As photojournalists, the creativity we exude 99% of the time comes from an on-location, in-the-moment, situation. We never have control of a situation or subject, unless we are doing a portrait or photo illustration – and even then we can be limited. The opportunity to flex out creative muscles in a studio situation comes even less.

Since I have worked in northwest Arkansas, the sports department has gathered local athletes and coaches at our Springdale Morning News office quarterly for a studio-style portrait session. This allows the photo department to execute a quick and unified way of collecting art for accompanying stories, honoring said athletes and coaches. The last shoot we did with wresting, swimming and basketball was a ton of fun because of the playful props that were brought in by Chip Souza, sports editor. This time around, however, I wanted to do something different and dramatic because I would be shooting track and field athletes.

Due to the restriction of the location I had (the studio), I was quite worried about how to make each of these photos different. After photographing these kids in action during meets throughout the year, I became more and more intrigued about how their bodies moved – especially the jumpers. Thus, in their portraits, I not only wanted to take a nice photograph of them, I wanted to show what they do so well. Inspired by a shoot by Brandon Iwamoto, a friend and former colleague/classmate from college, I decided to shoot double-exposures of the athletes – one simple, and one in action.

Many people have asked me how this effect is made, so I decided to explain it as best I can.

The technique is known as a double exposure and is done completely “in-camera.” This means I did not Photoshop two photos together. Rather, each exposure is done in one frame. “How can this be?” you ask? – by using a long exposure and multiple lights.

By using a six-second exposure and two lights fired at separate times, I can create an effect that the same person is in two different locations or positions in a single frame.

Graphic of studio set up

Graphic of how the double exposure works on a timeline

The difficult part was figuring out – where the subject must stand to be in the frame completely, which light to fire first, and how much power I needed from each light. I was able to practice by myself because of the long exposure. I could trigger the camera, walk into the frame, fire one light with my PocketWizard (wireless transmitter) on one channel, walk to the second location and fire the second light on a different channel, and then the shutter would close, completing the image.

The circled item is the PocketWizard used to trigger the lights. Obviously, I had a good exposure, but not the proper location to stand in for each shot.

Thankfully though, the sports department is always very helpful at being stand-in models. Matt Stephens helped me figure out where to stand and which order to shoot the lights in.

Accidental shot. Light #2 shot twice.

Eventually we got most of the kinks worked out. Unfortunately, we couldn’t always hammer down exact locations for each individual because their height and movement changed with each person. Thankfully though, all the athletes were very patient with me. Some were able to nail a shot on the first try, while others had to do it a few more times at the bequest of me, the perfectionist. With the images being a mix between silhouettes and ghosted portraits, positioning was key so you could see what they were doing without overlapping the first image too much or looking like just a dark blob in the background. Everyone did a fantastic job though and I like how they all turned out!

I only had one problem with this style of portraits that I didn’t realize until after we started working. The shots worked great for individuals, but for one image, I had to include two girls from Lincoln in the same image. This meant four figures in the frame. Both the girls were amazing in the shoot, but in the end, I didn’t like how cluttered the image ended up looking and so I ran (pun intended) with another shot I took.

Today the Rogers Fire Department trained for water rescues at Lake Atalanta in Rogers. It was raining but that did not slow these guys down. Here are some photos as they trained in the use of a rapid deployment craft to “rescue” two “victims” out in the lake. I found it kinda funny that the guys on shore were soaked from the rain but the ones who were in the water for several minutes were fairly dry when they got back on shore because they had on dry-suits.
Enjoy!

Watch as area residents compete for the title of Arkansas Idol at the Victory Theater in Rogers.

Rogers High School held their  commencement ceremony Friday May 22, 2009 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Rogers High School had the largest class in Northwest Arkansas with 756 students. Next year the graduates will be split between the two Rogers’ high schools. The graduating class had 148 honor graduates with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4 point system. The graduates garnered $4,950,375 in scholarships. Of those, $340,000 were community scholarships. Rogers High School student Michael Tibbs received a $403,000 scholarship to the U.S. Air Force Academy. The RHS 2009 class motto is ” Behind us are memories, beside us are friends. Before us are dreams that will never end.”

The Mounties took on the War Eagles at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale on Friday evening. Here’s a gallery of photos from the game.

Justin Wedgeworth:

Today I had an assignment to photograph the Tax Day Tea Party in Bella Vista. This was a group of people coming together to protest high government spending. Some of the people at the event had reasons for being there, like Archie Birkner, of Bella Vista.

“I don’t like the direction the president and Congress are taking the country,” Birkner said.

He added that he didn’t like the probable taxes that would come from impending programs.

J.T. Wampler:
Several hundred protesters showed up at the Fayetteville square to protest taxes.

Josh Dooley:

I was responsible for photographing the economic protest in downtown Rogers today. The event drew several hundred people to Frisco Park. I can not recall having seen a crowd that large in Rogers for a political event during my almost ten years as a photographer here. It was good to see people exercising their rights. Being  citizens of the United States means we have great freedoms, such as those exercised today. I believe that with those rights come great responsibilities not only to exercise those freedoms wisely but to defend them from those who would take them or twist them for their own political or monetary gain.

A gallery of photos from the Mountie Relays track meet Friday in Rogers.

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009, I had an assignment to photograph the Rogers Heritage High School Colors Day assembly. The new school doesn’t have any seniors yet, and so instead of crowning a queen it crowned a princess. Three juniors were candidates for the crown and I spent time with them as they waited to walk in the assembly.

Most of the time when I have this type of assignment, I try to go early so I can photograph something other than the crowning. Here is a photo of some of the girls waiting in the hallway leading to the gym.

Below is one of those little moments that will never see the light of day in newsprint. Marisa Shaw, left, later crowned princess, was joking with other members of the court in the dance room about how she would react if her name was called. She really isn’t crying, just acting. I thought that may be the highlight of my day.

However, as she started walking to meet her escort in front of the student body, she jokingly stuck out her tongue. Another photo I wouldn’t have been able to take, had I been grouped with the other shooters where the crowning would take place.

Here are some other photographs taken from behind the scenes. For those that attended the event, I hope this will give you a different perspective that you were not able to see from the stands.