alittlenews

The Bassmasters Elite Dixie Duel tournament concluded Sunday with Tommy Biffle taking home the $100,000 prize. Second place finisher Casey Ashley gets some affection from his girl friend Traci Thompson after the weigh in. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 04/05/09

Who knew there was so much love at a Bass fishing tournament?  There were public displays of affection all over the place after the fishing was done.  Remember how I told you it is almost always a good idea to get backstage at an event?  No one out front saw any kissing.  You had to get behind the curtain where the competitors and family members were after the event ended to see all the PDA.

You shoot a fishing tournament weigh in and you expect to see fish.  And more fish.  And more fish.  And yes, still more fish.  I was a little surprised by all the kissing and loving going on.  Had I only known that chicks dig the bass boat!  Some country music dude better be writing a song about that one pretty soon.  After all, someone already did one about a lady thinking a good ol’ boy’s tractor was sexy.  And a bass boat goes way faster than a tractor.

I guess I should not be surprised.  My first post on the tournament included an allusion to NASCAR and lots of ladies like NASCAR where cars go fast.  So why not bass fishermen?  Those boats will fly, sometimes literally.

Seriously, a weigh in is a predictable event where you know you are going to see guys holding up big bass.  Since everyone expects to see big fish you have to show them some.  But you should also show them some of the stuff they don’t expect to see.  When I was back stage I found a really cool shot of the founder of BASS talking to one of the young bucks on the tour while he was waiting to weigh in.  Stuff like that helps move your coverage along and being able to shoot a legend in any sport is a good thing.  He f0unded the BASS organization before many of the guys fishing in this tournament were even born.  I guess it is like seeing a legend like Richard Petty hanging out in the garage before a race chatting with a young rookie.

I also found the girl friends of a couple of the fishermen who finished well laying on some love after their guys did well.  And they were happy with good reason.  The 50th place finisher earned $10,000 and the winner got 100 large.  Not bad for a day on the lake.  Of course, these guys know what they are doing out there.  I think just one bag on championship day weighed more than all the fish I have ever caught combined!  Another cool thing I saw but didn’t have the chance to photograph were the wives and children there supporting their husbands/dads.  There was one lady there in particular who was making quite a racket whenever her man made an appearance on stage.  She also had a camera that she was laying down on the shutter release on while her husband did his weigh in.

My point here is that if you go to the weigh in and all you get is guys with fish you haven’t really done your job.  Back in the day, that would be before the Internet, you were only going to have one or two photos in the paper.  Now that we have all arrived in the Internet era there will be a slide show online that will feature far more images than the paper publishes.  And who wants to see only guys holding up fish?  So shoot with an eye to the photo gallery.  And don’t just fill it up with the expected guy holding fish.  Have some fun, look around and find the other stuff that makes the event real and relevant to your readership.  Hey, we can all relate to love even if we don’t relate to fish!

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I both love and hate clip contests.  I love them when I win and I hate them when I lose.  I am, you see, just a tiny bit competitive.  Some who have worked with me might say I am more than a tiny bit competitive!  At any rate, I said at the start of the year that I would start a contest so here we go.  I am going to do a very limited contest for the first quarter of the year.  Entries will have to have been shot during January, February or March 2009 but they do not have to have been published.  I realize that many of you don’t have a publishing outlet so that would be kind of unfair.

I am going to set up a discussion thread in the Flickr Pool for Alittlenews  and you will post a link to your photo in that discussion thread.  I will then collect the entries and have them judged by an impartial group of photographers.  (Watch out friends.  I will be calling on you here!)  Then we will have a quarterly winner in several categories.  I don’t think I have the time resources to do a contest any more frequently than that.

The categories will be; Spot News, General News, Sports Action, Sports Feature, Portrait and Feature.  You will be able to enter one photo per category, again because I don’t have the time resources to track down too many photos.  Maybe, as time goes by, I will find some other folks to help and we can have a really big show.  Let’s just start and see what happens.  Here are the category descriptions.

Spot News:  A photo of a breaking news situation where you have no chance for advance planning.  This would include stuff like fires, floods and natural disasters.

General News:  A photo from a planned news event such as a meeting, press conference or any hard news situation where you know about it in advance.  You can include political events and rallies in this category.

Feature:  This is where all those cute little kid photos go and if you are smart there will not be too many of these.  Actually, anything you find that gives the news a lighter side is good in this category.  There are not any real restrictions here but take it easy on the kids.  I have been doing this a long time and my personal vow is to avoid kids playing unless there is not other feature to be found.  They are a tad cliche ish.

Sports Action:  Just what it sounds like.  Anything that reflects the game action from any sporting event.

Sports Feature:  This is a photo that captures more of the atmosphere of the event.  This can include post-game reaction, fan photos, that sort of thing.

Portrait:  Again, pretty self-explanatory.  Obviously, I am not looking for the “Olan Mills” look here.  Give me a good environmental portrait of a subject.  Subject matter is really wide open.

The Deadline will be April 5, 2009 for all entries.  You can post a physical link to your image in the discussion thread that will be started under the title “First Quarter Contest Entries.”  There are instructions for posting the link to your image in the Flickr guidelines for “formatting your post” directly beneath your writing box.  Include a link to your image, the catagory you wish to enter it in and the date the photo was taken.

Obviously, you will retain all rights to your images.  There are no rights grabs going on here.  This is just a thing for fun.  I, and anyone whom I recruit to judge the contest, will not be eligible to enter so if I tag you to help judge you will have to give up your entries for that contest.  There are no real rewards here.  We are not that fancy yet.  Maybe someday!  I will gladly give a certificate to any winner who wishes to have one.  As long as there are enough entries, I will award first, second and third in each category so have some fun and show off a little bit.

Chicken Marsala from Benning's Restaurant in Decatur, Alabama. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 2/23/09 All Rights Reserved

Man, I love food photography!  Every now and then you get a food assignment and the cook offers you a taste, or a plate full, and you get to sample some excellent cuisine.  Of course, you do have to photograph it first!  Back in the early days of my interest in photography I used to see my mom’s Southern Living Magazine and thought it would be really cool to shoot for a place like that.  They do food.  They do travel.  They do people stories.  They do architecture.  I like all that stuff and maybe someday, when I am all grown up, I will get to shoot a job or two for them.

Even now, shooting in the in the moment world of daily newspaper photojournalism, I still enjoy the softer side of photography.  Food shoots and fashion shoots come to mind immediately and, once in a while, an architectural shoot, soften up the daily grind of news and sports and more news and sports.  One of the really twisted up parts of my photographic personality is that I love to light stuff but I absolutely, positively hate working in a studio.  Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and nary a roll of white seamless paper can be found.  There is just something about the barren, artificial studio that does not appeal to me at all.

Part of the challenge of shooting food then becomes doing it with appropriate light, location and background.  Now, let me tell you, not all food assignments are good.  I remember one time doing a story on a lady who was cooking ‘traditional’ food and I ended up with a pot of brown beans and some cornbread.  Really.  And the location was a tiny little kitchen with a single, bare bulb in the ceiling for light.  That was back in the time before I cared to do a lot of fancy lighting so there I was with a single flash that could only be used on camera in a dark little kitchen shooting a bowl of brown beans and a wedge of cornbread.  Not my most memorable food shot.  Fortunately, we have some spectacular cooks that we work with for much of our food work and they not only know how to cook it, but they also know how to present it.

Read More After The Jump:  Read the rest of this entry »

Today we have a special treat.  AP photojournalist Rob Carr is providing a guest post about his experience covering the inauguration of President Barack Obama.  Rob is a friend from his days working for the AP as the Alabama bureau photographer.  He is now working in the Baltimore area.  Rob and I actually covered a visit to north Alabama by then president George W. Bush.  Many thanks to Rob for contributing this special post.

Washington, Jan. 20, 2009–Historic, united, and cold. That pretty much sums up how I felt covering the Inauguration of President Barack Obama at the nation’s Capitol.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave to the crowd while walking part of the parade route along Pennsylvania Ave., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Along with a team of photographers covering the event, my assignment was to cover the Inauguration from the parade route on a stand by the National Archives along Pennsylvania Ave. One of our Washington photo editors , Jon Elswick, had staked out my shooting position beforehand and felt putting a ladder to the left of the risers would provide a better position than the stand. He went out and bought a sturdy ladder and locked it up next to the risers two days before the event. While I didn’t realize it at the time, my old friend Jon knew what he was talking about.

I had driven into DC the night before, coming straight from Pittsburgh after covering the Steelers-Baltimore Ravens NFC Championship football game Sunday night. On my way in I stopped and did a quick feature on an RV park in College Park, Md., that was packed with people attending the inauguration. I then headed into DC for dinner with colleagues who were in town and a quick stop by our office to pick up my credentials and chat with Elswick about the big day.  While talking with Jon, I kept asking him “what do I need to shoot, the motorcade going by, bands, what?” He just smiled and said, “shoot whatever pops up in front of you,” and left it at that.

After getting to my spot on the route I set up my laptop on the step of the ladder and was able to plug into an outlet, courtesy of Fox News.  The cold weather is hard on Mac batteries, and even with an extra one, I never would have been able to transmit without having the outlet.

Shari Westbrook of Sterling, Va., celebrates along the inaugural parade route after President Barack Obama was sworn into office, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

After getting settled, I wandered the route looking for a place to photograph people listening on loud speakers to the president being sworn in since they couldn’t see the actual ceremony from this location.

Then, I waited, and tried to stay warm. I was dressed for the cold, and even had four sets of hand warmers with me, but still, after spending a good 10 years in the South, I ‘m not used to it. I was cold!

Finally, the moment arrived and President Obama was sworn in. It was a very emotional scene as people along the route cried and hugged each other after he was officially sworn in. I made photos of the scene, then quickly filed the photos, trying to type captions while gripping hand warmers every minute or so.

After over an hour delay, the parade finally started and slowly crept away from the Capitol heading my way. I was hoping I could at least get a shot of the new President waving from inside the limo, but, lo and behold, about 100 yards from my position, the procession stopped and out came the president and the first lady who walked the rest of the route. Elswick was right, something did pop up in front me, the President!So I had a good thirty seconds to photograph them as they waved and walked part of the route as the crowd around me went nuts. Then once he was out of site, I started editing and transmitting my photos, still holding on to the hand warmers.

People wait in line to enter the parade route prior to the inauguration of President elect Barack Obama, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) (The guy on the right is Rob!)

I finished up just as the glowing afternoon sunlight faded behind the historic buildings. The crowds had thinned out and the parade was wrapping up.

I then packed up my equipment and got ready to head back to the office. Elswick had made a point of reminding me to bring back the expensive lock he I used to secure the ladder to the riser. I put the lock in my backpack, loaded up my gear, ladder in tow, and headed to the subway. I was walking past a security check point and realized the ladder was too heavy to drag  another six blocks to the metro. I spotted two uniformed Secret Service agents who graciously accepted the ladder as a donation.

As I got on the subway for the quick ride under the parade route and to the office, I got a sense of something I’ve never felt while on a train. Everyone seemed jovial, and to me “united.”

While it was a long, cold day, it was history, and I was proud to be a part of the team covered it .

Makeup artist Rita Krauz puts the finishing touches on Savanne Howard prior to the show. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/18/09

Y’all remember the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and companions pull back the curtain and see what is really behind the big Oz?  There is a photographic truth there.  Many times, what is going on out on the stage is not nearly as cool as what is going on behind the curtain.  I just showed you a bunch of pictures from the fashion show and all of them were done out in the performance area.  Don’t think I didn’t go backstage though.  I did, I just didn’t do lighting back there.

The photo shown here is one from the backstage portion of the event.  That would be the part the general public doesn’t get to see. I always try to get backstage.  It doesn’t matter what type of event it is, there is usually something pretty interesting going on back there.  That said, some events are very tightly controlled and even credentialed media types like me can’t get back there.  Publicists and event coordinators for really big name acts and shows don’t really want you back there because you might catch a performer in an unflattering, unguarded moment.  That is not always true and sometimes they welcome you with open arms.  It depends on the performer, the show and how big an act they are.  Still, it is always worth a try.

Now, a word for those of you who are uncredentialed and shoot for fun or for your hobby.  You might have a tougher time getting backstage unless you have a child in the performance.  If you do want to shoot backstage at a local play or concert, call the person coordinating the event in advance and ask permission.  Don’t just show up camera in hand and hope to get in.  That seldom works.  When you do get back behind the curtain, whether it is a school play or the Russian Ballet, behave yourself.  It is really not cool to knock over lights and annoy the actors and keep the flash in your bag.  The backstage area is poorly lit for a reason.  They want the performers who are off stage to be invisible to the audience.  They also will want you to be invisible to the audience.  Discretion is the better part of valor here and it only takes one person really screwing up backstage to have the access denied for ever after. Read the rest of this entry »

I made a discovery not too long ago while out riding my bike.  You actually do forget how to ride a bike!  When I was a kid, riding the bike was effortless.  Somewhere along the way, riding a bike has become a real chore.  I am trying to get some cardio work in and I hate static machines so the bicycle is a natural outlet.  (I had forgotten about dogs!)  I was telling my wife about this after one ride the other day because I finally found something that worked pretty well.  I was telling her that I found a gear I could really work it in.  My route has a several small hills on it.  Well, they are small hills if you are in a car.  On a bike, for a 45 year old guy in marginal physical conditioning, they become monsters.  I found that I could work really hard on the down hill grades and in the flats and that enabled me to rest more on the uphill grades because my momentum earned in those easier times helped in the harder times.  My wife said there was probably a real spiritual lesson there too but I am not preaching.  I’m just saying!

If I do preach anything on this blog it is doing your best all the time, even on jobs that are not very appealing.  When you work hard and don’t cut corners on those “easy” but annoying jobs you will be more prepared to do well on the hard jobs that we all crave.  For instance, if you take your strobes and umbrellas in for a quick head shot instead of just popping a the on-camera strobe you will have done a really nice portrait on something that is not too, too important.  When you have to do a really important shoot, the momentum you have gained by going the extra mile on your every day stuff will actually help you rest more on the tougher job, therefore, doing a better job.  In other words, your strobes become a comfortable part of your work flow and you don’t dread pulling them out.  You simply do it because you have trained yourself to work hard on every job.

Yesterday, I shot a career expo for high school students.  Any of you guys ever done that assignment?  I have done several.  Let me tell you, I was dreading it.  The job was in a gymnasium that is on the border of being underlit.  It is still okay to shoot available but it is close.  The problem with lighting the thing is that I would be moving all over the place.  That means that strobing the entire gym with the gear on hand was out of the question.  So I am shooting available light.  I did have enough time to do the job well so I just jumped in there and started working it.  Overall shot first to get the crowd stuff out of the way.  Then I walked the floor to do some detail work.  I like J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and in one of them there is a statement something like this; there is nothing like looking if you want to find something.  The longer I stayed and looked, the more stuff I found.  Finally, I found a real nice photo of the lady sitting behind her sign.  That was the photo of the day for me.  It was not going to be a photo we used in print but it did make the Internet so I am pleased.

Whenever you go into a situation like this, shoot for story first that way, if you have to leave, you will have done what is required of you.  If you can stay a little longer, shoot for moments.  Sometimes the two are the same thing but, if you work for a daily newspaper, you know there are times when the two never cross and you have to settle for one or another.  When you can leave a job with both then you can say you have earned your money that day.  In my case, shooting for story meant getting photos with kids in them, preferably as many kids as possible.  Finding the lady with the sign was gravy.  So take a little advice from Tolkien and look for something if you want to find it and try to remember how to ride that bicycle you put away all those years ago.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Sunday I covered a pre-inaugural celebration for Barak Obama in Decatur.  Mr. Obama was busy elsewhere and did not attend but that did not dampen the enthusiasm.  I am off work on inauguration day so I had the chance to see the inaugural on tv and hear Mr. Obabma’s speech.  I am a conservative and usually vote Republican.  Unlike many in the conservative community, Barak Obama’s election did not bother me.  In fact, I think he will be a fine president and my only reservation is in the way he will handle abortion and a couple of other social issues.  His votes in congress on abortion issues have been opposite of my views.  Today, however, I join America and the world in welcoming Barak Obama and family to the White House.  May your stay be blessed by the Almighty with grace and peace.

Joyful supporters of Barack Obama celebrated his inaugural Sunday at Liz Vaughn's home in Decatur. Vaughn and Yolanda Baker are all smiles during the event. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/17/09

I will say that parts of President Obama’s inauguration address were very inspiring and whatever you think of his politics the man can really speak.  I was glad to hear him direct a very clear message to the enemies of our nation that they should expect nothing short of defeat.  I am glad to hear that the precious blood that has been shed to this point in the war on terror will not be wasted.  I do feel sorry for President Obama.  The expectations placed on this man and his presidency here and around the globe are unachievable.  Just the expectations placed on him by his own party are unreasonable.

I strongly disliked the presidency of Bill Clinton and did my share of verbal stone throwing.  The Clinton presidency did teach me one thing.  It taught me that no matter what happens from this point on I will not criticise the president.  I will be praying for him.  President Obama will need the prayers of this nation more than any man who has taken the oath of office in the last half century.  While I am sure I will not be in agreement with his politics in many cases, I will be sure to be praying for him every step of the way.  The nation is far more important than any political party or agenda, liberal or conservative.

We are entering a new era of American politics.  How that will turn out is unclear.  All that is clear is that the nation has a serious financial crisis to deal with.  The world has a serious financial crisis to deal with.  As this new era begins in American politics let us hope that the change produces a positive, and not a negative, effect.  The country is alive with hope right now.  May that hope lift the nation from the brink and get us back onto sound footing.  President Obama will face many different crises in his presidency, may he be blessed with the wisdom from above to deal with them effectively.

Though you enter the office in less than perfect conditions, Welcome Mr. President.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

A U.S. Army honor guard moves the body of Sgt. Joshua Rath from the airplane to the hearse at Signature Aviation in Huntsville Friday morning. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/16/09

I can’t think of a tougher thing that we do in photojournalism than cover death and its aftermath.  The sadness can be overwhelming and just because you have a camera in front of your face does not make you immune.  Friday morning, Sgt. Joshua Rath’s body was returned home to Decatur.  He was killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber while on patrol in a marketplace.  One other soldier died and more than 20 civilians were injured.  We have heard this story over and over again from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Winning the war was easy.  Maintaining the peace has been a costly job.

I photographed with other members of the media  from a distance of about a hundred yards while Sgt. Rath’s body was taken from the plane by a U.S. Army honor guard.  His family was there to witness the transfer and the honors rendered by the military.  I can only imagine the pain that his father felt riding in that plane back from the Air Force base at Dover, Delaware as he brought his son back home.  It was bitter cold on the tarmac at Signature Aviation, a private company operating flights out of Huntsville International Airport.  The ceremony was brief and a police escort and an escort from the Patriot Riders  led the family back to Decatur.

I know we must have wars.  I am not the kind of person who believes that all our situations can be solved at the diplomatic table.  Still, this sad scene has been played out in one form or another for centuries and one has to wonder why it is so frequently necessary.  My oldest son turned 18 today and he is contemplating going into the Army.  I am of two minds about it.  I don’t want to be the dad taking that long, lonely flight from Dover.  On the other hand, I think my son would be a gifted soldier.  The older I get the more I find that answers are difficult and few problems come with easy solutions.

My heart goes out to the Rath family.  I was in tears as I edited the photos yesterday.  When you have children, even adult children, situations like this are just too close.  I saw a frame that had the family members in it and it was painful for me to l0ok at.  We considered publishing it but I am so glad we didn’t.  I know this is a situation with expected grief so it is not out of order journalistically to publish the photo.  But man, something in my heart just screamed not to.  I have gone to my editors before asking for a photo to be published but this was the first time I have gone to them asking that a photo not be published.  That probably makes me a bad photojournalist but some things are just too painful, too jarring.

I deeply appreciate the sacrifices that families have made for this nation, and really, for other nations that may or may not even be deserving of American blood.  Ultimately, regardless of the nation where our soldiers have bled and died, I feel that they have done so in the name of freedom.  Death does come to all of us and we have very little say of when, where and how.  If I were to get a say in how I die someday I would want it to be in service to my fellow man.  While it is small comfort now, at least as the days pass into weeks and months and years his family will know that Joshua Rath died serving his fellow man.  My sincerest blessings to this family and to all who have given up their loved ones in the same manner.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.   The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Today I went through the A Little News pool on Flickr and came up with some favorites from our readers.  Want to see what I liked from the pool?  Click on this photo by Kpricephotography and check it out.  I really want to use the Flickr pool more and get you guys more involved in the site.  Not too long ago I upped the limit on daily submissions to five per day.  So go check out the faves and add some photos and maybe even get bold and have a conversation about what you like, don’t like, have questions about or just about anything.  As I mentioned earlier, I want to start a photo contest and we will begin with the best from last year so this little selection of my faves is just to juice you guys up.  Go and check out the pool and you may find some really cool stuff in there.  As we grow you will find more and more stuff in there and it will get better and better.  Enjoy my pics and make a few of your own.

Photograph copyright K Price Photography.

I have some changes in the works for the site and I just wanted to give you a quick heads up.  In the near future I am going to move the blog to self hosted server.  The only change will be a slight change in the address line which I will give you when we make the change.  You may not have to do anything to your browser or RSS feed because it will be a minor change.  This will allow me to do a few things that WordPress does not permit.  One of the major reasons I want to make this change is to be able to use Soundslides on the site.  There is some issue with coding on WordPress and Soundslides won’t work.  One of the things I want to do during this year is show you projects done with sound and perhaps even a bit of video.  Another reason for moving to a self-hosted site is to enable me to put advertising on the site.  I had a recent inquiry about someone wishing to place a small ad and I would like to be able to accommodate this in the future.  Alittlenews is actually growing a bit and I want to be able to expand the sites capabilities along with the growth.  For now I just wanted to give you a little sneak peak and when the time is right I will make sure every one gets a heads up so you can make any changes necessary to keep up with the move.  I certainly don’t want to lose anyone.

This is also the season for photo contests and I can’t see any reason for us not to have a little photo contest ourselves.  It’s not like I can give you any prizes or anything but just think of the prestige of being an award winning photographer.  Oooh’s and aaaah’s are appropriate here.  I am working out the details but I believe we will use the Alittlenews Flickr pool for the contest.  There will be traditional news photography categories so be sorting out your images and lets see how it goes.  I will notify you next week how to proceed with contest entries so be looking forward to that too.

Hopefully we will have a lot of fun this year and learn something here and there too.  Blessings to all.  GC