Quiet Observer

This is a photograph that didn't make the cut for the Gryffon's Aerie farm story recently published in the paper. I was photographing the removal of a large bull when I turned around and saw the dog quietly observing the action. It made a wonderful farm portrait.

Open space

I can only imagine how amazing it would be as a child to live a farm and have the vast open space to play and explore.

Hindsight

After a series of complications on my part, my Sunday Lifestyles piece "A way of life" had to be thrown together rather quickly. By quickly I mean 3 days which seems like a long time but its really not when you have so many things to do: photography, write the story, cutlines and online slideshows. I overlooked a few important images to the story which was written after the layout was completed and in place. Overall the images are weak but help the reader better visualize the story.

This is the calf talked about in the story that's been hand raised by the Ramona and Catherine.

On The hunt

Look at this character. This is a news man on the hunt for a lasting image. Ex-Daily Progress now Roanoke Times photographer Matt Gentry had no idea he'd walked into one of my shots at the end of the game on Saturday. Anyone who knows him knows he's a great guy. See you next year Matt.

One Last Look

Before walking into the tunnel, Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon took a moment to look back at the field after the 33-21 win over Virginia. It was a moment I would have taken had I been in his shoes. Despite the outcome, I thought it was a good game for Virginia.

Traditions

I've come to really enjoy photographing the annual Blessing of the Hounds at Grace Episcopal Church in Keswick, VA. Maybe it's the thrill of the hunt or maybe it's the fact that it's become a tradition for me. Here are a few extra images from the event with a surprise celebrity guest.

Anxiously Waiting

Greetings from the Hounds

The Rock

A Different View

These are a series of images taken from a remote-floor camera during last night’s UVa vs Drexel basketball game. It's interesting because as UVa's Sammy Zeglinski slides out of bounds, he has the same view of the action as the photographers. Luckily, he stopped before running into the camera.-Andrew Shurtleff

GOAL!!!!

Despite the extremely cold weather, the UVa women's soccer team routed Loyola 4-1during the 1st round of the NCAA tourney at Klockner Stadium Friday night. Here's an image of the 1st goal of the night by Virginia's Nikki Krzysik that failed to make it in the paper.

Crozet Light

In the midst of my crazy Election Day coverage there was a fire in the old pool house at Claudius Crozet Park. The fire was out when we arrived but the afternoon light to me shooting 200 images of firefighter and there shadows. This image was buried on A9 in the front section.

Lauren's Escape

On Election Day (Nov 6) I traveled over 150 miles through 3 counties and a lot of back roads. The fall colors were amazing and election coverage was filled with wonderfully emotional images. In spite of this, my favorite image of the day was found on a side street Scottsville.

Fisheye View

I recently photographed four hot air balloons taking flight from a field in front of Piedmont Community College. Upon my arrival I realized I had never seen these flying machines up close. In a matter of 30 minutes the balloons had taken shape forming massive balls of color with small baskets that looked like tiny picnic baskets attached to birthday balloon. They were huge, probably 3-4 stories. It was then that I realized my regular wide angle lens was not going to work. I went back to my car to retrieve my 15mm fisheye lens which rarely comes out of the bag. One by one the balloons began lifting in the air. It was amazing to see these mammoth balls of hot air lift almost effortlessly into the blue sky. All on board cheered their successful departure and away they went. Just another day living the life of a photographer.-Andrew

Woodberry Forest Football

This past weekend marked my first visit to the Woodberry Forrest School in Orange. For this blue-collar kid raised outside Philly, it was certainly a different school atmosphere. For instance, I didn't see bars across the windows and there was a lack of police presence at the game. I wonder if the ties are some sort of gang symbol? Anyway, I couldn't stay for the entire game. I had to head back to Cville for the UVa game, life is rough. Reading the article, proved I missed a lot of excitement towards the end of the game.

Here is another photo from the game that didn't make it into the Progress.

Foxfield Races gone to the Dogs

If only all weekends could be this good. Every once in a while the stars and planets align to deliver a gem that you swear will never happen again. Until it does. Most people would be very upset about working a weekend, not this intrepid photojournalist. Saturday was great, but I want to share a few more pictures from Foxfield . The fall races benefited Service Dogs of Virginia. Things started pretty spectacularly with a skydiver trailing the flag. I couldn't stay for all the races but during the fifth race a horse threw its jockey and decided to finish the race without him. The jockey appeared un-harmed thankfully and the horse had a little fun dodging the handlers.

Thanks for taking a look.

-Matt

Tattoo Removal video

The Tattoo Removal video has been posted to YouTube for those who want to take a look. Here it is.


Drop by our new YouTube Channel to check out previous multimedia produced by the photo staff here at the Progress. I have also posted a YouTube viewer in the sidebar of the blog. It is a little small but it seems to be as big as the sidebar will allow. If any blogger geniuses know a way to make it look better drop a comment.

-Matt

New Video: Tattoo Removal

Today's Daily Progress (09/23/07) features a new video on the increased popularity of laser tattoo removal. You can check out the video here.
You can read teh article by Bryan McKenzie here.

-Matt

Get Outside, Now!

Pick a road, any road. Just in case you haven't noticed, the weather has been phenomenal. The air is so clear and crisp. The Blue Ridge Mountains look as if they moved several miles closer to C'ville. Get out there and enjoy it. As you will read in Tuesday's Progress, I went out to Afton Mountain to do a little bird watching. I want to say thanks to the volunteers from Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch. They really helped me out. I don't know a Broad-winged Hawk from a Turkey Vulture. Ultimately, I turned my camera on them and the watchers became the watched. Thanks guys.

Trampled Treasure

Shenandoah National Park Botanist Wendy Cass talks about efforts to preserve rare goldenrod and lichen found on outcroppings.

Now with 100% more YouTube.

Have you been dying to see the slideshow of Crabtree Falls again, or perhaps revisit an old Confederate Cemetery narrated by Devin Miller? Well now you can. I am slowly but surely uploading all of our old SoundSlides presentations and videos to YouTube. There will also be a small selection of some of my favorites in the sidebar. If you want to see all of the available videos and audio slideshows, visit our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/dailyprogress.

-Matt

FUMA Football

Last Saturday was a long, hot day. Started out walking the parking lots around Scott Stadium looking for tailgaters and their opinions on Coach Groh. If you read the story in Sunday's paper you know what they had to say. I only got to stay for the first quarter and a half of the game. When I left things were going well for the Cavs. It sounds like the third quarter blues struck again. Maybe it's me. I promise I will try to stay for the whole game against Georgia Tech. I had to leave for Fork Union and cover the FUMA vs. STAB football game. In the hot sun I got bored real quick with the game. That's when I saw Lt. Brian Zitterkopf with 10 year old die hard fan and cheerleader Kendra Wright. It was an odd combination to see all those serious looking uniformed boys cheering with a miniature Sally Starr in a cowboy hat. It made the day infinitely more interesting.

-Matt

Louisa Lions

I spent yesterday hanging out with the Louisa Lions. Practicing hard under the setting evening sun, a sense of purpose is evident on the field. At the helm is Coach Fischer, an imminently likeable person who is tough but fair with his kids. He offers praise when due and makes firm corrections. The players hustle during drills with coaches making constant adjustments. The Lions lost most of last year's starting players, but they haven't lost the bond that makes them a team.

-Matt

Sportraits

Sportrait is a term that many photogs use to describe the endless amount of athletic portraits we do. This one of Monticello HS senior Daniel Lieb ran nice and big a few days, er maybe, weeks ago. Time flies here at the Progress. Most people are content with taking a photo with the built in flash on their camera. Getting the flash off the camera is probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve your portraits. If you want to check out sportraits taken to the extreme, check out Kyle Green's site. Click the link for sports and then navigate to "Superheroes of Timesland". Hope you enjoy.

-Matt

Cool Opportunities

One thing I absolutely love about being a photographer is getting to experience some pretty neat things that I might not otherwise get to do. Mom calls me about every other day asking how work is, do I still like Charlottesville, have I done anything cool, etc. My responses never cease to amaze her. Next time Mom calls, I will tell her that I got to fly in a 1942 WACO open cockpit biplane. She always jokingly ends the conversation with, "just wait until you get a real job...".

Today, I was photographing the Air Show in Louisa, Virginia and had a chance to go up in the air with 9-year-old Samantha Kern. I took a wide angle lens and shot as much as I could during the 15 to 20 minutes we were in the air. The pilot did a wing over twice, which allowed me to get some great shots of Samantha with the wing of the plane and an awesome landscape view in the background. Being in the air like that was an amazing feeling. I would definitely have to say this is one of the perks to being a photographer!

-Kaylin

Its Just Pretty.

There are places left in this world that, if we allow ourselves to wonder, can transport the mind. When I walked into the machine shop at E. A. Clore Son in Madison County, I knew it was such a place. The smell of sawdust and a creak in the floor flung my thoughts back several generations. I took this photograph thinking that if I had walked here a hundred years ago, the same image would have welcomed me to the shop.

-Matt

On the Road Again.

This image, you may remember, was from a Sunday centerpiece we did on Brad Yoder. Yoder was hit by a truck along Earlysville Road while riding his bicycle and was severely injured. I covered portions of Brad's rehabilitation at ACAC. I am amazed everyday that people let us do what we do. He was going to let me document his life at home, but we decided we didn't have the time for that. For the main image in the package I wanted an up close picture of Brad riding his bike.

Brad rides with a few friends during his lunch break and this presented a prime opportunity. He takes bicycling very seriously. His very nice bike probably weighs a total of five pounds in my guestimation. It also cost a significant percentage of my yearly income. For this shot, I probably strapped 6 pounds worth of equipment to his handlebars. I used a couple special camera supports to attach my camera to his bike. I wanted the sky to be nice and saturated so I underexposed a bit. Underexposing the sky also underexposed Brad so a flash was added to bring him back to the proper level. Then a radio trigger was taped to all of this so I could drive at a safe distance and tell the camera to fire. Simple shot, lengthy execution.

-Matt

My Momma Always Said.....

"If you are by the pool you are going to get wet." My mother would tell this to my sister while she was standing near the pool getting splashed by me.

Sunday was one of those days. Sunday was the last of the Charlottesville Triathlon series and it started at 7:30am. I wanted to get there in time to convince race officials and lifeguards that I needed to be on a boat up close to the action. I woke up at 5:30am. Maneuvering a canoe, trying not to hit racers, and most importantly trying to make pictures is very difficult. I got one frame I kinda liked.
After all that, there was still the foot and bicycle portions to photograph. Some of those photos were published in Monday's Progress. Then it was back to the paper at 10am to edit, then home for a nap at noon. Next up was the Sunset Regatta at 5:30pm. This was an absolute bast. Keith was nice enough to let me shoot from a chase boat. I got soaked. My gear got soaked (it survived). It was great. Enjoy!


-Matt

So you want to be a Photojournalist.

You want to be in the endzone when Virginia scores a TD, under the net when Singletary sinks a game winning three, or at the latest crime scene in the thick of the action. Well, welcome to the unglamorous side. You also have to spend hours hiking in the heat carying gear looking for ragweed to illustrate an allergy story. Only to not find any, realize you are never going to find it. Because you are looking for it. Tomorrow you will sneeze and find yourself surrounded by it. But you needed it yesterday. Welcome to the other side. I still wouldn't want to do anything else.

-Matt

When Photographers Should Move

This may be one of the most memorable photos I've ever taken, not because it's a great shot, but because its lasting impact on me - literally. I was so focused on the shot I was trying to get, I hardly noticed the foul ball coming right toward me. I was standing in the photographer's section right near first base when a line-drive foul ball hit my left leg. I was shooting with a 300 2.8 lens on a monopod and just didn't react in time. It hurt for a while, but at least it gave my department something to laugh about.

- Kaylin

Recording History

I had the privilege of documenting the removal of the Woolen Mills dam with local photographer Bill Emory. Bill is a good photog with some interesting stories about the history of Woolen Mills and the surrounding area. Here's Bill at the edge of dam shooting with his leica gear. Check out his work at http://www.billemory.com/

Joseph Campbell

We recently ran an article on incoming UVa professors. The article was about the University's initiative to expand its scientific portfolio. I was assigned to photograph Professor Joseph Campbell after being interviewed by DP reporter Brian McNeil. I wanted to photograph Campbell in the main hall which has flags from several countries. The paper decided to run just a headshot of all the professors included in the article. So here is the portrait of Joseph Campbell. I tried lighting the background more but I didnt have enough time to really work the backgorund lighting to my liking. I used ambient light by dragging the shutter a tad to fill in the background.
-Matt

I love posting...for the 1st time

I'm told I have to get this thing going so here goes. Here's an image taken from the bridge over the James River heading south from Scottsville. I was looking for a warm weather feature driving aimlessly on HWY 20 when I spotted two Kayakers paddling down the James. I quickly parked my car grabbed, my 70-200mm lens and sprinted to the middle of the bridge. Using a Canon Mark II and Shutter Priority (adjusted while running), there was enough time to get off 5 frames before they disappeared under the bridge. Shooting straight down and framing the two kayakers in one frame made for a dramatic photo. Perspective is everything. Being able to sprint long distances has its advantages as well. -Andrew

Summer Time Heat

Growing up, running through the sprinkler was favorite way to keep cool. Even though we had a nice pool, the sprinkler provided hours of fun. Chloe and Tristen seemed to think it was an ideal way to beat the heat as well. -Matt

Under Construction

This will be the new home of the Daily Progress' photo staff blog. Pardon our dust as we build the site and share some of our favorite photos. -Matt