Ode to an All-Star Game

July 15, 2003: All-Star Game at U.S. Cellular Field

FROM THE ARCHIVES.

With the 79th All-Star game at Yankee Stadium ending here is my ode to an All-Star Game.

Boy the All Star game has changed a bit over the years. I remember covering it when it was more of a social hour when all of the top players from around the league came together to hang out and have fun.

Tuesday's game was completely the opposite, 15 innings and 4 hours and 50 minutes and the American League once again prevailed with a 4-3 win in the Midsummer Classic.

We had Phil Velasquez, one of our baseball aces, covering the game for us but he was solo and they did not allow laptops on the field. If the game had started at noon I would have liked it a lot more but because of the late finish I feel like I could not get the best of Phil's images in the paper.

We have been using a new piece of technology to send photos directly from the camera to the office and if that had worked we would have been golden. But alas we have not gotten it to work at any big sporting events yet. It crapped out last week during the LifeLock 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway but luckily it started working after the race and we were able to get the celebration in the paper. When it is working right we can get a photo from camera onto the web in about five minutes. When it is not it is like the old analog wire transmitters minus the high pitch transmission tone.

Enough of now, here are a few photos from the last All-Star game in Chicago in 2003 at U.S. Cellular Field. I was covering it for the Tribune and we had a crew of about 3 shooters and 1 editor. We were set up in one of the hallways under the stands and before the Futures game Phil made a frame of Giants mascot Lou Seal giving me a few picture editing tips. I wish he would have been around to run cards for me later during the All Star game we could have used the help.

The slowest time editing on the road is always the beginning of the game when you are waiting for cards to roll in, so I went to the upper level where we did not have a photog to shoot an overall of the field. I did not want to have an empty aisle in the middle of my frame I worked my way to an empty seat. As the national anthem was finishing up the U.S. Navy Blue Angels roared overhead and much to my delight the guy in front of me raised his fist in the air. I made the photo grabbed my gear and ran down to edit the first batch of images coming in.

One editor on 3 photogs at a big event is a bit much and I was pretty swamped trying to keep on top of the game and get key photos back to the Tower. It was not till after the game was over and Scott Strazzante was looking at the back of my camera did he see this frame and told me I should move it.

Though I still love to make photos I know what my job is editing at an event and I always edit my photogs images before I even look at my own photos. I will head out to shoot some features or pick up a ball game here and there is we do not have a staffer to cover. I like to keep my shooting skills as sharp as I can because if you left your skills fall off to far it is hard to get them back.

The photo of Oakland's Keith Foulke was from Monday workouts.

-jk

Movin' on

July 12, 2008: Wes B-Q

In newspapers and I guess in every field of work, if you are lucky, there is a time when you get to work with really talented people who care deeply about what they do. When you can surround yourself with those people you are really in a great place.

I always want to be around people who are as or more talented and motivated than me because it makes me take my game to the next level. My few year editing at Copley Northern Illinois Newspapers (Waukegan, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet, Naperville and a bunch of zip code weeklies) were pretty amazing. The bar was always set high, the talent was even higher and the work and stories were amazing.

At the Tribune we have some incredibly talented photojournalists as well and over the past few years I have seen a bunch move on to other opportunities. This week was Wes Pope's turn, he is heading to the Rocky Mountain News as their multi media photographer. Wes' last day at the Tribune was the Fourth of July and he starts his new gig in Colorado July 28th.

I have known Wes for almost 10 years from his first tour of duty at the Tribune as a 1-year. I have always been impressed with Wes' images from the lake front series, his photos outside Wrigley during the Cubs playoff run years ago, his Guinea worm story in Ghana to his pop can pinhole series from Route 66 and many more great stories. He has always brought back fresh images with his unique point of view. Now, Wes has taken the next step in newspapers and taken the lead in multimedia from slide shows with music to video he is still taking his work to the next level.

Saturday I got to hang out with Wes at a little BBQ in Forest Park before heading into work. The hour I got to hang out was definitely not enough time but here are a few frames from the afternoon.

Good luck at the Rocky Mountain News Wes. I am sure you will continue to kick ass out there.

Here are a few moments from the BBQ.

-john

A quick fix

July 12, 2008: More lights in the sky

Wow, am I in need of a good photo fix, it is like I am going through photo withdrawals. At the end of last week I was really feeling it bad. It has been a couple weeks since I posted anything on the blog and I have not shot a photo let alone three that I would even think about posting.

I keep my camera with me most of the time and have knocked off a few frames here and there but they are not even worth downloading to my computer. If I make one more traffic photo from the car I might have to retire the cameras for a while. But driving home Friday we had another thunder storm so I thought I would try again to catch lightening through the windshield on the way home I thought, "maybe the third time will be a charm." ( First try: Painting with light, Second try: Chasing lightening, again )

As I got out of the city I got the usual streaming street lights and a couple neat blurred road sign photos but the bolts were just not big enough and in the right place for this photo to work. The only two really big strikes I was were when I was in light traffic but I do not shoot in traffic or when there are cars around me.

On Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry I was talking to Paulette on the phone and she was not home yet so I pulled over and made a few hand held frames out the window of my car. I probably could have found a better foreground but it was about midnight and I was just experimenting with shutter speeds and aperture settings. When I got home I grabbed my tripod from the garage and shot a little more around the house till Paulette got home.

As far as lightening photos go these are nothing to write home about but here are a few shots from that night.

-jk

A walk on the Pride side

June 29, 2008: hands on at the Pride Parade

This is the second time Paulette and I wandered down to Lakeview for the annual Pride Parade. This year Kati just moved into the neighborhood so she came with us and we met up with Joe at the end of the parade.

With over two hundred groups participating and about 450,000 people in attendance there is a little bit of everything in this parade. Anything goes out there and if you are offended by shirtless men in underwear it is best you stay home.

I was caught between shooting photos and hanging out, my problem is that when I am working an event I get in a zone and lose track of the people around me. I wandered off a few times but it was good that Kati was there so I was not abandoning Paulette. I really like to sit back with long glass everything was so crowded it was hard to get off much from the street with my 300. As it turns out all three in this triptych are shot wide.

We camped out at Halsted and Brompton for most of the parade. When everything came to a stop for about 45 minutes and the rain rolled in so we retreated to Las Mananitas Mexican Restaurant for a few margaritas and a window seat.

My original goal was to find 3 photos that I could never get published in the paper. I just did not see that much that was crazy over the top or maybe I did not look hard enough or maybe I just was not in the right place.

I always shoot for the best moments and edit for what something unique about the event. The one thing that struck me Sunday was how close the people were to the parade. Every ten minutes or so a police officer would stroll by on a 4-wheeler, a Segway or even on horseback to push the crowd back but as soon as they passed the crowd just moved back into the street.

The crowd is as big a part of the event as the floats and walkers. People run into the street for hugs, beads, condoms or whatever is being handed out. Others run out to take photos with friends and characters in the parade. We even ran across a guy with his leather whip giving everyone a little slap here and there. I shot a couple cards and have a ton of fun photos. These are the three that give me the feel of the blending of the parade and the people.

-jk