9.28.2008

Thoughts on my Character.

Hello. Below this are two things (1) Thoughts I have been thinking, interspursed with (2) photos I took in Scotland. Please enjoy both.

A man who would only identify himself as "Uncle Stu" passionately kisses a woman who did not give her name in the hallway of a pub on the shores of Loch Ness, Scotland. Although Nessy was not found, Uncle Stu did flip off the photographer shortly after this image was taken.

These blogs are funny things, public diaries. The best way I have ever heard them described is something along these lines, "when you are feeling good about yourself and want to believe you are a minor celebrity with a following, you convince yourself hundreds of people are reading your blog, and are hanging on your every word. When you are feeling self-conscious, shy or worried, you convince yourself no one reads your blog, and its a private diary no one will find..."

Rather insightful if you ask me (although clearly this person hadn't heard of google statistics)

With that said, I don't know why I haven't posted in a long time, Ive received quite a few complaints about it, but I really don't have an explanation or excuse - I will say, when people really push me to do something, I sometimes start to lean away from that thing, so that might has something to do with it.

Ewan Urqhart proudly points to the medal which symbolizes that he fought in the Iraq war with the Scottish Army. Urqhart was out with numerous friends and fellow soldiers to celebrate his 21st birthday.

I go back and forth on what I think of my work, what I like, what I don't like, the style I'm trying to achieve, why I would post it on a blog, why I wouldn't. I suppose like everyone in anything public, you go through periods where you don't feel like being open.

That said, hopefully I can kick start the bandwagon again (no guarantees). Ive just applied for College Photographer of the Year (CPOY.org). I have no pipe dreams of winning, but I think Ive got a shot at getting honorable mention in some minor categories. I hit the submit button with the "Rudy" soundtrack playing, It made me feel rather triumphant. If you don't know the Rudy soundtrack, its good.

Ewan Urqhart, left, a member of the Scottish army and a veteran of the Iraq War, celebrates his 21st birthday with friends just two weeks before departing for a second round of combat in Afghanistan. Urqhart, who was well liquored up, didn't seem too concerned, and said American's are "good blokes."

I think a lot about who I am and what defines me a lot these days. Since 2003, I have lived in 3 countries, 7 cities and 10 houses. I can think of at least 7 times I have switched "friend-groups" (usually due to a location change) and have never returned to it again. I don't feel like I have personally changed a lot in through all of this, but who am I? You would have to back to that first group of friends and ask them. It starts to make you lost in who you are and who you were. These days, the only thing I am most sure about is where I am going (oh and the plans i have...).

Taylor Weidman, a photojournalism grad student at Syracuse University who is studying in London, falls over from laughter after a heavy night of drinking in Scotland. Despite repeated counts of drunkenness, Weidman is widely considered a good looking man with upstanding morals.

I miss the people who have defined me, shaped me, pointed me in the right direction. Sometimes I think about who would be my groomsmen, and I think I could chose 5 or 6 guys, and none of them would know each other - and each would have defined a very different part of my life.

All this to say nothing. Time only moves one direction. Maybe that is one reason I love photography and it's what I do. It holds onto those people and places, and like the character Leonard Shelby says in the movie Memento, "Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts...".

A man fishes in a small lake in the highlands of Scotland. Recent studies has suggested that the lack of sun, which provides humans with the essential vitamen D, causes a plethora of health issues in Scotland (unlike the rest of these captions, this one is 100% true, the Scots need more vitamin D)

That said, please, come along for the coming journeys journey, its nice hearing that people watch the blog, that people from 4 towns ago are still keeping track of me; that I haven't been all forgotten. Please forgive me when I go through periods of not posting. Hopefully those will end. We've got a rip-roaring line up for the next few weeks, and I'm going to make a better effort to bring you along - we're hitting every corner of Europe plus the stuff in -between, and by December we'll be in Africa - I'll see you there.

9.08.2008

"You Need To Post Your Balls Off" - AJ Chavar

And with that quote from the kitchen table, we're off again.

Sorry about to the delay, and a big welcome to London through my eyes.

Dont expect to see tourist photos.



8.23.2008

All Hail the Queen.




From inside the Forbidden City

8.22.2008

Left Over Glass, Entry 9



Nikon D3, 24 - 70 f/2.8
ASA 6400, Aperture f/9, Shutter 1/1000

Walking the Alleys II.

Left Over Glass, Entry 8


Nikon D3, 24 - 70mm f/2.8
ASA 6400, Aperture f/9, Shutter 1/2000

Walking the alleys.

8.21.2008

Left Over Glass, Entry 7

Canon EOS1D Mark III, 500mm f/4
ASA: 1250, Aperture: f/4 Shutter 1/640

I talked to my Dad today, to tell him I probably wouldn't have time to meet up (he is also in Beijing, but we've only seen each other twice in the three weeks we've been here), and before I could barely get the words out of my mouth, he exclaims, "Here! I have someone for you to talk to!"

Hmm. Ok. I figure it has to be an old business friend of his who I won't remember. Yet the voice of a young hipster girl comes on the phone. Well this is unexpected. we better get to the bottom of this telecommunications quagmire.
"Hello, whose this?" I ask.
"This is Shawn Johnson!' I hear in a pippy response.

Ah. I see. It becomes clear that my father has taken it upon himself to be in the company of the 16-year-old, multi-olympic-medal gymnast, and also to make sure that she talks to me, and I her. For what reason? The answer to that question is beyond man's grasp.

Well, to make a long story short, I really have nothing to say to her (God forbid I think about congratulating her on her medal tally). I decide to cut to maybe the one thing we have in common - I tell her I work as a photographer and shot a nice frame of her on the balance beam. She seems mildly interested - about the same interest you have when you hear your grandpa got a hair cut.

Needless to say, we kept it short, but I thought it made for an amusing story. The photo is above.

8.19.2008

Left Over Glass, Entry 6

Nikon D3, 24 - 70mm f/2.8 set at 60mm
ASA: 1000, Shutter speed: 1/1000, Aperture: f/3.2

This blogging thing is addicting - when you know you have an audience (even if its only my Mom and friend dave (read: sarcasm)), you want to keep them updated. Anyway, I'm also realizing how hard it will be to tell all the stories and publish all the photos I want - even with the pressures of an audience, it's a time consuming thing to do, and it's hard to remember all the details of crazy nights and photo-filled days.

Anyway, I was going to go to bed, I have to get up in about 3 hours, but Dave and I were talking and when I tried to get offline to go to bed, he held me to posting - this one is for him.

8.18.2008

More coming soon

It has been a ridiculous 72 hours with many good stories and a few good photos. I'll try and post tonight, if not sooner.

8.16.2008

Over 10 for Under 10

We showed up at the Bird's Nest today, more than 10 hours before the Men's 100m final - this for a race that lasts less than 10 seconds. Still, it was pretty cool watching the best photogs in the world set up their gear, and then watch a man run faster than any man has ever run before.

No photos for today, we're getting up in 3.5 hours to (hopefully) watch Phelps do his thing one last time (actually, this will be the first time ive even been in the building when Phelps swam, so it will be a real treat).

Keep in touch. - Andrew

8.14.2008

Left Over Glass, Entry 3, 4, 5


Canon EOS Mark III, 400mm f/2.8
ASA: 1250, Shutter: 1/1000, Aperture: f/2.8


Canon EOS Mark III, 400mm f/2.8
ASA: 1250, Shutter: 1/1250, Aperture: f/2.8


Canon EOS Mark III, 400mm f/2.8
ASA: 1250, Shutter: 1/1250, Aperture: f/2.8


Today's theme is floating above/before the moment, taking place in men's gymnastics.
For these shots, I was assigned to hold spots for Vince while he covered other sections of the gymnastics meet. So far, he usually leaves me with big glass, 400mm, 500mm, 800mm, etc. So it means I (A) have to shoot for a very tight compositional moment, and (B) get very lucky. I like these shot a lot, I think I accomplished both.

Left Over Glass, Entry 2


Canon EOS Ds Mark III, 45mm Tilt Shift
ASA 1250, Shutter: 1/400, Aperture: Approx f/2.8
We've shot gymnastics 4 or 5 days now, and while Ive made some images I'm really proud of (Im sure I'll post them soon enough), they all feel very stock-ish (as in, a stock photo that you see in the newspapers). I wanted to get away from that, and focus on the athletics, prior to the action, prior to the celebration or defeat. I think it's a nice moment. For this, I once again used one of the tilt shifts and shot over the wall, looking down on the french gymnast team as they trained for the vault. I like it, the tilt shifts are really fun to play with and challenge you in many ways a normal lens doesn't.

8.13.2008

The Left Over Glass Series, Entry 1



Canon Mark IIn, 45mm tilt shift
ASA 500, Shutter: 1/1600, Aperture: Approx f/2.8
(Russia's Women's Synchronized 10m Platform Diving)


"Left Over Glass" - self proclaimed term for when you are assisting someone, and they say you can shoot with whatever lens they dont use. The Left Over Glass series is comprised of images I shot from where Laforet told me to be, with the lens he didn't use, it leaves you to be creative.

So for this image... Laforet was under the pool shooting through an underwater window, leaving me above the pool. We used cutting edge technology to notify him when the divers were about to hit the water...aka, me on a dodgy chinese cell phone yelling "SHOOT!"

I shot this from my knee with his patented tilt shift. He liked it a lot, I'll take that as a compliment.

8.11.2008

Clinic.

This is from a day or two before I left for Beijing.

8.10.2008

In The Meantime...

For any of you who check in on this site every now and again (I haven't actually checked to see if anyone has been to this little blog, let alone, returned) I'll put more photos up soon enough. There are regulations about putting photos up on personal blogs when you are an accredited member of the media, and I need to look into the rules further.

As for now, life has been fun - it's been pretty hectic, but we get to carry a lot of big glass (Nikon 600mm f/4; Canon 800mm f/5.6) which has been really fun to shoot with. I havent shot sports in about a year, and its been a relief to see Im not a total failure. 

In the meantime, check out these sites, its been cool getting to rub shoulders with/ see these guys work:

PeterReadMiller.com
Bill Frakes.com
VincentLaforet.com
DonaldMiralle.com
MikePowellphoto.com
SolNeelman.com
Doug Mills (NYT shooter, no website)
Jamie Squire.com

(there are 1000+ others, but those are the names that come off the top of my head...)

Oh, and also check out the work the Newsweek shooters ( who Im assisting ) are putting out at...

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/olympicpix/default.aspx

8.06.2008

Grainy Night in Beijing's Alleys




China's Finest

With Inspirational Credit Given to Nick McCann (http://yandymhood.blogspot.com/)

Dragonfly.

Superman.

Great. Wall. Vender.

Ladies and Gentleman, we are floating in space

(the title is a good song by the band spiritualized)
Well, after a prolonged blog drought (unintended) I am back with a new batch of photos - fresh from China. I arrived yesterday, and spent no time at all hightailing it out to the Great Wall. I'll be here until August 24th assisting Vincent Laforet as we shoot the Olympics.

The humidity was incredible - think London fog, but 100 degrees. And even though there are only a few sections of the wall available to walk on, (meaning the place was chock full of tourists) It was still pretty incredible. I found that it wasnt only the wall that made the place spectacular, but also the razor-sharp ridge line the wall balances on. I had fun - please enjoy. (and as always, please critique and comment at will).

7.26.2008

07032008

07222008

07202006



07192008



The Opener

I'm not going to lie - my life has been painfully boring these last few days. I've cleared my entire schedule leading up to my departure for Beijing, leaving me to do research and getting things ready, but it hasnt necessarily made it the most ripe time for taking photos. Take a look, critique at will.