The daily grind and trying new things

So I have never been too good at going out in search of wild art of feature photos. It's not that I don't like stand-alone photos, it's just that unless I have a plan of attack, I feel like I it's just a shot in the dark. When I get into my truck I want to know where I am headed and what I plan to shoot. Unfortunately, this viewpoint is not always compatible with the life of a smaller market photojournalist. I often have to go out in search of these photos, mostly for our local section where we don't use art from any of the wire services. Many times, our reporters will give us ideas for assignments where there is a good photo opportunity but not much of a story, often, though, I am just on my own. There can be a lot of pressure here, especially for a young photographer like myself. You are expected to pull the rabbit out of the hat on a regular basis. With that in mind, here are a couple of stand-alone photos I have taken in the past few weeks. Photos © Midland Reporter-Telegram and myself.


The reflections of several downtown buildings, including the Wilco and Bank of America towers, are combined in the rounded windows of the Summit Building II on Illinois Tuesday evening.


A worker with Butts Plastering works on the wall of the Stonegate Fellowship Church Children's Building Thursday afternoon.

The next shot was taken from the rafters at the local college athletic center where most of our local basketball teams host heir home games. I am scared of heights and this photo required me to stand on a chair and lean over a rail so I really went out of my comfort zone for the shot. I think it works, although it could certainly be better (and safer to obtain). I think I might try a remote camera setup sometime in the future for these types of shots and will post about it here if I do.


Lee's Dave Morris attempts a shot from under the basket friday night agianst the Cooper Cougars.

I just liked this one because the shooter's eye is framed by the fingers of the defender's hand. It's one of those times when I didn't see anything special about a photo until I was back at the office looking at my take for the evening in detail.



Jesus Morales gets off a jump shot despite the attempts of Cooper's Darius Robinson Friday evening at the Midland College Chaparral Center.