This Friday night, I was assigned to photograph a high school football game between the Roosevelt Roughriders and the Farrington Governors at Roosevelt.  I covered the game as I would normally, with no issues.  Visually, I always try to capture the story of the game, and I supplement that with secondary peak action or peak emotion shots such as celebration/dejection etc.

Today one of our readers had emailed me inquiring why a key touchdown play wasn’t covered or run in today’s coverage of the Farrington/Roosevelt game.  This email made me think, and sure enough, the photo that ran was a very static photo of another running back, with the defenders cropped out–but NOT the running back that made the defining touchdown.  For posterity’s sake, I am including that photo here, because I feel that key moments in a game should be shown regardless of lack of space or a decision made by a page designer under deadline to run another photograph.

Farrington's Scotland Smith breaks downfield on a kick return for a 99-yard touchdown to make it a 20-7 Farrington lead during first-half action of an OIA Football game between the Roosevelt Roughriders and the Farrington Governors Friday, August 28, 2009 at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium. The Governors held on to win, 20-7. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

A newspaper takes many hands, minds, and eyes to craft.  Every day, the recipe changes.  Every day, not all decisions made are agreeable with everyone.  Determining what photograph tells the story of the game is very difficult and elusive–not just for myself, but to our editors, page designers, and writers.  Often times, I may simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time when something important happens–and I’m just out of luck!  I have to make a different photograph because it didn’t go my way.  It is still early in the season, but in my five years of covering football for the Star-Bulletin, I’ve gotten to know the teams’ players, strategies, coaches, and game plans as the season progresses.  This is very advantageous and helps me to cover football games the way a photojournalist should.  It’s the responsible thing to do because we are storytellers–visual storytellers.

Roosevelt's Tyler Jake Kila can't come up with the pass after a double hit from Farrington's Vaughn Tomas, left, and Seth Ilae during first-half action of an OIA Football game between the Roosevelt Roughriders and the Farrington Governors Friday, August 28, 2009 at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye, left, and Daniel Akaka preside over a standing-room-only crowd during a hearing held by U.S. Senator Dan Inouye Monday, August 24, 2009 at the State Capitol in Honolulu. The hearing was about the Senate Appropriations Committee's current activities and to find out if and how various elements of government are spending federal stimulus money. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

Yesterday I was assigned to the meeting held by U.S. Senator Dan Inouye at the State Capitol Building.  As was expected, it was an overflow crowd, and panic immediately started settling in because how was I to make an interesting photograph of people sitting around a table with dozens of people cluttering your background?

When I arrived I saw two chairs in the middle of the conference table and thought to myself “Okay, they must be sitting there.”  I weaseled my way first to the corner, as people were filing into the room.  The Senators arrived and took their seats after greeting people in the front of the rows of chairs.  I then managed to sneak on the ground (Guerilla style!) right behind them, much to the amusement of Senator Akaka’s assistant.

I mounted my fisheye lens to get a shot of the crowd with the two Senators speaking.  The problem was that they were giving me the backs of their heads–great!  I was beginning to seethe in frustration thinking that I may have chosen the wrong spot to be situated.

I held my camera with a 70-200 lens for the longest time, waiting for Mr. Inouye to turn my way.

Finally it happened, and the shot of Mr. Inouye as he turned towards my direction while listening to Gov. Linda Lingle was a keeper.  One ran in today’s edition on page 3, but this version is my favorite.

I also liked the spot because I could get eye-line matches with the speakers.  When Governor Lingle was speaking, it seemed as if she was speaking right at me!

As Gov. Lingle spoke, I saw our competition, along with another photographer, in the crowd across the way, eyeing my spot like hyenas after a kill.  All of sudden, they’re right next to me!  But as it happened, Senator Akaka had to leave, and so did Gov. Lingle.  My news judgment told me that I had gotten the shot from this angle, so I left to the other side of the room.  Uh-uh.  Nope.  The spot I had been at was the one.

I could barely get into the room, let alone see the table.

Meanwhile, I look across, and the other photogs have already situated themselves where I was.  Well, the early bird gets the photograph!

Well it’s been a few days since Michael Jackson died, and I’m now able to reassess my take on the Sunset Vigil assignment I photographed on Thursday.  It’s really amazing how powerful and transcending music can be–MJ’s death has thousands and thousands mourning all over the world.  Anyhoo, here’s some photos that weren’t used in our Friday edition.  Enjoy, and live like you mean it…

Wearing R.I.P.MJ t-shirts, from right, Rene Tengan, Anita Motte, and Star Miranda hold candles as they observe a moment of silence during a sunset vigil for pop star Michael Jackson Thursday, June 25, 2009 at Ala Moana's Magic Island. Michael Jackson died Thursday afternoon from complications with cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. The vigil was put on by radio DJ Doc Roc of Hot 93.9. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin). Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35 2.8L at 16mm, Exposure mode: Manual, 1/30 sec at f3.5, ISO 1600, daylight whitebalance.

Kapolei resident Karen Kimokeo, right, thumbs through some of the memorabilia belonging to Nanakuli resident Uilana Arasato, left, during a sunset vigil for pop star Michael Jackson Thursday, June 25, 2009 at Ala Moana's Magic Island. Michael Jackson died Thursday afternoon from complications with cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. The vigil was put on by radio DJ Doc Roc of Hot 93.9. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin). Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 16-35f2.8L at 16mm, Exposure mode: Manual, 1/320 sec at f6.3, ISO 200, Daylight whitebalance.

A shaka is raised along with a portrait of Michael Jackson during a sunset vigil for the pop star Thursday, June 25, 2009 at Ala Moana's Magic Island. Michael Jackson died Thursday afternoon from complications with cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. The vigil was put on by radio DJ Doc Roc of Hot 93.9. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin). Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200 f2.8L IS at 200mm, Exposure mode: Manual, 1/1000 sec at f2.8, ISO 800, daylight whitebalance.

Photographed a perpetrator in Circuit Court today.  Court is always touchy because of several factors.  One, you don’t want to interrupt the proceedings with your loud shutter.  Two, chances are, the person you are photographing does NOT want his/her photograph taken while up there.  Three, the photographer is relegated to the corner of the exit door because the jurors are taking up the whole other half of the courtroom, which means a side view shot.

…Of course, all of the above happened to me today.  But I managed to line up Pulu Mataalaeli, who is accused of attempted murder for allegedly tossing his 7-month old child around in a van during an argument with his girlfriend, with one of his lawyers for a graphically sound image, almost Stonehengey in look.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200 2.8L IS at 280mm (with a 1.4 extender), Exposure mode: Manual, 1/320 @ f4, ISO 3200, tungsten whitebalance

Yesterday I photographed the deployment of approximately 150 Marines and Sailors with the USMC 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment as they left for a seven-month deployment to al Asad, Iraq.  As often happens, the page designers don’t always run the photographs I feel best tell the story visually, so I’m posting my two favorite photographs from this assignment.  

I don’t recall ever photographing a deployment–all my previous assignments have been Army Soldiers or Marines returning home.  What I did see and feel was an immediate thickness in the air.  Sadness and grief were all around me.  I saw lovers holding each other tight.  Three and four-year-old children swinging from their father’s arms without a clue of the gravity of the situation.  Genuine moments–precious moments ticking away–between a soldier and the one he loves.  I wanted to be as tasteful and discreet as possible without interrupting these moments, so I found my photograph in a car window.

All in all, it was day and night from the returning parties I’ve covered a number of times before.  But despite the sadness and morale of the loved ones being left behind, the Marines were in high spirits–some even laughed light-heartedly and joked amongst each other.  But it really hit me hard when the buses were loaded up, and the Marines opened the windows to wave goodbye and blow kisses.  The harsh reality of it is, that some may be waving and blowing kisses to their loved ones for the last time.  It’s sad, and it’s pessimistic, but it is the consequence of war.  This hit me really hard, and tears started to well up in my eyes after I made this last frame.

This past Sunday, I covered the Civil Union fiasco at the State Capitol.  A LOT of people, a LOT of red, so I figured I’d show you two of my faves from that assignment–one in color, and one in black and white.  Of course, for the newspaper, we always have to look for color, but as an individual visual journalist, I always like to look for both.  I liken it to the days when I was shooting film–one camera was loaded with color negative film, the other, Tri-X b/w.  It keeps assignments fresh when keeping this philosophy in mind.

COLOR:

I thought it was interesting that the portable toilets were also a noticeable RED like the hundreds of people who came out to support the rally against HB 444.

B/W:

Protesters cast shadows on the pavement along Beretania Street during a rally, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009 at the State Capitol in protest of House Bill 444 against civil unions in Hawaii. The grit of black and white on a high-contrast image like this adds to the impact. With so many highlights and RED in many of my images from this assignment, I thought this was a fresh alternative. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

Sixteen-year-old Trey George practices at Central Oahu Regional Park's Aquatic Complex, Monday, Dec. 15, 2008. George has returned to the pool only 18 months after having open heart surgery and will compete in the High School State Swimming Competition on the weekend of December 19, 2008. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Bulletin).

I had the pleasure of photographing a literally heart-warming athlete named Trey George and his story of returning to competitive swimming just under two years after having open heart surgery.  

Swimming is always a very fun sport to photograph in that there are so many different perspectives to do it from.  Above and under water, low angles, high angles–you name it.  

From the journalistic point of view, though, I felt a shot showing the scar on his chest would best tell the story, and his coach told me that he’d be practicing some dives into the pool.  Luckily I had my Pocketwizards and magic arm in my trunk (along with some other stuff, which I will blog about later), and so I fastened a remote rig onto the bottom of the diving board with a wide angle lens and a Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter to trigger a flash also.  It took just two dives for me to get the shot I wanted.  Here it is:

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 16-35 f2.8L at 16 mm, Exposure mode: Manual, 1/250 sec @ f10, ISO 800, Cloudy Whitebalance. Lit with 1 Canon 580 EX speedlite set to manual at 1/4 power. Camera triggered with a PocketWizard Plus II Transceiver.

Senator Daniel Inouye takes in the scene and the history-making moment at Pearl Ultralounge.

Now that the elections are over, and the public has had time to simmer down about who is to lead our country next, I thought I’d share some of my election photos that didn’t run in our newspaper on that history-making night.  Emotions were strong everywhere I went, from Obama’s Hawaii campaign headquarters to the Pearl Ultralounge Democratic reception, hopes were high for the Hawaii-born president-elect.  

It was actually refreshing for me to cover more of the presidential side of the election rather than the local/mayoral race which I did during the Primaries.  What was challenging was trying to make a picture of people watching the television, and I spent down time between shots pondering how I was going to make a storytelling image later that evening at Pearl Ultralounge.

The scene at Pearl was much like a Barfly assignment–if you are familiar with my colleague Jason Genegabus’ column.  Drinks, pupus, music, merry people.  It was when the polls closed that I was able to make some great jube photos.

When it was apparent that Obama was to be the next president, the reactions from the packed house were just through the roof.  Everyone cheered.  Many screamed.  All were elated, including this gentleman:

Needless to say, Barack Obama’s speech left many–including myself–just chickenskinned and overcome with emotion.  That was the hardest part of the whole evening.  The feelings of that moment were captured in these two photos:

Hearing that speech and trying to capture the essence of that moment with my camera was perhaps one of the toughest things I have ever had to do–not because I was listening to the speech, or because of the sheer magnitude of emotion–but because with these few frames, and that amazing man speaking in front of 250,000 at Grant Park, Ill. and addressing the whole world, I came to the realization that our nation could finally believe in itself again.  That’s heavy.

Hey All!

Sorry for the delayed post.  Been pretty busy working desk shifts to accommodate our ever-revolving schedule of shooting shifts.

On Sunday, I was assigned the deceptively difficult job of conveying Waikiki’s lack of tourism and how it has been affecting our local economy.  Our editors had noted that I could be as open as I wanted with this, but that it had to illustrate the sparsity of tourists and business.  Okay, sounds good enough.

After spending about an hour in the late afternoon, I had no eggs in my basket.  It didn’t really seem to be empty on the beaches and along the Kalakaua Strip.  Then a thought occurred to me.  I haven’t shot a nice cityscape time lapse in a long long time, and maybe, just MAYBE, the lack of lights in the hotel rooms will illustrate the lack of occupants and business.  I rolled the dice and chose the Hyatt Regency Waikiki because of its accessibility to Kalakaua and the Waikiki nucleus.  I waited until the the sun was nearly gone, then bracketed exposures of 10, 15, and 30 seconds.  This is what I came up with.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35 f2.8L with Bogen mini-tripod, Exposure mode: Manual, 30 seconds @ f13, ISO 200, Tungsten whitebalance, *Note: slight curves adjustment in Photoshop to correct for mixed light.

Quickie update, since my last two have been novels.

Just shot the Stop Rail Now hearing at Supreme Court.  How do you make a talking head look interesting?  Today I used television’s pilot lights to make a pretty neat image of Stop Rail Now attorney Earle Partington.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200 f2.8L IS at 70mm, Exposure mode: Manual, ISO 800, 1/640 @ f2.8, Tungsten whitebalance.

Now off to find some wild art!