Kids Marathon: Pittsburgh!
I (Heather) went out this morning to photograph the Kids Marathon as an aunt, but also as a photographer who wanted to put herself in a more photo-journalistic atmosphere. Because of Michel’s background in photo-journalism with the army he’s been able to build our business with a different perspective in mind. And I’ve been able to learn from him how to look at things as though you were documenting an event.
This is my first attempt. And I’m so happy I got to watch my niece Meghan and nephew Ryder run the race. They did so good, so much so that my niece Meghan ran a 7 minute mile, beating her mom, my sister, and leaving her in her dust! Ryder came up right at the end in the pre-K category but he ran the whole thing! So proud of these two kids. Here are a few of the shots I snagged!
Love you all! Congrats on getting in shape as a family!
Remembering the sacrifice: 14th Quartermaster Detachment
Please check out my Army unit’s Public Affairs blog for the 354th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment to see more photos and read an article from the 20th Anniversary of the scud missile attack!
Heroes Across America
Today I had the amazing pleasure of photographing riders of the Sea to Shining Sea biking group. The group was made up of wounded veterans who started their bike ride in San Francisco on their way across America. They’ve been on the road 52 days, and in 10 more they’ll finish up in Virginia Beach with 4,000 miles worth of wear on their treads. I was actually offered the opportunity to take photos of this group from start to finish (and get paid for it!) but I had already booked weddings during this time period so I had to decline. But I’m going to do a story on this group and how it all began, which you’ll be able to read on our 354th MPAD blog by this weekend.
I posted along several spots on their route to Pittsburgh today to get a variety of shots. This was at the Montour Valley VFW Post 7714, where Army, Marine and Navy vets waited for the fellow veterans to pass through.
The riders stopped for a quick lunch where they stretched their legs and refueled for the road…
I drove off ahead of the group so I could catch them at my next stop. A group of children from the St. Philip School waited patiently for them for several hours with American Flags. It was also a joy running into Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photographer Bob Donaldson who I used to work with during my PG internship this past spring. I really miss that gig, and it was fun getting back into it today.
Look at all those flags waving!
Thank you guys for your service, sacrifice and your commitment to doing this ride. You’re proving to America your continuing commitment and hope to others who have suffered injuries or disabilities. I sure as heck know I wouldn’t be able to do a bike ride 4,000 miles long! You guys are phenomenal. Can’t wait to write this story about you!
Close to home…
I was upstairs in my office, organizing my military files when suddenly we heard a bunch of sirens whizzing past our house heading up the hill. Heather ran upstairs and together we looked outside the upstairs window. We saw billows of smoke moving slowly across the sky like a storm heading in.
Another siren approached. I waited to see if my ears were right, and finally another fire truck zoomed past our house. Immediately we knew one of our neighborhood houses was on fire.
My very first thought was, I gotta capture this. I gotta grab my camera and go!
Only problem, I was in my underwear.
But heather was reading my mind, and within seconds she had run down and ran back up and set my D300s in my palms. My next thought was, “Man I love this woman!”
But the camera had just the 17-50mm lens on it, and I knew that I would need at least a 70-200 to catch some of the more intimate shots of firefighters working to fight the smoke and flames.
I grabbed a handful of clothes: shorts, a hooded shirt and a pair of sandals, and I ran into my closet where I held some of my Army camera gear. I grabbed a second camera body and snapped on the zoom lens.
Then, I just ran…
Arias in Bloom – Phipps & Pittsburgh Opera Shoot
What a wonderful evening at Phipps Conservatory last night as they hosted the Pittsburgh Opera for “Arias in Bloom” with live performances and a great atmosphere. Heather and I were just in awe by how beautiful Phipps is. Here are a few of my favorite shots of the night.
If you are looking for a particular shot not included in this post, let us know. We have individual images or the entire CD available for purchase.
Tanker truck flip out
Last week I was driving around looking for features for the Post-Gazette when I heard on the radio that a tanker truck was flipped over on the north-bound lane of I-79 out by Coraopolis. Since I still had a couple of hours until my next shoot, I decided to head over there. The only problem, I later discovered, was that the north and south bound lanes split up around the S-bend near Coraopolis, and they were divided by this gigantic, steep hill.
There radio said there was about four miles of backed-up traffic because of the truck on the North lane, I shot north on 279 instead, and looped back around Wexford. Once the roadway split, and my lane (south bound) shot up a hill, I could no longer see traffic on the other side. In a reach of hope, I parked my car on the side of the highway, grabbed my two cameras and trucked my way back down the road until I could finally see something.
There were too many trees in my way to get any kind of shot, so I realized that I would have to make my way down the hill. Thing thing was steep, and the trees were scattered and spread so it was hard hanging on to much of anything on my way down. What made it even worse was that, in my hurry, I left my right glove in the car. Only my left hand was covered by a glove, and I knew that was going to make it tough coming back up the same hill.
Fortunately I made it down without breaking anything (including my cameras). I was the only photographer or news cameraman on site. That made me feel quite accomplished.
In the end, the Post-Gazette never ended up using the shots, so it would be a waste if I did all that work for no one’s pleasure.
Enjoy!
(Photos are property of the Post-Gazette)
Fighting flames in the snow
I was out all morning and most of the day taking photos of people in the weather for the PG. Just as I was about to work on those shots and turn them in, I got a call from one of my editors about a fire in Lawrenceville. I booked it! I got there in time to catch some really wonderful shots. Enjoy.
(The following photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
A cold plunge!
First off, I have to say, I love my wife. This morning I had just one assignment for the PG and I knew I wanted to go out and find some feature photos. This morning, before taking off to work, I was having coffee with Heather and I was just thinking outloud…
“It’s Saturday. It’s cold outside. I wonder where I should go to find some feature photos for the paper,” I said.
Right away, Heather told me of the Pitts-Burrrrgh Drowned Hogs, who will do something similar to the Polar Bear Plunge just before Ground Hog Day to encourage Punxsutawney Phil to bring on the Spring.
So I headed out to the South Side and found a couple of tents set up by the Mon River. These people are CRAZY! I don’t know if I could ever run into the water for how cold it was outside today. My fingers seriously became crippled just walking around taking photos, and I was wearing gloves, too.
In any case, I decided I would share the photos with you all.
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Movie Critic – Portrait Shots
Today I had the assignment to go photograph Fiore Mastracci, a somewhat controversial local movie critic who broadcasts his “Outtakes with Fiore” show from Bethel Park. He’s controversial because, from what I’ve read, he doesn’t agree with any of the top Hollywood Movie critics. So what. He was a ton of fun to hang around with. Very entertaining and hilarious guy, and it was cool to watch him do his thing while recording his show. I really like the first shot with the dark shadow behind him. I used a non-diffused strobe with a snoot. The more I got to watch him joke around and talk, the more I realized I needed some shots that represented his humorous character a little better. Thus the popcorn shots at the end.
Enjoy!
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Animals at school
Today I visited Dible Elementary in the Penn Hills because they were hosting some animals from the Pittsburgh Zoo for a presentation on the Rainforest and nutrition. Just wanted to share a couple of the photos.
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Quality of Light
It used to be that I was terrified of using the flash on my camera. I was always afraid of over-blowing pictures, creating those dreaded casting shadows and not having control over the entire image. Then flash started to become more easy as I learned to bounce and diffuse the light and control the exposure in various ways. But then I started to become aware of the magic of off-camera flash. The idea both excited me and scared me. Right now, I’m still in the growing process of it, but I’m slowly starting to learn the immense possibilities of off-camera lighting.
I used to think that there was no reason to use a flash outside in the sunlight. I was wrong. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of reading of a photography blog called Strobist. It’s an astounding resource of information for photographers. I thought studio lighting had to be difficult, time consuming and complicated to understand.
Again, I was wrong.
Even in my regular portrait photography assignments for the Post-Gazette I’ve been using off-camera lighting more and more. A lot of it still feels like trial and error, but the comfort level is definitely growing.
This is a shot I took using an SB-800 off to camera bottom left aimed at this gentleman’s face. The story behind the photo is that this Mexican restaurant owner just spent several thousands of dollars in various decorations for his restaurant, and now he’s being told to remove them because they’re not in accordance with historical landmark regulations (he’s located in Market Square).
So for this shot I asked for a ladder, aimed the strobe at his face, climbed up and took a few shots. I’m rather happy with how this one turned out.
(Photo is property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Medal of Honor Portraits
Yesterday one of my articles appeared in the Post-Gazette. It’s a story that actually meant quite a bit to me. There’s a woman by the name of Joyce Ware who for more than 50 years has been trying to recover her late husband’s Medal of Honor portrait. Her husband’s name is Keith L Ware, and he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in fighting German Troops in France during WWII. Unfortunately his portrait, along with 198 other portraits from the same collection, is in storage at the Smithsonian Institute and they don’t seem very interested in giving them up, even though they’re unable to display them due to lack of staff, space and etc. What Joyce would love is for the Army to reclaim them, but unfortunately after several months of personally calling the Pentagon, I wasn’t able to make that happen for her.
In any case, you can read the article here.
Shots of the day
Today I drove around the city to find anything interesting worth photographing for the Post-Gazette. This is what I came away with.
Enjoy!
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Penguins love winter!
Yesterday I headed out to the Pittsburgh Zoo during a snowy day and took photos of the penguins playing and enjoying the cold weather. This first one made it onto the front page of the Post-Gazette today.
Got a photo idea?
Hey everyone! Tomorrow I don’t have any specific photo assignments for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette so I was going to go around the city to find a couple good feature photos to submit for the paper. If you have anything interesting happening during the day or if you know of any good shot ideas, let me know! Just email me, and I’ll make sure to cover it.
Also, if you or anybody you know is doing something fun (especially if it involves the snow!) definitely shoot me an email or call me. Here is my contact information.
Thanks!
Children at the Imani Christian Academy
Today I also visited the Imani Christian Academy in East Hills. This school is a great blessing because today was the first day of school that these students actually had a school building to come to class and have as a learning environment. As you may know by now (if you’ve looked at my previous work), I absolutely love capturing children’s faces. To me, there is nothing more beautiful to photograph.
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
National Guardsmen deploying to Afghanistan
This morning I went to the Hunt Armory in Shadyside to take photos of National Guardsmen saying their goodbyes to family and loved ones before deploying for Afghanistan. The unit was Delta Company, 1st Battalion of the 101st Infantry Regiment (Mechanized). I can tell you that there were quite a few moments when I had to try to compose myself and fight back tears. It’s been almost two years since I had to say goodbye to my wife before deploying to Iraq. This morning definitely brought back memories and emotions from that day. Good luck to all of you, and we hope you return safe and sound!
(Photos are property of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
