A well-rounded week

Hi there,
haven't been on here in awhile, but have wanted to. I guess I have this feeling that I have to have something of importance or something to put on here in order for it to be worth everyone's time. That's probably a bit silly to think that way though. Posting to the blog in the evening used to be part of my routine, but of late my routine has changed a bit. I think for many photographers in this line of work your routine and in some cases your overall schedule can change with the seasons. And when I say seasons, of course I'm talking about sport seasons. During the fall and winter months I'm working a lot at night, going to basketball, football, etc. However, when it switches to spring, everything takes place during the late afternoon, which is great on many levels, not the least of which is the natural light (I don't mind setting up lights to shoot hoops and such, but it is great to be out under the clouds and sun again!) RIght now is also a transition time in terms of this, as the games have yet to start — at least not until Wednesday.
Another change is at home as my wife's schedule now affords her to be home most nights and having all four of us together every evening has changed my perspective on wanting to work late. Anyways, just thought I'd give a little explanation as to my absence on here.

Anyway, back to this week. This was a nicely balanced week, which is good, as I think I tend to shoot better when I have a variety on my menu. Some sports, some news, some features. All-in-all pretty balanced. And while I won't say that it is super great stuff, or groundbreaking photographically, I'm pleased with the results for the most part. Thought I'd share the pix from this week's edition with you before it hits the streets tonight.

First up is this week's lead story, a piece about local tree farmers whose property sustained major damage in the December storm and how they are now dealing with the loss, as they are now doing what is called "emergency harvesting" of the timber, which will only fetch them about 20% of their potential value on the market. Arne Wirkkala of Naselle (above) says "It's like a bomb went off. It was a tsunami of wood." This story had me hustling around all week, trying to get someone who would let me up where the harvesting was taking place. Wirkkala was very generous in giving his personal time to take me up to the farm, which is located up on the Naselle ridge. Unfortunately the loggers were just going home (at 2 p.m.) but he was happy to show me around. The devastation was obvious, even though many of the blow down trees were already cut up and stacked.

Now I don't do this kind of thing a lot — a posed portrait — but in this case I thought it was suitable. The story was an advance for the annual quilting show. It was a last minute idea that had me going up to Beverly Wakeman's home in Ocean Park on Friday morning to get a pic to illustrate. After quilting for 24 years she was chosen as this year's featured artist in the show. When I got there she showed me around her work area and showed me some of the many quilts she had made over the years. However, when I asked her if there was one that held any special meaning to her she went right for this one. She had made it in honor of a friend of her's that had passed away in 2003. "I was going to make it blue, but her favorite color was red. It's one quilt I'll never give away." When I asked if she wouldn't mind having her picture taken in it, she liked that idea.


Finally, here are a couple pix from spring sports previews, NHS baseball and track. I was lucky on both accounts, as my timing wasn't great as I caught the end of both. Thankfully the shot put throwers were practicing in an area where their shot was laying around on the bleachers, which made for a nice layered photo. And the baseball one, while admittedly cliche with the balls in the foreground, I was happy to have something happen within that frame — having the player leap onto home plate was a nice surprise.


MultimediaShooter RIP
In the past I've mentioned one of my favorite Web sites on here, MultimediaShooter.com, a great resource for learning and getting inspired by multimedia journalism. However, it's all gone now, thanks (or in this case NO THANKS) to some heartless hacker how trashed the site for good. Richard Koci Hernandez wrote a brief eulogy for his baby, which you can read HERE
This site will truly be missed by those of us who loved it, and truly appreciated what Koci was trying to do with it!

POYi winners announced
Winners in the Pictures of the Year International competition were announced recently following the two week-long judging earlier this month. Some great, some interesting and some head scratching images — as always — to be seen for sure. You can take a look at the winners gallery HERE, where you can click on specific categories. I will advise, some of the news image categories do have graphic images in them, if you have an aversion to that sort of thing. Congrats to all who placed in this prestigious competition!

-DKM