We held a little in-office shindig for him the other day and I snapped this photo. While I'm no Sandy Huffaker I made an honest attempt to recreate his New York Times image that captured Washburn, hand held high, conducting an interview.
While on assignment today trying to track down the Police Department's equestrian unit, I stumbled across this saxophone. I've always loved the way that light glints off of these instruments.
I took this shot while on assignment today at the Wild Animal Park. The story (which should drop later this week) has nothing to do with giraffes, but how could I resist taking this picture? Plus, it keeps up with the animal theme I started on Friday.
In the process of trying to put together my own website, I've realized I have a lot of interesting images that never make it onto the pages of voiceofsandiego.org. Friends and family will tell you that it's hard to get me to put my camera down. The result of this is a massive body of personal work that may or may not make it onto the web.
So, every now and then, I'll share a bit of personal work with you here as a Photo of the Day. This one is from a 2006 trip to New Zealand, where I worked for 6 weeks on a farm near Christchurch (where I was born). Over the years, many friends and family have commented that it's one of their favorite images of mine, so I thought it I'd share it with all of you.
Today's Photo of the Day is a silhouette of tomorrow's Q&A subject. I can't say this shot was intentional. This happens on almost every shoot when my flash fails to fire. Readers: Can you guess who tomorrow's Q&A is with or what it's about?
On Monday, I posted a picture of a wall on Washington Street that I've been scoping out as a location for more than a year.
I promised that by the end of the week, I would have portraits of people in front of this wall. So, I headed down to Washington Street today and planted myself right in front of the wall. As the light ducked down below the horizon, I started to get nervous about getting a shot today.
Two seperate people walked past who kindly obliged to photos. The first image is of 32-year-old Peter Roepke, who at first declined a photo, then turned around a few minutes later and stood in for this shot.
The second image is of Chris B. Cornell, a gaffer, lighting designer and electrician from University Heights.
Today's Photo of the Day is for you San Diegans to share with your friends in places like Boston, where it is currently 42 degrees. Perhaps the only thing more absurd than holiday decorations going up already is that they're going up on palm trees.
When shooting a portrait, I often head out and look for a nice clean background to photograph my subject against. For more than a year, I've driven past a big brick building on Washington Street and thought how perfect it would be as a backdrop.
With that in mind, I met up with Bob Wright last week for Keegan Kyle's story about OxyContin abuse. Not having much time to prepare for the photo, I took a few images on my iPhone of the wall in the photo above. It looked perfect and I was excited to shoot a portrait against it. But the light was fading quickly and with it, my photo opportunity was falling apart.
As Wright approached me, I walked down the hill to greet him. Just as I shook his hand, I noticed what looked to be an old, empty, lit up display sign next to me. I asked Wright to stand in front of it and, even as the sun set behind the clouds, it provided me all the light I needed for this portrait.
So the elusive wall I've been meaning to use as a backdrop for more than a year now has evaded me again. Now, I'm determined to get someone here for a portrait. Check back in Credentialed by the end of the week and I'll post a portrait from this location. And let me know if you have any idea of interesting subjects to photograph here or other great potential backdrops. You can drop me a line at sam.hodgson@voiceofsandiego.org.
I was back along the San Diego bayfront today meeting people and taking pictures. I snapped three shots of this man and them asked him for his name. He handed me a business card that read:
Stanley A. Grovom 45th President United States of America
He started to walked away as I looked at the business card and noticed there was no contact information.
I shouted, "Stanley, is there some way I can contact you."
I spent about an hour this afternoon sitting by the bay with Wesley Mock, a Vietnam veteran who now lives on the streets of San Diego. Mock, who is legally blind and in a wheelchair, spent his time asking passersby to "help out a disabled veteran."
He still had a hospital armband around his wrist from the night before. "I had three cracked ribs," he said, "and I've got no idea how I got them."
It was a tough task choosing a photo for Rebecca Tolin's story today about the UCSD researchers studying the unprecedented dissapearance of honey bees.
This photo didn't make the cut -- partly because of the cheap tilted angle and party because it didn't include the researchers face.
But something about this bee, navigating itself down a long tunnel toward the food at the center, reminded me of the scene from Star Wars where Luke Skywalker flies to the core of the Death Star and blows the whole thing up.
To be sure, I was less concerned with explosions and much, much more concerned with the swarm of bees buzzing all around me as I stuck my wide-angle lens into the tunnel.
I thought I would be wearing a bee suit -- that is until I arrived on the assignment and was told that I could put one on if I really wanted to. Sounded to me like a challenge of either my courage or my intelligence, but I sucked it up and got into the mix with all the bees without a suit.
Here's a (admittedly shaky) video from my iPhone camera that shows what it was like to be surrounded by bees with no protective gear on.
Ever pondered what the San Diego City Council's offices look like? Have you ever yearned for a view into the belly of bureaucracy -- a peek into the publicly financed hallways of power?
Too bad. You can't without unanimous council approval -- more of an endorsement than would be required to pass the city's budget.
I wanted to go over to the City Council's offices this afternoon and photograph people moving through the hallway for a forthcoming budget story. I called Michelle Ganon, spokeswoman for Council President Ben Hueso, to coordinate access.
No problem, Ganon told me. She suggested coming by the 10th floor of City Hall at 1:45 p.m., when people would be headed to council chambers and there would be a lot of movement in the hallways.
A few minutes later, Ganon called back. She said I could not take pictures without prior consent from all of the council offices.
"It's not been done before and there's a potential security issue and each of the council offices would have to give all of their permissions," Ganon said.
What sort of security concerns could arise from a picture of the hallway with people moving around inside, I asked.
"They could glean how the floor is set up," Ganon replied.
I asked Ganon whether the public should be able to see what its elected officials' offices looked like.
"I've just been told what the rule is and I can't allow you to do it," she said.
Clarification: The original version of this post contained a the headline "Council Offices Closed to Public." The offices are open to the public who have appointments with council members and their staff.
Today's Photo of the Day was taken in City Heights as the early afternoon light began to glint off the nearby buildings. Yes, I know, I'm a total light nerd.
You might remember several weeks ago we promised to bring you portraits of ordinary San Diegans in our Photo of the Day feature. Today's image is of Omar Qayyum, owner of the San Diego Tire & Wheel Outlet on El Cajon Boulevard.
Luigi Cannoni, the man who rejuvenated a dilapidated property in City Heights by creating a magnificent garden, has a big heart -- there's simply no question about that.
He's one of those people who make the job of photojournalism really interesting. He's open, engaging and cares about the world. Both he and his property are infinitely visually interesting -- he for his animation and his home for all of its quirks, peculiarities and the beauty of his garden. This is an image I took while on assignment with Cannoni. It's shot from inside his house looking out, where he is watering his garden.
Today's Photo of the Day was shot early in the morning with this newly-available daylight we're getting in the a.m. This is shot on the iPhone with the Magazine filter applied in the Camera Bag application.
Each day, the fleeting vision of Sam Hodgson's face can be seen poking out from behind a camera lens as he scurries around the county trying to snap the best shot of a motivated student, an embattled public official or even just a pretty sunset.
But there aren't enough story pages to fit all the shots he gets every day. Credentialed brings you his exclusive photo projects and the best photos that were left on the cutting room floor. The former reporter-turned-photog will also try his hand at telling his favorite stories as seen through his lens.
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Each day, the fleeting vision of Sam Hodgson's face can be seen poking out from behind a camera lens as he scurries around the county trying to snap the best shot of a motivated student, an embattled public official or even just a pretty sunset.
