Graduations 2009.

This year I was pretty sick for the grad season. First a throat/head cold of some sort and then the kicker, a stomach flu immediately following. So I don't feel that I did as well as I had hoped. I was quite dizzy and hacking through most of them. But anyway, here are the results. I've put them into a slideshow to make it easy on the front page. You can also find a direct link to the set on flickr here.


The next post will be all graduations outtakes, the shots that I didn't submit for publication. Some photos I just don't have the graduate's name, some photos are detail shots, some photos are just silly. These are usually my favorites. Coming soon! :) Also, in other news, I get my nose pierced on Monday! I've been trying to do it for months, but first vacation, then being sick, then schedule problems... it's finally all worked out. I'll get Joe to shoot it, of course. We have to document what a sissy I am around needles.

Science, Bikes, Cajun Fest!

Royal High School recently started a mountain biking club. Currently they do not get P.E. credit for participating. However, the golfers do. What's up with that?













I took some photos of Stage Plus employees setting up for the Cajun Festival this weekend.












And I photographed the grand opening of the new science lab at University Charter Middle School in Camarillo. Lots of great shots. These were a few of my favorites.

Balloons of celebration and balloons of mourning.

Last week I shot lots of balloons - water balloons at a church carnival, and helium balloons released at a memorial park by families who had lost loved ones in the past year.

Carnival shots first.

This is sort of a mini-dunk-tank game, so instead of having a water tank, when the ball hits the target, water balloons pop onto the victim's head.










Then I photographed a balloon release ceremony at Conejo Mountain in Camarillo.








When I photograph mourning families, I always try to be very sensitive to their grief. Sometimes your job as a photojournalist is to get the 'grieving family' shot no matter what. You have to swallow your empathy and intrude on their private moment. But whenever possible, I try to make compassionate photographs and if a family member hides their face, turns away, etc, I prefer to respect their wishes. I'm very sensitive to the wish for privacy at events like this. But occasionally, I come across people who seem not to mind being photographed, but then snarl at me when I ask for their names. This was one of those.

I made a few very sweet frames of this mother and daughter, holding each other, looking at this photo, with their balloons. When I approached to ask their names and reason for attendance, the mother nearly pushed me away and snapped "No. NO! It's different when it's a child."

While I very much sympathize with her grief, I often wish I could explain to people in this situation that as she is attending a public event, I may use the photograph no matter what. If she gives me her name I can publish a beautiful photo with a sensitive caption that explains her reason for grieving, something that she can clip from the paper and keep with her memories of the loved one she lost. Something that might help the process.







This photo ended up running on the front page of the Camarillo Acorn. I only wish I could have spoken to the mother and added a sensitive, empathetic caption rather than just using a generic that talked about the event.

Anyway.

Let's end on a positive note. Here are a pair of shots from the Conejo Valley Days carnival.

Catch-up and a wanted ad.

A bit of business to get out of the way first. I am in the market for a Canon 70-200 lens, either a f4 IS version or a 2.8 non-IS version. Hoping to pay between $750 and $900, hoping to find one that's in good working condition and tack sharp even if it has some normal wear on the outside. Email me if you have one for sale! Thanks!

And now on to the good stuff. I shot some interesting photos week before last that I didn't get in to my last post. Here are my favorites.

These were some swimmers from Calabasas High. Group shots are always hard, and one of the swimmers had a cast on his broken leg so an in-the-pool shot was out of the question. Here, standing them in the shallows and having a fill flash really popped out the portrait.



Here was a K-9 demonstration at the annual police department "luncheon with the chief." Very cool! Seeing the dog take down a "suspect" up close was impressive and made it obvious that having a K-9 unit would be extremely useful for the department.




Coach Gene Ubelhardt, who has taught football at Royal High School for as long as I can remember, is finally retiring. He's a really great guy and I will miss working with him when I shoot the team. This was just a very nice shot at his retirement dinner, where a ceiling bounce worked wonders for the photo.



And finally, a couple from the Pleasant Valley Museum living history day.

From a while back

These shots are from last month's Ventura County Firefighter of the Year Awards. But I loved the shots as a group and wished they all could have run together somewhere, rather than each in the firefighters' respective home papers. Here are my favorites.

Champions! (Again)

The Moorpark Acadeca team took first place in the nation for Division 1, again. Congrats to them! I can't believe the amount of work that goes into something like that. Incredible.

They had a police and fire escort to the party, but my camera kept giving me the dreaded Error 99 - right up until they were getting out of the limo! I can't afford to have it gone for a week to be fixed right now, which is really frustrating. Fortunately, despite the technical problems - and ensuing ones like not being prepared with the right shutter speed! - the photos came out nice and I ended up with much better shots than I thought I had. Lady Luck was with me.

Some catching up to do!

Recent happenings in Simi...

The freeway widening project completed Phase 1. Hooray! I love it because I live off of Kuehner. Makes the commute home so much nicer.











A side note with this photo. At the ribbon cuttings, it's inevitably the project managers and the developers that get all the recognition. But I always try to include some of the guys whose fingerprints are in the concrete, you know?








Mr. Q and Mrs. U got "married" at Phoenix Ranch elementary. Q and U are always together in the English language... get it?

"...in sickness and in health, in printing and in cursive, as long as you both speak English..."











Yes, that's a Ring Pop. Sweet.


...And the annual Arroyo cleanup pulled volunteers together from all over the community for a good cause.










(It was a water heater, and they're dragging it out using a power winch on the front of the jeep. Very cool!)

Earth Day and Volunteering

I nearly forgot to wish everyone a happy Earth Day. Calabasas hosted an earth day celebration earlier this month. I took a few shots there. The little guy above is writing "Food Counts" on his calendar coloring contest entry. The city holds the contest every year on a earth-friendly theme like composting, recycling, etc. This year's theme is the importance of properly disposing of food waste.











And then I shot a mosaic mural project at Sinaloa Middle School, where a volunteer group is working on their latest project. They have done murals all over the city and this project shows the school's mascot bursting through the wall of their amphitheater.

Turmoil & blue skies.

Well, it's a sad day here at the Acorn. We lost three very talented people in the first layoffs in the history of the paper. I can only wish them all the best in the future.
Fortunately, the photo department is running a very tight ship and therefore we were spared from any cuts. It was so nerve-wracking to hear about the layoffs, knowing that the photo dept is usually the first place publishers look to cut. But we're at three photogs for five papers and it's already tight. Here's to hoping that this is the bottom for us and we'll pull out of this hole a stronger, leaner paper. I know as a department we're still learning so much. The three of us make an excellent team. I have no doubts that this year, all three of us will be award-winning photographers in the CNPA awards. We can only improve... I know this year's graduations and sports finals will be fantastic, now that I have the 20D and the MkIIN. Having both bodies will be a major plus, and on top of that I'll likely be buying a 70-200 4.0 with my tax return. I can't afford pocketwizards, but I'm going to give the $60 set of Cactus V2s a shot for off-camera lighting and I'm planning on attending some lighting workshops and becoming an active strobist poster as well. With the improved gear and some added education, I think my photos should improve a ton.
So it's stormy in the office here but in other news, we've had ridiculously hot weather lately and bright blue skies. When it's that nice I pull out the polarizing filter every chance I get and pop those clouds.

Here are a few shots from this week:

Moorpark High School varsity baseball player Landon Hunt.










And a roofing company in Moorpark generously donated a new roof to the Little League snack shack. I found a nice banner flapping in the wind for some color.