Calm Photos

Sports Photography by Jim Crotty

Some recent pics from a photo shoot I did a couple weeks ago of an equine dressage event held near Milford, Ohio -

3H514 Reds Fan by Jim Crotty

Originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

The New York Mets at the Cincinnati Reds, July 17, 2008.

I cringe every time I see Tiger Woods through a fit on the golf course. There’s just something about the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice that is about as demeaning as possibly can be.

I don’t play or watch golf, but these moments seem to always make the 60-second weekend highlight coverage on CNN. This morning’s spot was a classic Tiger-throws-a-fit moment, and one which every amateur photographer out there can take a lesson from.

Camera shutters can be amazingly loud, particularly those found on consumer brand digital 35mm and SLR’s. Some of the fixed lensed cameras even go so far as offering a choice of funny sounds your camera can make when you snap the picture. That can be cute and funny when taking snapshots of the kids at home or on vacation, but when you’re in the gallery standing close to a pro golfer about to tee off, it’s best to put your camera away. It’s not worth the wrath of Tiger or whoever else is playing for tens of thousands of $$$$s.

Just seeing that spot on this morning’s news made me feel bad for the person who made that error in judgment. It’s one thing to see hundreds of amateurs shamelessly and unknowingly shoot away with their on-camera flashes when up in the nose-bleed sections of a football stadiums (those on-camera flashes are only good to about five feet in front of the photographer), but I feel for the individual who’s camera makes a pro golfer flub his or her shot.

I haven’t had much experience photographing pro golf tournaments, but I do know that the PGA is pretty stringent about the pro sports photographers who cover these sporting events, such as credentials, where to shoot, how to shoot and when to shoot.

In August of 2005 I had the opportunity to photograph the Senior PGA tournament held at NCR Country Club in Dayton. I wasn’t even going to do the shoot because I couldn’t get any type of response from the local PGA people regarding a press pass for the tournament. But a local gallery owner was insistent that I get out there and get some shots because “those prints will sell like crazy.” The best I could do was a practice round. One technique that I employed was using a 500mm lens with a Kirk KingCobra ballhead on a monopod, far enough down the fairway where my shutter could not be heard. This is the same basic set-up I use when photographing birds and wildlife. With this size of lens I was able to effectively capture detail, compress my depth of field and stay clear of the crowd. Most importantly it kept me from disturbing pro golfers.

Guess how many prints I sold ? Nada. Zero. All I got from that shoot was a local guy asking for a free print of his kid volunteering as one of the sign-holders on the course. It’s great in Dayton !

But a lesson was learned, experience added. Know thy subject. Know thy photo gear. Respect thy subject. Don’t bring the subject’s wrath down upon thee. And if I can pass this lesson on, then I guess the shoot was worth the time. At least I didn’t make one of the pro golfers flub a shot.

Yes, there is such a thing as press that’s less than positive. Sometimes it’s completely non-intentional and the negative effects aren’t realized until a few years down the road. Shortly after I started my photography business in 2003, the Dayton Daily News ran a full-page story about my work with nature and landscape photography. It was a good article. I can’t complain about that. The problem is that it ran at a time (early stage of going into business) when I held the mistaken belief that I could actually make a living solely based on the fine art market for nature, landscape and wildlife photography. The lasting negative effect of both that initial belief and particular article is that I’ve been permanently pigeon holed as just a “nature photographer” here in my local market, and I accept full responsibility.

I received a quick and expensive education to the contrary once the payables far outstretched the receivables. Even today people in Dayton keep mentioning “the article” and how much they are a “great fan of my nature and landscape photographs.” Daytonians love my work so much that they email or call me quite frequently asking me to donate a print to some silent auction or donate services or donate licensing rights. Donate, donate, donate. “It’s a great way to get your name out there.”

If I hear that phrase one more time I’m going to go out of my mind. Uh, I’m pretty sure that here in Dayton my name is out there. Perhaps that’s part of the problem ??

Here’s one the few certain things I’ve learned now that I’ve been in business as a photographer in the Dayton area going on five years now. The only thing that results from donations are more requests for donations, plus a whole host of hobbyists fishing for free info (that’s why I added paid workshops and lessons to my list of services).

Anyhoo, the truth is that my bread and butter is my commercial and assignment photography services, particularly in covering events, architectural projects, business portraits, products, processes, and a recent pick-up in activity for family portraiture.

Posted below is a new flyer I put together highlighting some of the recent architectural projects that I photographed. If I had to decide which area of commercial photography that I enjoy the most, I would have to say architecture followed closely by editorial and event work.

And yes, I will always hold-on to my first love of nature and landscape photography. However, I like to consider myself as a “renaissance man” in the field of photography. I can’t stand being pigeon holed - whether it applies to my professional or my personal life. What is it about this area of the Midwest that people feel so comfortable being permanently stuck in ruts - ruts of the same old way of doing business, day in and day out, and of applying convenient labels to one another.

Change, expand, adapt, learn, move forward. When things get too comfortable, then I know it’s time to light a fire under my @%# and get moving. In the words of Martha Stewart, “it’s a good thing.” Yesterday an old friend - originally from Dayton but who has also lived elsewhere (and that means out of Ohio) - commented that there’s just this “negative energy” to the area. I think it comes from so many of my fellow Daytonians falling into their comfortable zones and well, becoming permanent residents in the bland land of security and predictability. That’s not living. That’s just simply waiting.

One of the many advantages of Aperture over Photoshop - as far as pro photography is concerned - is the way the program organizes image files with minimum effort and time on the part of the user. Original raw files are securely stored away while the photographer harmlessly plays away with automatically copied versions.

In addition to the various project folders I’ve added to Aperture, the program also organizes images by date, automatically creating folders listed according to the year the photographs were shot, in the last week, in the last month and by photographer rating. The user interface of Aperture was specifically designed for professional photographers who manage thousands of shots.

In many ways the program is smarter than the photographer, because after all, most photographers fall within that realm of scattered brain, artsy-fartsy types who start to get pretty squirrelly if they’re not out shooting and instead are spending all their time behind the computer, present company included.

In those ancient days of storing away 35mm transparencies in plastic sleeves there was the possibility that some images that should have been selected as stand-outs are inadvertently filed away, forgotten and neglected. With digital image file management, and especially with programs such as Aperture, the photographer continually has opportunities to go back through and review old images, sometimes with eyes and awareness slightly altered over the months and years as creative vision becomes more well defined, or maybe perhaps when it starts going in a completely different direction.

This is the case with the following two images. Going back through my 2006 files I re-discovered one of the many shots I took of a Saturday night rodeo on a summer evening near Waynesville, Ohio. When I first did my initial edits I focused on the typical “rider and bull” action shots - the ones with the bull and rider in mid-air, dust swirling about and the look of determination in the rider’s face. I had plenty to choose from. But while reviewing the thumbnails in Aperture this one jumped-up at me. It caught my attention where it hadn’t before. Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking at a lot of candid portraits and street images lately, but then again, there had to be something about the scene that first caught my eye when I took the shot. It’s what I call a good “story teller.”

Crowd shots can be good at that, especially at sporting events where there’s lots of color and character - the attitude of the riders, stance of the rodeo clown, the looks on the faces of the kids, the low light of late day. The image tells the message of rural Ohio in summer.

Below is another “hidden gem” recently discovered. Why I first passed this one over I don’t know. It was one of many I took while hiking and photographing Dark Hollow Falls in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park in early April 2007. Most of my photographs of the area include the waterfall, but looking just across the stream I was moved to capture the still bare tree branches against the darkening sky with a cloud of mountain mist moving down slope. The lichen-covered rocks and fallen trees communicate that sense of wilderness in the landscape without distracting from the overall composition of the frame. What initially caught my eye - and the element that I wanted to emphasize - was the texture and feeling of the mist just above the ground and creating so much depth amongst the trees.

Tis a good one the more I look at it. What I love about what I do is my ability to instantly go back to the particular place and moment when each of my photographs was taken, and remember what I was feeling at the time and the thoughts that were directing my vision. I have close to 10,000 images in my stock library, and I can confidently say that I can go back and revisit each and every “shot-scene” and tell the story behind the photograph. That’s almost scary, but that’s the difference between the average shooter and someone who truly gets into and is passionate about his or her avocation.

I did quite a variety of commercial and assignment photo shoots this past year. Everything from food, medical facilities, dental office, home interiors, waterproofing product application, small families, big groups and events.The following images are my personal favorites from those and other commercial photography shoots. I thought it would be important to emphasize this body of work given all the nature and landscape work I’ve been posting recently.

Is Jim Crotty a nature photographer ? Is Jim Crotty a portrait photographer ? Does Jim Crotty do commercial work ?

Yes, yes and yes - for God’s and cash flow sake, yes (just no weddings, please). I’m hearing more and more that here in Dayton I’m regarded as strictly a nature photographer. That could be part of the problem why I struggle do to business in this town. Sometimes I’m in a fight against my own success. But I still believe there’s another, more negative reason why this is the case. In fact, I actually know it to be true. More on that later. For now here are my personal favorites from my commercial assignments for 2007.

      

I admit it. I’m not much of a fan of college football. But when I had an opportunity to travel to South Bend, Indiana last week for the Notre Dame/Navy game, I took advantage of it primarily because I’ve always wanted to personally see the campus of Notre Dame University.

I can now safely conclude that Notre Dame is the most beautiful college campus that I’ve set foot on, and I’ve been on quite a few (more than I’d like to admit). Of course being there on a perfect fall day didn’t hurt either.

In the words of Ned Beatty in Rudy, “this is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen.”

Despite the historic loss to the Naval Academy and a horrible football season, it was well worth the time and drive just to see the campus and feel the atmosphere of Notre Dame on a game day. The following are some of my favorite photographs from the images I shot while there. I would have been able to capture much clearer and more close-up images of the game itself had it not been for the fact that our seats were at the very top of the stadium. I had to make due with my Canon 1D Mark III with a Canon 300mm f4 IS L lens and 1.4 extender.

My favorite photographs were those I was able to take of the inside of the cathedral at Notre Dame. These images were captured using a Canon 1D Mark II with both Canon 28-70mm and 17-35mm L lenses and a Bogen tripod and Kirk ballhead. These photographs were post-processed first in Photoshop CS2 using the High Dynamic Range of combining four exposures into one 32-bit image file and applying a third party plug-in for tonal adjustments. Once complete I would make exposure adjustments and re-size in Aperture on my Mac Pro.

The entire series can be viewed as a slide show presentation here.

The ImageKind banner will take you to a storefront where you can safely purchase both framed and unframed prints of select images from this series.

First Impressions is my second Blurb book. This one includes information and samples about my commercial and editorial photography and photography services, including recent images from food, product, portrait and architectural photo shoots. It is 22 pages in length, full color and comes in either hard or soft cover formats.