Same Ol'

Song that inspired today:
Colouring Lesson - Nothing New

Hence, the song of the day, nothing was overly exciting today. I really just wanted to write to give updates on the latest for my work. I think my meeting with Paul went well the other day, really it was just getting on the same page with everyone. He didn't seem to have any complaints about my work, really with sports, theres only one thing you can do: shoot, and shoot more. The more events you photograph, the more chance you have of getting great images. He wants me to narrow down the images out of my last event (soccer games), next step after that is just editing. I haven't started that process yet, been busy with keeping up with other classes, so that is on the agenda for tomorrow after the mandatory artist lecture. One, narrow down images, and two, start the editing process.

Stretch's class tonight went well also, the content for the class seems boring to most people, but honestly, i'm really into it. Copyrights and knowing the rights of you and your images is vital if you're going to work in the field, which I fully intend on doing. He's also trying to help me out getting me into contact with working sports photographers (part of the class). I'm working on getting into contact with Walter Iooss Jr., basically he's the MAN! Hopefully, I can get into contact with him for my interview to present to class. His work really inspires me, and being able to contact someone that you really admire gives you a big boost in motivation and confidence. Being able to speak with him and find out where he's coming from really brings them down to your level, we all started out on the bottom, and keeping that in mind really helps. Stretch has also given me help with trying to get into contact with Scott Brown, who is a sports photographer working in the area. Its always nice to speak with working artists in the area, local always helps because theres always the option of meeting them in person.

I'm really happy with the way classes are going right now, seems that I've really stepped up this semester, so far at least. Being my senior year, my time has really been geared towards my work, grades, and finally GRADUATING! My photography is a great motivator, so is my future. I really think that keeping myself on track with sporting events and knowing I have work to do helps big time. Having the responsibility of showing up to events and having a sober mind to work, can't show up to work hungover, especially with artwork, really need a clear mind to keep focused. Keeps me home during the evenings. I usually am a social guy, also not afraid of some beers on the weekdays, but lately I've taken a lot more incentive to keep with my photography. I haven't been drinking as much, knowing that I have work to do, which is great, because I have abused substances in the past, drinking specifically. This should be a good year.

Good Saturday

Saturday was an exciting day for sports. It was opening day for college football, which I was extremely excited about. Most of the top ranked teams pulled out wins as they should, seems that opening day is usually scheduled as an easy win, especially at home. Most games went according to plan, except for the Michigan vs. Appalachian State at The Big House. Offensively the teams were
back and forth, it seemed that Michigan's defensive wasn't playing up to their expectations. In the end the game came down to a blocked field goal which ran out the clock, final score of 34-32 Appalachian State, a division I-AA team. I loved every season of it, I've never been a huge Michigan fan, they have talent, but after living with my roommate last year, who thought they were the greatest, I don't so much care for them now.

Another big moment in sports last night, rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz for the Boston Red Sox pitches a no-hitter. A very rare event even with veteran pitchers, occurs in his second start as a major leaguer. Buchholz was aquired through the draft as compensation for the trade of Pedro Martinez. Seems the Red Sox managers made a great choice in giving more depths to their bullpens before October.

Attended 2 soccer games at Sports Backers Stadium today, shot for about 5 hours, getting sunburned (forgot sunscreen). First game was Adelphi vs. Virginia Tech which led to the Hokies coming out on top with a score of 5-1. It was an ugly offensive onslaught, along with a mass amount of yellow cards issued throughout the day. The second game was VCU vs. Albany, as the Rams came out on top with their second win this weekend with the finals scores of 4-0. Tying the national powerhouse Maryland, I'd say that VCU Men's soccer is off to a good start this season, hoping amounting to another visit to the NCAA tournament.

I will have photos posted up tomorrow, got home a little late, and don't feel like messing with photos while I'm worn out from the sun. I think I got some good shots, one of my favorites was a trip in the box, which led to a penalty for VCU, scoring their first day of the day. I got some other shots as well, but it was my first time photographing soccer, I think I learned more about where I need to stand to get better shots, need to work on the timing a little more as well. It would be really nice to get a second Nikon digital body, I had trouble when the action would get in close when I was standing along the sidelines or behind the goal. At the second half, I switched to my 50-300 lens (i think thats what it is?), which gave me a more success when I was trying to get photos of shots on goal, a player going around a defender. I think the more I shoot, the more I will get down the timing, you really have to get a rhythm for the game. I watch it and played it some, but sitting behind a lens and being able to zoom in and out, it makes it a little awkward at first. Overall, I'm excited about the season, and my future work in sports photography. VCU plays UNC in Richmond in a few weeks, UNC were National Champions a few years back, so this is going to be a great game, and an opportunity to get photos at a big match, maybe even get a crowd out there this time. For now, I'm going to download my photos from today and get them ready for my one-on-one meeting, pretty interested in getting some feedback. I think I just need a few more times out to get a feel, but great shots are just a matter of time, you don't happen on every play. Looking at photographers helps me out, giving me ideas for composition, how to frame. Thats about all I have to say for tonight.

New Lens Has Arrived

My new lens just arrived today, I feel like a kid in a candy store, absolutely can't wait to go out shooting with it. Got a soccer game coming up against Virginia Tech tonight, its a perfect opportunity to take it out for a spin. Not expecting to have amazing pictures the first time out. I have done some sports photography in the past, but i'm no professional at the moment. I'm pretty technically sound, probably going to show up a little early, watch the end of the first game so I can get the ISO, white balance, and everything set up. That way, when its game time, I have nothing to worry about but minor tweaks. Not too worried about it, just going to go out and have fun, try and get the best pictures I can, haven't gotten passes yet from VCU Athletics, so i'm going to just get as close as I can, and enjoy it. I plan to go shooting for sunday's soccer game as well, so I think tonight I'll set the bar low, get a feel for the lens. The more I go out, the better I'm going to get, so I'm just gonna go for it this semester/year. The only way I'm going to make it happen is just stay motivated and do it. I'm making some good contacts, lets see where I can take it.

Today was a good day

So, I was pretty happy about today, had an informal presentation to the class, went over real well. I showed the class some works from my "second nature" body. It really surprised me to hear some of the responses I got from Paul in class. In a previous class, my work didn't go over too well. I can understand why though, looking back on the class, and my work. I beleive the quality was good, but I did have trouble pulling it all together. With the "sealife" work I didn't think I ever got any good feedback in critique, so hearing him discuss the topic in class definitely made me happy. I know certain people looked at me and noticed too, they were in the same class as me, with Vitka. I had always considered grad school, put thought into University of Florida, I've looked into the program, looks pretty good, Jerry Uelsmann taught there for some time. I also love gator sports, we've had some good karma lately in sports as of late.

One opinion about concepts that I realized from Paul's remarks (about how I spoke about my work in class): concept doesn't necessarily have to be a complex topic, something that only super intelligent people get. Concept just means the work you create is thoroughly researched, thought out, and planned. I don't feel that my "sealife" work was extremely sophisticated, I just came up with a topic I was passionate about, and related to my interests (sculpture, photo, painting, etc.). I do want to continue working on that body of work this year, just not as a class. Those works are going into the VMFA this year, maybe try and get some help with my artist statement before I submit. I'm considering doing some other photos to submit as well, just need to go back to the drawing board for photos. I had some good ideas, but I think more complexity and color, as Vitka had pushed me towards, was bad advice. Keeping with the consistency of the first photographs, its more about having easily identifiable sea animals, and being able to photograph these sculptures to make people believe they're alive.

Sports is my next goal to tackle, I've always had a big passion for sports, but I never really found my part in it. Being only 5'11", I was never suited for basketball or football. Soccer and lacrosse, I can do, but soccer wasn't exciting enough for me, I love the physicality of lacrosse. I just started a little late, so I'm behind in the skills. Anyways, I find that the mesh between sports and photography is a perfect match. I'm still caught in the middle of the action, but I can still use my artist judgement to interpret my experience. My artist skills have always overwhelmed my athletic ones.

Pro Practice

I just wanted to write my first response to the class "Pro Practice", which had its first meeting tonight. Honestly, just like all my other classes' first meetings, I wanted it to last about 5 minutes, reading over the syllabus and getting out quick, the Red Sox are playing the Yankees. But after learning a little bit more about our teacher, "Stretch" Ledford, I was really excited about the class. He just did a photo job for Nike, and that was really up my alley. From what I've gotten so far, we're going to learn how to write estimates, copyrights; the business side of photography, which for me, is going to be important. Working in the field, these are things that are going to be important, so i'm not worried about the work load. However, i was extremely surprised about some responses in the class. For the beginning of class, we did introductions, and were asked "what do you want to do with photography in a career?". Most people replied, "i don't know", "i don't want to work in photography", or "studio photos". To be caught up in an intense program like photography, why would you continue to go through with it, if you already knew you didn't want to work in the field? I guess I'm not too concerned about everyone elses futures. The less people out of my class going into the field, the more chance I have at making it all the way. This semester is going to make me think, and work a lot towards me future, I'm pretty siked about that.

To finish this post, a little personal reflection from the day. I'm pretty pissed that the Yankees beat the Red Sox tonight, we had our ace pitcher on the mound (Josh Beckett), should've been in the bag. I guess this one game isn't a big deal, the Yankees don't stand a chance for a spot in the post-season this year, being 7 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, its lights out. We still have one more game in the series, lets see if we can pull one out. This was a little off topic compared the the previous paragraph, but sports are important to me, especially the teams I love, that definitely includes the Red Sox. Football season starts this weekend too, I can almost guarantee you I won't do anything but watch football from 12 to whenever. I hope to get a little research done at least.

Walter Iooss Jr.

One photographer I found that I would like to resemble in my work is Walter Iooss Jr.. As of now, I dont have his whole life story, but from the photos I've viewed, I find a lot of qualities that I hope to present through my own. There are a lot of things I admire about him, one being the amount of years he's worked in the field, just in Sports Illustrated alone, he's worked 40 years. His first assignment, as I've read, was in high school, where he was asked to follow Roger Maris in his attempt to break Babe Ruth's Home Run record. Thats a pretty exciting first assignment. I might also mention he's also covered 40 consecutive super bowls. More or less, in my career, I'd want to work to become as respected of a sports photographer as Walter Iooss has. I can only imagine covering such prestigous sporting events as those, might I add free admission.

I really enjoy the style that appears through Iooss's images, I feel it is very important for a photographer or artist to find their style. This is what sets them apart from the artists before them, and the ones after. I can't say I've even come close to finding mine, it all comes with the more experience you get, and lots of shooting. Sometimes you don't define a style and work within those boundaries, it just comes to people's attention over the extent of bodies of work, just kind of comes out of nowhere. To me, style is adapted, it happens from countless shooting, it comes like a second nature, its just how you view the world through your camera.

I find that Iooss uses a lot of color and environment within his images. For example, the photo at Fenway (second photo), uses the red lighting from the incandescent field lights and the red score board. In front of Jim Rice, the right fielder, there appears a haze, which seems to be the pitchers mound, framed at a lower angle. The framing and lighting help give the picture an evil, hellish mood, or just giving the theme that they are the Red Sox. Also, I love the touch of adding the old Fenway Park scoreboard, instead of using the low aperture to blur it out, adds a lot of history, which is flowing through the Red Sox's stadium.

I also really enjoy the last photo I have posted, which is Ken Griffey Jr.. Eventhough this isn't an "action" shot, I really liked Iooss's use of low angle and lighting to set the mood of the image. The use of color is what grabbed my attention, using the similar hues of blue, rather than maybe an orange from a sunset, which would give a greater contrast of colors. I like the use of blacks, how most of the figure seems to get lost in the bleachers behind, which doubles for the bat behind swung through the air. I can only assume this was a posted shot, because of the low angle and the reflection card that would've had to be used to get the detail of the face and clothing. But his ideas are great.

The first photo shows more action, and more use of depth, eventhough blurred out. I feel the low angle used in this shot gives more sense of field behind the player sliding into 3rd, using the green foreground and the blue bleachers in the back, theres a lot of color to help contrast with the player, allowing the action to stand out more. These simple devices such as: color, aperture, and atmosphere help draw the viewer in, personally gives me a better sense of being in the action, which I highly enjoy.

Overall, i guess to sum up my interests in Walter Iooss Jr., I just wish to create as impressive imagery as he has done throughout the years, maybe even gain close to the respect he has in the sports photography field. The possibilities of being surrounded by such sports and asked to document the experience only drives me to work more, in hopes that i can reach the same prestige.

Capturing History

Although I dont like Barry Bonds, and find him to be a cheater, I did find it interesting to see a short video, demonstrating a special sequence setup used by photographer Robert Hanashiro. This setup consists of 3 canon digital slr bodies, equipped with 600mm lenses, working as one to capture a sequence of Barry Bonds' record breaking swing. To be honest, I have no idea how they made this work, but i'm sure in the future, i'll understand this a little more. I just found this to be absolutely awesome, using such equipment as one system to capture history at 30 fps. Check out the video at the link below for a better understanding.

Bonds' 756 at 30 frames per second