The coast

I was invited to a wintertime coastal backpacking trip with the local backpacking celebrities including Barefoot Jake and Washington Wilderness Adventures.  My tent leaked but a good time was had.

Japanese tsunami debris

Barefoot Jake

Sun sets on the USA and Japan at the same time

Barefoot Jake

Spot news - Garage fire

This was the first time I was able to get a paper to buy photos that I had taken on my own rather than on an assignment.  My neighbor's garage caught on fire.  I had the advantage of being the first on the scene, arriving even before the fire department did.

Celebrating 50 Years of Wilderness - a sale to the forest service

The local Forest Service office saw my hiking photos and asked if they could buy a few of them.  In the end they bought 23 of my photos to use on their new maps.  The maps should be printed in September of 2014, they will show the Hood Canal Ranger Distinct in Olympic National Forest.

Here is a small sample of the photos they licensed.  I still own these photos and they are available for sale either as full sized prints are large digital files.

Foggy Tarn Reflections near Mildred Lakes

Lake Cushman Sunrise in the morning blue light

Dosewallips burned area

Lena Lake

Upper Mildred Lake, Mount Lincoln and the Sawtooths at sunrise

Looking into the Wonder Mountain Wilderness from the summit of Dry Mountain

Christmas train disaster

"Something went very wrong Thursday morning when a Simpson Lumber train hauled a log loader through downtown Shelton."

Article in the Olympian

If only I had not slept in.. sigh, this happened just blocks from my house and the media from Seattle showed up for it.  The noise and my power going woke me up.  King 5 news came and offered to give me "credit" for my photos if I posted them to their website.  I thanked them politely and took their card.

In spite of getting exclusive pictures of a grandma trapped in her car I did not manage to sell any.  Maybe if I had been quicker I could have sold them, It feels like an opportunity missed.  But who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to sell some of these.  My power and internet and phone line went down during this time.

Tony Overman  full time staff photographer for the Olympian came to town today

Maybe my favorite of the lot

Woman trapped in her car, no one else got this shot

PUD 3 crews work through the night to repair toppled power poles

Inaugural Belfair Christmas Parade

I was sent the photograph the first ever (Inaugural) Belfair Christmas Parade.  I arrived early and got info for my cut-lines before the parade started.  One picture made the front page.

  Lindsey Carneen and her 14 year old Llama “Eleganto” prepare to march in the 

inaugural Belfair Christmas Parade Sun Dec 1st –Shawna Whelan

L-R Kaylee Richardson (9), Axexi Sleaggs (10) and Sammantha Brown (10) warm up
before the inaugural Belfair Christmas Parade Sun Dec 1st 

My first assignment - United Emigrants of Shelton

This was my first ever assignment from a newspaper.  I made rookie mistakes.  I did not get names for all the kids and I did not have my cut lines in a separate file.  The editor said "We can use these", I think that's high praise for a newspaper editor.  Later he sent me an email explaining to me how to write cut lines.

Photo joke:

Q. What is the difference between “street photography” and photojournalism?

A. Cutlines.

Joke borrowed from:  Small Town Photojournalism   

One of my pictures was featured on the front page of the newspaper, so it was a proud moment for me.

United emigrants of Shelton

This one made the front page

My first ever attempt at sports photography, this one was printed

This is how I got started as a paid photojournalist

In May of 2013 I decided to photograph the Immiegrantes Unidos de Shelton May Day Parade.  I was excited about this parade in my current home town because I know this town so well and I knew all the spots that I wanted to stand so I could get a good background for my photos.  I also knew the parade route, so I ran ahead and set up in each spot that had a background that I wanted.

 I submitted my photos to a local blog and soon the editor of a local newspaper contacted that blog about my photos. One thing led to another and I was offered a job as a "stringer" for the local newspaper.

I was not happy with the technical quality of the photos that I took on this day.  My camera was on a funky setting from the night before and I had to do a lot of very obvious editing.  I have since learned to always reset my camera by pushing the two green buttons at the start of every photo shoot.

The newspaper editor liked my photos.

They say no one will come knocking on your door and offer you a job, but in this case they did.

The same thing happened with the forest service, they saw my hiking blog and bought 23 pictures directly from my blog.  Then earlier this year a book author wanted some of my pictures from the same blog and he wanted them for free but I got him to pay for them instead.


 

Evergreen Square on main street

Railroad ave

Parade heads up 7th ave

Making signs at Loop Field

Parade pauses in Front of Kneeland Park Children wave the The flag of Guatemala

Parade heads down highway 3

Signs at Loop Field

Some folks hung out at Kneeland park after the march

My flashy bike

The theme of this blog has now changed the old theme was "Wandering the Empty Streets of Shelton Washington Looking for my Stolen Bicycle."   I've given up on finding my bike and the streets of Shelton no longer feel quite so empty.  The new theme of this blog is "cutting my teeth as a photojournalist".  I expect that I may still sneak in a few pictures of bicycles and empty streets from time to time though.

Photo joke:

Q. What is the difference between “street photography” and photojournalism?

A. Cutlines.

Halloween

Some street scenes that caught my eye today