shooting is fun

It was sunny in Seattle for the first day in a very long time. And more importantly, it was sunny and it was my day off. I saw shadows everywhere. I saw snow-topped mountains all around. I saw Mt. Rainer.

I had planned to walk down to the science museum, catch an IMAX movie, grab a bit to eat, enjoy a day in seattle. Well, I guess I forgot that I now live in a big city and that schools are on break. Because I think everyone had the same thought I did. Huge lines, lots of people, sold out shows. Seattle Center is this really cool little area in the heart of the city filled with fun things, which of course I didn't do. But I was out and about enjoying the lovely weather and took some shots with my point-and-shoot camera. Well, because it was handy.

I think these are probably pretty common shots when someone visits Seattle Center. But oh well, I was shooting, I was happy and it was sunny.

And I'll probably catch that IMAX movie once all the kiddies go back to school. :)

prep school

A couple of weeks ago, I went back east for a few days to visit my family. Ironically, my newspaper was planning on hiring a freelancer to shoot some pictures in a remote part of western CT. So, my super cool boss (and I am not just saying that because he is probably reading this) asked if I was interested in shooting the assignment.

After my intial reaction of yes, of course, I'm ready, sign me up. I started to get a bit nervous and feel more pressure. I hadn't shot anything in months. And now that I am an editor, I felt like I had to be more on my game because otherwise the photographers I work with might think less of me. After all, they are a very talented group and one of the reasons I became an editor was my lack of talent as a shooter.

All that aside, It was a very good experience. It was great to be out in the field again. And to first hand remember all the obstacles photographers encounter and have to deal with. And, more importantly, that things usually never unfold the way you think they will.

Anyways, the story ran over the holiday weekend, but I think for a change I won't show the pages but here are a couple photos. I have also posted a few more on my sportsshooter page.

life after football

Not everything can always be perfect. This was a great story. The reporter, Greg Bishop, (ooo, another Syracuse grad) really did a great job. Life after football ran as a two day package earlier this week(you can see the secondary photo on Sunday's front page posted earlier). It focused on the physical and mental challenges linebackers deal with when their football careers end. Day one was the physical aspect. When we were all talking about how to illustrate this story, we decided to try and get portraits of the main players, with old action shots to supplement. We were excited about the possisbilities.

Unfortunately, I think we were all frustrated by the time the package ran. I know the photographer and I both were, I can only assume everyone else was. When looking back to see what went wrong, it mostly comes down to miscommunication, confusion about the story, and indecisiveness. I don't think one person or department is to blame. I think a combination of elements all contributed to it.-- I should note that I think the photographs are great and worked very well with the story --it is more the process behind it all I found difficult. In the end, I think the package looked nice and worked and hopefully the community will never know the saga behind it all.

One of the most important aspects of my job is to make the photographer's assignments a bit easier and less frustrating. And, in that regard, I think I failed. Even if I think I am doing all I can, I need to readjust. To continually push myself to come up with new ways and ideas to make things better for the photographer. To give them all the tools they need to succeed and do the best job possible. No matter how much planning you can have, sometimes photos just need to unfold naturally. Not everything follows a script and most of the time, that produces the best outcome.





These are from Day 2. Focusing on the mental aspects of no longer being in the game.

public service

This was today's front page. A huge windstorm knocked out power to many places in the Seattle area last week. Tonight, we are expected to get a whole lot of rain and more wind. Not to the same levels as last week, but significant weather all the same. More than 100 people have been hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning over the last week when they starting using generators and bringing grills inside their home for heat. Many of the victims have been immigrants. While making the front page not very visual appealing, it served as a public announcement to people in six languages. I think it is great that we take chances like this, especially when it can really benefit our community.

sunday

So, here are the storm pages from Sunday's paper, our first normal edition since the storm happened on Thursday. We had a couple photographers working and I think they did an outstanding job of really nailing the coverage. I think we showed a really diverse mix of different communities and angles from 2 days after the storm. Especially getting into the hospitals and showing how they were handling the huge number carbon monoxide poisoning cases.

saturday paper

So, another strange paper for us. We did print Saturday's paper. We started off thinking we would print an entire edition, but since power was still out at our printing press last night we had to change our plans. So, we printed half a paper at the Tacoma News-Tribune press. Our coverage was cut in half, so many of these pictures did not make the edition. However, we were able to keep the photo page intact.

Last night when my boss and another picture editor were editing down our extensive coverage, I had just come into the office and was looking at all the work our photographers produced. I was so proud of our work. The photographers made so many incredible pictures, from so many different circumstances and in tough conditions. They are all so talented. I just sat there, looking over the images, feeling so blessed that I work with so many amazing people.

I know I have included many pdfs of the pages, but I really feel that they deserve to be out there.

the unseen edition

At this point, I think many people have heard that our paper did not come out today. Technically speaking, I believe it was 13,000 early editions that actually saw the light of day. Last night, near the start of our Thursday night Seahawk game, the sky opened up and it rained like you wouldn't believe. At Sea-Tac airport gusts were reported at 70 mph and I believe we got over 2 inches of rain in just a few short hours. Our printing facility was out of power, along with millions of other people in the Pacific Northwest. When the printing facility was built, the power company was involved and they had established two different grids to provide power. In the past, one grid has gone out---but the backup grid was always able to print out the paper. In this case, both grids have gone down. Therefore, no power and no paper. So, I have included A1 and the sports cover that very few people have seen---except through E editions.

just a head shot

So, I guess all it takes is a head shot. What could have been another typical day in the sports section became a lot more interesting and vibrant because of one head shot. Or at least half of one. This was a bit unusal because we had two columnists with dueling opinions about whether Mark McGwire should be allowed into the Hall of Fame. I think it looks great- our designer came up with this idea and we all really liked it right from the start. Giving it space and size emphasis the point. I don't think it would have worked quite as well otherwise.

fun in the sun

A couple of our pages from the Seahawks at Arizona football game. Since the seahawks lost we didn't really want to do a full page picture like we had done a couple weeks ago. So, to keep the photo page intact and being able to use the picture large, the sports designer (a syracuse grad I might add) and I talked about flipping the page and making it a photo page, sideways. I think it looks pretty cool and works very well. It does the best to show off another cool photo.

This is another page inside. Our photographer had a great game---and I thought this picture was noteworthy as well.

volley the ball

As a photographer, I always remember people telling me that volleyball was the most difficult thing to shoot. Then I shot a match and I thought it was fascinating. Lots of emotion, lots of energy, lots of action. It's usually the lighting that always sucks. Anyways, not much to say about this page, but I liked the pictures and the page was nice and clean. This was from last weekend's NCAA regional volleyball tournament that was here in Seattle and featured the University of Washington's women's team, the defending national champions.

josh brown

This guy is a major stud. This was his fourth game winning field goal this season. Always in the last minute of the game. Simply amazing. From what I hear anyways. I was in northern NY, near the Canadian border visiting some family and they didn't get the game on tv. Did I mention that the game was on ABC? Seriously, no tv. Luckily my co-workers kept me up to date with the game via my blackberry, the only source of communication that was working there.

catching up

Another Monday Night Football, another night of craziness and early deadlines. This time, snow. Not very typical that it snows in Seattle, especially like this. I was editing from Qwest Field again, which went well. Learning new techniques and tweaking the procedures every time. This was the cover of the sports section.