Some dissapointments

I am off for a couple of days and will begin my regular rotation, a Thursday through Monday schedule, this week. I had plans of uploading some more images but I left my Powerbooks power cord in Midland so all I have is the last stuff I shot Monday that just happened to be on my microdrive. As far as work goes, things have been great, although I am happy to not have any more high school graduations to shoot. Monday I began work at about 1 p.m. at the Commemorative Air Force museum between Odessa and Midland. I enjoyed the event and really tried to get something unique. The paper only needed a few photos for the day and the other shooter had gotten some really good stuff but I wanted to try and get something memorable myself. At one point I saw a few kids playing in the fuselage of an old airplane that had been cut open so visitors could get an inside look at it. I tried everything I could think of, using the 14mm lens in the cramped interior, putting my camera on a timed release one the dashboard of the plane in front of the kids (who were mostly oblivious to me) and hanging off of the side of the plane to try and shoot through and open window into the cockpit, and I got nothing I liked. It was very disheartening to see the kids playing around and having a good time but not being able to capture a good image. The lighting was poor and even on 1600 ISO I had to shoot at under a 30th of a second, which is fine when you are standing still trying to be still but another thing altogether when you are holding the camera with one hand while using the other to hang out of a doorway. I still should have gotten something I liked though, so I was dissapointed by this experience. That evening I did better, but still missed one shot that would have made the whole day a great success. I was at a memorial service by the VFW and saw an opportunity to get a low angle shot looking straight up while two veterans and a soldier were folding the flag. I thought I should put my camera on aperture priority mode (which i never do) so that I wouldn't mess up the exposure. But witha backlit situation like that the camera is almost never right, I should have known that and kept my original settings. I ended up with some silhouetted figures holding a very dark flag. Now, if the light behind the flag would have illuminated it some more, it would have been a very good mistake, one that I would have been proud of. What I got was a great composition that was totally underexposed. By the time I switched back to my manual setting and snapped off two more frames the flag was almost totally folded and the composition just fell apart. I guess situations like that are why I am here to learn, but I should have gotten the shots I wanted on both assignments. I did come back with some good shots, two of which are below, but I didn't get the shots.


This is Sal Guerrero, VFW member, who was part of the honor guard at the service. Image © Odessa American


This one is of Cheryl Haas, who presented a wreath in honor of those who have served to keep our country safe during the service. Image © Odessa American.


This is a closer look at Sal who I thought had an interesting face and eyes.

May 28, 2006

I shot another graduation tonight, or by now it was yesterday. I think this one went better than the first one as far as my photograph go. I was so tired coming home, and now that I am here I don't really want to go to sleep, I just can't stop thinking about my family. I really miss my wife and kids. Me being here is a big sacrafice for the whole family, especially my wife, Maria, and my 18 month-old daughter who I usually play with daily. I think going home Thursday actually made things worse in a way because I would like to have a job like the one I have this summer and be with them. Friday was so surreal, I woke up with my family and went to sleep alone late that night. The worst part is that I feel this way one week into a twelve week internship so things are going to get much harder. This is probably going to prepare me for how hard this life really can be on a family.

Graduations Galore

Actually, there are only two graduations that I will be shooting this weekend, and I have already shot one of them. After enjoying a relaxing day with the family on Thursday I got back to work on Friday for a pretty slow day. The big event for the week, and the weekend, is the graduations of the two local high schools, Permian and Odessa High. One of the regular shooters Kevin and I started shooting between 7:00 and 7:30 in the evening, and we finished up about 10:30. We were attempting to transmit from the press box at the football stadium where they were holding the event (they have too many students graduating to hold the event in the colosseum) but Kevin had some connection difficulties with his cell phone so he had to run back to the paper at about 9:45, while I stayed to catch the throwing of the hats and such. I guess when it comes to transmitting photos, something can always go wrong. We are going to do the same thing tonight, so I hope we don't have any more problems. Here are a few of photos from the event:






All images © Odessa American

And now for a few photos...

Here are the photos that have been/ are going to be published in the paper. All images are the copyright of the Odessa American.


This first photo is from the gelatin fight I described in my earlier post. This is one of the 4th grade teachers, Shilo Duckworth, attempting to duck the globs of gelatin headed her way.


This is a shot of Travis Lee, senior shortstop for the Crane High School Golden Crane baseball team taking a few swings during the work-out Tuesday.



This last photo is from today, and it is of a first grader, Daisy Lujan, from Pease Elemntary in Odessa. Daisy was one of 5 students who won a coloring contest for the Harmony Home, a local organization that combats child abuse.

Overall, I think these photos are ok, but I know that I can do much better and plan on doing so in the coming weeks. Today, I shot two assignments on my own (the coloring contest was on of them, the other one is still on my memory card and it's too late to download it now). I feel like I will get the hang of things pretty soon, and the guys at work are really helping me.

Just a few things

I figured since I will be talking about the Odessa American in most of my posts that I should add a link to their website. So under the links section to the right there is now one for the newspaper. It's a nice website and you can find links for most of the days stories, and even pdf's of every issue there. I think today's newspaper won't be available as a pdf until late in the day or tomorrow, but it is a pretty cool feature for them to offer. I am a pdf addict, so when I saw that they offered the paper electronically I was pretty excited. In my opinion, it puts them ahead of many newspapers and I hope they continue to offer the paper electronically on their site. I encourage you to check out the site and take a look around.

Internship update: Day one and two (plus some jello)

The first couple of days here at the Odessa American have been amazing. I was able to go out with my editor Mark and the other two shooters on some assingments. I should have a couple of photos in Wednesdays paper which is pretty exciting. I know it's corny but I plan on getting out tomorrow and buying a couple of copies for myself so I can see my work in print and keep one to take home to my wife, Maria. Yesterday I went with Mark to shoot some photos of a girl who has not missed a day of class in 13 years, which I find pretty amazing. I also shot an award presentation by the Chamber of Commerce with a photographer named Cindika. This type of situation is called a "grip and grin". There is not much room for creativity, but it is an event that is important to the community so we need to be there. The last assigment was a event called "Meet the Coaches". The football coaches from Permian High School were at a local Catfish joint, Big Daddy's Grill and Bar, while the cheerleaders and dance team waited on guest. The whole event was actually a fundraiser for the booster club, which confused me a little. When Cindika and I first got the assignment, we thought the coaches were serving dinner, something we thought would be pretty funny since football coaches are gods here in West Texas (unless they lose). It still turned out to be a good assigment with some funny moments of it's own. At one point, I saw what I thougth was an empty booth next to a family enjoying a meal. I thought I would squeeze into the booth up against the wall so I could get a good shot of a cheerleader serving them. I moved the two mostly empty tea glasses on the table aside, positioned myself ans waited for the server to return. While I was waiting the couple who had left the booth to go to the buffet line returned, which caused an awkward moment which was resolved when they laughed and told me to stay where I was if I thought it would help me out. I ended up taking a few shots, which were ok but could have been better if I had stood up and shot down at the group to simplify the background a little. I will try to post it here tomorrow when I copy some files from the office. As for todays assingment, the first one was a jello throw for elementary students who had done well on the TAKS test (a standardized state exam in Texas). The kids threw jello at their principal, assistant principal and teacher. Everything was going well until I got a little too close while attempting to get a close up, and got some jello on myself and my bag. I backed up, but somehow still managed to get more jello on the front element of my 200mm lens, much to my dismay (the kids had some really bad aim). I cleaned it off and in the process took off some of the coating as well. Needless to say, tomorrow I am buying a protective filter to put on the front of the lens ($15 mistake versus a $650 one). On a positive lens note, Mark let me borrow a 14mm lens to try out, which was very cool of him. I guess that makes up for the jello incident. The last assigment of the day was in a town called Crane where we shot some photos for a feature on two senior baseball players. All of the other photographers are really good at using fill flash and location lighting with the strobes for features and portraits, something I need to improve on if I want to apply for a full-time job on a daily. I was watching one of them, Kevin, in an attempt to pick up some tips on posing for an sports portrait (commonly called a sportrait). When we got back and turned in our photos, I learned that one of mine was going to run, as well as one from the jello throw. So yeah, I am pumped up and can't wait to see the paper tomorrow. I will post pictures here soon, after I copy the files from the office. From here on out, I hope to have the photos the same day as much as possible. For those of you who made it this far, thanks for reading to the end. Let me know what you think, I am up for suggestions on how to make this blog as interesting as it can be.

Internship update: May 23

I was given the go ahead today by Mark Sterkel, my editor, to update this blog with my internship experiences. My goal is to update it daily with my experiences. So check back often, I should be adding photos often.

Good news

Some of my work will be displayed in my schools library this upcoming week and probably most of the summer. I have been working with one of the professors in the art department,Nil Santana, on a guided study photography class. As part of the class I had 12 photos printed on canvas and then we mounted them on foam-core board for display. This is the first time anything of mine will be displayed, so I am pretty excited.

Some 35mm scans

I have been slowly trying to scan a few 35mm black and white negatives in. Some of the files are a few years old, others are more recent. I figured I would post a few here to get some critiques. I will have to clean the negatives and rescan a couple of these, the dust is just too much for me to clone it all out. I need to work on my scanning as well, I am still trying to figure out how to get a good scan on my epson flatbed (that may be the problem in the first place).



This first photo is from the photo essay on the local boxing club. This guys name is junior, he's one of the guys I met when I first went there and also one of the most approachable and friendliest.



Here's another shot with just the boxers legs in it. These guys can move around pretty fast sometimes, and I thought this would make a nice composition.



This one is from a home mass a priest friend of my families said in my Grandmother's home. This is from a couple of years ago or more. I think I am going to work on more religous/faith based stories. I am intrigued by others faith as well as my own.

Technical details: The first two were shot with a Leica M4-P with a collapsible 50mm and Tri-x film set at ISO 1600 (hence the grain). The Home Mass shot was taken with a Nikon F3 and 50mm lens using T-max film (I need to check the negative again on this one)

Photojournal: May 3rd

This weekend I shot a wedding with a classmate of mine, Emerald McGowan (you can link to her blog on the right). I have shot a few weddings before, but it was a first for Emerald. Working with another photographer really took some of the stress off of being the sole photographer. Emerald also took some shots and tried some angles that I didn't, so when we put our work together I think the end result will be better. I think I may try to apprentice or assist one of the local wedding pros to get some more experience and not deal with the hassles on the business end.


The youngest boys are the children of the bride and groom, and the "face" on the left is a nephew.


This is Shelly, the bride. I like this photo because it is a candid moment of her laughing and giggling while she is talking to her bridesmaids.



This photos is of the ring-bearer. I saw him walking across the room and snapped a couple of shots, this frame being my favorite.



Here is one of the happy couple dancing their first dance. I like the smile on her face, but wish I could see his. I have several where both faces are clearly visible, but neither of them has such a great expression, so I picked this one.


This little girl has such a joyous look on her face. She is trying to chase the balloon that she is already holding the string to.


I like the look on her fathers face in this shot. He was so proud of her and kept telling her how much he loved her.



I threw this one is because I have been drawn to second curtain sync, draggin the shutter and panning lately. This photo has all three.

The technical details: the indoor photos were taken at ISO 800, with bounce flash from the ceiling. The outdoor shot was taken at ISO 100. Camera used on both was a Canon 1D MarkII, all files were shot as RAW and then converted and adjusted using Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop.

A self portrait of sorts

I know that my Photo J professor Cade used to require students to submit a self-portrait weekly so I thougth I would try one and post it. It's kinda goofy, but it was fun to try. I tried a little more complicated one the next night that didn't involve a mirror but things didn't work out and I got frustrated and went to bed (it was 1 a.m. anyway). I am going to try and do some more that are a little more technically creative/demanding and that are "expressive" of how I see the world and myself. Tonight I will post some of the shots from a wedding I shot this weekend.

Photojournal: April 26

Well, I shot some more bands this week for my art project, and I also shot several assignments for the schools creative services project. I documented the rehearsals for a concert collaberation between the universities theatre department, 10 alumni, and the local philharmonic orchestra. I also shot some photos of a climbing wall the campus Outdoor club brought in on friday. For now, I have some photos of the bands, Death by Space Laser and Streets of Simon Lee (both on myspace, you should check them out), and the rock wall. I still have to organize the concert shots, and will try to get a few up here. As a side note,the band shots are in black and white because I was trying out a new photoshop plug-in that simulates various film-stocks. These photos are supposed to replicate Tri-X, with some added contrast for fun.







The first two photos are of Darby Hewitt (and his hands), guitar player for Death by Space Laser. The third is the hands of Dylan Wands, drummer for the band. You can visit the bands myspace page here:

Death by Space Laser

These are of the drummer, Benjamin Fikes, and bass player, Blake Earnhart, of another local band named Streets of Simon Lee. You can link to the here:

Streets of Simon Lee

Both bands were very good, and I enjoyed the show. I hope you will visit their site and check them out.




These last two are actually from the band I shot last week, named Guiaconda (sp?). I liked them in black and white so I figured I would repost them and see what others thought. I did not get any more info on the band so I cannot provide a link or names right now.






I figured I would add this at the end if anyone (anyone?, anyone? anyone?) actually reads this. I am tired. I think that I am getting so caught up in the end of the semester crunch that it is affecting my work. I haven't felt particularly strong about anything I have shot lately, and I can see it when I look at my photos.
I did shoot some video of a track meet in a town a couple of hours away. I feel like I have some stuff I can work with, but again I don't feel to strongly about it or can't get excited about working on it. Even at the meet, I really missed my family (at this point I had only seen my children a few hours in the last 3 days) and wanted to be home rather than two hours away getting sunburnt (again) and struggling with video/audio issues. This job is hard on relationships and families. Talking to a local professional only backed that up, he gave me some good advice, but could only confirm for me that the road ahead will be rocky. I am thankful I have such a supportive and loving wife; however that doesn't take away the feeling I have everytime I leave the house and my daughter cries and holds her arms out for me. I have seen that too much lately. I am not sure if this blog is the place to put all this but I need to vent somewhere.

Photojournal: April 19

Well, this week I shot some photos at the opening of our newly renovated Library, the central area of which is now called the Learning Commons. It has a genuine Starbucks, and pleny of tables and computers for group activities. Here is one of the photos I personally liked the most, of a girl picking out her free drink sample (everyone who came within a certain time on the first day got one).



Here are some photos of a couple of local bands that played at a small park pavilion. As the evening went on the light situation went from bad to terribly, horribly, hopelessly dark.There was one lamp slightly to the right of the stage, a halogen lamp I believe, so I used my flash as my main light. In order to keep things creative I tried some second curtain sync shots while I panned the camera slightly.











I also tried one 2 second exposure while using the multi-strobe mode on my flash (a canon 580 EX by the way)

On a seperate note...

I have an internship for this summer. I will be working at the Odessa American, in Odessa, Texas. I am pretty excited about this, and am looking forward to twelve weeks of working as a photojournalist at a daily paper. The photo editor there told me I will be working on a couple of projects aside from daily work and at least on of them will be self-assigned so I plan to keep this blog updated with daily work and some photo stories.

Photojournal: April 12

Well, I keep telling myself I will update this blog more than once a week but every week I only have one post. I will try to post more work here during the week as I shoot it so that some things will be more timely. Things have been so busy lately, but last week I went with my schools journalism department to the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association contest/seminar in San Antonio. I had a good time and got to hang out with people I am usually not around very much. I competed in two live photo contest taking photographs downtown along the Riverwalk, but didn't win either one. My friend Brian Schmidt, whose blog you can link to on the right, placed third in News photography and first in Sports so I was happy for him. I strongly recommend checking out Brian's blog as well as my other classmates, there is a wide variety of styles and interests in our group. Here are some photos I took while I was there, a couple are from the contest.

Photojournal: April 5

This Saturday I covered a track meet at our school, the Olver Jackson Open. It is a smaller meet, but many of the athletes are trying to qualify for nationals, so there is always the possiblity for some great performances. Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.