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Winding down...
December 31, 2006Hard to believe...but I'm almost through with the Best of 2006 series I've been running.
Sure enough...I probably could have had it finished by now if I had written a blog every day, but oh well. Sometimes it's best to leave you wanting more.
Well...here are a few.
Rick Wylie performs on stage at the Texas Roadhouse Thursday evening during their Summer Concert Series show featuring Kevin Fowler and Rick Wylie to kickoff the Texas Ranch Roundup. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News
If you didn't happen to catch any of the Texas artists outdoors at the Texas Roadhouse and their Summer Concert Series...you missed out. Big Time.
Thursday nights....under the stars...gorgeous Texas evenings and good Texas country music. It was one of the most brilliant ideas this town has had in years.
The folks at the Iron Horse know that putting on big outdoor concerts can work. The folks at Texas Roadhouse took a cue and brought in some pretty big names on the Texas music scene...including Kevin Fowler. There wasn't another Roadhouse in the nation doing something like this.
I couldn't help but get excited about an outdoor stage and the possibilities of a sunset background.
But of course...the sun wouldn't play nice. It set rather un-dramatically behind a bank of clouds, much to my bitter disappointment. It still worked out to one of my favorite concert shots from the entire year.
Maybe it was because I just had so much fun shooting freely and outdoors.
Emma Driggers (left) and Abby Canfield (right) practice a ballet move as instructor Bethany Talley positions Hayven Ramsey's feet during their dance class. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
This was the main image from a series I shot earlier this year at a children's dance studio.
There probably isn't a cuter shot I took the entire year...actually, it was hard to pick my favorite out of the series.
But shots like this aren't very easy...especially when you have a room full of little kids watching your every move. There IS a trick to it.
Staying very still and making yourself small.
I'm a big guy....6'1" 245 lbs.....I'm fairly easy to spot too. Usually with a big camera in my face.
Once I had established myself in the dance practice room, the hard part was to move around and get the shots I want without the girls looking right at me. The key was to anticipate their movements....be in the right spot...and stay still.
Kids' attention spans are about 7 seconds if you don't do anything. They will look right at you...then find something else to look at. That's when you take the shot.
I knew that they were going to line up on the bars to practice their footwork...so I moved into position and waited for the right shot to happen before me.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The band played on...
December 29, 2006Somebody wrote a sound-off the other day in the sports section saying how other people than the football players deserved better coverage.
Specifically, they mentioned something more than "some blurry photo of the band".
Ironically enough...that "blurry" photo is one of my faves.
The Rider Raider marching band is a blur around trombone player Harrison Longcrier Monday night at Memorial Stadium during the Wichita Falls Marching Band Festival. Bands from all over the area braved the weather and performed to a large crowd at the stadium. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
Most of you have probably seen this shot before. I can't rememeber if I put it on my blog or not, but I know it was one of the photographs featured on the Photo Journal website.
I'll admit, I was a marching band guy in high school. I was a trumpet player. For some folks, that may explain a lot about me actually.
Ever since those days, I have enjoyed bands. I always make it out to Memorial Stadium for their Drum and Bugle Corps. festival over the summer. And I've taken photos of marching bands at just about every football game I've shot.
This one though, was during the exhibition before the UIL contest that all the area bands would participate in. I was going for something kinda different.
I had an idea, that if I could have a slow enough shutter speed and pan the camera along with a band member that I could come up with a pretty cool shot.
You know me and my ideas...once I get one, I stick with it.
Knowing that the Rider band was coming up...I practiced a few times with some of the bands not from our area...it would work, just had to get a bit of luck on my side.
Sure enough...Rider had a particular formation with people in close quarters, moving both left and right. I just locked onto one person, and followed them, shooting at a slow speed.
1/15th of a second...that's slow. Shot at f8 with my 70-200mm lens (at about 170mm).
I wasn't sure it was really good until I got back to the office...the little 2-inch screen on the back of the camera just doesn't do it justice.
Turns out...it was really good.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Windthorst trumpet player Randall Long dons a Halloween mask during halftime of the Trojans game against the Munday Moguls Friday night in Windthorst. The band has a tradition of dressing up the Friday before Halloween night.
Does this photo even need an explanation?
Probably not...I couldn't resist taking a shot of this. Of course...being a trumpet player myself, I found this even funnier.
It is the little things like this shot that make Friday nights so much fun during the middle of the season.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sheppard AFB Past and Future
December 26, 2006I have always had a child's fascination with airplanes. Ever since I was a kid and watched the B-52 bombers cruise over our house in Fort Worth.
That's why I'm always excited whenever I get to go to Sheppard AFB, because it usually has something to do with airplanes.
Here's a pair of shots from last year. They are always going to be favorites.
Sheppard AFB fire trucks spray a double arc of water to commemerate the final flight of the AT-38B training aircraft Friday morning as it taxis on the tarmac. After 29 years of service the AT-38B is being phased out to make room for the more advanced T-38C. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
This is a classic case of me trying to get something a bit different than the rest of the pack.
You see these types of aircraft retirements or pilot retirements a lot. The fire trucks on either side spray these huge arcs of water over the plane.
Sheppard AFB had all of the media wrangled in an area where you were looking right down the tarmac at the plane as it was coming towards you. It wasn't a good angle.
Actually, I thought it couldn't have been much worse of an angle if we tried.
But the rest of the media contingent was happy to be there....all of them but me. Channel 3, 6, 7, the Sheppard Senator and a few other photographers were just going to stand in that spot and all shoot the same thing and get the same shots.
That just wasn't good enough for me. So I asked the guys in charge if I could go stand by the fire trucks on the tarmac, out of the way of everybody else's shot, and get something different.
They didn't mind...but they didn't understand why I wanted to go either.
I got the shot....got a little wet in the process...but I came away with a unique angle on history while everybody else settled for the status quo.
The first of a trio of new F-22A/Raptor figthers taxis along the runway at Sheppard Air Force base for the first time on a scheduled fuel stop Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006. Sheppard will be the F-22 maintenance base starting in January 2008. The aircraft, from the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall AFB in Florida, are the first operational F-22A squadron in the world. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
Like I said earlier...I love planes.
There isn't a cooler plane in the air right now than the brand new F-22A Raptor. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts.
I was giddy like a school kid when I got the phone call from the base inviting me out to see three of them land and refuel at Sheppard.
Thinking that they may keep us a long distance off...I grabbed the 400mm f2.8 lens and the 1.4x teleconverter just in case. Nobody would be able to reach out and grab those planes like I would with that lens.
Of course...as we're out there, it starts to rain. Big rain drops...the kind that hurt. I was praying in my head that the weather holds off long enough for them to land and me to get a killer photograph.
Amazingly...they took us within about 200 yards of where they were going to turn while they taxied. It was perfect. One plane started the turn back when another came into the frame.
I could not have planned a more perfect shot if I tried. Everything about this is perfect to me.
As soon as we were done shooting (and I was basically done after this shot) I called my dad at home and gushed about how cool of an experience I just had.
Stuff like this is exactly why I love being a photojournalist.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Speaking of Silhouettes
December 25, 2006I'm pretty fond of them...in the right situation.
Sometimes I wonder if I go overboard with them. I'll have a couple in a few weeks, then go months without one.
Here are two for you.
Vernon resident Sammy Sanches sets up his 10-inch telescope at sunset Saturday, July 22, 2006 for the Star Walk, a naked-eye tour of the stars and constellations at Copper Breaks State Park. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
This was easily one of the coolest assignments I had the entire year. Mainly because I'm an astronomy-wanna be.
I've spent countless hours staring into the night sky during a meteor shower or picked out constellations.
This was a story we did on the Star Walk tour at Copper Breaks State Park between Quanah and Crowell. The hard part was trying to show people looking at the stars in the pitch black of night.
Basically...I had to get shots of the astronomers setting up their telescopes and watching a few stars pop out of the twilight sky before it got too dark. I couldn’t' use my flash, or I'd blind people and ruin their experience.
The entire time we're driving out there...I'm thinking to myself, get silhouettes of a guy setting up his telescope in the sunset. That's the shot. That's the big shot for the entire trip.
So we get there about an hour before sunset, I'm working around the site, getting shots of this and that...all the while paying attention to the colors in the sky to get the perfect shot.
Time goes by and before too long, I'm set up, waiting for Sammy to make some last minute adjustments on the telescope before it gets too dark for him to do so.
A few frames later, I've got my silhouette and then I get to enjoy the rest of the evening staring at the stars.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Robert Ernst escapes the late afternoon heat as he sits in the shade and takes a drink from a bottle of water during the Men's Doubles Championship match of the Wichita Falls City Tennis Tournament.
This is one of those random photos that happen when the editors ask me to get some "weather art."
It was hot as fire out and I was shooting tennis action at the City Tennis Tournament. I saw this shot happen during a break in play, but wasn't prepared to shoot it. I was taking a break myself.
I was pretty mad that I missed the shot, especially since it told a really good story. This guy, sitting in the shade, drinking from a huge water bottle that reflected the blue sky.
So I'm sitting there thinking...okay, IF it happens again, I'll be ready this time.
Luckily...it did happen again, and I got the shot I wanted. I used the 80-200mm f2.8 to get the shot. That would blur the background nice enough to have a fairly artistic shot.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Football
December 24, 2006With Windthorst's 20-10 loss in the Class A D-II State Title game last night....high school football season for the Times Record News is officially over.
Here are two of my fave. shots from the entire season.
One of the few times I get to be really creative with football is during the pre-season. I pretty much have access to any part of the field I want.
Don't get me wrong...I love the Friday night action...but these two are actually my favorite shots from the year.
A blue-painted Trojans sign makes a spirited background as senior quarterback Brad Green throws a deep pass during the Windthorst Trojans football practice Wednesday afternoon. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
Brad Green and company did almost everything they wanted to this season. They were undefeated heading into the championship game. But they came up against a team that was faster and made fewer mistakes, and that cost them the game.
I've known Brad and his dad/coach Bill Green ever since I came to Wichita Falls. I was there when the Trojans won their last state title in 2003 in Waco shooting the game. It was my very first state championship game of any kind...to attend or shoot. Something I'll never forget.
I was there the next year when their softball team won their state title. The people of Windthorst started to think that I was good luck.
And sure enough....the only three losses of Brad Green's quarterbacking career...I wasn't there taking pictures. Maybe there was a connection, I don't know.
Now...we're not supposed to care who wins or loses. I'm not a cheerleader on the sidelines. But if there is only one school that I want to support for all of their athletics, it's the Windthorst Trojans.
Wichita Falls Coyote quarterback Taylor Huskisson drops back for a pass Monday evening as the sun illuminates the clouds from behind during the first day of practice for the 2006 season. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
The day that almost every red-blooded male in Wichita Falls and most of Texas looks forward to came on a picture perfect day in August...the start of football practice.
This was the very first photo I shot of football this year. Turns out...it was my fave.
The fact that it is Wichita Falls High didn't matter to me. The silhouette of a quarterback was a sight that was repeated a 1000 times around the state.
A lot of people told me afterwards that they were upset because you couldn't see his face and the Rider kids would have better photos in the paper. Blah Blah Blah. It wasn't about this Old High/Rider thing to me. I could care less about either of those schools honestly.
This photo was about football...plain and simple.
And the clouds...I probably wouldn't have shot this had it been a cloudless day. The clouds and the sun are what make this shot for me.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wheels keep on turning
December 23, 2006How about a few cycling photos from my "Best Of" series.
One from the HHH100 and one not.....enjoy.
Three cyclists ride past a windmill on Hwy. 79 along the 100-mile route of the Hotter-N-Hell 100 Saturday, August 26, 2006 around Wichita Falls, Texas. (AP Photo/ Jason Palmer, Wichita Falls Times Record News)
One of the yearly challenges the photographer's up here face is coming up with something different every year during the Hotter-N-Hell 100 bike ride.
The problem is this....you've got four photographers (myself included) who cover a section of the race. This year, we only had three photogs....one of the guys somehow had the day off.
So usually four of us are out there...and turning in an average of 20 or so photos each. You'd think there are only so many ways to shoot a bunch of cyclists....and there are. The trick is to find something unique out there and make it work.
I've always had the section that is the main stretch of the longer routes. Between 30-70 miles on the 100-mile route. Lots of straight roads and slight hills.
So, the trick for me is to find a nice background to frame the cyclists with. Stuff like road signs, fences and the occasional windmill. This was the first year for me to find a good windmill that would work with the angle of the sun and several cyclists at the same time.
Once you have your background...you just have to sit and wait for the right group of riders and the right spacing between them.
Steve Barnes, Ultramarathon participant. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
This guy, Steve Barnes, is in pretty good shape I'd say. I mean, anybody who can participate in a marathon is usually fairly healthy.
This guy does an Ultra-marathon. Anytime you add the word "ultra" in front of anything...its pretty impressive.
That's like saying that I'm not just a photographer...but I'm an Ultra-photographer. How cool would that be?
Well, the reporter wanted a photo of Barnes training for one of these ultra-marathons. There's really no good way to get a shot of somebody training...it doesn't look any different than them actually riding.
So...I took the liberty of shooting a portrait instead. I just needed to find a location. I had the idea in my head, and it was basically a silhouette of the bike...but Barnes lit up with a flash. It was a concept that I had seen done for a magazine shot before.
What I needed was a wide-open sky.
You'd be surprised at how difficult it is to find a clear sky in the city....and in a place that I can set up a photo shoot.
Power lines...light poles...houses...a lot of things can clutter a background if you aren't paying attention. The sun was sinking in the sky and I needed to find a place quickly.
Sure enough...I found a spot in an empty cul-de-sac where there hadn't been any homes built yet in the neighborhood. It was perfect. Facing west, I only had to get the flash at the right angle to put most of the bike in a silhouette.
The entire shot only took about 15 minutes....and pretty much worked out perfectly.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Some more photos.
December 22, 2006Here's a few Best of 2006 photos that really don't have anything to do with each other at all.
Just felt like being random I guess.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
A member of Ballet Folklorico Azteca of Fort Worth performs during Mariachifest at the Kay Yeager Coliseum Saturday night.
This is a shot from the first annual Mariachifest in September. There wasn't much light in the Coliseum from the stage....but when the dancers came out in front of the stage, they hit them with a nice bright spotlight.
I remember getting down really low to the ground and shooting at a slow shutter speed to get the blurred effect in the dress. When you're shooting fast moving subjects at a slow speed (I was at 1/30th of a second) you have to hope that they stay still for juuuuuuust long enough to get their faces in focus.
Really, the entire photo make or break is out of your hands. All you can do at this point is hold still and hope you get one.
Seems like a lot of luck is involved in this doesn't it?
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Jeff Anderson dons a green St. Patrick's Day hat underneath the blue and white striped tent as The Blue Ticks plays on stage Friday evening during the downtown festival.
There is nothing lucky about this shot from the St. Patricks Day celebration hosted by the Iron Horse Pub. This is pure vision.
I was trying to find a photo that could pretty much tell the story in one shot. It's St. Patty's Day....folks wear green....there was a concert in downtown under a tent.
I love just about every aspect of this photo. The guy was sitting in the front row and didn't mind me taking photos from behind. I wanted to find some way to show off the great stripes on the tent, but not lose the tell-tale St. Patty's Day hat.
The light from the stage was bright enough for the band, but I had to use a flash on the camera to light up the hat just right. It was a case where I had to bounce the light off the high tent ceiling to lose all the hard shadows that would have occured otherwise.
It was fun to come back and turn this shot in from the concert, not everybody "got" the shot, sometimes they just don't understand the art. But I loved it.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 07:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
What the Duck...The Intern
December 21, 2006Couldn't resist putting this one up...especially since I was an intern once.
Love this comic.
More Best of 2006 photos later, I've gotta long day of assignments again.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Lords a leaping
December 19, 2006Okay...that was a bit of a 12 days of Christmas reference...I know.
It will make sense in a minute...
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Jeff Marion, owner of Digital Deviance, the only skateboarding store in town, performs a kick-flip in the alley behind his store on Indiana. He's been campaigning for a skate park in Wichita Falls for years and has finally received the approval by the City Council to move forward with the project.
To a small, but very dedicated, group of area kids...skateboarding is king. Jeff Marion is no kid, he's actually a very successful businessman first, then a skateboarder second. Or vice-versa sometimes. He's their local leader.
Jeff has spearheaded an effort to bring a real skate park to Wichita Falls for several years. Burkburnett has one...albeit a small one that has outgrown the needs of the area. It took a while, but the City Council finally agreed to providing the funds for one. A nice one.
This photo is one of the shots I took for a big profile page we did on Marion after the City Council made history and agreed to build the concrete park. It wasn't an easy shot.
First of all....Jeff had a bum ankle from a few days earlier. He couldn't do many of the really cool tricks, but I didn't need many...I needed one impressive one. Actually...all I really needed was for him to get some air.
A kick-flip would be perfect if he could land it. And even on that...I didn't need him to land it, just jump really impressively. Only he and I would know if he landed it. Jeff wouldn't have any of it...he had to land the trick.
We probably ran the attempt about 10 times before getting one perfect...a combination of him getting airborne and me getting the shot at the height of the jump and the board at the right angle.
Technically...it was an easy shot...but it was one of those kind of shots where two people have to be perfect and in sync...that's the hard part.
A large carp leaps out of the water at the base of the spillway on Lake Wichita Wednesday morning. Dozens of the rough fish were attempting to swim back up the spillway after water poured over the concrete for the first time in months thanks to the record-breaking rainfall over the weekend. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
I have received more feedback in the community about this shot than any other the entire year. Everybody agrees that this is pretty awesome.
Back in October when we got something like 10 inches of rain in a few days...the newspaper turned to me to find a shot of people fishing or something in the rain-swollen creeks and Lake Wichita.
I don't know why they suggested that......but I gathered up my rain gear and headed out. Sure enough...the rain stopped. Never fails...it never rains hard when I'm actually fully prepared for heavy rain.
So I head up to one of my favorite spots..the Lake Wichita dam and spillway. There are always people fishing up there.
I'm walking up the side of the dam, when I hear a random splash in the water running over the spillway. Now...keep in mind, the water is flowing over the spillway and frothing about at the bottom. But this was a much bigger sounding splash.
I turned and saw several large carp jumping out of the water.
I immediately thought of all of those nature magazine shots of trout and salmon jumping over waterfalls as they tried to swim to their spawning grounds. Those guys made that shot look easy.
I've always had an "If they can do it, I can do it." attitude.
Then I realized exactly how hard it was to get that shot...especially when the fish have an expanse the width of the spillway to jump. My "cat-like" reflexes weren't good enough on their own for about 20 minutes.
Fact is...I was struggling...but the more I missed the shot, the more determined I was to get the shot.
I changed tactics...I had been zoomed in quite a bit and trying to find them in mid-air. So I zoomed back out (with the 70-200mm f2.8) to cover a larger area. I knew that I could crop in quite a bit if I needed to.
As soon as I did that...I got the shot. Fish perfect out of the air. I just kinda shook my head a bit and walked back to my car.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friend and Fowl
December 17, 2006It's been a busy few days...so you'll get a bonus today.
Three pictures to check out.
Glenn Guttridge's stock dog run cattle around the arena floor Friday afternoon during a demonstration at the Texas Ranch Roundup. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
One of my fave. events throughout the year is the Texas Ranch Roundup. I don't know why...maybe because it's the best of the real cowboys across the state. I really don't know why this event doesn't get more state-wide coverage like it should.
For the last two years, I've covered the stock dog demonstration. Basically...a cowboy/dog trainer shows off his dogs and their abilities to herd cattle. Fun to watch...difficult to photograph.
Those dogs move fast. A lot faster than people.
I wanted to try and show the speed of these dogs...and a panning shot was the best idea I could think of.
Now...panning is really easy when you know the direction that your subject is going. Like race cars or cyclists...they're best shot when they are moving in a straight line. Dogs chasing cattle are a bit unpredictable. It's hard to know when they're going to turn or stop.
It's also hard to pan with the subject is bobbing up and down like a dog does when it's running.
So...I'm not quite sure how exactly I lucked out and got the dog’s head so sharp when everything else is a bit of a blur.
Sometimes...being lucky and good go hand in hand.
Justin Todd, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, yawns as Lisa Phillips uses a blower to dry his coat Saturday afternoon at the Faith City Kennel Club Dog Show at the J.S. Bridwell Ag. Arena. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
For the second year in a row...again one of my fave. shots of the year has come from the Faith City Kennel Club Dog Show at the Bridwell Arena.
I've you ever seen the movie "Best in Show" you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say it's hilarious. I don't know any people personally that are as pampered as some of the dogs at this event.
I shoot at these types of events with a grain of salt and try to find something funny to get the reader...I mean, the average person would probably not go to these dog shows, but the average person will laugh at a cute photo.
I recognized Lisa Phillips as someone from the area...although I couldn't tell you where from...so I decided to hang around her "grooming station" for her Corgi. I knew I wanted a shot of her brushing the hair and make it kinda look like a regular beauty shop.
Focus on the dog...and let the depth of field throw her out of focus. I mean, it WAS a dog show after all.
Sure enough...the dog let out a big yawn like she was bored with me taking these glorious shots of her and all her beauty. Jackpot.
I let out one of my big laughs...and if you've ever heard me laugh you know what I'm talking about....put my hands in the air and proclaimed "I'm done."
A pair of muted white swans float in Sikes Lake Thursday afternoon. (Jason Palmer/Times Record News)
Okay...I hated the reasons I was out shooting swans...but the photo couldn't have been better. Even when I'm on an assignment I don't like I perform well.
We have some obsession with the muted swans at Sikes Lake by Midwestern State. We've done something like six stories over the last two years about the swans. The swans having sex. The swans' new neighbors. The swans have a nest. The swans have an egg. Blah Blah Blah.
Honestly...I'm not even sure which story I was on when I shot this photograph. I have no idea. I think it was the swans have built a nest story, but I really am just stabbing at it.
But it is a lesson in wildlife photography if there ever was one. There are two schools of thought for wildlife....let them come to you or you move to them.
The swans were very wary of me. They wouldn't let me get closer than about 200 feet....which isn't a problem when you have a big camera lens. My weapon of choice was the 400mm f2.8 and the 1.4x teleconverter. A whopping 560mm, fairly intimidating to swans and small children.
After realizing that trying to move closer was only pushing them away from me...I decided to fall back and move laterally with them across the dam as they paddled through the water in the middle of the lake.
It's not easy to lug that lens around on a tripod either...but I did so without causing to big a scene and eventually...they stopped noticing me.
Well, after about 20 minutes or so...they were swimming apart and I knew that a photo was possible if I moved into the right position and they didn't change course.
Nailed the shot...and there it is. More photos of swans than I knew what to do with.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Rock and Roll
December 14, 2006Assignments at the newspaper can vary wildly one day to the next.
Sometimes people ask me if all I shoot is sports...and I always say no. "We pretty much shoot whatever they throw at us."
Everything from concerts to hamster ball races.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger comes to the front of the stage at the Kay Yeager Coliseum Thursday night.
I gotta be honest, concerts are a hassle for me. Being at a concert is fun...working at a concert is not so much.
Here are the general rules for shooting a "big-time" concert at the KYC:
1. I can only shoot the first three songs. (Sometimes only two songs...and sometimes, only the 2nd and 3rd songs..thanks Rascal Flats)
2. I can usually only stand in one particular area (center stage or the sides)
3. As a general rule...the security staff, tour promoter and band media person has to bother me while I'm trying to work.
I'm not sure why that last rule is in place...but it pretty much happens every time. Oh well, I make it work somehow.
The Nickleback concert was no exception to the rule and probably the most frustrating of all the concerts I've ever shot. I knew the rules...and I knew that I'd probably have to stand some place in particular, but nobody seemed to know where that was.
Well....it all got figured out eventually, and the headlining band took the stage and I was just hoping that they would come to the front and do something cool.
They did....and I got the shot. Same lens as always...17-35mm f2.8 (I love that thing)
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
A white and brown hamster rolls his way to the finish line during the 1st annual Hamster Ball races at Petco Saturday afternoon. The event drew 21 hamsters and dozens of owners and parents.
If any of you follow my blog at all, you've seen this photo once already.
It still cracks me up.
Nothing says "random assignment" like the 2006 Petco Hamster Ball Championships.
I was literally laying on the ground in the store to get this shot. I'm not sure if all the parents were laughing at the hamsters....or me. But I don't care.
Sometimes...we have to put ourselves in awkward positions or stances to get the shot. This was not the first time I've laid down on the job and surely won't be the last either.
Okay...well, that's all for today. Tune in tomorrow.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Two portraits
December 13, 2006Here is the first two photos from my "Best of 2006" collection.
A pair of portraits...one set up, and the other completely natural. They couldn't be more different if they tried.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Indianapolis 500 legend Lloyd Ruby is a few steps closer to having his name emblazoned on the Hwy. 287/I-44 overpass through downtown Wichita Falls. The paperwork to have signs created for the "Lloyd Ruby Overpass" is in the hands of TxDot officials and could happen within the month.
I didn't know Lloyd Ruby before this staged portrait. I had never heard of the man. Turns out...I probably should have. He was a race-car driver. The "greatest driver never to win the Indy 500" as it turns out.
I couldn't have picked him out of a crowd if I tried.
Well...a group of men in Wichita Falls wanted to name the Hwy. 287/I-44 overhead highway after him. This was the first shot in what would be several months of covering the story. They finally named the highway after him, and it was one of the coolest parties I've ever covered. Famous drivers showed up, including Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones. If you know racing...you know those guys.
But it all started with me back in May on an overcast day trying to make a good portrait of this man. He was hilarious. Didn't mind my scrambling about with my equipment trying to take a good shot and find the best location to do so.
I wanted the highway in the shot. But I wanted to have as few distractions from the highway as possible. When I settled on the spot I set up a single flash...fired with a remote trigger...directly in front of Ruby.
I played around with angles and lenses until I decided that my best option was the 17-35mm f2.8 and get as much of the highway in the shot as possible.
This quickly became a signature shot of the entire venture to get the highway named after him and every time I see Ruby now...he smiles and says in his slow Texas draw..."Well, it's my favorite photographer."
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Fifty-five years ago, Joseph White was one of nearly two dozen area men who joined the Marines and went to Korea in 1951. The medals of service White earned hang on the wall behind him as he talks about his time in the military.
This is one of my absolute favorite portraits of the entire year...and it was completely by accident.
A reporter and I went to Joseph White's house in early April on a story about the group of men from the area that joined the Marines at the same time for the Korean War.
We talked with White for about two hours and he showed off countless bits of memorabilia from his time in the military. It was a truly enjoyable assignment.
I was sniffing around taking extra shots of military flags, helmets and other secondary shots when I turned around and saw the way the light was hitting White as he talked to the reporter.
The light on the right is coming from the open screen door (north-facing of course). And the secondary light is from a ceiling fan.
No flash was used at all....and that is what amazes me about this shot, even though I took it.
I had to drop the shutter speed to 1/50th and was again using the trusty 17-35mm f2.8 (at 35mm for the shot). I went with the closer zoom to bring the framed medals in the background just a bit closer.
The effect was just about perfect. I probably couldn't have set it up better in a studio if I tried.
More photos tomorrow....
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Too many to choose...
Good lord...the bossman has told all of us photographers to find our "Best of 2006"
I've narrowed it down to 13,205 shots.
Just kidding...I've trimmed the list down to 32.
I can't choose. I guess I'm too good...or they all look awesome to me. More likely the latter.
So...I'm going to post them all.
Actually..I'm going to post two a day...and tell you all about them. If you have questions...shoot them too me, I'll answer them.
In the meanwhile...enjoy the view. There are some good ones.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Five-minute Major
December 10, 2006A few shots you didn't see in the newspaper and thoughts from Saturday night's Wichita Falls Wildcats hockey game against the very good Santa Fe Roadrunners.
The Wildcats lost 2-0
The Wildcats just can't seem to beat Santa Fe.
It's almost reaching Rangers/Yankees proportions from a few years ago. Or Wildcats/Tornado proportions.
Blame it on their goalie...he's good. I mean really good. This Nick Hopper kid has a goals against average below 2.
For those not in the know about hockey...that means that he AVERAGES less than two goals a game. He gave up three on Thursday night to the Wildcats...but then shut them out last night 2-0.
Regardless of how the team is doing...I love photographing hockey. It's always a challenge for me to come up with a really good shot. Everybody can get a shot of one of the players skating along with the puck...but it takes luck and skill to get something really nice.
I'm a sucker for trying to get a huge body check shot. When a player passes the puck off in the neutral zone or anywhere for that matter...I always stick on that player for a few seconds to see if somebody is going to deck him. Hasn't happened this season for me yet...but it will.
Anyways...here are a few shots from last night that I really liked.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Wichita Falls forward Luke Salazar (6) is taken down from behind by Santa Fe forward Jake Hutt (14) during the second period of the Wildcats hockey game against the Roadrunners Saturday night.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Wichita Falls forward Mike Schumacher (19) plays the puck with his skate in front of a Santa Fe defender during the second period of the Wildcats hockey game against the Roadrunners Saturday night.
These guys were cracking me up most of the night. That's the Midwestern State men's soccer team folks. Being really really good fans. Some of the medical staff at the game told me that they haven't missed many games, always painted up and yelling loudly. I wish we had more of that kind of spirit at the games.
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Anyways...so how exactly do we get such good photos at the hockey games. It's all about the equipment of course. Just kidding...it's really about the light.
You've got to have a lot of light to get a good photo...and a lot of bright light to get a good action photo.
The brighter the light...the faster your shutter speed can be...and the faster the shutter speed, the more frozen the action appears. Blur is usually bad in sports.
The lights in the KYC are plenty bright enough for the human eye...but not quite so for the cameras that I use. I can make it work fine enough...but it's not nearly as sharp and good looking as with a little help from more powerful lights.
Strobes are what we photographers call them.....flashes (same basic thing). More specifically...they are called "White Lightning 1600s"
We have a set of four 1600s in the rafters at the KYC that can be fired with a remote trigger to brighten up the floor...they work beautifully.
The only problem is that four lights aren’t enough to fully cover the entire ice surface. The light fades away about at the center ice stripe. That's okay for me...I'll usually have one camera configured to shoot with the extra bright lights on one end...and the other camera set up to shoot with just the arena lights.
Most people probably don't even notice the difference in the quality of photo...or notice the lights flashing at all. If you do notice the lights...that's what they are.
But trust me...the quality difference is astounding to say the least.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
And now...something completely different.
It occurred to me the other day that I take a lot of photos.
Duh...that's my job, but I mean that I take and give a lot of photos to the editors to use...and they only use a few.
Irritating at that is, I know that they just don't have an infinite amount of space in the newspaper for all of the photos.
I should probably cut back on the number of photos I send and just send the very best. But that's like picking which pie to eat...they're all pretty good.
So...to make myself happy and give all 100 or so of my readers something else to take in other than my words, I'm going to start posting more photos of stuff on my blog and talking about them more.
So...enjoy.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
New Blog Stats
December 08, 2006I'm still third. :-(
Nick G -- 262
Wilson -- 151
Jason -- 114
Some other people -- not as much as us.
Two things stick out from all of this....
1. Words cannot describe how much I hate the number 114. Don't ask why.
2. If any of my ex-girlfriends/dates are really paying attention...tell more of them to read, it'll only increase my readership
2a. I promise I won't talk bad about any of you.
2b. I probably should just start writing more anyways.
Posted by Jason Palmer at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Five Months
December 06, 2006Five months ago I decided that it was time to let go of my irrational fear of relationships and try something new for a change.
I hadn't had a serious girlfriend for at least a year...and had given up on the dating scene a few months before July. I was focusing on my career and where I wanted to go with it instead....hoping that a girl would just fall out of the sky and into my arms at some point.
Amazingly...that's pretty much what happened.
Courtney and I have been together for five months today. That may not sound like a long time to a lot of people...but it's a huge amount for me. I've been a serial bachelor for most of my life it seems.
My longest relationship was about 18 months....that was when I was 18-19. Since then...about the longest is nine. Then six. Then a lot of pointless dating that never really materialized into what I thought they could have been.
Five months is big. We had trouble at four months....the veritable first relationship wall. It happens to just about everybody. We were both upset and not communicating well at all. We both made some changes and now things are back on the right track.
That's what you do in a relationship with someone. Besides...I'm too stubborn to just let a good thing go. I'm an Aires.
So yesterday we celebrated our "date-iversary" as she calls it. We both had to work all day today. I told Courtney that I'd cook dinner for her but I think I kinda surprised her.
The steaks were excellent (of course)...but I also got an Angel Food cake for dessert and sliced up some strawberries to go with it. That's the only way to eat Angel Food in my opinion.
The flower vase needed something to brighten up the room with, so I got a nice bouquet of orange daises and lilies.
And there was one more bit of Christmas cheer to spread around so I set up her miniature Christmas tree on the kitchen bar. I would have fully decorated it myself, but I knew that she'd have a particular way that she wanted to do that....so I waited.
I'm honestly not sure which she was more impressed with...but I know that all of it worked perfectly.
Now I have to start planning for January 6th....what will be our 6-month "date-iversary."
Posted by Jason Palmer at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
