I hate this time of year. This is the time when photographers pull together their best frames from last year. The solid daily frames are tossed aside and we’re left with an internet that is overwhelmed with the best of the best. It’s an amazing thing to see. But I hate it. Photographers make connections with their pictures. Sometimes you make a killer frame. Sometimes the story behind making the image is better than the image itself. That is something a viewer […]
We’re all familiar with the saying K.I.S.S., Keep It Simple Stupid. Sometimes that the best advice we can follow. I’ve been known to get carried away with lighting setups. I’ve used as many as eight speedlights in repeating flash mode to create some of my sports portraits. However, often times the simple setup can yield just as nice of results. Case in point, I was tasked with photographing a tennis doubles team that was dominating the conference. I had a short […]
I’ve talked about covering hard stories. Usually, it’s breaking news like a shooting or car crash, or something like a funeral or memorial service. Over the years, you become calloused to these things. You have to in order to maintain composure and tell the story. Those things are in the moment. Coverage is reactive. But sometimes you’re covering the aftermath of something tragic. In those instances, you have time to think and relate to your story. Recently, I had to […]
In my experience, the cold months are usually slow when it comes to spot news. Sure, you have accidents due to snow and ice, as well as a house fire or two. But overall, spot news is usually down. That has not been my experience during the last four months or so. I can’t count how many times I’ve been called out of bed in the morning or told to leave an assignment to get to breaking news these last […]
From time to time, everything seems to line up on an assignment. The light. The scene. The people. It happened recently when I was at Palace Shoe Repair. The family business has been a staple of downtown Rockford for about 90 years. The light was perfect. The vintage hand tools and machines had so much personality. I knew I was going to be happy spending some time there. I only could stay for about 30 minutes when I went to shoot […]