First PAL football game

This year, my 10-year-old son decided he wanted to play football. He really wants to play ice hockey too, but that is still to be determined. In any case, My son got placed on the 49'ers of the Police Athletic League here in Fort Wayne. Watching him play takes me back to the days when I played in the PAL league. I'm still trying to figure out how to just watch my son play and not shout instructions to him. He's trying his best and having fun.

This Saturday the team had its first game of the season, so I decided to shoot some photos ... especially since it's his first game. He had a bit of trouble getting around a certain offensive lineman who was good at holding/tackling. The team lost, but it gave a solid effort. I'm looking forward to watching my son progress, and hope he will continue to enjoy it.

My son wears #84, but I posted a couple photos of some of the other kids too.






Thanks for looking.

More updates are coming

Just a couple of photos from a recent assignment on a Fort Wayne Roller Derby squad. I tried to post some vacation photos earlier today, but Blogger was clogged. That never happens, does it? Anyway, I plan to get those up by this weekend when I'm not making primitive tools for art class, shooting video for another class, working at my full-time job - The News Sentinel, or trying to spend a minute with my wife so she doesn't forget who I am.

Summer school is done!

Summer session classes are done. Unfortunately, summer is almost done too. Now it's time for a much needed vacation.
I thought I'd post a project I put together last night. This image is comprised of 18 seperate photos strategically placed. I photographed the plant in small sections with a macro lens using a technique called lightpainting. Each exposure was 20 seconds at f/7.1. I made a snoot for the flashlight to better control the direction of light. I also used colored gels over the light to enhance the colors of certain sections.

It's Official

I accepted an offer last Friday from The News-Sentinel to be a full-time staff photographer. It was a decision I struggled with because I was also a candidate for the full-time photo position with the Journal Gazette. It was really a win/win situation for me in that I knew that I would have a job in Fort Wayne. While the decision hadn't been made at the Journal Gazette, I was still in the running for their position. Ultimately, I took the position at The News-Sentinel because the staff members really seemed to want me to be part of the organization, and they went the extra mile to convince me that I should stay.

I will be working both in the photo department and with the online department. I have a lot to learn in a short time, but I'm up for the challenge. I join the staff officially on August 14, and the ffall semester at IPFW start a week later. It should certainly be interesting working full-time, going to school full-time and taking care of my duties at home.

On a side note, I will be participating the Sports Shooter Academy in Los Angeles in November. I am quite excited about this. The Academy runs for five days and will teach techniques for covering all types of sports and location portraiture. The Academy is being coordinated by Robert Hanashiro, staff photographer for USA Today. The faculty includes: Matt Brown, southern California freelance photographer, Wally Skalij, the Los Angeles Times, Donald Miralle, Getty Images, Michael Goulding, Orange County Register, Myung J. Chun, Los Angeles Times. This is a great opportunity to learrn from photographers whose images are seen in major newspapers and magazines worldwide.

Night photos

During the last few weeks I have been working on a project of night photos around Fort Wayne for a summer photography class. We had some storms roll through the area Wednesday night, and I went out in search of lightning photos. After a drive around town and an hour shooting in a parking garage, I decided to head home because I wasn't getting anything decent. Once I was at home, the lightning kicked up again and I was able to get a couple of photos from inside my garage.







I shot some night photos around diffferent venues during the Three Rivers Festival including one from the top of the Farris Wheel at Headwaters Park. I covered the 3RF fireworks from Freimann Square and got a few decent photos but I nothing spectacular.



Big things are right around the corner, and I'll provide more details on that when I have more concrete information.

Thanks for looking,

Chad

It's been awhile...

Wow. I just looked at the date and realized that I haven't posted to this blog in quite some time. All I can say for myself is that I have been extremely busy. I know, who hasn't been busy? In my defense I was out of town covering State track, tennis and baseball championships. Those were some incredibly long weekends. Especially during the baseball championships. We had three local teams in the State finals ... all in one day. Adding the spot news assignment I did at 5:30 a.m. before leaving for baseball, I worked 21 hours that day. I then had an assignment the next morning at 9:00 a.m. Needless to say, sleep has been at a premium lately. I also completed a multimedia audio slideshow on one of the baseball teams that won its State title. You can view the slideshow at Fort Wayne.com Here






I have been practicing quite a bit with my lighting lately. I was inspired by the tenets of the Strobist blog to get out and make things happen with as little equipment as possible. Well, maybe as small as possible. I still carry at least three lights, two light stands and a floor plate around with me. Not to mention the other tools I use such as snoots, softboxes, umbrellas, radio remote triggers and whatever else I can fit into the back of my car.


Next week we have the Three Rivers Festival firing up, so things will continue to be hectic for me. As always thanks for checking out my photos and enduring my meandering thoughts.

Chad

Feel free to leave a comment if you see something you like ... or don't like.

Strobist: Google. Gotta Love 'Em.

Strobist: Google. Gotta Love 'Em.

Long, long weekend...

I spent the entire weekend in Bloomington and Indianapolis covering high school track and tennis state championships. It was a lot of work, but I made some pictures I like. I decided to shoot a set of strobes at the finish line because it had a very strong back light (thanks to del sol). I got some strange looks from people. But, I showed them the results and I bet I'll see more photographers trying it next year. I am really getting into putting together a small, lightweight lighting kit that will light most anything I would need for any assignment. In my quest for more information on this type of lighting I came across a wonderful new blog named "Strobist" that gives detailed information that is exactly in line with what I am trying to do.

After last weekend covering the Indy 500 and working 40 hours in three days this weekend, I am ready for a break. I don't have long though. I will be covering the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indy in a couple of weeks. Some great photographers will be there and I am looking forward to observing some of their techniques.

Check out my Sports Shooter member page for some other sports photos including a gallery from the Indianapolis Colts' playoff loss the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. I just learned last night that I was accepted to participate in the third Sports Shooter Academy in Orange County, California in November. The Academy is a 5-day sports photography workshop where I will be learning to improve my sports photography and location lighting techniques from top pros. I am excited to say the least. This is a big opportunity.

Thanks for looking.

The semester is over!

Finally, the spring semester is over. I have two weeks off and I plan to take full advantage of that time to get some projects done that I've put off for some time now. Well, I can't say I won't be somewhat busy. I'm shooting a wedding Saturday which will command a fair amount of time for post-processing. I also plan to go to Indy during that period for time trials and practice sessions at the race track.

These are a couple of pictures I like from a recent fashion shoot for a project I was working on. Again, my wife was a gracious model helping me out of a jam. As she knows, I am one of those "last-minute" guys, and she has been a big help.


















Thanks for looking.

Chad

More to come

I first must apologize for neglecting the blog. It is finals time and I have been trying to get my head above water for the last few weeks. I have three days of finals starting Monday, and after that I will be out of school for a whole two weeks before summer session starts up. That being said, I should have some free time for a day or two during that period to post my favorite Komet hockey photos from this season. Congratulations to the K's for making the playoffs even if it didn't turn out the way we would have liked.

By the way, I was at game four Thursday, as a paying fan, and I was extremely dissatisfied with the officiating, and the undisciplined play by some of the Komets. The penalty shot was a terrible call. It may have been within the rules to call, but it was just bad. I was more disappointed at the number of stupid penalties the K's took. The guys knew they had to win that game. They knew that to do it they needed to stay out of the box as much as possible. It should have been simple math, but this time 2+2=6 goals against. Three of those goals came from basically one series of play in the second period... the St. Pierre slash at 9:55 and penalty shot from the same play, then the Campbell double minor 30 seconds later giving Rockford nearly two minutes of 5 on 3 power play time. They only needed 6 seconds to bury the first goal and 1:02 for the next. So, in 1:38 we gave up three goals. Dissapointing to say the least. In any case, the K's deserve credit for playing tough through the season and giving the fans some great games to watch, especially at the end of the regular season.

Take care, and check back soon for the photos.