Road fatality

As soon as I took the call in the newsroom I knew I was in trouble. A reader called to ask about the dead horse she had seen in the road on 11th Street near the entrance to Interstate 5.

I asked the editors what they wanted to do. Did they want me to go out and photograph it? I remembered the reaction to past photographs of dead animals in the paper and I was leery about the prospects that this would bring. The decision was made and I head out to look for the horse.

I found the horse near the Kasson Road intersection slaying in the shoulder of the road. It was long dead and long trail of blood led from the body across both eastbound lanes of 11th Street.

I did the best I could to be unobtrusive but it is hard not to be obvious while you are photographing a dead horse by the side of the road. I kept the photos as tasteful as I could trying to tie the road in as much as possible.

Later I was told we would not be using the pictures, that was fine with me but I was very surprised to see a picture in the Thursday paper. I braced for the onslaught of angry calls and letters about the picture and waited. Surprisingly, none came.

The now infamous dead cow front-page cover and the flat cat photo drew reader’s ire and we were barraged with letters and calls in protest. I am not sure why the horse picture did not generate the same outrage. On assignment I heard people talking about the photo most seemed curious what damage the car sustained in the collision.

It is sad to see the accident claimed the life of the horse, thankfully the driver walked away unhurt, it could have been much worse. I think we needed to cover the story to remind readers that there are road hazards in the rural part of our town. I am glad readers seemed to have accepted our coverage as professional and newsworthy. Hopefully there won’t be too many more photos of dead livestock to shoot. I can live without that assignment for sure.

Extended view

In the world of photography bigger is better. The bigger the resolution the sharper the image. The larger the memory card the more images I can store. The longer the focal length lens the closer you can get to the action.

Now it would be nice to have a 400mm, a 500mm or even a 600 mm telephoto lens for shooting sports. But costs for quality optics in that range can run into the thousands of dollars.

An inexpensive alternative is to consider the use of an extender. A small set of lens in the tube can increase the focal length of the lens by either 1.4 or 2 times. I recently bought the 1.4x extender for use with my 300 mm lens and 70-200 mm zoom. While it is convenient and cheap there are some considerations and sacrifices using them.

Using the 1.4x extender turns my 300mm f.40 telephoto lens into a 420 mm f.5.6 telephoto. When it is attached to the work camera, a Canon Eos 1D the APS H size sensor makes the effective focal length 546mm. Hooking it up to my Canon Digital Rebel turns it into a whopping 672 mm lens with the Rebel’s 1.6 digital magnification.

So what are the drawbacks? Well no matter how nice the extender it could never equal the quality of the same focal length glass telephoto lens. There is a drop in maximum f-stop so night or indoor usage of the lens could be a problem.

I gave the extender its first serious workout using it to cover a tennis match, a soccer game and a protest march through town. Overall I am happy with the results. The increased focal length gave me a pleasing soft background in the photos. Shooting at maximum aperture you are either in focus or not so care is needed in focusing.

I found the images a little flat in contrast but a little time in Photoshop pumped up the highlights to a pleasing value. The images are crisp and the lens operates just a before with the addition of the extender. A little bit heavier, maybe one day I will invest in a monopod.

I am pleased with my new extended view. I wonder why I waited so long to try it. Now I have a way to reach out a little further when I want to get up close and personal.

Blurring the lines

I seem to have stirred up a little controversy with my latest column that ran in the Our Town section of the paper. I made the mistake of discussing my abilities as less artist and more journalist and was taken to task for that assumption.

To set the record straight I do indeed consider photographers artists. Who could not view the subtle tones of an Ansel Adams print of Yosemite and not be moved by its beauty? Who cannot see the artistic study of color, light and shadow in the works of Ernest Haas?

Some photographers are artists, some are journalist. We take different paths down the road and surprisingly we cross paths often. That line between artistic endeavor and journalistic reporting often blurs as the public views the picture. When does a portrait go from telling a story about a man’s life to becoming a study of facial features, light and shadow? When does the picture of jets at an airshow turn from simply recording the action to an interpretation of their shapes and motion?

Anyone who picks up a camera is an artist to some extent. We make an image to share with others. It is a unique view of what we see through the camera. And also to some extent we are all journalists behind the lens as we record the every day sights of life around us from the family picnic to the Little League baseball games during a sunny Saturday afternoon.

I hope this clarifies what I tried to say about my own photography. I consider myself a photojournalist and I am proud to say that but I do see an artist trying to break free every now and then.

Camera clubbed

Think pink

With Easter just around the corner a local pet-grooming salon decided to color more than eggs this year. Dogs were dunked in a colored solution to give them an Easter egg colored look.

Now this may sound fine for a pair of poodles, but it just looks wrong on a pit bull. “Cameo” sat still for her photo but she just seemed less than thrilled with her new hair color.

"Onamae wa"

Some people say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It’s even harder to teacher an old photographer something new on assignment. But lo and behold I did learn something new the other day.

I was covering another group of Japanese students visiting South School when I came to the point where I need to get names. The South School students were easy but I had the language barrier issue come again with our guests from abroad. After fumbling through my first attempt I asked the groups interpreter how to ask the students their name.

My first Japanese lesson ever. “Onamae wa?” I am told is the way to seek out someone’s name. Then it sounds like I am game show contestant I try to get the last name too. Spinning fingers in a circle and saying my newly learned phrase over and over just drew looks of confusion until the interpreter stepped in to get the last names.

For my efforts I was given gifts of origami and some kind of Japanese cheese stick snack. I hate to think what I would have gotten if I could say a whole sentence.

Thinking outside the bag

I have noticing that the older I get the heavier my camera bag seems to get. It doesn’t help when I buy a big bag, I just dump more gear into it and the heavier it gets.

I was looking for a way to spare my shoulders and finally settled on the Think Tank Photo system of a padded belt and modular equipment bags.

I settled on a set of couple of different sized lens bags and camera equipment carriers. They sit on a padded belt on where I can adjust their position or lock them in place.

The idea is to keep the weight on the hip area and spread it around for a more comfortable carry. The bags are top notch and contain built in rain covers in case the weather turns foul on assignment.

I have tried the system on assignment a few times and I think it will be a big help. Tracy Press editor Cheri Matthews models the Think Tank setup.

Relay

Sometimes pictures happen by accident. This shot from a West High track meet was unexpected.

I was covering the 4 x 100 meter relay race and was getting ready to shoot the baton exchange between the second and third legs. I picked up the runner and followed up to the waiting next member of the relay.

I thought I would like the baton exchange best but actually the picture of the runner with the baton and the next racer in the foreground out of focus seemed to me to have more drama and interest.

Shooting with the lens at maximum aperture draws the focus of the reader to the baton and the juxtaposition of the baton near his eyes along with the outstretched arm waiting for the baton were the key to this shot. I wish I could say I planned for this but honestly it just fell together.

11-82

I don’t like to go accidents, but I would have loved to cover this one. This photo by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut is of the damage done by actor-comedian Eddie Griffin when he crashed a Ferrari Enzo into a concrete barrier while practicing Monday for a charity race to promote his upcoming film, "Redline.

The car is valued at $1.5 million but since no one was hurt it is considered a property damage crash, or what the police here would call an “11-82”. We don’t cover calls on the scanner when they come out as “11-82” but I would have made an exception for this one.

Last chance

I was shooting the pet of the week photo for this week’s Our Town section when I stumbled across this lonesome looking fellow.

I was told we were going to be taking a picture of cat and I saw this one calm and contented cat and asked if it could be this one. I was told no that it was scheduled to be put down. I snapped a couple of quick frames and everyone felt so bad about it being the last picture the cat would ever have they decided on a brief reprieve.

If someone hurries they could give this cat a new lease on life and a new home.

Premium parking

This is really what the sign said, no Photoshop alterations, honest.

It's a small world

We may be from oceans apart but is funny how people are pretty much the same. I was photographing a group of students visiting from our sister city of Memuro, Japan and I knew I would be facing some hurdles.

First there is the language barrier. I don’t speak a lick of Japanese but thankfully there was a translator. The students were friendly, some understood my crude attempts to get names and information and I was expecting other problems from the inevitable clash of cultures. But oddly enough I found some common ground with one of the visitors. I found the group photographer.

Yoshi Kubo is traveling with the group as one of the chaperones but he was also pressed into service as the group’s photographer. Sporting a Canon Powershot S3 he was working side by side with me as we shot the students trip to the Domino's Pizza store for a tour.

We took turns leaning into the group to capture them as they worked creating their own pizzas. Between pictures we struck up a conversation of sorts comparing cameras. He recognized my Canon Eos 1D Mk II as professional camera. We talked a little and then it was time to head off to the next assignment.

World and cultures apart I still found common ground for a quick conversation. It’s a small world indeed.

Note worthy idea

I am not too proud to take help on assignment. Sometimes the subject being photographed has a better idea than I could dream up.

I was shooting an Our Town Spotlight assignment of a local violin player who performs with the Stockton Symphony. I had the usual portrait ideas but she suggested I incorporate the design in the marble floor of the foyer.

I had her play while selected a high shooting position on the staircase. I prefocused the camera and leaned over to get a nice shot of the spiral pattern in the floor framing her and the violin.

She had a great idea, making for a very artistic shot that has a good rhythm to it. I think it suits the music theme well.

Shots for shots

Top of the mountain

This is the view of the summit of Mount Diablo just below 4,000 feet viewed from one of the hiking trails.

I made my first visit to the state park with a friend and armed with a point-and-shoot digital camera I recorded some of our trek around the summit base.

I hope to make more trips this spring and summer to photograph the wildlife and scenery.