Saturday, June 11, 2016

Seattle



As luck would have it, some local kids were riding the ferry to Seattle on the same day.  I took this picture with my Ricoh.  The is the second picture from my Ricoh that has been printed.  26 more to go at the singles rate to pay for the camera.  This photo was taken through the window of the ferry and it still worked out okay.


Friday, June 10, 2016

Inspirational Student Awards

I don't feel particularly inspired by any of my photos from this job.  I was tired and the room was extremely dark and a bit hot.  This might be the darkest dinner I have ever worked.  I'm fairly happy with the technical quality given the challenges presented by this dark room.

  • 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8
  • ƒ/3.5
  •  
  • 17.0 mm
  • 1/80
  •  
  • 4000
  • Flash (on, fired)





  • ƒ/2.8
  •  
  • 17.0 mm
  • 1/50
  •  
  • 2500






  • 4-H Fishing Derby



    Again I left my long glass in the car and just brought the wide angle.  This job had me walking on docks and having big bulky lenses and multiple cameras could have been hazardous.  If I fall into the water I only want to dunk one camera and not two!  A girl did fall in.

    I thought to try for some silhouette shots as I was driving to the job, but that did not work with dark trees in the background.  Fill flash was a must for this job with the sun to everyone's back.

    June 9th A-11
    I really liked the picture on the bottom right.  I waited until the yellow fishing bobber was in the frame before I shot.

    Nora Maylin 8 and Becky Maylin from Port Orchard wait for a nibble 

    A line of children fish off the dock in the background while Karl Swalander wrestles for
    control  of a trout he just landed.

    Ed Swalander helps Karl Swalander age 8, both are from Elma.

    Seraphina Short age 6, is shown how to properly display her fish before a family photo is snapped.

    From Right Damain Flores age 11 and Jack Seabert-Olsen age 10 take a pause from the
     action to admire trout that they have already caught
    This was my favorite shot since is was so candid and I just happened to find it.

    Aaron Arnold 10 of Elma proudly carries his prize winning 23.5 inch rainbow trout to the measuring station.

    Aaron Arnold 10 of Elma lays down his prize winning catch  to be measured.  The monster trout registered at  23.5 inches.

    From right Panhandle Lake camp staff Jeff Wetcel and Krag Unsoeld relax and chat in the shade while looking out over Panhandle lake.  


    Alpaca shearing


    I brought both lenses to this job, but mostly only used my wide lens for this up close work.  These photos have been held for next week.  I had trouble finding the event, but I got there in plenty of time anyway.

    Intern Clay Mosby holds Coco the Alpaca while Cocoa gets a haircut.  (I
    like how they have matching hair)



    From front to back Clay Mosby and Dr. Dana shear Cocoa the Alpaca
    while Nate Welch trims his nails at Rights of Passage Farm near Shelton on Saturday.

    Festival Season 2016 has begun - Forest Festival

    I've been busy this week.  My first job was a Royal Court Breakfast, this was a new thing for me and I only had about half an hour to get the job done.  I tried to find an interesting angle in my short amount of time.  I eyed an balcony and went for it.  Only one of the pictures printed and it was mixed into a photo essay with two reporters pictures.  Same thing happened last year with the forest festival pictures.

    I rode my bike to the job and only brought my wide angle lens for what  would be almost all indoor work.
    From Left Paul Bunyan Drake Adams and Timber the axe man
    Joeseph Mcgrew load up their plates with a hearty breakfast fit for a lumberjack.



  • 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8
  • ƒ/3.5
  •  
  • 20.0 mm
  • 1/250
  •  
  • 3200
  • Flash (on, fired)
  •  


  • Mr. Mason Area Joseph Weeks age 10 and Miss Mason Area Petite, Madaline Johnson age 9 check out the breakfast buffet line


    The Shelton Forest Festival Royal Court and the Miss Mason Area Royalty line the entrance of the Colonial House to Greet the Port Orchard Fathoms O' Fun Royal Court during the Shelton Forest Festival.
    Reporters pictures are crossed out to reduce any potential copyright issues for photos that I don't own.
      The reporters took great photos.
      June 9th A-21


    Friday, June 3, 2016

    Friday, May 27, 2016

    Odds and Ends



    Work is picking up a bit for the next couple of weeks anyway.  Some of my pictures have been entered into a regional newspaper contest.  From now on I will post all of my printed pictures here with the date and page they were printed on so I can keep track of them.

    I feel inspired to go out and try to get the best soccer shot I can get now that my photos are starting to be entered into contests.

    Lucky shot as this was my first photo of the day and my camera was still set to manual focus.  Next time
    I will attempt to use a more shallow depth of field in the soccer field.  For this shot accidentally set to manual focus
    it was good that I had the lens stopped down a bit!  Such an ugly background though    May 26th A13

    This one was interesting because it blocked the major highway that runs through downtown.  Also this shot
    was taken with a new camera and is the first shot from this camera that has been printed.  I took this
    with a Ricoh GRII, it was just a short detour for me to take this shot while I was on my way to the post office.
    It is easy to take my GRII everywhere and in day light the photos are plenty good enough for print.
    May 26 A8

    This new to me  room, had a white ceiling of the perfect height for using my bounce flash with the card up.  I shot in manual all night long and I had to change my settings as I moved to and from different areas.  I handled this so much better than the last event of this type a couple of years ago.  My technical skills have greatly improved since then.
    May 26th A15



    One that I did not submit.  The head chef insisted on posing for a picture, so I set him up in front of a mirror.
     I never submit posed photos to the newspaper.

    Friday, May 13, 2016

    Fire Destroys a House

    I found a huge fireball on Boundary street at 11pm. I've learned to park far away from fires so I don't get blocked in by fire hoses. After I parked and walked towards the glow and then I saw these huge flames and I ran to them and I hoped that my cameras were ready to go.  It was dark and hard for me to see the dials.  Huge flames like this don't last for long, the fire department knocks them down quick.

    By the time I got to the scene and started taking pictures my legs were shaking from adrenaline.  It took every bit of technical skill that I have and pushed my cameras and lenses to their limits to get these. 



    I took these on a Tuesday night and the paper goes to the printers in another county on Wednesday at about noon.  These just barley made it into the paper and did not make the front page.  They were printed on page A2.


    I got a couple of good pictures at ISO 3,200 but then the flames died back and took the light with them.  I had to mostly shoot at 6,400 but they turned out well for the paper even at that ISO.





    May 12 A-2











    My second year in a row shooting the Mother's Day Dash on Mother's Day.  This was my first mother's day since my own Mother died.  Personally it was a rough day for me, but having a job to do helped.



    May 12 A-18

    Thursday, April 21, 2016

    House Fire on Deegan Road and a Bus Hits a Car

    April 21 A-1

    I drove to a car fire this week.  Normally I only go to fire if I can walk or ride my bike to it.  If it's that close I can get there at the same time as the fire fighters and maybe get some pictures of flames.  Also if I walk or bike I'm only out some of my time if my pictures don't sell.

    The scanner said this was a "fully involved structure fire", so I drove to it.

    A Firefighter suffered from the heat and he went down fast.  The fire chief yelled at me for taking pictures but later he apologized.







    April 21 A-1


    April 21 A-6

    April 21 A-20