A HISTORY of HIS OWN: for Distinction Magazine

When I first started out, when I was very green, when I knew much much less than I thought I knew, I often found myself frustrated on assignment. Some of my editors wanted it one way and I wanted it another. Forget about the fact that they had been doing it for much longer than I ever had. The time they had already put into the trenches of the daily grind at a news publication was irrelevant. Never mind that I might actually learn something from them. I wanted to do it my way.

I was full of passion for both photography and my trade as a photojournalist. I was eager to get out there and create, to do my best and to be the best. Unfortunately, I sometimes overlooked that it wasn't just about me. I had editors, and my editors had managers and those managers had administrators and on and on. In the end it was about our readers and about quality storytelling.

Sometimes I got too hung up on how a photo ran or how it was cropped. There were times when I questioned why I was even in the industry. At one point in my career I walked away from it all and didn't pick up the camera for a year. The truth is, growing and learning hurt and was at times down right painful. Even worse, in hindsight, some of it was self-inflicted.

Thankfully, I'm not the naive young blood that I used to be, but I'm still just as passionate about photography and storytelling.

During a recent assignment with Distinction magazine's creative director we both worked through each others vision of how we could best tell the story of  historian Dr. Tommy Bogger. We took two different approaches. One batch of photos were shot brightly lit while the others were shot with a darker mood. In the past, I would have shot it one way - my way.

Thankfully, I've grown, I've humbled myself. I've dropped the ego at the door and wow, it's feels so good. Talk about liberation!

Taking the different approaches not only allowed my client to have options but pushed me to visually explore the subject and grow. Wow, imagine that, they could pick and choose what worked best for their vision while incorporating photos that reflected my way of seeing. Not to mention,  I had an opportunity to learn while getting paid.

It was a win-win situation.

Mitt Romney: for the Associated Press

Mitt Romney arrived in Virginia Beach, VA this past Saturday for a quick rally at the Military Aviation Museum. The press, myself included, arrived in swarms like busy bees buzzing around collecting and gathering data to feed to the masses. Meanwhile the young and old stood in droves, melting in the sun and heat, milking patches of shade for relief.

For a few moments, in the smoldering air a sense of political division and grief floated amid the crowds. It almost seemed to seep by the outskirts of lips and creep along the tips of tongues.

But when the gates opened to the grounds of the museum, I met a proud mother, Wanda Morris, as she stood front and center with her son Jonathan Morris, 17.  "He'll be turning 18 soon,  just in time to vote!" said Morris while eagerly awaiting Romney's arrival. The two of them reminded me of friends of my family.

Then there was volunteer Carole Hersch rocking out her pair of politically themed earrings. She shared her story with me about how she had picked them up some ten years ago but couldn't recall where.  Remnants from so long ago, but she still managed to hang onto them; they didn't look a day old. Hersch made me think of my mom and her endless collection of kitschy jewelry.

I can't go on without mentioning Titan Beyer, 7, bowing his head during the invocation with his mother Shannon Chapman. We may have not exchanged stories in words, but their presence reminded me of my own wife and son. 

During my time at the rally, I meet many other supporters and we swapped stories that ranged from traveling the back roads of America to the different ships my father was stationed on throughout his Naval career. Whatever the topic, we found a common ground in one another. 

I couldn't help it when I found myself humming...

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the the New York Island

From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

Woody Guthrie, This Land is Your Land, 1940

Sole Searching: for Distinction Magazine

Here's a recent look at a story I shot for Distinction. More often than not, when I pick up an assignment from the magazine I'm usually working with Distinction's Creative Director EJ Toudt.

EJ and I work side by side before and during the shoots, collaborating on a lot of the visual ideas and approach. Quite often the final outcome is an alchemy of the hours we've spent brainstorming an idea and then actually executing it on location.

With the Sole Searching photo essay EJ took on the part as both a creative director, assistant and every other role in between. A lot of photographers prefer not to work with the client looking right over their shoulder after each release of the shutter. To be honest, I usually don't either.

However, with EJ, I don't feel like he's on location to dissect and critique each and every move I make. In fact, it's quite the opposite. When he is on set he actually complements the shoot and feeds the creative process. In the end his presence, input and assistance nurture the success of each shoot.

As always, thanks to EJ and the staff at Distinction for bringing me on and for the work. 

You can check out the story here. 

Troubling Heart Defibrillator: for The New York Times

More often than not news photographers are faced with assignments where the shooting situation is not ideal. Sometimes a last minute assignment comes in or the story just isn't that visual. However, you do your best to try and make lemonade out of lemons.  Some factors often faced are access to the subject, the lighting in general, or the location, lack of planning and so forth. 

My recent assignment, for The New York Times, to make a portrait of a high school football coach Greg Jessee offered a couple of those aforementioned challenges. Originally I was set to meet Mr. Jessee in Norfolk, VA and grab a portrait of him that somehow connected him to academia, communicated he was a coach and also conveyed a more serious tone. I was told that the coach had experienced a malfunction in his defibrillator that caused him to become unconscious on the sidelines of the football field during a game. 

Once I called Coach Jessee I was grateful to find that he was willing to meet me on the field where the misfiring of his defibrillator occurred, awesome! Now I just had to beat the rain. 

Upon arrival I knew we would only have a few minutes to shoot - rain was imminent. For the most part, the light was flat and lacked any character. I popped off a few frames and as I expected, there wasn't anything too exciting happening in the photographs. 99.9% of the time I shoot using strictly available light but that approach wasn't working this time so I moved on. In the end, I pulled out my strobe and connected it to the camera with an off-camera sync cord, it helped. I shot for about ten minutes and then the rain came. 

In the end, I wish Mother Nature had given me more time to get to know the coach and to really work the assignment. I reckon you win some and you lose some. 

You can read the article here.