Hell Week

Well in the past 9 days I have shot 23 assignments, and in the world of freelancing that is a good thing. I can't complain about having the work, but man has it been a wild ride! I am going to try and share as much from the past 9 days as I can and go through each assignment to give a good idea of how the photos were made.

Sunday the 9th Lake Elsinore Grand Prix
I have shot this event in the past, but the last time I covered it the route ran through the streets of Lake Elsinore. It is now done at a local motocross track, which really takes away from the crowds atmosphere. I ended up shooting the last race of the day which started at 1:45 pm ans lasted for 20 laps of the five mile track. The first few shots were of the start and then I moved locations and tried for some more interesting shots.

I made this image after a quick run from the starting line to the first big turn, I decided that I wanted to convey the speed at which these racers were going so I slowed down my shutter speed and panned with the bikes as they raced by.
I was shooting on the other side of the track when I noticed this climbing section and the large amount of dust the bikes were turning up as they went by. So I ran over there put on my 16-35mm and got low. While making this shot I got completely covered in dirt, the three frames after this one are just brown dust.

Tuesday the 11th
I had four assignments this day, and the first one was the Murrieta Veterans day parade.


I have shot this event for the past two years and this year I tried to get as many different shots as I could, however I made an image very close to this one last year. This time I tried to get more in the frame then last year and get the planes in a better spot in the frame, and I think I did it.

In covering any kind of large public event I always look for someone who stands out, or who can sum up the feel of an event in one frame. And in this case I got lucky as I was getting ready to leave I saw this cute little girl holding up this sign.

Second assignment: Deputy D.A.
I didn't have much time on this assignment it was at 4:00PM and I needed to get to my next one (about 15 miles away) by 5PM.

Her office was really badly lit and full of a lot distracting things, so I decided to go dark. I don't normally like this look but I am somewhat happy with how it came out. I used two flash units one on the sign on her desk and the other on her face.

Third assignment: Reality show contestant
This was another one with every little time, and also I had to shoot it at her work a winery. A business that had absolutely nothing to with the show she was on. The show was like some what like Fear Factor with out the bug eating.

So after walking around the winery with her I found the barrel room, which had great light and a real spooky kind of feel. I took a few shots with her using an off camera flash and am fairly happy with how they came out.

Last assignment of the day: Girls Volley Ball
This was a CIF simi final match between Palos Verdes and Temecula Valley a pretty basic assignment just set your exposure right and watch for action.


Wendnesday the 12th:Late night construction shoot
Even though this one was at 10:30PM and it was really hard to get my butt up and go shoot it, I really enjoyed shooting it. I can't remember the last time I got to shoot traffic at night and really experiment with different exposures. I used a tripod and my 70-200mm, and due to the fact that I don't have a shutter release I set the timer up on my camera so the shutter would close 15 sec after I hit the button.


Thursday the 13th

Assignment one: Horribly lit after school program.
This assignment was of an after school program for kids who like Anime the Japanese art form that spawned that unforgettable classic Pokemon. This was at the Murrieta public library and all the lights were turned off so the kids could watch the movies. Luckily there was one window that let in just enough light make the shoot possible.


In this shot I used the low light to an advantage and shot the screen with the kids in the forground to give some scale to the shot.

With the one spot in the room that had some light I got this shot of a couple of the kids laughing at the movie.

Second assignment: More Volley Ball finals
This time Anaheim Katella at Lake Elsinore



Friday the 14th

1st assignment
Helper dog test
In this one A local canine helper dog training facility was holding there final test before the dogs can graduate and live with their new humans. It was held at a local mall and even though I wanted to follow them in and get shots of the dogs working with money and helping them navigate the mall, I have had problems in the past with security at this mall and didn't have clearance to be there, so I made sure to get my shots before the dogs and people went inside.



Second assignment:
High school football Hemet at West Valley
Just like the volley ball this one is pretty much set your exposure and wait for the action plays to come your way





Saturday the 15th
I had five assignments this day, my first one was a Veterans tribute at 9:00AM, then a Tech piece at 10:30AM, then a recycling drive at Noon, then a Fashion show at 1:30PM, and finally a Christmas tree lighting at 3:30Pm that ended up being at 4:50PM.

Veterans Tribute

This event was in a really badly lit rec-center with glass doors running down both sides of the building, also for the most part it was an award ceremony. Which is something really dull to shoot, you just can't get interesting shots when you just have people talking at a mic. The other thing is that this was a Veterans event so I felt obligated to get some good images. So I spent the whole assignment trying to find people in audience reacting to the ceremony and then the JROTC came out with their sabers and gave me even more to work with.





Tech piece

This one was at the public library and was of local elementary school students participating in a technology education class. The class is part of a federal grant the Temecula Valley Unified School District received to teach students to act as technology mentors. I really only had three shots to get in this one, the teacher, a kid working, and a group shot of the kids working on the computers.

Recycling drive

What should have been really simple one, a local school did a recycle fest in which they collected recyclable materials. In this type of assignment I try and get photos individuals not just a big overall shot. At this particular assignment I had to deal with an overzealous organizer who thought he knew what photos I should take, including dressing up a school official in a green costume and parading him around like a bad Disney character in front of me, so I spent most of the time trying to avoid him. I really hate dealing with people who think they are helping me out by saying “hey photographer here’s your shot” or “Look up and smile big for the camera” that type of photo is fine for your family photo album but doesn’t belong anywhere near a newspaper.

Fashion Show

This was a weird one a fall fashion show at a middle school featuring elementary thru high school students. I don't really like the idea of little kids dressing up and walking down a runway trying to look sexy. But it did lend it self to some fun candids before the event started so I tried to focus more on that side of it.

Tree Lighting

My last assignment of the day was a newly established city (Menifee, my town) first Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It was the first time I got to shoot tree lighting in the day light. The lighting took place at around 4:45PM and it was nice to get a chance to shoot a tree lighting and actually get all the people's faces in the shot without having to use a strobe, even though I did use one to make them stand out.

Sunday the 16th

low-security women's correction facility

This one didn't go the way we had planned; it was suppose to be about inmates reading bed time stories on camera that would be turned into DVD's so their children can hear them. However this facility is part of Cal Fire and the inmates had to work on the wildfires that broke out that weekend.

So insted of doing that the reporter and I got to tour the facillity with one of the CO's


Suicide

As I was leaving the correctional facility I got word of a Police pursuit in Lake Elsinore, this is not out of the ordinary. However this time the suspect was armed and threatening to kill himself. By the time I got to the scene it was to late.

By the time I got there he had crashed into a brick wall, then the officers tried to get him out, he didn't comply so they fired pepper spray into the cab of his truck. Shortly after that the officers on scene heard a gun shot. This is the kind of story that is really not easy to photograph, you tell you’re self that it is news and it needs to be covered, but it is still a human life that just ended.

Survivor Temecula

Last week I photographed A local woman who was selected to be on the T.V. show Survivor. She has been trying to get on the show for the last 8 years and has auditioned 15 times.

In photojournalism you get to meet a lot of interesting people that do a lot of amazing things but after meeting, 61 year old Gillian Larson I think I will have a hard time topping her. She was born in South Africa, a nurse for 41 years, raised three children, has traveled to 46 country's, swum with great white sharks, repelled off 4000 ft mountains, eaten bugs, and a lot of the more adventurous stuff was done in the last 8 years while trying to get on the show. I don't know where she gets her energy but it is absolutely infectious, after spending an hour with her I felt like I could possibly climb mount Everest, which I guess is good for her because her next endeavor after she swims across the San Fransisco bay from Alcatraz, she is planning on doing motivational speaking.

For the photos I was lucky in the fact that she has really amazing decor from all her travels, so I just had her pose for a few casual portraits. One of which I used some of the books she read in preparing for the show as props.

Model Shoot

Last Saturday I did A shoot with a couple of models from San Diego, at Torry Pines beach to test out some "bright" lighting ideas I had. I am always happy to work with models because they really know what they are doing and enjoy being in front of the camera! For this shoot I was accompanied with a local photographer Paul Gallaher, who I can't say enough good things about! without Paul I think It would have been a really difficult shoot! The shots I came away with I was really happy with and I think the whole shoot went really well, even if the sunset wasn't perfect and Paul and I just barely made it out of the parking lot before they started ticketing people because of the park closing. But who can complain about spending a Saturday evening photographing two beautiful people on a beach a sunset? Paul's Blog can be viewed here, Thanks again Paul!

Toxic Terror

Last weekend I photographed the auditions for the "monsters" at the new haunted stadium in Lake Elsinore . It was a lot of fun and I got really lucky as a photographer, when I arrived at around 8:30 am three people were auditioning and two if them where in costume! It really made the assignment for me! The whole stadium will be converted into a haunted maze and I have to say even though it wasn't even nearly started and I was there during the day time, It was already creepy! The haunted stadium will run till the start of November and is expected to have over two hundred monsters!

Friday Night Lights

Well Its official Football season has started, and I can't wait for next Friday! it's really a lot of fun to shoot high school football. Even though the lighting is god-awful and the sidelines seem to be more crowed then ever its still a great time!

Suicide

I had a hard assignment last week, photograph a family who's youngest member took his own life. this was an assignment I wanted to make sure I got right! the family was very nice and had been through a lot already so I tried to set the shots up as quickly as possible and sense it was at the cemetery where the boy was burred I really wanted to respect them and their wishes.

Minor League Ball

I've spent the last two nights shooting the final stretch of the season of the Lake Elsinore Storm for a local paper. Although the lighting isn't the best, I really love shooting this level of baseball. you get almost unlimited access and the games generally never sell out so you have a lot of options when shooting from the seats. Which is something I do almost every game due to the size of the park you are better of shooting from the stands then the field.

Did someone say Fooball?

Well its that time of year again, I spent the latter part of last week shooting pre-season High School football. It was a great feeling to get back on the field and shooting practice it was even better to get some daytime shots. With the regular season starting next week I no longer have to worry about what to do Friday nights! at least for the next couple of months.

The Candy Lady

A few weeks ago I had an assignment to photograph a woman and the candy store she runs, this was a real fun one. She had a just about every type of candy you could think of. Some I hadn't thought of since I was a kid, and on top of all that she had soda's for every taste even a chocolate one! that she said tastes nothing like You Hoo! My main thought in photographing this was color! and there was ample amounts of it with all the different sugar laden treats in the store.

Harvest time

Well I shot this about two weeks ago but I haven't had a chance to post so I am doing it now

When an editor from a publication I regularly shoot for, contacted me about doing a 6a.m. Saturday assignment I wasn't to excited, but when she told me it was in wine country I had a hope it might be something to do with the ongoing grape harvest in wine country and my hope can true! I have lived in the Temecula Valley for over ten years now and have never had the opportunity to see the grapes get picked so this was a real treat. I arrived at the winery just before 6 a.m. with just enough light for me to get a feel for how the picking takes place and to give me some time to think about how I was going to shoot it. I already knew I wanted to get a shot of one of the workers unloading a basket into the gondola with a bit of motion blur, but other then that I was just going to wing it! As the light got better I noticed I could see the workers through the other side of the vines they were picking, so I found a good open spot in the vines and waited for one of the workers to fill the frame and clicked away. All and all I was very happy with the way my shots turned out that day, and it was really great to see the process happen.