Rookie Spirit with...

 

Light painting after a winter run in 2014.

 ... a Pro's eye.

I just recovered access to this blog after just over 10 years. Most likely I am writing to myself but here goes.

Much has changed in 10 years; work, family, technology, life. Some things remain the same; my website, email and my love for photography, family and friends. I'm now 15 years into freelancing and still working out of the Chicago area. I picked up my first mirrorless camera (R6 mii) about a month ago and back to school learning a new camera system.

I remain in love with photojournalism but things have changed so much and with staff positions shrinking at newspapers, jobs are few and far between. I am not doing much newspaper work or storytelling these days but my photojournalism style, passion and work ethic remain in my daily work.

I will update this blog from time to time with new work and thoughts as well as some moments from the archives so if you are out there thanks for tuning in.

Below is my last post I started but never got out from January 2014. Not running anymore but that could change.  I am still trying to figure out how to get more hours out of everyday and working smarter not harder.

Tuesday night I tossed on an extra layer of clothes, pulled out my warmest mittens, laced up my running shoes and stepped out into the cold for a little run.

At 8:05pm I stepped into the cold, wind and ice for my 1 mile run. I started running again last week adding one block on each new run.

In high school I ran Track and Cross Country and I always loved how a good run helped fuel my mind. After a good run I always came back with a head full of picture story ideas. Two weeks into the new year and I am officially putting my New Year's resolution, to do more, in print.

Exercise more, Tweet more, blog more, learn & grow, work on personal projects, get my portfolio in order, shoot & edit more video, sleep less.

I have always had a handful of favorite quotes that touch my soul and a many come from one of my mentor's John H. White. He always said you need to have a Rookie Spirit and a Pro's Eye.

This year marks my 5th anniversary of being in the freelance world.

Great photography is a dance, not a run. I feel like for the past 5 years I have been mentally running and grinding and now it is time to start dancing again. I always say if you are not moving forward and learning new things every day then you are moving backwards.

Another great quote I learned from JHW is "Good, Better, Best, Never let then rest, Till your good is better and your better best."

There is so much great content on the web I plan to hunt down something new and fun everyday and share it via Twitter.

Happy Last Year

POY: click HERE

For photojournalists this is the time of year to look back at the last 12 months of work and pick our best work for the annual contests. A small portion of photographers get the rules and put together the photos that they have set aside over the past year for the contests, the rest of us begin the process of trying to remember what we shot. Looking through clips, hard drives, DVDs, blog posts and anywhere else our photos live to find those favorite images.

A few of the big contests include Pictures of the Year (POYi), NPPA's Best of Photojournalism (BOP), World Press Photo, Illinois Press Photographers Association, Northern Short Course, Southern Short Course.

This is a great chance to look back at the year's work, celebrate the high's, get ready for a new year and get some recognition among your peers.

In college I spent hours in the newspaper archives looking up newspapers from around the world hunting down the year in review sections. Now I can sit a my computer with a cup of coffee. Here are links to some of the POY galleries from newspapers and magazines across the country. I will post a link to my favorites when I get done sorting through the pixels.

• Chicago Tribune
• The New York Times
• LA Times
• The Boston Globe 
• Seattle Times
• State Journal Register
• The Oregonian
• Anchorage Daily News
• The Arizona Republic
• The Star-Ledger
• Minneapolis Star Tribune
• Dallas Morning News
• Tampa Bay Times
• The Washington Post
• Indianapolis Star Mike Fender  Charlie Nye
• Spokesman Review Kathy Plonka  Dan Pelle Colin Mulvany Jesse Tinsley Tyler Tjomsland
• Time Magazine (multiple galleries)
• The Denver Post
• Sports Illustrated
• Associated Press
• Getty Images
• Reuters
• USA Today Sports
• The Big Picture Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
• Agence France-Press
• The White House

If you know of other POY galleries send me the link and I will add them to the list.

thanks,

-jk

Adding 2 galleries worth taking a look at by my good friend Scott Strazzante:
my best photos of 2013
my best photos of 2013...iPhone edition

Sweet 1/16

Louisville's Gorgui Dieng and Montrezl Harrell guard DePaul's Cleveland Melvin.

Russ Smith passes the ball as he drives the lane.

 Gorgui Dieng goes inside to score.

Coach Rick Pitino on the sidelines.

 Peyton Silva glides in to score.

Pre-Madness

With the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen just on the horizon this is as close as I am going to get to this year's March Madness. With a lot of high school basketball games under my belt this season I had a great opportunity to help a good friend, Steve Woltmann, cover some college basketball games in the last month. When the ranked Louisville Cardinals came to town to play DePaul I helped Steve shoot the game for DePaul.

When I was younger I remember looking at a lot of the sports magazines and thinking, "if I had lights this would be a lot easier." It is true the lighting can take photos to another level however, doing something better does not mean it is easier. This is not the first time I have used strobes at a sporting event but it has been a while and there is a big adjustment in how you shoot a game with strobes.

Because of the recycle time on the strobes you need to shoot single frame with about a 2 second delay between shots. Concentration on the decisive moment is key rather than a one or two second burst of frames. If you shoot to soon the best photos will be about 6 stops under exposed when the lights do not fire.

In addition to the quality of the images editing is much easier since you do not have 800 images to sort through at the end of the game.

Here are a of my few moments of the Cardinals taking on the Blue Demons.

-john

All photos © 2013 John Konstantaras

M.I.A.

 

 

Time for a post

Once again I have been M.I.A. in the photo jungle. It has been a while since I have updated my blog, so here is a quick & dirty post to catch up.

In the past few months I have been busy with a lot of different things. On the fun side, I moved away from my old android phone to the iPhone 4s, a month before the iPhone 5 was released, and I could not be happier. 

I jumped into Instagram as another tool to document life through my phone and the change in phone cameras was pretty radical. You can follow my Instagram journey @JOHNKON. More on Instagram later.

On the pro-side I got to play with the Canon 5D Mark III for a couple weeks to shoot gymnastics and basketball and now I need a bigger piggy bank! More on the 5D Mark III later.

I fired up my website with PhotoShelter at JohnKonPhoto.photoshelter.com and like my life, the site is still a work in progress.

As high school basketball finishes up and winter sports are winding down I am looking forward to shooting sports in the great outdoors. I got my first taste of spring sports last weekend, without the weather, as I shot the season home opener for Benedictine University's inaugural lacrosse teams.

Here are a few lacrosse photos from the day. 

Cheers,

-john

 

All photos © 2013 John Konstantaras 

Recent Soccer Work

Elgin's Antonio Escamilla jumps to beat Larkin's Emanuel Sanchez to the ball.

Judson goalie Sara Hoffman makes a save during the second half of their game against Illinois Tech.

Larkin Erik Rodriguez stops a ball with his face during the first half of their game against Metea Valley.

Larkin's Hector Mendoza heads the ball over Elgin's Edgar Zavala.

St. Edward's Johnny Shepherd (8) celebrates his goal against Elgin Academy in their Class 1A Regional game.

Part 5: On the pitch

Finally, all caught up. Most of the soccer I have shot has been in the past two weeks as the season is winding down.

Here are a few from some recent games. Now off to shoot more football tonight.

-john

All photos © 2012 John Konstantaras / Courier-News • Sun-Times Media

An afternoon with Ella

Ella watches a video with her classmates.

Ella and her fellow first graders give it their all in a tug-of-war against the second graders.

Ella waits her turn to bear crawl during the relay races.

Ella shows her mom a cancer awareness ribbon pin she made during the rally.

Ella gets a hug and kiss from her mom Katie during the rally.

Ella, right, holds hands with Hayley D'Alexander as they walk back to school.

Part 4: Childhood Cancer Awareness Rally

On September 27 I wandered out to Cambridge Lakes Learning Center in Pingree Grove to shoot a Childhood Cancer Awareness Rally. The school was holding a rally with the first and second graders and it is there I got to meet Ella Van Gheem, a first grader who has been fighting Leukemia since August 2010.

By far the most rewarding part of my life as a photojournalist is being able to tell people stories. Ella's mom is a photographer and has been blogging about the families journey through leukemia since the beginning. You can follow them HERE. 

Here are a few moments I made in the few hours of following Ella with her friends that afternoon.

-john

All photos © 2012 John Konstantaras / Courier-News • Sun-Times Media

 

Recent Volleyball Work

South Elgin's Allison Osborne jumps for a ball during a  game against Elgin.

Central's Jess Emrich (left) lunges to save a ball.

Central's Allie O Reilly (top) makes a diving save.

Harvest Christian's Jordan Sollars scores on Elgin's Jackie Shioli (8).

Elgin's Taylor Powers (1) bumps a ball over Taylor Hedl.

Central's Allie O Reilly (1), Lauren Wiltsie (14) and Jess Emrich (10) celebrate.

 Part 3: High School volleyball

"Practice, Practice, Practice!"

After graduating from the U of I and while working at the Northwest Herald in the late 80's I took a few classes at Columbia College. I can still hear those words from my teacher and Sun-Times photographer John H. White.

Like most sports I am always hunting for the perfect position to capture the moments of the game. At the beginning of the season I feel like I am shooting too loose and just fighting to get basic photos. With a few more games under the belt I can work a few different angles and look for better moments.

Here are some pix from this season.

-john

All photos © 2012 John Konstantaras / Courier-News • Sun-Times Media