Home for a sec

Came home to change pants (tell ya 'bout it later) and started looking up feature ideas online. Activeculture.info, al.com, yellowpages.com, whatever. It's not that I hate finding feature photos -- they just hate being found by me.

Anyway, what one guy had to say:

Sometimes that's the life of a newspaper photographer. You head out with the hope of making an incredible image, but then the clock starts to tick and it seems as if nothing interesting is happening around you. A quiet paranoia even sets in, and you're convinced there's a great photo going on right around the corner, or in the next neighborhood, or, worse, the neighborhood you just left. -- Rod Mar, Seattle Times

... buggering feature photos ... it's like snipe hunting, I swear to God ...

Pandering

... from dictionary.com ...

• pander: (pān'dər); to act as a go-between or liaison in sexual intrigues; function as a procurer/ to cater to the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit their weaknesses

... which is exactly what I'm about to do ...

God, I feel like a dirty paparazzo. Dempsey with the Hyper Sport team watching his teammates win a race.

Pander, pander, pander ...

Pander, pander, pander ...

Celebrating the win at the winners' circle ...

Good lord ... I think I need to take a shower. Well, here's one from pit row that'll more than likely never be seen because of the above photos. Anyway ...

A crew member stands by, waiting for the team car to pull in for refueling.

Yeah, so I'll be posting more stuff later, but there's your "People Magazine" post. Use it for all it's worth -- it's the only one you'll get, you dirty monkeys.

More video

Oh, yeah -- here's the video from last night. Notice the need for a tripod.

I'm an official Iron Pour photographer

I won't go into heavy explanation of Infocus, aside from saying that it's pictures that don't really have accompanying copy. It's a rotational thing, and I'm on that particular rotation. The Ed gave me the concept of doing a theme of "people figuring out what they want to do with their lives or something like that" since I myself am an intern. So I said, cool, okay, and then he told me about the sculpting students doing an iron pour and suggested I hit that up for some photos. And thus it was so ...Adam Bodine, 22, prepares for the pour.One of the assistants at Sloss Furnaces feeds the fires of the furnace.
Adam Bodine waits alongside the students. Bodine, an art student at UAB, is an intern at Sloss.
Bodine lights a cigarette for his "partner-in-crime," Forrest, during a break in pouring.
Bodine and Forrest attempt to break open the mold of Bodine's grate a few hours after the pour.

I'm trying to track down a ballerina somewhere in the city to continue the series. A ballerina because another ballerina's been on my mind as of late.

Humorous aside -- after the photo ran [not one of the photos above, by the way], I actually got a letter from someone who think he's a good candidate for an Infocus. He might be, too ... I'll keep ya posted.

Ciao, y'all ...

Back to Final Cut

I shot the state trooper recruits doing their driver training at Talladega this afternoon, stills and video. The stills, okay, whatever, got some things that'll probably fly. But it was a situation more open to video. Seeing as this was the second video I've shot for the paper, [here's the first] I should have done a better job with it, but I had a couple issues ...

• didn't use a tripod (it's a Flip camera but that shouldn't make a difference, should it?)
• not enough b-roll (no excuses for that)
• I don't like the audio capabilities
• and I used Final Cut Pro to edit, rather than FCP's simpleton cousin Windows Movie Maker. Which, after spending so much time away from it, is like driving a stick-shift after spending a year in an automatic -- it takes some getting used to.

Thusly are the reasons I'm still at the office at 7:bleeding:30. Waiting for the thing to export and all. Anyway.

A graphical representation of my firstfew weeks

Yay for photos -- I'll add some captions, too. These are from past assignments. Not everything, but at least it's a little something more than nothing.

Joey Steele works on tires at Bob's Bikes in Homewood.

Chin Hockchye, a PhD student, inspects one of the "Specialized" series of bikes at Bob's Bikes.

Holly Andrews finishes out the morning's boot camp exercise regimen with a few long stretches in front of Adory High School.
Police Chief A.C. Roper meets with officers outside Banana Joe's in Southside [ed's note: two blocks from my apartment] after two people were killed in a shooting outside the club the weekend prior.
165 Army National Guard officer candidates from the training center at Fort McClellan complete a seven-mile forced march at the Talladega Superspeedway.
Officer candidate Time Dubeansky, from Columbus, Ohio, rests and stretches after a seven-mile forced march that ended at the Talladega Superspeedway.

I'll post more later. Ciao till then ...

Some weekend work

Shot the Porsche 250 over the weekend -- the entire weekend. I'm burnt, I'm tired, I had a brief run-in with a celebrity of decently major status, and ... well, I'm sure there's something else to say, but I can't think of it right now.

Anyway, here's some photos. Don't copy 'em. Or I'll track you down and kill you.

Yeah, two of these because I couldn't figure out which one was better. Or if they both stink. Anyway.

So, yeah, there you have it, for the weekend. I'll be posting more photos tomorrow. Because for tonight, y'all, I'm done. Say goodnight, Jake-y.

Goodnight.