a protective view from the police and a front row seat to the developing situation.

About thirty or so feet off the ground, standing on a tree branch, was this guy with a yellow rope around his neck and drinking coffee from one of those “Big Gulp” containers. Apparently he was pretty despondent over the fact his wife had recently left him and he was in the process of being talked out of ending his life by a suicide prevention officer.

A few minutes later, he happened to look over at my direction, and from his birds’ eye view spotted me. Yelling at the top of his lungs, “Hey photographer, do you really want a good picture, get ready!” Knowing my cover was blown and peering through the bush I could see deputies looking my way. Having already gotten a few good pictures, should I stay or leave? Just to make matters worse, I next heard from a half dressed woman leaning out of the upstairs bedroom window asking me what I was doing in her yard? When her husband appeared and asked, “what in the hell are doing with a camera outside our bedroom, as the situation was starting to get way out of hand only thing I thought of saying was, “I’m from the newspaper and your neighbor, Raymond, is up in a tree with a rope around his neck. “

Now taking the attention away from me they both left the driveway widow and as I quickly retreated to my car, I heard the balcony door open with the husband yelling at his neighbor, “Raymond, what in the hell are you doing up in that tree?”

Remembering a childhood cartoon, I thought, "There's no place like home"and wanted to desperately call on Tooter the Turtle’s friend, Mr. Wizard and request a transfer to anywhere and quickly. As I got into the car I’d cry out for Mr. Wizard to rescue me; and with the words "Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome, Time for this one to come home" I safely departed the area and safely arrived back at the newspaper a few minutes later without any police cruisers in hot pursuit.

Things children do at events

One thing I’ve found out during my many years of covering events that involve children is that their attention spans are not always the longest. While assigned to cover the opening ceremonies of little league, I focused on this group of bored T-ball players waiting the festivities to get underway.

Everything, that could go wrong, did, which was fortunate for me as the series of photos I captured just got better and better as time passed. The coaches ushered the ball players onto the field and while they stood at attention waiting for the National Anthem, the PA system wouldn’t work. As the minutes slowly elapsed, each of the young players, who, reached the limitation of their individual levels of “paying attention”, gave up and just decided to occupy their time as they saw fit. The pictures, I came away with certainly did have that Norman Rockwell Americana feel to them.

“Don’t shoot, I’m only the photographer!”

On a slow news day, while post processing images and listening to the police scanner, a report came across that a Silverdale Bank was just robbed. Unfortunately for the bandits, a car buyer who was looking over cars next door, noticed a man running from bank, jump into a waiting vehicle that sped off. He was able to provide the Sheriffs Office with the cars’ description and license plate number, which turned out to be a Tacoma address. Now, if you’re going to rob a bank, don’t do it on the Kitsap Peninsula as there are only about three major roads leading off. Highway 16 and Highway’s 3 North and South. Figuring since they were Tacoma residents, I’d start my search oh Highway 16. Sure enough as soon as I reached the highway entrance traffic was starting to back up and I knew they must have been pulled over a mile or so up the road.

It’s helps to know you’re the area you cover and the many roads leading throughout the county. More than once, instead to taking the most direct direction to and from an assignment, I’d take a different route. This was three-fold purpose, gave me more mileage to claim on the expense form, a chance to maybe find a feature or two along the way and this besides, this method helped me learn my way around South Kitsap area. I knew that if I drove down a road-paralleling highway 16, eventually, I would run into the police action. Looking for the flash of the blue blinking lights, I stopped on a county road just below where the cars were pulled over, grabbed my cameras and headed up the embankment.

Upon reaching a barbed wire fence I realized that I needed to go back down to car, open the trunk, grab a pair of pairs so that I could uncouple the metal bands holding the wires in place onto the fence post. Once done, I placed a branch between the wires, climbed through and proceeded my way to the top.

By the time I reached the highway and from the sound of branches cracking underneath my feet, the officers, thinking I might have been one of the robbers’ companion, who was giving themselves up, had their hands on the gun handles ready to draw. All I could say way, “Don’t shoot, I’m only the photographer!” The robber, who was being cuffed, glared and barked, “Don’t take my picture!” One of the deputies, whom I knew well, said, “Son, you got more things than worry about Jim taking your picture.”

Sometimes, in cases such as this, it helps to have a sense of humor to ease a tense situation. Besides, I bet it gave the deputies a funny story to spread throughout the sheriffs department.

Thoughts are miles away

While living on the island of Terceira for two years was truly an immersion into the old rural world lifestyle. Day after day, I had a photographic game plan of sorts and would assign myself a different assignment ranging from industry, farming, fishing, arts & crafts, religious ceremonies, landscapes, generally I wanted to cover the island much like a National Geographic photographer would. As I wandered through the village’s narrow cobblestone streets, photographing people at work,
I noticed a religious parade of young girls, who will take their First Communion, carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary during a religious celebration honoring the festival Divino Espirito Santo..
After photographing the parade I was invited by the family to take pictures of their First Communion at the local village church, Which made for some interesting pictures. As four participants took their First Communion seriously, a little one's thoughts were miles away.