The daily newspaper grind for a photojournalist can be exhausting, but it can also give you the most interesting mix of assignments.
Today's workload called for two portraits: one of a high school high jumper headed to states, the other a World War II veteran who was on the beaches during D-Day.
Yeah, two different mindsets. But in both, I'm still trying to capture something real, something personal.
High jumper first. Gray, blah day. With little-to-no lighting equipment (just an old Nikon flash on the hotshoe), I was thinking a lot about good composition. Did a few run-arounds, got some decent shots. And just before packing it in, tried a simple composition. I think because she knew we were just about done, she was relaxed. And I finally caught that great, natural look. Hurrah! Love it. Again, doesn't exactly pop with just the on-camera flash. Gray sky is droll. But I love the look. And it tells a fun story. So I like it.
And then the Navy vet. This one was a lot less movement. I joined reporter for the interview, got to listen to some incredible stories. This guy was a cook on an LST vessel that was at D-Day, Iwo Jima, Okinawa ... all over the place!
So we were all sitting outside on his tiny porch, and I was just keeping an eye out for anything. As he kept talking, I noticed he would frequently look out to his backyard, and this really lovely side-light fell on the far side/edge of his face. And it blew out pretty coolly with the white wall behind him.
So I twiddled with the f-stop a bit (I wanted something pretty shallow), and came up with this. Full disclosure: politely manuevered the photo he was holding to face me. He didn't even seem to care.
Anyway. Love this photo. Nice shallow DOF gives it a dreamy quality. Bright and simple. Tricked around with the contrast + curves to find a decent middle ground for the exposure on his face.
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