A Midwesterner Goes South

2010-03-01T00:16:00.001-06:00

Thanks for following guys. I'm gonna leave this blog up so I can have the memories from my awesome internship. If you want to keep following what I'm up to, check out my new blog, on this same website, at SoIllphoto.blogspot.com! Thanks!

Rain, Football and Nurses

2009-08-05T13:13:00.009-05:00

Before I get to the rain, football and nurses, I'll start with this picture, taken Sunday August 2nd outside a friend's house in Pensacola. I think an ancient proverb states "Wherever there are five Subarus gathered, a good time is sure to be had."

August marks the beginning of football practices all across the Mobile area and also marks a solid month of rain. What do you do when it rains so much that the streets are flooded? If you're smart you will stay inside. If you are James Durbin or John David Mercer you wade around in the street and make pictures. Monday August 3.

Now, on to football. High school football was in full swing. Monday August 3.

Another rainstorm feature. I was trying to catch some lighting but the storm moved out too quick. Tuesday August 4.

And more football, this time peewee league. Tuesday August 4.

And finally, the nurses. These nurses recently traveled to Nicaragua to lend aid. This picture taken today, Wednesday August 5.

Images are property of Mobile Press-Register.

People and cars, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp and kids playing ball

2009-08-01T17:02:00.013-05:00

I was very lazy with my blogging this week. I have been working hard and playing hard and that doesn't leave time for much else. I'll make up for a week of blogging with this post.
Sunday, July 26. Uncle Larry arrived with a project car on a trailer.

Monday, July 27. I went with John David to make some pictures of a mentally handicapped deaf man who had been involved in an unfortunate altercation with the Mobile Police Dept. Long story short, he was pepper sprayed and tasered ("tased?") while in the bathroom of a Dollar General. Click here to read the full story John David used strobe and wide glass so I just hung out to the side and shot tight. The woman in the picture is the guy's mother.

That night, John David and Glen and I did a photoshoot on Monika and her car. It was a lot of fun. I think John David and Glen had a good time as well because I don't think they have taken their lighting gear out for fun in a long time, only for work. It is good to do something on your own from time to time and they taught me a lot that night.

Here is a behind the scenes type shot that shows a bit of the lighting setup and John David.

Wednesday, July 29. I went to Pascagoula Mississippi and shot youth baseball practice.

Thursday, July 30. Rode with Monika to a Subaru meet in Fort Walton Beach and I took a rolling shot of Anthony's car.

Friday, July 31. Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan concert. I left before Dylan came on stage in order to make deadline.

Monster trucks, James eats yogurt and I go racing!

2009-07-27T10:59:00.005-05:00

Well I got a new softbox that attaches to my flash and its pretty awesome. John David told me about it several weeks ago but I waited until I had other stuff to order at the same time to save on shipping but its so awesome that I probably should've got it the day he told me about it. Here is one of the first pictures I took with it:

Then Friday I covered Monster Jam at the Mobile Civic Center. It was pretty sweet, I love Monster Trucks. Monika made fun of me just a little bit because I was jumping up and down yelling "Monster Trucks! Monster Trucks!" when I found out I was going to be able to cover it.

I had Saturday off! I went over to Grand Bay, AL, right on the AL/MISS border and went Autocrossing with the Gulf Coast SCCA Region. They were great guys (and girls) and I had a blast. The course layout was very technical and looped back on itself twice. I was spoiled by the St. Louis Region's large open parking lot so this really forced me to think and work on my "short game." Getting the car set up for corner entry was very important. I had a blast and got lots of seat time (20 runs on the track! Thats unheard of back home!) I got up super early and experienced the phenomena known as a "sun-rise," something I don't see very often.

Me, on the way to the AutoX:

My car, race-ready:

A few of the cars that were there:

Another day in paradise.

2009-07-24T11:37:00.008-05:00

I used this phrase jokingly with Mary Hattler, one of the staff photographers, yesterday, Thursday, after the full day I had that day. But first I'll start with Wednesday.

John David told me about a small park off a country road near Fairhope that had a creek and rope swings where kids would swing from trees into the water. I decided that I would find it and make some pictures there. So I did.

It was a pretty uneventful day after that though.

Thursday, however was full of activity, as I already said. It started out with me going back to the pier from my previous blog post for the official opening (the previous post was only the "soft opening"). There were a lot of big wigs there, including the Gov and the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Mayors. New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews was there to participate in the opening ribbon cutting ceremony and he gave me an autographed copy of his book.

Some helicopters flew by while I was on the pier:

After the pier opening, I rode the ferry over to Dauphin Island, then up to Mobile. Monika came with me to Mobile as I was only expecting to file images quickly and then be done. Little did I know that someone would decide to rob a bank, engage the Mobile PD in a police chase across the county and wind up getting shot. That tied up my day a little bit in an unexpected way. But I'll get to that in just a minute. First, a ferry picture.

Once in the newsroom I filed my pictures and was getting ready to walk out when the scanners exploded with what sounded like a commercial for the next Grand Theft Auto video game. MPD was chasing a bank robbery suspect. They used spike strips to blow the tires and then the guy wrecked in a church parking lot. By the time I got there the car was riddled with bullets and the suspect was confirmed dead.

Here you can clearly see all the bullet holes. The building in the background is a child daycare center, which had its bathroom window shot out by a stray bullet.

The dead suspect is still in the vehicle while the police processed the scene.

Anyway, another day on the job.

MORE fish, an apartment fire and playing with studio lights

2009-07-21T23:12:00.006-05:00

Monday I covered the soft opening of a new pier constructed between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores on Beach Blvd. After having covered the fishing rodeo Friday and Saturday you could say I'd had a full plate of fish for the past few days.

Tuesday (today) I covered a three story apartment fire that we heard over the scanners. I rushed over there but it was already out, it wasn't very large apparently.

Then John David, Glen and I went to eat. Somehow we ended up at an arcade in the mall. Then Ice Cream happened and finally we made our way back to the Press-Register.

Once back at the office we played with my new 2000 watt second Dynalite pack. We hooked up one of JD's lights that can handle 2000 watt seconds and used it to light the entire room. Its super bright as you can see. We were having a good time.

Here is my pack compared to the Press-Registers. Mine is way bigger and better!

Playin' with the Bears, Wranglin' Fishes and Drivin' Cars

2009-07-20T16:14:00.013-05:00

As the title suggests, I've been very busy. This blog entry is going to have a LOT of pictures so settle in for the visuals.

Thursday, July 16.

Messed with strobes in the office with Glenn Andrews. Made this picture:

I shot the Bay Bears with John David. As usual my noggin was bursting with information by the end of the night. I did manage to make one decent picture from a new spot. I should've moved after I made this picture though.

JD took this one of me. I was obviously perplexed at the time.

Then I spent Friday and Saturday covering the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. It was everything you could expect from an event with a title like that. The following pictures are all from Friday:

And the following are from Saturday:

Sunday I went to Holt Florida for the Sport Compact Nationals. Turnout wasn't that great but there were some quick cars there.

If you made it all the way through this post, thanks for caring!

A studio portrait, Zumba, Fort Walton Beach and a day off

2009-07-16T16:15:00.006-05:00

Tuesday, July 14 I shot a portrait in the studio. I tried shooting it a few different ways but in the end I went with a simple one light setup shot from above.

After that I shot a Zumba class. It is a form of exercise that has a Latin flavor.

After work I went to Pensacola to meet with Monika, then we went on to Fort Walton Beach which is 6 miles from Destin for a car meet.

The next day, Wednesday (yesterday) I had the day off and Monika came to Foley and then we went to Gulf Shores and had an amazing time.

A southern storm and a musical

2009-07-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

There has been a few thunderstorms coming through the area recently. John David and I went south yesterday to try to make some pictures of the lightning. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted, the lighting wasn't that pronounced and it was still really light outside but I was able to make this picture:

After that I had to rush to an assignment at a theatre. It is the same theatre (Playhouse at the Park) that I shot a feature of kids playing with puppets a few weeks back. It was a dress rehearsal for the production "High School Musical."

My awesome weekend.

2009-07-13T13:15:00.005-05:00

Saturday I shot 4 hours of high school football. It was good to get back into the groove because I hadn't shot football since last season at SIU.

Sunday I spent the whole day in Pensacola with Monika. We went to the zoo among other things. I had an amazing day. The animals in the zoo looked pretty sad.

This was a really really really fat goat. It must've been pregnant with twins!

A feature and the beginnings of my studio lighting kit

2009-07-09T23:12:00.004-05:00

I shot a feature today, not sure if it will run. I've been playing with my little 50mm prime lens recently and used it to take this picture at a Baptist church camp lock-in. We never had any waterslides at the lock-ins I went to as a kid!

I've been collecting items for my studio kit over the past week. The first things are beginning to arrive. I'll post as they come but here are the first two items; PocketWizard remote transceivers. One is an older model and can be used to trigger a remote mounted camera/flash/strobe up to 1600 feet away. The other one is a newer MultiMax model which does the same things as above but with much greater control and it can also do more things than I know what to do with right now or can even describe!

Other items are on the way, but I'll post about them as they arrive!

On the agenda for tomorrow is 4 hours of high school football. I haven't shot football for several months, not since last season, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

A Day Of Learning!

2009-07-08T22:28:00.011-05:00

Tuesday morning I shot portraits of a woman who volunteers at a school answering phones for a story about volunteers, of course. I only had one Speedlite, I'm still down one strobe and I am still putting together the items for my lighting kit. I used an off-camera cord to do fun things with the light. Its a woman and a phone, I tried to be creative. I will order a softbox for the flash sometime soon hopefully. (Its in my shopping cart on bhphotovideo.com)

Next time, I need to hold the flash directly above the subject so there isn't a black triangle by the nose.

Then, John David spewed forth knowledge in the studio. Michelle's daughter "volunteered" to be the guinea pig. I learned to make a picture using a single light, then we built on that light to add a secondary light, a hair light and a background light.

The little "tail" in the bottom right of the above picture is the power cord for the background light. I need to hide it better next time.

Then me and JD went to the BayBears game but it was storming. JD grabbed a camera and some short glass and went into the stadium to make pictures of the empty stadium with lightning overhead. He clamped the camera down with a sweet variable friction arm thing (also in my shopping cart on bhphotovideo.com) and then he used a remote to motor off a hundred or so shots trying to catch the lightning. A few of the shots worked out, there was visible lighting streaking down from the sky. I learned from this that even though the game is canceled, there are still pictures to be made.

Here is his picture with the lightning and rainbow captured.
This is why he makes the big bucks:

"Lightning strikes though the sky between a rainbow above Hank Aaron Stadium as evening showers rolled across the Gulf Coast Tuesday July 7, 2009 in Mobile, Ala. The contest between the Mobile BayBears and Chattanooga Lookouts has been postponed because of rain at Hank Aaron Stadium. It’s the first rainout for the BayBears this season at home. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)"

On the way back to the office we went by a bayfront landing to make pictures of the amazing sky.

JD showed me a handy trick to shooting reflections in small puddles. 10 minutes before I shot the following picture JD had already made one in the same puddle that was better but I learned new things from it.

Here is my picture:

And here is his picture:

"Mobile Skyline after evening showers rolled across the Gulf Coast Tuesday July 7, 2009 in Mobile, Ala. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)"

Youth Baseball, 4th of July, Tea Party and Boating

2009-07-06T23:04:00.007-05:00

I got behind in my blog! This will be a long post covering what I did on Friday through Monday.

Friday I went back to work (after spending Thursday at YMCA camp with my little cousin, see the last blog entry). Me and JD Mercer went to Mississippi to shoot some youth baseball.

We filed pictures from a Denny's restaurant. It was yummy.

Saturday, Independence Day, I covered a "Tea Party." It was a political rally where citizens came together to voice their opinions and express their concern about what is happening in Washington.

I spent the holiday weekend at the condo in Gulf Shores but on the way there I saw this man dragging a cross along the road. I stopped to talk to him and it turned out he is a missionary. I'll let the caption do the talking:
'Barry Jones carries a cross along West Beach Blvd. in Gulf Shores Saturday, July 4, 2009. "I always wanted to be behind the pulpit but now the road is my pulpit and its a huge congregation," said Jones, describing his missionary work in Gulf Shores, "this place needs a symbol of hope."'

He was a very cool guy and I'd like to keep up with him a bit. He lives in Gulf Shores with his family and he would be a good subject for a small picture story. I need to get moving with some of my ideas otherwise they will perpetually stay IDEAS.
He too has a blogspot blog: http://walkthecross.blogspot.com/

After that, I setted in to the condo and watched fireworks.

A few beach features the next morning...

And then I went boating with my family!

A Day Off at YMCA Camp

2009-07-02T23:31:00.004-05:00

I had the day off today. I spent it with my little cousin at YMCA camp making paper stars for 4th of July, eating snacks and playing Rock Band on the Nintendo Wii. I think this most recent generation of kids was born with Wii remotes in their hands because they were tearing it up and it was everything I could do just to keep up. I did though, of course. All those hours spent in front of the Playstation (the ORIGINAL playstation) havent been for nothing.

Me and Glenn shared the front page of today's paper with our coverage of the multi-vehicle accident on I-10 yesterday and my photos from the Exploreum were on the front page of the Metro section as well.

The new tint on my car looks great, I still haven't taken any photos of it yet. I am piecing together a studio light kit that will hopefully allow me to try new things and improve the quality of the paper back home. I collected the first item from FleaBay today for that. More details to come once the kit comes together.

Back to work tomorrow.

Taco Tuesday, A Peaceful Protest, A Slimey Heart & A Fatal Car Accident

2009-07-02T00:35:00.007-05:00

Tuesday is Taco Tuesday at the Press-Register. There is a man that makes tacos who parks out front on Tuesday. This business is legitimate and so is the food. I think I had the best quesadilla of my life. The truck says "Smokin Gringos" in big letters on the side.

The people in the picture are fellow employees of the MPR, the man on the right is Bill Starling, a staff photographer.

Immediately following my muy bueno quesadilla, I drove a few miles away from the office to Memorial Park where we had heard of a protest taking place. It was a group of Iranian-Americans who were protesting the mistreatment of civilians in Iran. They were chanting things like "down with the dictatorship" etc. Overall it was a pro-American rally, made even more interesting by the fact that it was conducted by people who weren't originally born as Americans but are now citizens.

This first picture ran in the Metro section today. It was the first picture I took when I got there and I looked at it right away and knew I liked it. But I still shot others.

So ended my Tuesday.
Wednesday I had the windows in my car tinted but I didn't take any pictures. Crazy I know.
I went to the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center that morning. Those of you faithful blog followers may remember this place from when I was here with the Junior Misses a couple weeks back. I went there this Wednesday morning for a metro feature of some summer campers visiting for the day from "underprivileged" inner city schools. The kids engaged in some physical activities but my favorite part of the day was where they were encouraged to touch real hearts and lungs from animals. Some of the girls looked like they were about to lose their lunch.

Later on Wednesday we received word of a fatal accident on I-10 involving an explosion, two 18-wheelers and a passenger car. The accident happened around 2pm and we (the photographers) didn't get word about it until 4:15. Regardless of the communication mishaps, Glenn Andrews and I found out way through the traffic, got past the police barricades (with their permission thanks to some inside help) and were able to make some pictures at the scene. I believe at least one of my pictures is on the front page of Thursday's paper. I processed, toned and transmitted the images back to the paper while Glenn drove.

We made it back to Mobile in time for Pizza Buffet night at Godfather's, thus ending my Thursday. Click pictures to make them bigger.
All images are property of the Mobile Press-Register.

Miss Kentucky, The Subie Crowd in Pensacola and a Benefit Concert

2009-06-29T00:19:00.006-05:00

Kentucky's Junior Miss won Junior Miss 2009. It was an opportunity to make a portfolio image and I don't think I did. I need to stop shooting and start thinking. On the upside, I was able to cover the entire event while processing images and within 20 minutes of the event ending I had transmitted images and cutlines back to the Press-Register. Nobody had to wait on me and I was very proud of that.

My AJM friend, Tennessee's Junior Miss. She might have ADD worse than I do, which is saying something.

After Junior Miss finals me and my cousin (also named James - my family is not very original when it comes to naming babies) went to Pensacola to meet up with my Subaru friends. I wont bore you with too many photos of cars but I will post Monika's right hand drive Japanese STI. It was actually imported from Japan, the steering wheel is on the "wrong side." Its the real deal. I would give a lot to own one like it. Mine is the blue one parked next to hers.

Then below is a quick rolling shot of a friend's STI on the way out of town. It was super dark, this isn't up to my usual quality of rolling shots but it was still fun.

Then I went to bed.

Sunday I had to cover a benefit concert at an American Legion post in Fairhope AL. I really like the town of Fairhope, so far it is my favorite place in the state. Its a historic bayside town close to Mobile. Nothing much came out of this, it was more difficult to cover than I thought it would be. Maybe I was having an off day.

Junior Misses Second Preliminary

2009-06-27T02:04:00.005-05:00

Another late post, I know. I just finished watching a movie with my cousin and I don't want to get behind in the blog.

I put to use what JD Mercer told me yesterday and made some pictures at the 2nd Prelim tonight. Then came back to the newsroom and tried to file images quickly and efficiently. Glen told me yesterday something to the tune that you can be a great shooter but it doesn't mean much if you can't file images quickly for a tight deadline.

I made sure to shoot WAY less images and do some editing on the camera. My 1D Mk2 allows me to tag images and make voice recordings of the subjects in the photo so I used that to quickly select "keepers" and record caption info directly onto the image.

Tomorrow night is the final ceremony where the winner will be announced. I think it will be a fantastic opportunity to make pictures.

As always, click on an image to make it bigger and remember that the images are the property of the Mobile Press-Register.

'Gators and Girls

2009-06-26T02:11:00.007-05:00

I mentioned in my blog post on Monday that there was more I had done that day besides covering the Junior Misses eating oysters. Later that day I had an assignment at a play theatre in Fairhope. I left early for the assignment and dropped by a causeway off I-10 that I had been told was frequented by alligators. Sure enough, within 5 minutes I found this creature:

I shot the gator with flash after my little lesson from JD Mercer and Bill Starling, but it was bright enough outside that I'm not sure it made much difference. I think it did bring out the eyes of the gator a little bit and maybe its skin. Regardless, I was trying to put into action what I had learned that day.

I got another opportunity to use flash at the assignment at the theatre. It is for the Arts section and it showcases an upcoming play. I took some photos during dress rehearsal and then I had all the cast and crew get together on the set for a portrait. I used flash for the portrait, manually setting the flash power based on the distance scale, like JD showed me.

I feel like I am beginning to get a handle on this lighting stuff, maybe. But I need a ton more experience with it.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off. I was lazy and did nothing for the most part.

Thursday I was back on Junior Miss duty. They had their preliminary show at the Civic Center. Me and JD shot it together then came back to the newsroom in a rush to get the images in on deadline. JD went through my take and gave me some critique. I am anxious to improve tomorrow.

Yes mother, I know what time it is. I know I should be in bed.

Junior Misses + Oysters. Lots of Oysters.

2009-06-22T23:06:00.002-05:00

Junior Misses ate oysters today and lived to tell the tale.

Back in the newsroom I got a MAJOR critique from John David and Bill Starling, going over a lot of my images from the internship so far. It was really helpful even though at the end of it I felt like a sixth grade girl with her first point and shoot camera.

Every once in a while I need somebody to point out my mistakes and this helped me a lot. If I can put to use what he told me there will be a visible improvement in my photos, especially those involving flash.

Bill pointed out a phrase; "available light means using ALL the light that is available to you." I only have one flash available to me now due to one of them going for a swim in the Gulf (see yesterday's blog post) but that will be worked out.

Anyway, stay tuned for more. There is more, thats not all I did today. I'm just tired. I'm off tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday as well. Then back to covering the Misses!

Hot air balloons, a 50 year old cold case mystery, my new friend Monika and a day at the beach

2009-06-21T23:42:00.006-05:00

All of the things in the subject title above happened this weekend. Its been a busy few days!

First I got up at dark o'clock Saturday morning to photograph the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon festival.

Then I went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. Got up around noon (still Saturday), went into work and worked on some online galleries. Then back to Baldwin county to cover a gathering of family and friends who are looking for a man who disappeared as a little boy 50 years ago. They believe he is still out there and they gathered at the spot that the disappearance took place for a candlelight vigil.

I transmitted those images from a hotel in Pensacola, then went to a place called "the bayfront" where car enthusiasts gather on the weekends. It was awesome! It felt good to get back into a local car scene. I met a girl I had talked to online before, she drives a car similar to mine. Here she is with my car (her's is broke at the moment).

I was able to sleep in Sunday morning. I had to cover the Junior Misses on beach day over at Dauphin Island which is located south of Mobile, on the other side of Mobile Bay from where I live. I travelled over to Dauphin Island by ferryboat, had a great time and met some cool people on the ferry.

At Dauphin Island I photographed the Junior Misses swimming and building sand sculptures for a contest. The whole time I was wanting to swim and I guess one of my Speedlights felt the same way because it jumped off my camera and plunged into the Gulf. I guess it will be getting a rebuild by Canon now. I decided to put my gear away at the end and went for a swim as well. Suddenly the Junior Misses were interested in taking pictures of me, I'm not sure exactly how that happened.

Junior Misses Tour College & I find a Lemonade Stand

2009-06-19T12:06:00.009-05:00

I was up early today. I went over to the University of South Alabama, where the Junior Misses had a breakfast and then went on a tour of the campus. U.S.A. is offering full ride scholarships to Junior Misses with an ACT score of 30 or above. I think most are already accepted to their college of choice though.

Wisconsin's 2007 Junior Miss spoke to the 2009 Junior Miss scholarship contestants about her experiences at U.S.A.

Then the girls went on a tour of the campus and were given some literature on the school.

I'm still at work, we'll see what the rest of the day brings. There's already been a large fire. No police chases or bank robberies. Yet.

UPDATE:
Found a Lemonade Stand.

Tomorrow morning I am getting up around 4:30 or 5am to shoot some hot air balloons in early morning light.

As always, all images (and my body) are the property of the Mobile Press-Register newspaper.

Charity, Robots and Line Dancing.

2009-06-18T19:50:00.007-05:00

The Junior Miss contestants went line dancing over on the USS Alabama battleship memorial grounds and did some charity work with kids. Also I made a picture of a few kids at a summer camp building robots one day on my way to work. The Junior Misses have kept me very busy for two days (JD Mercer would make a joke about that sentence if he read this). I don't mix work and play. Much.

Line Dancing and a tour of the USS Alabama.

I think that the line dancing excitement claimed the eyepiece on my Mark2. I noticed this morning that it was gone. I bought another one for a good deal already, this time I'll throw some trusty gaffer tape over the top of the eyepiece to make it stay (longer). At least I didn't break a(nother) filter.

The next morning (this morning), charity work playing with kids:

JD Mercer says I need to use off camera flash a lot more. He is right. We'll see what tomorrow brings. The Junior Misses are touring University of South Al which should be well lit outdoors. But I do need to practice with off camera flash a lot more. Looks like I'll be in need of a guinea pig. Uncle Larry is a prime candidate. Here he is enduring one of my typical test shots.

Summer camp:

Power Tour 2009 and back to work.

2009-06-17T16:38:00.007-05:00

I had all of last week off for a vacation. Went on the Hot Rod Power Tour 2009. I posted some images on my Flickr page so if you are interested in viewing them here is the link:
Hot Rod Power Tour

Monday I photographed my cousin's wedding. I am still processing those images so you'll have to wait. They will make their way into a gallery on Flickr before long.

Tuesday (yesterday) I photographed the America's Junior Miss scholarship contestants (they don't call it a "beauty pageant"). They were doing team-building exercises on a ropes course in west Mobile. I will be covering the Junior Miss "pageant" all week long.

Elephants, A Blaze, me on Coke and Monday bonus pics

2009-06-03T16:27:00.010-05:00

My post from Monday detailed my weekend activities but not what I did on that day so I am adding those images at the end of this blog entry.
First, today I went on a safari hunt for urban elephants and shot six of them.

The circus came to town this morning and they unloaded the elephants from a boat in Mobile Bay and walked them a few blocks over to the Civic Center. The elephants and other animals are staying in the parking lot outside the Civic Center for two weeks during a layover period between shows. They might appear again in some features.

Then I went to cover the aftermath of a fire that occurred at a Fashion Store yesterday.

Then John David Mercer shot some portraits of some softball players. We are doing portraits of some high school softball and baseball players. Four portraits were shot today, the rest will be shot tomorrow and next week. I was given the option of doing all the baseball portraits which is exciting but I am leaving for a week next week to go on the Hot Rod Power Tour so JD will do them all. I hope another opportunity to practice my studio techniques will present itself later in the summer. I need to grow in that area. I was a guinea pig so JD could get his exposure in the ballpark and he took this photo of me.

Photo credit to John David Mercer.

As I said, I forgot to post what I did on Monday. I went to a threatre camp in the morning and made this picture. Would've been better if the kids had better reactions.

Then me and Mike Kittrell went to the scene of the culmination of a bank robbery/police chase/car crash. It was in a "top notch" part of town if you catch my drift. Mike shot long with a 300 and a 1.4x converter and managed to get an image that showed part of the suspect when they loaded him into the ambulance. I worked short with a 70-200 and took this one of some of the locals evacuating from their house near the crash.

As always, all images are the property of the Mobile Press-Register newspaper.

Tuesday: Portaits and a Press Conference

2009-06-02T21:12:00.007-05:00

This morning, I shot a portrait of the editor of University of South Alabama's student newspaper, The Vanguard. Used a 550EX on camera with a second 550EX slaved and mounted on a tripod. 70-200 2.8L compressed all the elements together to create an interesting portrait. This was the best one, however I cut off the "V" in Vanguard while shooting, 'twas a mistake I shouldn't have made.

Ate at Waffle House, then shot this portrait of a local businessman. He is part of a contracting firm in Mobile. Again, two flashes were used, one slaved and mounted on a tripod.

Afterwards, back to the office. It was a slow day, press conference happened later. Coach at the U of S. Alabama was announcing his retirement.

A memorial service and a seaside concert

2009-06-01T13:08:00.006-05:00

Sunday I covered a memorial service for a soldier from Foley who was killed in Afghanistan. It was difficult for a moment but it isn't the first death I've covered and wont be the last, I just try to be as respectful as I can. Photos weren't allowed inside the sanctuary during the ceremony so I stayed out in the lobby. I missed making a picture that really would've told the story but I wont go into too much detail about it. There were two dignitaries, a congressman and a representative, who were at the ceremony. They both presented the family with commendations.

The above picture of the mother hugging a family member was the front page of the newspaper today. The image of the family photo ran secondary on the front page.

Following the memorial service I covered a community concert at an oceanside park in Fairhope, AL. It was a lot of fun, many interesting things were happening and I will try to go back to another event there to get some more feature images.

The above image was the front page of the Metro section today.

As always, click the images to view them larger.

Bay Bears, a Bishop and a Girl

2009-05-31T13:14:00.006-05:00

This entry will cover Friday and Saturday.

Friday May 29 was a bit slow in the office. I took a portrait of a college student my age for a story. J.D. Mercer and Glen were both out of the office so I had to figure out the lighting studio myself. J.D. had given me a "crash course" in the studio the day before when we shot the Splenda picture from my previous blog entry. Anyway, this girl was exceptionally pretty so it was very easy to make a good picture.

Later that day I went to the Bay Bears game. J.D. was there and gave me some simple and effective pointers on shooting baseball. He called it his "philosophy on shooting baseball."

The next day:
Saturday May 30, I covered a ceremony at an Episcopal Church. They were dedicating a newly constructed building, called The Life Center. It is a gym type place with facilities to minister to the youth of the community. The Presiding Bishop of the whole church made an appearance at the ceremony. I could've made a better shot if I would've stopped and thought harder. I feel like I did a lot of "shooting from the hip" style shooting here and I missed out on some very thoughtful images that came to me after the fact.

Later that night, more Bay Bears.

Thursday - Classical Music and a Hot Meal

2009-05-29T10:42:00.007-05:00

I returned to work Thursday after two days off. I went to an outdoor market festival looking for features. It was an opportunity to make pictures but I wasn't able to get in gear to do what I wanted to. Hard to explain but I felt a bit unattached, maybe because I had been lazy for two days. Either way, I didn't make any pictures I'm proud of but it was merely a feature hunt, not an assignment so no loss.
Back at the newsroom John David Mercer and I came up with some ideas of how to shoot Splenda packets for a story about Splenda closing its doors after ten years. Neither of us had very much time to spend on this so we set up some lights and made this picture.

Afterwards I went to a classic music concert and made this picture:

It ran front of Metro today (Friday).

Then on the way back to the newsroom I saw a crowd of people gathering in a nearby park. I stopped to check it out and saw that it was a group of 50 or so homeless people. An independent group of Christian youth gives food and clothing to anybody who wants them every Thursday. I had to get back to the newsroom to get the concert image in on deadline but afterwards I went back to the park and made this picture:

It was very dark, I'd like to go back and see about making some more pictures next week. The cutline I am putting in for that picture reads:
Robert Barlow of Mobile accepts a free meal in Cathedral Park late Thursday night, May 28, 2009. A hot meal and clothing are available in Cathedral Park every Thursday night through a community outreach program put on by an independent group of Christian youth. "I've been on top, now I'm on the bottom," said Barlow. "I'll be on top again, it always gets better."

Tuesday and Wednesday - Days off

2009-05-27T12:31:00.003-05:00

I have yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) off. Softball and Baseball portraits were canned for whatever reason so I have had some time off. In yesterdays paper the images of the boy feeding the birds on the beach and the boy skimboarding on the breaking wave ran front page of Metro section in color. Last night I found out that the paper I work for at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, The Daily Egyptian, is running an image today that I shot of our library during the last week of school. It was an image I shot on a tripod at night using a slow shutter speed to capture the trail of car lights. It was raining out so the reflections of the lights are more vivid. Even though I haven't worked for two days, I'm still being published! Here is a screengrab of the photo and the article. As with every photo I have posted, click it to view it larger:

I also discovered the night before last that I can open commenting to all users, not just people with accounts, so I have done so. Those of you reading can now comment on any of my posts without having to create an account.

Monday - Memorial Day

2009-05-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

Today was Memorial Day. I shot some features on the beach this morning. There were lots of people out. I ran into one of the other interns on the beach, a writer named Alex who is a Mobile native. He may turn out to be a good friend for me down here.
Here are a couple beach photos:

Then it started raining. I had to go to west Mobile in the downpouring rain to photograph a local musician at a marina restaurant. While finding my way to the restaurant a rough gravel road chewed up my front bumper. I was mad. But I went on to photograph the musician and the woman he was performing with:

Then on the way back to the newsroom I took a photo of this big muddy puddle in the road. I was hoping someone would go crashing through the puddle spraying water everywhere but all that happened was me standing like a fool in the rain for 15 minutes waiting for this anti-climatic photo.

Memorial Day - Sunday

2009-05-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

It was a great day today, I can't say its been the best one because every day has been awesome. I love my job. I had lots of images in the paper and a great Memorial Day weekend photo assignment.
Several photos from Universal Marine Supply (the buoy makers) ran front page of Business section in color.
The image of the women running in the rain ran inside Metro in color, the cutline I wrote for it included a quote from one of the women, "rain we train, thunder we slumber, no excuses."
Also the image of the two women sheltering from wind and rain behind an umbrella on the beach ran front page color in the Metro section.

Today was Memorial Day Sunday. I spent several hours with some veterans from American Legion Post 250 in Theodore, AL. I love spending time with veterans because I am always amazed by their stories, personalities and pure tenacity. These guys were some of the toughest old men I'd ever met but also some of the absolute nicest. I plan on going back to the Legion hall soon because there are many many stories to be told within those walls. For today though, I covered the three Memorial Day ceremonies the Legionnaires held and spent some quality time interacting with them between services at the Legion post.

I tried to capture just a bit of their character but I am far from done. These men truly are amazing and are a living testament to the kind of men and women our country depends on to maintain freedom. Nearly ALL of these men (except for a few) have been told by their doctors that they are disabled, many were told they should not be walking. More than a few have only one working eye or one working lung. Yet they refuse to stop. It is truly inspiring. I look forward to working with these men again, I have several ideas for projects I can do with them.

Here are some of the images:

Memorial Day Weekend - Saturday

2009-05-23T18:23:00.001-05:00

The feature I shot yesterday of the girl feeding the birds ran in today's paper on page 3 in color.
Today I went to the beach for features, the images will run with stories about Memorial Day weekend beach-goers. The beaches had plenty of people despite the wind and rain.

I shot this feature on the way home from the newsroom last night, but didn't have it ready for my blog. The woman in the middle is training for the San Diego Marathon.

Friday - end of the first week

2009-05-22T14:40:00.000-05:00

The image of the airplane flying low over Mobile Bay ran on the front page of the paper today.

Here are the art photos from last night.
Event 1, donations to a local museum from the son of a deceased local artist:

Event 2, 30-year retrospective gallery from Casey Downing Jr.

While eating lunch in a nearby park I found this feature, a little girl feeding birds.

Its been a good day. Staff Photographer Bill Starling called me a "feature machine," then went on to say that I would have a lot of weight to carry this weekend. There aren't many assignments this weekend and several people are off so I will have to find some features to fill the paper. It should be rainy, hopefully the weather will provide me with some material to make some pictures of people.

Thursday May 21

2009-05-22T00:35:00.000-05:00

I shot some pictures of a coast guard plane doing low level operations on the bay this afternoon. We should be running this in the business section Friday.

Here is the generic traffic picture I shot yesterday. I didn't have it ready to go at the time I wrote my blog. I had to get a picture that illustrated a traffic problem on Canal Road so I got gimmicky and threw my 1DM2 on a tripod with an image-stabilized 70-200 and a 1.4x teleconverter and did some slow shutter speed zooms and pans.

I then recropped one of the images from the previous days shoot at Universal Marine Supply. I really like the shot of the man inside the buoy welding but I thought that I left the picture too loose and the man was lost. John David Mercer helped me with the cropping. Here is the updated version, to run with the other photos from the buoy shoot.

Then I shot some pictures at two art museums in Mobile. One was for a story about a local man who found sketches from a famous local artist (his father, now dead) in a drawer in his house. He donated them to the museum. The second museum shoot was for a local artist (Casey Downing) who was having a gallery showing. It was a very fancy event. I will put the pics from the two shoots up tomorrow.

Wednesday May 20

2009-05-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Today we ran one of my beach features from Tuesday. If space allows we will run more later in the week. I went to Universal Marine Supply, the company that makes marine buoys. They are currently under a contract from the Coast Guard but in the past they have made buoys for use all over the world, including Alaska. Here are some pics from UMS:
For this first photo, look closely to the left, there is a man inside the buoy.

I went and shot some traffic pics afterwards but I do not have them up here yet. We are running a story on a particular road that is heavily congested and will not be widened. I'll put whichever photo we use for the story on this blog within a few days.

I then spent another hour or so on the beach after work looking for features. I again had a few "close calls" for making some really nice pictures but I did manage to catch a few moments. I'll throw them into the system tomorrow, no guarentees they will be published, but its always good to have features ready to go if space allows.

First week at the Register - Monday and Tuesday

2009-05-19T21:31:00.001-05:00

After settling in, I got the chance to go out with a couple photographers from the MPR, Mike Kittrell and Glen Andrews. Mike was shooting a piece for the Real Estate section but he gave me an abbreviated tour of Mobile on the way. While driving through the campus of Spring Hill College, we found this feature. This picture ran on the front page of the Metro section the next day. My first photo in the Register:

I shot some minor league baseball that night with Glen Andrews. I went there to hang out and see how the MPR staff covered the Baybears games. I snapped a few images while chatting with GMA. I'm looking forward to covering these games and improving my sportshooting.

The next morning (Tuesday) I spent a few hours hunting for features on the beach. I'm not sure what we'll run in the paper for Wednesday. I'm not exactly satisfied with any of them, I think I had some "close calls" as far as making good pictures but I had a good time being out in my community interacting with people.

Moving in and an intro to the Press-Register

2009-05-19T20:24:00.000-05:00

I made a 684 mile trip from Missouri to Alabama for a summer internship at the Mobile Press-Register newspaper. I settled into a family member's house in Foley which is 37 miles from the Register. I have a bit of a commute but I'm not complaining about a free waterfront house.
My place:

The view of the bay from the kitchen (left) and from the living room toward the kitchen (below).

The Press-Register:
I don't have an exterior shot. I fail. I'll update later. But here is the inside.

My desk!