A Little News

This will be the easiest reader profile yet since Jonathan and I work together at The Decatur Daily. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Kentucky where he was mentored by legendary photojournalist Dave LaBelle. You guys bear with me while I take just a minute to brag on my friend. You will seldom meet a man with more energy than Jonathan. He always has a scheme running, and I mean that in the best way. He is always cooking up a photo project or working on some improvement to our photo site on The Decatur Daily’s web site which you can check out here.

Jonathan pushes me every day to get better and everyone needs a colleague like that. He also teaches me, especially about the internet stuff and he turned me on to SoundSlides. In fact, our online photo presence has been heavily shaped by Jonathan’s influence in terms of both the content and look that is on the site. Best of all, JP helps me bug our boss to buy us Canon. A man after my own heart! That is a plate full for a guy just a couple of years out of college.

I think that one of Jonathan’s greatest strengths, especially for one so new to the game, is his lighting skill. Usually lighting is one of the last things to develop so it is remarkable that his skills are as well advanced as they are. The photo of the fireworks is a good example of what I am talking about. If you have ever shot fireworks and mixed flash with it you will know exactly what I am talking about. The burst of fireworks all vary in intensity which makes a flash ratio nearly impossible to establish because each burst is different. Jonathan pulls it off nicely using an off camera strobe fired with a pocket wizard.

I chose the second photo because it shows another side of JP’s skill, this time in a spot news situation. This photo was actually shot the same morning as the devastating tornado I wrote about in some earlier posts. After shooting this fire which destroyed a historic home in Limestone County, Jonathan went to Pryor Field and hopped into an airplane and shot aerials of the storm damage. The thing I love about this photo is that it gets everything in the photo. You see the fire department’s ladder truck working, the burned out home and the ladies hugging. It pulls together the physical drama with the human drama and makes a really nice moment.

This is just an opinion, but it is one based out of a couple of years working with Jonathan, you should keep your eye on him. He has the perfect mix of skill, ambition, compassion and affability that makes a successful photojournalist. I hope he stays at The Decatur Daily for a long time but I would not be surprised to see him moving up in the photojournalism world rapidly, especially if some paper from his Old Kentucky Home comes calling!

For more of Jonathan’s work, check out his Flickr Photostream and his Sportsshooter member page. You can also visit Jonathan’s web site and blog and you will see first hand what I mean. Enjoy!

Photos copyright Jonathan Palmer, The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer (although they did hire Jonathan!)