Monk

77-year-old monk Palden Gyatso adjusts his robe at a march to free Tibet that traveled across the Midwest. In a march for Tibet's freedom, supporters walked 185 miles from Madison to Milwaukee. Among other reasons, they walked for the release of The Panchen Lama, to boycott China's goods and for democracy in China.

This was a very hot day towards the end of summer and I followed the walkers from Whitewater and through Walworth County over two days. This photo was during the second day and the group had stopped for a rest just North of Elkhorn on Highway 67. I was debating whether to take off or stay a little while longer while they rested and then take a few more photos. I decided to stick around a while longer and see what photos presented themselves to me.

The lighting was very nice once I got a base setting; I switched to manual mode to fine-tune the settings. I was watching the group and the monk was to the left and behind me when I noticed him getting up and taking off his top robe. He then swirled it around and by the robe's second time around, I just pointed my camera and started taking photos. I was sitting on the ground and tilted my camera up--shooting without looking through the viewfinder is a signature style of mine. When I do this style of photography, I do check the photos and then look through the lens but sometimes I shoot first then look, which is what I did here and got this image just as the monk covered up.

He was listening to someone speaking which causing his head to turn and he spread his arms spread out which gave the rode a nice flowing motion. I like the way the yellow undershirt,the red robe and the green trees in the background complement each other in this photo.

Fight

This photo was taken during Ozzfest at the ground stage in July; it was hot and dusty.

When shooting concerts, you are typically in what they call the Photo Pit. It's about 4 or 5 feet in front of the stage where photographers and video personnel can move about and get photos. On the other side of that is a barrier that separates you from the crowd. Sometimes it is a wood barrier, or a plastic fence; at Ozzfest, it's a steel gate, and with thousands of people pushing their way towards the stage, I am glad I am on the photo side. With all these people, in the hot weather, fast hyper music, and a little moshing going on, tempers get short, unintentional pushing and shoving happens, and when the body passing starts, the tiniest thing can push a person too far. It can get edgy and argumentative fast.

In this instance, I was up against the stage and the security guards were behind me. When a body is getting passed, the guards grab them, bring them over the gate and escort them out the side. A guy was pushed over the gate but as the guard came to escort him out he turned and tried to punch another person in the crowd. Instead, he back-handed the guard. It happened very fast with not much time to react. When all this happened, I was shoved forward and raised my camera up so it wouldn't get crushed against the stage. My ribs got bruised but better that then the camera. As I raised my camera up I figured I might as well get a shot of all the commotion so I just shot away. It was a good thing I had on the 14-mm and the spot meter on center.

The next day, I was reviewing the photos and saw that I had gotten this shot. If I hadn't taken a chance and just instinctively hit the shutter, this photo wouldn't have turned out which is something that only experience can bring.

Bus Rescue

Whenever police and fireman are at a scene of an emergency , things can get a little tricky. They are doing their job and want everyone to be safe; however, I need to get the photo of the emergency. I always try to stay out of the way and know where I am at at all times. I am always looking around to find a place close enough to get the photo but also stay out of the way and be inconspicuous.

This was a bus crash in Lake Geneva during the cold winter months. It happened right downtown resulting in the street being blocked off by police. Not only was I to photograph the scene but I also needed to shoot video, so in one hand I had my SLR camera and in the other the video camera.

By the time I had gotten to the accident, the yellow tape was already up and I was standing outside of it, but I was able to get some nice tight shots with both cameras. I walked to the other side of the street and as I was walking, there was a section where there the tape ended; I walked a little closer until I was where I wanted to be. Staying out of the way and looking like you belong there really pays off, and I was able to talk with the rescue personal and get some good photos.

As I was turning around, I had my camera to my side as to not bring attention to it. This firemen was escorting a parent with her child coming from the bus and the child was all bundled up and going to be checked out by the rescue squad. There was a second line of yellow tape which I couldn't get beyond but I didn't need to be that close and with this image I had what I was looking for. I hate to linger around during photos like this. The longer you are their the more someone wants to get you out of there, so I shot what I want and got out. Sometimes I have to wait a little longer to get what I want but once I get my shots, I am gone.

This photo had what I wanted: the fireman in the front right, the mom and child in the middle and the bus in the background telling the observer what had just happened without relying on a caption to tell the story.

Chopping Snow

This was at the Lake Geneva Winterfest snow sculpting competition. The contest lasted from Wednesday to Saturday with judging taking place on Saturday afternoon. The sculptors work night and day to meet the deadline and come up with some great works of art.

It was cold when I took this photo but it's Wisconsin so you have to expect that. My camera tends to move slower the colder it gets so I keep it in my coat to stay warm. This photo was at the beginng of the 4 day event, so the blocks of snow were still rather large and unformed. The artists trim them down with axes, saws and assorted blades.

This sculptor was using an axe and positioned on top of the snow. He knew I was below him and taking the photo and he warned me to watch out, but I wanted an images that would be different from the norm, so I set the camera on auto and held my camera at arms length and aimed it up. His first swipe at the ice block felt really close, so I left the camera in the same spot wanting to get another photo. This time I was too close the axe came down and just nicked the lens shade on my 14-mm lens and then the blade went into the snow. The sculptor released it and asked if it was okay. The camera was full of snow so I wiped it out and didn't really look at the lens but was looking at this image on the icy screen. I told him everything was fine and thanked him for his concern. It was not until I got back to the office I noticed the cut in the lens, but the lens held up and worked fine.

This was very dangerous and pretty stupid on my part. I have a tendency to act first then worry about the consequences later. I liked the lower angle of the photo and the axe handle leading up to the guy. The snow flecks spraying from the cut and raining down added to the motion of the sculptor. If I had the chance to to this again, I would.

Media Swarm

This photograph was taken during after a weekend shooting that left six people dead, including twin baby boys in a murder-suicide committed by the father. I was up in the Dells with my wife Robyn on our wedding anniversary over the weekend. Neither of us had cell reception while in the Dells but as we made our way home, the signal kicked in. I checked my phone and had messages about the shooting which had happened the previous day. Luckily, Week editor Dan Plutchak was aware of the shooting and got photos of the scene; most of my photos were from two or three days after the shooting but there was still quite a bit of commotion going on.

News outlets from all over the Midwest region were camping out in front of the crime scene day and night. After one of the police briefings, a family member of the murdered victims came out to talk to the press.

As you can see from the photo, all of the reporters and video photographers swarmed in on her to get any little bit of info that they could use for their publication or news show. I was in the back of the crowd when all of this took place. I held my camera up and got a photo or two with her in front but everyone their was getting the same photo.

In an effort to get something different, I walked to the back of the subject, held my camera up as high as I could and snapped a photo but it was horizontal and I didn't care for it. I then flipped the camera vertically and got this photo with her in the bottom of the image and all of the press surrounding her. I was probably in quite a few of their photos and I am sure they were not happy with me being in their shots, but the photo was different then anything the rest of the media got plus it maintained the subject's privacy which I don't think she minded. Finally, this photo really shows how much the media swarms in on a hot story.