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.

Finally a New Post (with Horses)

I've been neglecting this blog lately but here's an updated (special for Luanne). I photographed a horse show and the unveiling of a new plan for renovation of parts of Southeast Gainesville. The photo requestes were pretty specific. For the unveiling I was asked to photograph officials unveiling the plans and get shots of the crowd. For the horse show the paper wanted shots of the horses jumping. So I tried to get those aspects covered. Sidenote: I'm going to be the fall photo intern at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which I'm excited about.

The first shot is the one that the paper ran as the local centerpiece. Of course it was probably the third picture I took out of at least 200.






I spent the last 30 minutes I was there trying to get a good panning shot. This was pobably one of the better of those.



Here are the shots of the unveiling of the new plans for Southeast Gainesville. They're pretty straight forward, I guess.

Some more impromptu portraits

Two posts in one day? Why not? If I don't put these up now they'll probably never resurface. Next time I might give the grandparents a chance to smile before I snap the picture...maybe. I'm still loving this 50mm.


Grandma


Grandpa


Rachel


The Intergalactic Gentleman who lives on my front porch


The grandparents in some dramatic elevator lighting (not a portrait, but where else should I put it?)

high school graduation

I went up to the Chicago burbs this weekend for my little sister's high school graduation. While there I got to see my family and I took a few pictures. Here's a couple from the graduation (both pre, during and post).




Here name is Eileen. Her friends call her "Tilt." How witty.



Grandpa's hands holding the graduation program.


Lots of graduates.


But I managed to spot her anyway. (She's the silhouette)