Evan's Toys R Us Photo Shoot!!

Evan had a photo shoot today for Toys R Us! He wore an adorable pair of pajamas, and everything went great! If they choose Evan's photo (two other kids also modeled that same pair of pajamas) it will appear in catalogs sometime around August or September at Toys R Us stores that sell clothing. At least that's what they tell us... But who really cares, the important thing is that we all had a blast, which we did.

Nice Light and Catching Up

You know what I don't get? Why a team, on any level, would purchase uniforms without numbers on the front. I dealt with that all day today, as I shot a middle school softball championship game in which one team had front numbers but the other didn't, and a youth soccer game in which neither team had front numbers, making identifications very tough. It's not like they're playing in the pros where a player could be identified by their face. All these middle school kids look the same!

So the aforementioned soccer match began at 6:30, making the light phenomenal. Some of the best light I've worked with all season. The game wasn't much in terms of action though. The team I was there to shoot was clearly dominant over the other. I feel bad for the inferior team in situations like this. It's no fun to be a kid and clearly outmatched.


Updating a story from a few days ago, remember the eggs that the bird laid in our front yard? Well, they're gone. And no, they didn't hatch. Someone or something must've been in the mood for an afternoon omelette. In fact, I must've noticed within hours of them being pilfered, because the bird kept returning to search for them. It would walk up, peck at the nest a few times, look around, then fly away... and repeat this every five minutes or so for the rest of the day. I haven't seen it since. The worst part is that I feel, in a way, responsible. We'd just put up a bird feeder not too far away, creating more air traffic than a busy day at O'Hare. I can't help but wonder if we called unnecessary attention to the area. That was Sunday, and here it's Wednesday and it's still bothering me. Nature's cruel.

On a lighter note, something funny happened yesterday. We stopped at Babies'R'Us to pick up a few things, and Evan and I waited in the car while Staci ran inside. Well while we were waiting, a woman dressed entirely in yellow (covered head to toe, as a matter of fact) walked by our car. Evan pointed and kept saying "Banana! Banana! Banana!" (Well okay, he didn't actually say "banana." His word for banana is a lot like his word for my brother, Alan, which is "Ah-Aah!" But that means banana. Trust me, it does.) I almost coughed up a lung I was laughing so hard. Then Evan took the cue from me and he also laughed uncontrollably. Made for a fun wait.

That's enough for now, I've wasted more than enough of your time. Until next time...

Another Photo

It's late and I'm tired. Also, I don't really have much to say today. (It's not like anyone reads this anyway!) So here's a photo from today. I have four days off now, so I probably won't post until Wednesday. Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Nikon, Respect, and a Photo

So tonight I listened to the Mets lose to Atlanta, again, and between innings there was a commercial for Nikon and their "Picturetown" project. "Anyone can start taking amazing digital pictures the minute you hand them the ... Nikon D40. To prove it, we gave 200 to the people of Georgetown, SC. What happened next was extraordinary."

Anyone, eh? So I guess I should just buy a D40, sit back, and watch my awards roll in. Screw you, Nikon. I suppose the right pots and pans can turn anyone into Emeril Lagasse, or the right Louisville Slugger can turn anyone into Albert Pujols. Right.

I had nothing against Nikon until this ad campaign. Now I'm glad I shoot Canon. What an insult this is to professional photographers everywhere, especially those that forked over tens of thousands of dollars to Nikon, only to be slapped in the face by some ad exec who's probably never taken a photo in his life.

In other news, I shot a college graduation tonight, just as the sun was setting at twilight, so the light was awesome. This is my favorite image from the night. Let's see those Nikon D40 test subjects use light like this.

Big Day for NJ Baseball (Part 2)

Roger Clemens warms up in the outfield of Waterfront Park, where he started for the Trenton Thunder.

Big Day for NJ Baseball (Part 1)

Ryan Howard and the rest of the Lakewood BlueClaws watch his seventh-inning, opposite-field, three-run blast leave FirstEnergy Park.

Fun With Birds!

My brother and my father have recently gone bird crazy, setting up bird feeders in their backyards to try and take photos of birds. So I figured 'why not?' and Staci, Evan and I did the same. As we were setting the feeder up in our front yard, we kept on getting harassed by this one bird, which systematically ran at us, and then once it had our attention, away from us.


It didn't take too long to figure out why. The bird has a nest right in front of our house, with four eggs in it! How exciting!


So we will definitely keep our eyes on that. I hope they don't leave once the eggs hatch. I'd like to try and photograph the chicks too.

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Friday night I photographed the boys lacrosse Shore Conference Tournament championship game. It was a night game, so good photos were few and far between. Shooting at night is tough, especially on a high school field, where you'd be lucky to get 1/500th-sec at f2.8 and ISO 1600. Lucky. So I came out of it with this photo. It won't win any contests, but it was good enough.


Until they did this to it.


Look, if they're gonna do this, why not just choose another photo? In the caption they even claim the ball was knocked loose! Well, as you can see in the first photo, it was... But to a reader, how are they supposed to know? Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking.

Nothing to Show

The huge story here has been an out-of-control forest fire raging through the Pinelands in Ocean County. Unfortunately, I was assigned all the other stories. You know, the ones vacated by the photographers sent to shoot the fires. So here are two photos from my non-fire jobs. The first one was at Ocean County's 16th annual Law Enforcement Memorial Day. The other was a portrait of the New Jersey Student of the Year. (Student of the Year according to who, I can't tell you, but somebody did choose her as such.)



Anyway, that's all I've got for ya for now, but it can only go up from here, right?


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In other news, yesterday (it's after midnight as I post this) was our third wedding anniversary. I surprised Staci by having my parents come over to watch Evan, and taking her out to a nice, adults-only dinner. It's the first time we've gone out, alone, since Evan was born. It was also, obviously, the first time we'd ever left Evan with "baby sitters," even though the sitters in question were only my parents. It was nice to get out, but the entire time we were gone all we could think about was how Evan was doing. No offense to my parents - they did a great job ... even put him to bed - but it's just something you never really understand until you become a parent. Dinner was wonderful, but we were very happy to get home, even though Evan was already sleeping. Just being here makes us feel better.

Later today, we're taking Evan for his first real photo shoot! Toys-R-Us chose him from a "look/see" we took him to for Babies-R-Us. We need to be there by 10am though, and that means driving in rush hour traffic, so I think that's it for me for tonight. I'll keep you posted on the results.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

The day started with me burning breakfast in bed for Staci. Well, the pancakes came out as yummy as ever (if I do say so myself), but my eggs could use some work. Okay, a lot of work. Ah well, it's the thought that counts, right? :) I ended up eating burnt eggs for breakfast... I really didn't mind. :) After breakfast, we headed north for an absolutely wonderful day with the family. Evan was extremely cute, as usual. He danced for everybody whenever there was music on. Everybody loves Evan. How could they not? :) We had lunch at the very yummy Outback Steakhouse. All in all, it was a perfect Mother's Day. But don't take my word for it, even Staci said today was great, and that's what matters most. Happy mommies.

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So I didn't post yesterday because it was such a long day, but here are some shots from my two jobs. The first one was a story about the cleanup of a local river. Nearby, these swans were just hanging out, completely oblivious to the fine people who gave up their Saturday morning to make the environment a little cleaner. I liked this shot better than any of the photos of the actual cleanup. Notice the trash built right into the nest. Go figure.


Then it was off to Monmouth Park, for the racetrack's opening day of the season. I got the typical track stuff first, but then tried to do different things with shadows, silhouettes, and unusual angles. These are just four of my favorites, though I think I turned in over 20 images to my editors. (Hey, they asked for a lot.)


That's all for now. Talk to ya soon...

Lousy Day

As far as images were concerned, today stunk. My first job was supposed to be the return of a local man after he sailed around the world. For whatever reason, the time I was given was just for the interview and a portrait shoot, not his actual arrival at port. I thought I was going out on a boat to follow him back in. That's what it said on my assignment sheet, anyway. So it was a disappointment to learn that he'd already been back for hours when I went to photograph him. Ah well.

My second job was the preparation of a prom after-party. It actually wasn't all that bad, as some of the parents from the school's PTSA went all out, redecorating the school as a South Beach night club. I think one of them was an interior designer of some sort, because it really was impressive. That's the assignment that today's photos are from.


My final job was supposed to be my best of the day, a woman who is a terminal cancer patient, who was given a day of beauty and gifts from many area businesses so that she could enjoy Mother's Day. But when I showed up, they weren't expecting me. Apparently she wasn't well enough to be there today. What a shame. I hope she's doing okay. What bothers me, though, is that the reporter was told much earlier in the day that she wasn't feeling well enough to be there, and even told the salon that he would cancel the photographer... and somehow that message never made it to me. That kind of thing is inexcusable in a profession where so much depends on quick and accurate communication, and that's why I'm upset.

Tomorrow should be fun. Monmouth Park is opening for the season... and I'm being sent there to get every aspect of the horseracing, except for the horseracing. Apparently none of the races are all too intriguing, so they want more featurish kinds of images. At least the weather's supposed to cooperate. We'll see what happens.

Until tomorrow...

A Long Day

I know I didn't post anything yesterday, but I really didn't shoot anything terribly exciting.

Anyway, we left this morning around 8:30AM to take Evan into the city for another look-see, this time for The Children's Place. After battling through an hour and a half of rush hour traffic, the entire thing lasted ten minutes. It was over so quickly, in fact, that by the time I'd parked the car and made it up to the studio, Staci and Evan were already on their way out.

Once we got back to Jersey, we went straight to My Gym, a gym/play place for children. Evan loves it. They have swings and bouncy balls and a ball pit! So we spent 45 minutes there, then went to lunch. After lunch, Evan fell asleep, and I went to work.

My first job was to photograph a local photographer whose photos will be featured in a gallery show. Portrait jobs like these are really tough to do, since nothing's going on. I photographed him with some of his photographs, we talked a bit about photography, and I went to my second job.

Manalapan will be expanding their playing fields so I was sent to get generic photos of kids playing on the existing fields. I like this one, even though I'm pretty sure it won't run.



Then there was a really bad tanker truck fire on I-195 tonight. I was one of three Press photographers who covered it, but I was the farthest away when it happened, so by the time I got there, they'd blocked off most of the road, so I didn't really have great access. I did what I could.


So it was a long day. I'm gonna go relax now. Until next time...

Portraits

My two jobs today were both portraits. A first-year high school track coach attempting to bring credibility to a track program that's never had any, and a grandmother with her granddaughter, for a Mother's Day story. Since the 2-year-old granddaughter wanted nothing to do with being photographed, my best photo from the day is this nice moment of the coach.



On another note, ever wonder how to get rid of a door-to-door cable salesman? No joke, he rang our doorbell after 8pm, just as we were headed upstairs to put Evan to bed! He was trying to sell us on Cablevision's Optimum Triple Play, and his first question was, "what does DirecTV offer you that we can't?" I answered, pretty quickly, "the NFL Network and Sunday Ticket." That shot him down real quickly, though it didn't really shut him up. He still made his pitch, but I could tell from his face that he knew there was no way he was making a sale. The funny thing is, we don't even subscribe to Sunday Ticket; I just knew that there was no way he could promise it to us since DirecTV is the only one authorized to offer it. The nerve of some people, to go door-to-door selling Cablevision after 8pm. He got from us exactly what he deserved. Nothing.

The Beach

Today was a non-work day, and the weather was beautiful, so Staci and I took Evan to the beach in Manasquan. We had a great time playing in the sand and looking at the birds and boats go by. When the weather gets even warmer, I will take him into the water, but right now it's still too cool to do that. (At our house it was around 65 degrees but by the water is was more like 55 degrees, and windy.)

When we got home we played with our bubble machine on our deck in the backyard. This warmer weather is great, and as you can see, Evan loves the bubbles.

It's back to work tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have something to show for the next couple of days. That's about it, so until then...

School Bus Road-E-O!

Today (yesterday, technically) I shot a "Road-E-O" (Get it? "Rodeo?") for NJ school bus drivers. It certainly was something I'd never shot before. Bus drivers from around the state competed in an obstacle course set up in the parking lot of Six Flags Great Adventure's Hurricane Harbor. I got the opportunity to ride along with a bus driver from the Matawan-Aberdeen School District, as well as walk out onto the course to make photos, but my favorite image from the event was just this detail shot of some of the buses lined up, ready to head out into competition.


Just something a little different. In retrospect, I wish there was somebody in between the buses, doing something... or even just standing there. But looking at it now, it probably does need a person in it. Or maybe I'm just being too hard on myself; I am my own toughest critic. Until next time...

New Strategy

So what I'm gonna do from now on to keep this photo blog thing going is post my favorite photo from my day, every day. Most likely it will be from work, but sometimes it won't be ... and on my days off where I don't take any photos, well, if I have something to talk about I will, and if not, I won't. :)

This photo was taken tonight at a high school prom for special needs students, thrown by members of various school clubs and organizations. It really was an emotional event, but because of my deadlines I was able to stay only about 20 minutes. A real shame, because there was some nice light coming in through the windows, and the kids were all having a blast. But deadlines are deadlines.

What I tried to get was something that looked like any other prom (flowers, dancing, etc.) while just hinting that there was something a little different going on at the same time. This isn't exactly what I'd envisioned, but I think it's a success, especially considering my time constraint.

On a side note, I placed second again in the SportsShooter Monthly Clip Contest! Again, in the news category. This is the image, entitled "Vigil for a Teammate." If I never have to shoot another accident/vigil/funeral for a high school student, it'll be too soon.

Until tomorrow...