Dad's Volleyball Game

A week ago, or so, I photographed my dad playing volleyball. My dad has been playing volleyball for awhile and is still pretty good and playing like the rest of his teammates at 62 years of age. 

Flashes of Hope

Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph for Flashes of Hope. I photographed around 30 kids, with the assistance of Jared Rube. I edited and sent them all in today, but this was my favorite. Myles didn't really want to be photographed and since I was still messing with my gear he kind of just did whatever he wanted. This was my favorite of his natural poses that I captured. He wasn't paying attention to me and as a photojournalist, getting to photograph him naturally was a nice treat. They have a great organization and all my photographer friends can volunteer their time as well, if they so please. 

Noah's First Birthday

I was asked to photograph my nephew Noah's first birthday party. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what pictures would be the most important and when he looks back at these what will he want to see, what will be important to him. I don't know that family members necessarily take the time to think like this, and I wonder if it made a difference. Tara, his mother, wanted me to photograph him destroying the cake, so I spent most of the time on that. I am so glad that I took two seconds to turn around and see the huge crowd that was watching him. I hope that he is pleased with my pictures and will look at them time and time again. (Will it even be in an album? I hope so, family albums are the greatest! Especially for significant others to stumble upon. Excuse my side note.)

Something to Live Up To

My grandparents loved pictures, take pictures, and documenting everything. There are so many family pictures that I have seen and have yet to see. I love looking at all of them. Most of the shots are candid even if they are posed. When a picture is taken of this family, it has to live up to those great pictures. When my dad's girlfriend, Stacy asked me to take a picture of the eleven kids, I was excited but extremely nervous. This picture will now be with all of those other great pictures that my grandparents took. It may seem silly that I was looking at it this way, but I really wanted the picture to be phenomenal and memorable, especially since they may just be the last time that all of the kids are together in one place. Everyone was here, in Ohio, for my grandma's funeral. So now that both of my grandparents are gone, I really have to live up to the legacy and make them proud and take great pictures.

This was taken at my dad's house before we left for the wake.

The family portrait.

Indians Game (The Plain Dealer Part Two)

The third day at The Plain Dealer we had an opportunity to shoot the Indians Game, with Chuck Crow! I was really really really excited about this, not because I love sports, but who knows when I'll get the chance to do this again. The PD even let Maureen and I use some of their long glass! 

I took a lot of pictures, and didn't really know what I was doing because I had never shot baseball before. But this is what I came up with. I realized a third of the way into the game, that the pitcher and batter were boring. I started looking for more things in the outfield. Definitely not my best pictures, but I don't think they are completely horrible, especially since I haven't shot baseball. 

Just a little side note. I met with Santiago Lyon at the Associated Press when I was in New York City for my birthday. He said a lot of things I expected like I was missing sports and news in my portfolio. He liked a lot of pictures that no one else likes, and didn't like pictures that everyone else does. Everyone has different opinions. But he gave me some great story editing advice. And he wasn't horrified with my portfolio, (and he would say if he was) He said keep trying and maybe I'll succeed and maybe I won't, but if I don't try, I'll never know. He told me to call him in September so he can look at my portfolio again. I'm really thankful for the time he is willing to give to me!

The Plain Dealer Part One

June 18-20, almost a month ago (sorry for the late post!) I spent time at The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's newspaper with Maureen, a soon to be second year photojournalism student at RIT. 

The first day we spent time with Gus Chan, one of their staff photographers. He was looking for a hot weather feature. In the car ride to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, I asked Gus a ton of questions. (actually keeping the conversation going, a skill I hadn't developed with people I have just met, until that day) He said a lot of things that Snyder tells us constantly so that was good to realize that everything I am learning is really important in the photojournalism world. 

When we got back from the shoot, we hung out with Peggy Turbett. She has an interesting story about being from Ohio, and not wanting to return, studying in New York City, learning photography in her spare time, being a writer, then a photo editor, then a shooter. She looked at my portfolio and spent a ton of time with it and giving me really in depth feedback. 

The Plain Dealer has around nine staff photographers, that's still pretty high compared to what we saw in New York-basically all freelancers. Talking to them and asking them questions was a great way to learn. The "doom and gloom" of newspapers is something that they talked to us a lot about. But they are also excited to see where it will go. Some even said Maureen and I are in a great position right now, we just need to be open to new possibilities. 

The second day, Bill Gugliotta, the director of photography, gave us an assignment to shoot a hot weather feature. I know my way around Rochester, better than Cleveland so I pulled from the things I knew and called people. We decided to go to the Tremont Pool, but couldn't get in because we didn't have press passes. I figured there would be a line outside of the pool so we waited around before it opened. Instead there was a park by the pool and some kids were playing on the playground. About ten minutes before the pool opened the same kids I was photographing on the playground were getting ready to go to the pool and applying sunscreen. I caught some of those moments and was fairly happy with them. My pictures were put in an online gallery for the Plain Dealer, here. 

Honestly, I wasn't 100% sure how I felt about newspapers, and I'm still not. But I loved the Plain Dealer and their staff and I think it would be very enjoyable to work there...if they ever hire more photographers.