Gotta have that gift of the gab

I love taking personality portraits that go beyond photographing a face that shows some interesting aspect of the subject’s character or personality.

My wife, Amy, has mentioned throughout the years that I can be embarrassing when out in public taking pictures. “How can you walk up to a perfect stranger, talk to them like you’ve known them for years and then get a picture?”

I don’t know, maybe I’m one of those photographers who have a special knack for setting my subjects at ease and a gift of the gab. But, mostly, it takes, experience, being very perceptive and extremely stubborn. When I want to make a picture of an interesting person, I don’t care how long it might take. Once, while trying to take a portrait of a carnival worker, he asked why I wanted to take a picture of him? “You have an interesting face”, I replied. Still, he refused, so I hung around talking, asking him about the life of a carnie, some of the towns he’s visited and how long he’s been a ride operator. Soon, kids started lining up to ride, as he started taking tickets, he asked, “You’re not gonna leave here until you take my picture are you? I smiled, and said, “I’ve got all day” and like I said, “you have an interesting face.”

“What the hell, take my picture!”, he snapped back, stuck the cigar in his mouth and glared at me.

My favorite technique is moving in with my 70-200mm lens for a close-up to ensure a strong center of interest and simple composition. One of the things I try to do is capture the subject’s character and emotional appeal.

In order to produce a good personality portrait, especially when dealing with those subjects who don’t want their pictures taken, a photographer must be part psychologist and part interviewer. To me, this shows the subject that you are interested in them, not as just a subject, but a human. Sooner or later, if they are busy, they’ll give in and allow a photo to be made. Besides, having that gift of the gab, doesn’t hurt at all either. Being a photojournalist, it’s our job to return with a
grabber shot…the one that tells the story or captures the character of someone.

Go out and shoot pretty pictures

While working at the Florida Times-Union, a former picture editor, Charles Kogod, offered me a bit of advice one slow news day. “Jim, just go out and shoot some pretty pictures!” Being a news photographer, I didn’t think that pretty pictorial or scenic could also go into the paper as a weather feature. Kogod knew what he was doing nurturing and developing photographers as he ended up working for National Geographic’s Special as the Director of Illustrations in the publications division for many years. Now, he photographs, teaches and edits. http://www.charleskogod.com/

Sitting on the back deck, reading a book, I noticed a huge, white billowing cloud formation rising up from the easterly direction. Gabbing my cameras, our dog, Toshio, started to jump and dance around me as he’s always up for a good walk, We jumped in to the car and headed off to Manchester Dock to take pictures of the magnificent cloud over Seattle.

To this very day, almost 30 years later, I still take Charles’ advice to heart and go out to shoot pretty pictures. One this day, my instincts paid off and I was rewarded with an unusual weather feature.

My camera goes with me everywhere

I once had a friend, who commented to me about always carrying my camera around everywhere I went like Charlie Brown's blanket-toting best friend Linus van Pelt.  It’s true I don’t want to put myself in the situation of missing a picture. It’s a way of life for most photojournalists, besides most people around town wouldn’t recognize me without a camera hanging from my neck. And I certainly don’t want to miss capturing an image such as the one posted above.

Even after a hard days work, whether I’ve been cruising for a feature picture or after covering two to four assignments, my cameras are always by my side.

Feature photos are a favorite of photojournalist because they are human interest in a creative way that shows readers a “slice of life” and a view of daily life.

Most days after dinner, I would pile those that wanted to go, into the car and we’d head off to discover South Kitsap County to play at one of it lakes or parks.  Since Long Lake Park was nearby and always offered some good feature photography that was our favorite location.

On this particular evening, while the kids were playing in the water and I was on the lookout for an interesting situation to photograph, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a blur of activity.  Here was this young man, headed to the water with his Golden Retriever, Diesel, in hot pursuit. As he and his dog created water splashes, I raised my camera, focused and shot a series of images of them running through the water. Afterwards, I talked to Jon and found out that he and the dog were out running.

Jon was getting in shape for the upcoming football season and Diesel just liked to go on runs as well.

The next day, while editing the frames, I noticed on this one particular image that had Diesel nipping at Jon’s pants as they romped through the water. And it was as if the dog was telling his master to slow down.

Had I not been armed with cameras, I would have been kicking myself in the butt for not capturing this moment. Which proves the point, carry your cameras everywhere, otherwise, you might miss a truly great photograph.

"You should have been here 45 minutes ago!"

While attending Syracuse University a professor opened my eyes to one of the most important aspects when covering news events.

Being in a classroom full of photographers the discussion most of the talk was of cameras, lenses, and angles, but it came down to one word, “curiosity.”

You should look beyond the actual event and look for a photo that’s more compelling with emotion.

Upon reading an article about an upcoming public funeral services for the first solder from our area to be killed in Iraq, I called the church, spoke to the event coordinator asking what ground rules were set up for press coverage during the mass.

She mention that a Rosary would be held about a hour before the mass and it might make for a more interesting photos because the casket would be draped with the United State Flag instead of a white cloth.

I like to get to events early so that I can scout out the area and find places that afford a nice clean background or where better pictures would be made from other than an area reserved for photographers.

Also, I wanted to be unobtrusive and show compassion for the mourning family, friends and particularly for the wife he left behind. By staying back far enough away, using a long lens, I was able to capture a photo that still had emotional impact and told the story.

Having arrived for the Rosary, before the other local papers
and the TV crews, I was able to capture a picture of

Michele Bunda as she touched the flag-draped coffin of her late husband Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda during the Rosary before Mass at the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Bremerton.

After the Rosary, the flag was ceremoniously removed and folded by the Army’s honor guard and was replaced with plain white cloth. As I was standing there previewing the images in my camera, the local newspaper photographer, who had just showed up, approached and while showing him the scene that was just captured 10 minutes earlier. He said, “That’s the picture”,, looking at the photos on my camera, the one scene pictured of the widow touching the flag draped casket and asked when was this taken?

I told him all about my curiosity, the phone call and of being told to come earlier than the Mass.

Sure, equipment, knowledge, experience, sensitivity, thought, persistence and instinct all played part key parts in helping me to capture an image no other photographer did. But I like to think that “curiosity” of never having covered a Mass, led me to place a photo call that yielded one important piece of information about the Rosary, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been about to get a picture no body else recorded.

Let there be light

One of the most important ingredients in making a photo is the light. As a photographer, I’m always on the lookout as to how important the intensity, color and direction of light plays on a scene.

To me the direction of light is more than another tool is help enhance a scene as it can be added as one of the most important story telling elements. The way the light affects the photo is almost as important the scene itself.

Some of my favorite times of the day to photogaph are the early morning and early evenings when the sidelight creates long, casting shadows. I like shooting in the evenings, when the golden tone of the setting sun creates scenes with that “special magic” light. This is because the lighting created from the setting sun is not only more colorful, but the effects vary widely; peak effects may last a few seconds or half an hour or longer depending on the intensity of the setting sun.

I found out one day that the mural on the downtown library, where the paint was peeling and falling off, was going to be repainted by the original artists. Arriving early, taking pictures and talking to the artists, the scene looked somewhat two dimensional and lacking depth. I asked how long he was be painting and he mentioned that he’ll be at it until it gets dark.

Wanting to use the sidelight from the evening sun, I knew this would be the best lighting for capturing the mood, color and texture of the painted wall and creating a three dimensional view with the use of a dramatic shadow.

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.