Photo #1

This is the first image in my portfolio.

Shot with:
Nikon D3 with 14-24 mm f/2.8 at 24
Iso 250 f/8 1/400 sec WB daylight



Officer Ray Wheeler, Henrietta, NY, arrests Eric Friedman, Syracuse, NY, as part of a simulation drunk driving accident on St. John Fisher campus Tuesday April 8, 2008. The simulation demonstrated the reality of what happens in the event of an actual alcohol related car accident.


Story behind image:

This was my first shoot for the Democrat and Chronicle as their Spring 2008 intern. The assignment was to go to St. John Fishers college and photograph a drunk driving demonstration that was happening in the middle of the campus. What had happened was that the fire and police departments and ambulance company had set up a car and a mini -van in a paved area of campus. They smashed up the cars to make them look as if they crashed into each other. Inside the vehicles were student actors, two in a mini van acting drunk and three in the car: one girl in the car "died" in the accident, one girl is critically injured, and the other is hurt but is responsive. Surrounding this obscure stage, is a large group of students who is in between classes at the college.

Basically what happens is that a fake phone call goes out to 911, and the police, fire department, and ambulances are dispatched to the scene. Then they explain step by step what is going on as they react to the crash as if it is a real drunk driving accident, down to the jaws of life and leaving the dead victim in the car until everything else is taken care of. While this is going on, the campus photographer, 3 TV news camera men, and I are trying to document the entire situation which lasts a total of maybe 15 minutes.

I saw them recreating the arrest and decided it would be a great opportunity to try and get handcuffs being put on a suspect in a photo while keeping students in the background so that the photo had context. I have 8 or 9 frames of this while the cop and the person being "arrested" were cuffing him up. This is the best one. The others miss a moment in the hands and people. I am pleased that I was able to get this frame while photographing very closely at the cop's and the "criminal's" butt level without getting smashed in the face. You have to remember I am shooting this sequence with a 24 mm lens on a full frame camera!

I managed to get 4 or 5 decent images from this assignment. The news paper ran my B and C choice photos (this one was my A shot. I posted the B and C shots after this). A, B, and C are the photos in the way the photographer prefers them when they submit them to an editor. Depending on how many shots are submitted the number of letters used increases or decreases. I also handled getting D&C style caption information very easily.









C shot: girl being loaded into ambulance
B Shot: Students watching demonstration through smashed car window

Why it is in my portfolio:

One visually interesting reason that this image is in my portfolio is that the hands have a personality of their own. There is the hand of authority on the left side and the handcuffed hands seem as though they are submitting to the hand with more power. Additionally, this element is large and in your face. It is more demanding visually than the rest of the frame, so your eyes focus on this point and want to know more about what is happening.

Another thing I enjoy about this shot is that the composition is not centered. The main focus is off to the left of the frame. The right hand side and the background are not so demanding that you pay more attention to that than the intended focal point of the image.

A third aspect of this image that I appreciate is that the background can tell you a little extra about the image. Not only is there a person being handcuffed on the left, but there are a lot of people watching in the background! This fact adds to the excitement of the moment in the frame.

Overall I am pleased with the content, the toning, the exposure and the experience of the image. I like the warmer skin tones in the hands, as it enhances the life of the hands. Furthermore, this was one of the first times I had tried out the D3 and boy can I say that I love the colors that can come from an image on this camera!


What Could Make This a Better Photo, especially for a Newspaper:

The first thing Max Schulte (an assistant photo editor at the D&C) and I discussed was how we wished the left side hand had some sort of identifying information. Like I know it is a cop and the caption indicates this, but it is not obvious from the shot that it is a cop. We determined if you could see some uniform, maybe the bit of a gun holster or something else that says cop was in the frame, it would be easier to read, and therefore more usable for a newspaper.

I also wish that there was a little bit of car debris, smashed car, or an ambulance stretcher in the background so that there was something that said car accident t o the viewer. However, the angle that I needed to be at to get this frame didn't allow for this to happen. These changes would make this an excellent photo, but I am happy with how it turned out.


Just a little house keeping note for this blog:
If you are reading this let me know! And if you do comment please leave your name with it so I know who is telling me what.

Please participate in a discussion about this image: what you would change, why you like it, etc. I appreciate knowing that you like it or don't like it, but please explain why so that it will help me grow as a visual journalist and photographer. By having a discussion about imagery, we think about how we see and document the world, and in turn, by helping others, we help ourselves understand how we see and what we do.

Hello!!!!

So life has been interesting!

I had a great summer working as a videographer at camp, only to have my gear and everything stolen the day i was coming home.

That being said, do not worry insurance has got my back.

Now onto the good stuff.

Since I really don't have much gear at the moment to do shooting with, I have decided to talk about each picture in my portfolio individually each day or so.

This may also expand into talking about all the stuff that I have up on my flickr.

I also recently created a youtube page with some of my videos up on it. The rest of my video work was stolen along with my gear. I still have the raw tapes, but I can't do anything with them at the moment. Also, those Camp videos aren't the best ones I have done nor are they my favorites. There are a few more of those I can post some other time maybe. But that is not the point!

Basically all I am saying is that I am back to this blog.

Look for updates!

-Amanda

Yay 2 days in a row and more to come later !

so there were no serious pictures taken today, but a lot of crazy snap shots

spent most of the day with a to do list, but here is my choice for a pic for yesterday

so this was chosen solely to show the awesomeness of a full frame camera with a 14 mm lens.
see how the unsuspecting summer thinks that she is out of my camera's frame but she is not at all. other than that i have nothing except for the fact that i have awesome friends. period.

It's been a long time!

I really suck at keeping this thing updated. Yell at me more often please! Anyways, I had awesome photos from forever but I don't have time to post them now. So we are starting with a shoot from yesterday and will attempt to keep this up daily.



This was my A choice submission to the Newspaper for print on the story. Its about a company from Virginia who rebuilt this organ from scratch after the organ in the church burnt down after a fire in the sanctuary. This company has also built organs for the likes of Yale. There are 2 guys and one girl who work for them.

I selected this pic because I like how you can see both men working on it. The jobs they are individually doing are interrelated and are vital to do at the same time. The man on the left tunes the pipes by ear to the note that the man on the right plays. There is a lot of removal of pipes and stuff.

Also, this was one of the only shots that shows him blowing into the pipe to tune it.

I am amused by the color cast inside of the organ, a pea soup green. They must have been sodium vapor lights or something because the fluorescent corrections and levels just weren't working.

Overall I like the diptych feeling of the image, two separate but vitally connected elements to the story in one frame.

I also did a video on the story which I will be editing in the next few days.

And after that half thrown together explanation I am backing to working on graduation stuff !

-Amanda

P.S. check out http://www.frostbitesports.com to see everything that I did last quarter (December to February)

I guess you would call this the second week of January

First (before we get to the photos), I ask that if you leave a comment please sign the comment with your name so that I can identify who is commenting. It will make things a lot easier for me in the long run.

Now to some photos

JAN 12: The beautiful Wedding of Shannon and Aaron

I was not the wedding photog for their wedding. However, I would never not bring my camera, and felt like I got a few shots. Now I just need to get them their wedding present.


I stayed behind the party as they entered the reception hall. Jade the photographer, had gone ahead so that she could get the shots that she needed to. I noticed Aaron sneaking a kiss moments before the new couple walked into the hall. I just really liked the moment.

The lesson that I learned from this photo is that staying in the most obvious, action filled place doesn't always make the interesting or best photo. Looking for something outside of what is expected gets you moments like that one.



I couldn't decide which one of the above two I liked better. Each has their own reason, and neither is perfect. I like shooting through arms and framing pics that way. Unfortunately I didn't have on a fill flash to brighten up Jade who is framing the pics. With a fill flash, I would have been able to use a better DOF (not so shallow as the 1.4 I am using for the pic), so that you can tell Jade is a photographer taking pics of the Bride. But I decided that not messing up the Wedding Photographers photos was a smarter idea.

And Jade was right when she said, "You may laugh at me now but some day you will be shooting a wedding and you will ask the bride to lay down on the pew and pose for some photos."

JAN 13 was spent doing all the homework I hadn't been able to do when I was at the Wedding, and there was no photo :(

JAN 14
The only b-ball game on Monday night that was close enough for us to drive to. The gym was lit ok, nothing spectacular, but we also didn't have the means to light it. This was my first night with my new lenses. (A 70-200mm f/2.8 vr and a 14-24mm f/2.8 both nikkor)

Thanks to Jay's sports class I am getting a lot more comfortable with longer glass, and I even enjoy shooting with it a lot more. I am also getting better at shooting sports. I keep looking at my takes from earlier basketball games and see how much better I am seeing the games now. I have also learned that seeing in Sports photo isn't necessarily seeing when you take it, but seeing after you take it. This means that you see the photo during the editing process, through cropping and the likes.

This frame is one of the moments. I knew that the play its self would be a good opportunity for a photo, but I didn't find this photo until I scanned through the series. I feel that all the elements start to pull together. Peak action of the shot, facial expressions on surrounding players as well as the face of the guy blocking the shot, and the ball is in the frame. Jay has taught me a lot about sports photography, and I can't wait to keep doing it.


Before the b-ball game I did some more shooting for my story on the Scottsville Ice Rink. I got permission to walk around on the ice, and so during shooting practice I decided to sit in the goal. None of these kids can shoot hard enough to hurt me so I am not concerned, even if I did get hit once.

When this boy approached the puck you could see his determination, but you could also tell that he was a little wobbly. He wound up with all of his might to hit the puck, and the first time he missed. So he tried again, and mustered up all of his strength to hit it. Instead he swung and the momentum of the stick made him start to fall over. Maintaining his perfect form all the way down, he teetered over, puck unmoved. This is the moment where he realized he had missed the puck and that he was about to fall over. The next time he was up to shoot he was the only kid to hit me with the puck.

JAN 15: I know I shot. I just can't find the photos for the life of me. Maybe I didn't upload them.


JAN 16

Tonight was Ed's bday. Unfortunately I had so much to do that I was unable to go hang out at the Coffee House with them all. But later we met up with Ed and his buds at Jay's Diner. My two awesome photogirl ressies tagged along. This sums up the mood of the night. Bucky and ryan were being brain dead and silly and so Anna and Becca have slightly exhausted, but kind of embarrassed/ confused looks on their faces. The repetition of facial expressions and body language is what makes this pic mildly interesting.

JAN 17
I go to CCC almost every Thursday. This week I was chilling with Debbie, doing homework and talking, when Ed came over. As he leaned on the two chairs, I noticed that he was perfectly framing Debbie. So I leaned out and clicked 2 shots off.

This photo is all about the framing.

JAN 18

Today was filled with Hockey.

This photo only exists to prove that Nicki's face is the same size as the opening on a Canon 400mm f/2.8


I determined that I like shooting hockey on the ground more than shooting Hockey in the stands. This is just one of the Wide Angle in the corner shots, nothing spectacular, but a typical hockey clip. I haven;t had much time to edit this shoot yet, so this is what I pulled out. Hockey is so fast and awesome. I can' wait to shoot more of it.

first full week of january

JAN 5
I originally saw this frame in black and white before I approached the scene and took the shot. This is odd for me because I don't think I ever thought that way, even when i was shooting b+w. But it was such a Life magazine photo for me. The bride to be, caring for one of her best friend's babies in the window light of a darkened room. It was a beautiful moment. I wish that the lighting was more dramatic but you take what you can give. I just felt that this was a beautiful moment between Shannon and Kristen and Kurts daughter. I included both frames because I enjoy the black and white image more but wanted you to see what I saw when I approached it.
Lightroom does wonders for toning black and white images, individual channels can be tuned to b+w, its great!



JAN 7


First day of class back at RIT after break, and I had a photo shoot at the Scottsville Hockey Rink. I was intrigued by the milk crates that the kids use to learn the core fundamentals of skating. I decided that my kids will play hockey (or at least learn to skate) at an early age.

The best part about these it the mood and air of struggle and frustration that the kids are dealing with. The top photo has the one boy so frustrated that he quits and rests on the milk crate while the rest of his friends skate around. The bottom shows the determination to keep at it, and I really appreciate everything that these kids are doing to make themselves good little hockey players.

photos from December's end

Before I post the new stuff, I decided to put up all the past days photos (and I realize I posted New Year's before this one)

DEC. 22
I am doing a story on the Scottsville Ice Rink Youth Hockey Learn to skate program, and the weekend before Christmas Santa came to play. Since I barely had any access at this point (which is disappointing because I could have gotten an awesome shot had I been allowed then where I am now) I was shooting from the bench. This was just the most interesting shot that I fired off when same came to skate.

DEC 24
It was a Nintendo DS Christmas at the extended Morrison Family Annual Christmas Eve gathering. I spent most of the day helping my cousin Nathan master his Pokemon Sapphire game. Amusingly he later called me to get help with it once he returned to his house. I liked the light of the gameboy shining on his face (its not drastic) and the intense attention that he is paying towards this game. Not to mention that was where I sat in order to best assist him, since I was the only "old" person who knew how to play the game.

DEC 28
Tonight was a night of chatter, reminiscing, and tea with an old friend, an ex boyfriend, and a new Aussie bud. I could give you a deep analysis of everything that this photo could stand for but; in reality, I was playing with my new (but really old) teleconverter 2x while it was attached to my 50mm f/1.4. I was trying to get a nice macro shot of the tin cup of mikes and ikes. Instead Ivy tried to eat the entire container. We were greatly amused, and I love how we still have deep amazing conversations.

DEC 29

Today was a blast! After getting lost driving 2 hours (or more) to my photo shoot's rescheduled location, I finally made it to the forests of Woodgate, NY (buried under 3.5 feet of snow!). Today was my first video shoot. Instead of trying to do audio, video, and stills, I wanted to play with the Canon GL-2 (which by the way is an amazing camera). I shot around 40 mins of footage, and went out on a limb to see what I could and couldn't do videowise. I have yet to edit the footage, but I cannot wait to take a look. I feel like I can produce a good 1:30min to 2 min video clip from it all.
But this image is a still (not a video grab). I did have my other gear with me because I did not know what to expect. (Since I have been doing a project on Sled Dog Racing, I have further supported my decision to raise these dogs someday). But I felt since it would be too hard for me to capture a variation of photos because of the set up of the run, I should do some video capture. However, I couldn't resist taking some portraits of the Dogs in their kennels. This one was the most striking because he had 2 different color eyes: both piercing me with their stare through the truck cage. I made sure to line the eyes up between the gaps in the grate to get the least distraction as possible. It is a shot that I will need to continue to recapture and recreate again and again.

DEC 31

This was the last "assignment" I would do for the year. I was covering the Teen Center's New Year's Eve Formal. In order to get some different shots I snuck up into the DJ booth with Jacob Dowker, the nights DJ. I eventually ended up hanging out there most of the night unless I saw something I wanted to photograph, and I was ultimately sucked into being the DJ for a good 1.5 hours. (Its sad that most of those kids had never heard bohemian rhapsody before that, and it was so awkwardly silent that I had to cut it out way early).
It was fun to snap some shots of Jacob while he was having a great time downloading songs and playing them for people upon request. This one was my favorite, mainly because of the ridiculous expression on Jake's face. However, that is what he did whenever he found a good song to play and was intently listening. So as the good friend that I am I captured it for him.

New Year's Day

This is one of the first photos of the new Year!!!

I was documenting the Teen Center's New Years Party, and as soon as I saw that they gave kids noise makers at the beginning of the night I began to visualize the shots that would develop once the clock neared midnight.

At the stroke of twelve I was surrounded by at least 20 teenagers merrily blowing some very loud and annoying noisemakers. I noticed that Shane Slate (center) was attacking everyone with his, so I pulled in tight to Morgan Shelmadine's face and waited for Shane to attack her. Unbeknownst to me, Shane had already decided to attack the photographer, and I ended up capturing the moment where they both released their noisemakers, and came away with a nice shot.

-Amanda

First post and description

So, I have decided to post a photo a day (unless I am where I have a dial-up connection). I will also explain why I selected each photo I post. Being that I am utterly exhausted right now, we will start this later tonight, with a recap of the last week or two worth of photos, since I have been taking a photo a day since the new year.

Keep me accountable if I stop posting daily!

<3 amanda