Brad Penner's Photo Blog

(My) Pictures of the Year

2009-12-25T12:02:00.025-05:00

Quite simply, these are my favorite photos from 2009. Enjoy!

Family

2009-08-18T21:55:00.003-04:00

This is the reason I do everything I do.

Incubus @ PNC

2009-08-08T00:31:00.008-04:00

Shot Incubus tonight at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel... and had some difficulties with their lighting. Sometimes I think photographers are made to shoot the songs with the most difficult lighting setups. (Tonight we shot songs 4, 5 and 6, a departure from the usual 1, 2 and 3.) One song was entirely back-lit by a huge LCD screen behind the stage, and during another, the band was barely lit at all... On top of that, three songs isn't a lot of time, so I really couldn't shoot from more than one position like I would any other assignment. If I tried to get to another spot, I'd risk missing one or even two entire songs, and when you've only got three to shoot, well, that's a lot to miss... I did what I could, though, and these are a few of my faves... Enjoy!

Golf: Action and Reaction

2009-07-29T14:00:00.001-04:00

A Remote Chance...

2009-07-23T16:01:00.005-04:00

After several attempts over the past few months, I finally got a decent shot out of a home plate remote camera. The screen grab below shows the sequence of photos in PhotoMechanic...

And here is one of my failed attempts from a high school playoff game...

Good Morning!

2009-07-21T23:55:00.002-04:00

Obama's Visit

2009-07-17T00:43:00.024-04:00

President Obama was in New Jersey, campaigning on behalf of reigning Governor Jon Corzine in his bid for another term. Originally, my job was to stay outside the venue (PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel) and cover the people in the overflow area, but by the time everyone had been let in, there was no one left in overflow. So I grabbed a free ticket and made my way inside with everyone else...

Lady Liberty

2009-07-01T00:03:00.015-04:00

Visited the Statue of Liberty today on assignment. We're previewing the reopening of the crown to the general public (Which is scheduled to happen on July 4). When I got word that I'd be shooting this, it dawned on me that for 28 of the 32 years of my life, I've lived an hour from there (or less), yet had never managed to find the time to visit. (The four years out of the area were spent away at college.) The closest I'd come was an 8th-grade trip on the Circle Line cruise, and all I remember from that was forgetting to put film in my camera, (Film? What's that??), and then last June when we sailed by the statue on our way out of New York on our family cruise ... So I was really excited to shoot Lady Liberty from Liberty Island itself. The funny thing is that although this story was about the reopening of the crown, we were allowed nowhere near it. Being in the media does, however, have some perks, so we at least bypassed the one-and-a-half hour line to enter and climb to the observation deck at the top of the pedistal. Anyway, I'll shut up now and show some of my favs... :)

Got caught in this storm on the way back home... as soon as we stepped off the boat, the sky opened up, drenching me and the reporter. The concessions crew on the boat were nice enough to provide me with plastic bags for my cameras, so at least no harm done there...

Living on a Raft

2009-06-27T13:47:00.004-04:00

I spent a couple of hours this morning with 5 members of a church who are living on a raft for 72 hours to raise money for their town's sister village in Malawi, Africa. While I was driven out to the raft on a boat (along with their breakfast), my favorite photo came from shore, just before we set sail. The boy in the photo will be bringing the church members their breakfast...

Graduation Bubbly

2009-06-24T23:49:00.003-04:00

Another day, another graduation... Always looking for something a little different, a little out of the ordinary...

Graduation Season

2009-06-24T00:30:00.003-04:00

High school graduations are in full swing, and I've shot four in two days, with another one coming up tomorrow. Can't say I mind, though... Especially when Mother Nature helps out like this...

Vigil

2009-06-17T01:03:00.007-04:00

This is from a candlelight vigil in Red Bank for the return of Sean Goldman. Today is the fifth anniversary of the day he was taken to Brazil by his mother. The two never came back. She later remarried and then died during childbirth, but Sean, now 9yo, is being kept by his step-father. Sean's biological father, David, who lives in Tinton Falls, has been steeped in international legal battles to bring Sean home and has met resistance every step of the way. The story has recently been gaining some national and even international recognition...

I've done a number of shoots for my paper on this subject, mostly just portraits of David, but I shot this on my own since I thought it was important to shoot even though it didn't fall into my work schedule.

Been Busy...

2009-06-01T00:05:00.001-04:00

Candlelight Vigil

2009-05-08T23:16:00.002-04:00

A Photo!

2009-05-04T00:21:00.005-04:00

I'm gonna try to post just photos, no words, whenever I get a chance... Here's two from my past week...

Taking a Break

2008-11-22T11:37:00.002-05:00

In case the three of you who actually read this blog hadn't noticed, I haven't blogged in quite a while, and honestly I see no blogging in my near future, either. Life is just too hectic right now...

While I wait for my email to come back online...

2008-10-13T23:22:00.011-04:00

Just some work from the past couple of weeks. In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't really been keeping up with this thing. Just too much other stuff to do...

Weather

2008-09-26T23:54:00.007-04:00

I was dispatched to find some weather photos today. Two storms, one just offshore and one to the south of us have caused some heavy surf and flooding. I didn't find any flooding, but I was able to find heavy surf. I also learned a very valuable lesson. Waterproof boots are great... until the water level rises over the top of them and water gets inside. Then, the Gore-Tex actually keeps the water in, rather than letting it drain. Not fun.

Because of a computer glitch, this one never made it back to the office, and will never see the light of day other than on this blog.

Big Giant Head

2008-09-25T22:49:00.000-04:00

While covering a fundraiser at an art gallery, this piece just struck me as creepy.

It's a giant baby head suspended from the ceiling. And when there are people standing next to or behind it... well, you can see for yourself. Creepy.

Sports, Glorious Sports

2008-09-23T21:53:00.009-04:00

Getting ready for another week to begin, here are some sports images from my last couple of weeks...

9/21

9/20

9/19

9/18

9/13

9/12

It's Been a While...

2008-09-14T00:10:00.010-04:00

Plus, I really don't feel like writing all that much... so here are some pics to catch us up.

9/11

9/10

9/09

9/05

9/04

8/29

8/28

8/19

It's Been a While

2008-08-16T00:08:00.010-04:00

I've been slacking, but here's some new stuff since my last update...

08/15/08

08/15/08

08/09/08

08/08/08

08/07/08

08/02/08

08/01/08

More Work

2008-07-31T11:04:00.007-04:00

7/30

7/29

7/26

7/25

7/23

More Recent Work

2008-07-19T00:10:00.006-04:00

Well it's still summer so it's still really slow. I was able to shoot some sports though... A football game and a lifeguard tournament. Also a S.W.A.T. training drill, and a county fair. Still, it's all very slow.

07/18/08

07/17/08

07/10/08

07/08/08

Lazy Days of Summer...

2008-07-08T15:57:00.008-04:00

It's still summer, and things are still slow...

07/05

07/05

07/05

07/03

07/03

07/02

Slow Week

2008-06-28T22:06:00.007-04:00

It's summer, so things have slowed down a bit... Here's the best of what I was able to salvage.

06/28

06/28

06/25

06/25

Battle of Monmouth

2008-06-22T00:31:00.004-04:00

So today I shot a re-enactment of the Battle of Monmouth at, fittingly, Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan. I don't get re-enactments. As if it wasn't bad enough to actually participate in the actual war, to participate in it for no real reason boggles my mind. And here are a few other things I don't understand. Were soldiers back then (American Revolution, for those who didn't know) really so stupid as to march with drums to announce their presence? It's like, "Here I am! I'm gonna kill you now!" Why the hell wouldn't they sneak up in the middle of the night? I don't get it. And another thing... With all the shooting, at nearly point blank range, I might add, not one soldier "died." Huh? How can we bring our kids to this re-enactment, tell them that this is what war was like back in the 1700's, and then not have a field littered with "dead" bodies? (Apparently in Massachusetts it's actually a law that no one can "die" during a re-enactment. But we're in New Jersey. Still, what's the point?) One last rant. I think New Jerseyans inflate the importance of this battle. Sure, the good guys won, actually it was more of a draw from what I hear, and to the Americans that was a win, but until I moved here I'd never heard of the Battle of Monmouth. I think they inflate its importance just so they can run around in their costumes. I guess I could be wrong.

I'll give them this though. It's fun to look at. The uniforms look pretty authentic, and uncomfortable as all hell. I feel bad for the horses standing right next to the cannons... At least the re-enactors have a choice in the matter.

One other gripe I had today. Not with the re-enactment itself, but with one particular member of the audience. Apparently in the course of doing my job, I got in his way. So the big man with a 200mm f/4 lens attached to a prosumer body, with everything mounted on a monopod (we call people like that "photo-weenies") took it upon himself to whack me right in the small of my back with said monopod. Really? I asked for his name and address so I could file assault charges, and he ran away. Moron.

Anyway, I've babbled more than enough. Here are some photos...

First (full) Week Back

2008-06-21T11:55:00.011-04:00

So we're now back from our cruise and work is back in full swing. Unfortunately, a few of my days this week yielded nothing in terms of photos, so I'm gonna just leave those days out and show you my best work from the week, regardless of which day it was shot. I promise I'll try harder next week.

6/20

6/20

6/20

6/17

6/17

6/14

6/13

6/12

Cruise

2008-06-12T00:21:00.002-04:00

Here We Go Again!

2008-05-31T13:51:00.007-04:00

Because I had Tuesday off for Memorial Day holiday credit, I've included a bonus image from Thursday...

5/31

5/30

5/29

5/29

5/28

5/27

Five More

2008-05-24T00:27:00.009-04:00

As I sit here watching Billy Wagner blow the save for the Mets and lamenting how that affects not just my favorite baseball team but my fantasy team as well, I'll share with you my latest batch of one-a-days...

5/23

5/22

This was a sad one. My paper said goodbye on Thursday to more than a dozen journalists and/or editorial staffers. They took the buyout offered to them by management, a first step taken by the paper in an attempt to improve the economic situation of the company. Our acting editor-in-chief said that combined, this group of retirees accumulated nearly four centuries of journalistic experience. These are scary times in this industry. Scary, scary times.

5/21

5/20

5/17

Just One From Today

2008-05-21T21:55:00.002-04:00

You might or might not see this when I post my weekly pix, but I wanted to share this with you today anyway...

Another Week, 5 More Photos

2008-05-16T15:06:00.007-04:00

All my assignments ended up being rained out last Friday, so I had to wait until Friday to post five more photo-a-days. So from now on it looks like Friday will be my photo-a-day day rather than Thursday. Did that make any sense at all? Anyway, here are my five favorites from the past week.

5/16

5/15

5/14

5/13

5/10

Another Week of Photos

2008-05-08T22:56:00.005-04:00

5/8

5/7

5/6

5/3

5/2

Another Week of Photo-a-Days...

2008-05-01T19:29:00.000-04:00

So here's another week's worth of images, using only my favorite photo per day.

This gang of bad-ass chickens actually chased me off the farm that I was shooting. (OK, not really, I was done shooting anyway, but the other story sounds better.) They did approach me menacingly though. Luckily, I wasn't too far from my car. The tough looking character with his leg in the air is the ring leader, one tough son-of-a- ... -hen?

Also, today I was featured for the first time on APAD's daily front page. (APAD stands for "A Photo A Day," and the front page photo is changed daily. You can click on "Past Fronts" to see their amazing, inspiring archive of front page photos.) With all the great photographers contributing great work, to see my photo (from November) up there was quite an honor... and a shock. Here's what the front page looked like with my photo on it.

That's all I've got. I'll try to update weekly with 5 images. (That's not to say I won't have other updates with more photos than that, but I'll still try to do the photo-a-day thing once a week.) Until next time, thanks for stopping by...

A Photo a Day?

2008-04-25T01:34:00.011-04:00

So one of the photojournalism websites that I frequent is APAD, which stands for "a photo a day." Using that great group of people as a model and inspiration, I decided that every day I shoot something, I will try to find something that I like for me, regardless of whether or not it's acceptable for work. In other words, I'm going to try to find a photo a day for myself... I'm hoping that'll spark back some of the interest that I lost when I was denied the trip to cover the Giants in the Super Bowl. Since then I've really been on autopilot, pointing and shooting rather than photographing. One of my career goals is to shoot a Super Bowl, and my bosses basically told me that as long as I remain with their paper, I will never achieve that goal. I kinda just shut down for a while...

So my first step in trying to wade my way out of my self-pity pool will be to try and make something for myself every time I touch a camera. I've been doing this for about two weeks now, and just been too busy to post until now. So here are some of my last few, the most recent at the top. I hope you enjoy.

A Sad Day

2008-03-30T18:53:00.004-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't shot anything I'm happy with in quite some time now. The president (yes, of the United States) even stopped by Freehold on Friday, but I wasn't assigned to cover it... even though images shot by reporters with point-n-shoots were the only photos used in our web updates throughout the day. Nice, right? Anyway, I digress. Yesterday I shot a very sad event, a funeral for a local soldier killed in Afghanistan. I don't think there's really much more I can say. Here's a slideshow of a few of my images, they'll tell the story much better than I could with words.

It Has Arrived!

2008-03-20T00:04:00.004-04:00

Just got my prize for placing third in the SportsShooter.com clip contest. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they hadn't shipped me the 30D they'd promised, but a brand-spankin'-new 40D! Awesome. I just want to publically say thanks to SportsShooter.com for running such an awesome contest and to Canon for sponsoring said contest. Thank you guys, you rock! Keep up the good, no, great work!

R.I.P. Wall Township Speedway

2008-03-17T00:55:00.006-04:00

Wall Township Speedway, a local racetrack, has announced (here) that it will not reopen this spring, thus ending its long run of great racing and entertainment near the Jersey Shore. Although I will freely admit that I'm not particularly fond of auto racing, I will say that I am sad to see the place go. Everyone there always looked like they were having a great time, and during the day and into the evening the light there was just great to shoot in. The article on my paper's website had over 100 user comments, a few from people glad to see the track shut down, but the majority of which recounted memories from a wide variety of people, of all ages, from all over the country. It got me thinking about my memories at the track, and I put together 10 of my favs and posted them on my SportsShooter page. Lo and behold, the next day they'd spotlighted my gallery! Here's the SportsShooter front page, followed by a slideshow of the 10 images. Thanks for looking!

Press Conference

2008-03-11T20:40:00.004-04:00

It's tough to make photos at a press conference. Especially one as lightly-attended as the one I had to shoot this afternoon. Nine or so politicians gathered at the front of the room to complain about funding being taken away. I'm sure it was very important and all, but I guess my paper was the only one that thought so because the room was basically empty. I was there, the reporter I was working with was there, the Senator's PR woman was shooting with a point-and-shoot camera, and there were two other gentlemen with cameras, too, though I'm not sure who they were shooting for. Not exactly the turnout the politicos were expecting, I'm sure. So with nothing (and no one) in the room to photograph other than the talking heads up front, I actually wandered out of the room to make a frame I liked.

The other frame I made was one of these two aforementioned photographers. He was wearing a very loud shirt, considering the business attire of everyone else in the room.

But that was it. Other than the obligatory "head shots" I turned in (of which I'll spare you), there was nothing going on. No one getting particularly passionate, no faces in the audience, nothing. Gotta love the loud shirts that sometimes come to the rescue... If not for the story (it'll never run in the paper) then at least for my sanity as a photographer.

High School Basketball State Championship Game

2008-03-09T01:16:00.004-05:00

State championship games are always fun... even if the lens I use most often decided to crap out on me at halftime. Here are some more moody, grainy, black-and-white selections from this afternoon's state championship game.

Dodgeball!

2008-03-07T23:53:00.009-05:00

Lately I've been into the whole high-ISO-grainy-black-and-white style. I think it probably reflects my mood right about now... Anyway, shot some dodgeball during "Fun Night" at a physical fitness and education center. The place is really cool. They help kids 8-18yo with their homework and other studies and keep them healthy, fit and in shape for school sports... or just healthy and fit for the sake of being healthy and fit. Nifty idea.

The Night From Hell

2008-03-05T00:57:00.006-05:00

Ever have one of those days? You know, the type of day that made you wish you'd called out sick or lived on another planet or been torn apart by a pack of wolves? Welcome to my night. It started on I-287 on my way to the basketball games.

I left at 4, the trip should've taken about an hour and in stead it took almost two. Yes, it was rush hour but there must've been an accident because no one was moving at all. Wonderful. Took me forty five minutes to go the last 10 miles.

So I finally get to the school about 15 minutes to game time. I set up my lights and get ready for the game when I discover ... I left my camera batteries in the battery charger. At home. Wonderful. Luckily, I keep a backup battery in my trunk. (It had been there for over two weeks, but surprisingly still had enough juice to shoot both games. I got lucky.)

Between games I worked on the pics from the first game. When I went to send them I discovered that there was no reception inside the gym. Wonderful. It took the entire first half of the second game to send just three photos from the first. I decided to just send the rest after the second game.

After the second game, I quickly worked on the images, but since everyone had left the building and reception inside was so poor, I decided to send them from my car. Only by the time I got to the car, my computer had crashed. And when I rebooted it, the pics from the second game were gone. Wonderful. I still had them on the compact flashcard, but now in stead of working on them at a desk in the school, I had to work on them in the front seat of my car.

I did what I needed to do, and by 10:30, all the photos were sent. A little late, but just under my deadline for an 8:00 game. But the worst part of the night was, yet again, I didn't get anything I liked. I've now shot an entire basketball season and I'm still waiting for my first good shot. Here are the best pics from my crappy shoot...

I guess I'd still rather have the night I had than the night he had...

Until next time, thanks for stopping by...

Cleaning Up

2008-03-02T00:41:00.007-05:00

One of my jobs today was to photograph a group of students from two different local colleges as they helped clean up a local lake. Among the junk pulled from the muddy water was a bicycle, completely covered in lake muck, but still nearly 100% intact.

This last photo had nothing to do with the bike, I just thought it looked nice and was a neat little story within the story. The two people in the pic are sister/brother, and the boy is still in middle school, but gave up part of his Saturday to come help out his sister and her cause. That just struck me as really classy.

HS Girls Basketball

2008-02-27T19:39:00.004-05:00

Just an action shot from tonight's game...

Not sure though whether I like it better cropped like this... aside from removing the annoying background elements, this crop is also closer to a "natural" 4x6 image, though it's still not quite 4x6.

What do you think?

Soundslides

2008-02-27T11:16:00.004-05:00

This is more or less a test to see how a Soundslides project would look inside a blog post. The pics are from a story I did last year on a jockey making a comeback at the age of 50, after 9 years out of the sport. I also found out just recently that this photo story took third place in the NJPA Better Newspaper Contest. (I also took first place for sports action, for the second year in a row.) I hope you enjoy this. Hell, I hope this works...

Snow!

2008-02-22T23:49:00.007-05:00

I love how it's a giant news story when it snows. In the middle of winter. Imagine that, snow during February. It wasn't even an inordinate amount of snow, yet my paper sent the entire photo force out and created multiple photo galleries filled with pictures of kids playing and adults shoveling, as though this is something foreign that never happens. And FOX5 News had at least 5 reporters who all said the same thing. "It's cold, it's snowing, be careful while driving, and now back to the studio!" which, of course, didn't take into account the 15 weather reports we were subjected to over the course of the 1-hour newscast. It's like nothing else goes on around here when it snows...

Anyway, I'm still recovering from the flu, so while the rest of my family played in the snow, (and Evan for his very first time!) I didn't leave the garage for more than 30 seconds at a clip. Evan, Staci and Mocha got to have all the fun, though I did get to take their pictures!

A New, Old Toy.

2008-02-21T21:41:00.007-05:00

So I'm stuck in my house with this whole flu bug and everything, and while going through some of my old gear I found one of my old toys. My 50mm f1.4 lens from back in my RIT days. I'm not sure how practical it would be for me to carry around and all, since its autofocus is slower than all my other lenses, but in certain low-light situations or for assignments that call for very selective focusing it might be nice to have it around just in case. I tried it out on two of my favorite subjects today, since going outside was just not a possibility (aside from seeing a doctor). Really though, I should keep myself quarantined from Evan for at least another day or two. Doc said I'd be contagious for the rest of the week. Bad Daddy! Bad!

Intense Wrestling

2008-02-18T21:32:00.008-05:00

I'm sick as hell, so here are a few photos from a wrestling match I shot last week. It was intense. The visiting team hung around all meet and, in the final bout of the night, went ahead of the home team, the favorite, by a final score of 30-29. Like I said, intense, and by far the best wrestling match I've ever been to.

Feature Hunting

2008-02-14T23:33:00.007-05:00

Found this old school barber shop right down the street from my house. "Tony's Barber Shop." Tony's only open mornings from 9am to noon, and only on days he chooses. He's been cutting hair in this spot (and previously at a location right across the street) for just over 50 years, and man does he have stories. While we were waiting for customers to walk in (he doesn't take appointments) he told me a few of his stories.

First of all, when he started, Route 79 was a dirt road. He showed me a photo of his previous location, and you can kind of see the dirt road. The big, white building was town hall, and is now a Chinese restaurant... He's now located right across the street from here.

The Shell station and strip mall across the street from his shop used to be a dairy farm, and he'd position his chair to face out the window so kids getting their hair cut could watch the cows grazing.

As someone who just moved into the area 2 years ago, and who's only been working in this area for about 7 years, these stories were pretty hard to fathom. Just 50 years ago this was farmland and dirt roads? Wow. I'm glad I went in there this morning.

When he first opened in October, 1957, he charged $1 for a haircut and $.75 for a kid's cut. Now it's $8 for one and all. Here's Tony cutting the hair of a longtime friend who happened to walk in as we were talking.

ISO 2500

2008-02-14T00:37:00.005-05:00

Yes, this image is average, at best. The reason I'm showing it, though, is because I shot it tonight at a high school girls basketball game. At ISO 2500. I love the new camera (Canon EOS 1D MarkIII). Until now, I could never get away with using available light to shoot games in high school gyms. But now, more than half the gyms in our coverage area are lit well enough to get a shutter speed of 1/800 @ f2.8 @ ISO 2500... and on these cameras, ISO 2500 holds up quite nicely, especially if the final output is just newsprint or the web...

Guide to Life in Freehold

2008-02-13T00:11:00.007-05:00

I was sent to the racetrack (Freehold Raceway, to be exact) to get some "slice of life" photos for our "Guide to Life in..." series, with this month's edition featuring Freehold. What a sad place. (The track, not the town...) Barely anyone would even give me their names because a) they were ditching work to be there, or b) they were embarassed to be there, or c) both. Any why wouldn't they be embarassed to be there? To say the place is awful is an understatement. It was the kind of place that makes you feel unshowered just by being there. The entire building smelled like pee. But I'll probably get in a bit of trouble if I go on, so I'll just stop there and show you some of my pictures. By the way, I wouldn't consider this a slice of life in Freehold by any stretch of the imagination. Freehold is a lot nicer than this...

A Giant Parade!

2008-02-06T23:37:00.001-05:00

Manhattan, 02/05/08. I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking really...

Black History Month

2008-01-30T18:08:00.001-05:00

This is the first of what will probably be many Black History Month profile portraits I shoot over the next few weeks.

This is a citizen activist in Red Bank, as he peers through a hole in a utility pole at the corner of River St. and Leighton Ave., two blocks from his home. He's been trying to get someone to fix this pole for over two years now, and feels it could fall on somebody at any time.

The Amazing MarkIII

2008-01-30T01:29:00.001-05:00

Sure it's a little noisy, but come on. ISO 2000, f2.8, 1/400. At a swim meet in a dungeon of a pool that had no outlets for plugging in strobes. MarkIII to the rescue!

FDU at Monmouth Men's Hoops

2008-01-26T01:01:00.001-05:00

Just one from the game tonight. FDU beat Monmouth 70-66.

Something Different

2008-01-19T00:50:00.002-05:00

Just a slightly different photo from a swim meet tonight...

If You Can't Make it to Lambeau...

2008-01-18T21:03:00.001-05:00

...do the next best thing. Visit the Green Bay Packers shrine that is Vince Lombardi's grave at a cemetery in Middletown, NJ.

How Bizarre

2008-01-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in sports. Mike Deane, head coach of the Wagner College Seahawks men's basketball team, buckles himself into his seat during a game at Monmouth University. He had a special seat constructed with a seat belt, and he uses it both at home games and on the road in an attempt to limit the number of technical fouls he receives for running onto the court during play.

Anyway, Wagner defeated Monmouth 77-62. Monmouth kept it close for a while, even well into the second half, but Wagner just had too much for the Hawks in the end.

When You Really Just Have Nothing to Work With

2008-01-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

Today my assignment was to shoot a door, or more accurately, a lock box that a guy couldn't get off of his door. The story actually was pretty important, but it's not one that should have required art, IMHO. (This guy is having trouble with the real estate company he hired to sell his house. His problem is they don't exist anymore, and no one's left to remove the lock box from his door.) But for some reason it was also 150 miles (round trip), roughly 65 miles outside of our coverage area... to shoot this guy's door! At least the weather cooperated I guess, and I was able to make a halfway decent photo. But come on, 150 miles (round trip) to shoot a door!

State of the State

2008-01-08T23:49:00.000-05:00

Apparently the State of the Garden State is, well, not very good... Here are some photos from the afternoon in the NJ State Assembly Chambers.

Thanks for visiting. I promise I'll try to update a little more frequently...

History

2007-12-30T02:34:00.000-05:00

It's late, so no story, but here are two pics from the historic Patriots/Giants game tonight... I (might) add more at another time...

Randy Moss (top) catches a historic TD pass against the Giants. Not only did this catch give Moss the NFL record for the most TD receptions in a season (33) but it also gave his QB, Tom Brady (bottom) the NFL record for most TD passes in a season (50). The bottom pic is Brady's reaction. Someone needs to teach the Golden Boy how to celebrate....

The Pats' 38-35 win also gave them a perfect 16-0 record for the regular season, something that's never been done before. (The 1972 Dolphins went 14-0 in the regular season, but that was before teams played 16 game seasons.)

Jon Bon Jovi

2007-12-22T01:34:00.000-05:00

From a charity concert at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank tonight that raised over $500,000 for the Valerie Fund Children's Center at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch. A great time was had by many.

Over Before it Even Began

2007-12-21T01:35:00.000-05:00

Today I was looking forward to shooting a high school swim meet between Marlboro and Manalapan at the YMCA in Freehold. Unfortunately, due to a glitch in the scheduling system, neither team made arrangements to have officials in attendance. You see, each team was listed on its own schedule as being the "visiting" team, and since it's the home team's responsibility to procure the officiating crew for the meet, officials were never enlisted. It's a shame, too. I love shooting at this pool, especially during winter afternoons. This time of year, the sun, which is lower in the sky than it is the rest of the year, creates a really neat shaft of light through the skylight, glass doors, and into the pool. I love how this light reacts with the water, so I stuck around for a few minutes as Manalapan turned the cancelled meet into a team practice. Hopefully, I will be able to shoot at least once more at the Freehold Y during this season, so I can really work the light during competition.

Just a Quick Photo

2007-12-16T01:34:00.000-05:00

From a Santa-arrives-on-a-train-and-scares-all-the-little-children event in Freehold... (Honestly, I think I'd react the same way if I was forcibly placed on the knee of a jolly fat man who'd just pulled up on a train after waiting in line for over an hour in 40-degree weather...)

I must have 10 or 12 images like this, with kids ranging from four-months-old to five or six-years-old either screaming their heads off, about to scream their heads off, or refusing to sit still for their photo. Funny stuff. Until next time... Brad.

Just One, Today

2007-12-06T00:34:00.001-05:00

It's late and I'm tired, so here's a very depressing photo for ya... and keep in mind, her team took second place! These girls play to win.

Until next time, when maybe I won't be so tired... Brad.

Getting Emotional

2007-12-04T23:40:00.001-05:00

More images from the Pop Warner Cheer and Dance National Championships, this time with some themes...

Anticipation:

Happy:

And, unfortunately, sad:

Orlando: Day 1

2007-12-03T23:16:00.000-05:00

I'm in Orlando, covering the Pop Warner Cheer and Dance National Championships. Here are a bunch of images from day 1.

Champions!

2007-12-01T02:04:00.000-05:00

Shot a state championship football game tonight. I just love it when my teams (the teams I'm covering, I should say) win. So much better than having to shoot dejection... Here are a whole bunch of pics from tonight. The first game I wasn't shooting for work, but I arrived at the stadium early and decided to take some chances since I wasn't on the hook for these pics... I shot from up high for a lot of the game to see what it would look like. The first photo's of a pass that was caught at midfield and then run roughly 53 yards for a touchdown. The second one's a holding penalty... I think the flag looks pretty cool from this angle...

This one's just a fun one I shot of our reporter watching the game from the press box. I love that he's still got his hat on even though he's inside. It was actually quite warm in the press box, now that I think about it...

Then came my game, and it was a blowout. 46-13. So my photos ended up being less about the action than about the celebration. Here they are, in no particular order...

It was so cold tonight, that of the "REBELS" guys in the above photo, only "B" and "L" were still shirtless (below) by the end of the game. Now those guys are fans...

I shouldn't like this next image, because #21 ran right between me and the action, but for some reason, he doesn't bother me as much as I thought he would when it first happened...

One last thing, on an unrelated note. It's now the first of December, and that can mean only one thing: SportsShooter.com's monthly clip contest's winners were announced today. I'm proud to say that I placed. First place, as a matter of fact, in the sports action category. You can see the image here. Talk about a good "day at the office..."

Anyway, I'm beat... it is almost 2:30AM as I post this, so I'll say goodnight. Thanks for reading... Oh, and be sure to stay tuned, my next post will most likely be from Florida, where I'll be covering the roughly forty Shore area teams competing in the Pop Warner Cheer and Dance National Championships at the Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Brad.

Eli's Lousy Day

2007-11-25T23:16:00.000-05:00

Vikings 41, Giants 17. What more is there to say? Eli Manning was picked off four times, three of which were returned for touchdowns. And I was in the wrong place for all of them. Why? I'm glad you asked...

When shooting a game alone, I always try to position myself on the Giants' offensive side of the ball. This way, when (if) the Giants score, they'll generally be coming right at me. Sounds like a good enough plan, but when there's a big interception, there's really nothing I can do. I can only watch helplessly as the play goes away from me, like this one, the first interception by Darren Sharper (42) that resulted in a TD.

I suppose after the second pick-six I could've switched sides and attempted to show the Giants' (and particularly Eli's) ineptitude, but I opted to try for something positive, and got burned. Besides, what's that old adage? Had I moved to the other side, the Giants would finally have started to play well, and I'd have missed that too. Like I said, I was shooting alone and it's a big field. Sometimes the plays come at me, and sometimes they don't. Not really much I can do about it.

So, failing to get any of the big Vikings plays, I basically stayed attached to Eli for the entire fourth quarter, looking for reaction shots more than action shots. I came away with a collection of images that perfectly described Eli's day, so even though I didn't have the big plays, I did end up with some pretty good story-telling shots. Here they are. Enjoy.

Giving Thanks

2007-11-23T23:46:00.000-05:00

This photo was taken on Thanksgiving, 11/22/07. Evan's playing with Poppy (Staci's father) after Thanksgiving dinner.

It's moments like these that I'm most thankful for. I make my living capturing other people's moments, but nothing means as much to me as the time I spend with my own family. Staci, Evan, Mocha, I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Contest Time? Already??

2007-11-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

So my boss is now asking for clips from 2007 for contest time. Our paper enters only one contest, but does so every year. The rest of the contests are at the photographers' discretion. Anyway, this one contest has a rule (as do some, but by no means most) that the images must have appeared in the paper. (Online galleries do not count.) So I've been going through my files looking for clips, and just about anything I'd consider for contest time, well, never ran. Here are nine images (some of which you've seen here before) that I'd love to enter, but can't. I know contests basically mean nothing, but it would've been nice to at least have that opportunity.

My Week in Sports

2007-11-18T00:57:00.000-05:00

Some high school sports action from the past week. Enjoy!

Below is some state semifinal soccer in a dense fog (from Tuesday). I absolutely love it when the weather plays a role in my sports photography... fog, rain, snow, whatever. When I can get a "now there's something you don't see every day" kind of response, it always makes shooting more fun, albeit a bit uncomfortable.

Next, (from today, Saturday) a fumble on the opening kickoff that pretty much set the tone in an otherwise boring 39-7 game. At least the team I was there to follow (the green team in the photo) was on the winning end...

My team also won my second game of the afternoon, a state championship girls soccer game that went into sudden-death (which the NJSIAA refers to as "sudden victory," what a load of hooey) double-overtime before finally being decided, roughly five minutes before it would have ended in a tie. I think ties are stupid, so I'm glad someone (and even more glad that it was the team I was there to cover) won. The girl prominent in the photo also happens to have scored both of the team's goals, too.

You can also check out a Friday night football video I did, here. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I'd still much rather shoot stills if given the choice.

Alas, speaking of things I'd much rather do, I won't be shooting the high school football state championship games this year, as the powers that be are sending me to Orlando (yes, that Orlando) to shoot the 40-some-odd local Pop Warner cheer teams that will be competing in the national competition at Disney during the same weekend. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. Really. Can you tell?

Vacation Pictures

2007-11-15T21:28:00.000-05:00

Out on the town in Santa Barbara.

Evan playing peek-a-boo with the camera!

In Alan's backyard.

In Alan's front hallway.

A kiss for mommy.

On the beach in Santa Barbara.

Feeding a giraffe at the zoo!

My brother, Alan, at Longboards in Santa Barbara.

Evan plays with bowling balls at Zodo's in Goleta.

Saw this street scene while shopping in Santa Barbara.

On the beach again, Santa Barbara.

...and now, back to reality.

Long Trip Home

2007-11-13T01:27:00.000-05:00

So our vacation ended with a bang (no, not literally) thanks to Virgin America. I'm really too tired to blog right now, and head back to work tomorrow, so I'll save the story for another day, once I've hopefully caught up to my jet lag. Let's just say that any time we end up out on the tarmac at JFK at sunrise on a 35 degree morning ... well, it's not a good thing. Got two pretty pictures though...

Still on Vacation!

2007-11-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

Vacation!

2007-11-05T00:47:00.001-05:00

Santa Barbara, CA. Evan chases the birds on the beach!

Vacation Can't Come Soon Enough!

2007-11-02T00:36:00.000-04:00

So this morning I get a call from the PAD (I'm still not even sure what this stands for, Photo Assignment Desk maybe? Photo Assignment Director? Whatever, it's the person who schedules all of the day's assignments) telling me that my 2:00 sports portrait and 7:00 high school play have been reassigned to other photographers because I would be doing video of the very same high school play.

The play is controversial, and has been for some time. When the school's drama club took their plans for the play to their principal, they were shot down immediately, on the grounds that the play was too racy. They, and the community, made a big first amendment stink (and rightly so), and so their play finally opened tonight.

It's not like we haven't had months of notice on this... I can't figure out why the photo department only found out this morning at around 10am that we'd need to shoot a video of this. That meant going there on the night of the play and interviewing cast and crew and faculty advisers, something that would have been much better accomplished in the days leading up to opening night. But here I was, showing up backstage an hour and a half before curtain and the director gave me himself and three of his student thespians to interview. Very accommodating.

I had to leave at intermission so that the video could be finished by midnight... Deadlines and all... My problem, and I didn't realize this until I'd started editing, is that none of the actors I'd interviewed had any sort of significant role in the first half of the play! So now I'm stuck with interviews of kids I have no "action" shots of.

This is how it ended up:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/VIDEO01/71101066

Tomorrow's my last day of work before heading out on a much needed vacation. We're going to visit my brother, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was already anticipating a let-down following Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and the Breeders' Cup, but to add video on top of it, well, that's really just adding insult to injury. Like I said, this vacation couldn't have come at a better time.

Be back soon. Be good while I'm gone!

Monkey Business!!

2007-10-31T23:55:00.000-04:00

Well today was Halloween, so we took Evan trick-or-treating for the first time. He had a blast, though I think he preferred handing out the candy to everyone who came by in search of some once we got back home.

Happy Halloween!

A Nice Surprise!

2007-10-28T09:19:00.001-04:00

I woke up this morning and made my usual morning web stops: app.com, weather.com, a couple of blogs that I read regularly, and then sportsshooter.com... and much to my surprise, my Breeders' Cup gallery was being featured, right on sportsshooter's masthead!

Man do I love my job!

Breeders' Cup (Day 2)

2007-10-28T01:03:00.000-04:00

Mud! Mud mixed with horse poop! And I was lying in it! Woo!

First though, yesterday I promised a photo of the tunnel leading to the photo workroom, so here it is...

Like I said, we're in the basement, out of sight from the rest of the world. I should have grabbed a shot of the press room the writers were in. Aside from the catering, they had a direct window to the paddock area... So, for a different angle, I took a shot from there...

Walk ten feet out of the writers' press room in the other direction, and you've got a perfect view of the track. This photo (taken from right outside the writers' press room) shows a line of photographers waiting for the "walkback" photo, which is literally when the winning horse walks back along the track and into the winner's circle. Notice where they're all standing. And I wore sneakers yesterday!!

Here are bunch more photos. (Hey, it's late and I'm tired. If you want or need more of an explanation than that, e-mail me or leave a comment here!)

And finally some shots from the final race of the day, the $5,000,000 Breeders' Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge!

Hope you've enjoyed seeing the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. That's all for now. Goodnight.

Breeders' Cup (Day 1)

2007-10-26T20:41:00.000-04:00

Day one of Breeders' Cup weekend at Monmouth Park was a wet one. Not just rain, but mud, too. To photograph the turf races, the photographers have to walk across the dirt track (mud track) to the rail of the turf track. I was unprepared. My new sneakers are probably toast. But man was it fun! (On my way home I stopped at an Eastern Mountain Sports (Right on Route 35 in Eatontown, directly on my way home! Well done!) and picked up waterproof boots and pants covers... watch tomorrow be 70 degrees and sunny. The forecast does call for more wind and rain, though.) So here are some images.

(The first image is the start of the last race. It was so dark by post-time (I was shooting 1/500 at f2.8 at ISO 1000) so I figured at the start of the race I'd take the slower shutter speed to an extreme and see what happened. It actually ended up being my favorite shot from the entire day.)

The next image is of the photo dungeon, or workroom, they have us set up in. It's funny, the press box for the writers is a large, beautiful, catered affair, all the way at the top of the grandstand, and we photographers are hidden away in the basement (I'll take some shots of the path we have to take to get there tomorrow) and given box lunches. I kid you not. Box lunches. And when I put my bag down (as much a cliche as this sounds, I swear I'm not making it up) a roach scurried out from beneath it... Needless to say, I dined with our writers. :)

On our way out the rain got even harder, so I grabbed another shot just for fun.

Weather.com says more of the same for tomorrow. At least tomorrow I'll be prepared.

Have I Forgotten How to Count?

2007-10-26T00:06:00.000-04:00

What a bizarre night.

Three still comes after two, which still comes after one, right? OK, just checking... I'll get back to that later, but let me start at the beginning.

Tonight Bon Jovi opened the Prudential Center in Newark. It's the first event ever held there. (This is what the Center, nicknamed "The Rock," looks like.)

So my orders are pretty straightforward. Red carpet at 5, The opening band, My Chemical Romance, at 7:15 and Bon Jovi at 8:30. Easy enough.

First of all, being on the red carpet at 5 meant missing the grand opening ceremony of the Prudential Center. Our coverage was being coordinated by our entertainment department, not our news department, so I didn't even know there was a grand opening ceremony. It was a kind of big deal, too, because there was speculation that Governor Corzine wasn't welcome at the ceremony, which obviously wasn't true, since he participated in the festivities.

So there I am on the red carpet, and the list of celebrities is less than impressive. Forget A-list, these guys barely make D-list. Newark Mayor Cory Booker? He's a red carpet celebrity? Aida Turturro? That's the best "Soprano" they could muster up? I don't even know who the third person is, but the paparazzi told me she's on Law and Order. --shrug--

Then out of nowhere, a car blew up in the parking lot. No, really!

It's not an area my paper covers at all (let's face it, I was there only for Bon Jovi) so I grabbed a few shots for myself and went back, just in time to be escorted into the arena for the My Chemical Romance performance.

Came out of that with some good stuff, sent it from the media workroom along with some of the red carpet stuff, and called my editor to check in. Turns out no one told her to expect anything from the red carpet. (Translation: I was wasting my time there.)

Then we were escorted back in for the main act, Bon Jovi. Before Bon Jovi took the stage, though, I ended up getting my shots of Corzine, who was sitting smack in the middle of the fifth row. Nothing great, but at least I got him in case we needed it. He appears to be checking out the lay of the land inside his state's newest arena.

But back to the matter at hand. We were told we'd get to shoot the first three songs. The first song was "Lost Highway," the title of his world tour and a song I'd never heard before. Then he went into "You Give Love a Bad Name." Finally, something of a vintage I'm more familiar with. Then he launched into a monologue, "I'm the Jersey Devil and this is my new house." Then... well, then I don't know what he played next, because the photographers were escorted out during his monologue. The monologue that followed his second song. We were assured we would be shooting the first three songs, but as he played the first few chords of the third song, we found ourselves being herded up and chased out the tunnel into the bowels of the arena. Here's what I got during the two songs...

As I type this, FOX 5 News is showing the ribbon cutting ceremony that I missed for the useless red carpet garbage.

Anyway, I got what I needed as far as photos, but all around the night just kept getting weirder and weirder as it went on.

Tomorrow: Breeders' Cup. Take care!

Monmouth Park

2007-10-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

Monmouth Park opened today, to get two days of racing in before hosting the Breeders' Cup. I guess they want a couple of test runs before they're in the national spotlight. Anyway, it was a rainy, gloomy day today, and not many fans showed up. This is what it looked like. Enjoy.

(The first image was shot from the backstretch, to show the grandstand in the background. Admittedly, it will look much better on Friday and Saturday when there are actually people in the stands....)

Getting Ready

2007-10-23T23:35:00.000-04:00

Today was the Post Position Draw Press Conference for the Breeders' Cup World Championship at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ. Here are a few of the trainers following the press conference, talking with the media about their draws.

Todd Pletcher

Greg Gilchrist

Following the press conference, our reporters scurried about the track to find local-angle, feature-type stories to bring the whole national thing home to our Monmouth and Ocean county readers. One of our four reporters found this man, Monmouth Park's "Color Man," who's in charge of all of the jockeys' silks for all races at Monmouth. He is, indeed, a colorful character, as his nickname, "Louie the Color Man," implies.

The next few days for me will be very long, very exciting, and hopefully very rewarding. Tomorrow, Monmouth Park opens for non-Breeders' Cup races, to make sure everything is running smoothly for Friday's and Saturday's festivities. I've got a press conference in the morning, then a few hours to just roam around making pretty feature-type images of horse racing at the "new" Monmouth Park.

Thursday night I'm shooting Bon Jovi as he opens the new arena in Newark. Three songs and out, standard fare.

Then Friday and Saturday I'll be back to all Breeders' Cup coverage. Should be fun. Should wear me out. Good thing I'll be on vacation with my family in two weeks. I'm gonna need it.

Football

2007-10-21T01:26:00.000-04:00

Yet more football. Can't say I'm complaining though... The weather was perfect, the light was great, and even the game was a good one that needed overtime to be decided. Anyway, here are some shots from today's game and festivities. Enjoy!

Friday Night Darkness

2007-10-19T21:49:00.001-04:00

Because of all the rain today, my schedule changed and I was let off the hook for video duty. Shot stills at a game in stead. But because of the rain, using my flash was out of the question, for a couple of reasons. First of all, keeping a camera dry is tough enough without the flash popping out from the top. The other reason is that light from a flash bouncing off raindrops make for very lousy photos. Even a few drops of rain being illuminated by a flash would make it seem like the game was being played in a blizzard. So in stead I shot the game (on my work-issued Canon EOS 1D Mark II) at ISO 1600, f2.8, 1/320. Really, really dark. Here's an example of what that looks like straight out of the camera:

Now after some tinkering:

And now my personal preference, in black and white:

To be honest, this is one of the better lit fields in our area. The light is uneven, and the end zones (that shot was a touchdown) are even darker than the rest of the field, but most other fields would be nearly impossible to shoot at without a flash. These schools spend all this money on turf and stands and sound systems ... and light the field so no one can see it! Anyway, here's another shot from tonight. Thanks for looking!

Something Different

2007-10-18T23:14:00.000-04:00

Today was the Ocean County Middle School X-C Championships at Ocean County Park in Lakewood. I really have difficulty shooting X-C because, for the purposes of my paper, I need to get the winners of the races, which means not straying too far from the finish line. I can't wander into the woods on the course to find the right spot. So most of my images end up looking like this:

Pretty simple, one runner, usually the winner or second place finisher, a few hundred feet from the finish line. Exactly what the sports editors want, but boring as hell. Today, the starting line and finish line were within a realistic walking distance of one another, so I shot the starts of the races as well. This gave me a little more opportunity for creativity, as it's not just one runner all by him/herself, but a mob of 30 or 40 or more kids all moving at once. I decided to try and capture this movement with a slow shutter speed, and this is what that looked like:

Tomorrow I'm shooting another football video. Hopefully it won't be raining too hard.

Something From Nothing

2007-10-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

So the next two weeks here are going to be nothing but Breeders' Cup coverage. We've already covered the renovations being done at Monmouth Park, the local food merchants involved in feeding 40,000 visitors, and press conferences galore. Problem is, until the weekend of the Breeders' Cup, there's really not too much going on. So today I was sent to a press conference at the track, where they announced the pre-entries for the 11 races. (I don't even really know what that means. All I needed was the talking heads at the podium.) After the press conference, I also needed to explore the track, shooting any people, preparation, renovation, or detail. Sure, there were new bleachers erected, but how exciting could I make a photo of chairs?

I got lucky. These are some of the new chairs, along with someone actually doing something!

That's all I've got for now. Check back soon!

More About Yesterday

2007-10-15T14:33:00.000-04:00

If it sounds like I was in a bad mood following yesterday's game, it's because I was. I was frequently on the wrong side of the field, or blocked from the big plays by TV guys, NFL Films guys, referees, and players. I missed all of the "big" plays. (Can there really be big plays in a game between a 1-3 team and a 1-4 team?)

So now that I've cooled down a bit, and had some time today to play with Evan, I'll give a little more level-headed recap. First of all, both teams were, as I stated, awful. Neither team could do anything inside the 20-yard-lines, and both were missing field goals left and right. (What was I thinking picking a Giants Stadium kicker, Nugent, for my fantasy team??)

The light on the field was literally black-and-white. For most of the game, half the field was in bright sunlight while the other half was in complete shadow. Opportunities abounded for creative, artsy-fartsy images that would never run (see below), but trying to cover the game was very difficult.

The in-camera meter was constantly being fooled by the extreme contrast, and completely underexposed everything that happened in the shadow areas. (This is nothing new.) So I basically had to pick an exposure manually and hope the majority of the plays happened within that area. Since the sun was on its way down, I chose to expose for the shadows, as more and more of the field would be in shadow as the afternoon went on. The image below is what happens when you're exposed for the shadows and the player steps into the sunlight. Everything gets completely blown out.

Anyway, the play of the game did happen in the shadow area, and I would've been in perfect position to nail it, but I was blocked by a referee. And not just a little blocked, where his hand was in my way, no, he was 3 feet in front of me, so his butt filled my entire frame. (The play was a Jets fourth-and-goal pass from Philly's 4-yard-line late in the game that would've tied the game (pending the PAT), and Laveranues Coles dropped it in the end-zone. And I had a perfect angle on it, but a view of the ref's rear.) What're you gonna do? Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

Finally, after the game, there was ungodly traffic. (Which I mentioned yesterday). Nothing like sitting on the NJ Turnpike for an hour to exacerbate an already cruddy mood. So there you have it, a quick recap of my day yesterday.

The good news is that there's no way I will get blocked quite as much next time. It would be impossible. :)

Now I've got two days off, and then Wednesday it's back to work. If you can really call this work.

Eagles 16, Jets 9.

2007-10-14T21:50:00.000-04:00

It was a lousy game featuring two teams that really couldn't move the ball. The Eagles plays just a little less badly, and won. Oh yeah, and the Jets wore these stupid throwback jerseys. Save for the blue helmets in place of gold, the Jets looked like Notre Dame... and played like them, too. There's really not all that much more to say.

Oh yeah, and the Turnpike was a disaster on my way home, congested with all the Eagles fans leaving the Meadowlands. A perfect end to a perfectly crappy game.

Some New Photos

2007-10-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

Not really much to say, just some tennis from yesterday and Monmouth University football from today. MU was crushed on their homecoming day by Wagner College, 45-16. Yikes!

Three Songs with Bruce

2007-10-09T23:15:00.000-04:00

Shot Springsteen at the Continental Airlines Arena tonight, and as usual the three-songs-and-out rule applied to media photographers... which is fine since I was on deadline and would've had to leave around then anyway. This is what I came back with.

Daily Work

2007-10-06T23:55:00.000-04:00

Some of today's shots:

First, I shot a Boy Scout "Camporee," where over 10,000 scouts from over 400 troops across NJ converged on the National Guard Training Base in Sea Girt for a weekend of fun, demonstrations and merit badging.

Then it was off to a football game, Keansburg at Asbury Park. The game was close while I was there (the first three quarters) but it ended with Asbury winning big.

And finally I had what essentially amounted to a PR shoot for the city of Asbury Park. Their police department recently acquired two horses to start a mounted police unit, and they paraded them out for me and my camera. (Along with two horses from the Newark mounted squad, I think they were training the AP horses/officers.) I tried my best to make it at least appear candid, but personally I think it all looks pretty staged. Especially this first one.

OK, it's late and I'm tired. Until next time, thanks for looking!

Giants 16, Eagles 3.

2007-10-02T21:50:00.000-04:00

I know it's a bit late, but it ended something like 11:30PM and I've been really busy ever since. Here are a few shots I liked from the Giants/Eagles game on Sunday night. The Giants sacked Donovan McNabb 12 times, with Osi Umenyiora collecting 6 of them. Six!

And since it was a nationally televised game, the sidelines weren't without celebrities. You might recognize these folks as Ashton, Demi and Cameron, though why Diaz wasn't at her "boyfriend's" game... you know her boyfriend, Brett? He plays football... (That afternoon Brett Fav-ruh eclipsed Dan Marino's all-time touchdown record... If I have to explain any further, just forget it...)

High School Football ... Finally Into a Rhythm.

2007-09-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

From last night's Wall/Middletown South game. Wall had a 20-7 lead at halftime, but lost 35-34. Of course I missed the comeback because my deadline forced me to leave at halftime.

In the last shot, to the far right, you can see APP's master videographer Tom Costello following along with his video camera. Gotta love RallyCast!

And now some pics from today's game, Asbury Park at Keyport. Neither team held onto the ball particularly well, which made for some lousy football, but some pretty good photo opportunities. Asbury Park won 14-13.

And of course now that I have my high school football timing down pretty well, I get to go embarrass myself with NFL football tomorrow night. Eagles at Giants. Really looking forward to that. Obviously, I'll post some shots here once I'm all done.

Vineyard Hands

2007-09-29T20:48:00.001-04:00

For a food feature yesterday on a vineyard/winery in Colts Neck.

Last Call

2007-09-28T00:26:00.000-04:00

Another Asbury Park landmark, the Wonderbar, has been forced to close. I'm not really the bar type, but the seizure and forced closing of any popular landmark so that developers and politicians can pad their pockets is sad...

From their website: http://www.thewonderbarnj.com

Regrettably, The Wonder Bar will officially be closing on the weekend of September 28, 29, and 30. As you may or may not know, the building was taken by the developers over the winter, and they were "kind" enough to give us a 6-month leaseback so that we could stay open for our last summer. Well, now it is over, officially, and the historic Wonder Bar, which has sat on the corner of Ocean and Fifth Avenues since 1949, will be boarded up, and eventually torn down for future "development."

Anyway, that was one of my assignments today. The other two were a ribbon cutting and a field hockey game, so this was by far my best image of the day.

Finally!

2007-09-21T21:57:00.001-04:00

Some daytime football!! I'm still a bit rusty, but I did like this frame...