This is my cockpit. 100,000 miles in less than five years. Dozens of oil changes. Thousands of dollars in performance rubber. Countless "meals" at various fast food "restaurants." Ten states. Several road trips. Three accidents. Four tickets.
I sure love my German hardware and it's a good thing I like driving.
Well, Santa came through on my Christmas wish for fresh snow to play on and in. Spent the day at Beaver Creek with a couple other journalists and a photog.
That makes two Christmases in-a-row that I've been able to play with lots of fresh powder. Can't wait until next year!
UPDATE:
Thanks Rick!
So I was asked if I wanted to do a video on Tom's Tavern as part of an advancer for the burger-joint's closing. I was sent a link to a new audio slide show site that had a cool idea (see the Santiago show) of shooting in one direction for a long period of time and having the audio reflect the different aspects.
Well, there really wasn't any room for me to plop down my camera and scope out one booth for an hour. Plus the owner's son wasn't real sure he wanted me to be around at the busiest time of the day. So I decided to take a bit different approach for the video. I wasn't so worried about following a certain person or thing through an arc of time. I basically shot some video, and some stills, of what I thought looked cool. Then I was just trying to grab some audio that reflected the news of the place closing a little, but not so worried about who was saying it.
You see, there's a lot of folks that don't want the place to close, but the family has decided that since the owner, Tom Eldridge, passed away earlier this year from brain cancer that it was time to shut the pub down. It was his pride and joy of nearly 48 years and they wanted it to end that way. Not under someone else, even family. So I wanted it to be more about what the place stood for an not about the people going there. Not sure I pulled that off, but nonetheless...
It was a lot of fun and some interesting learning experience working in post production. I can't wait to take my next step in finding new edges to blur.
Dear Santa,
I will argue that I've been a fairly good kid this year, save for a couple of my less than finer moments at the office. Having said all that I would like to ask for just a few things this Christmas. First of all I would like to be able to push through some of my own personal barriers and hurdles to continue to grow and advance in my life and career. Second on the short list would be continued health and happiness to my family and friends.
Now for the last couple things on my list. One of the greatest gifts I received last year was 10 inches of fresh, lovely, light snow blanketing China Bowl while having a great time with my brother, Steve. If I could get even half of that this year I would be very gracious. The last wish on my list is to be saved for January 8th at noon. If you could throw me a belated gift of having all the synapses in this twisted brain work in concert once again for about four hours. You see, I need all the help I can get to score much better on an exam that could decide the future of my career and other life events.
So you see Santa, there's not much there. I was thinking about asking for a mountain bike, but I'd rather ride road again this year. I know the elves may have a hard time building a couple of those things on my list, but I know you have some serious magic at your disposal up there in the Great North. Happy travels this year on your annual journey.
Merry Christmas,
JL
Caption: Alexis Pollicita, 9, types up an e-mail to Santa from a wish list in her notebook in the dining area of her Louisville home on Friday, Dec. 14, 2007. Pollicita's top wants for Christmas this year are a Nintendo DS hand-held video game and the popular Webkins interactive animals.
Theo Pickens, 2, was about the most curious person at a fund raising event in Boulder earlier this week.
There were more than 50 donated and themed trees being raffled off for a couple local organizations. Most of those attending would meander through the forest of faux firs, dropping a little green number in a bucket in hopes of winning some interesting prizes. Little Theo wasn't as impressed with what the prizes were as he was with the actual trees.
It always helps to be curious.
Looks like we're soon to be in the middle of one of my favorite times of year. Temperatures are falling and the mountains are hoping for the white fluff. Well, at least I'm hoping for the white fluff. It's time to link some turns.
That also means it's basketball season. Soon I'll be shooting basketball three or four nights a week. Soon they will all look the same. There's only so many armpits that are different. Some are shaved and some are not.
So here's one of the first multi-pit shots of the season. Until next time...
No rest for the weary. I'm back at work and trying to remember how to use a camera again.
Have a juicy and delicious Turkey Day. I'll be shooting. PULL!
Why have I been off the grid?
Been laying on a couch or in a hospital bed with an ulcer.
The last week has been a video project on University of Colorado veterans. There are more veterans than you would think and for the most part are younger than you think. Sometimes I forget that we live in war time.
This was a ton of work, but not nearly enough compared to these four individuals that gave years of their lives. One plans to return to the Marines after graduation.
Take time to thank a veteran for their honor, their duty and their commitment.
Read the story
To be young and free.
Soaking in the sun. Laughing as the wind blows through your hair. Twirling like a pinwheel. Scrambling across a rope with your bare feet. Getting filthy for the fun of it.
No preconceived notions of the world. Just giggling as you get dizzy from watching the clouds spin in the denim sky.
Remember it? If not go re-live it.
So the Colorado Rockies made it to the World Series on a magic carpet winning 21 of 22 games. Then after nine days of hype and lack of real baseball they ran into the buzz saw that is the Boston Red Sox.
I was there to shoot every pitch I could while battling early deadlines, logistical hurdles and transmission problems. It was an absolute ton of work and a little stress covering a major sporting event like that for the first time. Not much time to really soak it all in. Just firing frames, thinking storylines and looking for moments.
Having to shoot every waking moment in case something is "the" moment of the game. Considering the shooting positions that the smaller papers were given, it's amazing we were able to cover the games as well as we did. Thanks to Nikon and the local rep Ron for the beloved D3 for the week, it was a touch easier and made for much better files to work with. Can't wait to get one permanently in my grubby hands.
All that being said, I tended to take a looser approach to shooting the games. I played with what was available. As I was not going to have a field-level shooting position I went for the scenic look in most of my photos. At times I was keyed on the action and just cropped the ever living hell out of a frame, but I wanted to shoot things that were not going to be typical shots.
I really wished the Rox had won at least one game to make it a little less bitter to swallow for the city, the fans and the organization. But like the loser Cubs fans always say, "there's always next year."
Put together a video about a tree that had to be cut down in downtown Boulder.
It's a one-sided video, so my journalism needs a bit of work. It would've helped if I had the chance to get something from the other side, but that's a long post and I'm destroyed.
Operating on a couple hours of work due to shooting some video of the last press run inside the Camera building. I'm hoping to get that put together in a day or two so check back. Unless Blogger uses the same servers as the Colorado Rockies' online ticket sales company.
Amazement, confusion, worry, awe, excitement, stressful, exhaustion, pressure, frustration, joy, anticipation.
Feelings and emotions coursing through the mind. Not the mind of a professional baseball player, but of a professional photographer. That photographer was me.
I have never been witness to such an event. It's already past deadline. There's so many things to think about. Is the camera set right? Is the other camera set right? Do I have enough room on the card? Or should I change it out and get confused later which has what frames? Is there enough charge in the batteries of the camera and the flash? What lenses am I going to go with onto the field? Where is the last out going to be? Who is going to react the most? Do I just shoot a couple frames and go transmit? Or should I stay and shoot the trophy presentation? Do I go into the clubhouse and get me and all the gear soaked with beer and champagne? How long will all this take?
Lots of things to think about, and those are just a few that ran through my grey matter. So when people ask if I enjoyed the game, I honestly don't get to pay all that much attention to the game like most people do. Luckily I love the game of baseball and know the game fairly well. That allows me to predict a little better, but you still guess wrong just like at the plate.
I missed a few shots that I would have liked to make. Be it a wrong guess, relying on auto-focus too much, having too long of a lens for plays on the near side, or just getting caught up in the play and watching through the viewfinder instead of laying down the hammer.
I was able to get shots of the key play again, Holliday's three-run blast, like Torrealba the night before but I wasn't able to get it transmitted in time to make the paper apparently. So the web galleries are looking good but Tweety only got to use the Associated Press versions for his business the following day.
The night was a learning experience to say the least. The good thing is now I get to have another go. Only catch is that it's the World Series. I've often thought that I would never have the chance to see a World Series game in person. Now I'll be at the game documenting the history of the game with a camera. There will be more pressure and more difficulties but it will still be a fun challenge and further learning experiences, plus most of my friends will be wishing they "had to go to work" for me those days. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to watch the game I'll be getting paid to make photos.
That's rough. I guess I'll deal with it. They all will just have to have a beer for me and tell me what really happened during the game. My mind will be a little wrapped up dealing with all those thoughts and emotions once again, only this time they'll have a little less impact.
Had the pleasure of shooting game three of the National League Championship Series between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks last night in Denver at Coors Field. I had never shot a Rockies game in my life at Coors Field, let alone a huge post season game.
It was cold and very rainy. There were hundreds of media folk there. The position I was given was on the third base side at field level. I was expecting to be shooting from the top of the Rockpile honestly. The paper covered the season opener and that was all this year. Luckily they didn't take that into consideration. Only catch was that I was going to be wetter than a koi fish. Took the garbage bags and as much wet gear as I had. Still was pretty soaked after three hours sitting on a plastic footstool.
After looking on the wire and at the other major papers including MLB.com, I felt a little better about my performance. I didn't feel like I had made many shots, but in the end I had the ones that mattered. I was lucky enough to get the game-wining homerun with a bat-on-ball. You can see it in the gallery below.
So the Rox are one win away from going to the World Series. They have won 20 of their last 21 games. The city is growing more and more purple everyday. Despite a Barney knock-off mascot.
We'll see what happens tomorrow. Should be interesting considering the Rox could sweep the Diamondbacks and the game doesn't start until after 8 p.m., games are at least three hours long and we have deadlines around 10.
All I want is for it to be a bit dryer. Cold is fine, wet is annoying. I'll let you know how it goes....
It's been a while since I've been able to shoot some video for a very wide range of reasons. I was asked to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park to shoot some video and stills of the elk or wapiti for a story on the fall rut. Only problem was I didn't get up there early enough. I was busy using a fire extinguisher on some good sized office fires and didn't get to leave on time.
Despite all that I was able to put together a little ditty. The best part of the deal was getting to use a real program to produce the video. Wow! What a difference. Now I guess I'll have to get back on the wagon and see if I can start making some real magic.
So here's a few of the photos from my trip to the northwest.
I was able to catch up with a friend that I met on my trip to Europe in 1999. It was fun to see Laura again after years of emails and short phone calls. Vancouver is a beautiful city full of color and cordial people. With the U.S. dollar falling apart, it was a bit more expensive than I thought it would be, considering the loonie is equal to the dollar now.
Well, until the next trip....
UPDATE: I fixed the slide show, but they aren't in the right order. Typical, right?
I'm off in another country enjoying British Columbia. There's more to come, but I'm off to have some fun.
Well I shot the Colorado versus Florida State game on Saturday. I didn't shoot so well in the first half because I was trying too hard to make photos on deadline. So after the half and deadline had passed I just started making some photos. I was able to make a few decent peak action frames for the first time this season. I guess like the players it takes a little practice and reps to get back into the groove.
It didn't seem like the Buffs were ever really in the game, but if they had made one or two plays they might have had a shot at winning. Thing is they didn't falling 16-6, which is much closer than it was. It's a very young team and coming off a 2-10 season it takes a while to learn how to win. Maybe next week.
Feel free to click on over to Buffzone for more photos from the game.
I'll have something different to post in a few days. I'm off to the Northwest for a mini vacation.
Lou Mullen has been cleaning the Norlin Library at the University of Colorado for over 10 years. The only time he doesn't make it to work is when the bus stops running because of weather.
Lou is a quiet man with a thick beard and long locks to his shoulders. He pauses once in a while to recount what he has done or still needs to do. Talking with slight hesitations, he says he is originally from New York. Wielding a broom he casually walks in and out of every restroom in the building, checking the fullness of trash bins and paper towel dispensers. Between his ventures into the toilets he pushes a small cart with an electric-yellow trash bag hanging empty. He moves straight through the halls of university students as they pass him almost unnoticed. It's as though he is in his own world.
Lou is a member of the Chinook Clubhouse. A program helping people with mental illness learn to manage their lives with the skills they need to work and live in the community. I didn't ask the history of his illness. How do you? I just decided to let him continue his direct focus on his job and be that fly on the wall. But I felt he was more aware of me and what I was doing than most people I photograph.
The following day I was shooting an assignment and Lou was walking up the sidewalk. I said hello and asked if he had seen his photo in the paper.
"I have a copy on me," he replied as though he was proud to have it yet willing to give it to me if I had asked for it.
It's Labor Day weekend and there's pigs flying. Well sort of, pigskin anyway.
And with that is the Rocky Mountain Showdown. The game between Colorado's largest universities is a culmination of drug-out hype, trash-talking, good fun, bad fun and a little football. The University of Colorado pulled out a victory in overtime to quiet the sea of green and gold, but that didn't stop either side from being absolutely rude at times in the parking lot and inside the stadium.
I have never really understood the obsession of a football rivalry, even though I take part in aspects of the craziness. There are rivalries in high school, junior high, college and even pro sports. Seems that everyone wants to be able to have satisfaction in the sense of self-worth knowing that their team is better than whoever down the way. I'm all about good fun in the competition of "my team is better than yours!" But when people turn to all out physical aggression it gets a little ridiculous. A photographer from another paper was in the parking lot before the game and was basically threatened and then had the luxury of getting yuked on by some underage drunk undergrad. An excellent way to show school spirit. Luckily I was in the lots earlier, before the hard liquor kicked in. The tailgaters were just playing some drinking games and chasing footballs around the blacktop. True fun in the spirit of school and fall.
The game, as it has been the last few years, was a tightly contested match that came down to two plays at the end of the game. Having only shot a few practices, where players move at half speed, I was a little out of the groove for many points in the game. I need practice just like the players do I guess. I'm sure shooting high school football in the darkness of Friday Night Lights will help for those gloriously bright and contrasty Saturday afternoons.
Click here for more pix on BuffZone.com
I've been producing some videos lately, but for the most part they are just talking heads for BuffzoneTV. So I figured I'd post a few photos from the last week or so. Been shooting some fun stuff really. One day I was paid to hike 14,000-foot Grays Peak, another day I roamed around in the heat by the creek and most recently I shot photos of a national skateboard event.
I've been busy shooting, of all things, still photos lately. I'm going to post some soon, just have to have some time to sit down and pick a couple to tell some stories. Be patient.
In the meantime.....I'm off to shoot more.
Embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill was dismissed today by the Board of Regents. I was told to shoot video of the events with fellow staffer Mark Leffingwell.
We tried not to step on each other too much while roaming about with hundreds of other media members. But I feel like it adds a little layer of difficulty to produce a video with someone else. You don't know what they are getting for footage and their style of shooting may be vastly different from yours. Then each one has different thoughts on how to assemble the story in editing.
It was a long wait for the decision to finally be made on Churchill's future and then all the typical media frenzies ensued, as is always the case with this story. So here's the end result of my first news video.
All this video work is a ton of work. I'm actually really wishing for a couple still assignments just to get to be a photographer again and not a videographer, video editor, web master and IT support member all at the same time. I'm missing the clicks....
Last week I was supposed to shoot a video on University of Colorado quarterback Bernard Jackson. They are doing 7-on-7 drills on their own in the evenings, so the plan was to go shoot some footage of him practicing and then do a bit of an interview with Camera reporter Kyle Ringo.
So I had all kinds of ideas for ways I could put the video together. Before I continue I'll explain a little...you see, Bernard has had an adventurous trip through the Buffalo football program. He was recruited as a quarterback but was asked to play wide receiver after learning the offense as a quarterback. Then after a season as a receiver they had him return kicks and other random jobs. I think he may have had to take the trash out once or twice when the grounds crew was hurt. Just kidding. So last season he was asked to play quarterback once again, but under a new coaching staff. He was about the only thing that somewhat worked on the Buffs offensive side of the ball last year. So for all his trouble in the first few years, his gift is that he is listed as a quarterback still, but there are at least two other guys in front of him on the depth chart. One just happens to be the head coach's son, but it's not what you are thinking on that front. This season he might even end up playing defense just to get on the field.
Bernard is a really good guy and a gifted athlete. I made photos last year of him and his son playing for a story that Kyle did when it was learned that Bernard was finally going to get his shot at quarterback. He just needs to learn a bit of time management.
Back to the story behind the story behind the story...so the players decide to cancel the 7-on-7 drills. I learn of this from Kyle the moment I'm setting up my gear in the parking lot.
"OK, no practice to shoot. Just going to do an interview?" I have a pain run through my conceptual mind, it's described as seemingly endless minutes of a collegiate athlete talking to a reporter about something I don't have any footage of and won't happen again for another few days. Like coach said in high school, "Sit on a fastball, but be ready to adjust for the curveball and change up."
So I adjusted and shot a few things here an there while waiting, but mostly just shot the interview. In order for it to not be super boring I tried to move the camera position a little once in a while during the two talking and figured I would just use still photos from other practices and games. It's not going to be a homerun, but if you keep your weight on the back foot you can adjust and at least hit a single or double to opposite field.
I'll keep swinging. This video gig is a constant learning experience. It's been a challenge to adapt to all the learning of video and still try to capture good moments in stills. Sometimes though, I do feel like Adam Anderson. You get a pretty easy opportunity to end the game with a simple flip to second but try to do too much and throw late to first and let the other team back in the game. Just learn from it, that's hopefully what we all do from mistakes.
After being given a completely wrong storyline idea for a video about Lolita's Market & Deli in Boulder and shooting footage for about 30 minutes, I talked to the owner and learned that I needed to change my approach. After recording most of the interviews based on the old premise during the busy lunch period of the day, I was forced to start over and create a "day in the life" video on the market. Only problem is that it was not busy anymore and I was struggling to re-frame a storyline in my head to have something to build around for the video.
A storyline is key to any project be it a photo series or story as well as multimedia presentations. But video is very difficult to pull off at all without a storyline. Luckily I was able to pull out some of an early interview I did with a longtime customer of the market. There are a few goofy editing aspects that I wish I could have not had to do, but you know the saying about excuses. So take a look and check back in a day or so for another production that I hope will be quite a bit more fun, concise and informational.
Well, I made it. I made it another year in life. But in that year things have changed drastically in my field. This blog is one example.
So for this post I'm trying something new. Only problem is that I should have posted this right after I got back from my morning ride. We're not in the land of publishing about the same time everyday. All this new technology allows us to publish at any minute of the day.
It will be interesting to try and stay on my surfboard with this continually growing wave of new forms of publishing and technology.
What will be happening a year from now? That will be figured out I'm sure, but I better still be pedaling.....
This player allows for tagging and commenting inside the video. This may not be a great video to comment on but in the future I hope that the player will allow for more participation from you all. Try it out.
I completed another video last night. This time on an annual girls softball tournament held in Boulder County around the Fourth of July. There are over 150 teams in the area playing from 28 states. You can read a story by Christine Reid here.
The original idea was to shoot a story about the little rituals, chants and superstitions that usually are associated with sports. I went to the 18U tournament in Boulder thinking it would be easy. Didn't happen.
Most of the teams there at the Stazio Complex in Boulder didn't do much along those lines. And since I feel like I am a first year intern again, trying to learn how to do this video gig, I basically froze up and tried to force the issue. The storyline changed to the scope of the tournament in the realm of girls softball nationally and for college coaches. What I should have done was go to the 16U brackets. Those girls, I learned from Christine, were more into the funky chants and rituals. Next year I guess.
It's been humbling to step back and learn how to be creative with video, yet make comprehensive videos that make sense. I could have ran around with a still camera and shot tons of photos, thrown together a gallery of 20-plus photos and it would have been a cake walk. I could have even gathered audio to make an audio slide show and felt a bit more comfortable to complete the project in a timely manner. Developing a storyline and backbone to hang a story on in video is still a challenge at this point. I know it will get easier. I just didn't think I was going to feel like an intern all over again. I mean, I was so confident with my still camera that, before I left the complex I found one situation to shoot. Nailed it in 15 or 20 frames and headed back to the office to begin the task of editing my video. The photo ended up being the 1A photo.
It took me a little more than three hours to shoot about 30 minutes of video to produce a 01:24 video. (Oh yeah, after a two hour detour to a Final Cut Users Group with video/web 2.0 guru Danny Holland, it took about four hours of editing and watching a processing bar creep across the screen.)
I just plan on producing more and more content so I can ditch the training wheels and upgrade to the race bike again....let me know what you think.
While I was waiting at the Birds of Prey Foundation center in eastern Boulder County on Tuesday to shoot photos of an American bald eagle, I looked around for a while and spotted an opportunity to shoot an Emotion, as I call them. There are several more at my MySpace page and my Flickr page. This will be "White noise."
It's been a while. How've you been?
I added a few more photos to the Brazil gallery. You can either look at them here in the window below or head over to Flickr and do a slideshow there that shows the captions.
I'm going to go back through and see if there are any other possible gems I overlooked this weekend, maybe.
Thanks for looking and all the responses on the Brazil photos as well as the Fishing Derby. I hope to do a couple other videos soon.
was a reason for the urge to walk through the canyon of memories. As I walked I felt lost, as though I had never been to this place. With the cool spring breeze blowing and cotton candy clouds drifting by I noticed a tree exploding with blossoms about 25 yards up the east side of the trail below a scree field. It's early in the spring season and the weather has not been very kind to plants. Staring at the electric white blossoms against the neutral browns of the canyon cliffs above I wanted to make a photo. But I had only brought two lenses. A 14mm and an 85mm. The flip-flops made footing a little dicey. But after a couple rocks rolling over my toes and ankles I made a handful of photos as best I could.
But when equipment and software revealed several shortcomings in my ability to tell stories, I felt a crushing blow of disappointment. Only then, having follow that up with having to cover the funeral for a fallen soldier. I'm not a big fan of funerals anymore after having to attend several on a personal level and as a professional. Learning about Cpl. Stephen Matthew Kowalczyk and his approach to life made the experience different than I had been anticipating. He was a man who lived a rich and simplistic life.Members of his unit and family all had a common theme in remembering him: "He had life figured out."
