Freedom Birds

While I did a little wildlife photography when I was in Africa I hardly consider myself a wildlife photographer, let alone a bird photographer. Yet, one of the great advantages to living in Iowa City is that the Iowa River is a not insignificant winter hunting ground for Bald Eagles and one can easily see a couple dozen on a good day hunting for shad in a 2-3 block stretch of the river—with a convenient bike path adjacent to allow for photos.

Even being that close to the action, 400mm barely cuts it as these things really don’t like people being so close (odd since they’re hunting in a decently populated urban area) but as long as you’re willing to walk up and down the river and chase the action, there are good photos to be had.

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Winning is Better Than Losing

When I was first starting to freelance, a local photographer whom I have a great deal of respect for met with me for coffee and, over the conversation, strongly suggested I join the National Association of Press Photographers if, for no other reason, than to participate in the monthly clip contest. Which I promptly did.

I realize that contests are their own thing and that you can’t take much away from how well your photos do or don’t do in them. Having said that, winning is certainly better than losing—and even though I’ve lost far more than I’ve won, it’s still fascinating to see your name in the standings in the same list as professionals whose work you’ve followed for years.

https://competitions.nppa.org/monthly-news-clip-contest/sports-action/2019-11-november/central/52141/

Top Ten of the Teens: 2017

And here. We. Go.

There was no debate or difficult decision to be made on this year’s best photo. It was from the first football game I ever shot (Iowa v Illinois at Iowa’s Homecoming) and it remains one of the best peak action sports photos I’ve ever taken (in general but certainly in football). I suppose you could knock it since it’s a photo of the opposing running back in a game that Iowa dominated but as a single peak-action sports frame, I didn’t top for the rest of the year.

Top Ten of the Teens: 2016

2016 was probably the hardest year to pick a “best of” given how much I was able to shoot that year. That year saw me getting out of the Army, driving across the country (a couple of times), multiple foreign trips, and extensive work on covering forgotten corners of Chicago. But since I had to pick one, it had to be the portrait I shot of a coffee farmer in Thailand.

The story of how I found myself in the Inthanon mountains is an interesting story itself, but not really relevant to the photo. The short version is that I was able to spend the afternoon with Mr. Somsak Sriphumthong where he showed me his farm and how he roasts and bags his beans. After the tour, he offered me a cup of his coffee and we hung out in this shack adjacent to his roasting operation where I managed to snap this photo of him. I’m not sure that I’ve ever taken a better portrait.

(and if you’d like to know more about Mr. Sriphumthong, there have been stories written about him: https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/433561/the-brewing-of-change)

Top Ten of the Teens: 2015

“The thing you have to understand about Guinea, is that they were the county that said ‘no’.”

This was one of the first things we told visitors from DC when they asked what they needed to know about Guinea and it was important point—Guinea really was the only former colony that rejected membership in La Francophonie at independence from France and, as such, its relations with France have always been strained (we used to joke “1958 never ended out here”).

And so, with that in mind, I always found the Air France ads at a certain traffic intersection that I passed through frequently in downtown Conakry to be absolutely fascinating. “What message is this sending? How could this possibly resonate here?” It always just seemed wildly inappropriate and perfect demonstration of the complicated relationship between France and its former colony.

Unfortunately, there usually a number of police in uniform at this intersection (controlling traffic/shaking drivers down, etc.) and even though I usually passed through it in uniform and in a diplomatic vehicle, taking a photo in front of them would be more hassle than it’s worth. But it came to pass that one Saturday morning that i was coming back from grocery shopping downtown and the intersection was almost empty. I asked my friend who was driving to slow down for a moment and as she did, this gentlemen walked into the frame.

Top Ten of the Teens: 2014

“Your mission is to proceed up the Highway N1 in an embassy SUV. Pick up Ebola’s path at Gueckedou, follow it and learn what you can along the way. When you find the Ebola, infiltrate it’s team by whatever means available and terminate the it’s command.”

Okay, those weren’t the orders we’d been given, but they weren’t that far off. It was the fall of 2014, Ebola was raging all over Guinea and our Ambassador had sent me and one of our Diplomatic Security Agents to the Forest Region of Guinea—the area of the country where Ebola was most rampant and where communications were poor—in order to determine the security situation on the ground.

I was no stranger to overland travel in Africa at this point—I’d visited 17 or 18 countries, I’d done long road trips in Senegal, Tanzania, and South Africa, and I’d traveled all over Cameroon. But this would be the longest road trip I ever did in Africa—over 1,200 miles total. But all of that doesn’t make this the photo of the year for 2014 for me.

Rather it’s what this image conveys—if anyone ever asked what driving long distances in Africa was like, I think this image tells the story better than I could do if I tried to describe it myself.

Top Ten of the Teens: 2013

If 2012 was a hard year to pick a best of photo because there were so many to chose from, 2013 was hard because there were so few. Overall, it was a tough year for photography since my job had me moving from Senegal to Washington and then back to Guinea within the span of about six months. And Guinea was not a particularly hospitable environment for photos which further limited opportunities. So that leaves us with this shot of London from November of the year.

It gets the nod mostly from a technical standpoint—I had consciously been trying to really nail my exposures in an attempt to stop relying on HDR and this photo was a testament to that. I’d also wanted to experiment more with reflections in my photography and the Regents Canal was able to provide me with ample opportunities to practice.

Regents Canal, London. Nov. 28, 2013.

Top Ten of the Teens: 2012

2012 was a tough year to pick a “best” photo from. For starters, I shot a lot of “good” photos this year and, in addition, I did my first real photojournalism since Iraq when I covered Hillary Clinton’s visit to Senegal—and some of those photos are still in my portfolio on this very website. So why this landscape photo?

Well, for starters, it remains one of the best landscape photos I’ve ever done, in this year or any other. It was taken in Paris during the Nuit Blanche festival when a number of government or private buildings are open to the public. In this case, I shot this from the Paris City Planning Offices which have a great terrace on the 13th floor. The only problem was, I got here so late, the lights on the Eiffel Tower had already gone dark for the night. But still, in terms of portraying “The City of Light” this photo works better at telling its story than any other I took that year.

4eme arrondissement, Paris. Oct. 6, 2012.