Waiting....

Let's be honest - groundbreaking ceremonies are boring. Maybe not for the people who have played a part in whatever project they are celebrating but it is for those of us documenting it. Ok, I should just speak for myself. They bore me. So, while waiting for this to begin - (a groundbreaking for a new recycle plant)

I saw this

and this

Cherry Blossoms

Washington D.C. is known for, among other things, their glorious cherry blossoms in the spring but hey we have them on the left coast too.

Can News Photos Do Some Good?

Sometimes I have a really hard time shooting news photos. Sometimes I wish I was being paid to do something entirely different than recording photos of disasters. As I was returning from an assignment on Friday, a reporter said "let's go - there is a mobile home on fire on Struve Road." Ugh - My stomach drops and my walls climb tall with each call that comes through the scanner. Inevitably my adrenalin begins to rush. The drive there is usually rushed and frantic as we try to navigate our way to a scene that may have nothing worth viewing by the time we get there. We have to try to get something - a flame, a gun, a victim.


On Friday we rushed to a mobile home park in which a home had been destroyed by flames moments before we arrived. The windows were broken out and charred. Firefighters were hosing down areas that had the potential to flare up again. This home was absolutely gutted. I walked around and got the photos I thought told the story. I was speculating about who the homeowner was until it became painfully obvious who just lost everything. A woman was 100 yards from the scene near some trees - as if she was hiding from her reality. She was talking on her cell phone, crying hysterically. This woman's belongings were ash, she didn't know the whereabouts of her cat, her nest was no longer. I felt for her. I thought of this woman and her home several times this weekend. All I could do was think positive thoughts for her and hope my photos of her charred home will remind one person to keep their home safe from fire.

Quilter

This was a fun assignment. The quilter, her studio and the quilted clothing were so colorful. This is the kind of photo that should be saved for color pages in the paper. For that reason my editor held on to this story/photos until there was room to run it in color. I shot it a couple of weeks ago. It is scheduled to run Thursday morning.

Shooting at the Dump

Who knew one could find fun shots at the dump?

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to photograph elephants, big cats, birds, monkeys and other exotic animals at Vision Quest in Salinas earlier in the week. As an animal lover, I was thrilled with this dreamy assignment.

Slow Sign

I shot this while on assignment to photograph an organic snack food company that is converting to solar energy. The sign and the forklifts zooming every which way just cried out for this shot.

What *are* you doing?

I had one assignment today. Sad. This slow period would be a really good time to work on projects or just find "wild art", "enterprise art", "freestanding art". These phrases are just another way of saying shoot pretty and/or interesting photos that can carry themselves and take up space in the paper. Well, I didn't do that today - instead I shot a couple of backgrounds, well, one background at two different zoom lengths. I am starting to gather photos such as these for future art pieces - for myself. They may become part of my paintings or perhaps I will start playing with double exposures in Photoshop. Anyway - the whole point of this post is this... After my one assignment, shooting a conflict resolution meeting at a local high school, I saw a cool looking wall that could make for a great background. I got really close to it and took a few shots. Seconds later a teacher came out of his classroom and said to me "my kids really want to know what you are doing." Ah yea - I probably do look really ridiculous standing 12 inches from a plain wall taking photos - especially to a room full of high schoolers. I told him exactly what I was doing. I can only guess he took that information and shared it with his student's.

Basketball - Comfort vs Best Seat in the House

My friend Tricia (hope she doesn't get mad that I used her real name, as opposed to a fictitious name) and I went to the Pac 10 Championship Women's basketball game at HP Pavillion in San Jose tonight. Stanford (1) was playing Arizona State (2) . We scored a couple of tickets from a guy out front and saved 10 bucks off the price at the door. He assured us they were good seats - lower level. We took the risk, handed over our cash, bought the obligatory junk food and found our seats - behind the basket. Crap. We got screwed. It is usually best to sit at mid court so you don't miss a beat. We sat down anyway and quickly learned that we may have had the most comfortable seats in the house. Plenty of elbow room and we could have rested our legs over two rows of seats if we were stretch armstrong. Excellent. We took in the view you see below for the first half and played rebels by moving closer to mid court at half time. Really, the only sad part was that our comfort and the ability to move seats hassle-free was a direct reflection of the lack of support seen at women's basketball games. By the way Stanford won and will move on to the NCAA Tournament.

Cute Kid Photos

I read many photography sites and blogs and listen/watch photography portfolio critiques by professional photographers. The message from photojournalists and editors is that cute kid shots are BORING. "Oh great another cute kid shot". They work in the newspaper because readers still like to see them but the more jaded folk - photographers and editors have seen one too many of little Johnny with food all over his face or Rebecca hugging her kitten. Oh yea - throw animals into the mix and many photographers will just fall backwards and plead for someone to save them. I, for one, still like the cute kid photos. I am only 2 1/2 years into the newspaper business so maybe I too will someday roll my eyes at photos like the one below. For now though, they bring a smile to my face.