Out of Town, but in the Paper

I was out of town most of this week, but the Kitsap Sun published a photo online that I submitted to them for a fall  photo contest. 

Election Season

 I've been keeping busy photographing political sign wavers and meetings of the Shelton School District Board of Education.

Wen. October 8th a man holds up signs during rush hour
at First and Railroad in Downtown Shelton

Wen. October 8th two women hold signs in the rain during rush hour
at First and Railroad in Downtown Shelton

The Board of Education Melts Down and I Captured it on Video

School Board President and Chairperson  Brenda Hirschi faces a mixed crowd at the
Shelton School Board meeting on October 9th

The meeting begins to get rowdy, Jim Carnahan says he is 
offended, Brenda Hirschi tries to maintain order

 at the Shelton Washington school board meeting on October 9th

A friend tipped me that that school board meeting this week might be an interesting one, so I went to it.  My friend was right.

The meeting was loud and unruly and it ultimately led to the resignation of school board vice president Jim Carnahan.  When the meeting started to get loud I stopped taking stills and I shot a shaky video instead.  The video had thousands of views and the next week the vice president of the school board resigned.  Are the two related?  I don't know, but I must remember that images and video have power.

 A local radio station picked up and shared a link to my video, they also took one of my still pictures and put it on their website.  I sent them an invoice when I saw that they had used my photo, they did not respond to my invoice, but they took my photo down and gave me credit for my video.  

My photo on the local radio station website  It's such a bad photo that I hesitate to even post it here 
 (It is a screen grab of my video that grabbed and  posted to Facebook) 

The next week the local newspaper listed a link to my video in a print article and on their website. 
My video and pictures generated a lot of interest, but I was unable to make any money.

The board room at Choice High school was filled to capacity for the 
Shelton School Board meeting on October 9th 

I have two D90 cameras now.  I equipped one with a 18-200 mm 3.5-5.6 zoom lens and the other with a 50mm 1.8 prime lens.   I only used my zoom lens when I needed a wide angle.  My faster prime lens was best in this low light situation.  I mostly used aperture priority for my 50mm lens and shutter priority for my zoom lens.

Here is the video I took.  It's poor quality but it's getting hundreds of views.  If I had kept shooting stills instead of switching to video I could have taken some really dramatic photos.   If I had a tripod with me I could have done video with one camera and stills with the other camera.  This video was done with my 50mm prime lens.





The next school board meeting I went to was much more subdued and the entire audience consisted of just myself and a newspaper reporter, but the lighting was beautiful so I still had fun. I chose to render my photos in black and white to take advantage of the shadows created by the window blinds.

Interim superintendent Dr. Art Jarvis at the Shelton school board meeting on  Tuesday Oct. 14th

Empty chairs at the Shelton school board meeting on  

Tuesday Oct. 14th

Dr. Micheal Boring of McPherson & Jacobson LLC came to speak
 about the process of hiring a new superintendent at the Shelton school board meeting on
Tuesday Oct. 14th.  The board decided 3-2 to wait until later to begin the process

Board members Jim Carnahan and Sandy Tarzwell at the Shelton
school board meeting on  Tuesday Oct. 14th

Lastly I'm going to post a picture of a bicycle I found in the city limits,
 it's part of my multi year long personal project.  Potential future employers,
please feel free to ignore this picture. :)

The contrast between the brightly colored bike and
 the monotone alley caught my eye

Oysterfest 2014

This is the last Oysterfest is to be held at the fairgrounds, next year Oysterfest will be on an abandoned runway at the Port of Shelton.  I put a lot of hours into photographing Oysterfest and editing photos and writing photo descriptions.

PUD #3 Shuck and Share 5K

This weekend I photographed a 5k race sponsored by Public Utility District #3.  The race was in the morning and mostly in the shade.  My 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 is my longest lens, so I brought it, but it really was not suitable for this job, it's too slow to photograph runners in the deep morning shade.  I used my prime lens as much as possible, but it does not zoom in enough for the job.  I also tried to focus on before and after pictures of the race when the runners were not moving too fast for my lens.

Two days before the race I checked out the entire route by riding around it on my bicycle  It was at that time that I picked out my spot. After the race started I walked about one quarter of a mile up the race course in the wrong direction and waited in my spot.  I tried to pick a spot with good lighting and a nice background.

There was a volunteer photographer at the race and they had a 70-200 F2.8 lens. Color me envious.

  

Runners in colorful running shoes wait to learn the results after the race at huff and puff park on Sunday during the Shuck and Share 5K run sponsored by PUD#3  ~Shawna Whelan

Reid Larsen age 10, adjusts his number bib before the race at huff and puff park on Sunday 

during the Shuck and Share 5K run sponsored by PUD#3  ~Shawna Whelan

Third place winner, Douglas Larmont  nears the finish line at huff and puff park on 

Sunday during the Shuck and Share 5K run sponsored by PUD#3 his time was 19:57  ~Shawna Whelan    

 This picture was printed in a local newspaper.  Jainnine and Katelyn Sowers hold hands as they near
 the finish line at huff and puff park on  Sunday during the Shuck and Share 5K run sponsored by PUD#3  ~Shawna Whelan

Spot news, bomb threat at the Mason County Courthouse

I did not hear this one on the scanner, I learned about this when I was out riding my bike.  I had my small camera and lens (D40 with 18-55mm) with me at the time.  I took a few pictures with that set up before I went home and got my better camera and lenses.   I really enjoy using my prime 55mm lens so I can get those f/2.8 shots.  f/2.8 is the new f/8.
.

Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad at the Mason County
Courthouse Thursday Oct. 2cd

Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad  vehicle at the
 Mason County Courthouse Thursday Oct. 2cd

Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad members  at the Mason County Courthouse Thursday Oct. 2cd

Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad Member walks his Bomb
detecting dog near  the Mason County Courthouse Thursday October 2

Boots on the ground at the Mason County Courthouse