November 1:
 
 

        I was thinking of a lead for this entry, but let's get real, what lead can compete with THIS!!!!!!!!!?
 

       OK, it's a cheesy photo but what a way to start off the month.  A local paper needed a photo illustration of co-eds who strip to pay off their college bills and I was the lucky guy who had to come up with a photo illustration. I thought of many approaches but in the end I ran with what the editors had in mind.

        I had to.  This was my first sleezy photo session and a) I was too giddy to think. b) I was giggling too much.

        The model's lower torso had previously appeared in a furniture store ad with the tagline:  "Cheap Ass Furniture:  Used But Not Abused." albeit without her 50-year old roomates lingerie which she had borrowed for this shoot. I must say she did the old costumes justice.

        The editors wanted a vertical shot of a model holding a bra in one hand and a book in another.

        The model, a portrait photographer for pre-schoolers, had studio lights from work .  We set everything up, turned on the modeling lights.....and then discovered we didn't have the right sync-cord and her 45mm camera only advanced film that  could be processed in a South Carolina photo lab.

        We decided to use the modeling light as the main light, use 400 ASA Fuji(no Kodak in this house) and pray the 1/30th second exposures at f2 and f2.8 came out fine.

        We tried many variations of a sleezy theme in those four rolls.  We got photos of the writer stuffing $1 bills in her knickers; photos of the model with her legs over the books; shots from behind....  I was having fun because the model was willing to do almost anything but I was embarassed.  I couldn't look her in the eye.

        She later told me how difficult it was to shoot preschoolers and how one had maintain a constant state of energy.  She tipped me off on a couple of catchwords(booger butt, bacon butt, armpit, nosehairs....) which usually make little kids laugh.  I will use them on my next assignment, kids or no kids.

        I am now rerouting my resumes to modeling agencies which need any assistants.  I love this job.  See you later boogerbutt.
 
 

November 2: The Archive
 

         My mom's penchance for hoarding useless objects led to a Smithsonian's worth of 20-year old clothes, Holly Hobby metal lunch boxes, slot-cars sets, dead stereos, airline perfume....  We lugged her steel museums through seven airports until my father put his bart down and got rid of them.

        One could say I was unconciously rebelling against my mother habit of keeping things.

        But I have changed my complusion in one respect after reading Dirck Halstead's essay on the importance of archiving negatives.

        I spent the day combing through four years of negatives and discovered some funny photos.  I tried to keep the circular file clean.

 
 

 
 

Nov. '96:  Reeling from the stench at my first pig-farm assignment.

November 3:  Election Day
 

        I've spent the whole night looking through Canon glass.  I was assigned to get reaction shots for proponents of a referendum to build new area schools.  The polls closed later than we had anticipated and the election results were nowhere near conclusive as our 10 p.m. deadline came and went.

        I passed the time attacking the stack of shrimp they had put out.

        I got a call from my boss who informed me the new deadline was 1 a.m.

        Nothing happened.  10p.m.  11p.m.  11: 30p.m.  11:35p.m......

        I was getting nervous.  The crowd was thinning out.  I had some safety shots from this most uneventful night of my photographic career but I wanted something special.  I know I tried my best, but sometimes nothing happens; you can't make a gourmet meal out of shit.
 
 

The wear-and-tear of a long campaign take their toll on Lily Thomson, wife of school referendum campaign manager Mark Thomson as they wait for the election results.
 

        We were cleaning up the darkroom when we got a 1:45 a.m. call.  Our mission, since we had to accept it, was to get photos of the 2nd Congressional District winner.  I had been up17 hours but I was psyched to shoot and transmit.

Democrat Mark Udall hugs a supporter after a narrow victory in the second Congressional District early Wednesday morning.  He won by 5,500 votes.  I like this photo because it's a moment when Udall let down his guard and stopped trying to play to the media.

        Got home at the crack of dawn and promptly fell asleep on the couch.
 
 

November 4:  The Click of Death
 

        What a Lousy, Frustrating Day.    I repeat, what a Lousy, Frustrating Day.  Lousy, Lousy, Lousy, Lousy, Lousy....

        I lost everything to the click of death.

        Chances are you have too, or will someday.

        Consider this scenario:  You put a cartridge into your Zip Disk only to greeted by a repetitive click-click, click-click sound.  The drive fails to recognize the cartridge, endlessly clicking away until you shut down the system.

        And guess what greets you when you restart the machine:
 
 

        Welcome to the Click of Death Syndrome.  It's apparently caused by an internal hardware problem in the Zip drive itself or faulty Zip cartridges.  The reasons are unclear but its effects aren't:  total loss of data.  Meet Joe Black.

        There is a silver lining.  I impetuously backed up these four-months of journals on my hard-drive last night.  My journals were safe.  Another miracle.

        Followed by another tragedy.  For some strange reason, my web page editor(Communicator 4.05 Composer) kept on italisizing all the text on my web pages.  I spent an hour trying to fix the bug, but then discovered the pages worked fine on another computer.  Installing an older/stable version of Netscape seemed to do the trick.  Everything works fine......for now.
 

November 8: A Sixth Sense
 
 

My former photojournalism teacher, Paul Moloney, created an unforgettable adage: To capture Spontaneity, Emotion and Action(the prerequisites for a good photo) you need to Observe, Anticipate, React and Simplify.

It's been four years since he emphasized the importance of those four chores and, guess what, I finally realize "the system works".

Lately, I've been using the OARS as a diagnostic tool for bad photos. If a photo is low on spontaneity, emotion and action, I ask myself the following questions:

        Was I observing the scene?
        Did I anticipate what was going to happen?
        Did I react quickly?
        Did I simplify?

Ignoring any one of the four commandments usually results in lackluster photos.

I used Paul's system on the basketball court but had one problem:  anticipating the action.

That's when The Lord of The 400/2.8, Cliff Grassmick, stepped in and provided the missing link. He said the secret to the moments he captures is simple. "I sense something is going to happen."  For some reason, everything clicked.

I was relying on the literal meaning of the word anticipate instead of looking at it from a different perspective. I now anticipate action on a visceral, instead of a visual, level.

I originally shot sports to fill the four potholes in my portfolio: from basketball(board breaking, two guys diving for ball, groin punch, or guy diving for ball into stands), bartball(awesome tackle, or two upended receivers, player spitting on another's face), baseball(bat breaking, fight) and hockey(fight).

Beginner's luck almost brought home the portfolio bacon on my first bartball game of the season. I knew I got the shot but later discovered the auto-focus had gone haywire when the receiver was upside down. The next(boring) frame was, as expected, in perfect focus.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't get the portfolio shot because I have had to shoot dozens of games chasing these kind of lost moments. I've learned to aim real fast(follow the ball), know when to zoom in or stay loose and develop my concentration.

This practice has allowed me to capture moments off the playfield. I was recently messing around with a friend's camera and I caught a sudden gesture he made. For the first time, I knew I didn't see the decisive moment; I had captured it.

I've also learned to shut up and shoot from start to finish. At the beginning of the season, I missed several portfolio shots because I was jiving with other photographers; I'd see the crucial play too late, and later on in the newspaper(thanks to Cliff).

The self-proclaimed "BIGGEST FAN" at the women's volleyball games last season would continually yell "Be ready" during key plays. Now I have to wonder: was he yelling at me or at the players?
 

A friend recently lent his 300mm/f2.8 at a volleyball game and I shot a practice roll from the stands. The results showed me how far my timing has progressed. Of the 35 frames, 18 were spot on. This is incredible feat for me because I used to shoot too early or too late and the ball would always be at the wrong place.

November 10:
 

I spent last week overhauling my Web site. I converted the opening icons to monochrome for faster loading, added new photos, fonts and embedded keywords(Colorado photographer, photojournalist, editorial photographer etc.) which made the site search-engine-friendly.

The work paid off.

I got a call from a PR director who needed a photographer for his organization's semiannual convention in Colorado $pring$. He had discovered me, and unfortunately, two other companies that specialized in corporate events, on a Web directory.

I invited him to check out my Web site and then spent a couple of hours fine-tuning my assignment estimate before faxing it and crossing my fingers.
 
 

November 11:
 

I was a white knuckle the whole day as I waited for the PR director's call. I really needed the money and I didn't want an assignment dangling in front of my empty wallet before being given to someone else.

As it was three weeks ago when I was paged by a photo editor from a London newspaper.

I returned her call two minutes later, but she was already giving the assignment to another photographer who got over $250 for a shot of the mall.

I couldn't handle the wait; I broke down at 3:30 p.m. and called the PR director. He gave me the news:

"I want to hire you."

The clincher, according to the Greatest Man on Earth, was my Web site. The other two companies didn't have Web sites or e-mail.

"I was very impressed with the content and layout," he said.

As I shift from newspapers into the arena of commercial work, I've realized photo classes taught me how to eat, but not how to fish.

I've had to learn how to deal with clients, how to specify usage rights, how to set prices and other legal mumbo jumbo.

My courage to ask for what I'm worth(and realizing that people are glad to pay without blinking) has also grown.

I am now ready to move from rags(newspapers) to "riches"(commercial work).
 
 

November 12: A Ridiculous Offer
 

I was recently asked to work on a setup shot for a story involving a possible ban on couches on front porches in Boulder. A lawmaker proposed the bill on the grounds that couch burnings in the campus area were a community hazard.

I was fine with the story but not with the photo the writer had in mind. He told me to get(read: setup) a photo of several African Americans lounging on their front porch eating fried chicken and watermelons.

"I want a mood reminiscent of the South," he suggested.

He wanted the photo to parallel their "struggles with the man" with a law to be enacted against "powerless" students.

I was shocked at this proposal and calmly bit my lip even though he said "I hope you're not offended" several times.

As a minority, I am particularly sensitive in depicting others in a negative way.  I needed the money but decided there are some photos your conscience can not let you take.
 
 

November 13: This is the Life
 

I was supposed to meet Chris, the PR director, at 11 a.m. but set off on the two-hour drive to Colorado Springs before dawn. I wanted to take my time and enjoy the road-trip.

The moment I spotted the Broadmoor Hotel, I knew I should have doubled my fee.

The hotel loomed over the surrounding turf but its plush Italian Renaissance architecture was inviting.

Chris introduced me to the big wigs and I immediately went to work for the next eight hours.

The stage lighting presented a flash exposure problem:

Ambient lighting: 1/15 second at f2.8, ASA 400 film.

Background: Black.

Exposure: Spot-metered on the speaker's face and then opened up 1/2 stop. Then switched to evaluative metering.

Flash: Set to Evaluative Metering with center focus zone selected to bias exposure on the speaker's face .

Question: If I shot at 1/30 second(1 stop underexposure of ambient light), then what compensation(if any) should I set my flash to if I want to capture some of the ambient light but also freeze the action? Should I set my TTL-flash to +1 to compensate for the underexposure of the ambient light? Would it be better to just blast the scene(1/60th second at f4 using TTL with no flash compensation)?

I bracketed the flash and ambient exposure on my main camera. I also used a 50mm at f1.8 for ambient backup shots. What approach would you use?

I tried different angles and hustled. Here are some of my favorites from the conference:
 
 

November 14: A New World Record
 

Ben Johnson's 19.32s in the 100 meters, Mark McGwire's 72, Cal's 2,332 consecutive games. All these records will fade before the GREAT ONE does:

James Keivom's 35mph 844 meter record.

I guess an explanation's in order.

I finished my day's work at the doctor's conference. A quick U-turn and I was off to enjoy the rest of that sunny fall afternoon.

I checked the speedometer as I looked for a lighter on the passenger's seat. 35mph. Good, I wanted to keep to the speed limit.

My search was interrupted by a huge thud. I thought I hit a pothole, but I would have felt a jolt because my shocks and struts met Joe Black two years ago.

Then it hit me: I had left my cameras on the roof.

I snapped my head to see if, maybe, I had left the cameras in the back seat.

No such luck.

I mechanically pulled a sharp U-turn and expected to see traffic piled up behind a heap of shattered lenses and mangled cameras.

It was not to be.

As I crossed the median, a pedestrian flagged me down.

"You got some cameras on the roof," he said.

I jumped out the passenger's side door, spun around and looked at what appeared to be a mirage of TWO cameras, TWO flashes and TWO!!! lenses perched 5 inches from the edge of the abyss. I was so happy I jumped on the guy and hugged him. He told me he couldn't believe the cameras had survived the sharp U-turn.

The thud I heard must have been the 8008 falling over. Perhaps the bad paint job has created enough friction to keep the cameras from falling.

I can't even think of the consequences of another outcome. I spent an hour thinking of the rented equipment and what it would like after a 35mph roll. $4,000 bucks down the drain. How would I face my friends and tell them their equipment was done broke?

I told my wild tale to my religious relatives.

"You must have a guardian angel watching over you," my aunt suggested.

"No," I shot back. "I have three."

I guess the one thing I learned from this incident is there is always room for self-improvement. The last time I left my cameras on the roof, back in May 1996, I ONLY made it through three blocks at a paltry 23-25mph(the speed limit). As I turned left on a busy intersection, I noticed a man running up to the car. God saved an F4, 8008s, 80-200/2.8, 24mm and two flashes that day.

So I'm now throwing down the gauntlet for any private citizens who think they got what it takes to break THE record: 35+ mph sustained for at least 500 meters, with at least two 90 degree U-turns and total distance must exceed 844 meters.
 

A photojournalist once suggested I take up wedding photography even though I was under the impression prostitution was illegal in Colorado. This assignment brought about a change of heart: I don't care what the assignment is because there are moments to be captured in any situation. Period. If I'm getting paid ten times my normal salary, then I hope I can find some way to live with the guilt.

I learned that some clients don't really expect creative, fancy stuff: they just want a straight shot of the subject. It's your duty to surprise them.

I'm glad my 24mm lens was stolen; it's forced me to shoot with a different eye. I'm now using the 35mm and 50mm lenses and have discovered what all the fuss is about. The shallower depth of field is offset by a balanced background-foreground perspective and less distortion. I don't have to get in someone's face. Cartier-Bresson was right when he said the 35mm provides a good foreground, "so i use the 50mm."
 

November 15:
 

Spent about half-an-hour shooting a key speaker and I was done. The rest of the day was mine. MINE.

I can't believe I....I just made 450,146.39 drachmas this weekend.

Thank God somebody at the conference thought of white identification badges for the conference members; they were a great white-balance tool for the photos I posted on the Web 48 hours after the event.
 
 

November 17:
 

I was driving along and saw a brilliant flash. I turned fast and saw a Leonid meteor's brilliance through a thin veil of clouds for a split second before it disappeared.

I realize life is the same: brilliant one moment, and then, a sudden fade to black. It was also symbolic that I missed half of the meteor because I realize I have not lived life to the fullest and I have missed out on a lot life has had to offer.
 
 

November 27: Thanksgiving
 

I read an interesting article from a mother who constantly tried to cram her children's lives onto tape. Deborah Kelly Kloepfer wrote in a Newsweek article:

"It is much easier to see your life and the people in it without one eye squinted, missing all the peripheral moments, trying to accomplish what is inevitably futile--stopping time."

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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