MV Gazette
An Overdose of Adorable, part two
Yesterday I photographed “Kids’ Day” at the YMCA. There were alpacas (from the farm! Ohhhh how I have missed the alpacas…they’ll get their own post later on) and baby steers. And kiddie yoga classes!
This photo inspired by the wonderfully talented Mito Habe-Evans.
An Overdose of Adorable, part one
The First of Many Spring Sports Posts
In addition to the photography job with the Gazette, I’m also the high school sports reporter. I spent most of this past week chasing down the coaches so I could write previews of the upcoming season, but also squeezed in some photos at lacrosse practice before deadline.
Bridge Building (and Breaking)
I’m a little behind on blog posts from my assignments the past couple of weeks…
My first assignment as a staffer (hooray!) was a linguini bridge contest at the high school. The kids built bridges using a pound (or less) of linguini, and weights were stacked on top of the creations to see how much they could hold.
The winning bridge held 1500 pounds. I’m not even kidding. It was unreal.
(that’s my cousin on the left. she’s my inside source for all things high school.)
The winner! Didn’t even crack under the strain of 1500 pounds.
[I don’t usually post black and white photos here, but I started using Lightroom this past month for all of my editing and for the first few assignments found it easier to convert batches to b&w right away (since the paper publishes in black and white only). I’m trying to break myself of that, though; I like color!]
Blinding Me With Science!
I went to the West Tisbury School last month to photograph Karl Nelson’s eighth grade science class, which had earned top scores on the MCAS (Massachusett standardized test), and was ranked as one of the highest performers in the state. The class was doing a lab to demonstrate the effects of energy consumption (test tubes and fire were involved).
I had a bear of a time color correcting these—fluorescent light combined with bright sun streaming in as backlight through all of the windows. Ugh.
A Soggy Story
After three years using a Canon Rebel XT as my only body (when I didn’t have access to the MU photo locker), I finally upgraded to a 7D (video hooray!). I’d been looking forward to testing out the 8fps feature at the first home football game of the season…and then it poured that day, which put a bit of a damper (no pun intended) on my plans.
I was still assigned to photograph the game, though, so I wrapped the body and my telephoto in two layers of garbage bag, and taped everything down with duct tape. Then I went out to shoot.
But I had to leave a little bit exposed beneath the garbage bags so I could work the dials and change settings…and after about a half an hour, enough water snuck into the camera body that it stopped working. Just like that. My two-day-old camera that I had sunk my summer savings into. The only good thing was I had managed to get enough photos that I could still turn in something to the paper.
I was trying my best not to freak out, and I did know about the rice trick, so I decided to give it a go. I put the camera body in a giant Ziploc baggie with about a pound of rice, and let it stay there for six days. I tested everything after a day, but nothing happened; after three days, though, the display flickered a little bit, like it was trying to start up (hope!). By the end of the week the rice had absorbed all of the water. And the camera works like it just came off the factory line. I’m still floored by this; I really thought it would end up being one of those tricks that works for everybody but me.
So. Here are some of the photos that almost did me in:
Golf With A View
Awesome assignment- I was photographing the high school golf team at Farm Neck, which is right on the edge of Sengekontacket Pond, which itself empties into the ocean (it’s the pond in Jaws that the shark swims into). As if the scenery weren’t enough to seal the deal, I got to drive my own golf cart all over the grounds. YES.
Gone Fishing
There’s a month-long fishing derby going on on the Vineyard right now. I don’t usually shoot the fishing assignments, but the regular photographer was off-Island this weekend, so I got to go photograph the spinoff Kids Derby this morning.
I wish I’d been in a Kids Derby when I was younger….although I probably wouldn’t have cared much for the 6 a.m. start time.
Cheyenne Tilton of Edgartown eyeballs the size of her freshly caught scup. Tilton judged the scup to be too small and opted to throw it back rather than bring it to weigh-in. Entrants in the derby were allowed only one catch for weigh-in.
Tony Giambattisti, left, of Oak Bluffs helps daughter Indigo put fresh bait on her line before she casts off. This is the first year Indigo has entered the derby.
Parents and children line the Steamship Authority Wharf in Oak Bluffs during the Kids Derby. The Derby began at 6 a.m. and ended before ferry service from Oak Bluffs began for the morning.
Anthony Bernard waits as judges measure the size of his freshly caught seabass. Bernard caught his fish just as the derby was ending, but managed to get a weigh-in nonetheless.
Tyla Ben David enters the winner’s circle to receive her prize. Ben David won first prize in the 8 and under division of the Kids Derby.
Rememberance
Some photos from the Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts “Remember 9/11” ceremony last Saturday morning. The moral of this assignment is “Ivy needs a lens hood for her 20mm. Pronto.”
But, as is often the case, my favorite image came from right after the ceremony. The little girl, Savannah, ran right over to her uncle Jeremy, who is captain of the Chilmark Fire Department. So cute! So cute I’ll ignore the fact that it’s a little soft and post it anyway!
