238. Photojournalism - January 7-13, 2018
Darin-
My favorite 'gas station taco shop' was booted in favor of a Subway. After umpteen years, Pete King's Soccer Shop couldn't sustain anymore.
In a world where 'mom and pop' and 'hole-in-the-wall' are being replaced by cookie-cutter chain stores and the internet, you can't deny the fact that skilled hands working on a project, a fix, or a carburetor for a 1972 Thunderbird is the way to go.
This is my good friend and mechanic, Harvey, working on said carburetor. He will give you his undivided attention, share his vast knowhow, give you a fair price... and even a Mexican fix for what ails you. Let's see some snot-nosed kid working as a 'sandwich artist' do that.
My favorite 'gas station taco shop' was booted in favor of a Subway. After umpteen years, Pete King's Soccer Shop couldn't sustain anymore.
In a world where 'mom and pop' and 'hole-in-the-wall' are being replaced by cookie-cutter chain stores and the internet, you can't deny the fact that skilled hands working on a project, a fix, or a carburetor for a 1972 Thunderbird is the way to go.
This is my good friend and mechanic, Harvey, working on said carburetor. He will give you his undivided attention, share his vast knowhow, give you a fair price... and even a Mexican fix for what ails you. Let's see some snot-nosed kid working as a 'sandwich artist' do that.
Kevin-
As I pondered what to do, what to photograph, what I might capture for Photojournalism I quickly concluded that an immediate, breaking news story, like a murder or a horrific accident was unlikely to unfold within my field of view this week. Though there is no doubt that Derin has had his pick of such photographic opportunities.
And WPOTM isn’t really suited to photo essays either. So a long article with many captioned photographs wasn’t really going to work. I needed to tell the story in a single shot.
But there was one subject pulling at me. Palm Springs has a train station. There you can catch an Amtrak train to New Orleans, or then on to Chicago. One single passenger train each day. Plus numerous freight trains that don’t stop for anyone for any reason.
So in simple terms you can tie someone to the track and watch them being run over by a freight train in the darkness, or hop Amtrak and make your escape, possibly both, though I wouldn’t count on it.
Now to state that this train station is unused is a severe understatement. It is rare that there is ever anyone else there, unless someone is walking their dog, photographing the nearby wind turbines, making out, or doing a drug deal from their car.
I went to photograph the station at 11:30 PM. Which I hadn’t realized at the time was 45 minutes before the Amtrak train was due to arrive. You couldn’t tell. I was the only person there. No cars parked from people who were about to depart, or about to arrive.
As I pondered what to do, what to photograph, what I might capture for Photojournalism I quickly concluded that an immediate, breaking news story, like a murder or a horrific accident was unlikely to unfold within my field of view this week. Though there is no doubt that Derin has had his pick of such photographic opportunities.
And WPOTM isn’t really suited to photo essays either. So a long article with many captioned photographs wasn’t really going to work. I needed to tell the story in a single shot.
But there was one subject pulling at me. Palm Springs has a train station. There you can catch an Amtrak train to New Orleans, or then on to Chicago. One single passenger train each day. Plus numerous freight trains that don’t stop for anyone for any reason.
So in simple terms you can tie someone to the track and watch them being run over by a freight train in the darkness, or hop Amtrak and make your escape, possibly both, though I wouldn’t count on it.
Now to state that this train station is unused is a severe understatement. It is rare that there is ever anyone else there, unless someone is walking their dog, photographing the nearby wind turbines, making out, or doing a drug deal from their car.
I went to photograph the station at 11:30 PM. Which I hadn’t realized at the time was 45 minutes before the Amtrak train was due to arrive. You couldn’t tell. I was the only person there. No cars parked from people who were about to depart, or about to arrive.
You will see one car in the scene. Yes, a man was there to walk his dog. And wind turbines visible in the background. But no passengers.
This is the story of Amtrak in Palm Springs.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 14mm, ISO 100, f/11 at 8 seconds.
As I pondered what to do, what to photograph, what I might capture for Photojournalism I quickly concluded that an immediate, breaking news story, like a murder or a horrific accident was unlikely to unfold within my field of view this week. Though there is no doubt that Derin has had his pick of such photographic opportunities.
And WPOTM isn’t really suited to photo essays either. So a long article with many captioned photographs wasn’t really going to work. I needed to tell the story in a single shot.
But there was one subject pulling at me. Palm Springs has a train station. There you can catch an Amtrak train to New Orleans, or then on to Chicago. One single passenger train each day. Plus numerous freight trains that don’t stop for anyone for any reason.
So in simple terms you can tie someone to the track and watch them being run over by a freight train in the darkness, or hop Amtrak and make your escape, possibly both, though I wouldn’t count on it.
Now to state that this train station is unused is a severe understatement. It is rare that there is ever anyone else there, unless someone is walking their dog, photographing the nearby wind turbines, making out, or doing a drug deal from their car.
I went to photograph the station at 11:30 PM. Which I hadn’t realized at the time was 45 minutes before the Amtrak train was due to arrive. You couldn’t tell. I was the only person there. No cars parked from people who were about to depart, or about to arrive.
As I pondered what to do, what to photograph, what I might capture for Photojournalism I quickly concluded that an immediate, breaking news story, like a murder or a horrific accident was unlikely to unfold within my field of view this week. Though there is no doubt that Derin has had his pick of such photographic opportunities.
And WPOTM isn’t really suited to photo essays either. So a long article with many captioned photographs wasn’t really going to work. I needed to tell the story in a single shot.
But there was one subject pulling at me. Palm Springs has a train station. There you can catch an Amtrak train to New Orleans, or then on to Chicago. One single passenger train each day. Plus numerous freight trains that don’t stop for anyone for any reason.
So in simple terms you can tie someone to the track and watch them being run over by a freight train in the darkness, or hop Amtrak and make your escape, possibly both, though I wouldn’t count on it.
Now to state that this train station is unused is a severe understatement. It is rare that there is ever anyone else there, unless someone is walking their dog, photographing the nearby wind turbines, making out, or doing a drug deal from their car.
I went to photograph the station at 11:30 PM. Which I hadn’t realized at the time was 45 minutes before the Amtrak train was due to arrive. You couldn’t tell. I was the only person there. No cars parked from people who were about to depart, or about to arrive.
You will see one car in the scene. Yes, a man was there to walk his dog. And wind turbines visible in the background. But no passengers.
This is the story of Amtrak in Palm Springs.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 14mm, ISO 100, f/11 at 8 seconds.
Paul
While I have been binge watching/listening to national and international news, I wanted this week’s theme to reflect how such events can trickle down (sorry, Mr. Reagan) to local people and places. You know how it is: When the elephants fight, it’s the ants that get hurt.The photograph (regrettably taken on a cloudy day) is a shot looking east on Court Street between 4th and 5th Avenues in Beatrice, NE. The town’s metropolitan population hovers around 12,400, so finding a block with a number of small shops and businesses was fairly easy.
Sorry if I took a little extra journalistic license with the made-up publication. I had a particular issue I wanted to deal with this week: that of just how the recent Magical Mystery Tax Cut Bill will actually affect small business owners. Especially in smaller population centers. So I pulled together both a graphical and photographic treatment to flesh the whole thing out. Suffice to say, Nebraska Business News is a one-off.
As an added perk, my favorite restaurant in world can be seen to the right of the light pole: The Black Crow.
Since I’m the moveable type: (9:38AM) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 23mm; ISO 1000; 1/80 sec. at f/16; matrix metering; WB Cloudy. (No settings for cold, damp, and windy were used.)
While I have been binge watching/listening to national and international news, I wanted this week’s theme to reflect how such events can trickle down (sorry, Mr. Reagan) to local people and places. You know how it is: When the elephants fight, it’s the ants that get hurt.The photograph (regrettably taken on a cloudy day) is a shot looking east on Court Street between 4th and 5th Avenues in Beatrice, NE. The town’s metropolitan population hovers around 12,400, so finding a block with a number of small shops and businesses was fairly easy.
Sorry if I took a little extra journalistic license with the made-up publication. I had a particular issue I wanted to deal with this week: that of just how the recent Magical Mystery Tax Cut Bill will actually affect small business owners. Especially in smaller population centers. So I pulled together both a graphical and photographic treatment to flesh the whole thing out. Suffice to say, Nebraska Business News is a one-off.
As an added perk, my favorite restaurant in world can be seen to the right of the light pole: The Black Crow.
Since I’m the moveable type: (9:38AM) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 23mm; ISO 1000; 1/80 sec. at f/16; matrix metering; WB Cloudy. (No settings for cold, damp, and windy were used.)
- I did virtually all the editing of the color picture in Lightroom. I then made a virtual copy and edited that to my liking in B&W.
- Leaving the overall dimensions the same, I cropped the color image so only the left side of the image appear in color; then did the same thing on the B&W image—showing right half of the overall composition.
- I imported both into PowerPoint, rejoined the halves, and then resized the image. PowerPoint was my choice simply because of how ridiculously fast and easy it is to add text and other illustrative effects to a photograph. Plus, you can import so many file formats into PowerPoint, and it will let you save them (as in this instance) a JPEG file.
Jerry-
Greetings people from fine countries,
While video recording a lecture for the U of M’s surgery department, I managed to snap a few shots of one of the speakers and will use this to fulfill the photojournalism requirement. It will actually get some use on departmental publications, yee hah!
This is with the Sony A6300, 55-210 zoomed out to 210. Exposure was 1/60 @ f6.3, ISO 6400.
Greetings people from fine countries,
While video recording a lecture for the U of M’s surgery department, I managed to snap a few shots of one of the speakers and will use this to fulfill the photojournalism requirement. It will actually get some use on departmental publications, yee hah!
This is with the Sony A6300, 55-210 zoomed out to 210. Exposure was 1/60 @ f6.3, ISO 6400.
Don-
Byron-
Palm Springs was in it's heyday in the 50s and 60s. Its cool factor dwindled somewhat for several decades. It is now being re-appreciated for being a resort/party town in a beautiful climate.
This photo was shot this morning at the pool, outside our door. I wanted to catch the sunlight as it first skipped across the deck. No fill flash was required for this picture.
ISO 400, 23mm, f2.8, 1/1250 sec. White balance was set to Daylight.
Palm Springs was in it's heyday in the 50s and 60s. Its cool factor dwindled somewhat for several decades. It is now being re-appreciated for being a resort/party town in a beautiful climate.
This photo was shot this morning at the pool, outside our door. I wanted to catch the sunlight as it first skipped across the deck. No fill flash was required for this picture.
ISO 400, 23mm, f2.8, 1/1250 sec. White balance was set to Daylight.