First week in St. Louis, MO

Last Monday I started my internship at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I have shot a few assignments- having used a lot of my time here learning the system of the PD and getting around the my new city. In my first week here in St. Louis I have been able to shoot a large range of assignments. One of my first jobs was to shoot a portrait of a local business woman.

Susan Elliott was one of the first women hired by IBM as a programmer. As always, I tried to shoot more than one portrait with her. One themed and one not so themed. I do this incase some miscommunication between myself and the writer causes my themed portrait to be inappropriate for the story.

I arrived at Mrs. Elliott’s office building about half an hour early so I could grab a sandwich and walk around scouting for locations. The assignment sheet even suggested some nice red brick buildings in the area. I found a nice shady spot underneath a tree with a red brick wall has a backdrop. This would be my “unthemed” portrait because it could pretty much go along with any story about the individual. “Local business woman starts new internet company,” or “Local business woman save cat from tree.” That kind of stuff.

I had borrowed lights from another photographer and planned on lighting the shot. But of course I forgot that the lights were not battery operated. My lights from both previous internships ran off batteries. I felt bad having made this lady walk all the way out to this tree, so I shot it anyway so not to make her feel like it was all for nothing.


Canon EOS-1D with 70-200mm f2.8, 100 ISO, f2.8 at 1/500 of a sec

For my themed portrait I asked if she could show me around the office of her company. She showed me the cubicles and private offices. Nothing interested me. Then Mrs. Elliott mentioned their newly redesigned server room in the basement. Perfect!


Canon EOS-1D Mark 2 with 17-35mm f2.8

I really wish I had a third light to illuminate the area behind her head so that her hair didn’t blend with the background, but I worked with what I had.

Later that week I shot high school football. Oh high school football, how I have missed you. Your nasty lighting, and terrible smell are so unique. The great thing about high school football is that you can pretty much go anywhere you want (minus the actually playing area of the field). This was the first week of the games so I tried to shoot off the field as well.


Canon EOS-1D Mark 2 with 17-35mm f2.8


Canon EOS-1D Mark 2 with 300mm f2.8


Canon EOS-1D Mark 2 with 300mm f2.8

Arriving in St. Louis

I have just arrived in St. Louis after 4 days of driving across middle America. This was my tenth time driving from the west coast to the mid-west and I plan to be here for three months. I did the drive with my dad this time, and together we ruled I-50 and I-70 all the way from the Golden Gate to the Gateway Arch.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 100 ISO, f4 at 1/200 of a sec

I will be living in this great room to myself on top of a detached garage from the house of another photographer from the paper I will be working at, the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Technically I am in a western suburb, Western Groves, which appears to have some historic downtown. More on that another time.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 800 ISO, f4 at 1/100 of a sec

I start my internship at the St. Louis Post Dispatch tomorrow. I am extremely excited and have very high hopes for this next season of work. I took the Summer off and am now very eager to start assignments again. Pictures of friends are great, but I am ready to move on.

Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

I just got back from my second major trip of the summer: my family's annual week-long trip to Drakesbad Guest Ranch in Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. After carrying my camera non-stop for six straight weeks in Europe, I thought I should relax my already over 20,000 actuated D3 shutter and keep it off the dusty trails of one of our most overlooked National Parks. But I just could not help myself.

Below are just a few images from the trip. Because I have family and friends who complain about the lack of images I tend to post, click here for a full photo gallery from the trip if you care so much. (WARNING: this photo gallery may contain embarrassing photos of family members, sister's boyfriends, and godmothers drinking hard cider).


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 3200 ISO, f2 at 1/40 of a sec
My dad


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 100 ISO, f2.8 at 1/200 of a sec
Discussing hiking trails around Lake Tahoe


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 1600 ISO, f2, 1/60 of a sec



Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 3200 ISO, f2, 1/30 of a sec
My sister pouting because she was loosing in cards to her little brother.


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 1600 ISO, f2 at 1/25 of a sec
Campfire in Warner Valley


Nikon D3 with 35mm f2, 4000 ISO, f2 at 1/20 of a sec
Star gazing