Hillary comes to South Bend, again

Nikon D2H 70-200mm f2.8 at 200mm, 200 ISO, f4 at 1/3000 of a sec

Yesterday, Sen. Hillary Clinton came to town and spoke at the local minor league ballpark for an open, free rally. I was the sole still shooter, but this time had to transfer images back to the newsroom and Web site multiple times.

The only place to set up my laptop was in the dugout, which of course is eye level with the dirt field. Dust and light were a problem on what was a very windy day. Thankfully, the Clinton Press people provided black sheets to cover ourselves with. Unfortunately, we looked like idiots using them.

Nikon D3, 17-35mm f2.8 at 17mm. 200 ISO, f4 at 1/800 of a sec

Hillary arrived relatively on time. This has never happened before during any political assignment I’ve shot. I know the Secret Service purposefully staggers the time an individual makes an appearance for security purposes, but usually the presidential candidates (and/or endorsers) are 30-45 minutes late to each event I’ve worked.


Nikon D3, 17-35mm f2.8 at 17mm, 200 ISO, f4 at 1/2500 of a sec

The baseball puns were not in short supply. “With your help, I’m gonna hit this primary out of the park!,” or something like that. It was like that the whole beginning of the speech. It got old...quick.


Nikon D3, 17-35mm f2.8 at 35mm, 200 ISO, f4 at 1/2500 of a sec

Every so often I turned to check on the crowd. I didn’t even notice until after I submitted this image that it’s full of only women. I didn’t notice if the total crowd was women-heavy, but apparently the areas closest to the platform was.


Nikon D3, 17-35mm f2.8 at 17mm, 200 ISO, f4 at 1/3200 of a sec

I do not feel like I made any images that drastically differed from the last time I shot Hillary. The only difference was the lighting, because this event was outside. In fact, I think I did a better job last time.

I want to say that I missed my chance to make images of a presidential candidate struggling to grasp the last swing state. I want to say that I missed the concerned supporters who are worried about their candidate’s survival. But those moments didn’t really happen. These events are just an act. There is barely anything real about this event.

Just before Hillary left the field, one photog (working for her campaign) asked Hillary’s head of security if he could tell Hillary to turn and wave one last time before she ducted out. He sarcastically replied, “wouldn’t that ruin the realism of all of this?”

Hopefully I’ll get another chance. I get the sense that those chances are few and far between in the world of political photography.

Earth Day

Perley Primary Center celebrated Earth Day yesterday by actually being active. I think when I was in elementary school, all we did on Earth Day was wear green and talk about the environment with our teachers. Although this is better than nothing, it was nothing compared to what the kids at Perley Primary did to recognize Earth Day. These students helped green-up Michiana.


Nikon D3 at 35mm, 200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/1250 of a sec.

Each grade in the school was given a potted plant to give to a neighbor down the street from the middle school. I latched on to an ESL (English as Second Language) third grade class and pretty much followed them the entire time.

The class had problems finding someone who could take the plant, not because no one wanted it, but because the first home they went to was abandoned (quite typical here) and no one answered at the second door. Finally the third door was a winner, and the lady who answered the call was pretty overwhelmed. I don’t think it was the gift itself that surprised her, but the crowd of of 25, or so, third graders on her doorstep. The homeowner was very grateful, and the kids said “you’re welcome” in unison (with much coercion by their teacher).


Nikon D3 at 17mm, 200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/250 of a sec

Following the potted plant donation, all of the grades met at the park adjacent to the school and picked up trash for about half an hour. This part really surprised me. I do not think my school ever asked us to pick up trash that was not our own. Granted, I went to school in downtown San Francisco’s Chinatown, which is very different than Mishawaka, Indiana. All of the kids were given plastic gloves and taught not to pick up glass, needles or anything dangerous. But the boys repeatedly spoke about how they wish they would find something dangerous.


Nikon D3 at 19mm, 200 ISO, f2,8 at 1/4000 of a sec

There was one young boy who I ended up shooting the most. He was one of the students trusted with holding a garbage bag for recyclables (yes, the kids even separated trash from recyclables in the park). Although I didn’t get the impression that he truly understood the importance of what he and his classmates we doing, he still appeared genuinely concerned with cleaning up the park as much as possible (like it was a class assignment). I later found out he is actually a Liberian refugee, and has only been living in the U.S. for a year now.


Nikon D3 at 26mm, 200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/2000 of a sec

Eventually the students started to get distracted (any kids would if they we asked to pick up trash while an empty jungle gym lingers in the background). The teacher called in the troops and began the march back to class where she said the class could rest while she read them a book.

I lingered behind trying to pick photos in my camera incase there were any other names of kids I would need. That’s when I took this image.


Nikon D3 at 17mm, 200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/2500 of a sec

Kind of cliche, I know. Both of the kids in the image were the ones who were put in charge of holding the trash and recyclables bags. They were the most determined to do a good job in the class, and the teacher made sure they knew how well they did. "You guys carried the biggest bags of trash," the teacher said to the two boys.

Notre Dame Blue and Gold Game

Yesterday was the Notre Dame Spring Football Game, also called the Blue and Gold Game. Even though it is technically not a real game (not even exhibition), I deceided to shoot it as though it was the real deal (as opposed to feature-heavy), because it was my first time in Notre Dame Stadium, and I wanted to put my new camera through some heavy working conditions.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 800 ISO, f4 at 1/4000 of a sec

Much more images at my SportShooter page


The biggest difference between working at Notre Dame Stadium and back at Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the number of photogs. At Illinois, there would be maybe 8 to 10 photogs at a normal non-conference game. Half of those being Daily Illini photogs. In a conference game, you may get upwards of 15. At yesterday's game there were at least 40 photographers on the field. Other staffers at the Tribune have told me that it can get as high as 50 photogs during the regular season. Evene when Notre Dame sucks (they were 3-9 last year). Most of these photogs aren't even getting paid to be there. They just go to shoot for themselves. Which should be fine. But the less experience a photog has, the more likely they will get in the way of people who are trying to work. It can be frustrating, but I just remind myself that it wasn't that long ago that I was in their shoes.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 800 ISO, f4 at 1/3200 of a sec

I've tried to pay attention to anything Notre Dame football related in the paper so I know who the sports writers may want to feature later on. I tend to forget the defense in football. You can get really caught up just following the quarterback and the ball, and never even look at the guys going after him. If the position is important, then it's important to get images of the guy at that position. It may not be the most glamorous player, but it is still important.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 800 ISO, f4 at 1/6400 of a sec

Just after halftime the defense was able to interept the ball and run it back for a touchdown. Surprisingly, a fight broke out between players (yes, they are on the same team). I missed most of the fight- I was on the completely opposite side of the field. By the time I got there, players had been pulled away from each other and had cooled out. Thankfully, one dude was done talking smack and he broke out again just as I got within a descent range.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 800 ISO, f4 at 1/2500 of a sec

I was able to crop it down obviously, and I was really impressed with how well it ran in the paper

Notice that unimportant lineman shot from before?

In the end, we always want a nice clean shot of the quarterback. I was very happy with how this image came out. I was able to find a whole in the field and track Clausen (ND quarterback) throughout the entire play. Somehow, no one crossed into my frame. Normally a referee's ass fills up half of the frame right about when the quarterback releases the ball.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 720 ISO, f4 at 1/8000 of a sec

Much more images at my SportShooter page

Notre Dame at night

Excuse me for the lack of posts recently, but Blogger wasn't letting me upload images for some reason.

I was hanging around the Notre Dame campus the other night and played around with the incredible ISO range of the D3. No, I do not regularly walk around University campuses at night. I'm not that lame.

4/16/08 at 8:59 P.M.
Nikon D3 at 20mm, 3200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/25 of a sec


4/17/08 at 12:11 A.M.
Nikon D3 at 20mm, 12800 ISO, f2.8 at 1/25 of a sec

So in the middle of writing this post I just felt a small aftershock from last night's earthquake in southern Indiana. I just can't get away from these things.

Notre Dame Hockey

Sadly, the Irish lost in the championship round of the NCAA Hockey Tournament. The team came back home today to a moderately sized crowd gathering on campus. After one of the team's captains spoke I decided to follow him during his exit from the event. I wish the image wasn't as cluttered, but I'm happy with what I was able to pull out of a 10 minute presentation.

Nikon D3 at 28mm, 400 ISO, f2.8 at 1/1250th of a sec

Action and Reaction

Action

Nikon D3 at 17mm, 3200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/200 of a sec

Reaction

Nikon D3 at 200mm, 3200 ISO, f2.8 at 1/125th of a sec

Discussing the Issues

I found these two gentlemen discussing the development of land near Notre Dame University while waiting for Congressman Danny K. Davis to come speak in a mini-town hall meeting in support for Sen. Barack Obama.

Nikon D3 with 50mm, 1600 ISO, f1.4 at 1/400th of a sec.

Mishawaka High School baseball

My editor was able to get my issued 300mm AF-S fixed which has been great. Just in time for baseball. I shot this entire game on one camera, using one lens. 300mm 2.8 with a 1.4x teleconverter.

Nikon D3 at 420mm, 400 ISO, f4 at 1/1000 of a sec

This image would not have been possible with my old issued NIkon D2H. I may have caught the moment, but it would not look nearly this good.

Barack Obama

Even though it was my day off, I decided I couldn't give up a chance to see Sen. Barack Obama speak. I already shot Sen. HIllary Clinton when she came to town, so why not listen to them both? An old childhood friend of mine, who happens to work on the Obama campaign, was able to get my name on the media list even though I wasn't originally scheduled by my editor. Thanks dude, you rock.

I just wanted to post this one image because it's so "presidential." He's kissing a baby. Whatever. But the people behind Obama are what make it for me. They think this is huge. Like no politician has ever done this before. The girl on the left is reaching desperately for him. To them, he is the holy grail. He is hope.

NIkon D3, 2500 ISO, f4 at 1/200 of a sec

Kids

Kids always make good pictures, but that's what makes it so hard. Kids are too easy. They almost always exude emotion and are fairly predictable. Today I had to find a feature image about being outside. This was pretty easy as it spring break for public schools and it was a very nice 65 degrees outside.

Nikon D2H, 200 ISO, f18 at 1/60th of a sec

Also got to shoot a free ballet basics class at the Mishawka library. Some of the little girls brought their own tutus and got way to excited about it.

NIkon D2H, 800 ISO, f2.8 at 1/80th of a sec

I tried to layer in another element so the fact that they are kids is not the reason the image is good. Even if they were teenagers or adults, I think these images would still be relatively strong.

Notre Dame Football and the Kennedys

Today I had two very different, yet similar assignments. First, I covered a public 2-hour Notre Dame football practice. I was given a 30 player list. I only got about 10 of them.

This was a terrible experience for me. The practice was held in terrible shooting environment called the Loftus Center. It is an indoor training facility with a full-size football field. We have all shot in bad indoor lighting, but this was the worst I've ever been in. Worse than Huff Hall, if you know that place. In most indoor facilities, photogs can normally get close to the action. Or maybe even bounce a flash. We were kept 10 yards back from the end zone while all of the drills and plays occurred on the opposite end. This would provide a difficult environment, but not as terrible as I make it out to be. But not all photogs get the chance to shoot in such a dimly multi-color florescent lit building with the gear I've been issued: Nikon D2H with a very old 300mm 2.8 AF.

And to add salt to the wound, the dude next to me had two D3s, 24-70, 70-200, 300 and 400mm. All new. I nearly shat my pants. (That's about $26,000 of new gear)

The above image may look descent in low-rez with proper sharpening, but I assure you, it's nasty.

Same shot at 100%.

I missed 2/3rds of my list because most of the players never even came close to the ned of the field in which media was restricted to. I ended up giving up on the list and just trying to make pictures that would look descent.

After banging my head against my 300mm, I continued to my next assignment. Ethel Kennedy came to town to speak in support of Barack Obama. This is my third Kennedy in less than three months. Caroline had a book signing in Naperville, Kathleen was here a few weeks ago supporting HIllary, and now Ethel is here for Obama.


She didn't really speak. She shook hands and such. Former Indiana Congressman Tim Roeman sort of stumped for her. I have gotton REALLY bored shooting speeches. My current fad is to shoot them super close. Now I just need that 400mm...

I say these assignments are different, yet similar because even though one is about politics and the other sports, they are inherently the same thing: a performance. There is true joy and excitement at both events, but they are predictable and expected. I am not saying these assignments are not worth while, just similar in tactics and game plan on my part. For Notre Dame I was 60-80 yards away at all time. With Kennedy, I was 6-8 inches away. Just gotta use a wider lens.

Shadowing a student

At the Tribune we are shadowing a Penn High School student for a "day in the life of.." feature to run in a few days. A sophomore named Aubrie Lane was picked (not sure exactly how) to be followed. For some reason the assignment to follow her was split into three separate assignments. This made the project very difficult as each photog had to reacquaint themselves with the subject. Why not just give one photog the assignment to follow her for an entire day?

I was assigned to follow Aubrie during her softball game today against Elkhart Memorial High School. She is a pitcher, but didn't start in today's game. Rather she came in during the fifth inning, with not very good results...

When I first met with her (about an hour before the game started) she was obviously tired of being followed by photogs all day. I was the third person to follow her that day. Not including the writer.

Despite this apparent frustration, she did seem to be quite candid with me. She seemed like the popular girl type. The kind that I would never had really talked to when I was in high school. She didn't really even talk to me now. Seemed like she had more important things to do, like loose the game for the team.

She came in during the 5th inning, with a healthy lead of 9 to 2. She let 4 runs go buy in less than 2 outs. Another pitcher took over but she couldn't fix the damage. By then end of the inning the team was now loosing 9 to 10. I had to leave after this frame because I had to make deadline for the actual game. Oh yeah did I say that already? I had been assigned to shoot action of the game AS WELL AS profile this one girl specifically. And when I arrived at the field the writer asked me if I was doing video. Jebus.

Doing Laundry

Silverhawks Media Day

Here in South Bend, Ind., we have a Division A Minor League Baseball team called the South Bend Silverhawks. Yesterday was media day. I was sent to make some pictures of the team warming up during their first practice on a very cold and windy day. Almost as though it was an April fool's joke.

I wanted to show the light attitude going on with the young team.


It did not feel like spring


Of course, some baseball was played, but it was practice so no one was going all out. Not too happy with what I got action wise, but then again, action wasn't my main concern.


Mainly I was looking for features that don't normally run in out paper. I get tired looking at the same stuff everyday. Hopefully the designers appreciated what I got them.