The 1978 Atlanta 500

I found these pictures from a trip to Atlanta Raceway the week before the 1978
Atlanta 500. Would you believe Richard Petty eating a bologna sandwich?
I always enjoyed shooting qualifying days better that the actual race.
You could wander freely through the garage area getting great images of the
drivers mingling with each other, crew members and the camp followers with
VIP passes.

Petty, the Allison's, all the drivers of their day were the coolest, most laid back
open group of celebrity/sports figures to photograph. Just a bunch of good ole boys
who loved to go fast. Redneck heaven.



And speaking of rednecks, here is an image of my friend, self proclaimed
redneck and AP photog Joe Holloway, Jr. Another nice thing about days before
the race, you could visit with other shooters. Notice the pile of Nikon F2's on the table,
along with Joe's often present Leica M3.



Janet Guthrie was running that year. She told us "you better shoot
now because you are not getting pictures after the helmet comes off." The
guys never worried about helmet hair.

Looking Back at 1978

Okay, its Monday morning, and I am not going to work. Gonna take some
getting adjusted to this new life. I will be working soon, but for now
I am taking some time to look back on 37 years of the best job in the world.

I sspent Sunday afternoon looking through old images from 1978. Whoa,
what a year. LOts and lots of Tri-X shot with Nikon F's and F2's.

Here are a couple of images that say 1978, for some odd reason. Maaaybe
my reasoning is odd. Probably the case.




Anyway, how much more 70's can you get than dope busts and Wonder Woman?
The field of marajuana was in Monroe County. I do so love the shot of the
undercover dude and his dope shirt. This shirt is very 70's. Kinda like
Harley shirts today. Didn't have to be smoking dope to wear the shirt.

Wonder Woman aand Bugs Bunny...well what can I say????

I am Moving

I am moving, well a cyber move. My blog will now be at home on our newspaper website
www.macon.com.

I really appreciate all the interest in my blog. It has been a lot of fun to do, another outlet for the passion I have for this wonderful artform. I hope someone has
gotten a little more interested, been inspired and learned a little from my
humble ramblings.

Follow this link to find me

http://www.macon.com/almostinfocus/

Again, thanks for reading.

Y'all come on over.

After 30 Years It Still Grabs You

This was from 30 years ago. The negative sleeve says "Fire On Poplar
Street." The lady's face says it all.

The clothes date the image, but the expression is timeless. Photographs
are like that. The good ones transcend time. All photographs are moments
in time held forever, but some are shortlived, with meaning lasting only for
certain people.

Others have a quality that can still touch someone 30 years later when viewed
for the first time. The top image grabs you while the second just doesn't
have the impact. Same room same day by the same photographer
with the same lens and camera.





The first one is an image of her. She is captured surrounded by her loss.
The viewer relates to her, she is the key.

But what do I konw. I just point Nikons at people.

A Bit of Trivia

Here we go with some more old pictures. Got a combo of some of my favorite things here. You have a dancer, huge windows with nice light, hardwood floors and Tri-X film. Can it get any better? Oh, yes, pushed in Acufine to 1600 ISO.

For those of you too young to have ever dealth with film, let me explain. Tri-X is normally rated at 400 ISO. Want to shoot at a higher shutter speed in low light? You kick up your ISO in increments of 400....so you would go 400 to 800, then 1200, up to 1600.





You shoot your pictures rating the film at 1600 ISO, then compensate when you develope. The normal developer for Tri-X is (or was) D-76. gave nice even tones,
typical development time was 8 minutes at 68 degrees. Time changed as temp went up or down. Warmer developer, less time, cooler meant more time.
To push process your film, you increased the development time by half for each stop(400 to 800 meant you added 4 minutes.)

With each increase in time, you increased the grain in your film, lost shadow detail and blocked up highlites. The more you pushed the worse it got.

So along comes developers like Acufine and Diafine. Acufine was good for 1600 ISO and Diafine was good for 2400ISO. Acufine made nicer negatives, Diafine made more grain and got really contrasty.

So, now you have a good bit of trivia.

Go Figure

Here's a couple of more from the oldies vault. Both are late 1970's
in downtown Macon.

The first is one of the many remakes of Cherry Street, Macon's main
drag. Over the years the street has been redone for various reasons.
This particular one was called the Cherry Street Prominade. The
street was routed around very large planters made with railroad
cross ties. Traffic weaved around them, was to made it nicer to
walk downtown, I guess. Had a nice look, but is now gone forever.





The second one was done a couple of blocks over on Second and Poplar.
While folks wanted more foot traffic on Cherry Street, some of the
businesses complained about people blocking store entrances
waiting for the bus.

Go figure.

Just For Me

Okay folks, here are some pictures I did just for me. The mushroom photo is right by my house. Been looking at them for several days knowing I wanted a picture. This
morning I decided to shoot it, with the sun coming through the trees. Wish the exposure on the sun had been a bit better.



Later in the day I went to photograph Victor Montes and Carmen Velasco. Their's is
a great story. They are co-workers and good friends. Victor needs a kidney, and Carmen is giving one of hers. While I was photographing them, Victor's nephew and niece came in the room eating their ice cream bars. Too good to pass up. If not for this blog, no one would have seen them



The last photo was done today for the Sports folks. Warner Robins High place kicker David Clark. I saw this assignment yesterday and knew what I wanted to shoot. Low angle, pop some flash on him, and shoot a really high shutter speed to darken the sky.

A bit scary having your face that close to the ball being kicked, but what won't we do for a good photo....

I know I said I did these today just for me, but guess what I shoot most days is just for me. That keeps me happy.

The Labor Day Race-1991

After shooting and blogging about the Labor Day Road Race, I dug out some old
transparencies from the 1991 race. Wow. Seems like it was overcast a lot of
Labor Day mornings.

These photos were done at the Hardeman Avenue water location. I always
liked shooting there because of the view back up the hill. It was a good
mid-point to get the leaders, too.



These were shot on Fujichrone 200 film. It was really good color. I would have used
a higher ISO for my available light shots, but started this roll in the dark using flash and a
slow shutter speed. This roll was mostly rejects back in 1991, about a half stop under. Too
dark for our production process back then. We had no way to correct exposure or
color correct. You were stuck with what came out of the camera, and no chimping. No
screen on the back of the camera to see what you did.



The end of the roll, I shot without the flash, and underexposed.

Anyway, take a look, and appreciate today's digital cameras.

Another Labor Day Road Race

I photographed another Labor Day Road Race today. I am not sure how many this makes.
I was talking to Congressman Jim Marshall before the race, and asked him how many he has run. He said he wasn't sure, but it was a lot. Same with me, a lot.

It is much easier now, doing digital. Also much easier shooting since the start is almost in the dark. Back in the old days we had to shoot color slide film, and the fastest we had was ISO 400. Now we just kick our ISO up and shoot what we need. I did get creative with my flash, slowed my ISO down to 200, dropped my shutter seed down low, and let the runners blur. The top image worked out real well, main subjects faces are nice and sharp.

I really like the bottom photo. My flash ran out of juice when I hit this frame, so it is totally available light, no flash to stop the action. Like I said I like the image a bunch, but wish the baby's face was just a bit sharper.

Oh, well....next year.

Creative Lighting

I shot these two photographs during a recent shoot with model
Brogan Flemming. We were on the River Walk in Macon on a
Saturday morning. I was able to get low and let the sun peek
over her shoulder.

I wanted good detail and contrast, so I added some light to
her face and upper body. The flash was to my left and elevated
slightly above her face level. I used a second flash behind
her and to my right. This second light hit the side of her left
leg and back of her right leg to give some seperation from the
background. I shot at a really high shutter speed to darken
the sky and background.



Normally I would not want utility poles and power lines in
my photo, but this time they complimented the fence on the left.
Makes for some cool images.

Cityscapes

Christmas lights on Cherry Street in downtown Macon, 1982. Another couple of
oldies dug out and scanned in. I have always loved downtown Macon, especially
early morning and late at night.

Downtowns are just cool places to photograph. Go vist your local downtown and see
what you can come up with. Compaare the same scenes at different times of day
to see the different possibilities in the same location.

Never was a big Ansel Adams fan, maybe if he had done cityscapes instead of
the desert?

Cool Hats and Mirrors

Here are two more black and white oldies. Two images from a shoot back
in the late 1970's. I thought they were neat. I love old hats and mirrors, combine the two with some sweet natural light, results gotta be kickin.

So, go forth and be creative.

Some Nice Oldies

Here are another couple of oldies. i shot these back in late 1970's, again some
good old Tri-X. There had been a late-night fire in Macon's old industrial area.
Can't remember what the business was that burned.

Anyway, the fire was over but the editors still wanted art for the Macon News(our old afternoon paper.) I got to the scene while the sun was still fairly low in the sky and first shot the vertical shot with the water tank reflecting in the water that had puddled while firefighters were battling the blaze. Fire hoses are still seen in this one, the sun burning through the smoke.

i moved deeper into the scene and found the dramatically leaning roof and rubble. made for an eerie image. Glad I found these.

Photo Editing

I began my day today photographing a retired MH53 Pave Low helicopter
being towed down Georgia Highway 247 past Robins Air Force Base to the Museum of Aviation. The last couple of times I have photographed aircraft being
towed along this route I have shot from road level. This think is so massive I decided to shoot from the Russell Parkway bridge as it came down the road.
This angle shows the way it fills the road and how traffic backs up behind it.

Gary Harmon had the same idea, and we were grabbing our equipment out of our cars when we were approached by a base law enforcement type who wanted to make sure we were not terrorists photographing the base. Gary has that effect on people. I think he's just a bit too edgy. We proved trustworthy, and waited for the procession to come our way.



My first shots were with the 300mm with a 1.4 extender which gave a lot of magnification and compression to the image. The first image I really liked because of the way the road just seemed to flow. It shows the traffic backed up as well. Only problem you have to look really hard to find the helicopter.

I chose the second photo instead because the copter really jumps out, and shows how huge the thing is. Shows the traffic good as well.

I did the last image with the 15mm. It is a cool photo, very interesting look. Only thing the 15mm spreads everything out so much that it is deceiving. Looks like traffic is flowing along as usual.

So for the newspaper, it is not always the photo you like the best, but what will tell the story the best.

If I Had A Hammer........

I went to Robins Air Force Base this morning for the second day of historic flights. Yesterday an F-15 flew at more than twice the speed of sound using a synthetic fuel. Today was the second day of flights.

I was early enough to get some shots of the F-15 being loaded with fuel, made some nice art. We waited for a couple of hours as the aircraft was readied for flight. I was steadily shooting.



The pilots of the history making F-15 and the chase plane arrived, and finally boarded the aircraft. A writer for Jane's News was accompanying the pilot in the chase plane. She posed briefly as she boarded her F-15, then the birds were fired up. The ground grew went through their preflight checks and a group lingered under the wing of our history making plane.

One guy leaves the group and goes into a nearby hanger, returning with a large hammer. I thought "surely he's not going to....." but before I could finish my thought, he was hammering on the aircraft. Guess this is standard procedure.

Seems a valve had stuck, totally unrelated to the synthetic fuel. The flight was delayed for several hours to find a bigger hammer. I had to leave.

Glad I got this photo, cause the first time I told this story, folks thought I was making it up. This picture is a keeper.

Possum On The Half Shell.....

I have always loved this photo, the perfect Monday morning image. Some years ago before I stopped drinking, I could really relate. Anyway, you know the story by now, I was going through this box of negatives and.......

This was back in 1994, armadillos were just beginning to come this far north. Our managing editors Barbara Stinson and Ron Woodgeard had been been in heated discussion about the migration of these phantoms of the highway. Stinson clamed to have seen them around and Woodgeard said no way. Well, Barbara asked that I photograph one of these possums on the half shell to settle the argument.

Bill Boyd, my son Thomas and I were on a roadtrip to Albany and found this one feet up along Highway 300 between Cordele and Albany. We stopped and I commenced to photographing Armadillo. I made a couple of color 11x14's,Barbara won her bet, and I had a photograph to cherish forever. Always makes me think fondly of Boyd and Thomas.

And why don't you ever see a live armadillo on the road?

The D3 For Sports

I shot my first high school football of the year last night, Warner Robins and Peach County had a scrimmage game. Also the first sports I have had the chance to shoot with the Nikon D3. WOW...

I know you have heard me rave about the D3 before. It is an awesome camera, full frame, shoots incredibly high ISO's while producing wonderful color. What more could you want? How about some killer autofocus?



Man, if you get the lens on it, it is in focus. I like tight football. I got it. The first one was a pass play, No problem. How many times have I been in the perfect place, followed the ball into the receiver, and had a great out of focus image because the autofocus didn't get there when the ball did? Too often to count. Not with this puppy.



Fast enough to get both ends of a pass play. I shot Peach quarterback Patrick Taylor unloading the ball, stayed on him until he was hit by Warner Robins linebacker Sam Hvizdzak, and was able to get the ball reaching the receiver downfield.



Another nice thing with the D3, you change lenses less. I was shooting with the 300mm and a 1.4x. Instead of changing the lens, I just went back and forth with the image area between 24x36 and DX format.

The finder is really clear and bright, and the camera is so well balanced with a wide angle or a long telephoto. 37 years of shooting high school football, and this is the BOMB.

Nikon, you did it right.

Making Dramatic Portraits

So often when doing pictures of people, we forget that we can really cook up some cool images by incorporating the environment, making what has potential to be a distracting background an advantage.

I shot these photos this past weekend while working with Brogan Flemming. We were at one of the coolest places to shoot in downtown Macon, one of my favorites anyway. I began by placing her against the rail, using the stairs behind her as background. I shot these using off camera flash so I could let the background go a bit darker.

The first picture was with a telephoto so she was isolated, and the background consisted only as interesting patterns. A nice portrait with shallow depth of field. Brogan really stands out.

I swapped the telephoto for my wide angle and moved in closer using the lines in the background. The second photo was with a 24mm lens. The lines have a nice flow to them, and the photo has a lot of depth, but no distortion. The lighting and background make for a dramatic image.



The third image I really got dramatic. I went to the 15mm lens to have some distortion, but used it to my advantage. I went to a really low angle of view, cranked the camera sideways, and Voila....we really have a eye catching photograph



So, take a look at your backgrounds, not just to be sure you don't have tree limbs growing from your subject's head. And don't be afraid to shoot with a wide angle. Just don't make 'em look like freaks.

One Old Bird to Another......

Yesterday afternoon I went to Robins Air Force Base to photograph an MH-53M Pave Low helicopter that was being delivered to the Museum of Aviation for display. This aircraft began its flying career the same year I started working at the Telegraph. H'mmm, does that mean I am museum ready, too? Our photo opportunity was out on the flight line where two helicopters sat. One was to be donated to the museum, the other was to carry the flight crew back to Florida.



The donated chopper was to take some base employees on a short flight. I started photographing as the crew prepared for the flight. Pretty bland stuff, when you photograph a helicopter at a normal daylight shutter speed, you stop the rotor blades. I wanted to have some movement in the blades, so I dropped my ISO to 200, which is as low as my camera will go. That allowed me to shoot at 1/80 second and have some motion in the blades. Any slower and I would have washed out the image through overexposure.





I got the shot of the crewman taking the fire extinguisher out on the ramp, and then tried some tight shots of the blades. Made a kinda cool image.

When they took off I was afraid to shoot so slow, and kicked the shutter speed back up. I had noticed the C-5's out on the ramp, and was hoping the helicopter would fly low enough over them to shoot it between their tails. Worked out okay.

Too bad I didn't get a ride.

What??? Again.....

This week has brought up the old question of "How do you shoot the same event over and over and not get bored to death?" I shot the first day of school in Houston County Monday, and in Peach County today.



I guess if I let myself I could look at it like "Here we go again" but to me its another day, different people, and each minute something else is happening, and I am going to try to find a unique little slice of time to record. I just love what I do.

I went to Hunt Primary early this morning and found this Back To School sign soon after arriving. I really wanted a photo with the sign. I held the camera up as high as I could to make it dominate the frame, and tried to make it work with the doorway to a classroom. It never did work out, so I waited until I had some folks walking down the hallway. It was okay.



I went back to the main entrance where school staff were gathered to greet parents and students and help them find their way. I photographed Principal Chip Messer with this first grader. Great expression, nice moment. When Dr. Messer led the boy down the hall I followed, shooting from behind with my wide angle. They stopped outside a classroom and Dr. Messer leaned in and I got this really nice frame.

The first image is really nice, like I said the expression on the kid's face is wonderful. The second shot is my favorite image of the shoot, probably for the week so far. You can feel the first grader's apprehension. The light spilling out of the classroom separates them from the background. It just works.

Getting images like this are what motivates me, makes me so eager to shoot the "same assignments" over and over. Just anticipating what I am gonna get next time. The challenge of trying to it a little better. That's what keeps me going.