Archive for the ‘Reportage’ Category

Hockeytown USA

Thursday, February 16th, 2012
My year officially started with a call from Jim Surber at ESPN about a story about Hockeytown USA (eg. Rock City, Motor City, Motown... Detroit) and the rivalry between the Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks (the two division rivals have played more games against each other than any other in hockey). Even though I'm from Florida, I always loved hockey and grew up playing some (sans ice), so it was super cool to head out and brave the snow. Everyone at the Mag. was hoping for a fight, or maybe a huge riot between fans... but all we got was a really great game and some super fun fans who, though drinking their fair share, were not yet belligerent for a 12:30pm start to the game. The awful weather probably helped keeping heads cool as well... but regardless I had a great time and shot a ton of fans and behind the scenes. Coverage for stories like this (where I'm working without an assistant - and usually attached at the hip to a PR underling... though to be fair the last few I've been assigned (Houston, Detroit, Miami) were super great) is all about preparation and a ridiculous amount of hard work/hustling. In Detroit I probably ran 6-8 miles around the facility, endlessly looking for pictures, running in and out of the snow, and shooting a huge variety of different types of work (reportage behind the scenes, lit portraits, long lens game action, tilt shift details & landscapes of the stadium). How well you shoot and how great the pictures turn out is directly related to both access (ours in Detroit wasn't that great) and an almost manic expenditure of energy running around like crazy. This type of coverage is nuts and I love it. It reminds me of being in college and the glory days of newspapers... but it's way more pressure-filled because I've gotta be killing it for my client while also trying to figure out a way to find pictures that are interesting beyond the single game (which this coverage is never about because it is published sometimes months later). By the way, the tilt/shift above is of Detroit's 2nd goal that game (they won 3-2 in OT)... click on it for a larger version. And of course then I have to make pictures that fit into my style and personal vision. Often I'll try to think about the visual statements and reoccurring themes that I'm finding and then see how to riff on those... it doesn't need to be complicated; mine that day were snow, lines of fans (two below - one for the bathroom, one outside a VIP entrance), murals, etc. You have to make choices because there are just too many things to shoot, and if you simply run around without any focus you'll keep letting things slip right past. But the main thing, yet again, is the energy... you gotta bring it because even the biggest fans you get to stop for a few seconds for you won't shoot well if you just quietly sort of snap a few pics of them. You gotta yell, scream, and make it an event. If a good picture takes badgering the hell out of them then that's what I do - and almost every time that give it all right back and even come up with crazier ideas (I got flashed more than 1 set of nipple rings at that game). Lastly one of the real treats of this job was shooting in Joe Louis Arena. Even if its not the most comfortable or spacious place for media to work (it was built entirely without a press box), these older stadiums are so full of history and grit that it was really cool just roaming around and enjoying the vibe. It's truly a tragedy in sports that most of the old gems are going extinct.

Posted in Action, New York, Portraits, Reportage | No Comments »

One in a Billion

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Hey why not kick off 2012 with a story I shot for ESPN's annual NEXT issue (out now, Jan. 9). Having become one of the most popular sports in the world's largest country (China), the NBA has set it's gaze on #2 and around the same time an extremely tall farmer's son in Punjab named Satnam, who had never worn shoes that actually fit his already giant feet, had a basketball placed in his huge hands. The rest of that story is now in a 80's style montage that will slow down only momentarily in a few years when Satnam Singh Bhamara hoists up a NBA lottery jersey and flashes a huge smile while shaking David Stern's hand before it speeds up again with images of him blocking shots. I flew down to FL to catch up with Satnam Singh Bhamara, who though he doesn't speak much English (we had a translator) is a pretty normal, very sweet and quick to laugh kid who likes the internet, basketball, and chicken. Is he a really great baller yet?... well not really, he's only still just learning the game and how to run his massive frame up and down the floor and all of the fundamentals and strength training that he never had access to before in India. Will he be a great basketball player? Yes, he's that big and will be given coaching from the best and there is just too much money to make for the NBA to not seize the moment and help find Yao Ming 2.0. As is often the case for ESPN my shoot broke down to two parts, reportage and lit portraits. Getting the lit portraits pushed our day from really long to marathon levels (6:30 a.m. call time) as his schedule is so full that he didn't have an open block of time until something like 8 p.m. In addition to focusing on how big Satnam is I wanted to capture his warm personality and the surreal world he's stepped into. On the plane ride down I had 2 fantasies of my own that led into my lit set-ups; the first was that (having read the great article by Mark Winegardner) he suddenly had hundreds of pairs of shoes that all fit him (he's up to a size 20) for once in his life, and secondly that Satnam would continue to grow so tall that he would come up right through the basketball hoop. The 2nd one ended up being the winner even though Satnam, only a couple of feet off the ground to get him in that position on a ladder, was extremely nervous. A seven-footer mildly afraid of heights... love it. It was a good, challenging day down in FL and a fascinating story about the would-be future king of Indian basketball. I kept thinking about a This American Life piece from years ago about Yao Ming's translator (Colin Pine) who was asked to show up one day to translate mandarin for this guy and it turns out to be Yao's first NBA press conference (afterwards Colin & Yao end up becoming really close friends). I don't think the same thing is in the cards for Satnam and I (he mostly just thought I was crazy... which isn't so uncommon from my subjects). Many thanks to deputy picture slinger Jim Surber for getting me involved - here are a bunch more.

Posted in Action, New Work, Portraits, Reportage | No Comments »

Occupied

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Found in the latest issue of Der Spiegel is my mini coverage of the post-Zuccotti Park efforts of the Occupy movement in New York City. Writer Georg Diez and I tracked all over Brooklyn and downtown over a couple of soggy days meeting with activists and journalists connected to the protests which has now shifted gears "from Wall Street to Main Street." Most of what we did was pretty run and gun and good pictures were scant, but it was incredibly enlightening to meet a bunch of smart, engaged people with no shortage of big ideas. The story was highlighted by an action in East New York to move a family into a bank foreclosed home (illegally of course), and I enjoyed the block party that was thrown in celebration (above). It's pretty rare for me to work cheek to jowl with a large group of daily media, and it was fun to slide back into that role though the many well meaning citizen journalists covering the OWS were certainly frustrating. I was impressed by the way the police, who had a huge presence, contained the situation... keeping everyone safe but really not interfering at all. As a liberal and a business owner, the Occupy movement fills with me a whole lot of conflicting emotions. I'm proud of these activists taking a stand and engaging in the process (who among us are not angry at the collapse), demanding attention be paid to such incredible greed and stupidity which created a system in which the banks could so deeply fuck so many lives of hard working Americans. On the other hand the OWS movement pisses me off in its silliness, pretension, and total lack of momentum towards a national policy initiative that balances the Tea Party (OWS had a window to get involved in the primaries and they totally missed it). I get that the point is that there are no leaders and no focused message, but I also see the movement as a mirror image of ineffective bureaucracy with the system they are against. Also I grew very tired of the word "horizontal." Below: N+1 founder, journalist and activist Keith Gesson, left, and protestor/architect Evan Wagner, right.

Posted in New Work, New York, Portraits, Reportage | No Comments »

One Day, One Game

Sunday, November 20th, 2011
Last month a whole (air)bus load of ESPN writers, photographers, editors, and crew took over Houston to produce the One Day, One Game project, basically shrinking down everything the NFL is all about into a single game, the Houston Texans vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. The idea is so big and rare, a group project shot and reported in real time to be published in a single issue (Nov. 28, out now - *just FYI, that's not my cover), that I'm just super proud to have been a part of the experience, along with a bunch of other familiar photo names: DiPace, Finke, Mermelstein, Prior, Seale, Stangel, Suau, Tringali, Welch, and several others all helped along by on-site editing ninjas Stephanie Weed and Nick Galac. There was a team dinner but sadly no commemorative t-shirts. Everyone had specific assignments and mine was primarily the locker room and equipment director Jay Brunetti the day before and early, early game day. My game day actually ended up in the 15 hr+ range, as post-game I joined Texans OT Eric Winston home to watch football with his friends and family (and newborn baby). But of course I also shot about a dozen other small bits and pieces - production meetings, game plans, day care, refs, half-time coaches, radio interviews, post-game locker room jube, as well as pickup features and game action. It was nuts, we photographers were running around like mad... and it was super exhausting and fucking great. A million thanks to PE stud Jim Surber for getting me involved. Here are a whole bunch more images, most in diptych, shown in order from Sat. afternoon through to Sunday evening. Oh and the Texans won the game. Lastly, a huge thanks to one of the best PR teams I've ever had the pleasure of working with, led by Kevin Cooper of the Texans. What a huge difference it makes working with true professionals.

Posted in Action, New Work, Reportage | 4 Comments »

Korporate Karaoke

Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Sure I am occasionally invited to drink on the job, but rarely am I invited/demanded to sing Johnny Cash (which I'll gladly do especially if we're drinking). That's what I found on a quirky job for Architect magazine during the summer, photographing an office karaoke party at NYC firm FXFOWLE. Fun group of people even if the party was held in-office just after the close of business (buzz kill). Reportage jobs are rarely this amusing.

Posted in New Work, Reportage | No Comments »