Recently staff rusticator Jed Kirschbaum photographed Malcolm Spaulding, a 61-year-old man who has been repairing shoes in Baltimore for decades. The old shop, on West Fayette, is smeared with the shoe polish, its smell combining with that of the leather as memories lace the crevices. Cobblers are not in much demand in the modern age, yet this store hangs on.

My favorite image is a detail Jed made of Malcolm gripping a boot so applied glue can set. Detail photographs, which capture moments that the visually challenged either do not realize exist or fail to notice. They can add life to a series of photographs, serve as a visual segue and contribute a great amount of information without being overly obvious.

The fingers are in control, hands of confidence gripping the black leather, and look as worn and aged as the wood upon which he works. The grip is gentle, a metaphor for the lost time when everyday life often brought people into contact with tradespeople as they went about living lives that involved interaction, a stark contrast to the here-and-now cyberglow of isolation and demands for instant gratification.

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Saturday was a beautiful day for lacrosse despite the wind and the hint of chill in said wind. For the first time in almost a month, a sporting event was on the agenda -- the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Two games, the first at noon -- Syracuse against Virgina, followed by powerhouse and hometown favorite Johns Hopkins playing Princeton. For those not in the know, the Baltimore area is home for several top-notch lacrosse programs and has a strong following.

At the office before the game I rummaged through the big glass trying to decide what to use. My confidence in the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 lenses was not high, as they are the most used lenses and often get dinged up. So I turned my attention to the Nikon 500mm f/4, with which I have had a lot of luck in the past -- and the added fun of trying to shoot the game with an extraordinarily tight angle of view.    

The opener was a tight fight as underdog Syracuse battled Virgina, leading for much of the game.

(Nikon D2X, Nikon 500mm f/4, 1/5000th @ f/4, ISO 320) 

The back-and-forth continued throughout the game in Syracuse's favor until Virgina, playing aggressive, strong-arm defense, was able to tie the game with little time in regulation. The sudden-death overtime did not last long as Virgina quickly scored and celebrated the grinding victory.   

(Nikon D2X, Nikon 500mm f/4, 1/5000th @ f/4, ISO 250)

The Hopkins game was not nearly as exciting.

Continue reading "Lacrosse Face-Off Classic" »

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

photo by Jed Kirschbaum

Sun photographer Jed Kirschbaum strikes again with a beautiful, stunning, graphic image from the American Craft Show. The wonderful combination of color and light is good vision on Jed's part.

All this praise and attention for Jed on Photo Edge will probably go to his head (if it hasn't already). Lucky for me I am not spending much time in the photo lab with him as I learn the new pagination system. 

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With the Weather Challenge deadline extended it seemed logical to continue showing examples of what The Sun staff is doing with the weather in our backyard. Glenn "Flash" Fawcett strikes again with a nice snow image from Annapolis. These girls seem to be terribly frightened of the snowball heading in their general direction.

Other than the blown-out snowball, it is a nice picture that made it onto our front page. It is different from the atmospheric landscapes by Jed Kirschbaum we've talked about lately. Nothing wrong with them; they are quite beautiful. But this "moment" helps to separate them. 

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

When driving to an assignment it is not uncommon to start thinking about how to make a photograph. In particular the always fun and exciting portrait sessions for stories about people doing something -- that "something" either in the future or after when the story has to run. This means they will not be doing this while I am there. This is often standard for stories that will "precede" some happening or another.

So, after I parked at Metro Gallery in Baltimore and unloaded gear from my car, I decided to keep it simple. I grabbed my bag, with a flash, remotes and clamp, and a (as in one) camera with a 50mm f/1.8. Just the 50 and nothing else.

Cannot get much more simple than that. It also keeps the mind on edge, as there are not tricks to rely upon. No changing lenses. No soft light from an umbrella. No gels (like in the hacker photos.)

Fortunately for me, the interior of the gallery was spacious and with decent available lighting. No need for the flash or anything else. Along with the ambient light there was not much else. Well, subject Ed Schrader and the desk he uses for his wacky, faux variety show.

(Nikon D2X, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, 1/250th sec. @ f/8, ISO 100)

For the first portait I had Ed laying on his desk. Like the person-at-computer photograph, the person-at-a-desk is not very exciting. Add the fact his show is off-beat and odd, being on the desk made sense. A beam of sunlight streamed through gaps in large drapes, so I had him position himself with his face illuminated and continued to direct him so it remained that way.

Continue reading "Simplicity personified" »

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

OK, so I should have looked at the early edition of The Sun before making the post yesterday.

Thanks to Patrick Smith for the mean eyes and directing me to the correction.

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"This morning wasn't bad," said Sun photographer Jed Kirschbaum, who made yet another weather photograph this morning -- the other early morning photographer is off. He had noticed the light playing on the smokestacks at a previous time, which did not work, and decided to go back this  morning. As he set his angle at the end of the National Aquarium Pier, a nearby garbage truck rumbled by on another pier which sent the riled seagulls scurrying his way.

The light, and the resulting shutter speed and depth of field, had him concerned because he wanted to have the building in focus, as well as the bird. The wide angle is more forgiving with the focus area, and as it grew lighter his concern dissipated.

Remember, we want to see your weather photographs. Enter at the Flickr Photo Edge group. Entries can be made through Sunday, Feb. 17. Have them entered on the 18th and away we go. See the rules in the previous post, or look at the discussions on Flickr.  

*Jed is well known for his prodigious output of pictures with fine-feathered friends.

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The weather yesterday morning was nasty and made the start of the day difficult for most people. One of the morning people at The Sun is Jed Kirschbaum, so often he gets to dive into the worst of it in an effort to make photographs.

(Photo by Jed Kirschbaum)

So as I mentioned in Photo Edge yesterday, I want to see your weather photos. Enter at the Flickr Photo Edge group (notice the styling link in the right column here). There's still time, as entries can be through February 17. Sun, snow, sleet, ice, rain -- whatever it is a long as it involves weather.

See the rules in the previous post, or look at the discussions on Flickr.    

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The word came down yesterday of the need for a "sexy" photograph of a new Microsoft keyboard for a business section review by Mike Himowitz. The idea was to centerpiece the story, so I had to pull something out the top of my usually vacuous head. Thus I trudged to the studio on the first floor absent an idea of what to do; except maybe throw a gel of some color into the lighting mix. Lightning, at least a small bolt, would need to strike at some point.

In the studio, nicely neat after its last use (nice surprise No. 1), I started rummaging to find something to use as a base for the keyboard. There was not enough of the smaller white seamless, so that was right out. But then: BING! It hit me -- white acrylic spread across two saw horses with a light underneath. WooHoo! Saved. The effect would create the modern, clean feel I figured necessary for the expensive piece of hardware.

The small light stands in the studio were not low enough to allow the light space under the acrylic. So I improvised using a sand bag, the Profoto compact monolight attached to a stud screwed into one of the short stands legs.

With that fix in place, I could move to the light with a gel, also a Profoto monolight. The choice was quickly made to use purple. The blue seemed to be too dark and the red too menacing. Yellow did not seem like a color associated with technology. Purple just "felt" right. The gel would also help keep the results from looking like an Apple product ad. The color was a necessary element to differentiate, somewhat, from the classic ad campaign image Apple has created over the years with their imaginative products.

I put the fill, with the color gel and the reflector set to its narrowest angle, on a stand to the left and rear of the expected camera position. It was almost directly behind at 11 o'clock. It ended up at about 1/4 power setting.

After a lot of testing, to get some semblance of proper exposure, I decided to use a scrim over the key light to lower the exposure some -- it was dialed down as low as it could go and the reflector at its widest -- and spread the light more evenly under the table. It is a piece of decorative paper once used in a food session.

Continue reading "Keyboard drama (BING!)" »

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

 Photos by Glenn Fawcett

Glenn "Flash" Fawcett dives right in and does it right Wednesday during an education protest at the Maryland State House in Annapolis. To paraphrase Robert Capa, if your pictures are not good then you need to get closer. (TIGHT is RIGHT!) One of the most difficult things to do as a photojournalist, photographer in general, is to break "the barrier" that we subconsciously surround others as well as ourselves. That is why most photographs are made 6 to 8 feet away.

That same "barrier" surrounds activity, which to the mind seems to be so close, so compartmentalized -- yet it is only a fraction of the field of view. With a camera between the photographer and the action, sometimes it is difficult to get closer. It can be uncomfortable, to say the least. 

Another thing to remember is to vary the shooting distance. Nothing gets duller than a bad hair dye than a bunch of photographs made at the same distance. There needs to be some sort of assortment of either distance from which the photographs are made, or at least the focal lengths used. Different viewpoints should also be considered.

Continue reading "Getting in the protest groove" »

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

A pretty picture from Tuesday morning in The Sun's daily photo gallery:

Photo by Kim Hairston @ 6:51 a.m.
(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 70-200mm @ 70mm,  1/50th sec. @ f/3.5, ISO 800) 

Fog has never been kind to me. For some reason I have never made a good fog picture, even when I lived in Maine near the coast. Can't get more foggy than that place; except maybe in my head most days.

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(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17mm, 1/320 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 320)

Everyday life is great. Covering the little things that happen every day thrills me, especially when I can unearth a gem. The Wedding Chapel is not new to the pages of The Sun. Even so, I remember looking forward to my time there and hoping to get something different from past coverage.

Nereida Boyer and Eddie Diaz were kind enough to allow us to observe their wedding in the last chapel in Elkton. Before and during the brief ritual I peered into this intimate time with full welcome. Ceremony over, ride arrangements having been made with friends and relatives, the newlyweds walked out into the cold January air to face the future together.

They walked, uncertain in where to go to find their ride; the newly signed marriage license grasped in held hands. Like most people in a similar moment, they may not have known in which direction to go but they would learn the way together.

This photograph worked in color, but nothing in the muted spectrum popped and it did not have the impact intended. In black and white the intended drama is more apparent, the couple standing out more from the background and not blending in as much as in the color version.  

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

The memorial service for the five killed in an Ohio car accident was not one of the assignments I look forward to when it comes my way. Standing across the busy Harford Road from St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church for nearly three hours I had become weary. The constant buzz of tires, the explosive coughs of accelerating diesel engines and the pressing thoughts of an earlier deadline, newly minted, all weighed on my aching shoulders.

There is not a lot of enjoyment in covering these kinds of events. The long wait, all the time constantly unsure of when the hidden crowd would begin to disperse, adds an endless edge. The senses have to stay on alert even though nothing might happen for a nearly endless amount of time. What might happen? No idea. This all adds into the equation making it even more uncomfortable.

For me, once the service ended and people started moving around, a sense of relief came to me even though the real work was just beginning. Almost immediately, as I scanned for any storytelling moments, two white-clad members of the church, one carrying a cross, emerged from the shadows of the building. A procession of some sort for an unknown purpose. This was a memorial service, not a wake or funeral, so I knew there were no coffins to follow. I had no idea what was happening.

Then, newly bathed in the light, the husband and father, Daniel Griffin Jr., identifiable in the head brace, came into view. He was within the group following as they prepared to cross Harford Road. Cross right toward us, the two other photographers who remained on scene. Rarely does a photo fall into place like this.

The dramatic light and clean background helped to make the image come together. Another very sad situation in which to be involved, yet a nice photo comes from it and will hopefully give the readership another level of understanding after this very tragic accident.

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

(Nikon D2Xs Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 116mm, 1/640 sec. @ f/13, ISO 250)
Photo by Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun staff

This is a beautiful photograph by Sun photographer Lloyd Fox. It is from a very sad, difficult situation. Racheal Wilson, a firefighter recruit, was killed in a live-fire training accident on Feb. 9 that Baltimore city officials say went terribly awry. A three-volley salute was fired in her honor during the Feb. 16 funeral at the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

The subdued color, only evident in the blue sky and the tint in the white gloves, creates a somber mood very easily conveyed. That mood is even more evident by dark funeral marker, the strategically included in the composition. Lloyd is an amazing photographer, and it is not surprising he made such a bittersweet image.  

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

At the end of each year, The Sun publishes a gallery of photographs by the staff photographers. This year it was published in the December 30th Ideas section of the paper. There is a multimedia presentation online with more photographs.

As the year heads for a wrap, contest deadlines start rearing their ugly heads. The first, for World Press and White House News Photographers Association, is Jan. 10. That is a tight deadline, only 10 days into 2008, and with all the detailed preparation needed will be difficult to make.

While reviewing the year's take I will be share some of my favorites -- along with some of my fellow staff members' -- when I get a chance.

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Posted by Christopher Assaf at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

(Nikon D3, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 112mm, 1/250th sec. @ f/4, ISO 400)

Well, I did not get in the car and drive endlessly. There was little time for that, considering we wanted a photograph to update baltimoresun.com as soon as possible. So south on Calvert Street I journeyed, looking for anything that moved and had a hint of snow. At the intersection with Saratoga Street  a woman walked with a big umbrella with a fellow employee of Mercy Hospital, crossing Calvert to enter a restaurant for lunch.

The hounds have returned, warm inside for the moment after the brief and successful mission.

Did I mention the D3 is a little piece of heaven? Well, it is, and I will write more about it in the near future.

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Well, I was preparing to write an entry on yesterday's inauguration of the Baltimore Mayor -- and using the amazing Nikon D3 for the first time -- but I have been called on to go hunt for and photograph "weather art." The generic, non-specific identifier for standalone, sometimes referred to as "wild art," can be of almost anything as long as it is in some way a representation of the day.

Therefore, I will try and "find" something to do with the atmospheric condition currently falling on Charm City. What? No clue. Where? Not sure.

So the Sheila Dixon event, and talk of the loaner D3 -- a beautiful piece of camera heaven if there ever was one -- will have to wait until later today or tomorrow.

Remember, look for the Holiday Gifts for photographers list Thursday. It will be mostly photography books, favorites included, but there may be a surprise or two not of the paper kind.

Release the hounds!
 

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)