Charm City Cross pics now posted!

If you raced in the Charm City Cyclocross Race, the pictures are all uploaded:

Charm City Cross Pics

How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) in a War Zone

Gizmodo has a great piece written by a war photographer with some insights on the realities of his job.

Ever wonder how war photographers survive out there? We've enlisted Teru Kuwayama—a photographer who has covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots for Time, Newsweek and Outside—to explain the perils of working in a war zone.

Among military planners, there's an aphorism that states: "Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics."

The daily mechanics of photographing in a "war zone" don't have much to do with photography—mostly it's about getting from point A to point B without getting your head cut off, then finding a signal and an outlet.

I'm probably not the right person to be give advice on war photography, since I don't even count myself as a war photographer—but for one reason or another, I've spent the better part of the last decade in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a young photographer when these wars began—I'm not anymore, and from all indications, the "long war" is just getting started.

For what it's worth, here's some advice for first timers heading out to the badlands.

Read the full story and see some more of Teru Kuwayama's images on Gizmodo

Photo Mechanic

I finally tried out Camera Bits' Photo Mechanic software.

I've been using Apple's Aperture program exclusively, but I kept seeing Photo Mechanic mentioned in sports photography workflow articles, and I wanted to check it out. This spring, my digital workflow has really become an issue for me. I started shooting sports several times a week with my D300 and D200. Dealing with RAW files and multiple cards made the import/edit process slow down to a crawl, and I found myself spending too much time waiting for files & previews to load.

I decided to try Photo Mechanic to basically do the first round editing before I imported the images into my Aperture Library. I have to say I am very impressed with its speed, even on my aging powerbook. So much so that I think I can easily justify adding as a step in the workflow.

Shooting Lacrosse

So I went over th Montgomery Blair to shoot their baseball game, but it looked like they called off the game due to the rain earlier in the week. Girl's Lacrosse was playing on the football field, so I shot that instead. I realized Al was right when he said that I'd have to get bigger glass for field sports. I compensated by setting up on the sidelines, and taking advantage of lacrosse's back-and-forth. That combined with the crop factor on the D300 let me work with what I got.

We're still heaing that the website should launch next Monday, so we'll see if people are interested in getting these

I finally did it

I finally ordered the Nikon D300. I'm hoping to take advantage of the upcoming season and work shooting more sports & special events. Amazon had it for $1499.99, which was better than my favorite store, B+H Photo. It was also better than Adorama, Ritz and Penn Camera, a large, local, true camera shop.

I charged it, but I expect to have money come in from some other work, including the photos I sold to Singletrack Magazine. Between that and some tax return money, I should not be hurting that bad. The good news is I upgraded my lenses when I only had my D70s, so I can hit the ground running.

I'm curious how hard the transition will be, but I expect the interface will be similar from one Nikon to the next.

First Basketball Shoot

Shooting my first basketball game was a humbling experience. The Maryland Boys' Basketball 4A Regional Finals was played at Montgomery Blair HS on Saturday. As soon as I got there, I knew the lighting was going to be challenging.

The gym was so dark, I had to crank up the ISO to 1600, then increase the exposure compenstion, and even then, the images came out passable. I was jealous of the other photographers there from the local newspapers, with full frame pro level D3s and Canon 1Ds. Even they had to set up strobes in the corners. I set up on the opposite end of the court, because with my ISO cranked up so far, the strobes would blow everything out.

The closest I can get to a pro camera right now is the D300, and even that is going to take some work.

I noticed another photographer on Saturday had set up a speedlight on a light stand as a strobe, and I wonder how effective that would be across a large area like a basketball court.

Sunday at the Obama Wall

I went down to the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday to photograph some of the people writing messages to President-Elect Obama. Its part of my desire to be a more curious photographer, and to seek out subjects to photograph. I'm trying to be better about following through when I hear about an event or situation that might make make an interesting photo or story. I've learned that when I ignore that inside voice to go and witness something, I usually regret it. I was impressed by how joyful the crowd was. Even as they waited for their turn to write their message, there was a party atmosphere.

More images are on my website: www.jonathanbruckphotography.com.

My first marathon (sort of)

I shot photos at a marathon for the first time yesterday. The 33rd annual Marine Corps Marathon had over 25,000 runners, and took over most of Arilngton, Virginia.

Although I had originally secured media credentials to shoot for myself, I signed on with Marathonfoto to shoot candids and souvenir-style photos after runners completed the course. I did it partly because it was my first time shooting a marathon and I though it would be better to learn with other photographers than try to figure it out while it was happening. It was a really long day, starting just after 4am.




I got to the Iwo Jima statue at 5:30am, got my camera, and set off to the start. We had to walk about a mile through the start area to the staging area. then we approached runners in the dark and started taking their pictures. We shot these candids as the sun came up and right through the start of the race.

After the racers were off, we changed flashes and got into our positions for the souvenir photos. Starting around nine am, I stood, kneeled and squatted until three in the afternoon, when there were no more runners lined up. It was exhausting, but I could appreciate that it was meaningful to many of the runners who would bring their families, or pictures of their family members with them for a picture.

Union Station DC Bullying Photographers

Check out Andy Carvin's post about his experience being bullied by Union Station security guards for taking a photograph at Union Station.

MABRA Ed Sander Cross

Sunday, I shot my first cyclocross race out at the Lilypons Water Gardens in Buckeystown. It was a blast, but it was tough. Much of the day I was hanging out at the top of a runup section that stopped the riders in their tracks. Unfortuneately for me, staing close to the action meant standing in or walking through a tangle of thorns every couple of minutes. My ankles are covered in cuts and look ridiculous.

To make matters worse, at some in the middle of shooting, I realized that I had lost one of my memory cards. I tried to search the areas I had walked through in betweeen the racers' passes, but I never foun d it. I was bummed the rest of the day, and had to be more selective in the shots I took. I was lucky that it didn't have any images that I had shot that day, but it still sucked. I ordered a CF card wallet from Think Tank Photo so that it wouldn't happen again.

All the images are finally uploaded. Check them out at www.jonathanbruckphotography.com

Shenandoah Mountain 100

What a weekend. After spending Friday in the emergency room, we packed up the car and headed to Stokesville, Virginia for the annual Shenandoah Mountain 100, a 100-mile mountain bike race through the George Washington National Forest. I've got some great photos, including some of the 2006 Tour De France Champion Floyd Landis making his debut at the SM 100. I just uploaded all of the images to my web site.