Light the Way

I think like many photographers, I have a love/hate relationship with lighting assignments. When it works, lighting is really cool. When it doesn't work I absolutely hate it. ;)

When I started shooting I didn't light much of anything at all. Basketball I shot with on-camera flash and the crappy quality that goes with it. Then I got a off-camera flash cord which allowed me to play around a little more on news and feature assignments, as long as I was willing to hold the light while shooting. After that I got a small lightstand which allowed me to put the strobe a little farther away, as long as I didn't stretch the cord too far, bringing the stand and strobe crashing down.

When I started shooting digital at a former paper, off-camera lighting was limited for the most part to using Norman strobes with Pocket Wizards for basketball. I could have taken it farther but there weren't any softboxes or other light modifiers, and it didn't seem practical. About 6 years ago, I decided to put together a lighting kit using a couple Nikon strobes. Even though I use Canon equipment at work, the Nikons are easier. They have pc connections built in which eliminates the need to buy expensive hotshoes with the connections.

Rotatech automotive engineer Bill Jeffers inside
a car at his workshop, March 2004.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2004

A lot of newspaper assignments tend to look like a turd to most photographers, something they don't really want to mess with but must to get that paycheck every two weeks. Some of the time, all I am doing I think is polishing that turd, elevating something crappy into something that doesn't stink quite as much. It's still a turd, but now it has a nice varnish on it. I am not really all that comfortable polishing the turd. I'd rather take the image and make it into something that needs to run because it's so good, rather than the image running because a hole needs to be filled whether the image is good or not.

The image of Bill Jeffers is one I was proud of. He has his own automotive engineering firm we did a story on. He's lit with a Dynalite off to the side. The light inside the engine is a Nikon strobe placed to shoot up into the air scoop. It's an image for a story that probably would run inside the paper, but if necessary, that image could run as a centerpiece on the front page. I think it's that good.

Calumet Rolling Kit
A. Pocket Wizard radio transmitters
B. Cords to connect PW's to flashes (Under the pouch are two Nikon strobes)
C. Various hot shoes to mount strobes to lightstand D. Lightmeter
E. Snoots made from corrugated plastic board
F. Tape, shims, poster tack, velcro strips
G. Strobe clamps H. Pony clamps

At the time I was still shoving the small amount of equipment I was using into an old camera bag. I slowly started accumulating more equipment and about 2 years ago I bought a rolling case from Calumet Photo. The rolling case allows me to walk into an assignment with much of what I need to shoot any photo I might need to for the newspaper. The rolling case makes it easier as I can carry a couple strobes, Pocket Wizards, clamps, various other things I might need.

Yet at times, even the rolling case can be a bit cumbersome. In crowds where it's tough to tow something behind me, situations where I don't want to have to worry about keeping track of the case while shooting.

It's in the past six months that I started considering getting an even smaller lighting kit. I would have liked to get two more Pocket Wizards, a transmitter and a receiver for the flash. It would have given me potential to use more lights if need be. Except two Pocket Wizards cost $380 which right now just isn't in the cards.

I could pull out the Wizards I keep in my kit but I'm always afraid that I will end up losing something. The potential for losing something seems to increase when I'm in a hurry, which lately seems like all the time.

The other couple options are the Tamrac Microsync system which runs about $220 and Alien Bees Cybersync system which runs about $140. Alien Bees came out with Cybersync system several months ago. Recently I have had several assignments that I went to and said to myself, "I wish I had that small lighting kit with me." I finally decided to do something about it and bought the Cybersync system. For $140 I got a transmitter and a receiver, plus the cords I would need to connect everything.

The quality is pretty good I think. It's not the quality of Pocket Wizards, but then there is a significant price difference. Overall, I think they're a good buy. And for someone just starting in photography who would like to start using remotes, it's definitely an easier way to start. I got the units 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving night was the first real opportunity I got to use them.

Alien Bees Cybersync receiver on left,
transmitter on right,
included cord to trigger strobe.
All stored in a Pelican Micro Case 1010

Every year in Kokomo, there is a park that gets decorated with Christmas lights. People walk or drive thru to see the display, donating what money they can, with the money going to benefit a local charitable organization. The opening night is always on Thanksgiving night. I have worked the past 5 holidays so I always shoot it. Getting interesting art is difficult.

Shooting photos of the light displays is easy to do, but that does get kinda boring. Shooting people looking at the displays with on-camera lighting is okay, but it has that on-camera look to it. I decided this was an assignment perfect to use the new light kit. Using the light kit meant I had to pick my spot, as opposed to finding someone interesting in the crowd to focus on and following them. I looked at a couple spots in the park and finally settled on this area. I clamped the light to the other side of this little house, which allowed me to light the area without getting any flash showing in the photo.

Amber Barlow and her four-year-old daughter Victoria look at the
lights display in We Care Park on Thanksgiving night.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

When I got the image of mom and daughter walking thru, I knew I had the photo I wanted. I spent a little more time after this image, trying to get some other people, but this one just works. The light from the displays doesn't really help with focusing so some of my stuff was a little too soft, but this image is quite good I think. The lighting on them looks fairly natural, the only thing I would change I think is to gel the strobe to better match the Christmas lights. I like the fact that the daughter is framed by the window and mom is looking back at her.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Painting with Light

It's been a couple months since I was last here, sorry about that. It's pretty much all tied to it. Been kinda crazy, and creativity has taken a bit of a backseat to just getting things done. A few assignments I've had since my last post have all involved light painting. Not that they necessarily had to be done by light painting, but it just seemed easier.

Light painting is a bit like taking the long road to your destination. Like going from New York to Chicago by way of Argentina. There are sometimes easier ways to get an image, but the occasional light painting (L.P.) makes it more interesting.

The first assignment I had was in September to shoot an old cemetery that has some haunted lore attached to it. Needed an image to go with a story about Halloween and ghost stories. I had been out to the cemetery once before several years ago and got a fairly crappy image. Its in an isolated part of the country, surrounded by trees, no lights, typically can't see the moon.

Last time I did a long exposure, might have used a flash off camera; don't really remember to be honest. I remember I didn't like the results, but I really didn't know anything about L.P. at that time.

I had done some small scale L.P. at home back in January, my first time really experimenting with it. Took some items from around my apartment and played some. Had some success with some of my antique cameras.

A Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera from the mid-20th century.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

Some examples of L.P. are easy to spot, like this Brownie. Other examples are a little more difficult. This photo I imagine you could light in a traditional way using strobes but I think it's infinitely more difficult. Trying to restrict the light to just those portions you want to see on something so small to begin with can be hard.

Jerome Cemetery
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I spent about an hour at the cemetery playing around taking long exposures. For the Brownie shot I used a small Maglite flashlight. I've got 3 different handheld flashlights I use, depending on how bright I need the light etc. The Maglites work well for replicating soft sunlight, and in that image it has a little bit of an antique look to it. I've also got a LED flashlight that has more of a blue cast to it.

Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-16 folding camera
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

This folding Kodak camera I used the LED on. The color cast can be changed in PS of course but sometimes it just easier to use what will give you the look to begin with.

Painting something small like the cameras seems to be a different technique than painting something large like the cemetery. The cameras were done in one shot. I would practice with the light on the different portions I wanted to be seen, and once I had the amount of time and angle of light down that each spot needed to look good, I would meld all the spots into one final shot. Even once I had those times and angles it still took many tries before I got something I was happy with.

The cemetery was a different image tho. I played around some to find what angles worked the best. I used a 1 million candlepower light for this photo, and for some of the smaller items I used a 4 D-cell small spotlight. The big light works great for lighting the tree and the Miller headstone, some of the other headstones worked better with the smaller light.

One of the things to remember about L.P. is to get out from behind the camera. Light hitting the subject from a similar angle as the direction of the camera will look like crap. Particularly an object. Most people don't have shiny skin so it isn't going to reflect the light back to the camera as much. Many objects tho, even those that look dull or have a matte finish, do reflect some of the light back towards the camera if the light is coming from anywhere near the camera. Lighting from the side, top or bottom of an object is all it takes to keep an object from reflecting.

I didn't do hundreds of shots for the cemetery, only about 20, when I realized it was going to be difficult to get the image in one shot. I looked at the images I had and realized that each one had a different object that had the right light. I decided to cut the pieces apart and put it together like a puzzle in PS. Seeing as how the whole scene isn't lit, all I had to do was hide the seams in the dark spots. Maybe cheating, but this is an illustration to begin with so it doesn't really matter. It's not as if anyone would seriously believe the cemetery always looks like this. Ha!

A crude representation of the various slices of the images
brought together to make a whole.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

At the beginning of October I had an assignment to shoot a cover for our Howard County Living magazine holiday gift guide. I don't have a Christmas tree, being in apartment it doesn't make sense. An editor does have one tho, so she set up her tree and I used it as a background for some of my photos.

Using the tree as a background was a bit difficult because the exposure time to L.P. the gift was 20-30 seconds. If I left the lights on the tree that long the picture would have looked horrible. What I ended up doing was lighting the gift with the flashlight for various lengths of time, then going over to the plug for the lights and lighting the tree up for 1-2 seconds. Not a very long time, but it's enough to give it some color in the background.

One of several layouts I tried.
Also used a holiday wreath as a background for some.

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

The photo that ended up being used
for the cover.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

As I said, I played around with several shots and the one I didn't think would be used for the cover is the one they like best. I put some lights into a box and propped the lid open. As i did with the tree, I lit the box in the darkened room with the flashlight first, then turned the lights on in the box for a couple seconds. Did this many times before I found the one I liked the best.

And there is a very obvious spelling mistake on the cover. Of all 10,000 magazines that were printed. Not my responsibility, not my embarrassment, I don't do headlines. ;)

At the end of October I had a portrait of a legally blind high school cross country runner to do for sports. I didn't have my flashlights with me and I didn't think to L.P. until I had arrived at the school. No matter. For this one I decided to use one of my strobes to do the L.P. I was able to get into a trainers room where I was able to control the overhead light, making the room completely dark. The door had one of those long windows in that are reinforced with wire mesh in the glass. Fortunately I always have a black nylon sheet in my light kit, I put that over the top of the door, covering the window and blocking the light coming in from the hallway. Using my strobe fitted with one of my snoots made with corrugated plastic board, I was able take a long exposure, and walking around the athlete, I hit him with the strobe in the places I wanted to be lit.

I like the look of it. It's not a Pulitzer, but it does the job of showing what he looks like. And being lit, but having some shading around his eyes, emphasizes the idea that he has limited sight.




I think the thing I like best about L.P. is that it isn't hard. It looks like it would be really difficult, but it all comes down to experimenting with a photo until I find something I like. It does take time to do, which does limit it's usefulness some, particularly when using it with people. Most people don't want to take the time to stand still long enough for one to shoot their photo this way. But every once in awhile you find someone who gets it and is willing to allow you the time.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Lost..... And Found

I found this in a parking lot in Kokomo, on Thanksgiving of all days.

Mom Brummett?

On the back it says,"Colburn, You're the son I never wanted and so much more! So glad we finally got to act together. :) Beth"

So many questions, so few answers. Is this Mom Brummett? If not, who is it? Who is Colburn? Who is Beth?

There are things I'm thankful for this year. I'm healthy. I'm a little wiser, at least a bit, photographically. I have a job. Friends and family around me. And I don't have a mom who looks like Lizzie Borden in her later years.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Go Big or Go Home

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Had a couple sports assignments last week that got some big play on the section front which made me extremely happy.

The first one was a story about two triathletes competing in an upcoming event. They weren't actually practicing as the assignment said they would be, so I had to resort to a portrait. Framing the two of them with the front wheel of one of the bikes is an old standby but it works. The strobe made them pop a little and I like how the spokes divide them.

The other assignment was of a football linebacker for one of the local h.s. teams. Again, there wasn't much to work with. An overcast sky eliminated a few of the ideas I had for something dramatic involving a bright blue background. He's the leading tackler for the past two years and looking at the image gives you the idea he's serious about his assignment.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Put Up or Shut Up

As I mentioned in my last post, I had asked for some advice of some fellow photographers on how to approach my new work schedule. I explained I was afraid that I would get burnt out being only one of two photographers and if anyone had suggestions about how to keep that focus that allows one to see the great images, I would be appreciative.

I got some helpful advice, and I got some funny advice (that mostly involved using drugs or booze) and I got some pessimistic advice.

Newspapers for the most part aren’t doing too well right now. They haven’t been able to figure out how to use the internet to make money, especially the kind money they made from advertising sales in the paper. Much of that ad money is now heading to the internet where it isn’t difficult to find places that will allow you to post classified ads for free and do a lot of other types of marketing for free, or nearly so.

Some of the pessimistic advice suggested that it wasn’t worth sticking around the newspaper. The aggravation I would get would outweigh the benefits and gratification I get from being a newspaper photojournalist. Since the other photographer was laid off just last week, everything is still kinda new. Unsure how or if this will be successful.

I tried to be positive in asking my question, I didn’t complain about the situation or say it was unfair. It’s something that happened, and was out of my control. The only thing I can do now is go forward and make the best of it.

The pessimistic advice tended to come from photographers outside of newspapers who don’t think very much of the media. And frankly, there are times I don’t think very much of the media, even being a member of that group. There are those who suggest the formal media’s time has come to an end. With the internet, one can get news from bloggers or citizen journalists. Some good stories and ideas have come from those two groups. There have also been some major ethical issues from ordinary citizens who give a media organization a story, only for the organization to find out that the citizen had a bias or personal agenda.

Even people who are members of an established media organization have bias. One just hopes that a journalist recognizes their biases and can keep them in check. That’s part of the reason that media organizations have several layers of management and fact checking, to balance out one journalist’s possible bias with an editor who looks for stories that aren’t fair and balanced.

A crude but I think effective metaphor is that a good media organization, whether it’s a newspaper, tv program or website, is similar to a good butcher shop. No one wants the whole cow or even a side of beef. You can’t do anything with that for dinner. A good butcher looks for the best side of beef from among many, cuts away the fat and unnecessary parts to present the customer with a nice t-bone steak or prime rib.

Some organizations are butcher shops that only provide at best, a marginal cut of meat. Some organizations do a little bit better job of providing better cuts and more of a variety. A butcher shop has health code rules it has to follow which can be legally enforced. Media organizations only have sets of ethical rules to follow which may or may not be legally enforceable.

Bloggers and citizen journalists have their potential, but many are offering the whole cow. It can be difficult sometimes to determine what portions of what they have to say are worth digesting, and which ones to leave on the plate. And there are some that one should just run away from the table as fast as possible because they’re the equivalent of mad cow disease. Being some web address in the vastness of the net, sometimes a reader has no idea who the blogger is.

One hopes to have a good butcher shop nearby with a lot of choices. A consumer of news hopes to have a good provider nearby, if possible several to provide different points of view.

I honestly don’t see newspapers disappearing. I can’t imagine being left with the only choices being television news or a random blog somewhere. Blogs can be interesting to read, provide some useful information and links to other ideas. I can’t see that being the only place to get one’s news though. Television news seems to be pandering to the lowest common denominator.

One of the reasons I don’t see tv news being a reliable source of news in the future is that most of the time people can’t remember exactly what is they saw on tv. Go to a coffee shop to listen to the conversations of customers, or talk to a friend or relative about some news story they saw on tv.

It often goes something like, “I can’t remember what station it was, but I saw some story about how ABC Company was going to outsource some of their jobs, don’t remember the number, to some country overseas someplace.”

It was the NBC station in Chicago, that did a story about ABC company that was taking jobs over to Thailand for 6 months while they do some restructuring, only to bring the jobs back eventually. Good luck trying to find that story anywhere. It’s like trying to play the game telephone. And even if you do find it in a video format, it’s going to be at the most one minute long. If it’s a printed story on the station’s site, if it has 400 words, that’s a long story.

Now if a newspaper does the story, either in printed form or on the web, you’re probably going to be able to find it. It’s going to quote company officials, have numbers and dates with it, explain the significance of the issue. 400 words for a newspaper almost counts as a brief for many newspapers. For such a story it’s most likely going to be much longer.

I’m not sure what the future is going to bring for photography or newspapers. I know I enjoy getting an assignment and seeing where my creativity takes me. Some of the advice suggested I would be better off going to work in an office 40 hours a week. I can’t see that making me happy though. Some advice suggested I would be better off freelancing full time. The ideal situation of freelancing is that you only take the jobs that interest you, clients don’t argue about the estimate you give them to do the work and they always pay on time.

I’ve done a little bit of freelancing in the past 11 years. I’ve taken a few jobs I’ve not been real crazy about, but they were paying, There were conflicts about the cost of the work. And clients hardly ever pay on time. It’s not to say freelancing is a bad job, it’s just different.

As I mentioned in the last post, things didn’t gel for me right away with my photography. I wish I knew why I didn’t get that great advice when I was in college 14 years ago, or when I started at the Post-Tribune 11 years ago, or 7 years ago when I started at the Tribune. I sometimes wonder if maybe someone said something similar to that advice and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to hear it. Or maybe I misunderstood them. Or I wasn’t talking to the right people. Whatever the reason, I finally got the advice two years ago.

The advice works for me. Having received it a relatively short time ago, I’m still seeing just what it can do for me. It wasn’t that I wasn’t successful in the 12 years before everything seemed to click, it’s that I wonder how much more successful I could have been. I’ve seen what its done for me the past two years. I’d like to see what else it can do for me before I just decide to bail from newspapers.

Change is the New Black

It's inevitable, even if no pays notice to it. Change is gonna happen.

I've had this post floating around in my head for a few days now. It's a mish-mash of different stuff, some recent, some from the past. This is one of those posts that I always felt like was a reason I didn't start doing a blog earlier. It feels way self-indulgent. If you quit reading halfway thru, don't worry no hurt feelings.

The other staff photographer at the Tribune was laid off last week. Whether it was a result of the economy (that's either truly sinking or only appears that way, depending on who one talks to) or what appears to be some sort of natural contraction of staff in the newspaper market, it's now just my boss and I shooting.

My typical shift prior to this was Monday and Tuesday afternoons, then Wednesday thru Friday the shift depended on the time of the year and what assignments there were day to day. There were weekends thrown in maybe one or two times a month, depending on how many assignments there were and whether it was something I was particularly familiar with or good at.

In the 11 years I've done this I've had people ask me how I deal with the crazy hours and the last minute assignments or schedule changes, even from others in the newsroom, who may have a more set schedule. And to be honest, I don't know how I've done it. It's something you do one day at a time and then it becomes a routine.

This past Saturday was my first of many to work. It was fairly long, but it wasn't too bad. I had asked for some advice of other photographers last week on how to keep looking for those photos that may go unnoticed working a shift like this and how to get that energy to keep doing it. I got some practical advice, I got some funny advice and I got some pessimistic advice.

I don't really know how to judge the situation right now. Sometimes when you're in the middle of the storm it can be hard to judge what direction to go.

I've wanted to be a photojournalist since I was 14 and in high school. As a kid I was in 4-H, frankly it didn't get me all that excited. One of the projects I always did was photography. 4-H pretty much spells out what kind of photo you should make. It would make a nice quaint story to say it was 4-H that inspired me, but it didn't.

I went for a workshop called Hot Shots one summer in Washington DC. There were 50 or so kids for the week and we had professional photographers along with volunteers with an interest in photography that led the groups. Before I left I really didn't have much of an interest in photography, going for a week just seemed like something to do. Leaving after the week was a different story.

Me, making a photo in front of the National Cathedral.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

Each day we would go out with 5 or so rolls of slide film and spend time in downtown DC or Georgetown, maybe at one of the monuments. At the end of the day we would drop our film off, it would be processed and we would get the slides back later that evening to edit.

The whole week was pure fun. Spend a week in one of the most photogenic cities in the country, maybe the world, and walk around making photos. The only other student there I remember from that time was Anjeanette Milner, she was pretty cool. Don't know where she disappeared to. Unsure where any of the other students would be now, imagine there are some still shooting, somewhere...

We were exposed to some really inspiring photographers. Tom Kennedy, who at the time was director of photography at National Geographic. Sam Abell, an NG photographer. Jay Maisel, who creates images with some great colors.

The Vietnam Wall and Washington Monument.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

At the time, I was fortunate to realize how cool this was, but looking back on it there still is no way to absorb all that was happening. Now I wish I would have kept a journal during that time. I really enjoyed it, it's what was and maybe still is the basis of my wanting to create images. And that sounds really hokey. Can you see the schmaltz? Nonetheless, that week, and the week the following summer got me excited about photography.

It's the 18 years between then and now that sometimes gets a little hazy. When I hear other photographers talk about how they got started shooting, it seems like it involves some manner of they didn't plan on it, they just kinda fell into it. I always felt a little selfish or undeserving maybe, that I always knew this is what I wanted to do. Like it should have been more difficult than it has been.

I messed around some with the school paper in high school. When it was time to decide on college, of course I was going to study photojournalism. Ended up at Ball State for four years. Worked on the newspaper there all four years, had a pretty good time. Was a staff photographer, then a paid chief photographer, then photo editor my senior year.

And looking back on it, that just kinda fell in my lap. I worked hard for it, don't get me wrong. But I saw other people who seemed to be working for similar things just as hard, if not more, and I'm not even positive some of them are still shooting. I knew some people who were good photographers who just got wore out and fed up. Don't know where many of them ended up either.

After graduating in '97 I was fortunate enough to hear from another Ball State grad, Jeff Nicholls, who was working at the Post-Tribune in "da region" (NW Indiana) as Chicagoans call it. I got a position part-time there. Filling in as freelance, sometimes up to 30 or 40 hours a week, was a great first start. I learned a lot, was around some great photographers and contrary to national media reports that Gary isn't fit for anyone, was actually an interesting place to shoot.

In April 2001 I left for the Kokomo Tribune. The tech bubble had just burst and the market was doing lousy (sorta like now) and my hours were going to be cut back. It really was time to leave anyway.

When I started I thought I might be here a year, maybe two. And it's been seven years. I never planned on staying in town that long, but things have a funny way of happening.

The first couple years I spent getting used to working at a smaller paper. I was trying, but something seemed to be missing. It didn't feel like my work was gelling together. In 2003 I was fortunate to get to work on a 6 month story about a man waiting for a lung transplant.

It wasn't until 2006 that it seemed like everything clicked. I spent a weekend in Chicago at a photo workshop. I struggled some to find something that really grabbed me until another photographer there gave me some advice. The advice has kinda propelled me thru the past 2 years. It's the sorta advice that makes you see everything from a new angle. It seems like it's so easy, it makes you wonder why you hadn't ever seen it before.

That brings me back around full circle to this past weekend. Only two photographers at a paper the size of the Kokomo Tribune and a circulation of 22,000 typically might be ok. But we've been asked to do much more over the past few years than just typical daily assignments. We now have multimedia to produce, magazine assignments to shoot. And most jobs now, whether it's an architect or a plumber, have added responsibilities.

What makes it tough is to continue to be creative while fulfilling these responsibilities.

Which is why I'm happy that even tho I worked a lot this Saturday, I managed to find some unique photos.

John Gwillim of Wabash holds his shotgun over his shoulder as

he and other shooters listen to a safety talk before walking to
the target area at Izaak Walton League for the start of
the Sporting Clays Classic.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

One of my first assignments was a clay target shoot. I wasn't quite sure whether it was going to have some interesting photos or not, but I was pleased with what I found. I wish I had more time than the two hours I did. Shooting photos and recording audio makes one wonder if doctors have perfected yet that surgery to add a third arm.

I'm not sure what following weekends will bring, I guess I'll just do it a day at a time. I've got some more thoughts on this for my next discussion.

Covers

From uppper left, clockwise: local pilots, spa treatments,
kneeboarding and margaritas.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

The latest issue of out magaine finally came out, with the cover featuring the kneeboarding assignment I did just over a month ago. Its the one in lower right corner. The others are previous covers I've done in the past year.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Feed link

I don't know if anyone reading my blog is subscribed to RSS posts, but I'm using Feedburner to get them out... or I was using Feedburner. It just doesn't seem to be working as it should be so I'm killing it. It might create some problems for you and I'm sorry about that. Or it might not, I'm not really positive what will happen once it goes away. Sorry about this, I'm new to this blogging thing so at this point its all about experimenting.

Fair Day Fare

The Tipton H.S. band theme for their performance was KISS.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Spent most of the day at the Indiana State Fair. Saw some animals, ate fair food. There are days it's tough to get out of bed for the job.

(That was sarcasm, it's not really tough.)

The fair was enjoyable, have been in Indiana for seven years but this was my first time there. Focused on some of the local kids participating in different events at the fair, such as the band and some 4-H members showing animals.

Corn at the Fair?!
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Granted, it's Indiana and corn is one of the staple crops they grow here. But I never considered that they might have corn growing at the fair. And this certainly looked like corn that was growing there. 20 feet long, 6 rows of corn growing in the median of Main St. at the fairgrounds. Someone had to go to the fairgrounds at the beginning of the season, plant the corn, probably water it and whatever else needs to be done. Huh. Interesting.

The only thing I missed that I wanted to see were the cockroach races, that probably was interesting.

No vending machines in heaven?

Angel and priest

Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

On Sunday, the morning after shooting the Nascar race, stopped for breakfast in Shorewood, IL at Crispy Waffle. Good food. Like the name, simple, tells you exactly what the deal is. Leaving the restaurant, I looked at the little row of vending machines they had lined up. Gobstoppers, various other types of candy and toys. Of the five or six machines that were there, this was the only one not working.

Sometimes the signs are obvious I guess, like a burning bush. Other times they're more subtle.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Life Lock 400 Nascar race

Greg Biffle's pit.
You are here.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Update ~ The gallery of photos I shot just went up on the Tribune's website.

Went up to the Chicagoland Speedway this past Thursday to shoot the Nascar races there this weekend. I would have posted this on the days I shot all of this, but the days were so long I just didn't have the energy after shooting all day to then write posts.

This post is a couple days late even past that reason. Over the course of the three days, I shot about 4500 images. It's the equivalent of 125 rolls of film. Makes my back hurt just thinking about carrying all that. After editing the photos over the past couple days, I ended up with 80 images to tone the color and write cutlines for. So this post got put at the bottom of the pile.

It was an interesting weekend tho. It was my first time at the track in Joliet, IL. It's a short 1.5 mile oval track which makes the racing a little different from the 2.5 mile Indy Motor Speedway I'm used to over the past five years.

The reporter and I left on Thursday and got there around noon. Lots of press conferences and media interviews to do and take photos of. Thursday was supposed to be a day for the drivers of the Nextel Cup race to get a feel for the track in practice and then qualify later in the day. Supposed to be. The track got hit with a huge rain storm later in the day.

I was down in the pit lane and all the cars were lined up for the drivers to go out and qualify. All of the sudden, the crews from the various teams started pushing cars back towards the garages. The sky got really dark and ugly, the teams got the cars into the garage about five minutes before all hell broke loose and the rained started coming down sideways.

Cars get pushed back to the garage area.

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

All the media waited around for a few hours until the qualifications were canceled later in the evening. Not a glamorous start to what was to be the first Nascar night race at the track.

Rain falling at the track, almost looks like snow.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Friday about noon I showed up back at the track with the reporter, doing our "no rain dance." A lot of the day involves just walking around the garages hoping to see a driver and snap a few photos as they sign autographs for fans or talk to their crew in the garage.

Spent part of the day walking around with the reporter, Ken de la Bastide, through the garage areas of the Nextel Cup drivers and the Busch Series drivers. The Nextel drivers are the guys like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt jr. The big names, so to speak. The Busch Series has drivers like Dario Franchitti who came over from the Indy Racing League, Brian Vickers and Kenny Wallace; the up and coming racers. Some guys race in both series, but only a few.

Like I've said before, I'm not a gearhead. But I have found the more racing I shoot, the more I am starting to enjoy it. Being a night race and seeing how I've never shot one, I pushed to get credentials to go to this one. And I'm glad I did. Unique experience for sure.

As most know, Nascar is referred to as redneck racing. Don't know if I would put it quite like that, but the general idea gets across. More laid back than the Indy Racing League let's say. Different style of cars, different history of racing.

A Nascar driver might tell someone to "meet me in my holler in an hour." Huh? Holler is a southern word for a small valley. In this case it's used as a noun to describe their race trailer they work out of that is parked near the team garage. Like I said, more laid back.

On Friday night there was the Busch Series race, which quite a few pegged Tony Stewart to win. Which he didn't even come close to. As I heard someone in the media room say, Stewart appears to be taking the express bus to last place. Unfortunate, but true. Stewart hasn't done real well this year, sometimes coming close but never quite there.

Kyle Busch celebrates by standing on his car while in a haze of smoke.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Kyle Busch ended up winning the race. Got quite a few good photos of him as he celebrated in typical Nascar fashion by doing a burnout on the track. Pretty non-eventful race, Busch had a pretty good grip on the lead for much of it.

Friday was a late night. Didn't get out til midnight. Fortunately, didn't have to be at the track again til noon the next day.

Came in on Saturday and with it being a night race, the mood is pretty relaxed. Most of the drivers didn't show up until around 4pm to start getting ready. Spent some time wandering around shooting features, just finding cool stuff that caught my eye.

Richard Petty jokes with Jeff Gordon.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Around 6pm, the photographers headed out to the start finish line to shoot the driver introductions. Richard Petty was there, as this is his 50th year of being involved with the series. First as a driver starting in 1958 until his retirement in 1992, and currently as a team owner.

Before the driver intro's, Petty was introduced and honored. Then the drivers for the Nextel race came out on stage, all wearing the same signature cowboy hat Petty has always worn. Pretty funny. Then all the drivers were stopping to get their hats signed by Petty. The guy is a legend for sure, and you would have thought the drivers were all 12-years-old, the way they were acting with asking to get their hats signed.

After the intro's, I walked along the pit area for awhile, shooting drivers as they waited for the race to start, along with getting photos of people involved with their team's sponsors. P.R. stuff they have to do to make sure the money keeps rolling in.

Kyle Busch celebrates his win by smoking his tires.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

This race didn't hold a lot of surprises either, just a few at the end. A few caution flags were dropped. With a few laps left, Kyle Busch passed Jimmie Johnson after it went from a yellow caution back to green.

Busch drove into the grass along the front stretch, partially tearing up the grass. It might have been neat, except for the rain the area got the morning of, causing the field to be a soggy mess. His crew ran out and helped push him out for a proper celebration of another burnout on the front stretch.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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Blood Donor

Levi Bowman works on his car for the Howard County Fair demolition derby later that evening. According to Bowman, "She runs like a top as long as I can keep the drive shaft in."

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Going over to the demolition derby while I was at the fair probably was the highlight of my day spent there. Shooting animals, and yes I did get some photos of goats, part of the fair queen judging, but this is much more interesting. What can one say, its a demolition derby, lots of jerry-rigging and hammering before going out to compete. Lots of fun to take photos of though. And the shirt just makes it complete.

T

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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The opini

Let's try this again

Justin Kline pops over a wave as he knee boards on the Mississinewa Reservoir. Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I was out on a boat again Wednesday. When some of the editors at the office looked at the stuff I shot on Saturday for our Howard County Living magazine article, they realized there was a problem.

No one I shot who was in the water doing any sort of surfing behind the boat was wearing a life vest. In violation of state law. Doh!!

I didn't think of it, I'm not a boat person. Don't own one, occasionally spend time on the water, not enough to remember all the rules though. Showing someone not wearing a life vest in a photo, on the cover of a magazine no less, wouldn't make us look good. Big no-no.

The person doing the story, lifestyle editor Erin Shultz found someone she knew who was out on their boat so we could get some more art. She and I went back to the same area I was at on Saturday to meet up with the subjects.

I shot some kids and adults tubing, and the owner of the boat, Justin Kline doing some knee boarding. And everyone was wearing their necessary life vests. Fantastic!

Even though I wasn't scheduled to work, spending three more hours on a boat isn't a bad thing to be called in to do. And the art turned out great. Got some flips from the tube rides and some big air of the knee boarding.

And we now aren't advocating that anyone should break a state law.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

The Need for Speed (On 2 Wheels)

Niccolo Canepa gets a little air as he accelerates leaving the first s-curve at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during rookie open testing.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Got a chance to shoot one of the Moto GP practice days at the Indianapolis Speedway this week. Very interesting experience.

After five years of shooting the Indy 500, I am definitely a converted gearhead. This wasn't always the case.

When I was at Ball State, I was able to do my required internship experience by shooting for Reuters wire service the summer of 1996, before my senior year.

It wasn't an exciting experience. As interns (unpaid) we were basically cannon fodder for Reuters. We were assigned to a turn and spent all day there shooting cars as they went by. For much of the time that meant we just got photos of cars passing by. If a car happened to wreck in our turn, then that definitely increased our chances of seeing our picture used in some way.

I didn't see a wreck the whole month, not that one is ever happy to see a wreck, but when that's the only thing one is assigned to do it can make a photographer stir crazy. And that was back when the month seemed stretched out much more, now practice and qualifying is much more compressed.

My memories from that month were hanging out with the other photographers and the heavy, HEAVY rain that we got. I remember sitting in my car in a flooded field, eating ding dongs and drinking MGD (there's a taste combination).

The first few years I was in Kokomo, I wasn't interested in shooting the Indy 500. I thought it was just standing in a turn. More of the same, how wrong I was. The 500 brings out several hundred thousand fans just on race day alone. It's an interesting study of humanity on such a huge scale, to me it transcends the sports aspect of it. I've been pretty successful in the five years I've shot the race, improving my images each year I think, which always makes a photographer happy.

All of this experience has made me look forward to the upcoming inaugural Moto GP race this September. The last cycle race at the Speedway was in 1909, the year the track opened. That's amazing, 99 years ago. And the cycles move much, much quicker than they did back then.

The track was open for several rookie competitors in the Moto GP circuit to learn the track and get some time in on their bikes.

The speeds are little different from the Indy cars, the cycles going a little slower on some parts of the track, particularly going through the s-curves. But considering the cycles are a smaller target, it makes it just as difficult to shoot as a larger car.

I shot the above image as the cycle came out of the s-curve near turn one and Niccolo Canepa gunned it heading into the next curve. Nearly all the riders got a little bit of front tire air which always looks pretty cool. I stood and waited as each rider came by because I knew I wanted a good shot of a cycle, with the "flying wing" on the wall behind it as a possible centerpiece for the article. And I got lucky that Canepa popped a good one right in front of me.

Head to my Sportsshooter page to see more images from the practice session.

As I sometimes say, I'd rather be lucky than good. Shooting 10 frames a second certainly doesn't hurt either.


The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Row, row, row your boat

As Bryan Saylers uses a board to surf behind the boat, Ryan Valadez drives, while upfront Kelly Vanglabbeek and Erin Saylers watch Saylers two-year-old daughter.

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Spent part of today out on Erin and Bryan Saylers' boat in the nearby Mississinewa Reservoir for a Howard County Living magazine story on boating fun. Today this job was all fun in the sun. And the sun did appear later, contrary to what this photo looks like.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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In the right department

11-year-old Curtis Brown's three-month-old goat is apparently
in the right place at the Miami County fairgrounds.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Okay, one more goat picture. Last one I promise. Unless I get another one in two weeks when the Howard County fair starts. Sigh.

For some reason I found this funny. I'm not sure where the shoe department is. Cow department is two barns over.

Signs make it easier

A goat at the Miami County (In.) 4-H Fair.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

I saw this on the wooden gate of the goat's pen, and thought well.... if it says to, I will.

So, I clicked. Its my job.

There are those days where it would be easier if there were signs at assignments spelling out exactly what I should do.

Blur....

Turn around....

Ignore....

Light....


Oh well, I'll just have to continue figuring it out on my own.


This photo illustrates a good point that took me a long time to learn, helped in part by the book Photosynthesis by Bryan Moss.

"Put the camera to your eye and take a picture of the moment in front of you."

I walked around the fair, and didn't find anything that inspired me for a feature. I saw this and thought it was kind of funny; stopped and took a picture. Little while later I was inspired by something else, which will be a future post. That second photo led me to a feature photo, while not a pulitzer, had some different stuff going for it that I liked.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

So many questions....

A Kokomo Fire Department ambulance outside the Little Daddy's
adult entertainment showclub.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

....And so few answers.

Was it an "employee" injury?

Did a patron have a cardiovascular attack during a vigorous personal performance?

I guess sometimes the fewer answers there are, the better off everyone is.

It's images like this that are the reason this blog has the name it does.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.



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The future is so bright it's blinding me

Beneficence, or Benny, as she is more affectionately known as at Ball State.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

This weekend I went over to Ball State University (my alma mater) for a journalism alumni reunion. And I have to be honest, seeing the changes that have been made in the 11 years since I graduated almost brought me to tears.

Not that I'm some sentimental sap, that's for wimps.

No, I was on the verge of tears seeing all the things the school has improved or implemented since I graduated.

When I was in school in Muncie, I enjoyed myself very much. I would say it was a pretty typical college experience. A decent size campus, with a lot of nice architecture, plenty of green spaces to relax when not in class. Muncie isn't Chicago or New York, but there are worse places to spend four years.

There were the stupid roommates I had to endure, one of whom I am sure there is a special place in hell for. That is if Lucifer isn't too afraid this guy will take over.

But I had a good time, made it out with just some minor mental scars, some good stories to tell and reflect on.

How things change in 11 years. The first thing the alumni did was a tour given by some of the university faculty. Many of the alums were from the 1960's and 70's, some from the 80's, with just a few from the 90's and 00's. One of the most recent I think was a 2004 grad, Sam Keyes, that I talked to some.

I would say all of us had similar college experiences for the most part. We all had stories to tell about lousy dorms; cinder block walls, lame dorm room furniture, sharing a bathroom with 40 other people on the floor. Professors that pushed you to your breaking point and buildings that weren't always designed well for learning.

We walked through a dorm that was built last year and I don't think there was one person who wasn't ready to move in that afternoon, if only because it looked better than some of our first (or current) apartments.

This dorm looked like a four star hotel. The carpeting and wallpaper in the hallways matched. There were no fluorescent lights buzzing in the hallways, instead there were nice wall sconces. The common room, with the gas fireplace the students can rent by the hour.

The rooms, while not the height of luxury were a tenfold improvement over the ones cemented in our memory. Enough room for two people. Walk-in closets, large enough that we were pretty sure you could rent out, making a pretty penny. And bathrooms were shared between 6 or 8 people, not 40.

Then they took us downstairs to the basement where the workout room was with all the equipment you could ask for, along with 32" lcd tv's and dvd players.

That was before we saw the suites. Rooms for one student, they included a stove, fridge, microwave, bathroom (which included a walk in shower made with corian material I've only seen in show homes.)

They showed us the computer lab with the latest 22" Imac computers, in the building. Who needs to trek halfway across campus to use a computer? Ppshaw! And music room with an upright piano and electronic keyboard. And game room with foosball, ping pong and pool. And multi-purpose room that would seat 150, including an Epson lcd projector, a screen that descends from the ceiling... and shades that lower to cover the windows. You know just in case it's too bright to see that Powerpoint presentation.

At this point even the youngest of alums was starting to sound like an old fogy.

"Back in my day.... we had to walk across campus to use a computer. We had to bring our own fridge. If we wanted a bunk bed/loft we had to build it ourselves."

The biggest complaint of the student tour guide who showed us the dorm... the fonts on the dorm computers aren't always the same as the ones in a computer across campus. The suffering, I can't imagine it.

Is it hype... or reality?
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

After the dorm tour we saw the new buildings housing the College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM). When I was on campus, journalism, art, and telecommunications were separate colleges. Now the departments are all part of the same college in the university. (College being used by BSU as a way to describe the different disciplines that make up the larger university.)

Along with those departments in CCIM, last year the Dave Letterman Center for Communication and Media was opened. With a generous donation from the tv show host, it was built as a home for several of the radio stations on campus, research areas and some more video/audio production facilities not housed in the telecommunications building.

Clockwise, from top left:
The Dave Letterman Center for Communication and Media,
an audio production room in the Letterman Center,
the area where the Daily News do their podcasts from,
and a news production room in the Ball telecommunications Building.
Images copyright Erik Markov 2008

This is the portion of the tour where I was really sad not to still be at Ball State. To see the facilities for journalism, video and new methods of communicating not thought of yet was simply amazing. I imagine there might be some facilities comparable at other schools, but this is the middle of Indiana. And I haven't heard of anyone else doing some of the stuff the faculty talked about.

There are several blogs about multimedia I read. Colin Mulvany and Michael Rosenblum both have some interesting viewpoints about where the internet is going and ways of getting information to consumers. I've been reading them and others for the past few months, trying to get a handle on where journalism is heading.

To learn much of this stuff though in a hands on way one has to: spend the money on equipment oneself, hope one's company does it, or pay to go to a class or workshop. And here in front of me were three buildings dedicated to this. To spend four years getting to play with all this equipment and tap into the knowledge of instructors and fellow students would be simply amazing. Granted, it's not cheap. But it would certainly be easier to do it with people who are interested in it like those at Ball State are. Ahhh, to win the big lotto.

The following are excerpts from a letter I sent to Michael Rosenblum highlighting my experience.


As we were going through the telecommunications building, the dean explained that the mini-dv cameras and light kits that they have for students to use on projects are available to all students for a 24 hour rental period. Not just the few hundred t-com students, not just the couple thousand students in the combined programs of journalism, t-com and communication studies. All 20,000 students on campus who are paying tuition, whether they are taking a class in video or not. If a history student is working on a project about local civil war genealogists, I suppose as part of a final class project he or she might check out a camera several times over a semester to tape the researchers as they go about their work looking for lost graves. Or a poetry student might do a project about people who participate in poetry slams, why they do it and how they get inspired. And it doesn't seem to be important whether or not your a techie, what they're encouraging is the sharing of knowledge.

And they're encouraging journalism, t-com and communications to all work together on projects, something I didn't see when I was there studying. If a journalism major has a web idea, its not a big deal for them to go to the t-com department, and together with the computer science majors figure out a way to implement some new way of presenting information. Each department seems to be ok with bringing their experiences to bear in a collaborative way to develop something that benefits them all. It sounds like the walls between the fiefdoms have been torn down, or at least lowered enough so that everyone is allowed to see what is on the other side, finding a way to work together.

To see the future; be inspired by it, scared by it and know these kids are the ones I'll be competing with for jobs is a bit frightening and energizing, all at the same time. Even as I write this, thinking about it sends a chill up my spine.

And to be honest, I'm a little jealous. In the 11 years I've been working, I've changed quite a bit, thankfully. I've gotten more creative tenfold, if someone doesn't like my work that's ok because I realize some people just aren't able to see what I see because of the blinders they have on.


They have one thing that is going to make it easier to embrace this supposed new world: a soft place to land. Four years of learning, playing and paying their dues. And not being expected to get it right every time. They're students, who can expect them to get up to speed on this in 2 months?



Visiting my old stomping grounds was an interesting experience to say the least.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.