Pushing Pixels

Perry Dozier Jr. - Columbia, SC 2009

Looking back on my email box, I found the first correspondence letting me know that I had been selected to participate in fourth series of the Palmetto Portraits Project a year ago today.  Less than five days from now, on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, the exhibit will open to the public with a reception at MUSC’s new James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, located at 29 Bee St. in Charleston, SC.

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Tags: art, gallery, photo, photograph, photographs, photography, south carolina.

9/27/07 - Columbia, S.C., Local alternative rock band Closer, rehearses for their upcoming performance at the Five Points End of Construction Celebration on Friday, October 5, 2007. The group which has been together off and on for almost eight years consists of David Reed, (vocals, guitar), David Baker, (bass), and Nathan Reed, (drums). © 2008 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

After reading the story The Day the Music Died in The State today, about how Richaland County just shut down all of the bands that practice at the Sumter Street Storage sheds, I really can’t help but wonder what can be done to help make this area more friendly to the creative community.  The Sumter Street Storage facility was not only a safe haven for up and coming musicians to practice over the past 20 years, but it was a source of creativity for my own visual art as well.  I made the above image of the alt. rock band Closer as the practiced inside of their rented shed in late 2007.  I cringe to think of all the tax money that the Columbia Talent Management project just spent on a survey about how to attract the creative class to the area, when the answer is simple.  Prove that you are there to support them!  Most creatives didn’t get into their respective fields to get rich, or famous, they probably didn’t even choose it at all, it chose them.  We create because there isn’t anything else we could envision doing, or because creating fills a deeper part of our souls and fulfills our lives, and the lives of those who are inspired by what we create, be it music, art, poetry, etc…  The easiest thing you can do to help out is show them that they have your support.  I know this was a ruling made by the county fire marshall, but what now?  Now is the time for Columbia to step up and provide, or just even allow a place like Sumter Street Storage to operate.

Tags: alternative, arts, band, blue, Columbia, creative, facility, music, ordinance, photograph, photography, photojournalism, practice, rock, SC, south carolina.

As featured in the Oct. 30 - Nov. 6 MSNBC TWiP: As tears stream down his cheek, Quentin Patrick, center, clad in a red prison jumpsuit, signs paperwork during his bond hearing at the Sumter-Lee County Detention center, Monday, Nov. 3, 2008, in Sumter, S.C. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)

As I checked my Facebook page before heading out for a 12 hour photo day on Saturday, I was a bit perplexed when I saw that friend and fellow shooter Chris Keane had left me a note for me to check out MSNBC’s The Week in Pictures for Oct. 30 – Nov. 6, 2008.  Much to my surprise one of my images from the bond hearing of Quentin Patrick, who is accused of killing 12-year-old, trick-or-treater, T.J. Darrisaw, when he fired 29 rounds from his AK-47 through the front door of his house in Sumter, S.C., upon seeing the 3 masked figures, outside of his home on Halloween night, and thinking he was about to be robbed.  This image came from my second day of covering this extremely emotional tragedy for the Associated Press, and can be found in Oct. 30 – Nov. 6, TWiP at the following link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27578284/displaymode/1107/framenumber/7/s/2/

Tags: ap, assignment, associated press, award, death, MSNBC, photography, photojournalism, SC, shooting, south carolina, sumter, TWIP.

All Images in this post: AP Photo/Brett Flashnick

Walter Anderson, a retired veteran, spent 30 years in service to his country.  Every morning of those 30 years, Anderson, got himself up, and to his duties, as an enlisted member of the United States Army.  On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, it took Walter Anderson’s wife, a recreational therapist, a volunteer coordinator, and a handicap accessable van, and two gracious poll workers, to get the 74-year-old from his residence in the nursing ward of the Dorn VA Medical Center, in Columbia, S.C., to the polls at Burnside Elementery, a mere two miles away, but they did it, and at 10:40am Walter Anderson cast his ballot in the 2008 Presidential Election.  It is my belief that if Walter Anderson can go to work in service of his country every day for 30 years as a member of the United States Army, so that all of us could have the ability to vote, and still make it to the polls no matter what the effort involved, there should be no excuse for anyone else.  Go VOTE!

AP Photo/Brett Flashnick

Tags: anderson, army, booth, Columbia, disabled, Dorn, election, medical, SC, south carolina, transport, va, van, veteran, vote, voting.

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.

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.

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.

©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

When the alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning to get out of bed to go shoot another assignment was the last thing on my mind, especially after having 14 hour days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and late night of shooting on Saturday. However this is one of those assignments that I “had to do.” Its not like anyone was going to fault me for turning this down, and I almost did, until I found out that this “church assignment” wasn’t your typical church.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

On the last Sunday of the month since April, 2007, the quiet neighborhood on Holland Street, in West Columbia, S.C. has been brought to life by the sound of motorcycles thundering down the road, to Suburban Baptist Church, on their way to “Biker Church” at 7:30am. Inside a group of approximately a dozen bikers, congregate over breakfast, and a small worship service that follows. “And when the weather permits after that we take the church out on the road, because the theology here is that the church is the people, not the building, and even when we hit the road the church is still there,” Biker Church co-Founder, Frank Lengel said.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

To add insult to injury, as I was beginning to work on getting all of my non deadline assignments from last week out to clients, and starting to work on the multimedia from “Biker Church,” my iBook decided to take a yet another dirt nap. In an effort to get work done, I swapped the hard drives of my iBook with a 5 year old PowerBook G4 that was laying around for just such an occasion. Even though it is slow, the screen looks a “little yellow”, and there is some gunk on the screen that I can’t seem to get off the PowerBook is running like a champ so far, and while it took a little longer than normal I managed to produce a multimedia slideshow from Biker Church. Hopefully next week will go better.

To view my multimedia presentations point your browsers here — http://www.brettflashnick.com/multimedia.php

Tags: biker, church, Columbia, harley, ibook, multimedia, south carolina.

Over the past few days I’ve had the opportunity to spend some behind the scenes time with the family of 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney as they toured South Carolina. I had a great time getting to know Ann, Mary, and Parker Romney, as we drove around the state on their tour bus. ABOVE: Ann Romney, center, and Mary Romney, left, along with campaign supporters and staff, laugh as Parker Romney, tries to make a call on his baby monitor on Tuesday afternoon. BELOW: Mitt Romney, left, and Ann Romney, right, share a moment as they prepare to go separate ways, after departing a fundraiser at Saluda Shoals Park on Thursday afternoon. After three days of campaigning separately, the Romneys only spent a few hours together in Columbia, S.C., before going their separate ways again.

Tags: campaign, Columbia, politics, presidential, republican, Romney, south carolina.

After a busy couple of weeks I finally have some time to sit down and update my website. I’ve added a gallery from my time on the 2008 presidential campaign trail. So far I’ve spent some time with five of the candidates vying for their party nomination. Photographing these events can be frustrating, and rewarding at the same time however. It is a lot of hurry up and wait (note the recurring theme of this profession), you show up 2 hours early, get set up, scope things out, talk to the handlers, and then wait. When the time comes you can be shoulder to shoulder with 10 other photographers trying to get the same shot as you, so hopefully all of the planning, and politicking and your instincts will take over and put you into a position where you can find a unique angle, when the moment comes.

The whole experience can be a draining one, and hopefully when the smoke clears, my editors and I will be happy with the result. Even though every time out hasn’t resulted in a home run, it has been a learning experience seeing how these campaigns work, and it will be interesting to see which candidate and strategy comes out on top in a years time. Until then time to celebrate the small successes, and get back to work telling stories… until next time.

Click here to view more photos from my time with the candidates.

Tags: 2008, campaign, clinton, giuliani, obama, photographs, presidential, south carolina.