Revin' To Go

Last Thursday I was asked to find a stand alone photo that could run on the front page of our TRi-State section as the lead art. I jumped in the car, cruised north on I-81 to Pensylvania, a voice in my head told me to go north, and headed to Greencastle. Always something going on in the Castle!!!

It was one of the freakishly warm January days, 54 degrees I think, and all of Greencastle was basking in the sun. Literally. It was warm enough that some people were actually washing their cars in their driveways. In January. Yah, THAT freakishly warm. I passed on that photo, having shot it once too many times.

I knew someone would be at the Greencastle-Antrim school complex doing something. When I arrived I saw Darwin being pulled by his brother-in-law's Pug Revin'. Not sure who was walking who.



I parked the car, grabbed a 28-85 lens, the D3, and introduced my self to Darwin as I back-peddled in front of Revin' holding the D3 and lens at arm's length just inches off the ground. Nothing like freehanding and blindly shooting the next day's section front art. I manually set the focus and started shooting too many frames. Remember, shoot first ask questions later.

A quick check of the D3 viewing screen, and I knew I had it. Now I was Revin' to get back to the Herald-Mail and get this puppy done. Here is Revin in the Herald-Mail.

Net Results

Working for a daily newspaper is so much fun. Every day is the same, in the sense that you come in to work, grab your assignments, go out and shoot them, and then come back in and get them out to the editors. Yet at the same time, every day is different. You travel new places, meet new people, shoot new events, and come back with new experiences. All while getting paid to have a camera in your hand five days a week, and get better at what you love to do. Cool gig!!!

Last Monday the paper sent me out to get a stand alone feature photo. A photograph that is really a "Photographer's Choice" picture. It does not go with a reporter's story, just the photograph and a photo caption, and it usually is not hard news. Rather it is a slice of life type of image, that news photographers get to capture while most of the world is trapped inside their work cubicle, hating their boss and co-workers, and counting down the minutes till happy hour. God I love my job!!!



I drove around Hagerstown looking for a photo, it was freezing, and no one was out. So I dropped in to one of the local Boys and Girls Clubs. I checked in with the director, I asked what was going on that might lend itself to a nice pictiure, and was told "nothing really." At that point photographers have two options, either bail out, or look beyond the obviuos and find something a little different.

I found Jeremiah shooting hoops in the gym after he finished his homework for the day. Nothing unusual there, EXCEPT FOR THE GIGANTIC SHADOW OF THE BASKETBALL NET ON THE WALL BEYOND JEREMIAH. No need to show the net itself in my image, I had it all over the background. A D3 at 1600 ISO, a 80-200 zoom lens, a motor drive at 11fps, and the spelling of Jeremiah's name was all I needed to get my shot and get back to the Herald-Mail.

The photo ran 3 columns wide on the front page Tuesday. Like I said, sometimes you bail out, and sometimes you just look harder.