Shooting and Publishing

I've been shooitng a lot but many of my assignments lately have been for stories that will be published in a week or two rather than the next day. I feel like I should wait until the paper publishes the photos before I put them up. So, this update is made up of a few features and spot news shots. Oh, and a quick portrait of architect Gyo Obata that I made really quickly in an effort to convince him to let me come back and shoot something more documentary style of him working in his garden. Also, I tried to get his dog into the shot with him but couldn't seem to make it work. He never called me back so the portrait ran, which is alright I guess. There've also been a couple of fires (though in both cases the fire itself wasn't visible) and a feature shot of some A/C repair guys up on the roof of a building with a big mural painted on its wall. Coming soon...probably some food shoots I've done this past week.

More Horses; Race Horses

My last assignment was a tough one for me. There is a horse racetrack on the outskirts of East St. Louis (that's in Illinios) that is in trouble financially due to gambling legislation and other issues. There is a group of people who both work and live at the track, either in the dorms or in trailers/campers in a lot next door to the track. Next season the track may have to cut the number of races from 90 to 60, which could mean really bad news for the people who count on the races to provide work and shelter. The top photo ran on the front of the Metro section today and the second photo ran inside. Both people are grooms at the track who also live in the dorms. The first photo is of a 20-year old who's parents died in a car/train accident a year ago. The second photo is a mexican immigrant who lives in a 10-by-12-foot dorm room with his wife and two children. It was tough trying to get into the dorms for photos that show the track is more than just a work place, but also a place where people live. But when the light fell on the young groom while he was applying a poultice to the horse's leg it all felt worhtwhile.

Spot News

I stayed at the paper 30 minutes past the end of my shift on Monday night, which meant that I was the obvious choice to be hurried out of the office to shoot some spot news. The manager of a small neighborhood market/deli in the south part of South City was shot and killed during what was apparently a robbery. I got there when just his two sons were there. Then, the rest of the family arrived plus pretty much the whole neighborhood was standing around in the lot across the street. It was a weird, emotional thing to have to shoot. Very sad. The shooter not been caught. The first photo ran in the paper, the second online. The last one I didn't submit, but it's very emotional for me.

Dancing and Protesting in the Street

More photos and less words for this post. I photographed a protest in front of City Hall yesterday afternoon. I was underwhelmed with the take and I don't know if it made it into the paper or even the online. Plus, it was late afternoon so the protest was completely in the shadow of City Hall so the sky gets blown out and leaves big empty spaces in the corners. The TV cameras and vans also limited the options for shooting positions. I also went on another photo hunt outside the city limits. This time I ended up in the town of Kirkwood where I saw a group of dancers performing outside at the Plaza Station. The shot that I submitted for the paper was the first one. However, there was also a group of war protestors on the opposite side of the street and I tried to get them into the picture, too. I never quite managed to get the picture I wanted with both groups in but I did get a shot of both the dancers and the protestors along with a baby that made a break for it, heading straight for the street. His mom caught him before it was too late, but the picture I got seems odd so I'm posting it.

Signs and Feats

So, I've had a few more days shooting here in STL and as a consequence I've got a few more photos to post. I got assigned to shoot a sign the other day. Sign photos usually aren't all that exciting but I tried to jazz it up by waiting for dark and doing a long exposure on a tri-pod, which made it slightly more interesting, I guess. The signs a little funny, anyway. I also ended up shooting a feature today. I was sent on a portrait assignment that didn't come together so I decided to continue my hunt for a photo outside of St. Louis City (which I had been advised to do earlier since most of the the Post-Dispatch's readers are out there anyway). I came upon some young guys playing tennis in a park and it was a beautiful day. I thought it was a grass tennis court, which I thought was cool and worth a look, but it wasn't really. I went with a wide angle and tried to get in both the sky and the lines on the court...it turned out alright. I don't know if it is going to run but I feel like I at least accomplished something by stopping and taking the time to shoot it.

First Post-Dispatch Post

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch sent me out on my first assignment today. There was a group of about 25 people who gathered outside of the city and marched 21 miles in to the Gateway Arch. The organizer has been doing it every year since the first anniversary of 9/ll, when he made the hike by himself. Over the past few years more people have come on board. So I back tracked the march route and spent a few miles photographing. Here are the three shots I turned in. I'm not sure which one the paper will run. Oh, the stoic guy in the first picture is the organizer.