Tag Archives: journalism

Photography

The portrait you make can mean a lot

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Samantha Aarts, Mary Pope’s 18-year-old daughter modeled for one of my lighting classes last year. She passed away from an accidental morphine overdose.

I have my days when I think of what I do for a living to be a joke.

It takes but a fraction of a second to make a picture.

While I was at the newspaper, except for natural disasters which affected many lives, the importance of my photography was seldom real.

Often I would ask myself, “Why am I being dispatched to traffic collision especially if it happened hours ago?”

Was it ever going to change how people drive?

Would people think twice about texting or drinking and driving after reading about it?

I highly doubt it.
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Assignment, Photography

Riverside’s Lunar New Year festival 2011

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Red being a color symbolizing prosperity, it is often the color that is used for lanterns and costumes. A Chinese dance troupe performed on the stage in front of the public library.
The Vietnamese also celebrate the Lunar New Year as do the Japanese and Chinese.

Last Saturday, January 29, Riverside hosted its first Lunar New Year festival.

The organizers of this one-day celebration hope to make this an an annual affair celebrating the diversity of the Asians and Asian Americans living in our city and the region.

In order that this becomes an annual event, I hope the vendors who participated found this worthwhile.

Community events such as this relies on financial support especially in its inaugural year.

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Photography

Meet an amazing photographer Rodrigo Peña Part 3

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Award winning image of a little league coach consoling his player after a loss.

What picture are you most proud to have taken?
When I was a staff photographer in 1999, working for the San Bernardino Sun, I was hired by a community newspaper in Sacramento to cover the Little League finals in San Bernardino.

The Sacramento Bee sent one of their best photographers and he was able to shoot from the field. Since I was shooting for Sacramento’s weekly newspaper, I was low man on the totem pole and I had to shoot from the stands.

The Sacramento team lost and I got a terrific photo of a young boy crying while his coach comforted him. In the background the winning team was jubilant. (see photo in gallery) I had the agony of defeat the joy of victory in one photo.

The Sacramento Bee photographer was not able to get that photo because he was on the field.
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Photography

Meet an amazing photographer Rodrigo Peña Part 2

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Late evening in the Coachella desert presented Rigo with this wonderful image of cacti.

Why do you think it’s usually the “usual suspects” that win those contests?

Maria Sharapova blasts a forehand during her match against Elena Dementieva during the finals at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, CA

First of all, the usual suspects who win contests are great photographers.

Second, some have a formula for success.

They know that the “different” or unique photos are going to win.

Furthermore, some photographers duplicate what has won in past contests and execute it on their assignments.

I knew one photographer who turned in the same type of photo, shot in two consecutive months and he won in both months.

What does that tell you?

First of all, there is a strategy. Second, you have to be well-versed in what a contest-winning photograph is, so you can duplicate it in your own way.
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