This past Monday, I was part of the White House Press Pool that follows President Barack Obama.  From what my good friend and colleague Cindy Ellen Russell told me from the day before, I had mentally prepared myself for a long(read, LOOOONG) day of hurrying up and waiting while living in a 16-passenger tourvan.  As we gathered up before dawn, I was informed that President Obama was to give a public statement addressing the concerns of the recent thwarted terrorist attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.  Larry Downing, Reuters staffer from Washington D.C., told me “You’re lucky, you’ll get to see him today!”

So off we went to the Windward side.  The van consisted of five still photographers, including me, a pool videographer with sound, and a handful of journalists from various agencies.  The ride to Kailua was a symphony of snores until we got to the security checkpoint.  Here we spent about a 1/2 hour getting swept and cleared by Secret Service.  I came to the realization afterwards that this is probably the safest place in the country right now!

We posted up at the press house, a rented single story home with a nice pool (no pun intended, even though we ARE the press POOL) in the backyard, for a while before Ben, our White House press agent, exclaims “We gotta go we gotta go WE GOTTA GO!!!”  Instantly, all members of the pool dropped like ants dug up from their hill.  We loaded the van in less than one minute, a time, according to AP staff photographer Alex Brandon, that was one of the fastest he’d seen ever.  Others agreed as well.

The pool still photographers consisted of a boisterous and fun-loving crew from D.C.  There was Alex Brandon from the Associated Press, Larry Downing from Reuters, Jewel Samad from AFP, and Kent Nishimura freelancing for Getty Images.  Because of the “hurry up and wait” lifestyle in the pool, downtime was spent playing practical jokes on each other, and Larry Downing playfully told me that reading a book was illegal (I had brought a paperback to pass the time).  The biggest gag, which never seemed to get old, even after 14 hours of President watch, was the “Oh oh OH! there he is!!” at which point motordrives start going off in rapid fire succession.  Of course, he wasn’t there, and so the cameras are put down, and a chorus of “awwww, man, c’mon!” are followed by laughter of the jokester who’d started the bluff.

The majority of the day was spent photographing the motorcade.  It was very difficult to see which SUV the President was riding in. Aside from the tint, they were always in motion as were at a stop.  Throughout the course of the day, I became used to tracking and shooting the SUV’s and came to the conclusion that it was shoot, no MOTOR, first, chimp and see if you got him later.

After President Obama’s daily workout at Semper Fit, our pool followed him to Kailua Racquet Club, where I was able to get my first clean photograph of him.  Composition-wise, it was great, because I got him framed through a coconut tree’s leaves–such a cliché Hawaii shot.

We left after about an hour and returned to our press house.  Up next was his first public statement since arriving to Honolulu.  We were shuttled into the conference room with about a minute to spare before President Obama went live nationwide.  And all of a sudden, he was just there.  He came from around a black curtain wearing a simple white collared shirt and a black coat.

It was just unbelievable–being that close to the President of the United States.  Hearing his voice through my ears and not through the television or radio, seeing him right there–just intense.  Of course the pressure of getting a good shot was immense, and at the end of the few precious minutes we had with him, we were hurried out to the waiting area of the press pool before boarding our mobile home again.  Once on board, I uploaded and filed on our way to our next undisclosed (OTR, as they called it) location.  After sending my photos, I was able to reflect on being in that room photographing the most powerful man in the country–a truly amazing experience.

Hey Y’all

Happy Holidays!  Sorry for the delayed post.  I’ve been all over the place, and haven’t shot prep football in a while, hence the absence in POTW.  But here’s a change-up.  Last week or so, I had a different press conference to cover each day.  How do you make talking heads look interesting?  Here you go:

On October 10, I photographed Wet N’ Wild’s haunted attractions–the 3D Creepy Cave, the Freezer, and the Tunnel. I must say, I was spooked outta my pants! It’s amazing how high-tech and dazzling these attractions have become! Made some pretty neat images, and nearly passed out from the strobe lighting in the freezer! It felt like a scene from the movie “Saw,” I was literally trying to find my way outta there, and the actors and actresses really played their parts convincingly.

It was creepy indeed, because you never knew if the psychedelic paint and designs on the wall would come out and jump at you. This next photo made me jump. I thought that mask was a decoration and part of the wall, but it all of a sudden hurdled at me at hi-speed!

Whew!! Okay, I survived. I don’t know what was more unnerving, the ghouls n fiends that occupied that cave or the shrill screams of the girls I was photographing!
On to the Freezer….what a name! I was greeted at the door by a butcher with bloody garbs. Something told me this was going to be a notch up from the last one! I stepped into the Freezer and was instantly greeted by strobe lights at a high rate. Euphoria. Strobes, like the ones at dance clubs, for long periods of time tend to mess with my head and equilibrium. So I closed my eyes as I felt my way through the Freezer, snapping as I encountered other hapless explorers along the way. The one GOOD thing about the strobes is I was able to use ambient and use the house strobes to illuminate my shots. Here’s my favorite frame from inside there.

Finally I had to stop. Those strobes were really doing a number on me. So I crouched for a while with my eyes closed. Eerily, all the screams and noises from guests stopped, and all I heard was the loud haunted music on the P.A. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but pitch black, save for a very bright light in front of me, with a shadow slowly making its way towards me.

It was moving very slowly, and all of a sudden, BAM!! In front of me, house strobes at full power again! Using my camera as if it was machine gun (and AS IF that would do anything in a situation like this!), I rattled off frames and came away with this:

I had enough, I had to feel my way through the chainlink fences towards the exit. They were gaining on me, snarling and thirsty for my blood. I could feel my pulse quickening, and with every step that I took, it seemed they got closer and closer. I could hear the distant sound of sharpened steel cutting flesh, and feared that mine might be next. With desperation, I felt a corner on the chainlink and rounded my way clear of it and….

Okay, back to the real world. Back outside. The big burly dude who had scared the guests at the beginning was outside taking a breather and smiled at me, blood on his face and butchers’ clothes and everything. I SURVIVED! Kudos to Wet N’ Wild, because that was quite a thrill ride.

*For you technical people, all images were made with a Canon EOS 1D Mark III with an EF 16-35 f2.8L, an ST-E2 wireless flash transmitter and a single 580EX speedlite set to manual, 1/64 power. Exposure modes varied from 1/15 sec to a full second, all hand held.

Sorry about that lag in prep football photo of the week. Here’s two of my faves from the OIA White game between Moanalua and Aiea last Friday. Enjoy!

I had an exciting, and rain-drenched, first half during last night’s Fresno State/Hawaii game, highlighted by perhaps my favorite UH football frame of the season so far (I know, I know, I have many favorites).  Here’s some more from the first half.  I was able to get outside the box, compositionally, on a few frames:

Things seemed to be going in my direction!  I got mighty close to Ryan Mathews on this touchdown drive, and he even seemed to cheese it up for my camera:

OKAY, FIRST HALF:  DONE.  MY T-SHIRT:  SOAKED.  MY GEAR:  SOAKED.

SECOND HALF:

Things still seemed to go my way!  Must be that gum I was chewing on.  Hawaii hadn’t scored, save for a field goal by Enos.  But I was in the right place, at the right time for the first touchdown (Granted, a 42-3 lead, then a touchdown?  Not much of a chance with about a third of the fourth quarter left).  Here’s the sequence:

POP!  Ball comes tumbling towards my precarious perch….Uh-oh.  Big guys in pads, coming towards photographer!  But then, out of no where, receiver Jon Medeiros swoops in for Hawaii’s first touchdown:

Well that’s the recap from Jammworld.  Stay tuned for Prep Football POTW later on!

…But the Range Rover won’t start!  This week’s Prep Football Photos of the Week is a humorous, albeit, problem-plagued gallery, but hey, we all need a little humor in our lives, right?  Let’s get started:

Game 1:  Kailua at Castle, Friday, Oct. 2

So A few plays into the first quarter, and I was able to grab something decent, above.  “Okay, okay!” I thought in my wonderful inner monologue.  Both teams were passing–good news for me!  Guess what?  After that play, NOTHING came my way, at least in the air.  Rushing-wise, it was good, but I’m shooting for lions, not ZEBRA!

Okay, okay, I can deal with it.  First half, done.  No pass plays went my way until the middle of the second half, but guess what?

Okay.  Game over.  A little frustrated as I head home after the game.  There’s always tomorrow.

TOMORROW

The game:  Kamehameha vs. St. Louis at the Stadium.

Scoreless through the first quarter, I was on edge and anxious to capture the first touchdown, be it Kamehameha or St. Louis.  Camped in the north endzone with Advertiser photographer Andrew Shimabuku, Kamehameha quarterback Tyler Christian Campbell hits a slant pass right in our direction!! Wooohooo!!!

BOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!

BACK

FOCUSED:

My wonderful, perfectly autofocusing Mark III likes to do this.  But, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!  The frame above was usable in that it showed the St. Louis reaction to the touchdown.  I was able to make this frame milliseconds later in the same burst:

The next drive resulted in a St. Louis touchdown, which I was fortunate enough to get also.  6-6.  What a game!  Exciting!

Then, JUST when I thought, again in my wonderful inner monologue, “Exciting!”  the ZEBRAS came out in force…The Serengeti got NOTHING on this!

Okay, okay, so the zebra part of the safari is over.  I did manage to get something different, and no I’m not talking about any Thompson’s gazelle or hyena.

Which brings us to the final part of the Jamm Safari tour, my favorite frame of the night.  After all, this is Prep Football Photos of the Week.

Thanks for choosing Jamm’s Safari Tour:  THE premiere ride for your gridiron savanna experience!

I had mentioned via Twitter that I was going to start a “photos of the week” gallery on my blog for prep football.  Well, here it is folks, since the lack of space warrants only one photograph can run in our print edition.
The game:  Leilehua vs. Waianae at Waianae, 9/25/09

All images shot with a Canon EOS 1D Mark III and EF 400 f2.8L IS, exposure mode:  Manual, 1/640@f2.8, ISO 3200, 4200K whitebalance.

Sometimes, shooting a location portrait means cluttered backgrounds, gawking parents, jeering students, and the list goes on and on and on.  Basically, setting up for one with any of the above elements means you’ve just turned on the “Hi look at my lightstands and big cameras, everyone!!,” sometimes making the subject a little self-conscious.

This is what happened during my portrait session with Castle High School receiver Shaydon Kehano.  I arrived, and it so happened to be team picture day–read:  ENTIRE JV and VARSITY are on the field with the team photographer.  Clean background?  Fah git aboutit!

I had to think on the fly, and noticed a nice puddle by the track, and the sky had just started to clear from a passing shower–perfect backlight.  The solution?  Cook the subject, and under-expose everything else!!  I had two lights at full power, and got the result I wanted.

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the long lag in posts–it’s currently the middle of the fall sports season, and I’ve been up to my eyeballs in football and volleyball.  Here’s a quick update.  Currently my favorite football photo of the year so far.

Quick post.  I was at the Honolulu Zoo Birthday celebration yesterday for wild art.  You’d expect WILD wild art, being that I was at the zoo, but instead I came away with a very interesting image that I was very happy with.  Children were tossing beanbags into a cardboard hole as a game to win prizes.  I lined up behind the the cardboard and waited for the right elements to be within the circles.