Pushing Pixels

When I was asked by a client to photograph the No.1 ranked team in High School Football, in the entire nation, I wasn’t sure what to expect, just another high school football game, or something unique.  What I saw, the players on the James F. Byrnes Rebels bring to the table is the simple fact that even those a the top of their game have an off night, it is just in how you handle those setbacks that seem to make the difference in champions and everyone else.  

The, Rebels, began their season ranked No.1 in the USA Today Super 25, and after last night’s game, now stand at 2-0.  But last night’s opponent, Ridge View, turned out not to be the pushover that many expected.  With six turnovers (4 of them by the quarterback Chas Dodd in the first half alone), the final score of the game was 45-20.  Even with the Byrnes offense not performing at their best, when things clicked, the athleticism and work ethic of these players really came out, and was something amazing to see.       

I don’t know if this will be my last high school football game or not.  I’m really starting to dread having to deal with the dis-organization, and egos, and professionalism (relating to the organizers, and officials) that go along with covering these sporting events.  Its really sad that all of the positive efforts put forth by these kids and their coaches, gets tarnished, because the adults involved can’t seem to play nice, be professional, or act their age.

Images from the Byrnes at Ridge View, are available for license for editorial use and publication, through my archive on Photo Shelter, at the following link http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000iyrv9n9Cjd0 

Tags: action, assignment, byrnes, football, game, high school, locker, photo, prep, sport.

I just wanted to take a minute to post my favorite images of the Democratic and Republican nominees for president that I had the opportunity to make while covering their primary campaigns, and share a few things I learned during my time with them.

  

(AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

Above: Sen. John McCain, R-Az., right, and his wife Cindy McCain, left, wait behind a large American Flag, to be announced at an event in Columbia, S.C., on April 26, 2007.

(Brett Flashnick/WpN)

Above: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes a grand entrance into the Columbia Convention Center, during his first visit to the south, on Feb. 16, 2007.

Overall I think the most important thing that I learned along the process is that the relationships you make are crucial when you are in situations like this.  When you cover something as large as a political campaign (especially those of the top tier candidates), you are often subjected to being part of pack journalism.  Something that I personally detest, since it greatly tends to limit the amount of creative freedom you have to photograph the events as you truly see them, and find real moments which is something I truly value.  I found out early on that taking the time to build relationships with the candidates staff, interns, and advisors, the same way I would with a regular client, I was able to put myself in better positions to make the images that I wanted.  After the relationships and trust were established, convincing advisers, press spokespeople, and staffers to let me make the images I wanted to was a much easier thing to achieve, and once I got to know the candidates personally it resulted in me being able to photograph them as I saw and perceived them, and by the end of it I had the campaign staffers trying to help me make the images that I wanted to, and the best part was I got paid to do it.  In my book that is a win-win situation all the way around.

Tags: campaign, journalism, lessons, photography, photojournalism, politics, primary.

I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that I have not forgotten that this blog exists.  Things have been very busy lately, both shooting and business wise.  I’ve got a lot of new things that I’m working to make happen before the end of the year.  I’m making plans to start doing a lot more tutorial posts here on the blog (even some with video).  

Over the Labor Day weekend I started working with Marshall (the best web programer I know) over at Fun Sun Studio on version 1.1 of my website, and I’m really stoked to see what he has come up with.  I’m busy adding new content to the framework of the site, making design nit picks, and he’s slaving over a hot keyboard to make the changes like a champ.  Here is a quick preview of what we’ve got going on…

Goodbye Flash… Hello JavaScript… This is really exciting for a wanna be techno geek like me.  But I haven’t been spending all of my time in front of a computer screen… I have gotten out, and made some images lately.  Here are just a few that I shot the other night as the University of South Carolina opened up their season on ESPN’s Thursday night game, against North Carolina State (this is for Angie my new blog bud over at OH MY GOFF! who is a Gamecocks fan, but now lives in D.C.) I hope you all enjoy…

Above: USC starts their opening drive after receiving the kick off from N.C. State at Williams-Brice Stadium, in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.
Above: South Carolina, quarterback, Tommy Beecher, right, takes a snap in the shot gun formation during their opening drive against N.C. State, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.
Above: South Carolina, tailback, Mike Davis, 25, left, gets a fist full of N.C. State, corner back, Jeremy Gray’s, right, face mask, while trying to stiff arm.

Tags: carolina, college, Columbia, design, football, Gamecocks, stadium, usc, website, wolfpack.

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  I just finished up with some player portraits from Media Day at the University of South Carolina’s, Williams-Brice Stadium on Sunday afternoon.  It felt like it was 120 degrees on the field, and I was soaking wet by the end of it, but all of the players took my requests in stride, and I had a great time with it, and had the opportunity to make some nice images of some great student athletes.  I was caught in the act of shooting the portraits of new starting quarterback, Tommy Beecher, by friend and shooter, Drew Stewart of local NBC affiliate WIS-TV in Columbia, S.C., and according to his package from last nights newscast, I’m helping to contribute to quarterback, Tommy Beecher’s “Rockstar” status.  

Tags: carolina, football, Gamecocks, media, player, portrait, quarterback, SEC, south carolina.

The New York Times just posted a multimedia project I recently had the opportunity to work on, called “Patient Voices” which was about prostate cancer (there are others out there ranging from ADD to Infertility).  For this project I photographed and interviewed ESPN Commentator and all around good guy, Mitch Laurance.  I spent a great afternoon talk with, and photographing Mitch at the Grande Dunes Members Club in Myrtle Beach, while the Hard Rock Park celebrity golf tournament was going on outside.  It is always a rewarding experience when you get to help someone tell their story, especially one as personal as this.

Tags: audio, cancer, medical, multimedia, new york, photography, project, prostate, times.

Well, at least one of my photos isn’t dull, according to the folks over at AntiDull, an online Fine Art and Photography magazine that was started back in August of 2007. I was selected to appear in their June 2008 issue which can be viewed at http://www.antidull.com first PocketWizard now this… I’ll be an internet celebrity pretty soon if I keep this up. Hope all is well out there.

Tags: art, magazine, photography.

I have received several emails from readers and people who have seen my shot from the 2008 Carolina Cup Races, that I posted a few weeks ago, so I decided that I amy going to demystify how you make a shot like this work, by using a remote camera.

For those who don’t know, a remote camera, is a camera which you place in a specific location ahead of an event that would not be accessible during the event, and is then triggered by a hard wire, or radio signal. The list of equipment I used to make this image is as follows.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Remote Trigger: Pocket Wizard (not pictured) and LPA Designs Pre-Release Cable CM-N3-P
Mounting Hardware: Ultra-Pod II
Protection: Kata E-702 GDC Elements Cover

Complete Setup: This is what the setup looked like when it was completely assembled. The camera and lens were mounted to the Ultra-Pod II and then inserted into the GDC Elements Cover. After everything was strapped down and the camera was protected from any flying mud or sudden rain showers, I used the left arm hole to attach the PocketWizard and the Pre-Release Cable to the camera and then cinched up all the other loose openings. You don’t have to use a rain cover or a remote cover, a clear plastic bag, a plastic cup, and some tape will do the same trick. I really do prefer rain covers as opposed to remote covers, so you can see to make any adjustments to exposure or focus without disturbing the entire setup.

Now comes the setup. Be prepared to get there early, some venues require you have the remote in place days before the event, while others will allow a remote to be placed hours before the event. It is also a good idea to make sure your liability insurance is up to date, because if someone or something trips over your remote and gets injured, you could be in some hot water. Once you have looked into all of the logistical details, its time to place the remote. It generally helps to have some working knowledge of the event or sport you are photographing, because you will have to anticipate everything happening long before it actually occurs. Since this was not my first time photographing a steeplechase or horse racing in general I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to see. With this in mind I chose a fence to place the remote under, and estimated the spot in the jump where most of the horses would come over. With these things in mind I had my assistant for the day, Cindy stand at that position in the jump so I could focus and frame the image up. Once everything was set, I taped all of the adjustment dials, focus rings, etc… on my camera in place so they wouldn’t move, made sure the whole setup was nice and tidy, and proceeded to make some test images of Cindy and I jumping around the frame to verify focal plane, and framing of the image. Once this was all done, it was time to go make some feature shots while waiting on the race to begin. *This is why it is important to use a pre-release cable, because it will keep your camera awake and ready to fire, so there is no delay firing the first frame when the time comes.* When the race began I decided to shoot from down the track with my 300mm f/2.8 and 1.4x converter, with the PocketWizard on the hot shoe of the camera, so I could have two angles of the shot, incase the remote didn’t work for some reason. Once the event is done with, you can go back to your remote, and collect your images and hope you got what you envisioned.

Tags: Camden, camera, carolina cup races, photograph, remote, SC, south carolina, steeplechase.

I’ve been working at this shot for a little while now, and have never managed to get one that I am this pleased with. In my mind it is not perfect, and I can still do better, thus I will try again next year (or during the fall race on Nov. 16), but just a reminder that seeing differently isn’t enough, you have to have the determination to see it through, even if it takes years.

ABOVE: Horses and their jockeys charge over a fence on their way to the finish line, during the Camden Plate, at the Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., Saturday, March 28, 2008.

If anyone is interested in seeing how I made this shot, let me know and I’ll post some additional information

Tags: horse, jump, racing, remote camera, steeple chase.

After taking off from runway 13, at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, on Sunday morning, this Cesna 177 “Cardinal”, was forced to make a hard landing on the roof of Boineau’s Moving and Storage Inc., warehouse after experiencing engine trouble 1/3 of a mile Northwest of the runway. Here, Sterling Transport driver William Hooper looks at the single engine aircraft as it sits atop the warehouse roof in Columbia, S.C., Sunday afternoon.

…this was one of those days where you think that you are done, and then the dreaded phone call comes in… Fill a hole on the front page of metro with an image from an incident that happened 6 hours earlier, gotta love the world of newspapers.

Tags: Airport, Cesna, Columbia, Crash, Feature Photo, south carolina, Spot News.

Its the time of year when things start to cool off, kids go back to school, and football fields at high schools and colleges come alive on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. It has been so long since I’ve had a Friday night or Saturday afternoon off during this time of year that I don’t even know what it would be like. While the rest of the world tailgates, and starts to put on those winter pounds, its time for me to start running up and down the sidelines, trying to make better images than I did last year. Here are some of the results from my first week back at it. Its been a year since I did this, and I’m pretty happy with my early results.

Benedict College hosts Livingstone College, in their annual season opener the Palmetto Capital City Classic, for the first time at their new stadium, in Columbia, S.C.

My high school alma mater Irmo, takes on their hated rivals Dutch Fork. Irmo won, glad to see some things don’t change. Now they actually play their away games for this rivalry at Dutch Fork, when I was in school, at the start of this rivalry, we had to share a stadium, and sit on the away side every other year… I’m glad to see that some things do change.

Hope everyone is doing well out there, stay safe, and make good images.
-Flashnick

p.s. If anyone out there can figure out how to get my BlackBerry Pearl to transmit images from the above mentioned games any faster than the abysmal 8kbps I’m getting now using this method posted on fibble.org please let me know. It moves so slow that all of my FTP transmissions keep timing out. It is killing me paying for this BlackBerry service and not being able to use it to its full potential.

Tags: Benedict, Columbia, Dutch Fork, fall, football, Irmo.