Salute to Nursing...

Not every photographer looks forward to doing the same event over and over again, year after year, but here at the Indystar I am fortunate enough to be a part of an event that is an incredible honor to be a part of. Each year the Indianapolis Star salutes Nurses throughout the state of Indiana. If I had to pick one profession that wasn't thanked enough, I would have to say Nursing is it.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 160ISO, Canon 100mmF2.8 Macro, 1/40th@F4.5. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight on a stand shot through a 42" umbrella to camera right set to 1/4th power fired by pocket wizard. Single Canon 580EX SPeedlight on a stand directly behind Ken zoomed to 105mm at 1/16th power fired by pocket wizard.)

Nurses a lot of times work long hours, strange days, witness some grueling things, and yet excitedly get up every day to do it over and over again. Anybody can recognize the fact that a sick or injured person can be pretty grumpy, and Nurses deal with on a day to day basis. Some of which never get the thank you that they deserve. One nurse who was nominated is 84 years old, and has been a nurse for over 40 years. She now teaches patients how to deal with their orthopedic surgery recoveries.

(Canon EOS5D Mark II, 400ISO, Canon 70-200mmF2.8L IS@150mm, 1/60th@F3.5. Single Canon 580EX Speedlight to camera right on a stand shot through a 43" umbrella set to 1/16th power fired by pocket wizard)

Each year I am assigned the task of visiting each of these amazing Nurses and and taking photos of them for our special section, media for the event, their ads in the paper and the Nursing Quarterly magazine, and this year even taking a video of each of the nomonees. It was a busy couple weeks for sure, but the event was an epic success thanks to a lot of planning by my good friend Adrianne in our marketing department. She and I have a list of places to visit in our quest for world domination the best BBQ chicken pizza in town. We had to put our quest on pause while she worked on this event, but we'll be started up again soon on. She made a beautiful event, and all of the winners were honored as they should have been. The videos and photos shows up flawlessly on the projection screens at the event as well. Great Event.

(Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 800ISO, Canon 70-200mmF2.8L IS@80mm. 1/40th@F4)

I always get a kick out of seeing stuff I shot up on the big screen, just as much as I get a kick out of seeing it thumbnail sized inside any print publication. It never gets old, I love it. The photos up on that screen were all used for Johnson Memorials ads in the Nursing magazine I've spoken of in the past, as well as for the special section. There are also plans to use them in the future for ads that the hospital is running with us, which is great. I always like it when clients decide to reuse media that I created as sometimes its not a quick 10 minute process to create such media. I was at Johnson memorial shooting for 5 hours that day to make sure we got everything they wanted.

(Canon 5D Mark II, 250ISO, Canon 16-35mmF2.8L@26mm, 1/30th@F6.3. Canon 580EX Speedlight shot through a 43" umbrella to camera right set to 1/2 power fired by pocket wizard. Canon 580EX speedlight zoomed to 70mm set to 1/32nd power fired by pocket wizard back behind crowd right aimed at the wall to help separate the right side of the group from the wall.)

Over the last few years the event has grown almost out of control. Last year we had the luncheon in the Indiana Roof Ballroom. By the panoramic below, I think you'll agree; we've grown up a bit. More soon.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 1250ISO, Canon EF16-35mmF2.8L@16mm, 1/60th@F3.5. 13 images stitched together using Photoshop CS4's automerge function.)