Photojournalistic Roots

Being at the right place at the right time in 1968.

As I passed a few middle schools and high schools in the past few days, the practice activity on the football fields gave me a brief rush of adrenaline as I began to anticipate shooting high school sports again this year for NEOSPORTSPIX.COM.  As some of you may know, my interest in photography began in 1968 as a photojournalist for the University of Miami’s “Hurricane” newspaper and “IBIS” yearbook.  Though not a formal student of photojournalism, I’ve been a self taught student of photojournalism ever since.  I’ve read textbooks and biographies of many shooters and photo editors and  also studied the work of many of my photography heroes and follow some of them as Facebook friends and “likes”.  It’s fascinating to see, on a day by day basis, what world recognized photographers like Nick Ut, whose photograph of the young Vietnamese girl running naked from a napalm attack, and is burned into our minds, and David Hume Kennerly, Vietnam War photographer and Gerald Ford’s Presidential photographer, are doing on a daily basis.  They are both still very active today.  Their Facebook posts attest to their continued love of photography!

My photography, like theirs, reflects many different interests and subjects, some of it is fine art, some events, some portraits, but I always seem to return to my roots in photojournalism and documentary photography.

Being at the right place at the right time in 2010.

Shooting sports is just one form of photojournalism and it’s one that I love.  It requires the photographer to anticipate the action and to try to position him or herself at the right place at the right time to capture decisive moments.  I can’t wait for the 2011/2012 seasons to begin!