A Little News

Alabama linebackers Dont'a Hightower and Rolando McClain upend Auburn running back Mario Fannin. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 11/29/08

This is it.  The final of my personal 20 Defining Moments from 2008.  A drum roll please maestro!  The final edition is from the Iron Bowl where Alabama quite literally stood Auburn on their heads ending a streak of six straight Auburn victories and vaulting Alabama into the SEC Championship game ranked 1st in the nation.  The game was an Alabama romp and this play was quite early in the first quarter.  Never the less, it was the moment that I think defined the whole game.  The picture kind of symbolizes Alabama turning the tables on Auburn who fired, or forced out if you like that better, their head coach Tommy Tuberville just a few days later.

Since this is not a post about the relative sanity of whomever is running things down at Auburn I will leave my personal opinion on Tuberville’s firing out but I guess you can see how I feel by what I have already written.  Now back to the post.  A whole bunch of other shooters also got this shot.  I saw several of them and everyone’s is good.  It is a hard play to go wrong on.  I think that I had one of the best angles on the play and was very pleased with the shot.  There is just nothing like a good camera with a 400mm lens for sports photography.  I had the D700 and 400mm f2.8 on loan from NPS and man was it ever a sweet combination.

I love shooting sports and it was very difficult for me to not include more sports images in this collection.  Sports helps define my year every year and this year was no exception.  Still, there were so many exceptional events going on this year, the sports just had to take something of a back seat.  Sports helps keep me in a good shooting rhythm year round.  If I ever get out of sync I just try and do a few sports assignments and that helps me tremendously.

Some folks probably think that sports photography is all about autofocus and blazing motor drives and not doubt about it, those things do help.  But what sports photography really is all about is finding that moment in a game that defines the game.  I don’t always do it.  Even great sports photographers don’t always do it.  Finding that moment, that literal split second that defines something, be it in life in general or in sports specifically, is really what good photojournalism is all about.

I hope you have enjoyed the 20 Moments series.  I had fun putting it together and it was also a challenge to pull out 20 photographs that I felt defined my year.  Try it sometime and see how it works for you.  If you do this and can post your images somewhere, on your site or on Flickr or whatever, drop us a line here so we can all go check out what you did.  I hope you all have a blessed, happy and prosperous New Year and I hope that 2009 turns into a year of unprecedented prosperity for you in all areas of your life.  Blessings and peace to you and yours.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Ernestine Robinson is interviewed in her home in Moulton on election night. Robinson has fought the political battles all her life having marched with Dr. King and never thought she would see the day she could vote for a black president. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 11/4/08

Ernestine Robinson is a woman of class and dignity who fought her way through the Civil Rights battles in Alabama with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  On election night we interviewed her in her home in Moulton, Alabama.  The only photo was going to be a portrait of her.  I wanted it to be a really good portrait.  I had photographed her once before several years ago and remembered her being a very forceful person.  She said something during that interview that really struck me and made me realize what a huge event the election of Barack Obama really is.  She was once arrested with Dr. King during a protest march and she said that during those days she never dreamed she would have an opportunity to vote for a black man for President of the United States.  Something in that statement really woke me up to the history that was being made right before my eyes.

To me the election was a choice between candidates that did not appeal to me so I was not very excited about it.  What she said and what I saw in the celebrations around the country and even around the world, told a different story.  This election was a very big deal to a great many people.  Once again I found myself in a situation where the actual event didn’t move me but the consequences of the event were profound for the person I was photographing.  This happens fairly often but not usually on the scale of a presidential election.

As I listened to Ms. Robinson talk I wanted more and more to make a really nice portrait of her, something that would honor both her and the moment.  To be honest, I don’t really feel that I got there.  I struggled during the entire assignment with lenses and light.  I finally got about what I wanted with the light but the lenses never really came together.  I was either too tight or too loose and nothing I did seemed to work.  This was the image we chose to run and it works okay but I am still unsatisfied with the results.  Still, it does seem to communicate something of her struggle which was at least part of the goal of the photo.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Gladys Burgess kisses her daughter Paula Standridge during a birthday party for her at SunBridge Care and Rehab in Decatur. Standridge suffers from ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 10/29/08

This one breaks my heart.  ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a merciless killer that seems to strike rather randomly.  Unlike a car wreck or heart attack that kill quickly, ALS is more like Alzheimer’s in the way it kills, slowly and painfully.  I have had more than one photo assignment covering people and their families who are suffering through this disease and have only one possible outcome in sight and that is death.  I am not even sure how to describe ALS except that it slowly debilitates the sufferer until it basically shuts them down completely.  I hate cancer but at least there is some hope for those with cancer.  To this point, ALS is a hopeless disease which makes me hate it even more.

My photo assignment did not excite me very much.  I was to go photograph a birthday party for Paula Standridge at a local nursing home.  I don’t think the assignment said anything about her having ALS.  It was just another assignment at a nursing home where birthdays don’t seem like much of a celebration some of the time.  This party was different.  Paula did not know about the party and a large crowd had gathered to celebrate with her including family and many people from her church.  Each one was telling me the wonderful things Paula did for them and I was deeply moved even before they wheeled her in.

When you have a large crowd of people like this, and especially when they all want to be around your subject, it can be a little difficult to find the moment or to be in the right place to shoot the moment.  One of her siblings told me who her parents were and I could see the pain they felt inside written on their faces knowing the pain their daughter was going through.  I thought that might be the place to get my photo.  Still, maneuvering around in that crowded room without being rude was a little difficult and no photo was worth being rude for in that environment.  Sometimes you just have to miss a moment so that you don’t mess up what is going on for the people actually participating in that moment.

Still, I was able to edge around to the side of the bed as her cake was presented and the crowd sang happy birthday.  Paula started to cry and her mom bent over to kiss her and I was in the right place at the right time and got what to me is an extremely touching photo.  It speaks to the love and the pain they were both feeling.  No one ever wants to find themselves in this situation and I am continually amazed at the grace and dignity people handle these difficult times with.  When I am photographing them that is exactly what I want to communicate.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Now we come to creepy time.  These guys are paranormal investigators and I knew that I had a golden photo opportunity if everything played out right.  I anticipated all kinds of funky equipment that would provide all kinds of moments inside the creepy house.  I could set some strobes at odd angles and get some cool shots while they were setting up then I could go home.  Well, none of that happened.  We did have a creepy house but their equipment consisted of a camcorder and a little, hand-held detector of some variety or other.  Having no equipment meant there would essentially be no photo because these folks were literally going to stand around in the dark and try to communicate with the “spirits.”

Amanda Kelsoe, Keith Duncan and Denise Duncan pose in front of an old house near Moulton that they are investigating for paranormal activity. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 10/18/08

The fall back position on any assignment is the environmental portrait and that is what I had to do here.  Not just any portrait would do though.  I wanted something that would communicate the ethereal nature of what they were up to so I had the idea of doing a time exposure and using my pocket flash light to paint in the subjects.  Well, that almost worked.  I had no tripod so my camera bag subbed for a camera support and the pocket flash light sort of worked.  In fact, it worked too well and I over lit my first attempt.  I set up for the second go round only to have a truck unexpectedly come up the drive and bathe them in head lights.  I told them half way through the exposure to just get up and walk out of the frame because, honestly, I thought the image was ruined.  But when the image recorded I saw that I had exactly what I wanted in the frame.  Bang!  Nailed it by accident in two tries with 30 second exposures and the camera literally sitting on my camera bag.  Hey, it worked.

I won’t go into how I felt standing in the dark for the next hour or so while these folks tried to coax out a ghost.  Let’s just say that I was skeptical and thought we were about as likely to communicate with a ghost as we were to be hit by an asteroid.  Okay, well, actually I thought we were more likely to be hit by an asteroid.  I did get my photo though and I didn’t get hit by falling space debris or get scared out of my socks by any apparitions.  All in all that makes for a pretty decent night!

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.   The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Wow!  Two fishing photos make the 20 Moments list in one year.  I know, I can’t believe it either but there it is and there is no fish to be found in this one.  These guys finished first and second in an FLW tour event on Wheeler Lake and there is not a fish in sight.  In fact, that is the reason this photo makes the list.  A fishing tournament picture with not a sign of a rod and reel, a boat or a fish and yet it is still one of my favorite moments.  There are a couple reasons beyond the obvious.

FLW winner Russ Moran laughs with Jack Poindexter whom he edged out for the win the FLW tournament held on Wheeler Lake during the weigh in Saturday afternoon at Wal-Mart. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 10/11/08

If you don’t know fishermen then you won’t understand the whole idea behind the statement a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.  It is not my thing but I get where they are coming from.  So if your work is fishing what does that make it?  If you finish second in a fishing tournament, what is that better than?  Questions, questions and who knows the answer?  Maybe it is these guys.

On the surface there appears to be nothing whatever to this photo technically.  Actually this is just about the most demanding technical situation you can run into shooting available light.  What you don’t see is that the stage faced east and the sun was setting directly over the top of the trailer meaning that any shooting position allowing you to actually see the stage had you shooting into the harsh, setting sun with the people on stage being in open shade.  Must have been a dozen stops of difference plus dealing with the lens flare from the setting sun.  Not fun but hey, I am a professional right!?  I finally found a shooting position that was low enough to allow the stage to block at least some of the setting sun and gave me a fairly clean view if I shot tight.  The photo actually came together when the first place finisher and the second place finisher came together to congratulate one another.  Then the great smiles and laughter as they met and I have my photo.  Don’t you just love a happy ending!

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Several years ago I shot my very first Red Hat Society photo assignment.  I had no idea what I was walking into.  That is the craziest group of women on the planet and they readily admit it and revel in it.  Now I relish those assignments like a glass of perfectly aged wine that has great flavor and a lot character because that is a great description of the Red Hat Society.  To be a member you have to be 50 years old and come up with the most outlandish red hat and purple dress possible.  Already you can see the possibilities for photos are endless.  Top all that glitz off with the idea that these ladies are there to have fun, and that really is about all they do, and you have a photo assignment where you would have to be dead not to get a great photo.

Sharon Beach helps new Red Hat Society member Kathy Taylor inther her purple robe outside Cafe 113 in Decatur Wednesday. Taylor had a "Reduation" which signified her move from being a Pink Hatter to a full member of the Red Hat Society. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 8/20/08

This Red Hat assignment was a little different for me.  The club was welcoming a new member on her 50th birthday.  This is called a “Reduation” because the new member had been coming to the club but could not be a full member.  So the club assembled in front of Cafe 113 in Decatur with kazoos in hand to welcome the newbie.  Then they put her in a purple robe and gave her a multiple kazoo salute.  If you have never heard women tooting on kazoos on a public sidewalk, well, you have just missed out on one of life’s great moments.  Kitty Taylor, the new Red Hat member, said it was her life’s goal to become a full fledged member of the Red Hat Society and she really wasn’t joking.  It was just a cool moment to share.

One of the greatest privileges we have as photojournalists is to be part of some of the greatest moments in a person’s life.  We get a lot more pub for being there in the darkest moments and that is part of the job.  What people don’t remember is that we are also there in some of the peak moments.  Graduations, election victories, sports championships, plays, awards and yes, reduations, are all documented and celebrated in the media.  Sometimes we take these moments for granted.  Don’t!  It may not be a big deal to you but it is certainly a big deal to the person in the picture.  Remember that next time you are out there shooting another award, graduation or retirement.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

How I love clouds!  I think that I love cloudy skies as much as I love any natural phenomenon and a cloudy sky presents a wonderful, ever changing background for photographs, especially portraits.  We do athlete portraits all the time and these type portraits are almost unlimited because the kids are usually willing to experiment with you which is a luxury you don’t get with adults very often.  Needless to say, some of my best portraits have been of teenagers.  That said, this sky stands out as the best backdrop for a portrait I have had in a very long time.  It is terrible to say but sunsets skies are a bit overdone.  I will take one any day but still a bit overdone.  Not this sky.  This is a special one.

Danville running back Levi George stands in front of a slate gray sky prior to practice. George is one of Danville's keys to victory for the 2008 season. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 8/7/08

My assignment was to go to Danville High’s preseason football practice and shoot a portrait of one of their young stars.  Turns out, he was injured and not practicing.  This meant I had a little extra time with him but it also limited what I might be able to try.  You don’t want to make an injury worse by having the kid do something for a photograph so I elected to just do a stand up and with this sky the only problem was finding an angle where I could just get the kid and the sky.  The end of the field turned out to be the best angle and the goal posts did not hurt.  The sky was really this perfect, slate gray.  I have very seldom seen this tone in the clouds but there it was.  Who knew that the sky could be 18% grey!

There is not much to the portrait other than choosing a lighting scheme, cross lighting in this case, and a camera position.  The rest just took care of itself; however, falling into the happy accident category, I had both strobes set to 1/4 power but one of them had weak batteries so not all the frames had a full discharge.  Most of the frames had this lighting ration which I found very dramatic and it really made the photo.  Just goes to show you that you can do anything and everything to make a picture work but sometimes the happy accident of a set of weak batteries really makes the picture.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Ann and Donnie Dicky have a really cute car.  Donnie told me he would take me for a ride but I should be ready for a lot of smiles.  He pointed out before we left that the Smart Car sort of smiles itself with the configuration of the grill and head lights.  Sure enough, we drove around a few miles in Decatur and everywhere we went every person who looked at us smiled.  The car is tiny and it grins so it is natural to grin right back and most everyone does.  What a great ride.

Ann and Donnie Dickey ride down Leslie St. SW in their new Smart car, a fuel efficient, two passenger car with a smile on its face. The Dickey's are the first in North Alabama to own one of the Mercedes produced cars. photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 8/14/08

The story was about this family being the first in Decatur to obtain one of the most fuel efficient cars available.  This was back when gas prices were right around $4 per gallon.  What a difference a few months makes.  By the way, Cosby the economist says that the economy is exactly the same as the gas prices, that is to say, artificial.  The current economic crisis, while being entirely real because of some really bad decisions for a really long time in government and in finance, it will be over when those same people want it to be over.  The economic crisis is just as artificial as the gas prices so just wait for the pendulum to swing and hang on to your job and your pocket book while it does.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled post.

The cool thing about this photo was that it was shot at 6 pm in daylight savings time.  There was way too much light in the sky to do this so I used my strobes to really overpower the daylight dropping it almost two stops below the strobe exposure.  So this is not just a cute picture of smiling people and a smiling car, it is also a technical accomplishment that makes me smile.  I get two smiles out of one photo and that is true economy!

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Hot air balloons are really cool and please pardon the contradiction.  Riding in a hot air balloon is the closest thing in the world to walking on air or maybe sitting on a cloud.  Now landing can be a little bit tricky but flying is pure delight.  It is like home made ice cream on a blazing hot day, pure satisfaction!  I have always enjoyed shooting the Alabama Jubilee which is a festival based around the hot air balloons.  On Saturday morning of the event there is a hare and hound race which we get to fly in.  It is a kind of race but not so much for speed as for accuracy.  One balloon leaves the field first.  He is the hare.  He goes out and puts a large X on the ground which the pilots following try to navigate to and drop a bean bag on.  Closest to the center wins.

Hot air balloon pilot Tom Lane is dwarfed by the size of the bag on his balloon, The Griffin II, as he prepares to launch during the Alabama Jubilee's Hare and Hound race Saturday morning May 24, 2008 in Decatur, AL. (AP Photo/The Decatur Daily, Gary Cosby Jr.)

This photo is of my pilot checking the inside of his bag during inflation.  During this part of the inflation a fan is used to blow air into the bag.  When a sufficient quantity of air is in the bag the pilot lights his burners and lifts the balloon to the vertical position.  You can then enter the basket and fly away.  I really like this type photo.  It is not like I did anything unique but it did turn out nicely.  In fact, this photo was the Alabama AP Member Showcase Photo of the Month for May.  (Yes I am a bit out of sequence if you are keeping score.)  The array of colors is striking but when you see the little man in the bottom center of the image it kind of pops.

Looking for juxtapositions of size, shape and color are just really good ways to make a photo rise a bit above the masses.  Do you have any idea how many photos are taken out there at the balloon festival?  Do you have any idea how easy it is to make an ordinary photo of hot air balloons?  Just because they are pretty doesn’t mean you get to ignore all the things you do that make your other photos good.  This is one of those events where even a blind squirrel can find an acorn so making a photo that shines from this event is always my goal.  Everyone out there may have a camera but that does not make everyone out there a photographer!

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The opinions in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I love the Delta Queen and I have loved that boat since my childhood when she used to lock through Wheeler Dam where my grand father was lock master.  He would call my mom and dad and tell them when the boat was coming and we would go down and see her lock through.  The boat would be playing its steam pipe organ as she locked through and it was just very, very cool.  Those were kinder and simpler days when one did not have to go through an act of congress to get near a facility like the locks and damns on the Tennessee River.

The Delta Queen riverboat rests at dock in Rhodes Ferry Park late Thursday, July 3, 2008 in Decatur, Alabama. The historic boat was in Decatur on the Tennessee River after a route diversion to avoid flooding on the Mississippi River. The boat may be stopped in Decatur for the last time after loosing its Congressional exemption that allowed the wooden hull ship to carry passengers. (AP Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.)

The Delta Queen has hosted a number of dignitaries including Jimmy Carter when he was president.  She is so old they really don’t make parts for her anymore and some of her engine parts have been salvaged from old Navy ships.  Her age is why she is being forced into retirement.  Not that the boat is too old to operate but it has a wooden superstructure which has been forbidden for passenger ships for more than forty years.  The U.S. Congress has given her a special exemption to sail for all those years and now seems ready to stop renewing her exemption.  That is a sad day indeed.  The DQ has so much character and holds a special place in the hearts of many who live along the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.

I made this photo of the grand old lady of the river when she was making one of her last stops in Decatur.  I took my children to Rhodes Ferry Park to share with them one of the special memories of my own childhood.  I really wasn’t working but I had my camera and had been making pictures of the kids with the boat in the background, you know, standard scrap book stuff.  As we were leaving the park we walked down to a new dock which allowed us to be right behind the DQ with the last light of the sunset lingering in the sky behind her.  I knew this was a special image when I shot it.  One day this one will probably end up on the wall.

Photo copyright Gary Cosby Jr.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.