Sunday, June 6, 2010

end

by saturday, i am seriously counting down to this week being over over OVER!!!! but i have 3 days to go....
start with a portrait of a guy who is making a documentary film centered around the story of his brother, Rico Hoye, Jr. - a local championship boxer who made a name for himself in the sport after serving 8 years (i believe) in prison for manslaughter...as we set the appointment up, he said he'd like his film crew to be in there, too - i asked how many people we're talking about and he said 4 - i said, i know they're important to the film and will probably be in the story, but maybe we should keep it to him, since lots of people make it pretty tough to make a really nice portrait that doesn't turn into a group shot - he said he understood, but i guess not, cos when i got there, 2 other guys were with him, and then a third showed up, and he really wanted all of them in there....they were all really cool, and honestly, at that point, i'm not gonna tell them to just go home, so i did what i could - not really happy with the way this turned out - but i think my energy to (tactfully) argue the point was pretty much spent....so, you get what you get

took a break, since i was working the production desk again that night, and i still had to find features to fill next tuesday's photo page, so, i went out feature hunting early evening....came across these two photos....
the ice cream stand - pretty lame, i know, but i had to go with something i knew would produce something

then went on the drive through neighborhoods, and found this family out playing - not totally excited about it, but i think i made a couple pictures that at least approach the "feel" of the pictures that i get proudest about...it was funny, because i'd stopped to shoot the dad taking his kid out for a bike ride - holding on to the seat as his kid learned to ride, and i thought it was his daughter, cos it was a little girl bike, and with the helmet on, i just assumed it was his daughter, but it was his son on his daughter's old bike...meanwhile the daughter was running around like little annie oakley shooting at everything in sight, including the "bad tree"

the mom joked about the gender reversal at work in their family, and i think i really kind of like this image of her daughter taking aim in the sky

sunday morning, i still needed at least one more feature, so i went back out on the hunt - spied kids playing way off in the back yard, on a tire swing no less! holy cow - i NEVER see anyone actually using their tire swings! - so i spun around, parked and walked into the yard - was met first by the family's dogs, pit bulls to be exact, and i ask a couple kids if their dogs are friendly - oh yeah, yeah, they're fine - okey dokey, then, well, on i go, with the dogs in tow behind me....and i shoot away as they play on the tire swings

and at one point, the mom of the house gets in on the play, and she gets on after winding the rope round and round tight, so that by the time the kids let go, she is spinning in ever-faster circles, which gets the dogs super-worked up, and as i am shooting, they decide to circle round me, barking away - and let me just say, knowing these aren't the most predictable of the species, having pit bulls standing at your feet growling and barking at you is a little disconcerting, but i try to not show fear, cos we all know where that can lead, and i shoot my pix, and then i head out....

later that evening, i head out to the annual "Tribute to the Fallen" - usually honors area veterans who stand up and recount their personal stories, and then they have a video showing all the photos of the vets throughout the county who have died in service from WWII to present - this year, all the honorees were dead already, so it was just the emcee reading from a sheet of paper, and then the vidfeo (which you're not allowed to shoot during) - so, it was more of a challenge than normal - and i resorted to shooting the guy playing (or standing with trumpet as a recording played) TAPS at the program end

then back in to the paper for production work - since monday is a holiday, the paper is built the night before, so another desk night
monday, memorial day - assignment to shoot the big downtown parade - an hour before the start, the big storms forecasted begin to arrive, but they should pass by the start....so, i head out to the starting point, looking to find a pre-parade feature amid the thunderstorm...but there's no one there...so i go to the paper to see if there's any updates - delayed? cancelled? but there's nothing on our website, and the reporter on that day has no cell phone, and he's not home, nor is the guy in charge of the parade, so i have no idea if i should just go feature hunting for page one, or stick around or what, so i drive back down to the parade start site, and still no one, but i see a city truck with "street closed" signs on back, so i ask them, and it turns out the parade has been cancelled, and then i get a hold of the wife of the parade marshall, and she tells me they're all at the VFW, which is where i go and make some features


and on the way, i shoot some kids riding a bike home - they'd come downtown for the parade and were heading home after learning it was cancelled....

so, that was the week's finale, and i was really really ready for 2 days off!

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