Photojournal: Week 5

These photos are of the women's social club Alpha Kai Omega, who had been told they had recieved 1st place, and then found out the scores were miscalculated and they were in fact second place. The first shot is of the women celebrating after their performance, and the second is of the women crying while they wait while the scores are recalculated.




On Sunday I covered the Alumnus of the year luncheon. The first photo is of the alumnus of the year, Don Crisp. The next photo is of his granddaughter looking back at her grandmother as during a vocal/piano duet they performed in honor of Mr. Crisp.









I went back to the boxing gym this week, and plan on going with two of the guys who are fighting this weekend in a nearby town. I see this gym as a potential source for a photo story that I would like to see in my portfolio soon.

Photojournal: Week 4

This week I have quite a few photos that I want to post. I will work on linking to a gallery next week, but for this update I am at home and do not have access to my school web space. First up are some baseball photos. This was my first game of the season, and I was excited. Yet, after the game I felt a little let down by myself, and sports action in general. I think I am less interested in sports in general, I don't see a sports action shot changing the way someone thinks about the world. However, they are fun to get and people love to look at them so here are my baseball photos of the week:






The next set of photos are the ones I am excited about. I went to a local boxing gym last night that I didn't even know existed until my Photojournalism instructor Cade White made a comment about a boxing gym in town. I talked to the owner, Geno, and he agreed to let me shoot some photos, and it looks like he is going to get me in free to a boxing tournament he is holding in town on March 17 or 18. The gym is non-profit, Geno does this out of his love for the sport and for kids. Ages at the gym range from middle school age kids to college students, some from my own school. Here are the images:

















These are the shots I took with my Canon digital camera, I mainly used my Leica rangefinder camera and a 50m lens. I will upload those photos when I have processed them (I ran out of fixer at 11:00 last night, so whenever I can find some more of that in town) . I really liked working with the Leica, it is unobrusive and allowed me to get close to some of the guys. Later, after I felt that I had become part of the backgroud to most of the boxers, I went to my truck and grabbed the 1D digital with 28mm lens (angle of view of a 35mm lens on my camera) for some wider shots. Some of the shots have some blur to them which was intentional. I could have boosted the ISO higher (I was already at 1250) but chose to work with sutter speeds between 1/15 and 1/60. I wanted to convey the sense of motion and activity of these boxers training. I will be going back a couple nights next week and hope after some time the guys will get used to me being there.

Words of Wisdom

I thought I would share the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson from his book entitled "The World of Henri Cartier-Bresson." Here are a few quotes I thought my classmates and anyone else interested in photography might enjoy:

"Photography is an instantaneous operation, both sensory and intellectual-an expression of the world in visual terms, and also a perpetual quest and interrogation. It is at one and the same time the recognition of a fact in a fraction of a second and the rigorous arrangement of the forms visually percieved which give to that fact expression and significance."

" We must place ourselves and our camera in the right relationship with the subject, and it is in fitting the latter into the frame of the viewfinder that the problems of composition begin. This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography; composition should be a constant preoccupation, being a simultaneous coalition-an organic coordination of visual elements. Composition does not just happen; there must be a need for expression, and a substance cannot be divorced from form."

"Reality offers us a rich abundance that we have to simplify, to make a selection, but do we always choose rightly? In the course of our work we have to attain a certain discipline, an awareness of what we are about."

"In this type of photography one comes to count the strokes, rather like an umpire, but one is, alas, always an intruder. Approach the subject on tiptoe, even if it is a still life. Let your steps be velvet but your eye keen; a good fisherman does not stir up the water before he starts to fish"


I could probably post several more here, but I do not want to get carried away. I really like the one about composition; it strikes me deep down as a photographer. I may be a "photo nerd" but I feel that photography is an inseperable part of me. The times when I take the best photographs come when I feel the camera is a natural extension of myself. I "see" through the 35mm lens or the 50mm lens even when I am not holding the camera. The way I got to that point was by shooting everyday, and when I began to stop that practice I lost much of that. I really want to get back to that point this semester, I know that I can create better compositions, I just have to connect with myself. Well, that is enough rambling for one evening. I hope someone else finds some inspiration from the Cartier-Bresson quotes.

Macro photos

While we were in the hospital, the shower head dripped constantly. I could hear it as I lay on my miserable little chair that turned into a bed (smallest "bed" I've ever seen. During a fit of boredom, I took my camera and flash into the small white stall to photograph the shower head and water drops, hoping that might help me cope with the problem. It worked out really well, and you can see the grime built up on the shower head and the sink spout as well. Yeah, what's with that? It's a hospital, it's supposed to be clean and they are growing algae on the shower head. I went home for my shower the next day.






I have always loved Macro photography, and this was a fun way to pass a few minutes. My wife was a little concerned when she saw the light flasing from the bathroom constantly, but I reassured her it was just a photographer wasting time. I like the first one, though both of the water drop ones have shallow depth of field. the faucett one in particular should have both the faucett and water in focus. I was afraid to stop down any more than F/8 and working at that close a distance with a long lens (I used the canon 100 f/2.8 macro lens) depth of field is always and issue. I will get back to the sports and news for the coming week and plan on posting more than once a week if possible.

Photojournal: Week 3

Well, the big event for me this weekend was the birth of my son Atticus Tate Rhodes. He is my second child, and my wife and I couldn't be happier right now (although we definately could have more sleep). This week will be photos of him since I spent most of my time in the hospital with my family. Here are the pictures of him, they begin with a couple from right after he was delivered.










This next photo is of my wife Maria later that night. She had delivered him via Cesarean after many hours of waiting for nature to take it's course for a natural birth and was very sore and groggy from the drugs. Normaly I wouldn't have taken a photo under those circumstances, but as I look at the photo I remember how worried I was about her and how hard the day had been on her.



The next two photos are one of Maria with Atticus and a shot of me with him.

Photojournal: week 2

This is a better speaker shot than last week I believe. Jerry Mitchell is an investigative reporter who has covered several big big KKK killings.





These are some baseball shots from practice on Tuesday. I tried to be a little different with the close-up of the ball and the out-of-focus players in the background. I really want to shoot sports with a "new eye". Not just looking for the peak action.



Here are some photos of the Women's basketball team. I tried shooting from the stands with our paper's 300mm lens. I liked that much better than being on the floor. Again, I need to work on finding some better angles to work from.


I liked this photo mainly because it was a silhouette; Silhouette's seem to be one of my favorite types of photos to shoot, I am not sure why but they seem to create drama when used properly. There was a major street on the behind me, so that's why I thought the silhouette might work better instead of a shot with an ugly background.