Week 6 - Moment, Shape

I shot another feature and liked what I got. Because it's different from what I normally get. I was suggested to see if black&white works better, so I posted both color and black and white.




Sydney Alsfeld, 6, jumps into the water with her hand on her nose while her sister Brook, 9, gets onto the dock at Little Sunapee Lake’s public beach in New London. They came from North Kingston, R.I., to visit their grandparents in New London.

Week 6 - Rope Swinging

It was from feature hunting. There are quite a few swimming around the Upper Valley, and a lot of kids are jumping into the water. It's too bad that the paper wouldn't publish most of them because those places are considered dangerous... Well, I will use my personal time, then.

Week 5: How Many Different Pictures Can We Get from Graduation?

The paper ran this picture, inside, and pick another ok picture for the front page. I was happy with the layers in the picture, but the paper didn't want to put a smoking picture on its front page anymore. It was my first smoking picture, but it was third one for the paper this year. Graduations tend to be cliché, although there are a lot of stories and moments. I think another way to get a variety of pictures from graduation is to follow someone or a group of people from the beginning. Next time, I should take an initiative and find someone to follow, instead of making a series of cliché pictures or putting someone in an administrative dilemma. But, we ran the picture, at least, so it's ok...

Short Term 1 - Forgetting the Limits

I worked on a day in life story on Aya Itagaki, a 72 year old lady who competes in Karate tornament. She doesn't spur, but she was so active and gave a variety of visual possiblity. I found her through a few different people. I introduced myself to her at the Karate dojoand explained her what I was trying to do. Me being a Japanese definetely helped, but she was very open. So, I spent a day with her. As far as pictures concern, I didn't make anything outstanding, but I think I got pictures that show something interesting about this person. I think getting used to doing a story like this - research, finding a person, negotiating with the person and follow her/him for a day or more - would defintely help me grow as a photojournalist because you would have to do everything on your own. This one won't become a long term, but I think I learned a lot by doing this story. I mean I always feel I learned something by getting in to someone's life. I'm really thankful to the paper for letting photographers work on projects like this.

Week 4 - Day 3&4

Day 3
Father of an assault victim getting an interview... It was sad.



Day 4
Graduation 3

Week 4 - Day 2

High school athlete photographped in her room. She plays hockey, soccer and softball.



Another golf picture.

Week 4 - Day 1 Golf

Shot golf through daisy.

Week 3 - short-term and long term

Day 5 - Short Term

A day in the life of 72-year old woman who does Karate. I followed her all day. The story will be published next Sunday... Unfortunately, I'd have to wait putting pictures until they get published...

I also started my long term - Living with MS. I already got contacts with several MS patients who have different backgrounds. I am planning to follow them at least a day and make a photo essay, which shows each patient situation. MS patients go through a few different stages, and each symptom is different. Different patients have different struggles, so I am trying to show them in pictures.

Week 3

Day 1 - Claremont

Claremont is an old Mill town working on redevelopment.




Day 2 - Girl's Rugby Practice

Worked on layers...


Day 3 - Guy Who didn't pay income taxes
I was covering police vs Ed Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lewis_Brown). Basically, the NH state police surrounded a house of a guy who didn't pay income taxes. I tried to get to his house, but police blocked the road. There was sort of tense because police didn't know how dangerous the guy could be. But, for some reason, they left, and we went to his house to get interviews. He somehow talked to us from the second floor and burrowed a cell phone from someone because his phone and internet were disconnected.



This was the situation I wished I were taller or had a super portable ladder that I can put in my pocket...





Day 4 - Graduation 2
This was the second graduation in this internship.

Mediafax Publishes Draft-horse Racing Story

A Romanian photo agency Mediafax Foto published my photo story on Draft Horse Racing:
http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/photos.php?search[section]=premium&reset_search=1

Thank you very much to Mihai Vasile, the agency's editor who patiently worked with me, and Andrei Pungovschi, a Romanian photographer who helped me contact the agency. I feel relieved because I started the project to let more people know about this once-endangered culture. When I started this project and approached people at the racetrack, I said, "I am planning to publish a story outside Japan to let people in other countries know about this." And, it happened somehow. I'm glad.

By the way, This is my select and black & white version of the story:
http://www.ikuruphoto.com/index/banei0.html

This is a link to the multimedia version:
http://web.missouri.edu/~iktx9/publish_to_web/

Off

I spent most of the first day of my weekend tinkering with Dreamweaver... But finally, I launched my new HTML website. Nothing fancy. But, it should work unlike my previous bulky flash website. Need to put some more stufff, but it should serve some practical purpose...

http://www.ikuruphoto.com/index/front1.html

Day 4 & 5

Day 4: Softball
I got sick a bit. But, it shouldn't be used as an execuse...

I've beem trying to find a little nice story... But, I haven't found one yet. My editor encouraged me to meet and talk to people ruther than just surfing the internet or starting with concepts. So, I started driving around and giving my cards to people in small surrounding towns. Hopefully, I find something soon...



Day 5: Graduation
I was just standing there while they were sitting. And, the action happened, so I was taller than her. Lucky day. I didn't have to find short subjects or something to stand on.

Week 2

Day 3:
Tried to get a different golf pic. It was ok.



A business profile on a gift shop owner. How could we make a nice picture out of gift shopt other than portrait. Gigt shops always have busy backgrounds and bad low lighting - mix of flourescent and daylight.

Week 2

Day 2: Tennis and Fawn

Tried to get something different out of tennis. This one was ok. I tried remote, too. But, didn't work...




This is sort of a picture for readers. I didn't know a baby deer is called fawn. I am still learning basic English...