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noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:57:00 +0000

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Dwayne Coleman Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:43:00 +0000

When I first started this blog nearly a year ago, I made a promise to myself that I'd focus (pun totally intended) on each of the professions that I regularly work in, those being photography, video production, and lighting design for live audiences. As luck would have it, most if not all of the entries that have ended up here have been strictly about my photography gigs. I suppose this is because photography inherently supports visual discussion after the fact. You are left with an automatic record of the process with photography gigs because photography IS the process. When I'm doing a stage lighting gig, for example, I have to remember to bring a camera along, and force myself to stop working and shoot photos of the process. Usually, I have neither the time nor the energy to pull this off with any great level of detail.

Video production is a little easier to share here. Again, there's a camera (albeit motion pictures) involved by default, and I usually shoot stills with my SLR camera on-set quite a bit. Not only do I use digital stills on video shoots to document our set-ups, but I also use the SLR as a rough light and color meter. Shooting a quick photo and "chimping" what the light looks like on the SLR's screen allows me to fine-tune things before setting up the larger, bulkier video camera. The music video shoot I did last month for gospel artist Dwayne Coleman last month was no exception. As director of photography, camera operator, and editor, I shot lots of photos both for myself on the technical end as well as to share with you here.

West Side Theatre Guild Film Works and director Mark Spencer, whom I've worked with behind the camera since the summer of 2003, approached me at the beginning of March with their idea for the video shoot. There wasn't much, if any, budget to work with, and the scheduling window was pretty tight. We began shooting a little over a week after first sitting down at the table to discuss specifics like locations, a treatment (the story outline of the video), and deadline for the final edit, which ended up being less than three weeks after we wrapped shooting. As always, I was up for the challenge and even collaborated with the director a bit on the treatment (I came up with the homeless people idea you'll see later in the finished product).

The song for the video, Zion (written by the artist), deals with some of the negative issues surrounding the modern church, such as people losing touch with the true message of God and christianity. Using this as a stepping stone, Spencer decided to play most of the video's performance with Dwayne in a large, abandoned church, Gary's City Methodist. The church is a hot-spot for urban explorers and photographers, and was recently featured on an episode of The History Channel's Life After People:

Built in 1925, City Methodist served nearly 3000 parishioners at its peak. By the late 1970's, attendance had fallen to 300 or so, and the church could no longer afford to stay open. The building exchanged hands a few times after the church disbanded, and was finally left in the late 70's to begin the process of decay which continues to ravage the complex today.

City Methodist is a very dangerous place for a few reasons. The structure is extremely unstable - and that's putting it mildly. More than once during our day-long shoot in the sanctuary, myself and fellow crew members were literally rained down upon by bricks and plaster, knocked down from 60' high ledges by pigeons, of all things! Large holes fill the sanctuary floor which used to be covered with ventilation grates, removed long ago by scrap metal looters.

The little that remains of City Methodist's choir loft, most of it having caved into the sanctuary below.

The other danger for us artists in City Methodist is the sheer beauty and awesomeness which remains even in the building's state of decay. One could literally stroll through the sanctuary and adjoining school complex with a camera for days, photographing every decaying nuance still left after so many years of neglect. As I and other crew members fascinated with this building can attest, it's extremely hard to stay on task and get work done in this visually stunning gem!

This window contains some of the last surviving stained glass in the entire complex.

We started our day at City Methodist by loading in our 5000 watt generator to power the audio playback rig for the talent, a JBL Eon powered monitor speaker / CD deck, as well as providing power to jib operator Tom Szklarski's rig (more on this later). The generator would also provide power to a few hot lights and Kino Flos I bought along in incase I needed any fill.

The piano which Dwayne would play at the center of the sanctuary (pictured at the top of this entry) was brought in by our crew members the day before the shoot. We were supposed to have a black baby-grand piano, but the difficulty in getting it into the extremely unlevel and unstable structure caused us to go with a smaller, upright piano which was donated to us just for the shoot (meaning that it could be damaged on its way in). We considered using an actual, ruined piano that we found on-site near the altar, but the condition was far too bad to appear playable (we wanted to see Dwayne's fingers on the piano keys, and the church piano's keys were almost all missing).

This piano we discovered in the sanctuary would have matched its surroundings perfectly, but was too far-gone for us to use.

While Tom was setting up his jib in the sanctuary, and after about 30 minutes of exploring the church's pitch-black boiler room, we headed to the alley behind the church to begin filming our actors portraying homeless people. Throughout the video, we are introduced to homeless people surrounding the church who eventually join Dwayne and the singers in the sanctuary. Actress and guild member Derricka Johnson was our first victim, wrapped in a pink blanket lying on the cold, alley blacktop.

Assistant director Rashaad Cherry (right) and first assistant camera Michael Hilmes (center) prep for a shot with actress Derricka Johnson (left).

We used a dolly with track to smoothly move the camera from left to right to reveal Derricka's face, and used a regular box-fan (powered off the generator) to blow pieces of newspaper through the frame, selling the illusion of harsh, cold wind. Though the camera dolly itself is equipped with large, air-filled tires, most surfaces are still too bumpy to use these tires for our moves. 99% of the time, our dolly rides on stainless steel tracks and special adaptors that use actual skateboard wheels to achieve buttery-smooth moves. Also, as we are not equipped with a "hi hat" to mount the camera low on the dolly, I usually have to improvise for low shots such as this one. You can see in the photo above that the camera is simply being propped up and leveled on the dolly floor with wood wedges and shot bags!

Director of photography Guy Rhodes eyes focus distance marks on a lens while setting up a shot using a Panasonic SDX-900.

While we're on the topic of cameras, let's discuss how this piece was shot. We used a Panasonic SDX-900 camera, which is a 2/3rd inch 3-chip digital video camera. We used it in 24p mode (which emulates the look of a motion picture camera) and shot in the camera's native 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing for greater compatibility with HD television as well as internet sites like Youtube which are switching over to 16:9 as a default. I used a Canon zoom lens for the entire piece, a 6.5mm-12X. We recorded in DVCPRO50 format, which yields a higher color sampling rate than regular DV video. This allows for more control later in color correction. With DVCPRO50, I can underexpose by as much as 2 stops in-camera and bring things up later in color correction without the image falling apart - it's quite impressive.

When we returned to the sanctuary, diesel exhaust from school busses idling across the street filled the room with visible shafts of sunlight. It made me wish I had remembered to bring our hazer; we could have created this effect the entire time! D'oh!

Jib operator Tom Szklarski operates his rig during a take.

After getting all of our homeless shots and church exteriors, we headed back into the sanctuary to begin our performance shots with Tom, our jib operator. The jib is simply a large, counterweighted arm (ours was around 25' long) which allows the camera to swoop up and over the performance area. The camera mounts to a platform at the end of the jib which remotely pans and tilts at continuously variable speeds. The jib operator also has the ability to control focus, iris (aperture), and record start / stop from the base of the jib. The frame is viewed on a monitor attached near the pedestal of the jib. During jib takes, this was the only monitor we had, so often times director Mark and I would be sidestepping / dancing alongside Tom as he did his moves with our heads craning into the monitor to see what we were getting.

A monitor at the end of the jib allows the operator and nervous directors of photography to see the shot as it's being recorded.

I must take a moment to emphasize how much skill it takes to operate a jib as well as Tom and some of the other operators we work with. The rig is very physically demanding. For instance, when the camera is at its highest possible position, the operator is often crouched into a ball near the floor holding the controls with his head looking straight up up into the monitor. A lot of back and knee pain after an eight hour day? You bet! Hand eye coordination is also highly important. When the jib arm moves down, the camera must often be tilted up simultaneously with a joystick near the operator's hand to maintain ideal composition. I've had several operators allow me to try moves on jibs at our shoots during idle moments, and I can tell you personally that it's VERY hard to do well.

Over the next two hours or so, we did around seventeen complete takes of the four minute song on the jib, with director Mark and I briefing Tom on what I wanted to cover. We did several wide takes, one take wide from above, several takes medium and close of just Dwanye, a few takes of the background singers and homeless people entering. We also did several "freestyle" takes where we asked Tom to improvise and move the jib in creative ways.

Once we were satisfied with our jib shots, I put the camera back on the tripod and moved in to get a few very close takes of Dwayne, as well as coverage of his fingers playing the piano. I ended up with a really cool image from these takes (which begins the first verse of the video), that of Dwayne's breath leaving his mouth as he sang backlit by the sanctuary's large, gold-colored stained glass window. We purposely waited 'til later in the afternoon to shoot in the sanctuary for this very reason. When we scouted it the day before, the gold "magic hour" light was hitting the same window, bathing the sanctuary in warmth. As I mentioned earlier in this entry, because of the large windows and great color, I didn't use a single light at this location. Sometimes it's best to keep it simple and let the location's benefits shine.

Day two of our shoot took us to a local playground where an elderly version of Dwayne, transformed over a two-hour period by Chicago-based makeup artist Nann Zbryski, would be jumped by some thugs for his groceries. As Dwayne's character tries to get things together, a girl skips over and helps Dwayne pick up his spilled fruit. We also shot a few takes of Dwayne performing the song at this location, again, using the camera dolly to keep things moving and vibrant.

The playground ended up being my least favorite setup of the entire project due to the lighting. Because of scheduling, we were forced to shoot around high-noon which, even in April, gives us very harsh, unflattering light in the Midwest. Even with several 4x4 silver reflectors and bounce cards, the light still ended up looking pretty crummy to me. The location was also wrought with poles and wires in the background which I couldn't really throw out of focus as much as I would have liked (exposing some of the limitations of a 2/3rd inch chip video camera, even with ND filters in and the iris wide-open).

Artist Dwayne Coleman channels his inner-mime for a take on-set at West Side Theater.

After wrapping at the playground, we move to the theater guild's large, proscenium stage. Makeup artist Nann transformed Dwayne yet again, this time into a white-faced mime. I must say when Dwayne came down from makeup as the mime, it was a little disconcerting. What was even funnier was that Dwayne had to run home to get a shirt he needed for the scene, driving across much of Gary, Indiana, in full mime face. Yes, he got several odd stares on the way.

Assistant director Rashaad Cherry rigged up actual makeup mirror light bulbs onto a table that Dwayne would sit at for the shot, appearing to apply his face paint as he sang. The bulbs would surround a "mirror" which we'd leave open, allowing the camera on the dolly to actually push through the frame of bulbs. I let these bulbs alone light Dwayne's face, running them down to about 75% on a hand-dimmer. I backlit Dwayne from opposing rear 45 degree angles with 2 Source 4 26° profiles with blue gels, using the shutters in the fixtures to cut the light off the camera and light only Dwayne. The mime performances ended up being some of the most dynamic of our entire shoot.

Here, you can see the dolly tracks that allowed the camera to push through the "mirror" opening. Note the can of Pledge furniture polish on the dolly, which we use to make the dolly wheels roll even smoother than they already do, and to stop any wheel squeaks or roughness.

Day three began with performance shots at Marquette Park Beach on Lake Michigan.

Day three, our last day of shooting, took us to Marquette Park Beach on Lake Michigan, where assistant director Rashaad and first assistant camera Michael Hilmes spent three hours building an elaborate sand-fort for Dwayne to sit in and perform, complete with army men and tanks. After shooting a few performance shots of just Dwayne on the beach without the fort, we moved in to the fort area when the light was nice.

Dwayne and his sand fort, which took nearly three hours to construct.

This didn't get nearly enough screen time in the video, so I'm giving it some more love here. Note the toothpick staircase that allows the soldiers to reach the top of their lookout tower!

Just as we began shooting Dwayne in the fort, with the sun quickly setting, the batteries in the boom-box which we were using for playback began to die in the cold, causing the playback track to skip - a nightmare for both Dwayne's performance on camera as well as my sync'ing during editing later. We all banded together and quickly swapped batteries, slightly improving the skipping problem but not eliminating it. You gotta roll with the punches doing these kinds of projects, and this was just such a test! We finished up at the beach getting some b-roll of Dwayne walking away from and towards the sunset, using a variety of "hard" filters in front of the camera lens to enhance the colors in the sky.

Why is it skipping? Are these batteries the new ones or the old ones we just took out???

Director Mark Spencer (left) tosses chunks of bread into the air to attract seagulls to our frame and Dwayne along the water. You can see a piece of bread fly through the frame during the final cut of the video if you look closely!

First assistant camera Michael Hilmes diligently packs camera equipment following the shoot.

Our last setup of the day and the video as a whole, ironically enough, was cut from the video altogether in editing. Given our limited budget, it's extremely wasteful for us to do a set-up and not use it at all, but after showing a few trusted colleagues as well as average viewers my rough cut, it was determined the scene just didn't fit in with the rest of the video's vibe. The scene was supposed to portray Jesus Christ by a campfire being led away for crucifixion. It was the only scene I spent any degree of time lighting, and I was fairly happy with the way it turned out, visually at least. Oh well, it was good practice.

The "Jesus Tree" scene, as it became affectionately known throughout the edit, was cut from the final version of the video. The trees in the background are nearly 400' away, and required as much power cable in order to light them.

The actor sleeping on the ground near the campfire is being lit with my Ford Escape's headlights (at right, above). I taped cuts of color correction gel over the headlights to cool them down and make them appear more like moonlight. I've used this trick on locations with limited power several times.

Going into the edit, I had a little less than four hours of footage (most of it very usable) to cut down into a four-minute video. While this might seem daunting to someone just getting into video, it's actually pretty normal for us. I've edited 90 minute feature films that had 48 HOURS of raw tape going in. I captured all the footage from Dwayne's video in full DVCPRO50 quality into Final Cut Pro, where I split it up into sub-clips based on location and content.

Click this image for a large screen-capture of my Final Cut Pro layout during the editing of the music video, which I explain below.

As for syncing all the performances with the mastered audio track of the song, I use a fairly straight-forward technique. Most seasoned pro's are shocked to find out that I don't use timecode to sync things on muli-cam shoots, or shoots that need to be sync'ed to audio, like this one. When we're on location shooting, I record a "scratch track" using the on camera microphone as it picks up the playback from the boom box that the artist is lip-syncing to. In post, I simply lay a take with its scratch audio track under the final master audio track. I sync the two together by ear, and confirm things are in sync visually via the waveforms as well as on screen. Once I've snyc'ed a take, I delete the scratch audio track only from that take, leaving the video track in place. I create a new video track above that one, and continue sync'ing all my additional performance takes with the master audio.

Dwayne's video left me with 19 or so sync'ed tracks on top of each other. To begin cutting, I drag all the tracks' in points to the right, and then begin pulling them over to the left to my edit point one by one until I find a shot I like. I use the blade tool to cut that track where I want the shot the end, and then continue on and on like this. Pink "markers" flag interesting shots or moments within each take, which I mark ahead of time when I'm reviewing my footage, much like tagging photos in Photomechanic. Green markers above my sequence mark the different parts of the song (intro, verse, chorus etc.) so I can keep an eye on pacing as I go. Once the director approves the cut and picture is "locked", I merge the tracks into one, where I proceed with color correction and effects. From there, it's ready to be printed back to DVCPRO50 tape for mastering, as well as being compressed for Youtube and DVD distribution.

If you've made it to the end of this blog without skimming, congratulations! I hope you enjoyed a little insight into what I do outside of the photo world I've shared with you over the past year. Ready for the finished product? Without further adieu, Dwayne Coleman's Zion:

Catching The Next Wave

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:47:00 +0000

If there's one thing that pains my ear drums more than anything else, it's when photographers complain about being stuck in a creative rut. After all, most of us have been blessed to be involved in a career that also happens to be our life's passion. Hearing colleagues complain and rant about a creative art form we're all supposed to be jazzed about doing can be quite annoying.

So, when I hit my own photo slump late this winter, I kept it quiet for the most part. I only told a few people about how I felt as if I was "phoning it in" at assignment after assignment. Sure, I was shooting photos that were good for the newspaper's needs, but certainly not anything that was showcasing my personal eye for things. The events I was photographing were, for the most part, things where people were hardly doing anything, if at all. They were assignments full of people sitting around at tables, or staring at someone talking blankly in front of a Powerpoint screen. No matter how much I tried to work these situations, sometimes staying for an hour or more, the visuals just weren't there.

Here's one of my gems from "one of those" assignments a few weekends ago. Is this image what the paper needed to tell the story? Yes. Clip winner? Doubtful. Personal vision exercised? Disappointingly, no.

Not only did I keep my slump quiet for fear of violating my own disdain for others' rants, but in an era where many photographers are struggling to find any work at all, I was happy to be getting regular freelance assignments. To dig my photo slump even deeper, a big increase in work on the video and stage lighting design end for me early this year left my still game really out of practice.

Braving a steady, biting northwest wind, Scott Bort pressured me into shooting surfers on Lake Michigan with him last Sunday, and I'm glad I went.

While at the lake, Bort shoots me shooting water jetting into the air as 8' waves pound the end of a pier we were using to get different angles of the surf action. (Photo by Bort).

Out on the water, surfers were enjoying some of the best conditions so far in 2009 after a very long, iced-over winter.

A welcome relief came on Sunday when my friend Scott Bort called me up and told me he'd be out at the lake front shooting surfers and invited me along. I started shooting lakesurf back in 2004, and whenever conditions are favorable, I make the trip out to one of several hot surf spots along the lake's southern shore. The tight-knit local surf community has learned who I am by my often wind-tattered hair flapping around over my large white 400mm lens over the years, and its members usually welcome me to a session with a warm smile or respectful head-nod. Many of them have even supported me by purchasing prints of my work.

Even though I've shot surfing countless times over the past five years, and even though many photos from session to session have a similar vibe, the surf photo op. on its own isn't what really draws me to the lakefront. There's just something soothing about being out there for a few hours on the edge of nature's awesome display. Having a visually engaging subject matter doesn't hurt either!

Sunday's waves were especially large for Lake Michigan, cresting as high as eight feet on-shore. Standing at the end of a nearby pier, I could feel the vibration dance through my shoes as the waves pounded the end of the manmade structure. It's a great experience to look out at the waves and see nature moving and shaping the shoreline, for the most part, out of control of human beings, and even putting manmade structures like the pier to the test.

I suppose the waves and the surfers that love them might serve as an interesting metaphor for the lives of us creative types. Sometimes we're at the top of our game, riding the wave and having a blast. Other times we're stuck between sets, waiting to paddle onto the next crest. But we've always got that next wave to look forward to. Even when the water is calm for a while, the waves always return, and they're always pushing us closer and closer to that "shore" of career goals many of us (like myself) set for ourselves as early as middle school.

Riding in the "tube" is common for surfers in most oceans, but not so much on the Great Lakes.

As creative types, we're truly spoiled in a lot of ways. Not only are our "jobs" our life passions, but sometimes the subjects of our work allow us to see deeper within ourselves, and better understand where we're headed in the big picture. I don't know of too many other lines of work where one is afforded such a privilege.

I know when I'm in a slump, it's not too long before the next set of waves is there to ride.

A Thousand Miles Away

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:53:00 +0000

While trudging down Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago last November, after photographing Barack Obama's historic presidential election win and victory celebration in Grant Park, I was already kicking around the possibility of attending and photographing the inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January. With a family member who lives a mile from The Mall, finding a place to stay wasn't an issue, and the solo drive to D.C. from Chicago was something I would have been up for. Though I wouldn't have been credentialed, my plan in D.C. would have played out much like it did on election night in Chicago. I'd concentrate on the people who were there celebrating, and the emotions they'd display as history was made.

Unfortunately for me (fortunately for my bank account), work on the video editing side kept me here in East Chicago for Inauguration Day. I was able to sneak away from that project for a few hours, however, and cover the inauguration with my still cameras for The Post-Tribune. I was assigned a watch party for high schoolers at West Side Theatre in Gary, Indiana. This assignment opened up the doors for some creativity, since I'm also employed at the theater as the house lighting designer.

I text messaged a crew member at the theater the night before and got confirmation that the inauguration would be displayed on the theater's movie screen in front of at least 500 kids. I knew immediately that I'd want to shoot a photo of the large audience with Obama on the screen before them. I knew this would be tricky because, in order for the video projector to be effective, the house lights in the auditorium would be very dim. I needed a way to light the audience and expose for the video image on the screen simultaneously.

A strobe would be my best option for achieving this exposure, and I'd want to mount it directly overhead to accent the kids' hair and shoulders as they viewed the screen. The theater has three light coves over the audience which are accessed via catwalk, and from the center cove, I had a clean angle straight down from which I could mount a strobe. There are several spot lights (ETC 750w Source 4 36° units) at West Side which are focused as audience lights for video shoots that I could have used instead of the strobe, but I was worried that these lights wouldn't be bright enough to shoot with and be able to freeze the video image on the screen at the same time.

Arriving two hours early, I used a Bogen Variable Friction Magic Arm with a Superclamp to mount my Canon 550EX flash pointing straight down from the theater's center light cove, accessed via catwalk. The 550EX was triggered with a Paramount 1/8th inch to shoe mount cord. The shoe mount has a 1/4" thread on the bottom, allowing it to be mounted with the flash to the magic arm. The flash was triggered with Pocket Wizard Plus units. The 550EX head was set manually to half power (1/2), and left on the widest zoom setting.

My first test shot from the audience revealed a few problems. First and foremost, the light from the flash was spilling onto the stage and screen. Halfway up the screen, stage curtains were creating a large shadow. Finally, I noticed the color temperature of the projector lamp was much lower than the daylight setting on my camera's white balance, resulting in a very green image. Time to make some adjustments...

I headed to the theater's lighting storage area and grabbed a small piece of Blackwrap, which is essentially thick, black aluminum foil (it also goes by the name Cinefoil). I took it up the catwalk and, using a small piece of gaff tape, attached the Blackwrap to the front of the flash head, effectively creating a "barn door" which cut the light completely off the stage and screen. I also set my camera's white balance to Kelvin, and fooled with some color temperatures until I found a happy medium between the blueish flash color and the greenish projector lamp (it ended up being 3800K).

Even though I knew this would look terrible, I did another test-shot of student crew member Darnell just to see how the flash would look on audience member's faces. Of course, the straight-up toplight left Darnell's face completely in shadow. But, this test shot let me know for sure that using the flash from this angle wasn't an option once the kids got in there. Owning only one flash, and not wanting to touch my rigging above people's heads while they occupied the seats below me (to possibly retrieve my flash after I got my shot and continue using it down below), I'd have to shoot the screening front-on with available light.

Once again, (already pictured at the top of this entry) the final image during Obama's speech using the overhead flash. At first I wasn't too hot on English teacher Odis Richardson standing in the middle of the aisle, but the more I worked the frame, the more I started to like the fact that he was there. The newspaper ended up running this photo inside in black and white, cropped to a vertical. Sigh. Hey, I shoot for myself first and foremost, and I was very happy with this image regardless of what the paper did with it.

Gary West Side High School students including Darren Hopkins (foreground, right), 16, give a standing ovation moments after Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the United States. Of course my photo editor would have been very disappointed had I only sent one image of the backs of people's heads from the assignment, so I had to be mindful of capturing faces and emotions as well. Shooting available light on my Canon 1D MarkII's in the dark theater was a challenge. This image was shot at 3200ISO 1/50th @ f2.8. I usually only use 3200ISO on my MarkII's in dire situations, because the resulting noise is very agressive. Using Noise Ninja during the toning process helped to eliminate most of it.

I found the adults in the room to be far more emotional than the students, though during the moment when Barack was sworn in (pictured in the above photo), the room went nuts. Here, Gary West Side High School instructor Nicole Harris sits with students. It was interesting how students, despite a few apathetic faces, were following along with the ceremony as if the people on the screen were actually on the stage before them. Whenever the emcee directed the crowd in Washington to stand, so too did the students watching in Gary.

I shot a few images of people who hung around watching the coverage after most of the other students and teachers left. The few stragglers who couldn't get enough sat transfixed on the screen, silently taking in what they were witnesssing. At left, Gary West Side High School junior Megan Smith, 17, and Gary West Side High School teacher Donnell Smith.

After photographing Mr. Smith and Megan, I put my cameras down and faced the screen, just as Mr. Obama and everyone else in Washington stood for the national anthem. Too often, we as photographers don't get to truly experience the moments we cover (and that might be important to us on a personal level) because we are looking at them through a viewfinder. It's as if we're watching everything on a TV, disconnected - and often - unaffected. Putting my cameras down after my job was done allowed me to connect with the people around me in the theater and really soak in the historic moment, together. It was a very powerful moment indeed, and one that I was glad to have a part of covering, even if the main event was a thousand miles away.

2009 NHL Winter Classic Aerials

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:37:00 +0000

During the month of December, the Chicago media hyped the 2009 Winter Classic hockey game (held outdoors at Wrigley Field) to such a degree that one might have suspected that Jesus Christ Our Lord And Saviour was scheduled to make an appearance sometime during the third period. No joke! Every twenty seconds on some TV channel, there'd be a commercial for or relating to the event. Personally, the media hype didn't affect me. For one, I know Jesus has better things to do than book himself for T.V. face time at a hockey game. Secondly, I'm not a hockey fan at ALL. I've shot stills of ice hockey once and roller hockey a few times. Both experiences (save for the moment during the ice hockey game when these two dudes started fighting) left me drowsy and frustrated at the lack of compelling images to be had.

The players wear veritable space suits, complete with helmets that obstruct most of their facial expressions. The teams chase around a tiny puck which, from 50 feet away, shows up on your camera smaller than those blobs of sensor dust you haven't cleaned off in months. The lighting in these local arenas is usually better suited for cold seafood storage than an athletic event. Strobes or not, the darkness still makes it hard to focus (literally) on the action. On top of all that, both the indoor rinks I shot in smelled like a bath towel unwashed for a week, mixed with the smell from the inside of my year-old tennis shoes that I wear daily, times ten.

Needless to say, I'm somewhat of a hockey Scrooge. I think the only hockey images I've ever enjoyed were shot by Sportsshooter member Robert J. Meyer, and that's because Meyer focuses a lot on things that happen off the rink, the "in-betweens", if you will, of the sport. These images actually make you care about the guys wearing the space suits and firefighter air masks out on the ice.

One of the only memorable moments from my first and only time shooting ice hockey in Dyer, Ind., on April 5, 2008. Please murder me slowly.

Two days before the Winter Classic, on the morning of my 27th birthday, the little light bulb that goes off in my mind when I have an idea glowed a little brighter than usual. I realized that the story with the Winter Classic wasn't the hockey game at all, but rather, the fact that it was the first hockey game to be held at Wrigley Field in the stadium's history. Because I usually excel at features shots at major sporting events, I decided to call a few of the outlets I've shot for in the past and see if I could get a credential to the game for just this purpose. Basically, I was told that everybody and they mamma wanted to shoot the game, and that the already scarce credentials were gone.

The idea light bulb flickered just as I felt a sharp pain in my backside. Something was poking me from my office chair! What's this? Ahh yes! It was all the Christmas and birthday money I'd been sitting on! And, with that, the idea light bulb lit up once again. WIth everybody and they mamma shooting on the ground, where's the one place I could get a unique shot without a credential? You guessed it, from the air! I decided a photo flight would be a wise investment, since I'd own images from a historic Chicago event from a unique angle.

I immediately called Sun Aero Helicopters, the same company I flew with when I shot my September 2008 Northwest Indiana flood aerials. I requested a Robinson R22 once again, which is the cheapest helicopter available at $285 per hour. The man on the phone quickly tried to pitch a $800+ per hour Jet Ranger helicopter to me, because the R22 is unheated and would be very uncomfortable during the 20 minute flight up to Wrigley with the door removed. I informed the clerk that I was crazy, and that I didn't mind braving the cold for the twenty minute flight from Lansing, Ill., to Wrigleyville.

Flying in a helicopter where the doors cannot be removed, or where the windows cannot slide open, is 100% unacceptable for a photo flight, in my opinion. The windows in most aircraft, like cars, have a very slight color cast to them which will greatly affect the color in your images. And, if you plan on shooting with any long glass, the aircraft windows will actually distort the sharpness of your images, much like looking at fish in an aquarium.

Sun Aero's Jet Ranger, along with pilot Rick Bruner. Note how the windows of the helicopter actually appear to be very light blue. Imagine having to shoot photos through these! I sat in the back seat on this side of the ship, and shot through the vent window which slid open.

As my luck would have it, there were no R22 pilots available for New Year's Day. However, Sun Aero made a great counter-offer to me. A previously-scheduled photo flight was headed up to the Winter Classic in the fancy, heated Jet-Ranger, complete with sliding windows. I was offered the extra seat in this ship for the price of the R22 for one hour, since that's all I initially requested. I quickly accepted, and after they made sure it was OK with the other photographer, my time was officially booked.

Fellow photographer Warren near his large, roll-down window opposite from my side of the aircraft. Warren's large window would actually work out to my advantage later in the flight.

I arrived at the airport at 11 a.m. on New Years Day and met Warren, the other photographer who'd be flying and shooting with me, as well as our pilot Rick Bruner. Bruner is retired from many years of police aviation, and now flies for private clients and large events across the country. We headed into the hangar to have a look at the Jet Ranger. Since Warren had booked the flight first, he'd sit in the back seat on the side of the ship that had a large, roll-down window, just like a car. I took the opposite back seat, which had a vent window that slid open just wide enough for me to get my lens and camera body through.

Approaching downtown Chicago over the Dan Ryan Expressway. I was struck with how muted and gray the color pallette is from the air during wintertime in Chicago.

We took off just before noon and headed for downtown Chicago. I shot a lot of stock photos of seemingly average things on the way there. With nearly $5.00 per minute of my personal money flying by, I wasn't about to waste any opportunity to shoot aerial stock for myself. When we made it over downtown, I had around twenty additional minutes to do just this. We had to hold to the South of Wrigley Field to allow an F-18 flyover at the start of the game to clear the area, which took forever (gotta love television). I had a chance to shoot the skyline from many angles, as well as the annual Polar Bear plunge, where crazies take a swim in the cold lake water.

Crazies swim in Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach in Chicago during the annual Polar Bear Plunge.

Empty boat slips and ice dot the water in Burnham Harbor in Chicago. The delay caused by the F-18 flyover allowed me to shoot some interesting, abstract stuff.

When we were finally OK to enter the airspace over Wrigley, the 20-knot wind gusts we'd been flying in became much more pronounced, with the helicopter twisting and dipping quite a bit. While mildly unnerving, I never felt queazy or ill during the twisty ride, which I'm grateful for since I enjoy aerial photography so much. I should also briefly mention that our ability to fly directly over Wrigley Field while a game was in progress was very unique. Normally, for Major League Baseball games, a temporary flight restriction, or TFR, is put in place, meaning aircraft cannot come within three nautical miles of the stadium without prior (and I mean far, far prior) permission from the venue and Homeland Security. Because this event was sponsored by the NHL, which usually plays indoors, no TFR was in effect.

Directly overhead, sans TFR.

Once over Wrigley, pilot Rick skillfully put the ship in place to allow Warren and myself to accomplish the shots we'd planned out at the FBO before our flight. My shots included an overall of the stadium with the skyline in the background, a direct tight overhead of just the rink itself, as well as any general shots of the stadium and surrounding neighborhood.

I made it a point to juxtapose the familiar features of Wrigley Field, such as the decorative iron work on the lights and the famous scoreboard, with the hockey rink setup whenever I could.

Pilot Rick circled around the stadium in a steep bank, allowing us to shoot straight down out of our open windows. He'd circle a few times on Warren's side, then turn around and circle a few times on my side. Warren's large window worked out well because, when circling on his side, I was able to shoot over his shoulder out of the open window with my 70-200, whereas he couldn't do the same on my side because my open window was much smaller. So, in the end, I really ended up in the best seat in the ship and got to accomplish all the images I had in mind.

This was the main angle I had in mind when I set out on this photo flight, only I was banking on sunlight skirting across the rink as there'd been in previous days during team practices. This would have created very long, abstract shadows all over the place, which would have looked great from this angle. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered weather control yet, so with overcast skies in place, I had to settle for this.

Another overhead angle, this time a bit further away to incorporate the red Wrigley Field sign.

In addition to the stadium features, I tried to fit as much of the crowd in with the rink as I could. Composing this was difficult, since much of the "field" around the rink was composed of dead white space from snow which was created for the event.

Hurry! The pilot says it's time to head back! Think of a different way to compose the same thing you've already shot ten times!

Directly overhead, this time flipped around looking towards "home plate."

After circling Wrigley a few more times, we headed back to Lansing Airport where I immediately filed several images. Hopefully a few publications will be interested in these, but really, sales would be the icing on the cake for what ended up being a very fun self-birthday-present of a day.

A gloomy January Chicago skyline on the way back to Lansing Airport.

Pilot Rick, also a huge Blackhawks fan, really enjoyed this mission.

Icy East Chicago Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:38:00 +0000

Chicago-area drivers and pedestrians alike struggled to control their travel on the morning of December 26, 2008, after a "flash freeze" covered the area in a slick layer of ice. I shot video of the event at the intersection of Indianapolis Blvd. and 143rd Street in East Chicago, Indiana, between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Normally I shoot stills exclusively during big news events, but this was one situation where I felt video told the story a lot better.

By far my favorite subjects are the man and woman in the green car who start things off by getting stuck in the middle of the intersection. After failed requests for help from the car behind them ("Tap us!"), the driver exits the car *while it is still in drive* to throw salt under the wheels. Only in EC.

You'll note some intermittent audio drop-outs in the clip. When I first headed outside to start shooting, I slipped and fell pretty hard, taking my camera down with me. Despite my best reflex-driven efforts to get the camera up in the air as I fell (because camera equipment supersedes personal safety), it took a hit on the sidewalk. I think I misaligned something in the tape transport in the process, lovely.

Yes They Did, I Was There

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:11:00 +0000

For the second time in four days, I photographed history, and had a great time while I was at it. A few weeks ago, when I heard Barack Obama was holding an election night rally in Chicago's Grant Park, I immediately knew I'd be attending with cameras in hand. After all, I'd be silly to stay at home and not photograph such a historic event on my home turf.

After spending the first part of Election Day cranking out lackluster photos of people casting ballots at a polling place, I jumped on the South Shore train and headed downtown. I decided that the train was my best option, since the city had major parking bans in place for most of the area near the park. Plus, whenever a large event like this happens in Chicago, you can count on a traffic jam of panic-attack inducing proportions.

The train proved to be a good idea from a photo standpoint as well, as the entire thing was filled with other Northwest Indiana residents headed to the rally. The paper I was shooting for, The Post-Tribune, specially asked me for images of Indiana residents. I'd made friends with a group from Hammond early on, and asked if I could hang out with them for a while on the train as well as when we arrived in Chicago. My favorite image came about halfway through the train ride, when a member of the group was juggling two cell phones to check election results, and shouting them out to the entire train car.

23-year-old Lela Thompson (center) of Hammond, Ind., juggles cell phones to keep track of election results as her mother Beverly Jefferson (right), also of Hammond, Tammi Meriel (left) of Gary, Ind., and friend Shacauntae Spencer (also of Gary), look on while riding the South Shore train to Chicago to attend the Barack Obama election night rally in Chicago's Grant Park.

Arriving downtown, I was immediately in awe of the amount of people that had come out. A sea of heads broken with the occasional floating American flag or Obama sign stretched far into the distance in almost all directions. I jumped right in and went with the flow down Congress Parkway, eventually ending up in the North end of Grant Park, where those without tickets to the official rally were being directed. While I had a credential to the rally, I wanted to check out this area first, as I knew there'd be lots of great energy. I wasn't let down.

A quick self-portrait in the mass of revelers filling Grant Park.

(From left) Ian Smith of Louisville, Ky., shares a tree in Chicago's Grant Park to get a better view of CNN on a large video screen with 16-year-old Shelley Brosnan, her brother Conor Brosnan, 14, and sister Nora Brosnan, 14, all of Park Ridge, Ill., during an election night rally for Barack Obama held in Grant Park in Chicago.

In several corners of the park, people jostled for the best view of several large LED video screens which displayed live CNN coverage of the election. Loudspeakers beamed audio of the broadcast throughout the park. Some people even climbed into trees for a better view. Each time a projection for a state was announced, the crowd would wildly cheer if Obama had won it, or loudly boo if it went to McCain. On Jackson Blvd., two of these LED video screens were set up at each end of the park, and thousands of people sat in the middle of the street, as if at home in their living rooms, glued to the unfolding election results.

(From left) Kyle Anderson, 22, of Chicago, watches a large video screen set up on Jackson Blvd. with Bryan Dowling, 25, of Fond Du Lac Wis., Jessica Alvarado, 20, Gerardo Galvin, 22, and Dan Levine, 22, all of Chicago, during an election night rally for Barack Obama held in Grant Park in Chicago.

When Obama's victory was announced, the positive mood and love in Grant Park was palpable. Strangers of all races danced and hugged each other. I even got a hug from an African-American woman with a hand full of American flags, who was in tears. I've never been in such a large mass of people and felt totally at ease and positive.

People celebrate in Chicago's Grant Park shortly after Obama's victory was announced. The woman to the right, Jackie Robinson of Dolton, Ill., hugged me as tears streamed down her face.

With Obama's victory speech nearing at the South end of the park, where the credential area was, I decided to hustle to that area to try and get a few images of the speech. From where I was (Jackson and Columbus), this meant an eight block walk with roughly thirty pounds of camera gear. I made it to the general media area just in time to get through security and set up for my view of other photographer's backs five-deep on 6 foot ladders!

While I was going through the security screening at the speech area, a Secret Service officer thoroughly screened ALL my gear, even snapping this photo with one of my cameras to verify that it actually was a camera.

If you had a general media credential, and you didn't remember to bring your newly-purchased Little Giant ladder, this was your view of Mr. Obama's speech.

The one image of Obama I did manage to get through a small opening in another riser, also blocking our view, is slightly soft because Obama is seen through bulletproof glass which flanked him on either side of the podium. Kind of like trying to photograph fish in a tank at a very oblique angle, they get distorted.

I was able to get one image of Obama through a small opening in another riser (the riser for photo outlets that paid over $1000 for access) which also blocked our view. Despite not having a clean image of Obama, I was happy to just be there and to be part of history. And, getting to see the media circus at a global event such as this was fun in and of itself. There were crews there from ALL across the world, and also a few local guys as well. I saw my friend Mark Sofil, a jib camera operator who I've used on several film shoots, at the rally with his rig. He was jib'bing for the national pool broadcast provided by ABC News. So, if you saw a shot of the rally on TV that looked like it was flying through the air, chances are it was Mark's.

Chicago-based jib operator (and a nice guy, too) Mark Sofil rocks his jib arm for ABC national news.

The celebration continues after Obama's speech.

Just as I was about to leave the park and head home, I saw 2 women sitting on one of the softball diamonds that dot the area of Grant Park where Obama's speech was held. They were bawling their eyes out and hugging each other, but they were smiling. These were happy tears over months of campaigning and emotions finally coming to and end. It really summed up the evening for me.

Lauren Slone (left) of Park Forest, Ill., embraces her sister Erin Slone following Barack Obama's presidential election night acceptance speech speech in Grant Park in Chicago.

Responsibility to Participate

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:26:00 +0000

(I meant to get these posted sooner, but I've been swamped with video work over the past few days in addition to nursing a cold I caught on the airplane on the way back from Vegas.)

Today marks the first election in history that I've actually cared about, and the first where I'm making it a point to (or felt that I have a responsibility to) participate. So many bad things have happened in this country in the past eight years. I really think its time we get somebody in office with a fresh outlook on things, someone who is in touch with what the majority of the country is concerned about.

On a totally unrelated note (do you guys dig my sarcastic transition?), here are some photos I shot last Friday at Barack Obama's campaign stop and speech at Wicker Memorial Park in Highland, Indiana. They say up to 40,000 people attended the event, and it seemed like everyone and their mamma was there that I knew. I saw a lot of faces from high school that I haven't seen in quite a while, so that was cool. And, of course, I got to see Barack for the first time, and I was definitely star struck. That doesn't happen to me too often, there are few people I idolize or look up to in the media. But, after watching Barack over the past few months, it was cool to photograph him and get within ten feet of who may very well be the next president of the United States.

A sea of people listen to Obama's speech at Wicker Memorial Park in Highland, Ind., last Friday.

The media was almost totally separated from the general attendees at the rally (I think the Obama campaign wanted that way), so I had to get resourceful to get any crowd shots at all. And, once Obama got there, it became a game of sorts to see how many different ways I could photograph the same person within a fifteen minute time span (although Barack's speech lasted 30 minutes, I spent the first 15 waiting for access to the "buffer", the area immediately in front of the podium that secret service officers usher us into four at a time for three minutes per group).

One of my favorite shots was one I got with a larger version of my now famous pole cam I previously wrote about in one of my Talladega entries. Instead of using a monopod, I mounted a 1D MarkII atop my Gitzo microphone boom, allowing me to get the camera around fifteen feet above my head from wherever I wanted. I used my 550EX flash on the camera's hot shoe up top to fill in the crowd immediately in front of me. I again used Pocketwizards to trigger the camera from below. The Post-Tribune ran one of my pole cam shots on the front page (see the clip at the bottom of this entry).

The view from the pole cam.

I'm attending Barack's rally in downtown Chicago later tonight, so stay tuned here for more election photos soon! For now, here are a few more from the Highland rally:

Second Pilgrimage: LDI 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:20:00 +0000

I have to start this entry with an apology. Since starting this blog a few months ago, I've strayed from my initial mission, which was to share some of my adventures in *all* the various fields I work in, be they photo, video, or lighting related. Because the majority of the work I did this summer was of the photo variety, the blog entries reflect this theme. I intend on starting to balance things out more, because I do a lot more than photography, and this entry will get the diversity ball rolling!

Recently, I made my second pilgrimage to LDI 2008 in Las Vegas, a trade show for anything related to live entertainment design. The last time I made the voyage was in 2002, also to Las Vegas, with my friend and fellow lighting designer Mike May. This year I flew solo, mainly because my decision to attend for sure was made on an impulse a little more than a week before the convention opened. My friend and musician Erik Ramirez let me crash on his couch during my stay in Vegas, and even checked out the show floor with me a few times (he was very impressed).

Although lighting product manufacturers dominate the show floor, one can also take a look at new rigging solutions, different drapery and set items, as well as a limited number of sound companies. And, as you'll see in the next blog entry down, one can get great deals when purchasing items on the show floor!

From here, I'll let my photos and captions explain some of my favorite sights from LDI 2008:

On the way to LDI on Paradise Rd., interesting shadows cover the pavement at the entrance and exit to a tunnel that runs under McCarran Airport. The shadows are created by a canopy that covers the street, one that I figure is there to gradually "feather" out light as motorists enter the dark tunnel.

Welcome to the Las Vegas Convention Center, south halls, and LDI 2008!

I love how, upon entering the convention center, you can immediately tell you're entering a convention like no other - one that is darkened and filled with haze!

The show floor this year was much longer than the last time I attended, though there seemed to be less booths.

I headed right over to the ~~High End~~ Barco booth to check out their new offerings, including the Showgun and Showpix (pictured) units. I don't know if it's a sign of my increasing maturity as a designer, but these fixtures don't really excite me. Give me some Studio Beams and X-Spots and I'm good to go. Heck, I'll take some Intellabeams if they work!

I don't know how to pronounce their name, but Chauvet (is that "shaa-voe", "shaw-vette"?) had a very impressive rig above their booth. I like light rigs that have "pods" like these, they're a design feature I usually incorporate into concert shows I design that often have no sets and are going into an otherwise empty stage.

And, only at LDI would the rigging of one's booth get noticed by an attendee. I was really impressed at all the bridles (a hanging point that hangs from two or more points) that were used here and everywhere on the floor to get around the many obstacles on the convention center ceiling.

Another look at the Chauvet rig! I think I might be "inspired" to "pay homage" to this design sometime soon!

The Atomic Designs booth had some cool dimensional fabrics on display, another thing I'm a fan of - even though I can rarely afford to use them. Atomic is well known for their design work with the MTV Unplugged series.

The LightNetwork booth was jumpin' off!!! All jokes aside, this was a booth staffed with volunteers, so I just caught it at a bad time. The LightNetwork is an online discussion forum for lighting designers that I've been a part of for almost ten years, and is largely responsible for me realizing that a successful career as a lighting designer was possible.

Just me and my shadow, literally, in a projection on a staircase across from a booth selling club lighting fixtures.

I sat on the floor and waited about ten minutes to get a nice frame of people walking in front of a soft LED curtain on the back of the Coemar booth. Everyone that walked through my frame, upon hearing me fire off my shutter, would apologize thinking they'd ruined my shot, when in reality, I wanted them to walk through it!

I sat down Sunday for a fifteen dollar meal from one of the vendors on the show floor, consisting of orange chicken, pork fried rice, and a bottle of Pepsi. The meal was actually half-decent. While consuming my delicacy, and watching the Coemar booth loop over and over, I noticed how heavy the haze level in the room had become, to the point of setting off the fire alarms a few times. I found this amusing since setting off fire alarms with haze is often a problem we deal with on shows of smaller scale. It was nice to see the "big boys" having this issue as well.

Rosco Litepads are a very interesting product for photo / video applications. I can see a few of these bad boys replacing the $14.00 fluorescent light I often tape to car dash boards to light people's faces in cars at night.

I forgot what booth these were in, but they're LED balls that are actually mapped out to be a video screen. I enjoyed the texture they created, they'd look great in the background of a camera shot at a concert.

Of course, I had to stop by the Vari*Lite booth. Vari*Lites are, to me, the holy grail of automated lighting. When I first noticed concert lighting on TV wayyy back in junior high, say, on the MTV Awards or the Grammys, I wondered what those lights moving around were. At the time, they were more than likely all Vari*Lites. Of course, I've used lights many times since then that are probably comparable to, if not better than, Vari*Lites. There's still that stigma and allure, however, to actually using them on a show that I've yet to quench.

Only at LDI #2: Devices meant to protect people from tripping over cables also have an advertisement written on them.

I stopped by the ETC booth for a good half hour and grilled the sales reps on the new ETC Ion console, and how it compares to the ETC Express (Ion is meant to replace Express). I dug the Ion, though I still think the Wholehog II and III consoles operate more like my brain than any other board.

I saved my favorite booth for last, Aqua Visual FX. Aqua's product is a water curtain that is able to display graphics in droplets of falling water. I first saw the product on this year's BET Awards with Chris Brown, and thought that I was seeing video projected on a sheet of water. Only when I received frantic phone calls from several other techs (yes - we live sad, sad lives at times) asking me how it was done did I look into it further.

The system uses computer controlled solenoids housed in 2' sections that release water drops in sequence. Confused? Think of an old dot matrix printer (this works a lot like that), only instead of the printer printing lines of dots, the water units are spitting out lines of water drops. Robert Pratl, who ran the Chris Brown performance on the BET Awards, was nice enough to show me how the curtain is programmed (lots of Photoshop, who knew?), and shared some stories from the BET awards about getting the unit up and working in a VERY, VERY short amount of time. Truly impressive.

The water drops fall into a specially designed catch drain (the black part of the floor), and the water is then pumped back up into the rig where it is recycled. To be fair, another company (Aqua Reign) had a water curtain on the show floor almost exactly like Aqua's, but I saw Aqua's first and was impressed with *their* unit on TV.

Special thanks to my friend Erik for shuttling me around Vegas during my 3 day stay!

A goodbye shot of the strip from the flight home, right around 9,500 feet (and right before clearance was given to turn on electronic devices - don't report me to the FAA!)

Little Giant Shipping Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:44:00 +0000

While wandering the show floor of LDI 2008 in Las Vegas, I noticed that Little Giant Ladders had a booth set up. Sticking up into the air above the booth, like candles on a birthday cake, were several examples of their ladders I've drooled over many times while watching their famous late night infomercial. The Little Giant has always been something I've thought I could use, especially when doing film shoots on location. The Little Giant would allow me to have a seven foot A-frame ladder (the configuration I'd use the most) that would collapse to under five feet for transport in my Ford Escape. And, if need be, I'd have all the other very useful configurations at my disposal.

Why didn't I own a Little Giant already, you ask? Because I work with electricity, I wanted to get one of the fiberglass models (as opposed to the electrically conductive aluminum model), and that one was $450.00. That's a lot of money to plunk down on a ladder I'd use maybe once every other month. Whenever I had the money to get it, it often ended up going to more pertinent expenses like car payments or gas. And, I already had a six foot wood ladder that I'd stuff into my car when I really needed to get high up at a shoot.

Back to Vegas: I approached the booth and saw the very ladder that I wanted, the Model 17 fiberglass. Salesman Tyler approached me and took me through some of the ladder's features. It was great, I felt like I was in the infomercial! All I needed was for Al Borlind or whatever his name is to come around the corner in his flannel shirt! I folded up the ladder and picked it up to see how heavy it was (the negative reviews I've read have said the ladder is way too heavy, but I suspect these reviews have originated from housewives and jelly-armed yuppies). The ladder did have some weight to it, but so does everything else we deal with in theater and on film shoots! I can handle lifting fifty pounds with no problem.

Just as I rolled the ladder back into the booth (yes, it has wheels), salesman Tyler blind sided me with a phenomenal asking price if I was interested in buying the ladder on the spot, and I mean phenomenal! Like amazing discount, out of this world ridiculous-not-to-buy-it deal! How would I get it home, though? Surely this ladder wasn't going to fit in the overhead bin on the flight home. Tyler explained that FedEx had a store right there in the convention center, where I could ship the ladder to myself back in East Chicago. This sealed the deal, and with a swipe of my credit card (charge it to the game), I was the proud owner of a Little Giant.

Because Tyler couldn't get to the shipping box for the ladder until after the convention closed, I had to rely on the *shipping experts* at FedEx to help me safely pack my ladder. No problem, I thought, I'll take the ladder up there, give it to them, they'll figure out how to pack it, just like at the UPS store, and I'll be back to the show floor in no time. WRONG.

"We can't pack it for you," says the *shipping expert* at FedEx.

The first *shipping expert* I spoke with looked at my new Little Giant, glanced behind him at the buffet of bubble wrap and boxes, then looked glumly back at me and said, "The largest box we have is a 24 (inch) cube, so because we can't fit the ladder into one of our boxes, we can't pack it for you." OK, no big deal, the ladder is tough, it can probably get FedEx'ed without a box altogether. I really didn't care if it got scuffed up in transit, that's going to happen once I start using it anyway.

I suggested wrapping the ladder in "shrink wrap", that cellophane plastic stuff, to prevent it from flopping open during transit. *Shipping Expert* says no to the shrink wrap. "How about tape," I ask? *Shipping Expert* says tape is fine. So, at this point, we've agreed that all I need to do is tape the legs closed and I can slap a sticker on the ladder and ship it as-is. But, just for piece of mind, I asked if I could tape cardboard to the top and bottom of the ladder, as well as around the hinge and wheels. *Shipping Expert* agrees to the plan, but reminds me that neither he or the other four idle *shipping experts* in the store can have any part of actually packing the ladder. Perturbed, I asked for a 24 inch cube box, as well as the use of a tape gun and a box cutter.

The theater I work with operates by the mantra, "Make it happen." I kept this in mind as I embarked on my first challenge as a gumshoe *shipping expert*. (Photo by *Shipping Expert*)

So, right there in the middle of the FedEx sales floor, I plopped my ladder down and began arts and crafts time, cutting the cardboard around the irregularly shaped ladder, struggling to get all the pieces to line up as four *shipping experts* stood by and watched between helping customers purchase spindles of CD's and ship tiny envelopes.

Fifteen minutes and two rolls of tape later, I'd successfully encased the entire ladder (except for the sides) in tape and cardboard, and was comfortable with it making the transcontinental journey in this fashion. I took the ladder to the sales counter, and was blind sided yet again. *Shipping Expert* says that HIS *shipping expert* says that I need to put cardboard on the sides as well (after, mind you, I've encased THE ENTIRE LADDER in tape, as well as after we'd agreed the cardboard wasn't necessary in the first place.)

My East Chicago attitude, which I try and suppress, began to bleed through with the mounting frustration. "Why didn't you tell me this before I wrapped the thing in tape?" I asked. *Shipping Expert* stares back blankly. "Boy I sure wish your 'shipping expert' was here helping me with this!," I replied, a bit more annoyed. *Shipping Expert* shrugs his shoulders and continues staring back, eyes glazed over. I cave. "Alright, give me another box."

More cutting. More taping. More mess.

With fifteen more minutes gone along with lots more custom cutting, I made side panels for my "box" and re-encased the entire rig in tape again, using half of another FedEx tape gun in the process. Passers by and other customers, by now, curiously looked at me sprawled out on the floor like I was performing as part of some modern art exhibit.

I held my breath and took my Frankenbox up to the counter again. *Shipping Expert* dude was now gone, and semi-attractive female *Shipping Expert* took over, laughing when I asked if the store was going to hire me due to my demonstration of expert packing skills. Perhaps this joke, along with my ordeal, sparked some sympathy within her, as *Shipping Expert* 2 didn't charge me for the ten dollars worth of boxes I tore through.

Guy Rhodes Productions: Lighting Design. Photography. Video Production. Custom Packing.

The good news? In the end, the shipping cost to East Chicago for the ladder was $76.40. This, coupled with the price I got on the ladder, meant that I still walked away with an AWESOME deal that I wouldn't have got on this ladder anywhere else. Was it worth all the trouble? Sure. After all, I can now add *shipping expert* to my resume!

Talladega Amp Energy 500

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:22:00 +0000

Today, back at home in the gloomy, chilly autumn Chicago weather, I wish it was last Sunday and my last day shooting NASCAR in Talladega, Alabama, and what felt like summer all over again. The weather was in the lower 80's for the biggest race of the weekend, the Amp Energy 500 of the Sprint Cup Series. After arriving at the track, I threw on my sunscreen right away. Studies have shown that, in those hot and sunny conditions, the skin on us "Yankees" burns in short order.

I also made sure I had a bottle of water in one of my Think Tank belt pouches, because at Talladega, you'll need to re-hydrate frequently while walking more than a mile between some shooting positions. I've never been a fan of the big floppy hats some shooters wear in the heat to keep the sun off one's head, it's not like we're trudging though the Sahara, guys! I don't even wear hats in the winter here in Chicago, outdoors on film shoots at night for hours in temperatures hovering around 10° Fahrenheit. I guess some people are just more thick-skinned than others. At Talladega, between the water and the sunscreen, I was all set for a full day of shooting.

Lots of water? Check. Big floppy hat? No check.

After shooting some more stick camera stuff of fans out on pit road and some stuff in the garage area, I headed to the backstretch and my first shooting position up in the photo tower coming out of turn two. Despite the tower being slightly crowded with up to six other photographers, we all choreographed our stances before the race began (such as who was going to stand, who was going to sit, and where, to make sure we all had a clean view of the track). After shooting the F15 fly-by at the top of the race (featured at the top of this entry), it was all about the race action, and from here, I'll let the photos and captions tell you about the rest of the day:

(Stay tuned to the blog in the next few days for a video recap of my trip to Talladega!)

Race fans walk down pit road prior to the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Shot on the stick cam.

Employees of Goodyear Tires stand near stacks of tires prior to the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This was shot with the stick cam in passing without much thought, I just thought the graphic patterns of the tires from above looked cool along with the guys on the left hanging out. With three crashes in the race Sunday caused solely by blown Goodyear tires, this photo now has more significance in the overall take.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers move into turn two during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Reutimann (44) goes sideways on the backstretch after blowing a tire during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. You can see a fragment of his tire near the bottom of the frame.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Skinner (84) heads to the pits after crashing during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Skinner was involved in a crash on the track from another driver blowing a tire and losing control.

So much tire carnage! Another view of the piece of tire from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Wallace (33) flying up over the field at the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers move into turn two during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) crashes into the wall in turn 2 after blowing a tire during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) is helped onto a stretcher after blowing a tire and crashing during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This is one of the few times in the two NASCAR races I've shot so far where I've been able to incorporate some human emotion into my images during the race itself.

The pit crew of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brian Vickers (83) works during a pit stop during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Racepad, bro... racepad. Fans wait during a red flag during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart (20) celebrates near pit road after winning the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Average NASCAR Day, Is It Possible?

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:36:00 +0000

Even though blogs don't matter and are a waste of time (that's been our running joke of the day down here), I'm gonna share a few images anyway from what turned out to be a pretty uneventful day three down here at Talladega. We started off Saturday shooting qualifying for the big race on Sunday. For you non race fans, qualifying is where each car drives around the track three times (one warm up lap and two timed laps), and their fastest lap time determines their starting position in the race. Qualifying is a good time to get stock photos of each car (what I worked on), and headshots of drivers (what Mark worked on).

Sprint Cup Series driver Terry Labonte (45) during qualifying for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. I was surprised that, from my last NASCAR race, the photos I had published in print were ones just like the one above. I realized that these otherwise boring photos have a demand, and this time, I was glad to shoot more.

Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Wallace (33) during qualifying for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The tunnels in this photo are how fans and workers access the infield of the racetrack. I sat here for around twenty minutes waiting to time a race car going by above with someone coming out of the tunnel below. This isn't quite what I had in mind, but it'll suffice for now. It would be much stronger with a track full of race cars.

Craftsman Truck Series drivers race three wide through turn two during the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

After qualifying, we headed to our positions to shoot today's race, the Mountain Dew 250 of the Craftsman Truck Series. Geesh, can I have any more corporate plugs in this paragraph I'm typing on my Apple Macbook Pro? The truck race was quite uneventful, save a few spin outs and fender-benders. It was pretty exciting, however, to see these guys inches apart from each other three lanes wide rushing by at nearly 180 mph! Despite this, I can't say that I wasn't a little disappointed, as I keep getting teased with Youtube videos of "the big ones," crashes from past races at this very track featuring cars sailing over each other and into fences. Granted I don't wish harm upon these guys, but you've gotta admit crashes are kinda cool.

Craftsman Truck Series driver Jack Sprague (2) opens his window net after crashing during the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. This is the closest I got to getting any crash action, as this damage occurred on the opposite side of the track.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine (30) leads the field to win the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine (30) holds the checkered flag after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Crew members of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine celebrate in victory lane after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

I shot the majority of the race from the backstretch in a photo tower with a bunch of other photographers who I've never met, all of which were very welcoming and fun to be around. With about 20 laps to go, I hustled on foot for nearly a mile from the backstretch to pit road (where the cars come in for pit stops) to shoot the remainder of the race, the finish, as well as the cookie-cutter shots to be had at victory lane. Sorry this blog is lamer than Zane's, but most of today was all the sames!!! That rhymed! But really, today was an average NASCAR day if there is such a thing. Hopefully tomorrow will provide me with "the big one," and I don't mean the culminating disappointment of eating at another Chili's-esque restaurant (Friday's, Applebee's, etc.) again!

Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine celebrates in victory lane after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Talladega Afternoons

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:09:00 +0000

Even though the latest Sportsshooter newsletter says blogs are a waste of time and don't matter, there's one key positive reason that was left out of that article that keeps me going with my blog. Posting these entries is a great way for me to keep in touch with family and friends when I'm on the road shooting or stuck in a theater for weeks working on a light rig. The images featured here give people a visual reference for stories I may have shared from my experiences at work. And, in case you're wondering, this fairly new blog that doesn't matter has already resulted in contacts to me for work.

With that out of the way, I'd like to share some images from my first two days at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, where I'm shooting my second NASCAR race this weekend with Mark J. "Death Wobble" Rebilas. Talladega is a slightly larger track than my first NASCAR experience in Daytona, Florida, but the atmosphere is quite a bit different. Daytona seems more corporate and polished, whereas Talladega is more rough-n-tumble, like the true fans' place to watch this sport.

The sun sets behind the grandstands during qualifying for the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. In case you're wondering why the banner sunset image at the top of my blog looks so different from this one, it's because that one was shot through a purple-tinted window in the media center.

We arrived Thursday evening in time to shoot the last of the qualifying for the Remax 250. I gambled with a few artsy shots, one that got me trash-talked about, but oh well. I like to try different things and get different views of a sport that's been shot thousands of times from the same angle - so sue me! We ended the day by taking a little tour of the track and shooting car haulers arriving for the big race on Sunday.

Driver Tim Mitchell during qualifying for the Remax 250.

The car hauler for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Sam Hornish Jr. enters the track at Talladega Superspeedway in preparations for the Amp Energy 500.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Crew members of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards (99) work in the garage area during practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Today (Friday) we shot practice for the Amp Energy 500 (main event race which will be held on Sunday). I shot with every other photographer and they mamma for a few minutes in the garage area as the teams worked on their cars between practice laps, mainly just because I'd never been in the garage area before and wanted to see what it was all about. I quickly grew tired of seeing the same thing through my viewfinder that I've seen in countless NASCAR photos, so I decided to keep with my "trying different things" theme and switched things up.

Crew members of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton (31) push his car past teammate Clint Bowyer (07) on the way to the garage area during practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

I mounted one of my Mark II's with a 15mm fisheye lens on a ball head atop my monopod, hooked up a Pocketwizard to trigger the camera, and launched what I referred to as the "stick cam." The stick cam allowed me to shoot the goings on in the garage angle from an elevated perspective. The angle was not so elevated to look odd, but was just high enough to give the photos a different view. The stick cam also allowed me to see the numbers on the tops of the cars, something I couldn't see in photos shot at ground level.

Me rocking the stick cam above Dale Earnhardt Junior's damaged car. (Photo by Mark J. Rebilas)

The view from up top.

The stick cam payoff came during the second round of practice after driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew a tire and crashed with other drivers in turn four. I was in the media room editing at the time, but I quickly grabbed the stick cam and rushed back out to the garage area to shoot Earnhardt's wrecked car being towed in off the track. When his car arrived, it was surrounded by race officials, team members, other media members, and curious gawkers. Having the stick cam allowed me to get over everyone who would have otherwise been in my way, and get a shot that was, again, unique to other views of the situation. One of these images ran in USA Today's Day In Sports online. People gave me crap for the pole camera, as with my artsy shots on day one, but taking a gamble and trying a unique perspective worked out.

My stick camera image that ran on USATODAY.com.

The pace car leads ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers through the tri-oval during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

After shooting the wrecked cars, we quickly regrouped and headed to our spots on the track for the evening race, the Remax 250. I planned on shooting the race between turns one and two, and on the way to my position (hiking nearly a mile from the media center through the campgrounds in the infield to reach this area), a major crash unfolded before my eyes (around 150 yards away). I couldn't believe that I was witnessing a crash with almost ten cars involved with my EYES instead of through a camera! I quickly grabbed my 400 off my shoulder and managed to get the tail end of the calamity.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Bobby Gerhart (5) goes high to avoid a crash including drivers Bryan Silas (11) and Alli Owens (12) during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Scott Speed (2) during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Justin Allgaier holds the trophy in victory lane after winning the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

There were a few more crashes during the race, including a car that went vertical on its front bumper before coming back down on its wheels, but these incidents were all out of my view. After shooting the cookie-cutter victory lane shots, filing images in the media room, and trying to decipher a conversation going on in French a few workspaces down, Mark and I headed to Outback Steakhouse (I veto'ed a second day in a row at Chili's) for a dinner fit for anyone from Toronto, Wiscaansin, or Aspen (don't ask).

Lake Surf Season Has Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:27:00 +0000

When brisk autumn winds howl out of the northwest, green tubular white-capped waves peel onto the shores of Lake Michigan. Dark gray lake effect clouds roll over Lake Michigan and surrounding neighborhoods, calling an athletic and hearty group to action. Wet suits, boards, and kites are loaded atop cars and S.U.V.'s, and for many, a sick day is called into the boss at work. For Chicagoland surfers, these unique conditions mark the start of another season of surfing on Lake Michigan, a season that will stretch well into the winter, and will end only when pancake ice drifts ashore and puts the waves to rest.

I started shooting lake surf in 2004 by accident. One morning, while out with my camera gear looking for wild art, I decided to take a drive to the lake front. As I rounded the bend on a road that encircles a park I frequent, I noticed two surfers out on their boards in the water, something that I'd never seen there before. I shot the action that day for a few hours and made some new friends while I was at it. Ever since then, whenever conditions are right, I head to the lake with my long glass, wind breaker, and gloves, to photograph a sport that always seems to offer up unique moments and, usually, frequently changing lighting conditions that make things interesting. Some of the surfers I've shot over the years will even call or email me to give me a heads up when things are really "pumping."

Kite surfers enjoy a typical fall day on the Lake Michigan shore.

While heading to one of my favorite spots this afternoon, I was surprised to see the sky dotted with colorful kites as I approached the parking lot. Around eight kite surfers were out enjoying the waves. Since I've never shot kite surfing before, I was especially excited to get down to the beach and focus my lens on something new. Unfortunately, most of the guys were wrapping up their session as I arrived, but I did sneak in a few OK shots of the few kite surfers that stuck around a bit longer. Kite surfing is definitely something I want to revisit a few times this season, but for now, here's a few of my favorites:

Kites line the beach as surfers take a break from the action.

As another session got underway, kites dotted the sky above me. While these look small, many of the kites measure around ten feet across, and are quite large when at ground level.

One thing I really love about shooting surfers on Lake Michigan is the industrial background Northwest Indiana presents, quite a departure from the bright blue skies and palm trees usually seen in surf photography.

This seagull scared me to death! I knelt down in the sand to shoot with my 400, and I looked down to see this guy posted up less than three feet from me! It slowly turned its head and stared at me, not moving an inch. I quickly backed up and shot a few frames of it from afar. I think something was wrong with it, its movements were very subdued and it didn't seem alarmed by my presence. Either that, or it was just chillin'!

One thing I really liked about kite surfing was the frequent air the riders get as they hit the waves. Too bad this guy has his back to me. Oh well, like I said, I want to shoot more of this, today was just an intro.

A pretty light pocket hit a light house just before the sun dipped below the horizon.

Finally, an artistic shot of the beach with the Sears Tower in the far distance.

Flooding Close to Home

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:19:00 +0000

I'm used to seeing large scale disasters like forest fires, hurricanes, and floods, up close and personal, with one exception: They're usually occurring in distant locations across the country, held safely behind the shield of my TV and computer screens. So, when one of the largest floods in Northwest Indiana history began to swallow my home turf over the weekend, things got a lot more real. This time, the shield from reality became my camera viewfinder, and from 500 feet above the devastation in a helicopter, I got a first hand look at how widespread the damage actually was. My favorite pizza restaurant, the pool hall where my friends and I have shot a few games on countless nights, the health clinic where my childhood doctor practiced, among many locations very familiar to me - all underwater.

An office complex sits flooded along Hohman Ave. adjacent to Interstate 94 in Munster, Ind., Sunday, September 14, 2008.

My coverage started the day before my helicopter shoot on foot in the towns of Munster and Hammond, Indiana. I got a Sunday morning wake up call from my photo editor Andy Lavalley at The Post-Tribune newspaper asking if I'd like to join the team that day to cover the already increasing flood damage. With the rain still coming down in sheets, I geared up with a hooded wind breaker and a few Walgreen's plastic bags duct taped around my camera bodies (Aquatech, looking to sponsor a budding photographer?).

I headed to Hohman Ave. and the Little Calumet River, where river waters were flowing under the viaduct at Interstate 94 and into a neighboring Munster, Indiana, community. I walked in the rain with a single camera body for around an hour, at times in water up to my knees, photographing residents watching helplessly as the river began to flow down their streets.

A resident who wished to remain anonymous stands near water being forced up from a manhole on Forest Ave. in Munster, Ind., Sunday, September 14, 2008.

It's very awkward photographing, let alone talking to, people in these situations. They're obviously very upset that their homes are about to be destroyed, and members of the media are the last people they want to make time for. Couple this with my physical appearance - by this time I was so wet that I looked like I'd jumped in a pool, my long hair stuck down all over my face with a single camera in a plastic bag - needless to say I didn't look too official.

Despite this, I got a few shots of people unwilling to talk from a respectful distance, and found a few kids who actually found the situation amusing who were willing to provide me with their names. My colleagues at The Post-Tribune did way better than me in the "getting right in there" dept., actually gaining access to the inside of people's flooded homes during the crisis.

(From left) Devin Geeding, 13, and his friend Danny Matson, 14, look at flood waters along River Dr. at Hohman Ave. in their Hammond, Ind., neighborhood, Sunday, September 14, 2008.

I dunno, sometimes I like to cover things from a distance, getting the bigger picture if you will, rather than sticking a 17mm into someone's face who's is tears. Despite what the public may think of photojournalists, we don't like photographing people's darkest hours. Often times, it's just as emotionally trying for us to be there shooting a situation as it is for the people in the photos. I was given the chance to get some of this distant, overall coverage the following day.

Photo editor Andy gave me another wake-up call Monday morning, informing me that the paper had booked a one hour helicopter flight at 1pm and asked if I wanted to go up and shoot the damage from an aerial perspective. For the paper to offer this to me as a freelancer was very exciting. I love flying and shooting from the air, but I've never had the opportunity to shoot from a helicopter.

Traffic in Northwest Indiana has been horrible since the floods began, with many North-South arteries closed at the Little Calumet River, the source of most of the flood waters. I left my house an hour and a half early to take one of the detours South down Torrence Ave. in neighboring Illinois to get to Sun Aero Helicopters at the Lansing, Illinois, airport (a drive that would normally take 25 minutes). I arrived at the airport much sooner than I expected, and prepped my gear in the parking lot while waiting for my pilot to return from lunch.

A short time later, I walked into the FBO and was greeted by my pilot Luke, who immediately escorted me out onto the tarmac to our awaiting Robinson R22 Beta helicopter. Though I'm not afraid of flying (I actually really enjoy it), I won't say that I wasn't a little apprehensive when I saw the small size of the helicopter. With only two seats, the ship was a little smaller than a Volkswagen bug.

Luke had already removed the door on my side (what would be the "drivers side" of a car, helicopter pilots fly from the "passenger side") so I'd have an unobstructed view to shoot the ground below. I got in my seat and securely fastened my seat belt, which was the exact style found in a car with an airliner style latch. This was also a little disconcerting as I knew I'd be leaning out of the door of the helicopter during the flight to shoot - I was hoping for a five-point harness. I clipped my camera straps and memory card wallet to the seat belt with a locking carabiner (2 Canon 1D Mark II's, along with 17-40mm f4 and 70-200mm f2.8 lenses), and was ready to take off.

A man rides a bike down flooded Calumet Ave. in Dyer, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

An oil slick forms behind a flooded home in Dyer, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Once we became airborne, we flew South of the airfield to the town of Dyer, Indiana, and immediately had an impressive view of the flooding. We circled a flooded neighborhood for around five minutes before heading North down Calumet Ave. to the Town of Munster, Indiana, where much of the devastation occurred.

A smooth ride in the Robinson R22 over Dyer, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

As we made our way North, I became keenly aware of how stable and smooth the R22 helicopter was, and my initial apprehension of its small size quickly went away. I've flown in many small aircraft, and I've got to say that the R22 was the smoothest thing I've ever flown in other than a commercial airliner. The helicopter was extremely stable and responsive, and stories I've heard from other photographers of problematic vibrations experienced while shooting in helicopters were unfounded with this model.

Flood waters fill the parking lots of The Hammond Clinic (bottom right) and Target (top left) near Calumet Ave. (right) in Munster, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Arriving over Munster, Indiana, I shot some overalls of one of the most widespread areas of flooding. I asked pilot Luke to circle around a recognizable shopping complex, so I could shoot the flood waters there as well as in neighborhoods surrounding it. This location also gave me a vantage point of the Little Calumet River, the source of the flood waters. It was crazy seeing so many places flooded below me that I frequent, like Edwardo's Pizza and Jukebox Billiards.

The Hammond Clinic (top left), my favorite pizza place Edwardo's (dark black roof across the street) and Jukebox Billiards pool hall (left of that with the light grey roof) are all very familiar landmarks to me affected by the flood.

The ground floor of the Hammond Clinic, where my childhood doctor had his practice (across the street from the pizza place), was also submerged. Ironically, I just shot a ribbon cutting there at the beginning of the summer marking completions of major renovations to the ground floor lobby area, renovations that will likely have to be repeated. Across the parking lot, the Target store where my girlfriend Jahaira worked for a few years was also surrounded by the flood waters.

Volunteers fill sandbags near Columbia Ave. and the Little Calumet River in Hammond, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Floor waters approach the sanctuary at South Side Christian Church on Broadmoor Ave. in Munster, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Cars sit submerged in flood waters in the parking lot of the Hammond Clinic in Munster, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Volunteers form a chain to place sandbags near flooded homes in Munster, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

A Munster, Ind., resident looks out to flood waters at the end of his driveway, Monday, September 15, 2008.

After working the Muster area for around fifteen minutes, we headed East to the next location on the list, Interstate 94 and Kennedy Ave. in Highland, Indiana. Interstate 94 at this location is submerged under up to six feet of water for around 300 yards. I'd shot it from the ground the day before, and seeing it from the air confirmed how widespread the damage actually was. Again, seeing familiar landmarks, such as the Indiana Welcome Center (with its love it or hate it design) brought the large scale disaster very close to home.

Flood waters approach the main entrance of the Indiana Welcome Center near the Interstate 94 and Kennedy, Ave. interchange in Hammond, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Flood waters cover Interstate 94 (top to bottom) at Kennedy Ave. in Hammond, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

Flooding at the interchange as seen from the ground the previous day.

A gravel dike contains flood waters near the Indiana Welcome Center (top right) near Kennedy Ave. (bottom) in Hammond, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

A sign truss is reflected in flood waters at Interstate 94 at Kennedy Ave. in Hammond, Ind., Sunday, September 14, 2008.

After working the Highland area, we headed further East to Gary, Indiana, where the USS Steelyard Stadium (home of the minor league Railcats baseball team) had flooded the previous day. Upon arriving over the stadium, we found it was high and dry, and quickly headed South to the next location the list, downtown Hobart, Indiana. I was kinda ticked that we wasted the flight time to Gary, because at $225 dollars per hour and strict instructions from my photo editor to not exceed that by too much, every minute in the air is precious.

Pilot Luke, a California native, wasn't 100% familiar with Northwest Indiana, and I don't venture to Hobart too often, so we had a few moments of head-scratching over Gary trying to figure out what heading to fly towards to reach Hobart in the fastest time. I found myself glancing down at the helicopter's aviation style GPS, which reads nothing like the GPS unit in my car, so that was of no help. I finally got my bearings (many pointless hours of "flying" around in Google Earth finally paid off), and pointed Luke in the correct direction.

Flood waters fill the Brickie Bowl in Hobart, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

We arrived over Hobart a very short time later, and photographed a landmark high school football stadium, The Brickie Bowl, completely filled with flood waters. I've shot lots of Friday night football games here as well as high school graduations, so once again, the familiarity of an area affected by the devastation was touching on a personal level.

A goal post and time clock are all that are visible on the football field at the Brickie Bowl in Hobart, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

With my hour almost up, we began to make our way West back to Lansing airport, but not before stopping a few more times in Gary to shoot a few new patches of flooding along Interstate 94, as well as flooding in the Indiana University Northwest parking lot. Pilot Luke was a great sport about my wishy-washy plans in the air, as I'd often tell him to head to one location, only to point out something else I'd see and want to shoot along the way. He assured me he's used to this during photo flights, and it was no problem.

Traffic on Interstate 94 slows for flood waters near Grant St. (top) in Gary, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

A car drives through flood waters on Eastbound Interstate 94 near Grant St. in Gary, Ind., Monday, September 15, 2008.

On the way back to Lansing, I got the obligatory Myspace photo of myself flying in the helicopter, along with a few stock images of local landscapes on what little memory card space I had left. 941 images shot during the flight filled all 6 of my 1Gb Lexar compact flash cards.

The obligatory Myspace portrait.

I took the same detour from the airport back to my home in East Chicago, where I filed 31 photos from the initial take. One of those photos (not my favorite, but it works) was used on today's front page, and several others were used on the inside pages.

After coming off a shoot like this, and arriving back in my dry home just miles away from so much suffering and devastation, I can't help but feel a bit guilty. However, I feel like I'm using the best skills that I have in order to help the people affected by the flood. Perhaps if officials at the local and state government levels (and even owners of large corporations capable of making monetary and tangible donations) see images I and other photographers shot of the disaster, they'll move quickly to do whatever they can to help the communities affected.

First Fall 2008 Football Action

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:56:00 +0000

I was treated to a gorgeous sunset tonight while shooting my first football game of the season between the Hobart High School Brickies and the Gary West Side Cougars. The game was held at Gary Roosevelt High School, because West Side's football field isn't playable (though when I was there for a portrait a few weeks ago, it looked great) .

Once I saw the sky start to turn orange, I ditched my 400mm lens for my 28-70mm zoom and stayed low on the sidelines even with the line of scrimmage. I waited for a play to come near me to incorporate the players and the colorful sky, and I got my wish pretty quickly.

Normally, when a play comes directly at me (as in the sunset image), I would have gotten up on my feet and moved back by the point that image was shot. But, I decided to stay low and continue firing, hoping the play would stop before helmets and hard padding met my body. Luckily, the players that spilled onto the sidelines did so about ten feet to my left, and I ended up with a nice image to start off the season.

To my disdain, I also had to shoot a few feature photos of fans for the paper's news section. I find that hunting for interesting fans to shoot at the game often takes my concentration away from the action. Luckily, I found some enthusiastic girls who didn't mind me hanging around for a while to get them mid-cheer (or, as it ended up, mid-laugh).

Hobart's Richard Oglesby (9) runs to score a touchdown in the second quarter against the Gary West Side Cougars held at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Ind., Friday, August 22, 2008.

Hobart High School students (from left) Kristi Burgos, 15, Melissa Wronko, 15, Nicole Garrison, 15, and Joe DiMaggio, 16, watch a football game between Gary West Side High School and Hobart High School held at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Ind., Friday, August 22, 2008.

Gary West Side's Nicholas Hill (left) is brought down by Hobart's Kendall Gunn during the first quarter at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Ind., Friday, August 22, 2008.

Quick Football Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:09:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, I've been shooting mugshots and portraits of area high school varsity football teams for The Post-Tribune newspaper's annual football "tab" preview section. The assignments are pretty straightforward: Shoot mugshots of 15-20 key players along with coaches, as well as shooting a portrait of a player(s) to be featured in the story about that team. Having not done anything really creative for the paper in a long time, the portraits were a great opportunity to try some edgier looks that I don't normally get to experiment with for this particular client. All of the portraits (including the one above shot at dusk at Gary Roosevelt High School) were shot with one Canon 550EX flash mounted in a medium Photoflex Silverdome softbox. The flash was triggered with Pocketwizard Plus units. Here are a few of my favorites:

Gary West Side defensive tackle Christopher Woods Jr., 17, on the football field at West Side High School in Gary, Ind., Friday, August 8, 2008. Woods, a senior who also plays defensive end and outside guard, is looking to attend college at either Indiana University Bloomington or Iowa.

Lake Central varsity left tackle Mark Kalinich, 18, on the bleachers of the football field at Lake Central High School in St. John, Ind., Thursday, August 7, 2008. Kalinich, 6'4" and 305 lbs., is looking to attend college at either Harvard, Brown, MIT, or Yale.

Munster High School senior Aaron Estrada on the football field at Munster High School in Munster, Ind., Saturday, August 9, 2008.

The image of Aaron (above) was shot just the bare 550EX without the softbox, as the natural light at noon was difficult to overpower with the softbox in place.

To give these a dramatic feel, in most of the portraits, I layed on the ground and shot up on the players using a wide angle lens (17mm). This makes the players tower over the viewer and gives them that larger-than-life superhero vibe. Second, as with anything I shoot, I always always expose for the highlights, and retain them as I tone the image in post. This is especially evident in the last portrait of Aaron. While shooting, I made sure that as little of the clouds above him were overexposed as possible, despite the sun peeking out from behind them every few minutes. The 550EX at full power just a few feet away from the subject helped accomplish this. Too many photographers blow too much of their highlight detail either in the camera or in Photoshop, leaving them with sloppy looking results.

Hopefully these images will show that just one light off camera can make otherwise simple portraits have a more polished look to them. The light kit I use is very simple and takes only minutes to set up. To all the photographers that say they don't have time for setting up one light, stay tuned for the blog about the game show road race I lit in a parking lot at night last weekend with 70+ fixtures.

Friend Portraits - Just For Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:52:00 +0000

Since I'm too cheap to buy presents, I agreed to hook up my buddy Marcus with a complimentary Myspace portrait shoot to celebrate his 20th birthday. For Marcus' series, I decided to go with a black and white, minimalist look. My new friend DeAnna was also in on the portrait fun, and for her, I decided to keep things colorful using the same lighting setup. DeAnna's tattoo image, at the top of this entry, was probably my favorite from the entire shoot (sorry, Marcus). Hopefully this entry answers a question I get a lot, that being, "What do you do for fun when you're not shooting?" Answer: Practice lighting and shooting with my friends as the subjects. Luckily, most of my friends are tech-savvy people such as myself, and are more than willing to get in on the fun!

For the fellow technically absorbed, most of these were shot with three lights. Two Elinchrom Style 600's with 20 degree grids were used as 3/4 backlights on either side of the subject, level with their heads. I used two pieces of black foam core supported by grip heads and stands to cut the light off my camera lens (totally ripping off a set-up shared with me by Dustin Snipes, who I'm sure he ripped off from another photographer, and on, and on - that's just how it is with lighting!). Up front, I used an Alien Bees ABR-800 ring flash dialed down at times all the way to just fill in people's faces.

When DeAnna got in front of the camera, I changed things up a little. I took the ring light off the camera and had my buddy Nate hand-hold it at a 30 degree angle above her face about two feet away (I love the ABR-800 because it's large enough with the reflector and diffuser attached to be used as a beauty dish of sorts off-camera). I also had Nate hold the ring light level with her body as she jumped in the air - nothing special with that image, just something fun that most people can't time with the shutter lag on their point and shoots.

In the candid image of DeAnna adjusting her hair between shots, I moved over and forward to allow one of the backlights to flare the lens from behind my foam core flag (you can see the flag in the left of that image). Some shooters also call flags gobos, but I come from a theatrical lighting background where a gobo is something entirely different. Lastly, for the favorite tattoo image, I used just the two Elinchrom Style 600's. One stayed in place as a back / rim light, while the other got a five degree grid and an additional snoot made of Blackwrap to just pick out the tattoo up front.

And, as a disclaimer (so I don't get a Sportsshooter thread started about my unethical Myspace portrait shoots), I did use the clone stamp and healing brush tools within this series to remove dust frozen in the air that my intense backlights picked up, as well as faint reflections from the recessed light fixtures in the ceiling of the darkened room we were shooting in. I also used the same tools to touch up a few minor facial blemishes.

____

This Never Gets Old

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:58:00 +0000

I had the honor of returning to the skies with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team last weekend as they performed over Gary, Indiana, during the Gary South Shore Air Show. The 2008 Gold Demonstration Team is made of of almost all the same members that I've flown with over the past two years. I've flown with and photographed the team so much, nearing twenty flights by my estimates (though I've lost count), that many of us now know each other by name.

While hanging out on the plane prior to flights, doing everyday things like watching Youtube videos on an iPhone or seeing team members prank each other by sewing their jump suit sleeves closed, its easy to forget that you're among some of the most experienced and disciplined skydivers in the world. The Golden Knights are true professionals, and they love what they do. So, even though I don't have a parachute on my back and I'm not following them out the door at 12,500 feet, I feel like I have a lot in common with them in that respect. Just like me, they're not working, they're doing what they really love to do. Here's some photos from the three flights I went up on that weekend, including a very photographically challenging twilight jump.

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team members (from left) Mike Elliott, Steven Robertson, and Halida Hendricks ready their body-mounted pyrotechnic charges prior to the team's twilight jump over the Gary / Chicago International Airport in Gary, Ind., Friday, July 11, 2008.

Staff Sergeant Brandon Valle with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team waits in the team's Fokker C31A aircraft prior to the team's twilight jump over the Gary / Chicago International Airport in Gary, Ind., Friday, July 11, 2008.

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team member JD Berentis (right) laughs after winning the unofficial race with other team members to put on and buckle his helmet during the take-off roll of a twilight jump flight over the Gary / Chicago International Airport in Gary, Ind., Friday, July 11, 2008.

Northwest Indiana and South Chicago as seen from 3,500 feet, Friday, July 11, 2008.

With "chem lights" (another name for a glow stick) attached to his suit, Sgt. Derrick Coleman with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team stands by the open door of the team's Fokker C31A aircraft 9,500 feet over the Gary / Chicago International Airport prior to a twilight jump, Friday, July 11, 2008.

Sgt. Derrick Coleman with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jumps 9,500 feet over the Gary / Chicago International Airport, Friday, July 11, 2008. The team performed in a special pre-show for that weekend's Gary South Shore Air Show.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jump 9,500 feet over the Gary / Chicago International Airport, Friday, July 11, 2008. The team performed in a special pre-show for that weekend's Gary South Shore Air Show.

Northwest Indiana and South Chicago as seen from 9,500 feet, Friday, July 11, 2008.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team practice their ground lineup at the Gary / Chicago International Airport prior to their performance in the Gary South Shore Air show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team board their Fokker C31A aircraft at the Gary / Chicago International Airport prior to their performance in the Gary South Shore Air show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Sergeant First Class Harold Meyers with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team keeps an eye on cloud cover while flying over Marquette Park Beach prior to the group's performance in the Gary South Shore Air Show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Crowds line Marquette Park Beach in Gary, Ind., during the Gary South Shore Air Show, Sunday, July 13, 2008.

Sergeant Derrick Coleman with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jumps over Marquette Park Beach while performing in the Gary South Shore Air Show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team pilots Mac Rowell (left) and Allen Aber make a steep descent for a low-pass over Marquette Park Beach during the Gary South Shore Air Show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team huddle around a Youtube video on a team member's iPhone on the ground at the Gary / Chicago International Airport prior to their performance in the Gary South Shore Air show, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Sergeant 1st Class Charles Cooley with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team prepares to sky dive with a stuffed animal secured in his jump suit, Sunday, July 13, 2008. The animal was a gift for Cooley's soon-to-be born niece.

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team members JD Berentis (left) and Harold Meyers deploy wind streamers from the team's aircraft in flight over Marquette Park Beach during the Gary South Shore Air Show, Sunday, July 13, 2008. The streamers, which are biodegradable and not recovered, help the team calculate wind direction over the jump site.

U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team member JD Berentis free falls over Lake Michigan and Marquette Park Beach during the Gary South Shore Air Show, Sunday, July 13, 2008.

The U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team's Fokker C31A aircraft sits on the tarmac at the Gary / Chicago International Airport, Saturday, July 12, 2008.

Daytona Day Three: Different Views

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:41:00 +0000

I'm back to the grind here in Indiana, returning to video editing after a long weekend in Daytona shooting NASCAR. The Chicago area air quality, or lack thereof, has also brought back a persistent cough that I thought I'd ditched down in Florida. I guess that proves that Florida has beautiful air, among other things.

My last day in the Sunshine State, Saturday, was the big race day, where the Coke Zero 400 would play out before a hundred thousand spectators and a national television audience. I started the day waiting almost 20 minutes for actor Kevin Costner to exit a media center green room so I could grab a quick shot of him. Costner was at the racetrack performing with his band and promoting his new film.

Actor Kevin Costner (right) is interviewed by MRN Radio personality Alex Hayden.

I'd hoped to shoot Kevin in front of a large 20 foot long portrait of the racetrack just outside the media center, but when he finally came outside, fellow media members and handlers swarmed around him, quickly canceling my idea. Instead, I settled for the cookie cutter head-on portrait of him walking, along with another lower angle shot of him being interviewed by a radio reporter while briskly walking back toward the VIP motor home staging area.

After uploading my Costner gems to the wire, Mark J. Rebilas, who has recently been touted on the Fred Miranda and DP Review forums as being the best racing photographer that has ever lived (or at least that's how I think Mark would like the replies to his threads to read), took me out onto the racetrack itself to see just how steep of an angle the surface is banked. If you've ever walked on the sloped roof of a house, you'd know exactly what walking on the racetrack is like (for those who got a D or lower in high school physics, the track is banked to allow the race cars to go around the corners at high speeds without flying off the track).

One cool thing that fans get to do at Daytona before a big race, in addition to strolling around on the track and grid area, is to sign the checkered finish line painted onto the track itself. Fans start with a blank, freshly painted line before each race and can write whatever they want, from good luck messages to their favorite drivers to a simple name and date.

Race fans sign the finish line prior to the Coke Zero 400.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers head down the front stretch at the start of the Coke Zero 400.

With race time fast approaching, I grabbed my 400 and headset and headed to my first position of the night, turn four, to try and get a nice overall of the fans in the grandstands with the cars set against the second beautiful Florida sunset in a row (pictured at the top of this entry). After shooting this, I roved around between turns four and the back straightaway for the remainder of the race. While I got a few close calls and some spin outs, I didn't get any spectacular crash action. This was fine with me, however, because I was able to get some more different shots that a lot of photographers (who concentrate solely on action - because it sells) don't usually get.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman (12) spins during the Coke Zero 400.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch does a burn out after winning the Coke Zero 400.

With about twenty laps to go, I hustled into the pit area and lined myself up with the finish line to get the shot of the winner, Kyle Busch, finishing the race and performing the ubiquitous "burn out." For some reason, NASCAR fans don't like this guy. Busch's celebration was met with a hail of beer cans and jeers from a handful of angry spectators. After shooting this for a few seconds, I booked it back to victory lane to get more, albeit staged, celebration shots with the victor.

When I say victory lane is staged, I mean it is staged. Its more staged than some narrative film shoots I've done. When the driver pulls his car in, he is greeted with a producer from ESPN who cues him on when to get out of the car (timed to perfection after a commercial break to the home television audience). Photographers shout for people blocking their way on the stage to move, and for the winner to look this way and that way. Eventually, and on another vocal cue that went something like, "Alright, now champagne!," bottles of bubbly are brought out for the winner to "spontaneously" spray about. It was quite entertaining, so much in fact that I found it more interesting to turn to my side and photograph the more than 50 flash units popping off every second or so from photographers on the press risers.

Photographers shoot the fish-in-a-barrel on victory lane.

After an hour or so editing photos in the media room, Mark and I left the track around 1:30 am and made the long drive back to Orlando, which went a lot slower than it had the previous two times because we hit all the traffic on the interstate that had left the race hours prior. Upon arriving in Orlando at 3 a.m., we had just enough time to hit Denny's for breakfast before I packed my bags and headed to the airport for my 6 am flight. I finally go to sleep in my own bed when I arrived back in East Chicago at 9:30 am (mind you, the day after the race).

Most took the option of sleeping on my early-bird flight home from Orlando.

My first NASCAR experience was a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. Daytona is huge track, and you really have to manage your time wisely during a race to make sure you have enough time for the long walks between different spots on the track, especially when planning your walk back to the pits for the finish line shot.

I also had a great time looking for different angles and more artistic representations of the sport, because let's face it, a tight shot of one car driving around a track is enough to lull even a serious race fan into a coma. The sport itself, which most non-fans claim is boring on the basis of it being cars driving around in circles, is actually very exiting to watch in person, especially when you're close enough to feel the breeze the cars create as they roar by!

Daytona Day Two: Fan Features

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:37:00 +0000

Prior to shooting race action today, I decided to venture into the Daytona International Speedway's track infield campgrounds. Hundreds of fans bring everything from plush motor homes to the simplest of tents to the infield in order to be as close as possible to the race action all week long. Some campers construct elaborate elevated wood decks to give them a better view of the race action out on the track, while others share garden hoses to fill inflatable pools from a single water spigot that can be up to 500' away.

Race fan Paul Newman of E. Palatka, Fla., watches qualifying for the Coke Zero 400 atop a homemade observation deck near turn three.

The camp area has a unique soundtrack. Music is almost a constant, with varying genres (no, not all of these people listen to country music) floating from boom boxes and car stereos. The whine of portable generators and the drone of race cars zooming by at nearly 200 miles per hour completes the NASCAR symphony. The sizzling of barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs is a treat for more than just the ears, as the smells of fresh lunches and snacks mix with the fresh breeze off The Atlantic Ocean, just beyond the track.

Some campers (who pay a fee for reserved spaces on the grass) have had the same spots in the infield for over twenty years. Jim "The Jack Man" Burrows is one of these race fans, who made his first trip to Daytona in 1980. Burrows has an elaborate camp site, the focal point being an observation deck topped van with several brightly colored flags on tall poles (seen at the top of this entry). Down below, Burrows has set up what he calls, appropriately, "Jack's Bar."

Burrows offers one free shot per night to female campers who visit his bar, and also offers visitors the chance to sign the bar itself. I was flattered when Burrows offered to have me sign the backside of the bar, like NASCAR crew chiefs, celebrities, and other members of the media have done before me. Burrows and his friends plan on keeping their spot for many more races to come, as Burrows affirmed by joking, "My tombstone is under that truck, you hear me?"

Me signing Jim Burrows' bar in the infield campgrounds. (Photo by The Jack Man)

Everyone I approached in the infield was very very friendly and open to being photographed, offering me food and drinks and repeatedly inviting me to come back and hang out during the races. This seems to be a common theme among the campers, they're all die-hard NASCAR fans coming together to have a great time, and they share the excitement and fun as community every chance they get.

Cars race through turn one at the start of the Winn-Dixie 250.

The race we shot tonight was the Winn-Dixie 250. It was a night race, so the dim stadium lighting made shooting the fast-moving action difficult. The race started at sunset, however, so I was able to work a few shots with nice colors in the sky early on.

The sun sets behind a track light pole at the start of the Winn-Dixie 250.

My favorite shot of the day came just prior to the race. We knew that there was going to be a four fighter jet fly-over at the end of the Star Spangled Banner, so I wanted to incorporate them into some sort of overall shot of the track. Because I was starting off shooting on the back straightaway, I had the large lake in the middle of the infield, Lake Lloyd, between myself and the grandstands, with a beautiful sunset sky beyond.

Just as I got into position to compose my shot, I saw a man fishing in the lake about 20 yards to my left! I quickly went up and introduced myself and asked if I could incorporate him into my frame, and he agreed. Fellow photographer Mark J. Rebilas tipped me off on the direction the jets were coming from on my headset from his shooting position across the track, and I ended up with a nice frame with the added bonus of a human element.

The race itself, technically my first NASCAR race, was a little lackluster action-wise. Though there were three minor crashes, they all occurred either in areas I couldn't see or when I was concentrating on other action. Overall, though, I had another fun day and got a few more frames I'm pleased with to make my trip to Florida really worthwhile.

Nationwide Series driver Denny Hamlin (20) does a burnout after winning the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Daytona Day One: Hot and Muggy

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:39:00 +0000

In my last blog, I reflected upon some memories I had of my last trip to Florida in July, 1998. There was one memory I forgot to mention, and I remembered it the second we stepped out of the car today at the Daytona International Speedway: Florida is HOT and MUGGY in the summer! Sweat began to pour from my back and forehead almost immediately as Mark and I walked with all our gear in toe to the media center. I spent the day getting the lay of the land, thinking of ideas for features shots to get on Friday, as well as shooting the cars practicing in the sweltering afternoon heat. Here's a few of my favorites, enjoy!

Abstract of a car and grass shot through guardrails.

NFL player Randy Moss announcing his new co-owned race team.

Jeff Gordon practicing in turn four.

By far my favorite shot of the day, an abstract of cars shot in the reflector of a large track side light fixture.

The Last Time I Visited Florida...

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:20:00 +0000

(Note: The two photos in this blog were shot on film the last time I visited Florida in July, 1998.) So many different things can change in a person's life over the course of a decade, and I'm no exception. From lessons learned about relationships and dealing with others, to new beginnings and developments with my career, a lot has happened since 1998. Oddly enough, things can change so much on a smaller time scale as well, especially in the world of freelance photography.

Prior to this Tuesday, my Fourth of July plans included shooting a few assignments around town for the Post-Tribune, and making the bar-b-que-shoot-off-fireworks rounds to various friends' houses. Now, as I write from an airplane 35,000 feet over Tennessee, I've traded plans for sparklers for the sparks and flames shooting from the backs of race cars. I'm headed to the Daytona Speedway in Florida to cover The Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race, shooting along side photographer Mark J. Rebilas. Mark, after launching a text and phone call blow-up on Tuesday afternoon, rousing me out of bed after an all night video editing session, offered me (rather, told me I was accepting) the gig.

As I packed my gear this morning for the flight to Orlando, I realized it has been exactly ten years since my last visit to Florida. In July 1998, my mother and I visited my grandparents, who live in Land 'O Lakes, a city just outside Tampa. We also visited one of my best friends, Erica Feliciano, who lived next door to me in East Chicago from the time I was five 'til I was a sophomore in high school. As I reminisced upon that trip, and thought about life today, I realized how different things are for me now, but also realized cues existed then that suggested this is where I'd end up.

Starting with the obvious, the last time I visited Florida, I was ten years younger. I was getting ready to start my junior year in high school. Now, I'm 26 and three years removed from college.

The last time I visited Florida, I had a big crush on a girl I went to school with. We were, "talking," Now, I'm dating an amazing young woman (who I'd only seen once at the time and didn't know at all) for, save for one bump in the road, five years and counting.

The last time I visited Florida, I was still serious about photography, though my equipment reflected the time period as well as the budget of a sixteen-year-old. I shot primarily 35mm color negative film and black and white Tri-X and T-Max in an Canon AE-1. I also was experimenting with my first digital camera, a Casio QV-100, which shot at an astonishing .33 (yes, that's 1/3rd) of a megapixel. Now, I've left film behind for three professional digital SLR cameras, along with a host of accessories.

The last time I visited Florida, I didn't have a car, let alone a driver's license of a learner's permit. Now, my 2003 Ford Escape (which I purchased brand new) is officially my property. I sent the final payment to the bank last week.

The last time I visited Florida, the websites Myspace and Sportsshooter did not exist. Wow, how did I survive? My computer was a Macintosh Performa 575, which had a 33Mhz processor, 20 megs (yes, megabytes) of RAM, and a 250 meg (yes, again, megabyte) hard drive. Now, I'm typing on a machine with unparalleled capacity and performance, sitting on the tray-table in front of me.

The last time I visited Florida, I was just about eight months into my first year on the tech crew in my high school's auditorium. I loved lighting, and spent as much time in the auditorium as I could that summer experimenting with light and color. Now, I have a college degree in lighting design and put it to use on a daily basis. I think this is one of the biggest accomplishments for me as I looked back at the past decade.

Almost all of my interests in 1998 were the same as they are now, but today, I have better tools and resources with which to be creative. I've met many people since 1998 who have helped and influenced my career, encouraging me to stay on this crazy path of self-employment instead of telling me to settle for a "real job." And who needs a "real job" anyway? I can't think of too many "real jobs" that offer surprise trips to Florida on Independence Day weekend, with the only stipulation being that you play with your toys (in my case, cameras) while you're there.

Here We Go!

noreply@blogger.com (Guy Rhodes) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:27:00 +0000

I really should be editing video right now, but nagging and persuasion from my friend Mark J. Rebilas finally got the best of me. I caved in to his peer pressure and started my own official blog, not one attached to Myspace or any other site, but my own stand-alone soap box for whatever I feel like sharing with the world. I think for the most part I'll keep things semi-casual around here. Of course I'll share work-related stories about projects I'm working on and shoots that I've done, but don't be surprised if I throw up a hilarious Youtube video every now and then.

For the next few weeks I'm editing a video of an original musical production called Steel Waters that was produced by The West Side Theatre Guild back in January of 2007. The production celebrated the centennial of the City of Gary, Indiana, and chronicled the city's founding, industrial heyday, fall from grace, and eventual rebirth (though some would argue against the rebirth part).

In addition to editing the project, I also shot two of the shows with a handheld camera along with fellow videographers Alexx Vargas and Greg Grafton, who ran cameras on tripods with me for one performance. An additional performance was shot with a 30' jib arm, which allowed the camera to swing from perspectives over the audience and stage. I also was the lighting designer on the show, which helped when it came time to shoot the show on video. I knew the angles and coverage I had to get of the various characters to make the edit work.

The edit, despite my preparation and connection with the show, has been daunting. I'm syncing five camera angles from three different performances and cutting between them in post. Despite the actors' best intentions, not everything matches perfectly from show to show, and subsequently, angle to angle in the edit. I'm forced to be very creative to make things work.

I have a little over two weeks to finish the edit, wish me luck!