alittlenews

Photo copyright Gary Rhodes

Gary Rhodes, aka Rhodesphoto, contributed this photo from a rally welcoming now former president George W Bush home in Midland, TX where he works as a photojournalist.  I absolutely love this photo.  Hey, a guy named Gary can’t possible go wrong!  I have covered rallies and crowds of all types and I would love to come back with this image.  My only suggestion would be to crop a bit tighter on the top of the image.  The extra space at the top of the frame does nothing for the image.  One rule for cropping that will always help you is to see if negative space is helping you or if it is just sitting there.  In this case, I think the negative space at the top of the frame is just sitting there so a crop to just above the top of the highest W would help the image.

I am not a cropping freak.  I like to let the frame speak.  That said, we had some gurus in to The Decatur Daily a while back and they really put an emphasis on cropping tighter.  I don’t agree with all they said but I will admit that I am a bit loose on some of my crops so tightening up helped me.

Rhodesphoto put several photos in the pool from this event and this one is the standout image. Click here to check out his Flickr Photostream and you will see several variations on this image but none carry the weight that this one does. Also check out Gary’s blog, Shadow and Light. The thing that makes this image click and some of the others be second place is the sign in the middle. The welcome home sign gives you a nice piece of visual contrast in the sea of Ws and gives a touch of context. Not that any of us need wonder who the W refers to but it still is a good visual tie in. The sign also gives your eye just a little bit of visual rest as you scan the sea of Ws. This can be fairly important in a chaotic image.

When you hear writing coaches speak about the craft, you will hear about conflict and resolution.  The Ws carry the visual conflict and the sign carries the visual rest or resolution.  Conflict and resolution are critical parts of storytelling whether it is done with words or with pictures.  Always be conscious of conflict and resolution as you go through your edits.

Photo copyright Gary Rhodes.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

New 5th District U.S. Congressman Parker Griffith greets supporters during a reception in the Morgan County Commission Chambers Friday morning. Griffith and Ernestine Elliott enjoy a moment up close and personal during the reception. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr.

Wow, now here is an exciting post!  Okay, not really but it is something that everyone has to do from time to time.  Here is what you expect, handshakes, hugs and presentations.  Now you know what to try and avoid.  Seriously.  I don’t even remember how many of these things I have covered over the course of my career but they are regular news assignments like them or not.  Many times they relate to retirements or special career occasions for someone in community service.  Just this week  I have done two of these.  One was a reception for a new US Congressman from our district and the other was for a judge who is retiring.

This stuff can get really repetitious so you have to work a little harder on these just to be able to provide something approaching original content for the readers, and really, for yourself too.  The worst thing you can do is to settle for the same old shot over and over again so just refuse to settle for the ordinary.  You won’t always be able to pull off something original but if you go in with the mindset that there is a real moment there and you are determined to find it, then you will have a much higher success rate than if you go in just trying to get it over with.  See, after many years of doing these things, they can get really dull so there is an extra challenge in just staying sharp.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this may be your tenth reception assignment of the year but this is the only time the person you are photographing is going to retire, get promoted or be honored.  It is a very meaningful event to the person being honored; therefore, it is an event worthy of your best effort.   So, how you ask, do you stay fresh and on top of things when it is your tenth reception of the year?  I am so glad you asked.

First of all, you have to go in with the mindset that says you simply will not settle for the ordinary.  That has been touched on already.  Secondly, if you have determined not to settle, you have to decide what you can do to make it successful.  I have used every technique in the book from off camera strobes to high angles, low angles, long lenses, short lenses, you name it.  The thing is, when you walk into the room, the situation will often dictate what technique you use.  Lately, I have determined to shoot available light on these things.  I carry a strobe in my pocket just to be safe but I am working hard to do available light, partly because it makes me work harder to see moments rather than depend on some lighting trick.  I am also trying to mix things up a bit and use telephotos as tight as I can.  These usually don’t work but when I get one it is a nice thing.  It is also cool to have a long zoom with you because you never know when something unexpected is going to happen.  You will notice the little boy in the judge’s chair in this post.  He is the grandson of the retiring judge and I saw him as soon as I walked into the room.  I grabbed the body with the long glass and fired several frames before he moved on.

Then, I am moving in as close as possible with a wide zoom and trying to really get moments and expressions during the interchange between honoree and guests.  This is a great technique as long as the people ignore y0u and go on about their business.  If they are continually stopping and posing for the camera I just move back and try another tactic.  The primary thing is to remain on your toes and don’t settle for average.  You would be surprised how many real moments happen in these otherwise staged events.

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

Since I am referring you guys to other web sites right now, let me give you one more to check out.  I am fortunate enough to have worked with this young man for several years at The Decatur Daily and he is in the blog roll but you may not have been by his site before.  David Higginbotham is quite simply among the finest and most creative photographers I have ever worked with.  He has a full time job working for NASA and he did a guest post for me about that last year.  What I am showing you now is some of the finest portrait and wedding work you are likely to see, anywhere.  David allows me to tag along and assist him on some of his weddings and it is an education for me.  I always find it fascinating how he works with the clients.  I will be standing there holding a light for him, literally, and wondering what in the heck he is shooting.

We were doing a wedding at the Huntsville Museum of Art one time last summer and he had the bride and groom between two massive columns.  I honestly could not see what he was shooting.  It looked like crap from my point of view.  Then I saw the image and was just stunned.  That is why I was assisting, if you know what I mean.  Dave has a very special talent for working with beautiful women.  (Yeah, I know, get your minds out of the gutter.  It is not what it sounds like.  Not to worry Anna, I have my eye on him!)  Photographing beautiful people beautifully is a skill set that is difficult to acquire.  I can make almost anyone look ordinary, even ugly, but Dave can take the ordinary and make them look great and when he has a beautiful person, the results are stunning.

Not so tough you say, let me use an analogy.  Before Phil Jackson coached the Bulls, MJ was not the six time champion he became after Jackson arrived.  The Lakers were not champions until Phil arrived and then he took the talent others couldn’t handle and crafted champions.  Dave is like that with these brides and portraits.  He has real talent.  He is probably blushing right now and planning to embarrass me again with one of those test shots I have to model for as an assistant but the truth is the truth.  You go check out his blog, davidhphotography2, and let me know if I am exaggerating.

You are going to see a really cool magazine layout he did in Mobile which I have a frame grab from above, and I get a little bit of credit for this one.  Dave borrowed my EOS 5D for the shoot and used it exclusively.  (He has since repented and bought himself a new Nikon.)  I don’t even think I got a credit line for that one.  Dang!  Well, it is not everyday I get to brag on a friend so I wanted to take this opportunity to do it.  This may not have a lot to do with the day in and day out work of photojournalism but you look at his portrait work and his editorial work in that magazine and you will see techniques you can adapt to your shooting style even in daily newspaper work.

Here’s to you my friend.  Keep that Nikon clicking.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I got a nice email yesterday from Bob Caston who is a vice-president of a new photo site, WeSay.com.  It is a site that features photojournalism from around the block and around the world.  The best feature for many of you guys is the chance to have your work displayed next to the very best photojournalists from the AP, among others.  I have checked out their site and it is very visual and filled with all kinds of news, sports, entertainment and some other, quirky, visual content.

Readers can become contributors and Bob says that they really like to feature the work of citizen journalists in the “hero position,” meaning the lead spot on the page.  You can check out the site at WeSay.com.  Here is what they are saying about themselves:

“WeSay.com is a news site that focuses on news photography from both mainstream media and amateur photographers.  Our main goal is to promote the photos of our members that have news value and we will bump an AP photo to showcase someone’s photo in our hero shot, even if it isn’t current.  The site is organized into six categories (News, Politics, Environment, Sports, Celebs and Far Out) and we are looking for any photos of news value, whether it is something national such as Barack Obama giving a speech or something local such as a house fire, high school football game or local musician on stage.  WeSay.com visitors can create their own profile page of submitted photos as well as sign up for a free membership. The benefits to them for submitting are: opportunity to be chosen for the homepage; users can offer feedback by voting and commenting on photos; members can write a profile about themselves and include a link to their website; our editor’s will also issue an Editor’s Choice award for outstanding contributions.”

Rights control over images is a huge issue in the industry right now and I would not be bringing you a link to this site if they did not allow you to retain all rights to your photos.  WeSay.com only asks for the right to display your photos on their site.  They generate the income to keep the site alive by selling ads so you will never lose control over your photos.  If you have any aspirations toward becoming a successful freelance photographer of any stripe you must learn to control the rights for your images so this is really important.

I think that a great deal of journalism and photojournalism will be migrating toward the concept of citizen journalism in the future and by “the future” I mean it is already happening and will continue and escalate.  As newspapers struggle through financial hardships and lose staff and, in some cases, close down altogether, citizen journalists using the blogosphere will be taking up the slack.  You can see some evidence of this in the coverage of the plane crash in the Hudson River with a photo taken by Janis Krums who was a passenger on a ferry boat. He took the photo using his IPhone.  The photo was about the best image from the event and ran on many front pages around the country.  The AP bought the rights to the image but it all started on some guy’s cell phone and was posted to his twitter page.  You can check out the story on Photo District News.

The point is that you simply never know when you will be in the right place at the right time.  WeSay may be the right kind of spot for you to show your stuff if the day comes when you are the one with “The Image.”

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Andie Wall successfully spells "grimace" to win the Morgan County Spelling Bee Thursday at the Hartselle Fine Arts Center. Wall attends Julian Harris Elementary School. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/22/09

I had an assignment last week to shoot the county wide spelling bee.  Visions of the National Spelling Bee danced in my head as I drove to the Hartselle Fine Arts Center.  Not quite.  This was a fairly subdued crowd of spellers and even the winner didn’t really give me a reaction.  Bummer.  I wanted to see one of the kids get really excited at the end and scream out the letters like on the promo that ran on ESPN last year.  No such luck.

In fact, when the little girl who won spelled her last word she looked more confused than overjoyed.  It was difficult to tell when the contest ended even for the contestants so I am not surprised at her reaction but it didn’t make for a great visual.  You hope for a child jumping up and down or leaping off the stage with a giant letter A in her hands, you know, anything.  So much for day dreams.

Still, I had all the time in the world to shoot the spelling bee and that is uncommon.  Normally there are enough assignments to keep you moving during any given day but this was just a slow day.  I was able to spend about an hour and a half shooting the bee so I had plenty of time.  It was reasonably well lit, not that I could have used strobes anyway since the kids w0uld have been pretty disturbed by that.  I was able to shoot all available light and the building had a balcony which made for some different shooting angles.  I shot most of the time with a 70-200 lens and occasionally added a 1.4x teleconverter to give me a little extra reach.

There is a bit of a formula you can use to cover events like this.  I usually begin with something wide that shows the scope of the event.  In this case, I did a photo of all the spellers on the stage at the beginning of the event.  I did not include that photo here.  Make absolutely certain you have a photo of each contestant in case you have to leave before the event is over.  This will ensure you have a photo of the winner.  Then look for kids who are doing something out of the ordinary.  I included a detail shot of a girl who rolled her ankles a little every time she came to the microphone.  There was another photo of two girls sitting with hands clasped nervously which you don’t see here.  If possible, get shots off stage, back stage or in break areas.  This gives an option that is related to the competition but not the same old, same old of child at the microphone.

If you can stay long enough, concentrate then on faces of the spellers.  Not much here in this contest but some kids really make faces when they are trying to remember how to spell a word.  Then, as the contest draws to a close, be alert for any reaction from the winner, or the others who are in the finals.  This contest did not yield any reaction at all either positive or negative which is a bit uncommon but be alert for it because that will usually be your  best image.  Finally, look for moments that allow you to tell the best story even if it is not of the winner.  My best shot was of the little girl seated with all the empty chairs around her.  We almost ran that one but decided it was necessary to run the photo of the girl who won as the dominant photo.  Had we used two photos, that one would have been in the package.

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.

A deer runs across a burned field near Highway 72 in Limestone County outside of Athens, Ala., Thursday, September 2, as a brush and woods fire burns behind it. Limestone volunteer fire departments were kept busy with three major brush fires in different parts of the county all burning at the same time. North Alabama's hot, dry weather is causing a rash of brush fires. (AP Photo/The Decatur Daily, Gary Cosby Jr.)

Continuing the general theme of shooting what is not there, this post is actually about keeping your eyes open when it doesn’t appear you will get a shot.  This happens all the time.  I get a job order and think, “there is no way I am getting a picture there.”  This even happens on spot news jobs as illustrated by the first photo of the deer in the fire.  We have to cover woods fires and grass fires frequently in the spring and fall and most of them are not great.

This photo was a little different.  The fire dispatch kept on sending units to this fire so I decided to go check it out.  I was still about 12 miles away and saw the huge column of smoke rising and I began to think I would certainly get a photo there.  But when I arrived on the fire ground there was nothing much going on. I decided to walk across the burned out pasture, more out of desperation than logic, to get closer to where any fire action was going on.  By the way, walking through a fire scene is not real smart unless you know what you are doing so be careful.  Just a general safety tip, always stay upwind from ground cover fires.  This means keep the wind at your back.  Never walk in unburned territory downwind because grass and woods can burn rapidly and you can get messed up in a hurry, even in Alabama.

As I walked across the pasture, I saw a deer running across the field not fifty yards ahead of me.  I couldn’t believe it!  The deer actually crossed between me and the fire and I got several frames.  Then, five minutes later, just to be sure I got the photo, the deer ran back across in front of me!  Amazing!  I shot with a Canon EOS 1N with a 70-200mm that had a 2x converter attached.  It was shot on the shorter end of the zoom, that is how close the deer came to me.  Had I not decided to move away from the command post and walk across the field I would not have gotten the shot.  Still, it is the essence of a pleasant surprise.  (Hint, we tend to make pleasant surprises by being attentive and aggressive.)

The photo of the mourners in front of the karate studio is another shot that surprised me.  A local karate instructor had been killed by the parent of one of his students.  An editor asked me to go and get a shot at the studio.  I expected a naked store front or maybe some flowers on the step.  What I found was several people in front of the building mourning the loss of their friend and mentor.  I did the shot with the Nikon D1 which explains the grain.  It was shot available light.  I detest intruding on people in misery with a flash and will avoid it if there is any way to avoid it.  All the people were very cooperative and gave me names and even talked to me about their relationship to the slain instructor.

Next is one that was really and truly surprising.  I had an assignment to cover a summer school program.  Oh wheeeee!  Talk about no potential.  I saw that job order and despaired.  But when I get to any job I really work hard to get a good shot.  When the job has little potential, I tend to work harder than I do on jobs that are more obvious.  I came across this classroom where they were singing and the teacher was being really expressive and doing motions with the music.  Now I was all smiles because I knew I had the perfect situation and sure enough, she flexed and I had another pleasant surprise.

The last photo was from an assignment to photograph a travelling animal show.  Obviously, I knew I would have a nice picture of some kind of animal.  What was unexpected was the show bringing in audience participation.  When they brought this lady in to handle the snake, well, I had my picture.  You would be surprised at how easy it is to miss the really good stuff by just going through the motions.  If you go to a job and just do what you are obligated to do you will miss a lot of good shots and you will never grow as a photographer.  The real challenge is photojournalism is not simply being there, it is being there and being on the alert for the real photo from an event.  If you want to get the really good assignments, do a really good job on the average assignments.

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.

I was checking out the ALittleNews photo pool on Flickr today and came across this gem by Lane Hartwell.  The photo is from a protest in the aftermath of the shooting of Oscar Grant by the BART Police in Oakland, CA.  I have never had to cover anything quite like this but I can tell you that sticking your camera, and therefore, your face in front of police in riot gear who are in no mood to mess around or be messed with takes a bit of courage.

In addition to this photo, please check out Lane’s collection from the event here for the protest rally and here for the riot that followed the shooting.  What you are going to see is a collection of excellent images from right in the middle of the mess.  It is always an unfortunate situation when a young life is lost and more so when there is a public riot over the death.  Lane did a nice job of getting the emotion from the event and apparently without getting arrested herself.

Covering any large gathering like this where people are getting out of hand with the protesting can put even credentialed media in danger of being arrested.  The Republican National Convention in Minneapolis this past summer showcased this when several journalists were arrested while covering the protests out in the streets.  Some were even arrested after clearly identifying themselves as credentialed journalists and following the police instructions exactly.  That makes jobs like this very difficult.  Even dealing with police on the local level in small towns and cities can be trying.

We live with and work in close proximity to the p0lice all the time and would like to think they are better and more right but sometimes that simply is not true.  Some of the time you have to go and get photos of them when they are on the wrong side of the law.  It is doubly tough because just as journalists protect and cover for other journalists, so do police officers for one another.  Our sheriff was arrested recently for contempt of court related to an order about feeding prisoners.  The sheriff was spirited away by U.S. Marshals who apparently broke several traffic laws in rushing away from the federal courthouse with the sheriff in custody to prevent media from getting any photos.

So my hat is off to Lane for her excellent, gutsy work.

Photo copyright Lane Hartwell.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Harry Vice checks one of two garden plots he and wife Pam use. These plots are at Harry's parent's home near Hartselle. Harry spread his compost recently as he prepares for this gardening season. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/17/09

Once in a while you get an impossible assignment.  By impossible I mean that there is no photo to be made because what you are supposed to shoot isn’t happening and nothing related to the photo is happening.  So what you are really having to do is “create” a photo that illustrates what is going to happen.  Okay, put away the ethics pitch forks and no one gets hurt.  I know what you are thinking because it is the same thing I think when this happens.  First of all, why in the heck are we doing a story that can’t possibly be shot?  Second, why in the heck are we doing a showcase story that can’t be shot?  And finally, why in the heck am I the one getting stuck with an assignment that can’t possibly be shot?  See a theme here?

It is January.  It is cold.  (Corey, please don’t split your sides laughing!)  And it is most definitely not the season for gardening.  In fact, the day we shot this story, the ladys’ deep freeze was about as warm as the outside air.  The ground was frozen.  And I am standing in what will eventually be a garden with a guy who isn’t really doing anything related to the garden and we are having to do a picture about getting your garden ready.  So how in the world do you make an even semi-realistic photo out of this situation?

The first thing you do is fall back on your reportorial skills and ask a few questions.  I spoke to the man and his wife, who also happen to be friends of my family, and they told me that they had spread their compost on the garden a couple of weeks ago.  Well, there was something.  They also said there was a new red barn at the garden site.  Now I have two somethings.  It also helps to read your photo assignment which said they had plenty of vegetables frozen from last year’s garden.  Now I have three somethings.  Finally, the photo order also said they had saved some seeds from last season’s garden.  Now I have four somethings.  Admittedly, this is not exactly Pulitzer material but it is better than I had before I started asking questions.

I ended up with a nice portrait of Pam and Harry Vice and the big red barn which actually didn’t look to red on this cold, windy and overcast day.  Then we walked out into the field with Harry and a hoe, not really doing anything but at least having some sort of visual element that loosely related to his having spread his compost recently.  Then I had two detail shots of frozen seeds and frozen vegetables.  This stuff isn’t going to win any prizes and most folks will forget it by the next day’s paper.  What I did do was manage to pull some photos out of the old magic hat and illustrate a story that on first blush seemed impossible without putting my ethics in the critical care unit.  Just a band aide and a little antiseptic took care of it.

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.

Brewer coach Ricky Allen protests a call during a game against Decatur High. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 1/10/09

Basketball is fairly unique in terms of your ability to see the coaches.  Basketball coaches are pretty emotional people as a general rule.  There are not many Tom Landry types who stand stoically on the sidelines.  Most of the time, they are yelling at players, or, as often as not, officials with gestures and body language.  So you can usually benefit from getting a coaching shot sometime during the game.

The bench on your end of the floor can be covered with a 70-200 all the time and with a short lens once in a while.  In high schools you can usually move around behind the bench during timeouts and get a shot of the coach in the huddle.  Once in a while you can even shoot from beside the scorers table and be really close to the coaches.  This is not something you will have freedom to do in college or pro games so take advantage of your high school games and maybe your small college/junior college games to move around.

The one caution I can give you is that most coaches don’t really want to the publicity.  They want it given to their players and that is really a good thing.  Maybe it is not so true in college and pro where the coach is every bit the celebrity some of the players are.  In high school though, many coaches would much rather see photos of their players than they would of themselves.  While it may not be right for every game it will certainly save your hide when you are having a bad game shooting action.  There are also times when you sports editor will need a file photo of a particular coach and it sure is nice to have one ready to hand him when he asks.

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