Johnny Bench cast in bronze

Check out this video as sculptor Tom Tsuchiya talks about the process of creating a bronze statue of Johnny Bench, Hall of Fame catcher.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help needs just that...

Abandoned and sold to a private individual in 1995, the church building, formerly Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in the Sedamsville neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, is decaying after years of neglect and apathy.  A Gothic Revival, the building is a concern to city code enforcement officials.

For me it was an opportunity to put together a few photographs and diptychs to illustrate the need to take better care of not only our financial assets but the real property as well. 

A buzzard circles the steeple...

Curb Appeal

Boarded up windows and doors have been painted  to mimic the real thing.

Grand old buildings like this two-story corner brick structure, formerly a retail storefront, have been abandoned in Newport, Kentucky.  Owners in an attempt to add more curb appeal by painting the plywood used as a security measure.  provided an interesting visual. Restoration would have been a better choice.

A second story storage room doorway is in disrepair and rotting away day by day.

Going strong and answering the call to service

Let's hear it for the kid

Public employees in Covington, Ky. are threatened with layoffs and pay cuts. The employees plan a modest informational rally.  I attend, scan the horizon for a photograph and then there is the kid.  I know it is a cheap and easy photograph to make, mom has adorned the toddler in a shirt that pleads "Protect My Daddy" and a few frames later, a photograph.  Once again...manipulated.  I was used and I let myself be used...and darn it, the kid was really cute!!! 

Emilie Bowman at a public employee labor rally. Her dad's a firefighter.

A door closes...another opens...an outlet for photojournalism

A newspaper photojournalist for over 35 years, I have watched the window for display of photojournalism slam shut.  There are still some publications where there is room for visual storytelling, but too many publications have resorted to mindless online photo galleries with redundant and out of sequence photographs they call photojournalism. It is truly an insult to both photojournalists and viewers. Poorly designed photo pages that ignore storytelling and lacking in design and presentation are the rule in what now passes for visual storytelling.


 So, photojournalists are seeking new outlets where we can put forth a collection of photographs that create a narrative.  In this collection you will not find death and destruction, political upheaval and intrigue but straightforward images that capture a moment in time.

Prince William and Princess Catherine are wed, the world watches and most utter a collective sigh.  In Cincinnati, Ohio  Wedding Officiant Stephen Hoffman, in the business for 22 years,  adds four more weddings to his previous 27,000.

Here's a look at some of the photographs from April 29, 2011.

A bride walks to the wedding site.

A Segway tour group passes by the Steamboat Monument, their chosen wedding site.

A spontaneous "royal" wave at a passing riverboat.

Documents official and memorable signed on the historic date.

Modest but meaningful symbols of commitment.

A kiss and 75 dollars for the "officiant" seals the deal.

Soon to be siblings and the bride and groom in the nervous moments before the ceremony.

The ring bearer, right, assures the crowd that he still has the wedding rings.

New shoes and "french-tipped nails" for the occasion.

The wedding party gives their "royal" salute.

A book for guests to offer their best wishes in a more traditional ceremony.

Wedding "officiant" Hoffman ends the day with a ceremony in a church turned "event" center...10 minutes start to finish.

A keen eye

NPR, know primarily as an audio experience, has channels within its website devoted to multimedia.  Today the Royal Wedding offers a particular photo called "the wedding's best photo".  I concur that it is, so far, the best I've seen.  However, you'll have to thank an NPR photo editor with a keen eye who cropped the Associated Press photo that gave it more impact.  Thanks, too, to Chris Usher (facebook friend) for pointing out the link to the NPR site.

The cropped version and the original follow...

Associated Press/Matt Dunham

Associated Press/Matt Dunham

A Local Pilgrimage

For three decades I have watched the Good Friday pilgrimage to Immaculata Church on Mt. Adams in Cincinnati.  Through  stills and even a couple of previous videos, I tried, yesterday, to use my Canon 5D and some Final Cut software (thanks much Stacy Doose for some special tips and techniques) to give it a different look.

Line of sight

Seems like this idea of composition and patterns lending themselves to interesting photographs will always be with me.  Even on vacation, walking around in historic Charleston, SC, I couldn't resist a few photographs in the Battery and Atlantic Sts. area.

Internacional del ventilador

How about this fan?  A personal friend of Cincinnati Reds infielder Edgar Renteria came from Cartagena, Columbia to visit.  I like the reflection of "Champions" from the dugout painting in his sunglasses...a cool hat, too.

Great display despite space limitations

Despite tight space limitations in tough times for newspapers, The Cincinnati Enquirer, my newspaper, has reached deep and managed to provide space for photographs in the coverage of Spring Training and the run up to and including Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season.  While things are often grim for newspapers and the business of publishing them, there is still a commitment to the idea of the power of images displayed well on newspaper pages. Here are a few examples of what we in the business call "great photo play".

Right place, right time

Ramon Hernandez flips his batting helmet away as he prepares to celebrate with teammates waiting at home plate.

You never know where action at a baseball game might occur.  You can anticipate it and prepare yourself and hope for the best.  So, chilly hands in place I watched the Cincinnati Reds mount a rally in the home half of the ninth inning climaxed by Ramon Hernandez's three-run walkoff homer. 

My colleague Jeff Swinger, recovering from knee surgery, had mentioned a previous home plate celebration where former Reds catcher Dan Ross had flipped off his batting helmet as he approached teammates waiting at the plate.  Hernandez, also a catcher, provided the opportunity and I met the challenge.

Diptych....what's that you say?

Love the Lensbaby

I'm always searching for a unique way to shoot portraits and I have to say I love the Lensbaby.  My belief is that you always use what is available, light source, technique, location and lens choice to get the job done.  Here's a couple of portraits made at Spring Training in Goodyear, AZ at the Cincinnati Reds camp.

Jonny Gomes 2011

Scott Rolen 2011

Outside the Comfort Zone

                                                                  
 I recently hung out with New York photographer Christopher Kolk on a photo shoot.  He shared a few tips and techniques.  I come from a photojournalism background but am open to new ideas. A recent portrait session for female honorees who excel in philanthropy, volunteerism and fund raising offered an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone.

Highway Vista

Heading down I-275 in southern Indiana I couldn't pass on this scene.  This is a straight from the camera image, with a touch of saturation added.

A Hospital is His Home

These are a few photographs made during the last year as I worked on a story about Manny Evans.  His home is a hospital. Click on the photos to enlarge.

 Hundreds of cars, trucks and ambulances pull up the circular drive in front of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center every day.

But each morning at about 8:30, a yellow school bus rolls to a stop in the front of the massive hospital until the sliding doors open and Manny Evans, 7, glides out, heading off to another day at school.

Holga 135 camera is great fun

Armed with press credentials, digital cameras, lenses from 16 to 400mm and three video cameras I soldiered off to Spring Training in Goodyear, Az.. Yes, overweight baggage charges were part of the equation.  A great assignment , great potential and great fun.

Up close with the players and coaches, access not available during the regular season and kibitzing with old and new friends in the photo world was great.  But the best treat came with the purchase of a Holga camera at a Phoenix Urban Outfitters store.

A plastic camera, invented in China in 1982, to “provide an inexpensive camera to China’s working class” is my new favorite toy in my photo arsenal.

I chose the Holga 135 that uses 35mm film, but other models are available in a wide variety of formats and an array of colors.

The camera has light leaks, a plastic lens that vignettes and sometimes distorts images, a fixed f8 aperture and one shutter speed, 1ooth of a second.  It rattles when you shake it and has a “best guess” zone focusing system. It rocks.

I chose black and white film that can be processed at any one-hour photo kiosk (C-41 color negative processing) and the good folks at the pharmacy where I had the film processed put the images on a disc.

I attended the Reds first game of the Cactus League season as a fan.  I walked around the Goodyear Ballpark and snapped some images that I thought would compliment others in a diptych (two-panel photograph) presentation. Nothing complicated and for the most part, images the public could see and access with a little enterprise.

Behind the scenes with ESPN and Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban Missle, as fans of the Cincinnati Reds pitcher call him, was the subject of a photo shoot for ESPN The Magazine.  Here's an exclusive look at one of the behind the scenes photographs I had access to during the shoot.

2012...it's almost time to hit the road

Campaigning in Ohio in 2008, I spent a a couple of days tooling around Southern Ohio with the Obama troupe.  It was hectic and fun.  On the bus, off the bus, shake some hands, give the stump speech, shake some hands and back on the bus.

 Now the contenders and pretenders are swarming.  It won't be long and the show will start again.