Dark week....

Anyone who has ever worked in corporate America knows there is a risk of losing their job for any reason at all. To combat this risk, people formed Unions, which then protected employees as a group. In today's day in age, unions are becoming a thing of the past though, and unfortunately they can not protect people the way that they used to. Thursday July 9th 2009 was a dark day for Gannett, and the Indianapolis Star. The Indianapolis Star had to let go of 37 people who had done nothing wrong, except been deemed to hold a position that was no longer necessary by "higher powers". All of those employees will be dearly missed. One of the hardest parts is continueing to do your job as it happens; continually wondering if that dreaded call will come to your desk. To my friends who are no longer with the Star, or Gannett. The best of luck, my heart goes to you. The sun has set on your time with the Star, but not on your time over all. We're all here for you.

(Canon 1D Mark II Canon EF 16-35mmF2.8@16mm F6.3 320ISO)

Reading what was posted above, you can imagine it's been a very tense week. The shot above was shot on the "Black Thursday" mentioned above. It is for an Ad for Z's Oyster Bar near 82nd Street in Indianapolis. They wanted to illustrate the water, and the porch in one shot. This was my solution. I have a feeling they will be happy with the set of shots I provided considering the shots they had already were shot at noon on a Sunday....For the non photographer readers; yes lots of light is good, but the brightest light possible coming from directly overhead? bad...

The rest of the week I had some Nursing shoots to keep my mind off of the Thursday that all of us at the Star knew was coming. I went into St. Vincent's hospital on Tuesday to shoot inside of the Surgery Ward. It was one of those moments where you wonder how you got to where you are at, because I had to go through preventative measures in order to be back there. They must have seen me eat or something because I had to wear this white body suit, blue booties and a hairnet. If I'd have had a box of Junior mints with me, the scene would have been complete.

(Above Photo by Joe Soria)

(Canon 1D Mark II Canon EF 16-35mmF2.8@16mm F5 1/80th 200ISO)

It just so happened that Joe was wearing a white suit just like mine while he was in the Surgery Ward assisting me. Had him hold an 580EX pointed directly at himself. Instant bounce card. Best Voice Activated Light Stand ever....

Really in the end I guess it has been a productive week. Many know that I'm a gearhead and I've got a great new gadget that I'm hoping to play more with by my next post. It's made by Delkin and it's the Fat Gecko camera mount. Basically it's two large suction cups that attaches a camera to any smooth surface. Does it work? Hells yea it works! Attempt 1 proved to be effective enough, but I'm still looking at other applications for the device. I'm really looking forward to mounting lights to it, in awkward spaces. Whoa baby.

(Above Photo by Brad Clampitt)
That setup stuck to Brad's trunk helped me to grab this:

(Nikon D700 Nikkor 18-35mm@F8 ISO 1600 1/3sec)

The guy on the Bike is my buddy Tom. He's a good shooter here in town, and he's another one of the Staff shooters for the Roller Derby. He also happens to be about as off his rocker as I am; always willing to try something a little new and different. One time he and I convinced two ladies working in a Subway that we were fraternal twins despite the 13 year age difference....

Whew, so yea I've been busy this week and it's not over yet. Tomorrow I'm helping out a friend who is shooting a wedding I was attending already. How many times in your life can you say you went to and helped shoot a wedding for someone named Strawberry Jam? Seriously. Awesome. Then on Sunday is the first month out of the 2010 Roller Derby Calendar, and the launch of Episode 2 of the "One Woman One Million" webseries I've been working on which is why I'm up right now at 5am. Sometimes video just takes that little bit of extra time. That and I went out and shot a little bit on the canal. Brad's been hankerin to do that for his girlfriend Melanie in Canada, and tonight seemed like nice enough night. SO yea, busy week, I'm exhausted. More Soon.

(Sony A700 ISO 200 F9 20sec, Sigma 16mm Fisheye)