Air Force Academy Graduation

Air Force graduation always makes some really nice photos. The excitement of newly commissioned officers, the pagentry and the Thunderbirds. Gazette photographer Christian Murdock captured this image. Check out more photos from Murdock and other Gazette photographers Mark Reis, Bryan Oller and Mike Terry at http://www.gazette.com/interactives/USAFAgrad.

Summer

Our job is spent most if not all the time reporting on news, events and people. On a rare occasion we are allowed to let loose and interpret an idea. Mark Reis was given the opportunity to illustrate summer. I thought his work was a really nice change of pace as I edited it on my computer.



For more check out Sunday's Life section.

A view from the catwalk

This year I decided to produce an audio/slideshow from all five District 11 high school graduations at the World Arena. Three schools graduated on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. At first I thought a behind-the-scenes look at the activities between the graduations would be interesting, but after talking to people at the arena and the schools I realized it was a pretty smooth process. So I decided to cover the actual graduations. But I wanted a way to show the sense of how each graduation is unique, but similar to the others at the same time. I decided to mount a remote camera in the catwalk of the World Arena and shoot the procession at the beginning of each ceremony. I shot from the floor and triggered the remote camera every five seconds as I shot with my other cameras. Gazette photographer Kevin Kreck covered for me during the Palmer ceremony because I had to go to Boulder Tuesday night. ( thank you Kevin) When I edited the remote pictures, I grabbed every fifth frame. I started with one school's procession and worked my way through the schools till the seats filled with Doherty graduates. I ended with Doherty because they had more seats on the floor than any other school. I recorded the audio from all the ceremonies. (with the help of Kevin again) Photographers David Bitton and Carol Lawrence helped shoot the graduations too. Then Wednesday night I produced the show. The four of us put in 60 hours covering and producing the slideshow. I spent 20 hours Wednesday covering the two graduations, editing the 10-plus hours of audio and producing the show. Check out the slideshow at http://www.gazette.com/interactives/2007grads. While the graduations were a lot of work, I think it was well worth it. The four of us captured a special moment in the lives of the graduates and their families. A special moment in our community. The one lesson I learned is while every graduation seems the same on the outside, they are all unique. That is except Superintendent Terry Bishop's speech about the Lee Ann Womack's song "I Hope You Dance."

Local photographers wins

Colorado Springs photographer Lyle Davis won second place for April in the prestigious photography contest sponsored by BetterPhoto.com. Davis won top honors in the Elements of Design catergory with his image "Slinky." Way to go Lyle. Check out all the entries at http://www.betterphoto.com/contest/winners/0704.asp. More than 23500 entries were submitted to the online photography contest, which attracted contestants from around the world and featured 10 separate categories.

A feature above the clouds

Here is a nice feature of a vulture flying over Rio de Janeiro as the clouds surround the Brazilian city Friday, May 18, 2007. At center in the background is the famous landmark Sugar Loaf. The photo was shot by Associated Press photographer Ricardo Moraes.

Two different point of views

Sometimes a different point of view can make a photograph. These two examples recently ran on The Associated Press wire. The top one, shot by Petr David Josek, i's from the Prague International Marathon. The texture of the street and the rider's shadow made a nice feature. From the ground the photo would have been average at best.
The second picture, shot by Gautam Singh, is from the outside of a cricket stadium in Bangladesh after the match was called because of rain. The high angle gives you a better sense of the size of the crowd trying to get on the bus.

Tight fit

San Antonio Express-News photographer Edward Ornelas took this photo of emergency crews working to free a driver from a sport utility vehicle that became wedged between the Interstate-35 and Interstate-37 interchange in San Antonio, Friday, May 11, 2007. The vehicle was reported stolen in Corpus Christi and the driver crashed the SUV when he tried to elude police in a chase. The driver was not seriously injured. Talk about a bad day.

Even politics can be fun

Here's a funny picture taken by Associated Press photographer Mark Humphrey from the state legislature in Nashville, Tenn. The captions reads: Jon Bauman, right, also knows as "Bowzer" from the doo-wap group Sha Na Na, strikes his stage pose during a House session in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, May 10, 2007. Bauman has been lobbying states on behalf of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame for laws to prevent musical acts from passing themselves off as something they're not -- mainly '50s acts like the Platters, the Coasters and the Drifters.

So you want to be Jimmy Olsen

Gazette photographer Kevin Kreck showed me a fun game on the internet. It's a promo for the Superman movie. You play the role of Planet photojournalist Jimmy Olsen and try to capture a front-page photo of Superman. Try out your luck. By the way, neither Kevin nor I did very well. The game's website is http://hk.promo.yahoo.com/movie/superman/Stop_Press_Game. Good Luck.

Photography's role in capturing history

Last weekend was the 70th anniversary of the Hindenburg crash. The photo of it in flames started me thinking about how photographs help us remember events in our lives. Since the birth of photography 150 years ago photographs have etched memories in our minds from major events even if we weren't there or not even born yet. When I think of the Civil War I see Matthew Brady's images of dead soldiers lying on the battlefield. When I think of the Vietnam War I see Eddie Adam's picture of police chief General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Vietcong prisoner on a Saigon street in 1968 during the opening stages of the Tet Offensive. Or on a lighter note, when I think of my Seattle Mariners defeating the New York Yankees in the 1995 playoffs, I think of the photo with Ken Griffey, Jr., poking his smiling face out of a pile of happy Mariners.
We all have similar images from these events because photos have taken us there. I bet we all have different images in our minds of Lewis and Clark's journey across the West or Christopher Columbus "discovering" America because photographers weren't there to capture those events.

Cool picture

I found this picture yesterday while editing the photo wire at work. Associated Press photographer Gregory Bull shot it in Havana during a baseball game. The photo may not have any "news value," but it's a really nice graphic shot of Cuba. Sometimes good photos just entertain us or make us smile. Nothing wrong with that.

Thicker than water

Gazette photographer Kirk Speer and reporter Dave Philipps traveled to the San Luis Valley to report on the 155-year tradition of cleaning the community's irrigation ditch. The water right for the hand-dug ditch is the oldest in Colorado. See Sunday's Gazette for the print story or visit http://www.gazette.com/interactives/ditch for the online audio/slideshow.

Shooting beyond the obvious

Associated Press photographer Maxime Jegat shot the torn electoral posters for the two French presidential candidates, with Segolene Royal, top, and Nicolas Sarkozy on a wall in Lyon, central France, to tell the story of the close French presidential election. Both candidates proclaimed their impending victory after a fiery, combative TV debate in the run-up to Sunday's vote. Jegat's picture illustrates the story through a eye-grabbing image.