The sun was behind the gnome, so I had to set up two flashes on the light stand to the side of the 13.5-foot gnome. Then I wanted to get different angles to give the editors more choices. To get the photo at right I put the camera (set to a 10-second timer)  on a tripod and then held the tripod over my head. That way I got a high angle that shows some of the farm in the background. I’ve tried this type of shot with a monopod before, but I had to use the tripod this time to get a vertical photo.

I also tried a low angle that include the sun in the frame and another photo with Maria Reidelbach looking up at Gnome Chomsky:

 Here’s a link to the recordonline story about the gnome, which was recently overtaken as the tallest in the world..

My two cents on high school graduations: Marlboro did it right.

Marlboro held it’s first outdoor graduation this year and, of the graduations I’ve been witness to in the past couple years, it was the best.

They timed it right. The 7 p.m. start, though not unique to Marlboro, meant missing the afternoon heat and a good-looking sunset.

They organized well. The podium, for example, was placed obliquely. The students faced the audience and EVERYONE could see the speaker. It was a nice touch that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

They had fun. I’ve been to some joyless graduations where faculty members kept the graduates in lockstep. The Marlboro faculty, I was glad to see, didn’t stop the graduates from letting loose a little. The fun didn’t get out of hand, so they didn’t need to intervene.

They cared. At Marlboro’s graduation, I sensed a genuine affection between the students and faculty and among the students themselves. Though I’m sure this feeling exists at other schools, it didn’t come across in the graduation ceremonies the way it did this year at Marlboro.

Congratulations.

Valedictorian Ravi Thackerdeen receives a standing ovation from his classmates at the 2010 Marlboro High School graduation.

But in one corner of Orange County, that Monday is R Day: Reception Day for new cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. I covered that day on June 28 and saw nearly 1,400 new cadets taking the first steps on the way to joining “The Long Gray Line” of West Point graduates.

The new cadets are still there, through our recent heat waves and thunderstorms, completing six weeks of Cadet Basic Training. They are waking up at five a.m.,  and training almost nonstop until taps at 10 p.m.

The photographs and audio describe part of what the new cadets experienced on their first morning at West Point.

On a recent morning, I stood at the back of a group of people in suits. They were mingling. I was checking my camera settings and thinking, “How am I going to shoot this?” It was a press conference and press conferences are to news photographers like pennies to a bank teller. You see a lot of them, they’re usually not worth a lot, and, with all due respect to Lincoln and the guy at the podium, you’re just looking at a head.

The group sat, the event began and I was still thinking, “How am I going to shoot this?” Rather than waiting for an answer, however, I just started clicking. I shot from the back of the group: wide photos of the backs of peoples’ heads; tight photos of the speaker at the podium. All shots I knew I wasn’t going to use, but that was okay. I had to warm up.

After shooting from the back of the group, I started working along the sides. I took a quick walk up the center aisle for a close shot of the speaker. I sat down in an empty seat in the front row. I shot from every angle I could think of and, often, trying one angle would give me an idea for another one.

Along the way, I went from taking shots I knew I wouldn’t use, to safe shots (shots I could fall back on if I didn’t get anything better) and, finally, to shots that made me think, “That might be the one.” These shots weren’t going to win any awards – it was a press conference, after all – but I got the feeling that I was doing the best I could do under the circumstances.

I’m a big proponent of warming up, whether it be physical activity or creative activity. Maybe the elite photographers can roll out of bed and make a great image with one eye still closed. I can’t. I have to give myself time to prepare, time to work, time to make mistakes and fix mistakes. I have to take the photos I don’t want before I can take the ones I do.