The CIA

Some of the places I go to for an assignment in this area can sometimes be interesting, or intimidating. In this case, intimidating. I had the rare opportunity to shoot inside the CIA headquarters. Of course, it was only one corner in one directions. We weren't allowed to shoot to the left or behind us, only in front and towards the right. I didn't get tosee too much inside, but did get to drive around the massive, college-like campus.

The infamous floor logo


Each of the stars on the wall behind the marine represent a CIA employee killed in the line of duty.




Marines posing with picture with a teddy bear given to the by the director of the CIA.

Six Days, Six Photos

A photo each day from the last week. It's been a busy and interesting week.

Friday, Model Train Show


Saturday, Visit with Santa


Sunday, The Lonely Road


Monday, Basketball


Tuesday, Symphony Practice


Wednesday, Delegate Swearing in Ceremony

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now that I have been a year, I am starting to shoot the same assignments again. But that's part of the newspaper business. The problem is coming up with a new way to cover these assignments each year, which can be difficult. This assignment was no different. A Thanksgiving Dinner was held by the Salvation Army for the homeless, families who can't afford a nice dinner and the elderly. Of course, I got a lot of people not wanting their picture taken, so I focused on the volunteers and kids. Most parents don't care if their kids are photographer, as long as they aren't. I am sort of happy with I what I managed to get.

Happy Turkey Day to everyone.

The Nutcracker

We cover a lot of high school and community shows here. Plays, musicals, ballets and whatever else goes on in the arts. Last night was no different as I was assigned to cover a dress rehearsal for the ballet, The Nutcracker. In an effort to do something different, I shot most of the rehearsal from backstage. I might have to do this for now on. I got better shots from this rehearsal than ever before.





And some of facial expressions or things that the dancers do backstage before going on are pretty funny also.

Election Day

So, Tuesday wes Election Night here in Virginia. I know most states didn't have any major races, but we did. Every state represenative seat was up and several local seats were being contested. As expected, the Democrats pretty much cleaned up. I had the pleasure, of hanging with the Democrats at their victory party headquarters. It was a long day and night, since several glitches in Fairfax County kept the results from being posted for most races until almost midnight. Here are a few pics.




This is Chap Petersen, one of the newly elected members of the state senate. He has a huge family and I think they were all their wearing avariety of clothing with his name. He even took his shoes off at one time and showed them to everybody to prove how much he had walked around to get votes. He's new, but he is already pulling thesame old political antics.


This is Gerry Connelly, the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and had just won re-election. He is the ultimate politician. Shaking hands, kissing babies and telling jokes is what he does best.

New Update

This first picture was from an art show in McLean, VA. Not an really exciting event, but I really like this picture. Spent alot of time on this just waiting for the right moment.


The second picture is from a dedication ceremony for a new elementary school. This kid was just standing with his father, when he just took off and stood face first towards the wall. Stood there for like fifteen minutes, for no reason.

D.C. Protest

I had the opportuniy to shoot my first large Peace March and Rally in the Capitol on Sept. 15. I've shot rallies and protests before, but not this large. It went pretty well for the most part, but was also crazy at times. The march itself was highly unorganized and several of the organizers and volunteers were very hostile towards members of the press, which made coverage difficult at times. An estimated 100,000 anti-war protestors took part in the march.



It was supposed to be a peaceful march, with some civil disobedience. Meaning several protestors jumped over police barricades in front of the U.S. Capitol and were arrested. Around 200 people were arrested.




Then, of course, towards the end, things got slightly out of hand. The group of protestors closest to the barricades in the front, with me in the middle of them, decided to make one last push to break through the barricades and that's when some of the Capitol Police pulled out the pepper spray. Trust me, being sprayed doesn't feel very good when you happen to take a deep breath just as a blast of pepper spray comes your direction.


Alas, all in all, I would have to say it was a fun day. ;)

Busy week

I need to get better at keeping regular updates on this blog, but I get busy sometimes and neglect it. So here's a few updates from the past week. First couple of pics are from the annual Dulles Day Family Fest and Plane Pull. Basically they get teams to come out and pull a FedEx Cargo plane as quick as they can. There are also a variety of planes on display.

Then there was a 9/11 rememberance ceremony. Kind of a low turnout, I guess for the sixth anniversary, there's not much interest anymore?


And finally a shot from a fall carnival.


This next week includes a Day Laborer Rally, a Peace March in D.C. and a variety of sports, so hopefulyl I'll have some nice updates for next week.

The Robbie

Football is getting closer...

Just a sample of portraits that I took of about 30 high school football players for our football tab. Didn't come out too bad for the last minute. Tried a few different styles, including a ring "pie-pan" flash that I made at home. I think with a few adjustments, I will have to use it again in the future.

Football Time

It's that time of the year, and we all love it. Well, sort of. High school football season. I shot my first few practices this morning and got this accident. Iwas playing around with different things and this ahppened. I know, it's out of focus, but I like it. It's kinda of cool looking and you can still tell what's going on.

You have to be quick at shooting practices here, becuase if it get's to be a certain temp or humidity level, they have to go inside. All the school's here, have a trainer or somebody who keeps track of the temp and humidity with this little machine and once it hit's that certain point, their done. I shot for an hour this morning at one high school andat about 9 am, they had to quit. Anyways, happy football season to everyone.

Portraits

One of the areas I am weak in my photography are portraits. My paper also does not make good use of a good portraitopportunity. So, I have been making an effort lately to get stronger at them. This is one of the best attempts I have had in a long time. The subject a professional studio/portrait photographer, so I was nervouse doing this shoot, but I like the product.


This is my favorite, though at first the restroom sign location ticked me off, it doesn't bother me anymore. This was shot in a movie theatre where she has a showing. This was pretty much the only clean background, except for that sign. But I think it adds a little, only if it wasn't growing out of her head.

High School Graduations

High School Graduations. That time of the year has finally came and went. Now, usually they don't bother me too much, but having to cover about 15 graduation over a 2-week period, that's enough. I even had 3 in one day twice. I know I'm complaining, but.....On the bright side, it gace me time experiement and catch up on my sleep. Oh, I managed to get a few nice shots also. Here's just a few of my favorites.




Also a few of the speakers were pretty interesting. Like Colin Powell. Some of the other speakers were Hillary Clinton, Ben Afleck (not sure why) and the losing coach from the movie, Remember the Titans, the real guy, not the actor.

Wandering Eye

Sometimes when I'm on assignment, I see things that catch my eye and I take a picture. Usually they are artsy fartsy, so we won't use them in the paper, but I can post them here. These are two I shot at a recent baseball game, something about them i like.