anyway, back to it, and with school about to be out and the holiday stuff and custer week over, things are getting a little more back to normal
wednesday morning, out to a school to shoot a teacher who is retiring - we profile a few retirees every year, and this guy was very cool - an elementary school music teacher....got there just before the school was having an assembly to honor he and a few of the other staff who are retiring - the event was, well, like most assemblies, not easy to make visually interesting, but there were some nice moments after of kids hugging him and waving goodbye - you could tell he was pretty much beloved by all - some older kids actually came back to the school to see him and tell him how much he impacted their lives - very cool....
after that, we had about 40 minutes before his last class started...so we just talked as he got the room ready, then the first grade class arrived - such a cute age to shoot, and he was a real joy to watch - i can see why all these kids love him - he would have been perfect for audio, too - just an animated, kind of kooky, fun guy, and really good with kids...
after that, we had about 40 minutes before his last class started...so we just talked as he got the room ready, then the first grade class arrived - such a cute age to shoot, and he was a real joy to watch - i can see why all these kids love him - he would have been perfect for audio, too - just an animated, kind of kooky, fun guy, and really good with kids...
i felt pretty happy with what i shot, and liked this one moment at the end of class when this little girl hung back to tell him how much she loves his class, and telling him that at the end, she thought she wanted to cry a little....awww
and one for next week's feature foto page
later, there was a portrait of a woman who found a job despite the repeal of a federal young worker subsidy for businesses - which will now make finding a job for younger people more difficult - well, that's the crux of the story anyway....
later, there was a portrait of a woman who found a job despite the repeal of a federal young worker subsidy for businesses - which will now make finding a job for younger people more difficult - well, that's the crux of the story anyway....
nothing terribly cool....
thursday, just had a graduation - the kids of the town hit especially hard by the tornado had to cancel their ceremony, which was originally to be that sunday night, but as the town was ripped apart and the school damaged along with it, they postponed and took up an offer from EMU to use their convocation center - which was very cool of EMU, but as for the actual ceremony, it kind of hampered the visual side it seemed - less than 100 kids in this big facility - it just looked kind of like they were dwarfed, and they were so separate from their families and friends, and they have the speakers projected on the jumbo trons -
i don't know, it was a little impersonal feeling, and hard to get any moments, and of course there was toledo and detroit press there, cos we know how they love a good tragedy in monroe - not blaming the people themselves, they're just going to where they're assigned, like me, and in all honesty, we wouldn't have covered their graduation had it not been for the fact that they had had to reschedule due to the devastating storm, so, we're all painted with the same brush to some extent i suppose...
anyway, tried to get better stuff afterwards - but it was a little chaotic once they emerged onto the concourse to greet their families, particularly with all these other media there all vying for the same moments....
friday - the morning was a little slow - in the afternoon, i had to cover a town hall style meet and greet by one of our gubernatorial (love that word! hate typing it, though - too much thought involved) candidates - so, the usual him speaking, framed by the heads of the audience, the audience listening, hoping to get something better, more interactive after the speaking and q&a, but, he's not a real animated guy, and he seemed to be on a pretty tight schedule, and he had to be pulled aside and interviewed briefly by our reporter, so that didn't yield much....and after that, i went down to make a portrait of miss monroe, who was leaving next morning to head to the miss michigan pageant...she was pretty much done preparing to leave, so it was just a portrait, and i kept it pretty simple...
what i kind of liked later is this totally blown-out frame - the first shot, obviously before i ratcheted down the speedlight!
i don't know, it was a little impersonal feeling, and hard to get any moments, and of course there was toledo and detroit press there, cos we know how they love a good tragedy in monroe - not blaming the people themselves, they're just going to where they're assigned, like me, and in all honesty, we wouldn't have covered their graduation had it not been for the fact that they had had to reschedule due to the devastating storm, so, we're all painted with the same brush to some extent i suppose...
anyway, tried to get better stuff afterwards - but it was a little chaotic once they emerged onto the concourse to greet their families, particularly with all these other media there all vying for the same moments....
friday - the morning was a little slow - in the afternoon, i had to cover a town hall style meet and greet by one of our gubernatorial (love that word! hate typing it, though - too much thought involved) candidates - so, the usual him speaking, framed by the heads of the audience, the audience listening, hoping to get something better, more interactive after the speaking and q&a, but, he's not a real animated guy, and he seemed to be on a pretty tight schedule, and he had to be pulled aside and interviewed briefly by our reporter, so that didn't yield much....and after that, i went down to make a portrait of miss monroe, who was leaving next morning to head to the miss michigan pageant...she was pretty much done preparing to leave, so it was just a portrait, and i kept it pretty simple...
what i kind of liked later is this totally blown-out frame - the first shot, obviously before i ratcheted down the speedlight!
saturday i just had sports - i say "just" - but it was really an all-day affair - had a softball and baseball team in the regionals - baseball started at 10, softball at noon, and they were playing at a college in a town about an hour away...but, i came to understand friday night that those times were just the semi-finals, so i asked the sports reporter when the finals would be - but baseball was supposed to lose, so either way, had to go in the morning so we could get some game action of them - which means, stay for the softball semi-finals, all of which will be negated when they make it into the finals, because they won't want action from the semi's when they could get finals action....so, just have a big old long sports day!
and it was nearly 90 degrees with 100 % humidity, so, be prepared to be a drained rat by the time it's all done!
so, i get to this town, and i start to look for a sign for the college, but apparently they're not very into posting signs, so i stop to ask someone directions, and this guy tells me just turn around and head back down this road you're on, and he gives me a couple landmarks and the college is on the left - sweet, how easy i think - and it would have been, had the road he thought we were on been the actual road i was on....so, long story short, after driving in circles and getting directions three more times for about 40 minutes, i finally find the college..now, where are the sports fields....get more directions, find the fields, and now it's about an hour into the baseball game by the time i find a parking spot in some neighborhood, cos the parking lot is full, but that's okay, cos it's baseball, and i should have plenty of time, and if they lose i only really need one or two action shots anyway....
so, i get to the field, and after an hour they're only in the top of the second inning! holy cow! that game lasted nearly 3 hours! and, they won, which meant they'd play again in half an hour, so now everything i just shot of that game is kind of a wash, and i have to get over to the softball field and shoot there - get there ion the 4th inning, and the action is pretty abyssmal, and it's the semi's so when they win (which it was 2 local teams, so either way, we were shooting the finals for sure), they're not super-reactive, but now, they have a half hour break before starting the finals....
so, back over to baseball, whose game is about an hour in at this point, and when i get there, it's about the 4th inning, and again, against all predictions, they're winning! so, cool i'm thinking, at this rate, i can probably shoot the end of this game, cos they're gonna be pretty happy if they win the trophy and advance to state tourney, especially since nobody thought they'd get this far, and then i can make it over in time to get some action in the final couple innings from softball and their reaction....
but, once we get to the bottom of the fifth, the whole thing just starts dragging - both teams are hitting, and the opposing team changes pitchers, then in the bottom of the sixth, our team changes pitchers, then they change again in the seventh, so it's just crawling, and i'm looking at the time, and now it's probably getting close to the end of the softball game, and i am seriously running out of time to get any game action - so, now i'm in that conundrum - do i leave, now, when they're about to win and i will miss all the reaction, and if softball is losing for some reason, then i'm not going to get any good reaction there, or at least not pix they'll want to run - basically, do i stay with the sure thing, or potentially screw up both in the attempts to do it all....so, i stay, and just as the game is about to wind up, i see people walking out of the stands over at the softball field - well, crap, now i not only have no game action, i may miss any reaction, too, so as soon as baseball wins, i shoot some reaction as fast as i can
and then i high-tail it over to softball - all i can get is them posing for the parents with their trophy - pretty lame, but at least it's something.....and after that, hike back to my car (and yes, i was quite the sweaty, heat-drained, just spent 5 hours shooting continuous sports, mess!), drive the hour back to monroe, edit, caption, submit, go home for a couple hours, then come back in to process the fotos for sunday's paper....long day!
so, back over to baseball, whose game is about an hour in at this point, and when i get there, it's about the 4th inning, and again, against all predictions, they're winning! so, cool i'm thinking, at this rate, i can probably shoot the end of this game, cos they're gonna be pretty happy if they win the trophy and advance to state tourney, especially since nobody thought they'd get this far, and then i can make it over in time to get some action in the final couple innings from softball and their reaction....
but, once we get to the bottom of the fifth, the whole thing just starts dragging - both teams are hitting, and the opposing team changes pitchers, then in the bottom of the sixth, our team changes pitchers, then they change again in the seventh, so it's just crawling, and i'm looking at the time, and now it's probably getting close to the end of the softball game, and i am seriously running out of time to get any game action - so, now i'm in that conundrum - do i leave, now, when they're about to win and i will miss all the reaction, and if softball is losing for some reason, then i'm not going to get any good reaction there, or at least not pix they'll want to run - basically, do i stay with the sure thing, or potentially screw up both in the attempts to do it all....so, i stay, and just as the game is about to wind up, i see people walking out of the stands over at the softball field - well, crap, now i not only have no game action, i may miss any reaction, too, so as soon as baseball wins, i shoot some reaction as fast as i can
and then i high-tail it over to softball - all i can get is them posing for the parents with their trophy - pretty lame, but at least it's something.....and after that, hike back to my car (and yes, i was quite the sweaty, heat-drained, just spent 5 hours shooting continuous sports, mess!), drive the hour back to monroe, edit, caption, submit, go home for a couple hours, then come back in to process the fotos for sunday's paper....long day!
No comments:
Post a Comment