Posts Tagged ‘photography’

I Got A Basketball Jones

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Mack Calvin, John Durham, LeRue Martin, Dr. J, Walt Williams, Duane Causewell, George Tinsley, Manute Bol, Charles D. Smith, Kevin Willis and Tom Burleson

Mack Calvin, John Durham, LeRue Martin, Dr. J, Walt Williams, Duane Causewell, George Tinsley, Manute Bol, Charles D. Smith, Kevin Willis and Tom Burleson

Imagine spending the better part of a weekend with the likes of Moses Malone, Rick Barry, Willie Davis, Dolph Schayes, James Donaldson, Don Heinke, Lucius Allen, C.J. Kupec, Jeff Mullins, Muggsy Bogues, Kevin Willis, Manute Bol, Rex Morgan, Cliff Robinson, John Durham, Nate Williams, Marvin Roberts, Jeff Mullins and Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Then, in walks Charles Smith, Levern Tart, Artis Gilmore, Mack Calvin, LeRue Martin, Walt Williams, Tom Burleson, George Tinlsey, Anthony Mason, Duane Causewell, Otis Birdsong and many other former NBA’ers. Man, do these names bring back memories or what?

Julius Ervin recently hosted the NBA Legends Of Basketball conference over a rain-soaked weekend in Atlanta and I was there to cover it. The events kicked off at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Buckhead with a welcome dinner and it was a pleasure to see these guys – many who played during different eras – greet each other. They are an elite group and it was very clear they are fans of each other.

They hugged, laughed, teased and told old stories about each other into the wee hours of the morning. One of the funniest moments Saturday night was Walt Williams’ reminiscence of one of his games against Michael Jordan and how MJ taught him a lesson by stealing the ball and welcoming him to the NBA.

Saturday night was the gala dinner with speeches, awards and music by Ken Ford. Don Cornelius would have been proud of how the retirees strutted, spun, bopped and danced down the Soul Train line. These guys are former big-time ballers who may not take it to the hole as fiercely as they once did but they can still take it to the dance floor.

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Boy’s Life

Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Alexander, Landon and John

Landon, Alexander and John

Per usual on the weekends, J2 and I are together most of the two days so I look for activities to keep him occupied. Anything interesting that keeps him running, climbing, jumping, hopping, sweating and laughing with more running, qualifies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I try to tire out my little buddy so he goes to bed peacefully; I just try to tire him out so he goes to bed peacefully. And early is not a bad thing either because Homey wears me out.

I recently took him to the Chattahoochee Nature Center for the Butterfly Festival because it was different and I had visions of Homey chasing butterflies for hours and yep, tiring his self out. Plus we would be together in nature enjoying the natural beauty of some of God’s creatures and yada, yada, yada.

Anyway, J2 loves his school friends and one question he asked right before we arrived was, ‘Will some of my friends be there?” I didn’t want to disappoint him with a no but I did not expect to see his friends so far from our area. I told him I wasn’t sure and changed the subject.

Not five minutes after arriving, we turned a corner in the park and bam, ran into his favorite school chum Landon and his mom. It was an unbelievable coincidence and as soon as they spotted each other, the running began. J2 saw playmate, I saw diversion. I’m sure Landon’s mom thought I was cheesing a little too much but it was like going to a concert with no ticket, little expectation of getting in and finding yourself on the guest list, with an all access pass (you had to be there).

So I’m now on cloud 9 and 10 minutes later, we bump into another friend, Alexander and his family. It was like the starting pistol fired for the start of the 100-meter dash because they were off and running. And now I’m really cheesing and daydreaming about his bedtime. I know it will be painless… for me.

We were there for hours and enjoyed every minute. Alexander, Landon and John had a blast dancing, running, throwing rocks, watching butterflies, fishes and turtles and being buds. I knew he was happy because when we got in the car to go home he started singing.

So long story short, I bathed him, fed him and started cheesing some more when he laid down and immediately went out like a light. Now that was a good day.

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Gold For The Price Of Silver

Friday, July 17th, 2009
Lanterns in the Temple Of Heaven in Beijing

Lanterns at the Temple Of Heaven in Beijing

Surprise, surprise; I recently learned that the cover of the July 2008 issue of Georgia Trend Magazine – with my photo – won silver for best cover in the annual Alliance Of Area Business Publications contest. The annual Editorial Excellence Awards competition recognizes excellence in journalism, photography and design achieved by regional business publications.

I took the photo on one of my trips to China when I actually found some down time to get out and walk around Beijing. I noticed the lanterns because of years of training to look for details. I never saw this photo as a cover but obviously Creative Director Penny Alligood is much smarter so she used it.

Messages from the judges: Color is the message of this elegant cover – Chinese red – seen in the lanterns shot by an Atlanta photographer (me) at Beijing’s famed Temple of Heaven. In fact, there is a bit of heaven about this cover. A great photo, well-chosen color for the logo and smartly placed cover lines in an understated but very readable san serif, seamlessly fuse into a graceful whole. Divine.

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Atlanta Jazz Listeners Club

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Sondra, Melvin, David, Marc, Shannon, Elliott, Tom, Harry, Monroe and Ralph

Sondra, Melvin, David, Marc, Shannon, Elliott, Tom, Harry, Monroe and Al

At a recent Media Bistro mixer, I met my now friend, writer, producer and TV show host Shannon, who told me about an article she had written on the Atlanta Jazz Listeners Club. It’s a group of men and women of different ages and diverse backgrounds who share a common pleasure that brings them together once a month. They all dig jazz.

Shannon worked at Colony Square and would occasionally see Monroe in the parking garage – a distinguished looking gentleman – who always had jazz playing in the background. She eventually asked about his music and he gave her the story of a sound while dropping names like Miles, Monk, Mingus and Marsalis. None of the names meant much to Shannon but she liked the tunes. During one of their chance meetings Monroe told her about the AJLC and invited her to one of their monthly meetings. Shannon accepted, attended, loved it and hence the article.

Soon after, I read her article and immediately began a groveling and almost embarrassing campaign to wrangle an invite to the next meeting. The AJLC gave her the thumbs-up to bring a stranger to their June meeting at Marc’s home and just like that, I was in like Flint.

Forget the fact I arrived at the meeting about 20 minutes before Shannon – which was somewhat awkward – the AJLC, which is made up of a couple of scientists, a dentist, a few retired executives, a professor, a musician and a guy who sings in a jazz choir and claims he lives in the “hood,” all welcomed me with open arms. They had the tunes, the vibe, the bar, the coolness and the smiles turned on and I was immediately glad to be there.

I quickly learned it’s not about who you are, what you have or where you’ve been. It’s all about the music. They sat, listened, nodded, smiled, chatted (if you wanted to) and enjoyed being there.

Later in the evening David leaned over and said, “I hope you didn’t eat much before you came.” I knew what he meant because the delightful aromas coming from the kitchen had been in the air since I arrived. My smile got even brighter. Lets just say Marc’s wife Johnetta knows her way around a kitchen. The salmon, the Brown Stew Chicken, the veggies, the sauces and peach cobbler sealed it for me. My next question was… how do I become a member?

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She Was A Tall Thin Girl

Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Model Gretchen Corliss

Model Gretchen Corliss

In 1899, Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the US Office of Patents said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” In 1927 Harry M. Warner of Warner Bros said, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” Some years after that, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team and The Beatles were turned down for a recording contract by Decca Records. Who knew?!

Well today I had my second photo shoot with the long and beautiful Gretchen Corliss. That is her in the photo above. During the first shoot, believe it or not, I posed Gretchen far in the back, over exposed and way pass my depth of field… just for an effect. Talk about being under utilized.

Today I saw the light and moved Gretchen to the front of the frame, where she belongs.

So maybe it’s not as big an oops as the others or when Henry Ford forgot to put a reverse gear on his first automobile, but it wasn’t very insightful on my part.

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Three songs and out!

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Last night I attended the annual banquet of the Atlanta chapter of the Asian Journalist Association and the event was wonderful. During the silent auction I bid on and won a beautiful photo book entitled “Jazz Life.” I’m reluctant to call it a coffee table book because the book itself is the size of a coffee table and weights almost as much as my soon to be 3 year-old son.

The book is a re-issue of one originally published in 1961. It’s a collection of photos taken in 1960 by photographer William Claxton as he journeyed across the country with musicologist Joachim E. Bertendt to document jazz music. The photos feature The Count, Duke, Louie, Ella, Miles, Monk, Mingus, Trane, Brubeck and many, many others. I get more inspired as I flip through each page.

What really strikes me about the photos is the access Claxton had to capture these unique moments. It is so obvious he had a relationship with these artists and became a fly-on-the-wall as Duke and Johnny Hodges worked on an arrangement, as Stan Kenton rehearsed and as Paul Chambers jammed (in his underwear) with Mel Lewis, Al Porcino, Wynton Kelly and Sonny Stitt. For too many reasons to list – some of those being agents, record labels, marketing, control and management – very few photographers get this type of access any longer. Back then the guys wanted their story to be told and they didn’t care if every hair was in place or if they looked like they had not slept in a week. Now that is access.

Not to take anything away from Mr. Claxton, I applaud his work and even envy the relationships he was allowed to cultivate with those musicians. In this day and age it’s 3 songs and you’re out. If you are lucky enough to get behind the scenes access you are forced to sign over all rights, your first-born and the piece of crap Ford you drive. I will always have fond memories of hanging with Dizzy Gillespie for hours in Georgetown and being serenaded by Aaron Neville as he played the piano at his home. But even then, a flack had given me restrictions on when to raise my camera. My point is, the times have changed.

I would love to hear what others photographers think about this.

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Darkness falls across the land

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

By John Spink/Guest Blogger

Well for the first time in my work life an industry has hinted that I might be getting old. I’m not in denial, nor am I convinced the hint touches reality or anything like that. I haven’t even started to gray yet.

It seems just like always, there’s change going on in our photojournalism world. What else is new? And just like always, we embrace that change and adapt to the new equipment, the new presentations and all the nifty new tools to do it with.

We even change the manner and style we shoot pictures, just so we look like everyone else. I remember a wonderful editor by the name of Ken Paik who graced the faculties of the Missouri workshops for many years telling everyone to back off with that wide angle, stop distorting peoples heads and start choosing other focal lengths. Low and behold, the gospel of Ken has been turned on its head. Not only did Spike Lee begin the revolution, but we now have to enhance it with a pan blur every other picture.

I suppose music managers Brian Epstein, George Martin, Chas Chandler and Quincy Jones all had their ideas of focal lengths and approaches too! And you know, whether you’re with the Fab Four or making a Strat wail or moon walking for the thriller of it – you either can carry a tune or you can’t. I’m sure by now most people are convinced I’m off my rocker but how about you – is your industry giving you subtle hints with brochures about Marietta, Georgia and the address of the Brumby Rocker company?

John Spink is a staff photographer with the Atlanta Journal – Constitution. He began his career as a AP stringer under John Filo in KC during the late 1970’s and was a staffer with the KC Times before coming to Atlanta. I was honored to work with John for a decade in Atlanta.

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Stills vs video

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

By John Hall/Guest blogger

An important part of our existence as photojournalist is understanding fast changing technology and how it influences our ability to make images. Faster ASA film allowed us to record information in light that would not have registered before. We were now able to photograph fast moving images that before would have been a blur. The advances in film speed gave us choices of how we expressed our visions. I remember resistance to faster films. Too much quality loss, too much grain.

Digital cameras have given us even more choices. The ability to see our images instantly could be the most important. It’s likely the next evolution is from digital stills to digital video. The technical ability to pull good still images from the video is already here. Many still photographers are learning to shoot, edit and produce stories for online usage. The Dallas Morning News photo staff is now shooting video for online and pulling stills from the video.

How will these new technical advances influence photojournalist?

What is your plan to learn video and will it help to make better images?

Are you embracing this newest change?

John Hall is director of the state photo center for the Associated Press in DC. He has over 36 years experience as a senior editor and photojournalist. He is actively involved in recruitment and hiring on a local and national basis, with special attention to increased minority involvement. More importantly, John hired me in 1993 at the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

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Here’s to Susan Lovejoy Scott

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Susan & John Boutte

My friend Susan died this morning after a long and courageous battle against cancer. I will miss her.

Why am I writing about her in my blog? It’s because Susan lived for music, loved photography and thoroughly enjoyed life. She was always one of the first faces I would seek on my trips to New Orleans. You would find her at the jazz tent during jazzfest and sometimes wearing TWO brass passes. All the musicians knew her, hugged her and constantly called out her name. Susan was one of them.

Susan is also the main reason one of New Orleans’ brightest stars flourishes today. Susan was a mentor and surrogate mother for budding teenage musician Troy “Trombone Shortly” Andrews, helping him develop into a true gentleman, while guiding him through all of the pitfalls and distractions of everyday life. Always keeping him focused on music. Trombone Shorty matured into Troy Andrews because of Susan Scott.

Susan also embodied New Orleans. She was soulful, colorful, protective, moody, friendly, pensive and never afraid to show her edge. She put me in my place many times.

People came from all over the country to be with Susan during her last days in Atlanta. Throughout her final days and hours she was surrounded by loving family members and friends. We will all miss her.

A beautiful funeral was held in Atlanta for Susan Lovejoy Scott on Thursday, September 6, 2007 at the Murray Brothers Funeral Home. It was the type of service she would have wanted.

A memorial in celebration of her life and spirit will be held Saturday, September 15th at 2:00 PM. The venue has been changed to the Windsor Court Hotel on Gravier and St Peters Street. Followed by a public Second Line leaving the Windsor Court, heading down Charters to Dumaine and Royal. Call 504-412-8965 for additional information.

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