Friday, November 7, 2008

Phantastic day

I was looking. I swear. OK, I was looking through the camera lens. Maybe not where I was going. So while I was framing this shot of Charlie Manuel my foot met, well, what horses leave behind. A large pile of it. A good way to start one of the most exciting days of my photographic career.

The Phillies celebrated their monumental World Series victory in style with a parade down Broad Street, complete with floats, players, hundreds of cops and millions of fans.
Through some research and a good dose of luck, I finagled a press pass to cover the parade. I was the youngest photog there, brushing elbows with photogs from the Inquirer, AP and Reuters.

We started out on the press buses, double deckers reminiscent of those London trademarks. There were two buses, and as we started the parade the crowd’s cheers turned to screams of words I can’t say here and gestures that you can probably imagine.

As the parade approached City Hall, I, along with other photogs on the bus, realized the angles presented from the bus were not very good, so we left the bus, allowing us basically unlimited access to the parade route.

I could get in the faces of the fans and get right up next to the trucks of players. I also could get in the way of cops on bikes—one officer screamed at me that I was “in his way” and that he would “throw me out” if it happened again. The cops also had horses, which they, unlike the Budweiser Clydesdales that were also there, did not clean up after.

Photographing an event like this brought with it some different challenges. For one, lens changes were difficult. I brought my backpack instead of the bag so it’d be easier to take on the (packed) trains, so that meant, for most of the time, shooting with the 18-70 and keeping the 80-200, which is a huge lens, in my cargo pocket. When it came time to switch, it was a sort of balancing act, holding onto two lenses and a camera while walking along the parade route, dodging cops and horses and fans.

With stories like this, the close ups are as important as the wide shots. In other words, the story can be told shooting something more small scale than large, such as fans vs. a wide angle of the parade snaking its way down Broad St. However, this event was such a big deal I had a feeling I’d have a significant amount of space allotted to me in the paper (in the end, this got full page, back page and in color—can’t ask for much more).

Some of my favorites:




Pitcher Jamie Moyer raised his hat in recognition of the fans as confetti rains down. I'm still curious as to how I got this one--I guess I just zoomed out the 18-70 all the way, held the camera up, and shot away.



The Phillie Phanatic stares down at the statue of William Penn, a statue that local folklore states has cursed Philadelphia sports for decades, as the Phillies celebrate their triumphant World Series victory.

J Roll points to the crowd.

This shot was taken from the bus with the wide angle. I think it's kinda cool how you basically start at the feet of these kids and then continue on to the thousands of fans.

Confetti! Yes, I gave her the OK to throw it at me. Though one kid almost silly stringed my camera, which would've ended up badly. She aimed at me and was about to shoot before I yelled "Shoot up! Shoot up!" As she shot, I shot too, though the pictures didn't turn out as well.


In the end, this thrilling day hopefully will bode well as the city moves on. It’s been a rough year for Philly, with countless murders—especially of police officers—poverty, homelessness, unemployment and budget cuts. And hopefully this day, this team, brought this special city together.

(More photos of the parade are available at stoganews.com)

Some pep


Once again, folks, it's time for the pep rally at Conestoga. Readers of this blog know that I'm not a fan of the pep rally because of its sheer repetition, and the challenges that presents as a photographer to find something fun to shoot. This pep rally, though, surprised. It had some frankly kooky events that made for some funny shots. Add that to the fact that it was a bright and sunny day made for a truly fun shoot. Some of the best...


The always amazing food eating events...




Before the pep rally began, students were given portraits of outgoing principal Tim Donovan to hold up upon Donovan's arrival. A somewhat newsworthy spin to the pep rally. Then, Donovan headed up above to the roof of the press box and surveyed the day's events...

Pioneer mascot...


Then, the intrepid sports stars did these sleeping bag races.


Shooting the pep rally involved doing quite a bit of lens switching. Some of the shots, such as the food eating contests, were perfect for the wide angle. But for the Donovan silhouette and the shot above, the telephoto was the better choice.

Overall, it was a fun shoot--even if I did get hit in the head with folded up paper airplanes of those Donovan portraits.

The Art of the Portrait




I'm mostly sent out to shoot sports, but so far this year I've been doing a fair amount of portraits. Portraits and sports are vastly different things to shoot--for one, you can actually tell your subject (such as Principal Tim Donovan, at left) what to do and how to look in a portrait, as opposed to the athletes in a sporting event. So...should be easier, right? 

At best, it's a work in progress...




This shot was for an article about the brother of two Conestoga students who has served tours of duty in Iraq. I sat him in the middle in his uniform, and asked him to hold that flag, which flew in Baghdad. In retrospect, I'd probably have asked Mr. Auburn to take off the bright orange sweatshirt, but I think the photo does portray the pride and dignity of the soldier.

Baseball Playoffs

One of my favorite sports to shoot is baseball, and one of my favorite times in a season to shoot is the playoffs. What better than a baseball playoff game?

Well...it was raining. Pouring. So, a bag went over the camera and off I went. The game was conveniently delayed for about 15 minutes, but then the storm passed, and the newly cleared skies made for some memorable pix...