trent nelson: photojournalist.

Wednesday – Real Salt Lake vs. Charleston Battery

2013-06-17T14:24:34Z

There is nothing that throws you off your shooting game like drama. And when you’re covering professional sports, the drama almost always concerns logistics. You run into problems with game day traffic, parking, credentials, where you’re allowed to shoot from, not having enough time, on and on. These problems put you in a mental place that makes it very hard to be creative.

I had a big logistical issue for tonight’s game. The problem was eventually fixed but not before I was left thoroughly frustrated. I decided to use that frustration to fuel the shoot. A great shoot would be the best cure.

Real Salt Lake’s Ned Grabavoy.

RSL fans react as Charleston celebrates an early 2-0 lead.

RSL’s Devon Sandoval heads in a goal.

RSL’s Joao Plata celebrates his second half goal.

Gear tonight, the 600mm and a 300/2.8. I mostly used the 600 to cover the field, but switched to the 300 for breakaways and set pieces at the near goal. Plus, I had the Fuji X100 on hand for any quick wide angle shots.

Most of the other photographers at RSL shoot with just one telephoto. A photographer seated in a comfortable camping chair looked over at me kneeling on the ground juggling the two large telephotos and asked, “You gonna shoot like that the whole game?”

I’m like, “Yeah.”

I’m a news photographer. I’m used to suffering.

Later I pull out my laptop to start editing and another guy says, “I didn’t know they ever gave you guys new laptops.”

I usually edit right on the field at halftime. There’s a nice work area up in the press box, with chairs, tables, drinks, and good people to talk to. I sacrifice those comforts so I don’t miss anything on the field. It pays off every time.

Tuesday

2013-06-12T15:10:54Z

Again I find myself standing on a trail waiting for cyclists. This time, road bikers.

Here’s the view from Big Mountain. Perfect day and a lot of angles looking down the road to choose from.

I remembered on a spot on the Mormon Pioneer Trail where there’s a nice view of the S-curve. Grabbed the 300mm lens and started hiking.

Focusing on the lines of the road, I found options like these…

These were my two favorites:

Saturday

2013-06-11T20:37:14Z

Went to Ogden today for a series of portraits. Ogden is a photographer’s dream.

That’s a lazy frame. Remind me to go back and shoot this place right.

At a baseball stadium I set up a couple of lights with umbrellas. Despite all efforts to weigh down and stabilize them, a small breeze repeatedly blows one of the lights over. It’s hardly the first time. These light stands are built like the arms of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, completely weak and unstable. Judging by all the bent metal parts in the light kit, they’ve obviously tipped over on the other photographers, too.

The shoot goes well and I’m out of there. I drive around Ogden for a while looking for some kind of photo to make the day mean a little more. Maybe this one is it, maybe not:

Maybe this detail, plus nipple, is it:

Later I’m standing in the candy aisle at a dollar store. This elderly woman using her shopping cart as a walker crosses my path ad blurts out, “You’d better be careful or we’ll wreck your printing press!”

I don’t know who she is, and quickly deduce she is channeling the dead, right here in Family Dollar! That’s a first for me.

…

A hint of things to come:

Friday

2013-06-10T12:29:45Z

Today is going to be a bit of a juggling act. I’m supposed to be spending the day covering a polygamy conference and at the same time photographing a mountain bike trail in Park City.

I hit the conference first and click off a few shots of the first speaker. “Click off a few” is what you say when you know the photos are pretty worthless even as you shoot them. You know, you don’t click off an award-winner.

Then I’m out of the conference and headed up into the mountains to the trail. It’s a beautiful day. Look at what I have to work with:

I call a friend who knows the trail for some good locations to hit. He’s on his way to Wyoming to work on a project on the three things people from Utah go to Wyoming for: Porn, Liquor, Fireworks.

Wouldn’t that be a great portrait series? Shoot portraits and ask each subject to pick the one of the three that means the most to them, then print their response in bold type under each portrait. Between porn, liquor and fireworks there is something for everyone. On second thought, maybe the subjects would all have to be men.

We talk a bit about how interesting the West is to photograph. It’s not as homogenized here in Utah as it is in California. But my California outsider eyes are important to me when shooting here. I often find that my best photographs come when I’m in the mindset of looking for things to show my friends back home. I love being a photographer in Utah. So much to see and it’s all so different. Then again, if I could only live in California during the three months of the year Utah is scorching and the three months Utah is freezing.

Mountain Bike Trail

I get to the trail and start walking. Would have been fun to ride the trail, but there’s just no time today. Anyway, you see more clearly when you’re walking. Driving or riding, you don’t experience the place the same way as on foot. You won’t see as much, or I mean, you won’t do as much seeing.

I’m looking for a location on the trail that gives me a good shot in both directions since I don’t know where any bikers will come from. Or if any will come. I want to have two chances to get something if one does, once as they come toward me and then as they ride away. There are beautiful aspens everywhere. I find a good spot in the shade:

and make some test shots.

Now I’m ready to stand around and wait.

And ten minutes later I’m still waiting.

And now another ten minutes are gone and I’m realizing I’ve got no food or water. I’m not leaving until someone rides a bike past me so this could turn into a life or death situation.

There are a lot of funny things that you notice when you stand by yourself in the silent woods for an hour. I noticed this weird looking fly that kept hovering in a specific spot about five feet over the trail. It would return to the same place every time my movements scared it off.

It looked like a golden snitch.

I shot it with my Canon and 70-200mm lens but then I set that down in the dirt and broke out the Fuji. I set the focus to the closest it would go, which is just under four inches. Then I started doing some fly whispering. After about fifteen minutes, I found a way to lure the fly in to hover at just the right distance above my lens for a sharp shot. It was some weird bug science.

I discovered that the golden snitch was less scared of me and my camera when I approached it from below, and I was able to get a shot of it just inches from the wide angle lens. Wow, the things you can learn in the woods. It’s amazing.

Finally some bikers come by. Then more and then some more. One yells at me as she flies by, “Are we gonna be in the Park-Record?”

“You’re going to be in the Tribune,” I yell back.

“Yay!”

Safety Net

When I get back to the polygamy conference, a woman spots my cameras as I approach at the door. She tells me that the members of the upcoming panel are off-limits to cameras. “They’re putting their lives on the line,” she says. “There’s one young girl here who would probably run out of the room if she saw your cameras.”

No problem, really. People get camera shy on the polygamy beat quite often. But later I do find that both of the younger women on the panel have done media before. In just a few minutes I find photos and videos online from interviews they’ve done previously.

The first to speak is K, who grew up in a polygamous sect in Utah. She began reading from a sheet of paper, telling us her story. She got very emotional recounting some of her more painful experiences. No doubt that it was a traumatic childhood for her. She’d been through a lot.

You wouldn’t peg her as a fundamentalist. She has platinum blonde hair, eyeliner, and a haircut you’d call punk rock if you weren’t into punk rock. Here are some notes I typed as I tried to keep up. I might have missed some things, but here is what I got…

Nobody’s story is the same. Everybody’s experiences are unique and different. I grew up in the Kingston community, that I know as The Order. I’m the 5th child of 12. I’ve been out for 2.5 years. My life has changed dramatically.

Ever since my earliest memory I knew that the Order wasn’t the place for me. … I just knew that what was going on was wrong. I knew the abuse, the control, the incest and the lying that is all too common in the Kingston group. It was not something I wanted to be a part of.

We all lacked the expression of caring affection. Nobody (ever) said I love you.

My whole life I was put down, told I was ugly, fat, wicked. I felt there was no way anyone could possibly love me.

I love who I have become because of my trials.

She talked for nearly twenty minutes. It was a fascinating story. I hope we can follow up with her and do something more in depth.

Near the end there were comments from the audience. Many thanked the panel for their courage. One person pointed out that while all the panel’s stories were negative toward polygamy, there is a positive side that others would detail if they were on the panel. The organizers of the conference told us that they picked those speakers for a reason: their stories are just the kind that the professionals in the audience will be hearing from others who leave polygamy and seek out help.

Thursday

2013-06-07T20:24:41Z

First assignment today finds me walking through a large apartment complex with a couple and their dog. The dog was being led by another guy wearing only socks on his feet and a spiked leather collar around his neck. Yeah, the guy had the collar on. Not the dog.

From an open window someone yells at us: “Yeah, you dumb bitch!”

I wasn’t sure if they were talking about me, this nice woman I was with, or her dog. Or maybe Mr. Socks with the spiked collar was the target.

“Looks like we’ve made some enemies,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, it’s probably me and my camera.”

“There are good buildings and bad ones here,” the guy said, without laughing.

After that shoot I wasn’t quite ready to go into the office. I ended up at the Layton City skatepark, which is normally amazing but I had left my deck at home.

Pretty much just worked the shadows today. But I got a couple that I liked. Thanks to the rider, Devan Latturner, for being there.

Got a favorite out of those two?

Hit the office and set a Canon with a telephoto lens on my desk. I will, from now on, be doing this every single time I’m in the office. Last week some guy’s camper caught fire right outside the office. We had a perfect view of flames and smoke. It was an amazing scene, but none of us had an SLR or telephoto lens in the office. Lesson learned, I’m bringing the SLR to me desk every time now.

Wednesday

2013-06-07T00:29:18Z

Wow. Long day. My eight hour shift just ended and I’m sitting in a gas station parking lot, nearly an hour away from my house. Great.

I just finished sending in my photos and drank a liter of water to rehydrate. Time to get home and into bed.

In tech news, I just made a couple of smart collections for Lightroom. One is for “Capture Date is Today” and the other, “Capture Date is Yesterday.” Why didn’t I think of that before?

First assignment today was a portrait shoot. Dude had a very firm handshake. Then I’m quick to the freeway. A bunch of rush hour traffic is about to get between me and Ogden and I’m trying to beat it.

I find a parking lot to edit from. I’m big on parking lots. Look at the patches of shade on this one. Essential for this time of year – shade.

Sent in my portrait. It’s not the best one ever taken of the guy, but not the worst, either.

Mr. Fuji

Hey, did I mention that my Fuji X100, which I leave set to auto white balance, seems to always choose 4700 Kelvin no matter what the light is? That mean’s it is NEVER correct. Good thing consistency counts. And that there is RAW.

Did I ever tell you that my Fuji stopped working last year? At least, it stopped working at any aperture setting other than wide open (f2.0). Like an idiot, instead of sending it in last October, I just used it in video mode or in low light situations where I could shoot wide open. Weird thing, though, after a few months it fixed itself and started working again. Who knew cameras could fix themselves?

And really, what true photographer sends a camera in for repair unless the thing is completely unable or unwilling to fire?

Matthew Stewart Vigil

I grab some food and head to the next assignment. It’s a memorial walk for Matthew Stewart. About eighteen months ago, the the Weber Morgan Narcotics Strike Force raided his house looking for drugs. He shot back, killing an officer, Jared Francom, and wounding others. He claimed he didn’t know they were cops. The other day he killed himself in jail, so they’re planning a short walk in his memory.

I covered Francom’s funeral. It was tough.

The case has been incendiary from day one, with Stewart’s supporters claiming he had a right to defend his home (he claimed he didn’t know they were cops). On the other side, there’s a dead policeman, a widow, fatherless children. Seemed like the entire city and law enforcement from everywhere turned out to honor Francom at the funeral.

First thing I noticed, bunch of blue ribbons

and a sign showing support for the police and Weber County Attorney Dee Smith, who had been prosecuting the Stewart case.

The march was going to be with lit candles so to pass the time until it got a little bit dark there were some speeches.

Matthew’s sister-in-law spoke.

Then they had an open mic, where anyone could say whatever they felt about the situation.

One guy with hair all the way down his back got up and talked a lot about Masada, where ancient Jews committed suicide rather than be captured. He compared Stewart to those Jews, saying that by killing himself, he had preserved his power. Then he said, “Tonight I’m taking a sacred oath in Matthew’s name to fight the tyranny and to fight the war on drugs!”

“Yeah!” someone yelled out from the crowd.

“I’m asking everyone to join us and take that sacred oath!”

While several people took turns standing in front of the group to speak, all of the cameras focused on the speakers, not noticing the two guys pulling down the blue ribbons and ripping up signs supporting the police:

There were at least seven videocameras rolling on the talks, most held by participants. I guess all those talks are all on YouTube. The police are too brutal and the war on drugs should end was the message from just about everyone, including a plumber who was telling everyone how he spent twenty years in jail after the police perjured themselves to convict him. Also, did you know that the Willy the Plumber Scholarship (“specifically for children of inmates doing a lot of time or habitually getting locked up”) was just handed out? I have the flyer if you need more information. He was handing out business cards that said, “Say Goodbye to Holes.” Wait, no, that’s the card from the belt guy. The plumber’s card said, “When you need a Good Affordable Plumber.”

I’d never seen this before, but a news outlet mounted a GoPro camera on an activist.

The march began.

After a couple of blocks, things got interesting. I knew that they planned to go past Dee Smith’s home on their protest march,

but I didn’t know there would be a crowd there showing their support for Smith and police department.

There was an intense vibe on that street as the two sides met. There was no way for a photograph to capture it.

There were few, if any, words spoken between the two groups. An officer kept the march moving along.

The marchers had a couple blocks more to walk, but this was the shot. I needed to send it in. I sat down on the grass across the street and started editing on my laptop. One guy, one of the marchers, had decided to stop and stick his camera in the faces of the police supporters, firing off shots with a flash. It went on for some time. Here he is:

Others took photos of him and at one point he game them this angle:

I sent in six frames right away, the best ones. That’s when I heard the people across the street saying to the guy, “You’re with the Tribune? Show us your ID card, then!”

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I finished up as quickly as I could, grabbed my gear and crossed the street. By that time a plainclothes police officer had led the guy away. I approached the people and asked about him and who he claimed to be working for. They said he said he was “independent media” after his Tribune claim didn’t fly. I made sure they knew he wasn’t affiliated with the Tribune. Had to clear that up. A woman said to me, “You’re not going to show it like the Standard does, are you?”

“I try to show what happens, that’s all,” I said.

“Well, don’t do it like the Standard.”

“I don’t even read the Standard.”

“You’re not missing anything,” she said.

GIF: Immigration Prayer Rally

2013-06-05T20:34:30Z

I pronounce it both GIF and JIF, depending on my mood.

Tuesday

2013-06-05T00:48:14Z

This is today:

On my way to my first assignment of the day. There’s a Canon with a 300mm lens on the passenger seat, set to aperture priority, f4, at ISO 200, RAW. Next to it is a Fuji X100 set to full-on Program mode. Yeah, bring on the hate! It is on Program mode. And auto-ISO. Completely mindless. But that means I can shoot anything in any light without thinking about anything but composition. Sunlight or shade, indoors or out, the thing is ready to fire and since I’m shooting RAW, we are in the ballgame and ready to rock.

On my iPhone 4S, I start a new trip for the day on the app GeoTagPhotos. It will record my position every 30 seconds and sync the information to my Dropbox folder. When I work my photos later, their location will be tagged no matter where I’m at. I’m big on geotagging all of my shots. It’s important. It’s history.

The car is a Camry with 265,500 miles, a few dings and a sunroof that won’t completely open or close. There is a large explosion of pigeon drop just about eye level on the windshield. It’s a big one that fell on me the other day. Yes, it’s as big as it looks:

Out the Windshield: Aren’t the mountains of Utah beautiful?

On the radio – and I don’t ever listen to radio – they are teasing with this: “Can you guess the name of the company that started a controversy by releasing a commercial with a bi-racial couple?” I’m thinking, yes, I read that on the Internet two days ago.

A few minutes later they say that Cheerios had to take down their site. Um, no. The story was more accurate two days ago on the Internet. They shut down the comments on the YouTube video. Intolerance and trolls on YouTube? Breaking News!

First assignment at Skyline High School. It’s a story about a class. I take the Fuji, which is perfect for classroom situations. It’s silent. I also take a Canon with a 70-200 mounted and a 16-35 in a small bag in case I need it (I wouldn’t).

It’s weird to have an assignment about high school academics on the last day of school. I walk into the classroom and the lights are off while a full classroom of kids watches a submarine movie. “I need to talk to the President!” yells a serious actor on the screen.

I find the reporter in a side room interviewing some kids. I photograph the kids and later, their teacher.

The photos that interest me more are of flyers in the halls.

Out the Windshield: I’m back in the car and driving south to Provo.

The address I’m headed to? No idea. For location the assignment says only:

Address: Provo – will get address in the morning. Thanks.

Usually that means just drive to Provo, then call the office to find out more because the assignment will almost never be updated as promised.

Today is a good day. It WAS updated.

Out the Windshield: Here’s a big inflatable Mormon missionary on top of a building (at top right). That’s what Provo is like. Actually, this is Orem, which is like Provo.

An hour later, the radio is still talking about the racist comments on the Cheerios ad. “We learn something new every day,” the guy says. Guess they’ve never read any comments on YouTube before. Or anywhere, really.

I tune that out and switch to the Candid Frame Podcast. Ken Light is on. He says, when photographing, that he’s, “always on, always observing.”

Talking about shooting Texas Death Row and being uncertain of how long he’d have access… he said something like, “I shot every day like it was my last day.” I really like that. So many times I’ve gone into new and difficult situations timid and missing moments. This is really good advice.

There’s a guy on Marc Maron’s podcast, an artist, who talks about going to art school and having 40 hours of homework per week and in one drawing class having to complete 1,000 figure studies. Learning through repetition. I’ve always wondered why most photographers don’t practice.

Out the Windshield: Second assignment is at a warehouse the looks over this golf course pond.

Nice guy, nothing much to report. We worked it and worked it and it turned out okay. Not sure what else I could have done there.

Driving back I photographed some birds, just for fun.

Then I’m driving to get some lunch and a call from the office sends me to the mountains where a hiker has been missing since Saturday.

Out the Windshield: I cut across Provo to the mountains. Aren’t they amazing?

There’s no shot from the bottom. Just a bunch of TV shooters standing around waiting for something to see. I get a couple things,

then work some shots of a helicopter buzzing over the mountains looking for the guy. Shot with a 600mm lens.

Over the scanner the searchers talk about avoiding a bear somewhere up above me. I send a few shots and then sweat in the car for a couple hours. Now I’m driving home. If I speed, I will be home at the end of my shift.

I won’t speed. That’s dedication to the job right there.

Assignment: Cemetery

2013-06-04T15:54:55Z

Quiz: Leica M Monochrom vs. Orgasm Keychain

2013-06-03T16:35:25Z

In the tangent universe I only shoot black and white photographs, which is why I’ve been drooling over Leica’s new $8,000(!) camera, the M Monochrom, which only produces black and white images.

But then I shoot photos like this one…

…and wonder: Could I really go all black and white? It’s like going vegan. I probably should do it but I can’t quite give up the bacon.

So do I get the Monochrom? Or should I take the $8,000, convert it into quarters and try to win the orgasm keychain that’s wedged in among the stuffed animals in the claw crane machine?

Here’s a Quiz…

The following quotes are from the Amazon reviews of the Leica Monochrom M and the Orgasm Keychain. See if you can tell which ones are for the luxurious camera and which are for the plastic keychain that makes orgasm noises:

1. “My granddad borrowed this from me and it was hard to pry it out of his hands.”

2. “Raises eye brows when it starts making those low sexy sound(s).”

3. “You can blend into the masses and pretend you’re Cartier-Bresson.”

4. “This … is probably for affluent eccentrics.”

5. “Too bad Ansel didn’t live to own one. I suspect he’d give it 5 stars too.”

6. “Great at pajama party.”