Fire on the Beech (Street)

For the most part, working during the holidays is pretty uneventful in the Pueblo Chieftain photo department. Each year the paper's editors find a way to fill much of the paper with an in depth series or extended project allowing many members of the staff to take vacation time between Christmas and New Years.

Since spot news doesn't seem to follow a schedule both the police reporter and members of the photo staff may find themselves in the middle of some pretty interesting and intense stories while other members of the staff are saying "Pass me another piece of fruit cake."

Wednesday was one of those days.


After doing spending some time in front of my work station I asked the paper's managing editor if there was anything else he needed me to do (even though I didn't do much to that point), he said no and I headed out the door after writing my cell number in the book so that if something were to happen my number would be easily located.

About 90 minutes after I left the newsroom I got a call from our weekend editor to tell me about a house fire. It was kind of hard to understand what she was saying as she was suffering from a cold. I did manage to catch the two cross streets and the word fire from her virus-laden utterings.

I, hung up, grabbed my coat, and told my kids I had to go to a fire. Any more, they just nod and say "Okay Dad, see you later." My boys aren't easily impressed any more. They have been to so many assignments with me that most of the time they are happier to stay home.

As I was heading across town I could see the column of thick black smoke rising from the burning home. When this happens it is easier to get to the fire without having to look for a particular address and it also tells me I am missing some really good flames.

My days of driving to a fire like I was driving the fire truck are behind me now, but I still get frustrated when I feel like I am hitting every red light all the way to the scene. This time was no different. Most of the time when covering fires there isn't much to shoot other than wet ashes when I get out of my truck. That was what I thought I would be shooting at this fire. I jumped out of my truck, grabbed my camera and bag and headed toward the fire.

I have been on scenes like this so many times over the years that most of the police and fire personnel leave me to my job. Many of them have seen me at fires and crime scenes before and those who haven't don't say much as I look right at home in these situations. (Usually if you walk in like you own the place, most people will think you do.) At this fire my access was good and I went to work.

The light was fading and the fire was being attacked by an aerial truck. I figured there would be no more flames. There were two fire fighters standing near the house with a hose. They had been spraying the fire but stopped when the aerial truck started to attack the fire. Then there was a bit of a pause and the flames popped back up, but the fire fighters in front of me weren't moving. I shot a few photos of them standing there with the flames dancing on the roof of the house. It was good flame, but no action. I crossed my fingers and waited. Then they picked up their hose and directed a spray of water into the window of the home as the flames on the roof made another appearance. I got my photo and then made my way back to my truck to head back to the newsroom.

While driving back I heard one of the firefighters on the radio say that they would probably be there a while as the roof of the home was insulated with straw.

I mused to myself that had the house not burned it may have been blown down by a wolf!

Cornered!

The playmakers are over for the fall season and I am back to doing regular daily assignments. While biding my time until the winter sports season ends and I get to do five more playmakers.

The other day I was sent to shoot some high school girls swimmers as part of their season preview. I shot the head shots I needed to do and then needed to a portrait of two of the girls. I thought I had the photo worked out in my head on the way to the school. But when I got there, one of the two girls was absent and wouldn’t be there for the photo as scheduled.

I had to come up with a photo of the one remaining girl that would carry the story as well as the page in the sports section that it would run on.

I knew I wanted to shoot her in the water, but at the same time I wanted the image to have a bit of a “different” look to it. I don’t know why I came up with the photo of Madison Krall in the corner of the pool, but I did.

The photo had a bit of a “playmaker” feel to it but I give all the credit to Madison. She is the reason that the photo works. Her “permasmile” as well as her hand placement really completed the image.

I count myself lucky as I managed to shoot the photo from the side of the pool and do two very important things. I kept my feet out of the frame and stayed dry. Woohoo!

Madison is the kind of subject that photographers dream of. She is was patient, and a a real joy to work with. Plus she did things on her own that helped. I look forward to getting to shoot her again.

Tennis playmaker

Last but certainly not least, Pueblo County High School’s Joey Patti is the playmaker for boys tennis in 2007.

I told Joey to wear his varsity uniform and bring his racquets and a can or two of balls to the studio. Joey was happy to honor my request even though he didn’t seem real sure of what kind of photo we were going to do.

Before he showed up I spent a little time getting things ready. I found a green gel that I could use to throw some color on the background. The school’s colors are green and gold so I figured the green gel would be the best color to go with.

I got the lights set up. Then I asked Joey for his racquet and one of the better looking tennis balls that he brought with him. Joey watched as I grabbed a couple of zip ties, zipped them together, and to the face of Joey’s racquet. In hindsight I think I would use some string or fishing line to do this the next time. It was just too much work to remove the zip tie from the image with the help of Photoshop.

After we got everything set I started to photograph Joey. When I use the SB-800s in the studio it is a bit more difficult because the strobes don’t have modeling lights. What we did was set up the camera on a tripod, then I would pre-focus on Joey and turn off the overhead lights to shoot the photo. I coached Joey with, “Don’t move, don’t move, don’t move, don’t move.” He did a great job and made my job easy.

Thanks Joey.

Volleyball playmaker

The girls volleyball playmaker for 2007 is Brittany Maab of Pueblo West High School.

I showed up at the school near the end of the school day. We couldn’t use the gym after school as basketball practice was going to be taking place in the gym at that time. The school’s athletic director was gracious enough to set it up so that the P.E. class would us an auxiliary gym so that I could photograph Brittany in the main gym.

Brittany, along with the help of one of the P.E. instructors put up the standards and the net for the photo. I brought all my cameras, flashes, light stands, remotes and yes a mini trampoline. At first Brittany was a bit apprehensive about jumping on the trampoline as earlier in her high school athletic career she had knee surgery on each of her knees to repair torn anterior cruciate ligaments.

I couldn’t blame her, but I also told her I would let her jump on the tramp a couple of times to see if she thought she could do it and if not, we’d just scrap it. She gave it a try and decided that it wasn’t going to be that hard on her knees and we went ahead and used it. I brought the tramp because typically high school volleyball players don’t have a vertical jump that gets their faces above the net and that was where I wanted her for the photo.

I placed the tramp to the side and Brittany would take a few quick strides and then jump onto it and raise her arms as the P.E. instructor would through a ball for her to block. After a couple of dozen runs, jumps tosses, and blocks I had enough to chose from and our time in the gym was over. I thanked Brittany for all of her efforts and headed back to the paper.

After a few days of looking through the images I made in the gym I decided that the photo just needed something more but I wasn’t sure what that was. I finally decided that I would do some post processing to see if I could spice things up a bit. I happened upon an idea to add several more balls to the photo and that seemed to do the trick. The only other thing I did was add a bit of motion to each ball so that the balls didn’t look like they were hanging from strings or something. I am not big on doing post processing and most of my work doesn’t allow it, but this time it seemed to work.

Can you tell which ball is the only one in the original frame? I'll never tell.

Cross country playmaker (boy)

Pueblo Central High School’s Dominique Rael is this year’s cross country playmaker on the boys side of things.

It is always an extra challenge when I have to shoot two photos of athletes in the same sport in the same season. It means that I have to come up with two unique images to illustrate the same sport. But the cool thing is that I love challenges. And while the athletes may be in the same sport, they most certainly aren’t the same person, so that is where I start.

As it turns out, Dominique was actually taking part in two different sports in the same season. Pueblo Central High School didn’t have enough athletes to field a soccer team and a cross country team at the same time so Dominique signed up for both.

I wanted to illustrate Dominique’s dual sport season even though he was selected as the playmaker for cross country I wanted to make soccer a part of the photo.

I asked him to meet me at a local soccer complex and to wear his varsity cross country uniform. Dominique showed up and was a great subject. I lucked-out as there were a group of guys having an informal soccer practice on one of the fields at the soccer complex.

We found a piece of ground near where the soccer players were practicing and I set things up. I asked him to take up a position with his back to the soccer field and to get into a hurler’s stretch and actually lean forward and really stretch. I think that this was more difficult than all those times I had Sarah run toward the camera for the girl’s cross country photo.

You see, I had to wait for there to be good soccer action going on in the background before I could get the photo I wanted. He needed to be stretching the entire time to make this work. It did work and we got the image I was hoping for. However, I am afraid that Dominique had a difficult time walking when we had finished and he went to stand up.

Hopefully by now the cramp has worked it’s way out of his hamstring and Dominique can walk with out that pesky limp.

Cross country playmaker (girl)

Cross country runner, Sarah Kettelkamp, of Pueblo Centennial High School is the playmaker for her sport this year.

I spent weeks researching this photo. Well, sort of. Most mornings during the warmer months I ride my mountain bike along the “Nature Trail” from my home to the dam in Lake Pueblo State Park. (About 15 miles round trip) During these rides I do a lot of looking for photo locations. I guess I can’t help it. Some people see dead people, I see photo backgrounds.

This was one of the first photos on my list. I had to get to it soon because the leaves were quickly falling from the trees and I wanted to have a bit of a golden background with a fall flavor to it.

Sarah was very patient with me while we were shooting the photo. I had found the location on my bike rides and decided we’d go to that section of trail for the back ground. The early afternoon sun worked great as a rim light as it fell through the trees and onto her head, shoulders and back.

I set up a couple of strobes on the trail and positioned myself. Then came the fun part, at least for me. I had looked at a lot of running photos to find the way I wanted to pose Sarah. I didn’t want her to run directly at the camera because that can end up with a photo where you can only see one leg. It happens when one leg is bent and can appear to be amputated at the knee.

I decided to have her run down the left side of the trail (her left) and then at a predetermined point she would cross the trail so that I could see both of her feet in the photograph. Sarah was very good at getting the stride I was looking for. There is a place in a runner’s stride when for a split second both of the runner's feet are off of the ground and it was what I was shooting for.

After about 30 times running down the trail through this spot I had plenty to chose from and Sarah had gotten a pretty good warm-up if she wanted to go for a run.

Glad I could help.

Gymnasics playmaker

Tera Sisson was selected as the playmaker for girls gymnastics. There is only one gymnastics team in town and it bears the name of Central High School, but is made up of girls from several different schools in the district. Tera is actually an honor student at Pueblo South High School.

The team practices in a local gym that supplies gymnasts with every piece of gymnastics equipment available. That is great for the athletes, but can make for a rather cluttered background due to limited space in the gym.

Taking this all into consideration I had determined ahead of time that I wanted to shoot a photo where there was a cloud of chalk in the air. I hadn’t really figured out how I was going to do this prior to going to the gym to make the photo.

I decided that the best piece of equipment for the chalk would be on the uneven bars. Tera was very helpful in making things work for the photo. Originally I had her leaping to the low bar and grabbing it. I thought it might make for a chalk cloud , but it produced little or no cloud so we had to come up with something else.

We eventually decided on having her jump up and slap the lower bar which was achieving the desired effect. What really made the photo was when Tera filled her hands with chalk before turning them over and slapping the bar. Sure it was over the top, but that was what I was hoping for.

Now if I can just get this taste of chalk out of my mouth...

Soccer playmaker

Matt Karn of Pueblo Centennial High School was chosen as the playmaker for boys soccer.

I have seen many amazing action portraits of soccer players. Now I had a chance to try something a little different myself.

A couple hours before Matt showed up at The Chieftain I was across the street at the glass store trying to buy a piece of glass that would support a 170-pound high school athlete. The response I got from the folks at the glass company was, “You want to do what with the glass?” I am not real sure that they understood what I was going to do with the Plexiglas even after I explained it to them.

They did find a piece of Plexiglas form me. I got it, headed back across the street to the paper and proceeded to try to figure out what to do next. Originally I was going to shoot the photo on the school’s practice field, but it was an extremely windy day so that was out of the question.

I walked around our building and managed to find a corner of the parking lot that was shielded from the wind by the building. It also offered me a chance to plug an extension cord in to an outlet in the building for the one Elinchrom strobe I would be using.

I kidnapped four chairs from our lunchroom to rest the Plexiglas on. I then set up the light and crawled under the Plexiglas with my camera and wide-angled lens. Matt was tentative at first, but after he realized that the Plexiglas would support his weight he was fine.

I discovered that the chairs that the Plexiglas was resting on were about 6 inches too short to get the photo I was trying to get. I basically had to frame the photo and then place the camera on the ground to squeeze him in to the frame.

You can picture me laying in the parking lot under glass with a high school soccer player standing on glass suspended on chairs above me as I squirmed around with my camera and my boss was listening to my direction and trying to aim the light and softbox diffuser the direction I needed it. It was quite a site!

All in all I would say it was worth the effort and the stains to my clothes from laying in the parking lot. And mother nature did a pretty amazing job on the sky too!

Football playmaker

The football playmaker for the 2007 season is Mike Bechina (BA-KEEN-A) of Pueblo Centennial High School.

Mike was very open to the ideas that I had for his portrait. The sportswriter who selected informed me that Mike is not only a football player and a 4.0 student, but he also plays guitar in a band that specializes in classic rock and roll music. The light bulb above my head instantly lit up.

I have been looking for an excuse to do a portrait of someone in mid-flight doing what I call the “Eddie Van Halen Jump” for a long time. This was my chance. To aid Mike in doing the jump I went to a local sporting goods store and purchased a mini trampoline.

The idea was to get Mike to jump on the tramp and do the jump while wearing his varsity football uniform and holding his guitar. I set things up in the studio at the paper and used Nikon speedlights instead of the big studio strobes that are on a track system in the studio. I did this because the speedlights allow me the ability have more precise control of the light.

I used four speedlights. I used snoots on three of them to prevent too much light spill. The set up was tight as our studio isn’t all that big. I was against the back wall of the studio and Mike was nearly out-jumping the background. All in all it went well and with a little coaching on the body position I needed from him we were able to get the above photo.

I think that by the time we were finished, Mike was really starting to get into the rock’n roll mentality. I think it shows in the photo. Rock on Mike!

Softball playmaker

Amber Pacheco of Pueblo Central High School was chosen as the playmaker for softball. I had decided that I wanted to do a photo of the Wildcat shortstop sliding head first into second base.

I wanted the photo to give the illusion of her sliding into the bag and yet still show off one of her trademark ear-to-ear grins.

I was able to get Amber’s coach to provide us with a helmet that didn’t have the required football-style facial protection. That way I could get an unobstructed view of her face.

I had Amber lay down on the ground with her hands stretched out to the bag as if she were sliding into it. I also asked her to lift her feet to give it more of an actual slide feel.

Then the fun began. My boss, and Amber’s coach began throwing hand-fulls of dirt at Amber’s legs and feet as I was shooting the photos to add the look of her in motion. Amber was covered in dirt when we finished but she was still smiling.

What a great sport she was!

Golf playmaker

Zane Covey of Pueblo West High School was selected as the golf playmaker. I had him meet me at Liberty Point about 45 minutes before the sun set. (Liberty Point is a very scenic outcropping above Lake Pueblo State Park.)

I had visualized a photo of him where the majority of him was in silhouette and I only lit his face. I had originally thought about going out on to the point to shoot the photo, but after I arrived I decided that the parking lot would work just fine. And be a better place to set up my light stand.

Before the sun started to set I shot a few images of Zane with strong backlight. It helped me figure out how I wanted Zane to pose. Then as the light was changing I set up one SB-800 (speedlight flash) on a light stand with a snoot to direct the light to Zane's face.

The sun began to set and I had just a few minutes to make the image I wanted with the best possible light. Zane was great to work with and I credit the success of the image to him and to the fact that my 10 year-old son (who I brought as an assistant) didn’t hit anyone with the rocks he was tossing off of the point. (By the way, he promises not to do that again.)

Fall Playmakers...

At the end of each high school sports season the sports writers at The Pueblo Chieftain select one athlete from each of the sports as the “Playmaker” to represent that sport.
The playmakers are defined by the writers as the student athletes who left a lasting impression on those of us who chronicled their efforts. These athletes may or may not be the best in their sport; they do, however, represent the reasons why we love sport so much. -The Pueblo Chieftain

I have been lucky enough to have the task of creating portraits of each of the playmaker athletes assigned to me. I have come to enjoy the process of creating these images.

First off, I do some research. I spend time looking at as many photos of each sport as possible. I find inspiration in images created by other photographers who have worked to illustrate similar subjects.

I then try to come up with an idea that will help me to visually expose each athlete’s personality in the most dynamic way possible. There is no real form to my creative process. I just kind of toss everything into the pot, turn up the heat, stir it a few times and see what turns out. Sometimes things go as planned and that is fine.

Sometimes I throw away the recipe in the middle of the shoot and just wing it. That can be fine too. And sometimes it just depends on how the planets line up or on what I had for breakfast, or which socks I am wearing...

(In subsequent posts I will share each of the images with some background on the photo shoots.)

Signs of the times.

I can't believe that it is basketball season already.I am still shooting high school football playoffs which, for me, is the best time of year for shooting high school football. I am very fond of day games as opposed to the Friday night lights games.

But before the football ends, the college basketball season begins. Last night I was at the first games for both the CSU-Pueblo men's and women's basketball teams. The teams are playing at the Colorado State Fair Events Center while their home arena is being renovated. This is a good thing as the paper has strobes mounted in each arena allowing for well-lit images.

There wasn't much out of the ordinary in either game. But something else caught my attention. In the seats during the game I saw three signs being held up as a fourth person stepped out of the stands to take a picture.The fans were there to see CSU-Pueblo forward Sarah Staggs from Glendale, Arizona and they weren't shy about it.

Each time she got into the game or did something positive while on the floor, a cheer would come from the section of sign-holders. I shot the photo without really reading what was written on the signs. I went back and looked at them when I had a free moment during a timeout. The sentiments were such that it brought a smile to my face and made me think.

The game on the court was the job-at-hand for the team, but in the bigger scheme of things, the outcome of the game didn't really matter nearly as much as the people who would come a great distance to see it because of their attachment to just one player.

And while an athletic scholarship may get you through college, it is your friends and family that help get you through life.

I'd say that no matter what the final score is, Sarah Staggs is a winning a much more important game...Life. (And not the Milton Bradley version...LOL)

Gettin' in the swing of things...

One of the terrific things about my job is that from time to time I get to bring one, or both of my sons with me when I shoot something. About half of the time it is because I want to the rest of the time it is out of necessity that I have the boys in tow.

They are my entertainment, junior navigators, art directors, and feature photo spotters. My boys have become a tuned to what I do and what I am looking for when we go looking for a feature photo (enterprise photo). If it were up to them I would be shooting skateboarding every day. Fortunately I am the one at the controls of my truck and get to decide where we are headed.

A week or two ago I had my youngest, Barry, with me when I was hunting the elusive enterprise photo. We did a quick look in all the normal places and then I thought we'd give a few of the smaller parks a quick look. It is nice to change-up the scenery when we go looking for photos and sometimes the smaller parks get passed over for the larger more popular parks.

We started our tour of parks and with each one we passed Barry asked if we could stop and he could play for a while. I told him that eventually if I was able to find a photo he may get the chance to play in one of the parks. He said that was okay and continued to ask if he could play at each park we passed. (He is 10 and nothing if not persistant.)

Finally I passed by a park where I saw some activity that caught my attention. I parked and Barry asked (as expected) if he could get out and play. I told him that he could but he would have to wait in the truck first while I got my photo.He wasn't happy about waiting in the truck, but reluctantly he did as I asked. However, I did have to endure a barrage of "why" questions while I was getting my cameras out. If you have kids you know what I am talking about, the child asks why and you answer and their response to your answer is another "why?". Ugh... And it can go on forever, or at least until I tell Barry, because that is what "I" said.

So I dashed off leaving him at the truck (but still in full view of where I was) to shoot some teenagers on a set of swings. They spun around, slammed into each other and did what teenagers do before heading off. I got my photo and the caption information I needed then turned to my waiting son and waved him over to the playground equipment.

Then we spent the next 15-20 minutes laughing and giggling on the playground before we headed back to the newsroom, but if you tell my boss I will deny it.

Reflecting on enterprise photos...

A good portion of my job consists of enterprise photography. For those of you who don't know what that is, here is a detailed description. I drive around town looking for something interesting to photograph.

And on some days it can be the toughest thing I do. Over the years I have come up with a process to guarantee a good enterprise photo. I cross my fingers and pray. Okay, so it doesn't work EVERY time, but it is the best thing I have been able to come up with after 20 years of searching for the ultimate enterprise photo.

Some days I find what I am looking for in the first 5 minutes of looking. Other times I may drive 50-60 miles before I find a good subject (and sometimes my prey eludes me completely) I have found that one of the true challenges in finding an enterprise photo is being able to see familiar subjects in a unique way.
On one recent afternoon I was out on the hunt for an enterprise image when I stopped by the local skatepark. The park has been the subject of dozens of enterprise photos. So I needed to try to find a way to look at skateboarding that was different from all the other times I had photographed local riders. Luckily it had rained the day before and left a bit of a pond in the middle of the skatepark.

The riders were complaining about the water, but I was lovin' it. As I walked around the park, I watched several skateboarders lose control of their boards causing them to roll through pond. And it is a good thing that my camera isn't set up to record an audio track because the things that came out of some of these kids mouths would make a sailor cringe!

After looking at the pond from several different angles I finally came up with one that worked. It required that I squat down to get the photo. This was a sketchy move for me as every time I do something like this I risk not being able to stand back up! Nothing like being the age-ed photographer surrounded by skateboarding teenagers who wonder what the hell you are doing...LOL.

I did manage to get one or two images in focus without having to call fire rescue to help me up. Maybe next time I will rent an airplane and shoot an aerial shot. Anyone have a parachute I can borrow?

Using his head

When local professional sports teams make it to the big game people try to come up with unique ways to show their support for the team. I remember the guy who painted the huge Bronco head in the middle of his street the last time the Denver Broncos were in the Super Bowl. And there were the crazy haircuts, the face painting along with all the flags and jerseys.

But before yesterday I hadn't seen a temporary tattoo emblazoned on a man's shaved head with dry-erase markers. I have no dout that it had been done before and that fans have done and will do many crazier things to show their loyalty to their favorite team. What made this one interesting was that the big fan wasn't the guy with the art on his head. It was the woman who put it there.

"I was just sitting there waiting for my coffee to cool off when she did it." he said. Personally I would say that musta been one smokin' hot cup of coffee!I thought about how I would shoot a portrait of a guy with a baseball logo on his head as I drove over to the hospital where the subject works. I figured I would shoot the photo using a mirror.

That way I would be able to show the logo on the back of his head and his face at the same time. I wanted the portrait's lighting to look as natural as possible so I placed one sb-800 on a lightstand, pointed it at the ceiling of the nearest bathroom where I had him sit and look at his reflection in the mirror over the sink.

I have to say (and I said it to him) that it almost looked like he was sitting at one of those visitor windows at the county jail. I wonder if there is a law against being assaulted with dry-erase markers.

Hunka, hunka, burnin' forest

Last week at this time I was resting-up after the first day of covering a fairly small wildlands fire near Rye, Colorado. I have to admit that I enjoy covering wildfires. I have covered several fires over the years. I have even gone through the basic wildlands firefighter training and held a "red card" for several years.

I can honestly say that if I wasn't a photographer I honestly believe that I would be a wildlands firefighter. There is just something about being in the forest and doing that kind of work. I find it very exhilarating and there is just something about the smell of a wildlands fire.

(It may sound weird, but if you were ever a wildlands firefighter you would understand.)

The Colorado fire season was nearly non-existent this past summer. There had been a great deal of spring and early summer moisture this year thus keeping the fire danger rather low until now.

A warm, dry, and windy fall has given a boost to the fire danger this past month. And it came into play last week. A rancher was out cutting hay when a spark from the farm machinery ignited the dry hay and grass. The fire quickly spread to some nearby forested property despite the efforts of the farmer to douse the flames.

Fire crews moved in quickly as law enforcement officials evacuated nearby schools and residents. The decision was made that attacking the fire from the air was the way to get a handle on the fire as quickly as possible.A helicopter was dispatched to drop 2,500 gallons of water on the fire each time it flew over. That certainly slowed the fire as well as the small tanker that was called on to drop fire retardant between the fire and a nearby home. I managed to get a few opportunities to shoot the helicopter before dropping my cell phone in the brush and spending the next 20 minutes crawling around looking for it hoping I'd find it before it got dark. I did. (But that is also why I didn't get any images of the small taker doing the slurry drops, but don't tell anyone okay?)


The only significant loss in the fire was this front-end loader. It was parked among the trees that were burning on what is called 'Rattlesnake Hill'.

Fire crews spend the next day doing what these two firefighters are doing, putting out hotspots.This is tough work and probably the part of fighting a fire that is the least popular, but the most necessary. No one wants to see a fire get a second chance to get out of control after it has been contained once.

My 'Nomex', helmet, boots, and fire shelter are all back in my bag ready for the next fire. I doubt that there will be much before next May or June, but fire doesn't stick to the calendar and could make an appearance anytime if the conditions are right.

If that happens and there is a fire in them-thar hills I will be happy to go and cover another hunka, hunka, burnin' forest.

In a bit of a fog...

Each year we have two big high school rivalry football games. For each of these games we do a photo illustration as part of the preview prior to the game. This year I figured I would make use of one of the $20 fog machines available at Target.

I am the first to admit that I have absolutely no experience with fog machines. I discovered a few things. First of all I can tell you that the fog not only smells bad, but you can also taste it in the air and it isn't a good thing.I also discovered that it can be difficult to control just exactly where the fog produced by the $20 machines goes, especially in a well-ventilated studio.

Eventually with the help of one of the other staff photographers I managed to get a photo for the preview. I don't think I could have managed to do it without his help. He manually moved the machine around to distribute the fog as evenly as possible and get as much coverage as possible before it would disperse and be sucked out through the air vents in the studio.

I am just glad that there wasn't a smoke detector in there linked to the sprinkler system. Just what I would need, to have the sprinklers activated while shooting a football preview photo.

I lit the photo with a whitelightning as the backlight and two snooted sb-800s directed a the faces of the football players. I learned from a 'Strobist' post that Pingles potato chip cans can make great snoots, and they do. I cut off the bottoms, cover it in gaffer's tape (black) and cut an opening in the lid big enough to insert the strobe head before lining the opening with more gaffer's tape. The work great as long as they aren't containers that had the flavored chips in them. Then you get snoots with a nice aroma.

All in all I think it worked out. I can always find ways to make one of my images better and this was no exception. Live and learn.

I may have to spend some more time practicing with the fog machine. That is if it doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Gettin' a little snooty...

Here are a couple of environmental portraits that I recently made using two SB-800s fired with Pocket Wizards. In each of the images one of the two strobes was attached to a snoot to direct the light.

The first photo is of a local artist who's effervescent personality really came through in the image. She was outgoing and willing to be herself even though I was pointing my camera at her. I love subjects like her!

We arranged her living room studio in such a way as to have her most recent painting as a background. I then positioned my painter in front of the easel with an SB-800 positioned to fire through a translucent light panel to her right. I then had my second strobe (and snoot) over her left shoulder to give my subject some separation from the background.

When I light a portrait I often try to blend existing light and the light I am producing with the SB-800s. In this case there was some light coming into the frame from camera right thanks to a large "picture" window. It is my goal to make photos where the lighting is almost seamless so as to not call attention to the lighting but rather the subject. I believe that I was more successful doing this in my second image.

The second image was an assignment to photograph the director of the local community college small business development organization.
She has a rather small office with a couple of windows to the outside. I placed two SB-800s in her office. One bounced into an umbrella to the subject's left while the second strobe (snoot attached) was placed atop a cabinet over her right shoulder to provide some separation from the background.Her office was so small that I had to actually step out of the office to be able to use the lens that I wanted to use.


The image was made during an actual interview. I just set up the light and told my subject to do her best to ignore me and go ahead with her meeting. She did a remarkable job of ignoring me and giving me a great opportunity to make the photo that I needed to make.

Both images were made with a Nikon D2Xs, the first was shot with a 17-55mm f2.8 and the second was made with a 70-200mm f2.8

I have come to realize that it can be a good thing to be a little snooty.

You're not going to believe this...

And I thought I had seen nearly everything...
apparently not.

I was assigned to shoot the local university's home volleyball game against an instate rival. The match was played at a local high school as the fieldhouse at the school is being renovated. I used two Nikon SB-800s to cross-light the net. I proceeded to shoot the first two games of the match. Then I packed up my gear and went back to the office to submit a photo for the next days paper.

I selected a photo that I thought told the story (see below). I started to work it in photoshop when something in the photo caught my attention. I realized that there was no way this image was going to get into the paper. The reason is that the woman volleyball player had decided to pen a message on the tape that she had put on the joints of her fingers. (On her right hand it says F-U-C-K and on her left I-T.)

I don't think that anyone else in the entire gym saw what I saw after closer inspection of the image. If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you should be able to read the message that this young woman was sharing with me. While I think the idea of putting messages on the tape on your hands is novel, I think that a NCCA athlete may want to reconsider just what she puts there.


I brought the photo to the attention of the editor here at the paper and he notified the school and the reply that filtered down to me was that this would be taken care of, and it wouldn't happen again.

To be totally honest, I don't really care what these kids do and I even think that it is pretty funny, but when it means that I can't shoot certain athletes because of the messages that they write on themselves, then I will speak up.

I have no doubt that I will continue to be surprised by the things people will do. I think that they call that job security.

Vicarious photography

In my head I am this adventuring, outdoorsy, fearless kind of photographer. However, in reality, I am much more interested in making good photos of the adventuring, outdoorsy and fearless people doing their thing. My philosophy is, you risk your body and I will document it. I like to call it "Vicarious Photography".

One of the extreme events that I enjoy the most is the Royal Gorge Go Fast Games. This is an event where B.A.S.E. jumpers gather at the Royal Gorge Bridge to hurtle themselves into the 1,000 foot gorge from the bridge. They also have managed to get the owners of the park to allow them to jump from the tram that tourists regularly ride across the gorge.

While standing on the bridge I noticed that the tram had moved out above the gorge and stopped. Having had seen this event before I could guess what was going to happen next. I grabbed my gear and started heading to a better position on the bridge to get an image of jumpers exiting the tram.

The door opened and then one by one (and a couple of pairs) the jumpers stood at the opening and stepped out. If I hadn't been photographing the event I would have been shaking my head and saying to myself "...some people's kids..."

I shot this frame with a Nikon D2Xs and a 300mm f4.0. I photographed the jumpers frozen in air just after clearing the tram. I enjoy this kind of image, but most of all I enjoy standing on a perfectly good bridge to make it.

That's a lotta bull...

Each July the National Little Britches Finals Rodeo comes to the Colorado State fairgrounds here in Pueblo. Hundreds of youngsters put on their boots and hats and go at it with rodeo animals.

So for several days this past July I jumped into a pair of Wranglers myself (pretty humorous) and spent some time shooting the rodeo. I enjoy shooting the rodeo assignments that I get each season. I shoot PRCA rodeo at the State Fair, I shoot the Pro Bull Riders and the Little Britches. Of the three, I enjoy the Little Britches the most. The kids aren't there because they are going to go home with thousands of dollars or some new endorsement contract, they rodeo for the fun of it (and the cool belt buckles awarded to the winners). Their enthusiasm is contagious.

Rough-stock events are at the top of my list as they can provide some wild action whether you are a pro, or a kid hopping on his first bull. You just never know what kind of images will come from the meeting of rider and animal.













At one of the performances of the rodeo I was shooting the junior bull rider event. These kids are between 14 and 16 years old. This particular rider climbed on his bull (at this level the bulls have to be under 1000 pounds) and went for his 6-second ride. Near the end of his ride the bull lept into the air and upon landing stumbled and rolled over on top of him. I had seen bulls land on top of cowboys before, but I had never seen one roll completely over one and have all four legs pointed skyward.

After the bull was back on his feet the emts moved in to tend to the cowboy. After several minutes he was put on a backboard, fitted with a neck brace and carted out of the arena. On his way out he gave the crowd a thumbs up and received an ovation.

I later found out that the young cowboy was treated and released from a local hospital. It was good to hear that there was a good ending to such a wild ride. I have to believe that the plowed, soft dirt arena floor saved this cowboy from a serious injury.

And that's no bull...

Looking at things a little differently...

I recently covered my 21st Colorado State Fair. I have seen a lot of things at the fair over the years but I can tell you that the number one challenge of photographing any event year after year, is how to get images that are fresh even if the event isn't.

One of the free attractions at the fair is a fountain in the middle of the fairgrounds where children of all ages go to cool off. I have photographed this fountain from every angle I can think of, or so it seems to me. (I am still trying to get the newspaper to spring for a helicopter allowing me to get an aerial angle.)


At one point during my time at the fair I was at a park near the fountain and noticed that a bench between me and the fountain was in the shade and offered an opportunity for an image I hadn't had the chance to try in relation to the fountain.

The first group of people who were sitting on the bench were not providing me with the image I was looking for for a fair and fountain silhouette. So I went to photograph something else in the park and then returned to find a family with a couple of grade-school aged kids. I thought this may work out and when the youngster on the left side of the bench used his fingers to take a bite of funnel cake I realized that I had found the image I was looking for.

It was a different way to look at the fountain. I was now using it as a background instead of the main subject of my photo. And for some reason I was also craving deep-fried batter covered with powdered sugar...

Time for more playmakers!

School has been out for several weeks so I figured that it was a good time whip out the the spring playmakers.

Shooting the spring sports is always the most difficult of the three high school seasons. This isn't because the athletes or sports are more difficut to photograph, but because school gets out shortly after the sports end and tracking down some of these kids can be a tough job, especially if they are seniors.

This time was no different. Things eventually worked out, but I did have to make some adjustments on-the-fly to get the following images.I have always wanted to photograph a tennis play from above during a serve. Unfortunately there are no local venues where I can do this during a match. I figured that this would be my chance. I swiped a 10ft ladder from the custodiuan at the newspaper, strapped it to the top of my truck and headed to the tennis courts.

I set up three SB-800s on lightstands. I made use of a set of pocket wizards to trigger the strobes and then positioned them around my subject in such a way that I could shoot from atop the ladder and get the image I envisioned. The best part was I didn't even fall off of the ladder!

Boys swimming is always a fun sport for me to shoot. I guess I feel that way as I am a former swimmer myself. Many photographers tend to shy away from the sport because it can be a challenge to photograph. I say it is a chance to do something fun.

This photo was shot with the subject standing in the shallow end of the high school pool. I set up four SB-800s on light stands with pocket wizards to trigger them. Then the fun started. I gave the swimmer's mother a bucket and told her to toss water at her son while I photographed him. She was really getting into her part of the photo. The two of them were having a real tough time keeping from breaking out in uncontrolled laughter. Shooting swimming IS fun.

Then there was the girl golfer. I talked her into doing a sandtrap shot. I found that controlling the light and where all the sand was going was harder than I thought it would be.I was lucky enough to get a subjet who was very patient and willing to have some fun while I was trying to control all the variables.

I used three SB-800s on lightstands which I triggered with pocket wizards. I would have liked to shoot this photo either in early morning light or in late afternoon light but I rarely get to pick the time of day. I just work with the cards I am dealt and try to make the best out of it. This photo works because of the cooperation of the subject and a little luck.

Then there was the rain. Thank God for the rain!I planned to shoot the high school hurdler on a local high school track. Fortunately that idea was rained out. A rare all-day rain kept me from shooting the photo I had planned to shoot. I had to scramble to find a place to shoot my photo of this athlete. I had to shoot it on this particular day and since there are no local indoor track facilities I was forced to improvise.

I made a phone call and found that there was a building I could shoot my photo in at the Colorado State Fair. I let my subject know where to meet me on the fairgrounds and we walked into the same building where the 4-H kids show off their animals. The ladies working in the office were very helpful and told me to do whatever I needed to. The building has a dirt floor which at first I thought would make things more difficult, but actually it is what I think makes the photo so fun.

I set up three SB-800s with pocket wizards and we started photographing him going over the hurdle. I over-powered the ambient light with the strobes making the background go black. Then I noticed how he was kicking up the soft dirt on the floor of the Livestock Pavillion. How about that? I was playing in the dirt and getting paid for it!

Photographing a soccer player can be a challenge. I mean, afterall, how many ways can you shoot someone kicking a ball? I thought I had used up all the my ideas for a photo like this, apparently I had one more idea.

Soccer season had been over a while and the grass on the pactice field was looking more like hay that needed to be cut than a grass athletic field. I was able to get the coach to leave a net in one of the goals so that I could set up for the photo I wanted. Originally I wanted to use a wider lens, but the backgrounds were pretty distracting requiring me to go with a longer lens.

I used two SB-800s on lightstands to light my subject. I also had her kick the ball a couple dozen times before I felt like I got what I wanted. Of course the image I used was one of the first I shot, but I won't tell her that. Shooting this photo was a real kick!


My photo of the playmaker for the sport of baseball was one that I had to make in a hurry as it was starting to rain. I showed up, set up the lights, placed my subject where I wanted him and began to shoot photos.I used a lens-baby to make this image and also found one of those 5-gallon pickle barrels that baseball coachs sit on, to stand on as I find that I am vertically challenged when it comes to getting a good angle from above.

I only fell off of the bucket a couple times and managed to get things packed up just before things would have shorted out due to what turned into a pretty heavy rain.


All in all my subjects were great kids. However I would have to say that the athlete who took direction the best was the girl lacrosse player. It certainly didn't hurt that she is also a singer and actress.I wish that all those I photograph were as comfortable in front of a camera as this young lady was. She was a true joy to photograph. And she was very patient as I move her and my lights around the football stadium in search of the perfect background.

Thanks to all my subjects. Congratulations on your selection as a playmaker. Each of you deserve the attention and much more.

The things I see

Part of my job requires me to find human interest photos. We call them "stand-alones" because they must carry a page without an accompanying story. I cruise around town looking for photos that will do the trick on days when the stories that have been chosen to be on a section front don't have strong art (photos) with them.

I have several places in town where I regularly find good images so I check those first. These are parks, and neighborhoods where I have found photos in the past. I also try to remember things that I have seen when I didn't have time to stop and shoot a photo or two. I file this information in the back of my mind and hope that it doesn't fall out after bouncing around back there.

One day this past May I was out cruising around looking for a "stand-alone" photo. I decided to take a swing through one of my favorite parks. I rarely venture into the playground area when I am looking for a photo as every swing, slide, jungle gym and piece of playground equipment has been photographed dozens of times.

This time I was just giving the playground area a purfunctory glance as I drove through the park when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I saw that someone near the swings was throwing a soccer ball. I remember thinking to myself "I gotta see this." I pulled over, climbed out of my truck and then had the thought I get every time I happen across a cool feature photo opportunity, "Please don't stop before I can get my cameras out to shoot the photo.

I hurried over to the swings to find a girl on the swing and her father tossing a soccer ball for her to kick each time she would swing out near him. I started shooting this scene and made several photos while moving around.I shot some photos of her kicking the ball and then this happened. She kicked at the ball and only managed to get the toe of her shoe on the ball before it hit the swing chains above her head. She did all of this with her eyes closed and moving upside-down.

I paused to look at the preview on the back of my camera, saw that I managed to get the moment. I then said a small 'Thank you' to the gods of photo focus and smiled to myself that I was able to come across something so unique and fun. Just dumb luck.

Maybe I should have bought a lottery ticket that day...

A taste for baseball...

Let me get something straight 'right off the bat'. I am not a baseball fan.

Baseball may be right up there with hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet, but for me it is one of my least favorite sports to cover. Sure I am happy when I make a good photo, but honestly, the sport does very little for me.

When I cover baseball I find myself looking around for something interesting to photograph (like birds flying overhead or uniquely shaped clouds in the sky).

Actually I look for different angles, and different possibilities for photos. I do know enough about the sport to have a pretty good idea of what may happen at any given time, but I can also be surprised when things don't go quite the way I had thought that they would.

Recently I spent several games standing behind first base and keeping an eye on second base for that "double-play photo" each time there was a baserunner. Then after thinking about it, I decided to give up on that image and start watching for a good tag at first base.

In between yawns I pre focused my 300mm lens on a piece of ground just past the first base. Then I popped a couple of no-doze caffine tablets and tried to stay awake long enough to see the pitcher make a throw to hold the runner on the bag and possibly get a photo of a head-first slide.

I must have pressed the shutter as a reflex while nodding off. The sound of the camera's shutter woke me, at which point I realized that I actually gotten a half-way interesting baseball image. Luckily I had my eyes closed when I shot this photo. I think it is the only way I had the timing AND the focus come together at the same instant.

I appreciate that there are a lot of baseball players out there who love the game and even more fans who live for the games and stats. I respect that. It just isn't my game. For me baseball is just one step up from watching golf on television, which is just a step above paint drying or grass growing.

The point however, isn't whether or not I enjoy the subject matter. The point is, that I enjoy the challenge of making a good photo. That may mean shooting photos at an event that I detest or one where I am enthralled by what is going on, but either way it is the image that counts.

This is an approach that has taken me several years to develop. I wasn't always this open-minded. Ha! I guess I have mellowed with age.

And when it comes to having a baseball, a glove, and bunch of dirt slammed into your face while you dive onto the hard ground at some guy's feet, I say...

"Better him than me."

Fire, a race to the flames!

I have one major complaint when it comes to covering structure (or grass, or car) fires here in Pueblo, Colo.

The Pueblo Fire Department is just too damned fast! And not only are they fast, but they are so efficient that when they arrive on scene they knock down a fire and reduce it to wet ash and smoke before you can say "Hunka-hunka burnin' love!"

Recently I responded to a fire call that was about a 10 minute drive from the office. It was for a stucture fire where the home was completely involved and there were a lot of visible flames according to the fire dispatcher.

I no longer drive wildly through the streets of Pueblo chasing fire trucks like I did in my younger days. Now I listen to the scanner as I drive and try to take shortcuts and think about the easiest way to be able to drive right up to the fire. I have had many a fire photo extinguished by police who have blocked the road to keep looky-lous away and fire hoses safe.

Everyone must have been moving in slow motion at this fire as I made it through all of the intersections along the way before Pueblo's finest shut them down. I saw the pumper trucks in the road and smoke in the sky as I came around the final corner and then, there it was, Fire.

The house was still burning and not just little flames either. I pulled over and got out of my truck about 100 yards from the scene. I was loading my camera with a disk as I walked toward the flames and then I realized something. The house was still burning and there were great flames, but there wasn't a single person near the fire.

I waited and hoped and hoped and waited until finally a curious ambulance emt walked up the driveway toward the fire, pulled out his point-and-shoot camera and started taking pictures. BINGO! I started shooting him shooting the fire. Hey, you gotta go with what you find, and I wasn't finding much else at that point.

I had several frames of the back of this guy's head before he turned to look back at the road when I shot the image above. I think he was feeling a bit guilty for just standing their taking pictures of this fire. He wasn't running to save anyone, he was just a spectator.

That is supposed to be my job. I consider myself a professional spectator. I am also a story-teller, but I have to see it first before I can make a story-telling image. So I am not much different than this guy with his point and shoot. I just don't know how to start an IV or use those cool electric defibulator paddles.

About 2 minutes after I made this photo a pumper truck drove up the driveway, parked, and the crew of the truck lept into action. The fire was just wet ashes and smoke shortly after that. But this time it happened when I was ready to leave instead of when I had just showed up.

Thanks Pueblo Fire Department for lettin' that one burn a bit before you put it out. Just don't do that if my house ever burns, okay?

Get low to shoot a sweet chariot.

I was recently given an assignment to photograph an automobile race. Turns out it was a race like no other that I had ever covered. I have been to the Indy 500, small track races, and even jeep races on a frozen lake, but none of them were like this.

It was the "One Lap of America" race. The race where not only do the racers square off on the track, but they have to drive the same vehicle on the road to the next track. How cool is that? You may have heard of the first incarnation of this race it was called the "Cannon Ball Run". Yep, that race.

There were no souped-up stock cars, or big race crowds. The cars I saw ranged from Dodge Vipers and Corvettes to VW bugs, all taking their turns getting in their laps on the road course at the Pueblo Motorsports Park.

The Pueblo Motorsports Park unfortunately isn't the most scenic of tracks. The backgrounds consist of outbuildings, powerlines and less than photogenic prairie. When I got to the track I looked around and realized that the other photographers that were there were just interested in the cars and not the surroundings.

After watching a few of the cars go by the place where I had been allowed to cross the track into the infield I noticed that one section of track had Pike's Peak behind it. It also had some construction, a group of homes and a porta-potty there too. After a few minutes of moving around I realized that there was a way to make the photo without including all of the distracting background.

I backed off, got as low as I could and shot the photo with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens. I was able to not only eliminate most of the bad background, but I was also able to compress the image and give the illusion of the car being much closer to Pike's Peak (which was actually more than 40 miles away). When the car shooters saw what I was doing they all came over to have a look at the image on the back of my camera.

I heard one of them say "That's cool, I wish I had thought of that." It really wasn't that big of a deal but I smiled and thought to myself, "That's the nicest thing anyone had said to me all day."

And all because I was trying to avoid the porta-potty. Go figure.

WINTER PLAYMAKERS

It is nearly time for me to start shooting the "Playmaker" feature again. This time I will be shooting the high school athletes chosen by Chieftain sportswriters for the spring sports season.

I figured that it was a good time to share some of the photos I made for the winter sports season.

This first photo was one of the easiest and most definitely got the most attention. To make this photo of a high school basketball player I went to the school gymnasium and started by putting black background paper on the floor of the gym. I then asked my subject to collect as many basketballs as possible for the photo. She returned with several balls at which point I explained that I wanted her to lie down and I would then surround her with the balls.

I placed my subject, the paper and the balls on the floor beneath a press box that is attached to the wall more than 10 feet above the gym floor. I also placed two SB-800 strobes on stands and bounced the light from the strobe on to my subject with two white umbrellas. I then climbed into the box to shoot straight down to make the photo I had composed. The resulting image is the one above.

The high school hockey player was a fun image to make, at least for me. I didn't have to jump on skates a dozen times or more, so I was just fine after this shoot. Ha!

I am sure that my subject was just fine too as he is in very good condition.
To shoot this image I placed two SB-800 strobes on stands and placed snoots on then to direct the light as I cross lit the place on the ice where I told the play to leap.

I was actually very lucky when I went to shoot this photo as the staff of the ice arena had turned most of the lights over the rink off to save on energy while the ice was empty. This allowed me to photograph the hockey player without worrying about the background. I also took advantage of the ability of the strobes to fire with a faster shutter speed when the Nikon controller was used. I shot this one at a 500th of a second to freeze the hockey player in mid-air without any blur.

After several jumps and showing the player how I wanted him to position his body in the air I made this photo.

The photo of the wrestler was an idea I came up with while watching one of my many favorite "Law & Order" episodes on television. The athlete finished the season as one of the top wrestlers in the state and I wanted to illustrate that fact in the photo.

The tape job on the mat was very entertaining to both the wrestler and his coach as we taped the mat around the body of a teammate in the school's wrestling room. The coach was the one who suggested that we tape it in such a way as to look like the body on the mat had a leg bent back underneath it. I thought it was a nice touch.

After taping an extra mat to the wall over a window in the room to block out some sunlight, I set up two strobes reflecting light into white umbrellas and shot the image while standing on a small platform. All in all a very simple set up and a fun image to shoot with one exception. Have you ever smelled a wrestling room?

In this case I wanted to show what the view that opposing teams had as this basketball player brought the ball up court. More often than not this kind of a move would lead to a basket for this player's team.

There is a moment when a basketball player is running up the floor when both feet leave the ground and that was the moment I wanted to capture. I set up to strobes on stands cross lighting a place on the court where the white practice hoop would be directly behind the player as he ran toward the camera. I explained what I wanted him to do and he did exactly what I was hoping he would do.

I originally had a third head pointed at the hoop in the background but I wasn't able to get it to fire, so I just lightened the backboard a bit in photoshop and was able to get the desired result. This was another time when I made use of the Nikon controller to get the strobes to fire at a 500th of a second to freeze the atlete in motion. I sure do like that feature!

Found moments and found light...

I regularly receive photo assignments that, on the surface, appear to offer little opportunity to make a good photo. I have come to actually enjoy these assignments. It is these assignments where I find that I actually have the greatest latitude to "play". I can try different lighting, angles and even turning the camera toward an unlikely subject.

Here are a couple of assignments that illustrate what I am talking about. The first one was an assignment that I got to cover a press conference at a local elementary school where a group of adults were annoucing that they were doing something good for a group of kids. I am sure that the folks who put this event together were hoping I'd be photographing them talking about how cool what they were going to do was, and thanking each other.

When I get these assignments, along with ribbon-cuttings and ground-breakings, I tend to look into the crowd for my photo. Everyone knows that there are big muckity-mucks at these things, it is the people who are actually effected by whatever is happening that I am intersted in.

So I watched the kids. Most of them were leaning on their hands and yawning. And that may have been my photo except that I happened across a young girl who was watching what was going on and talking with her girlfriend. Then as I watched her through my lens she opened her mouth and made the expression you see here. Honestly I am not sure if it was a yawn or if she was feining interest. Either way, it made for an interested photo out of a rather dry assignment. Score one for my being patient.


This photo was a case of found light. I was assigned to photograph an Orthodox Priest who had located some historical papers in the basement of either the church or the rectory. I don't remember which it was.

We often get assigned to photograph people with small "things". I prefer to come up with unique ways to do this instead of just shooting a photo of the person holding up the "thing". I was prepared to be in a situation where I had to use strobes and umbrellas to light my subject.

When I arrived in the late afternoon I noticed that there was some great window light coming into the room where the priest's desk was situated. I wanted to get some environment in the photo so I stepped back and used the door frame to frame my subject while taking advantage of the window light.

Then to get the documents I photographed them separately because it would allow me to get closer to them making the text on them more visible.

I have learned that my photos tend to be stronger if I am flexible and willing to work with the conditions that I find instead of rolling my eyes and dreading this type of assignment.

Til next time...

Hoop! There it is!

Over the years I must have photographed hundreds of high school wrestling matches. I have tried almost every possible way of lighting the action on the mat with the exception of open flame.

I may have stumbled upon a way to get some even light and get it to fall off so that I don’t have too much light on wresting fans in the stands.

I have found that gyms that have retractable baskets not only make for a good location for strobes during basketball games, but also when it comes to shooting wrestling.

I used to drag a pair of Lumedyne heads on light stands to the gyms and cross light the mat from behind the teams. This worked okay, but I had a hard time getting both faces lit. It seems that no one told the top wrestler that he needs to look up so that I can light his face.



I discovered that when I get the strobes high and mounted at more of an angle that I get some good light on not only the guy who is losing and on his back, but also the wrestler who is looking down, and usually in a position of control.

I got two (Pocket Wizard triggered) SB-800s mounted on hoops and directed the light across and above the mat. I point them to the far corner which helps me control the spill onto the crowd. During this meet I was able to shoot at 400ASA with a 250th of a second shutter speed and an f-stop of f/3.5. This combination provided a good separation between the wrestlers and the background.



The light I get on the mat now has sure improved my opportunities for good images. That is when I don’t get distracted by thinking about how much some of those holds must hurt!

Who knows where my strobes will end up next. Those Bogen/Manfrotto 175F clamps mount to just about anything! Hmmmm.......stay tuned.