A quote to live by

"Ella Martin, 5, watches her step as she walks over a rock on Coyote Run trail ahead of her grandfather Ed Barrett as the two along with sister Amber, not pictured, enjoy a nature walk at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008." 

JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE

Today was my next to last day at The Gazette and lucky enough for me I had the chance to be outside and enjoy the warm 50+ degree weather on an assignment covering a nature walk at a local state park. There wasn't as much nature as the assignment suggested so I struggled for a bit trying to make a picture of people walking along a trail. There wasn't any interesting vegetation or animals to see so I really had to work this one into the ground.

These are the types of assignments that have taught me the most about how I shoot and where I need to improve. I think the most important aspect of being a photojournalist is turning the mundane and straightforward assignments into visual pieces of information for the reader to draw upon. Most of the time the story provides the reader with an idea of the accounts of the event but as photojournalists it is our job to go a step further. I live and shoot with the thought of a quote that I once heard somewhere, "show those who weren't there what happened but also show those who were there something that they didn't already see."

One day left.

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com

Making it look easy

"Air Force forward Anwar Johnson (42) dunks the ball after beating Texas Southern guard DeAndre Hall (1) down court in the first half of an NCAA basketball game inside Clue Arena at Air Force Academy, Colo., Monday, Dec. 22, 2008. Air Force dominated Texas Southern with a 65-41 victory." 

JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE

Tonight was just one of those nights where it seemed as though most everything went my way. In the life of a photographer that means that my images were well composed, well exposed and sharp. All but one image were spot on tonight and, for the most part, I'll take that every night of the week. The one image that I missed would have been close to a portfolio shot so I am disappointed about that.

I arrived a good two and a half hours early to set up a remote behind the glass but the SID said that their coaches won't let anyone do it. That was a HUGE let down because I already had it in my head of how I was going to shoot the game and that was in my game plan. We talked about a few other options but nothing worked out. I've put a remote behind the glass before but haven't don't it in a while so I was really looking forward to getting some different stuff in my take. I've done remotes just about everywhere imaginable at basketball and to be honnest I'm getting a little bored with the typical glass, floor, overhead, stanchion, ect. I really have to work on a different angle for the next game. I did however end up setting up a remote on the floor set to vertical directly underneath the basket. Here is how I had the remote setup:

I didn't want my MultiMax to get kicked or hit by the ball while on the hot-shoe since it was so close to the court so I used the PC cord that came with the wizard along with a mini-phone extension cord to place the wizard out of sight inside the base of the basket. I set my MultiMax to receive on channel 15 and relay to channel 16, which my strobes were on. I also used a super clamp/magic arm combo to secure everything so that it wouldn't move. Here is the angle the remote captured.

I didn't get anything worth transmitting to the paper but that's ok because I'm not always going to get something spectacular every time I set up a remote.

Basketball is probably one of the better sports I'm good at shooting because I know the game well. I understand where the action is going to be so I can anticipate for the peak action image. Now that probably sounds a little silly because we all know that the players have to put the ball in the hoop eventually but what I'm good at is the how and when. I understand how different teams run their offense and can pick up on that pretty quickly. Understanding why they're giving the ball to the man in the low post rather than skipping it across the key is really helpful when I'm trying to make images of peak action. I'm also shooting on the lights (aka strobes) and only get to take a picture every three seconds so I have to pick and choose my moments.

As I discussed in my last entry I LOVE shooting on the lights because of the look that it creates, the drama if you will. At Air Force's Clue Arena The Gazette has a set of strobes installed in the catwalks. Kevin Kreck and I fiddled with the setup at the beginning of the season and we really have them setup perfectly. Very little light spills into the seats which allows the players to pop. The above image is pretty much straight out of camera with the exception of a little crop.

I do however shoot a little differently than most who shoot on lights. It seems that most shooters that I run into are shooting somewhere between f4 and f6.3. I guess you can get away with all that DOF at an NBA/NHL/Big College arena because the backgrounds are so much farther away. I usually shoot in much smaller venues so I try to shoot wide open as possible. I have even cranked down my ISO to 50 to shoot at f2 with my 85. Tonight I was at 1/250, f2.8 at 100/125 ISO depending on where on the court I was shooting. The shallow DOF really allowed Air Force's Anwar Johnson to pop in the frame. IMHO f2.8 on lights is just about as good as it gets and man does Anwar make it look easy!

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com

Finding the good in the bad

"Pueblo South's Brody Lockett (30) and Tyrell Williams, far right, battle Mitchell's Davis Munoz for a loose ball in the first quarter of Pueblo South's 64-37 victory in the opening game of the Harrison Classic at Harrison High School in Colorado Springs, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008." JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE

Tonight was one of those nights where I had to earn my money. I could shoot sports all day, every day but there are plenty of times where it can be more challenging than it should. High school basketball is a perfect place to show that you are a better than average sports photographer.

For starters the games are played in the smallest, worst lit gyms (read: caves) imaginable. That means that shooting available light, except for the proud D3 owners, is out of the question. I'm a Canon guy and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the look of shooting on lights so I solved the "cave" problem by bringing a set of strobes to the game. I know that the paper is only going to run a couple of images from the game so some would say that bringing, setting up and tearing down lights is too much of a hassle. I, on the other hand see that as an opportunity, an opportunity to set myself apart from the next shooter. The image quality is better and the faces just "pop" that much more on lights.

The other important thing that I strive to achieve is clean backgrounds. Shooting in a high school gym makes this one a real challenge because since everything is so close to the action it can be difficult to separate the action from the background. I look for the cleanest backgrounds possible to aid me in making solid images. 

The above photo is a perfect example of how a clean background and strobes aid me in turning a rather rudimentary image into something that I feel confident running in tomorrow's paper with my byline underneath it. I get paid the big bucks (read: pennies) to find the good in a bad situation.

I'm shooting this same basketball tournament for the next two days and plan to try some different things so look for that soon.

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com

Peak Performers

Photo illustration by Justin Edmonds, The Gazette

Design by Matt Steiner, The Gazette

Well as promised here are the 2008 fall Peak Performers!

I spent the past few weeks photographing 12 area high school student athletes for The Gazette's special season ending section. It turned out to be one of the most challenging things that I have ever had to shoot because of the limited access. If you have ever tried to schedule 12 different photo shoots with 12 teenagers then you know what I'm talking about. It was hard enough just trying to get ahold of them.

Additionally I had my ups and downs with The Broadmoor. What seemed like amazing access slowly turned into more and more restricted access. A location I was told I would have access to one day turned out to be restricted the next and visa versa. I wasn't allowed to shoot in any of the famous suites that The Broadmoor is known for which was a huge let down but I made it work.

I know that I have gained a few extra pounds of muscle because dragging three/four bags or cases to each shoot was a task in itself. I chose to keep it light and used somewhere between one and three speedlights for every shoot except for one where I brought out the Dynalites to over power the sun. I didn't want the images to look the same so I used a combination of soft boxes, strip boxes, grids, snoots, stands, boom arms and two different beauty dishes depending on the situation.

Overall I am really pleased with the images. The project consumed my life for a good two and a half weeks but in the end it was all worth it. Enough with all the banter, go check out the images.

Damon McCain

Canon City High School

Class A-3A Football

Location: Pool entrance

Equiptment: three speedlights, one with a snoot on his face from upper camera right with a 1/4 CTO, one with a grid as a rim light behind his head and a third speedlight with a flag to light up half of the archway. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 70mm.

Settings: 1/60, f3.2 at 100 ISO

Brittnee Martinez

Doherty High School

Gymnastics

Location: Main entrance

Equipment: three speedlights, one with a home made beauty dish on a boom above camera right with a 1/8 CTO, one with a snoot on the logo and one with a flag to light up part of the rest of the archway. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 70mm.

Settings: 1/250, f4 at 200 ISO

Josh Chance

Pine Creek High School

Class 4A-5A Football

Location: Escalator near main front desk

Equipment: one speedlight snooted high directly above the camera. Canon 1D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8L II at 17mm.

Settings: 1/4, f5 at 400 ISO. Sunny white balance.

Raquel Howes

Liberty High School

Softball

Location: South tower lobby

Equipment: two speedlights, one with a homemade beauty dish above camera right with a 1/8 CTO, one snooted and aimed at the side and arm of the chair with a 1/4 CTB. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 78mm.

Settings: 1/30, f3.5 at 400 ISO. 5,000K white balance

Morgan Broekhuis

Colorado Springs Christian School

Class A-3A Volleyball

Location: South tower mezzanine level lobby

Equipment: two speedlights, one with a homemade beauty dish and 1/4 CTO on a boom above camera left, one with a 1/8 CTO in a medium softbox low, camera right next to subject. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 78mm.

Settings: 1/50, f2.8 at 500 ISO. Sunny white balance

Ryan Warren

Liberty High School

Soccer

Location: Pompeiian room

Equipment: two speedlights, one in a large strip box camera left, one with a camera right to provide separation on his jacket. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 75mm.

Settings: 1/50, f4 at 400 ISO. Sunny white balance.

Allie McLaughlin

Air Academy High School

Cross Country

Location: West tower lobby

Equipment: two speedlights, one in a medium softbox camera left on a boom with a 1/2 CTB, one behind the statue aimed at the water with a blue gel. Canon 1D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8L II at 16mm.

Settings: 1/80, f4 at 400 ISO. 10,000K white balance.

Mike Guerra

Air Academy High School

Golf

Location: 18th hole on the East course

Equipment: three speedlights, all three camera left, bare, aimed at his upper body. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 70mm.

Settings: 1/200, f13 at 50 ISO. Sunny white balance

Amanda Stammer

Cheyenne Mountain High School

Field Hockey

Location: Mountain view terrace

Equipment: two speedlights, one in a medium softbox with a 1/2 CTB camera right and another with a 1/2 CTB on the back wall from camera right. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 125mm.

Settings: 1/100, f5 at 50 ISO. 4,200K white balance.

Wes Rickman

Falcon High School

Cross Country

Location: Cheyenne lake bridge

Equipment: one Dynalite head and 1,000ws pack at about 1/2 power with a large homemade beauty dish and CTO on a boom arm above camera left. Canon 1D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8L II at 27mm.

Settings: 1/250, f6.3 at 100 ISO. 3000K white balance.

Nikki Kinzer

Rampart High School

Class 4A-5A volleyball

Location: West tower lobby

Equipment: two speedlights, one in a homemade beauty dish with and one with a grid behind the subject camera right. Canon 1D Mark II with a 70-200 2.8L at 200mm.

Settings: 1/80, f2.8 at 250 ISO. Sunny white balance.

John Adams

Cheyenne Mountian High School

Tennis

Location: Outside main entrance

Equipment: three speedlights, all inside a medium softbox at camera right. Canon 1D Mark II with a 16-35 2.8L II at 16mm.

Settings: 1/250, f8 at 50 ISO. Sunny white balance.

Email me if you have any questions!

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com

Catching up

"Michael Woods paces while waiting for his bus to arrive at the bus station in Colorado Springs, Monday, Dec. 8, 2008. Woods was headed to Manitou Springs for the afternoon." 

JUSTIN EDMONDS, THE GAZETTE

I know, I know, it's been over a week since I posted anything but I have a good excuse. The past week I've basically been shooting nothing but high school athletes for our Peak Performers (HS athletes of the year) section that comes out this Friday. Thus I've been shooting plenty but it just isn't anything that I can publish until it comes out.

The whole process was a little daunting to say the least. If you have ever attempted to schedule and photograph 12 teenagers in about 12 days then you know what I'm talking about. The images look great and I'm anxious to share them with you soon so look for that on Friday.

The above image is a result of me wandering to the top of a parking structure in the middle of downtown and searching for a feature. The light wasn't so great so I didn't know if I was going to find anything interesting but I decided to go up anyway. I walked around the top level looking over each edge for a few minutes before I spotted the cowboy hat wearing Mr. Woods. Without the cool garb this wouldn't be much of a picture. 

I really wish the light was better. I may go back sometime in the early morning in the next week or so to see if I can improve on this attempt. I can't really decide how I feel about the image so let me know what you think.

-JCE

www.jcedmonds.com