Tomorrow…
Tomorrow is the beginning of my SoFoBoMo project. I'm looking forward to getting started finally. It will be a good day to start, because I will have completed my tests this week at school. I'm stuck with three exams between today and tomorrow, so it will be a nice opportunity to blow off some steam. I'm not sure if I'll start making photos tomorrow or not though. I have a lot of groundwork to do before I'll be ready to deal with photos. I need to get some paperwork ready to hand out and then do the basic book design. I would like to write a short introduction to use in the book as well. I'll have to think about that a little tonight maybe...
A front and rear cover image isn't something I have thought about yet either... Hmmm... I guess there is a lot of work to be done :)
At the game…
I went over to Lenoir-Rhyne College this afternoon for a softball game between the Lenoir-Rhyne Lady Bears and the Brevard Lady Trojans. It was rather cold this afternoon compared to recent days in the mid-70s. The high for the day was 44 degrees and it wasn't quite that warm at game time this afternoon. Part of my assignment today was to shoot some feature photos for use on a photo page that will be running this Thursday. I was looking around for something to photograph that told the story of the cool weather at the game. I met Ellen Key and her dog "Sydney" braving the cool weather...
Daydreaming…
I was sitting in the dugout before the start of a local high school tournament game Tuesday evening... just going over some assignment notes and collecting my thoughts before game time. I wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on around me until I noticed this young man in the dugout with me. For some reason, he caught my attention. He was probably the son of a coach, or maybe a little brother of one of the team members. He was dressed out in his baseball uniform just like the rest of the team. I grabbed my camera and snapped this photo of him standing behind the dugout fence watching the team warm up on the field. Then I started thinking...
This kid is the reason professional baseball exists. He's the fan. He's gonna play little league baseball while he's watching his favorite pros on TV. He's also gonna buy replica jerseys with Pujols or Jeter written on the back one day... He doesn't know what a salary cap is... or Rule 5... or Tommy John surgery... or about owners and middle management. What he does know is who autographed his baseball cards... who shook his hand...
Who knows...
It was just intriguing to watch him and then write my own story about what may be going through his mind...
The Experience
Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech. -- Susan Sontag
True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. -- William Penn
Silence is a true friend that never betrays. -- Confucius
Silence is a great source of strength. -- Lao Tzu
Nowadays, most men lead lives of noisy desperation. -- James Thurber
A nature photographer, I am not. I have never aspired to be. I have lots of nature photographs in my archives, but I never consider myself to be particularly interested in the notion. I'm not really sure why. Most photographers seem to really enjoy shooting nature and landscapes. For me, being there is great. Experiencing the location for myself is good for my soul. A photograph can't and won't replace that. It might be good for a memory or two, but it won't replace the other dimensions of standing on a piece of ground and witnessing the sight first hand. If I make photos while I'm enjoying some random place, I can show my friends and family and say I was here. The photograph, however, won't tell anyone how I felt at that moment in time. The true dynamics of the moment the shutter opens become flat and less inspiring for me upon later review. I suppose that a visual representation of a place I have been in the past just doesn't provide me with enough inspiration to photograph it with any real intention.
One of my favorite photographers of all time made this statement:
The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks! -- Henri Cartier-Bresson
This statement, even though it was made in the 1930s, is an idea that we could apply to just about any period of time. Photographers like Cartier-Bresson preferred to focus on the human element in their endeavors. After I started dabbling in sports and photojournalism, I could see my interests moving in that direction as well. My biggest stumbling block in this endeavor in the beginning was simply shyness. I wasn't as comfortable setting myself up to interact with and photograph strangers. It didn't take me very long to get over this issue. In fact, once I got over that hump, I found myself being able to approach anyone at almost any time to ask for photographs. Another thing I learned quickly is that people aren't as afraid of photographers as photographers are of people :) People tend to be more afraid of photographers when the guy with the camera is working in stealth mode with a long lens and hiding from the action in some way. When I approach a group of people with my camera in hand, I'll generally just start shooting photos and then answer any questions that may pop up, and they usually do. When the questions from my subjects start to come out, this is when I get something personal to carry with me. When I explain to people why I'm making photos, whether it be for journalism or personal reasons, I'll usually get to hear their story and learn something extra about them that I would have never gotten otherwise.
The interaction I have with the people I photograph is much more interesting to me in terms of photography than the interaction I may have with a landscape or nature photo. When I look at the photos of people again in the future, the interaction comes back to me more readily than those from the nature and landscape images. That makes me happy.
I haven't been into photography very long compared to a lot of people. I never know what to tell people who ask me what kind of photographer I am. I always seem to respond with something inconclusive and general. I have told people that I like to photograph lots of different things. That stops today... As of today, I'm a people photographer.
National Anthem Tryouts
The Hickory Crawdads held some try-outs for National Anthem singers for the upcoming baseball season as part of National Goof Off Day at the park this afternoon.... Below is some video from that event...
National Goof Off Day
I'm starting to feel the itch again... Minor League Baseball here in Hickory kicks off on Thursday, April 3rd, which is less than two weeks away. I'm going to be spending most of the day on Saturday at the stadium for "National Goof Off Day" with my camera and camcorder. There should be some fun photo opportunities and it will give me a chance to meet some of the new faces in the Hickory Crawdads organization.
I went to the stadium Friday afternoon to meet Mike Janela, the new director of broadcasting and media relations. He's new in the organization and he won't be around on Saturday, so I took the opportunity to meet him prior to the start of the season. We spent a little time talking about what he wants this coming season as far as images are concerned, and it seems like the organization may want to make more use of photos this year than they have in the past, so I'm happy about that too.
Of all the sports I photograph, baseball is one of my two favorites. I enjoy being outside at these games between the first of April and the first of September. The Hickory Crawdads have 70 home games this season, and I expect to attend at least 55 of them, and also go to a few games on the road. I'll be doing my regular routine of providing images for the club for publicity as well as making the team's baseball card photos for the season.
Another fun project I do during baseball season is another blog around this team's activities. I don't post much in this blog about baseball or sports in general, but my Crawdads Blog will contain a lot of information and images again this season. Since I picked up a cheap camcorder back in December, I'll probably be posting occasional video clips from these events as well. I do plan to shoot some interesting video on Saturday, so check back for that...
InnerSpace
The newspaper sent me on another very interesting non-sports assignment this evening. In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, the Catawba Science Center held a U2 concert and laser light show in the Millholland Planetarium. I wanted to get some photos of the laser light show but I didn't want to try to set up a tripod in an environment with a lot of people. I went to the 6pm show in hopes of having less than a full house of people, and it paid off. I was able to sit in one of the recumbent chairs with an empty seat next to me. I set my camera bag in the seat beside me, put on my 17-40mm lens, and just set the camera pointing upward on the camera bag. I used my cable release with the camera in bulb mode to capture a series of longer exposures of the laser light show.
Sadly, today was my first trip back to the planetarium since October 5, 2007, when I covered the opening of the new facility with the planetarium and aquariums. I really want to go see some of the shows at the planetarium, and being back in there again tonight reminded me of this. I think I'll try to catch a couple of their shows in the coming weeks...
In the mean time, I have a pint of Ben & Jerry's "Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobler" ice cream staring me in the face... later :)
In Drag
I had an out-of-the-ordinary newspaper assignment late last night at a local night spot called "The Chameleon Club." The lead performer of the evening was "Mr. Charlie Brown" a.k.a. "America's Ultimate Bitch" from Atlanta, Georgia. I admit that I have never been to a drag show before and I didn't know what to expect. Mr. Brown performed some singing, dance, and some stand-up comedy that was quite entertaining.
At any rate, I decided to add Mr. Charlie Brown to my 1000 Faces collection. I really need to get back on this project with a little more effort at some point :)
It’s almost time…
High school baseball season is rolling, and it's renewing my hunger for the minor league season that starts up during the first week of April. I was in the dugout at a local high school game this evening and decided to look around for some type of photo opportunity that speaks of the season opening. This bag of weathered baseballs partially open with a few faces shining through seemed like a good image to go along with the idea.
This image also shows bias from the photographer ;)
The Blue Dock
"The Blue Dock" is one of those places that holds a lot of fond memories of my childhood and teenage years. When I was very young, this is a place my parents would take me on a hot summer day to go swimming and to play in the white sand along the shoreline. As I got older, this place became a hangout spot for friends. As I got even older, this is a place I would go with a folding chair, gas lantern, a cooler, and a fishing rod to sit between midnight and dawn waiting for the elusive big catfish. The baby blue paint that has been used to cover this dock over the years is the source of the location's name, even though it is formally known as the Lakeland Park Beach Club. When I was in high school, all you had to do was utter the words "Blue Dock" and everyone knew where to go. It was not entirely uncommon for the police to run us off the dock late at night because of complaints from neighbors across the street. I'm sure we weren't always quiet down there at night.
Growing up in this neighborhood, it wasn't unusual to spend a Saturday afternoon here with 10 or 20 other kids. My dog was another faithful companion to the blue dock, even though he didn't care much for the water. He enjoyed playing in the sand. On certain occasions, we would toss him in the lake and he would swim to the shore, go under the dock, and not come back out for a while. On other occasions, we would call him out to the end of the dock. He would come running, and if the dock was wet he would slide right off the end into the water, once again causing a retreat to the shore and pouting session underneath the dock again. One of the only times I can recall him willfully getting in the water on his own was when a duck came a little too close to the shore. He jumped in the water and chased the duck half way across the lake. This was also the only time I ever feared for his life at the lake. I thought he was going to tire out and drown before he made it back to the shore.
I thought this photo would be a good addition to my "My Town" series...