A cup to go

September 7, 2010: Coffee around the county

I picked up a few assignments for the McHenry County Magazine shooting coffee around McHenry County this week. I shot the first two in Cary and Marengo on Friday before my high school football game and then another on Tuesday in Woodstock.

I have always enjoyed shooting food because it allows me to break out the lights and have a little creative fun. I also love coffee so it was a good couple days.

These assignments called for shots on a black background as well as an environmental shot of the coffee in the store. I prefer the images with a bit of detail in the background.

Here are three from the shoots.

-Iced Mocha at Flatlander Market in Marengo,
-Autumn Spice Latte at Java Planet in Woodstock.
-Royale at the Cary Coffee Station in Cary.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras / McHenry County Magazine

Week 2

September 3, 2010: Johnsburg vs. Jacobs

Football season has arrived, for me, and I covered my first game of the season on Friday. It is the second week of high school football but, I was traveling last weekend so I missed out on the fun.

It was one of the cooler nights in a long time with a very little mist, but still really good football weather.

First games are a time to get the bugs out and the biggest challenge is always connecting to the web. I borrowed a wifi card but still had problems connecting at the half to I had to drive home to file. If I was a little further from home I would have to hunt for a Starbucks or a McDonald's that has wifi that actually works.

I only shot the first half since I had to leave to send my photos and did not have anything that really knocked my socks off so here are 3 from the game.

- Jacobs Czar Zyks slips by a tackle by Johnsburg's Justin Seyler.
- Zyks heads for the end zone for the first score of the game as Johnsburg's Dylan McNish chases.
- Johnsburg quarterback George Bielis is upended after being sacked by Jacobs' Ryan Hevrdejs.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras / Northwest Herald

Buzzing by the south branch

August 12, 2010: with Alderman James Balcer

I made a portrait of Chicago 11th Ward Alderman James Balcer along the South Branch of the Chicago River in Bridgeport last week for the Chicago News Cooperative.

The story was on a boat ride the alderman took with reporter Mitch Dumke looking at wildlife and talking about how the area has changed. Because of a little mix up we missed the boat ride so a portrait was my next best option.

Tt was a pretty quick shoot and I enjoy shooting nature and wildlife so I hung out to shoot some bugs and flowers in Origins Park.

-A dragonfly buzzes by the Origin Park.
-Flowers along the river
-Alderman James Balcer looks over the park area along the south branch of the Chicago River.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras / Chicago News Cooperative

Back on the field

August 14, 2010: Richmond-Burton football practice

Football is one of my favorite sports to shoot, I finished last season with the Richmond-Burton vs. Johnsburg playoff game so it was only fitting that my first football assignment of the year is in Richmond.

The practice started at 7am so it was not too hot but, the mosquitoes were out in full force. With a little bug spray assist from the team I was good to go. Most practice shots are pretty basic; guys running, throwing and standing around so I am always looking for something fun or different.

Here are three I liked from the practice.

-Richmond-Burton H.S. head football coach Patrick Elder is surrounded by his team as he takes a passing challenge at the end of practice.
-Wide receiver C.J. Daniel makes a catch during practice.
-Lineman Zachary Boettjer waters some corn during a break.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras / Northwest Herald

Neck shots, chukkers and divots

August 15, 2010: something new

I have covered a lot of different sports over the years and it is always refreshing to cover something new. Last weekend I shot my first polo match for the Courier-News, the Sherman Cup polo match at Dahlwood Farm in Elgin. It took me most of the game to figure out the rules and what was going on but it made some fun photos.

Four players from each team play on a 300 x 160 yard field so long glass is a must. Kind of like soccer and hockey but with horses, on a bigger field and much faster. They play 6 seven and a half minute chukkers and take a half time break after the third chukker.

If you want to learn more about the sport of polo click HERE.

Here are three from the event.

-Anthony Garcia with a neck shot in the first half.
-Alan Martinez and Nicolai Galindo reach for a high ball.
-Spectators help stomp divots after the game.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras /Courier-News

Summer dresses

Sunday, August 8, 2010; A few moments with Guin and Amira

Wow time really flies, the last 6 months have been really busy and I will try to do some catching up in the next few weeks. I am still freelancing in the Chicago area and have been doing a lot of editorial work for the Chicago News Cooperative.

My granddaughters came over to visit in their matching summer dresses on Sunday, here are a three photos from our small portrait session.

-john

All photos © 2010 John Konstantaras

Bonus round

November 14, 2009; last football game of the year.

I was pretty convinced football season was over for me last weekend but was happy when I got the call to get one more game in for the Northwest Herald. This was the same weekend of the state volleyball tournament so I shot the Class 4a football quarterfinal game between Richmond-Burton and Johnsburg.

Here are three from the game.

-Johnsburg quarterback Jon Torgersen (6) is tackled by Richmond-Burton's Nicholas Dittmar (52) after a run in the first half.
-Johnsburg's C.J. Fiedorowicz is swamped on an incomplete pass by Richmond-Burton defenders C.J. Daniels (12), Ken Riordan (32) and Kyle Wismer (88) during the second half
-Johnsburg players C.J. Fiedorowicz (left) and Alex Hutchinson on the field after their season ended with a 28-10 loss to Richmond-Burton.

-john

All photos © 2009 John Konstantaras / Northwest Herald

Near miss

November 9, 2009; dodging pucks at the UC.

Monday night I shot the Blackhawks vs Kings for the Chicago News Cooperative.

Hockey is a challenge to shoot, with a three inch puck traveling at over 100 mph the game moves pretty fast. I have always loved covering the Hawks, they had a great season last year and are playing even better this season.

The 2 main positions to shoot from in hockey are on the glass or up in the stands. The ice level shooting positions make some nice pictures but there are limited positions at that level and some of the glass positions are better than others that only allow a partial view of the ice.

Since one of my assignments was to get features of head coach Joel Quenneville getting one of the prime holes was not a big deal. I shot the first period from an open glass position across from the bench.

The closer you are to the action the more alert you have to be.
All the time! Early in the game I was switching cameras and turned my head for a moment when I heard a loud bang on the glass. When I looked to the ice I saw a fresh mark about a half inch from the open hole where a puck slammed into the glass. Camera up or down if the puck were a half inch to the left I would have been done for the day with a broken camera or worse.

I worked some coach photos from the glass and moved up to the higher position for the next two periods. Access is very limited on game day and coaching shots are really not that exciting so I shot a little action as well. It is easier to cover more of the ice from the high position but some corners are blocked by the nets, glass and fans. You have to be ready for every fan in the stadium to jump up when the Hawks score a goal.

I played with the distortion in the glass but I think there is a better photo there.

Here are three game shots from the high position.

-Jonathan Toews moves the puck around the goal and LA Kings Drew Doughty.
-Andrew Ebbett celebrates his third period goal.
-Brian Campbell moves the puck up the ice.

-john

All photos © 2009 John Konstantaras / Chicago News Cooperative

TNT RAW

November 8, 2009; first tumbling meet of the year.

No this is not pro wrestling, just a little more trampoline and tumbling. I have wanted to play around and shoot on the RAW camera setting for a while now so I went to a meet Sunday and shot some photos of our 5 Star athletes.

The advantage of RAW is you have way more control over the image when you go on the computer to edit. You can adjust exposure by a few stops and even better you have a lot more control adjusting the color balance of the images. This is especially helpful when lighting constantly changes during a shoot. In a high school gym some spots are daylight balanced and others can be florescent, sodium vapor or tungsten or a mix of all of the above.

The downside is the files take up way more space, it slows your motor drive speed down, and it takes longer to edit.

But the end result can be far better photos. There was a lot of daylight in this gym so

Here are 3 tumbling photos from the meet.

-john

All photos © 2009 John Konstantaras

Double duty

November 7, 2009: High School playoffs

I also picked up a high school playoff football game in Richmond for the Northwest Herald Saturday morning, a good warm up for the Bulls game. I also did not think I was going to get another football game this season having been out of town as the high school and college regular seasons were finishing up.

Richmond-Burton Rockets' were playing the Coal City Coalers in their IHSA class 4A second round playoff game.

It was a perfect day for a football game and felt more like an early September game than November. Richmond-Burton won 44-6 and are set to play Johnsburg in a cross county match up next weekend, a game I was sure would go to a staff shooter.

Here are 3 from the game I liked.

-Justin Russell (22) celebrates after his first quarter touchdown run.
-Kenneth Riordan (32) hops into the end zone after a long touchdown run in the first quarter as Coal City's Kyle Shugart (14) misses the tackle.
-C.J. Daniels (12) breaks up pass intended for Coal City's Anthony Hackey (5) during the third quarter.

With a quick edit and a stop in Panera for a cup of coffee and a side of wifi I was off to the United Center. (see previous post, who said blogs need to be chronological?)

All photos © 2009 John Konstantaras / Northwest Herald

Out of the Jungle

November 7, 2009; and into the United Center.

Busy, busy, busy. I have really been kicking myself to update my blog, but, I have been busy. I know, no excuse. So once again here is a little catch up on what has been going on in the last few months.

We returned home from Costa Rica on Friday November 6th and I was pretty happy to get to work right away on Saturday night covering a Bulls game for the newly created Chicago News Cooperative (CNC). The CNC is a new media service in Chicago comprised of a group of dedicated journalists on a mission to provide a new news source in Chicago.

Many of the staffers have been around the Chicago scene for some time and I consider myself lucky to be working with some old friends from my Chicago Tribune days.

The CNC provides content for the Friday and Sunday New York Times Chicago pages and all the stories are posted on the CNC website . In a time of shrinking jobs in the news industry this is a really great thing.

With the rolls reversed I now find myself working with former Trib staff photographer José Moré who is the picture editor and main photojournalist for the CNC. I spoke with José a few times before leaving on my trip and we kept in touch on e-mail.

So, out of the jungle and into the UC for the Bulls vs. Bobcats game. I was there to shoot some photos for a sports feature that has not run yet. I have not covered a Bulls game in over a year and it was great to be back on the court again.

Here are three photos from the game that did not go with the story we are working on.

-Joakim Noah chases down a loose ball in the first half
-Benny the Bull has some fun with referee Violet Palmer during a break in the action.
-Luol Deng is all smiles as time winds down in the Bulls 93-90 win.

-john

All photos © John Konstantaras 2009