I went to a chess tournament this afternoon. The DeKalb Chess Club was holding a year-end tournament in the basement of a church on New Year's Eve day. Adults and kids were participating and I mainly focused on the children because of their expressions. Happy New Year.
Last Friday morning I began a 300 mile journey to Ford Field in Detroit for the Mid-American Conference football championship game between Northern Illinois and Ohio. About 100 miles into the trip my check engine light began flashing and I had a cylinder misfiring. Since my car seemed to run fine above 55, I continued my drive and hoped that the car would last. Thankfully, I arrived on time and was ready to work. Unfortunately NIU wasn't ready. The Huskies turned the ball over 3 times and trailed by 20 after the first half. The second half started with another fumble on their first drive. Somehow they turned it around and won on a time expiring field goal. I decided to focus on Nathan Palmer, who had a pair of receiving touchdowns during the second half, instead of the field goal. I wish I had used a wider lens, but woulda, coulda, shoulda I guess. Palmer was named the MVP so I'm glad I focused on him. Now with the game over it was time for my 2000 Civic with 291K miles to head back home. I am happy to report that I made it back, but my car, aka Black Beauty, is toast. Best car ever.
On Saturday the Sycamore Spartans football season came to an end. I stuck around for a bit to capture some emotions. Unlike in the past, I was looking for something other than tears. I saw these three senior players near the end zone and I decided to photograph them from behind, because (a) the sun was behind them (b) the background was clean (c) and I think the middle player with his hand clutching his teammate's jersey is just as emotional as someone crying.
Our theme for this year's basketball prep tab is "Where I grew up." This photo illustration came to me during my drive to work yesterday. I know Lebron tosses powder into the air and I know Jordan did too, so I just needed a child old enough to understand what I was looking for. Fortunately for me, our features editor has a 10-year-old son who had three different Bulls jerseys to choose from and he completely understood what I was wanting him to do. So after two weeks of worrying what our cover would be, I came up with this idea and shot it within 2 hours. Stress over...for now.
During a game last weekend I snapped this shot of the Kaneland quarterback resting on the sideline. I was thrilled with the results because my ISO was 2500 and the light just looks good. I want to be a better portrait photographer.
Yesterday I was called to a house fire in Genoa. I was in DeKalb at the time and I could see the smoke as I got into my car. I expected to see huge flames when I arrived, but all I really saw was a lot of smoke and a lot of people watching as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. I knew why I was there, but I wonder sometimes about the bystanders. A few years back I went to a fatal accident and I recognized one of the bystanders from another tragic event. Apparently he listens to a police scanner and if he hears of something that sounds bad he checks it out. I realize in a way that I too do the same thing, but that's not why I do what I do.
Last Wednesday night I went to a Northern Illinois University Quidditch practice. When I saw the request I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought "is this for real." Sure enough it is. The participants all have to hold brooms and they run around throwing balls through hoops. There is also a snitch that runs outside the game field with a seeker from each team chasing after. To be honest, it took me a couple moments to control my giggles when I first arrived.
Corn Fest, an end of summer festival in DeKalb, takes place at the local airport where there are hangars and lots of concrete. The festival used to be held in downtown DeKalb, but now it is held at a static location with carnival rides, sound stage and vendor booths. I was happy to get this odd photograph during my time at the festival last Friday. At least the Sandwich Fair starts next week.
Last year while exploring sportsshooter.com I saw a series of football preview images by Corey Perrine that was based on the theme Friday Night Lights. The images inspired me and I wanted to do something a little different with our football preview this year. I approached our sports editor and told him I wanted to take portraits based on comic book characters, which he approved. I gave him the names of characters that I wanted to make images for and he found players that fit. For the most part, I'm happy with the results.
The shot above of Sycamore quarterback Ryan Bartels was definitely the least difficult, however the most expensive. The Sycamore Spartans colors are black and gold, so when I found the Superman shirt in those colors I was thrilled.
Shanon Davis of Hiawatha plays on the defensive line and was the biggest of all the athletes that I had to take a portrait of and fit the bill for my Juggernaut themed character. This is for sure my favorite of the six and the one I worried most about making. I used green floral foam bricks that I sprayed red for the wall and I used toothpicks and skewers to give the appearance of bricks flying as Shanon busted through. We have a Hobby Lobby right down the road from our office, so when they had their 40% off one item coupon in the paper, I visited their business just about every day to buy more bricks. James Nokes, one of our writers for the preview tab, got a great quote from Davis to fit the photo, "I like to run people over. I run people over a lot; as much as I can."
Joe Diedrich is a center for the DeKalb Barbs. If I had the time to, I would have liked to re-shoot this one, but I think it still works.
Gabe Williams is a running back for Genoa-Kingston. Before I shot this I had planned to use the rear curtain sync function on my camera to fire my flashes at the end of the exposure. For some reason when it was time to shoot I couldn't get the function to work on site and I had to improvise.
Jordan Kalk plays at least three different positions each game; kicker/punter, linebacker and wide receiver. Batman was the original character that I wanted to base Kalk's portrait on because he's a utility player and the Dark Knight has a belt with which has many uses. I couldn't really come up with anything other than a cape, so I researched more characters and I found Multiple Man. This is a composite and I used three images to create this illustration. The front image of Kalk is the original. I used a tripod and had him move to the sides of the frame to get the two other shots.
Quinn Buschbacher is a wide receiver for the Kaneland Knights. I made the web using a dowel rod painted white and a hot glue gun. I suspended the ball with fishing line and I came up with this.
I went to Pine Acres Rehab & Living Center in DeKalb on Monday to photograph a robotic seal that interacts with users by sound and touch. The robot is used to provide people with dementia or other cognitive disorders something to talk to and connect with. Seeing the excitement in the eyes of the residents and to hear their laughter as they played with the robot made for a better day.
