War veterans offer great perspective on many issues. It should come as no surprise that photojournalists regularly are photographing vets. On the Fourth of July, I met with a Vietnam vet who had PTSD. The fireworks booming all around the city caused extreme stress. Situational awareness was critical when making his portrait. I didn’t want to do something to make things worse. Before setting up lights, I asked to make sure that he was ok with it. I didn’t know if […]
I don’t get to vacation often. When I do, I tend to prioritize doing and minimize resting. You know, making the most of it. In mid April, my wife and loaded up the Subaru and headed east. All the way east. Well, New Jersey. About 14 hours of driving through the night. (Side note: We were kept awake the whole way by listening to Rainn Wilson’s strange life story in his book, “The Bassoon King.”) Why New Jersey? We were […]
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 […]
With the changing newspaper landscape, photographers are being asked more and more regularly to produce video pieces for the web. Sometimes these take the form of longer, more developed and produced video pieces. More frequently, they are projects that need to be turned around in day. These can pose a challenge. It is hard to take stills and video at the same time. Inevitably, when you’re shooting video, you’ll miss a great opportunity for a still. In contrast, when you’re […]
It tends to be that the colder months are the quieter months when it comes to spot news. However, this past December and January kept me busy. Fires. Accidents. Murders. The whole lot. Here is a take of some of what I was chasing these last two months. December started off with an accident between a freight train and a semi truck. The cab of the truck was pushed about 100 yards down the tracks. The drive of the truck was […]