For those of you suffering through the cold end of February here in the north, well, I'm sorry.My wife and I took the kids to Florida for a week, and the weather couldn't have been nicer.
Since we were on vacation I didn't take any gear besides my wife's Sony point-and-shoot. But when I saw the rainbow above my kids playing in the surf I couldn't resist:
After a couple of days at Disney, we went to Daytona Beach. The Southeast Center for Photo/Graphic Studies is where I went to school to learn photography. The school is now a part of Daytona State College.
One of my classmates, Tariq Hamid, is teaching there now. It was my privilege to be able to speak to his and my old professor Eric Breitenbach's classes. I learned my trade back in the days of film and darkrooms, and was really impressed with the ability of the students to shoot assignments and have them critiqued in real time thanks to digital technology.
Afterwards I checked out the Southeast Museum of Photography's exhibition of documentary photographer Alex Harris' photos from Cuba. Really inspirational stuff.
It's good to be back. I'm energized, but a little tired. Tomorrow night I'll be photographing the Fleetwood Mac concert. Stop back to see those photos.
www.joeappelphotography.com
This is a rare event that needed to be documented.
My kid likes his hair long and we're indulgent parents, but sometimes the mop needs a trim. Stephanie did such a great job on Wyatt that I got one too!
www.joeappelphotography.com
This image of bowler Timothy Pfeifer was shot for Robert Morris University's Foundations Magazine. The story is about athletes participating in sports that are less heralded than football or basketball. Pfeifer, a member of the RMU bowling team, is nationally ranked.The fun thing about this shot was having the freedom to spread out a little bit without worrying about other bowlers. Bowling alleys are difficult to photograph in. The lanes are brightly lit while the area leading up to the line much darker.
I used three lights for this shot. A main light in an umbrella illuminated Tim from camera left. I positioned another flash to rim light the pins since I wanted them to be separated from the background.
After reviewing the image on the back of my camera I felt that Tim needed a little lighting on the opposite side from the main light. I duct-taped a drink menu in front of the flash to shield the light from spreading into the foreground. That really made the image pop.
All I had to do was time my shot so that the ball was just striking the pins. Easier said than done because I was sitting in the alley about 10 feet behind the pins. The author of the article, Mark Houser, was standing off camera to kick the ball to the gutter before it hit me.
Equipment: Nikon D3, Nikon 70-200/2.8 lens, 3 Nikon SB-800 flashes fired by CyberSync radio triggers.
www.joeappelphotography.com
Super Bowl Champions - this picture of James Harrison kind of says it all. What a great victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Pittsburgh Police said that something like 300,000 people showed up for the victory parade.
I talked to one lady who arrived on scene at 5:30AM to get a good seat for the parade, which started at noon. The high on Tuesday was 27-degrees!
http://www.joeappelphotography.com
I find it a privilege to be able to document in pictures the day when a couple enters into marriage. Family is the most important thing we've got and a wedding strengthens and enlarges those ties. It's a day filled with emotions and beauty and I approach it with reverence as well as a sense of humor.
My way of working is unobtrusive. After all, it’s your day and you are the center of attention. Couples are often surprised by the many candid moments in their photos given the fact that they really didn’t notice that I was taking their picture.
That's the essence of photojournalism. It's a philosophy and a way of working, not just a style of shooting pictures. I tell clients that once they become used to my presence they'll find that they and their guests will go about their day without being concerned that their photo is being taken. That's when the best "moments" reveal themselves.
As a photojournalist it’s my job to tell the story of your day. From the time you prepare, to the ceremony, and through the reception I’ll be there to capture the memories you will treasure forever. In addition, I’ll work with you to get those important portraits, and photos of the wedding party and your family.
Unlike many photographers who claim to be wedding photojournalists, I am a working photojournalist. I do it every day and have been since 1992. My work appears daily in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and has appeared in many magazines and newspapers including: Rolling Stone, USA Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Palm Beach Post, the New York Daily News, the ABA Journal, Highlights, Motorcyclist, Road Racer X, Sport Rider, Super Street Bike, and many others. My photographs have received recognition and awards on the state, local, and national levels.
