26 March 2011

REWIND - Images from the Archive.

NAIROBI, KENYA. Kenyan train passengers at the Nairobi Railway Station on Monday, February 2, 2004. © Chet Gordon/THE IMAGE WORKS

REWIND - Images from the Archive.

A showcase for some of my favorite images here on the blog that aren't particularly in the working portfolio. Look for this occasional feature where I'll highlight a single image that's meant a lot throughout my career. Enjoy. ~cg.

*To see my previous posts of this ongoing retrospective, click HERE.

24 March 2011

John Moore of Getty Images talks about working in Egypt, Bharain, and Libya the last 6 weeks.


*listen carefully at the 2:40 mark when he arrives in Bharain from Cairo, and proceeds through Immigration, only to have his cameras and computer equipment seized by Customs officials. He still manages to purchase camera gear (A Canon Rebel body & "cheap lens") as well as a another laptop in a shopping mall to accomplish the assignment... ~cg.

23 March 2011

"Back from the Dance..." Glens Falls, NY 18 - 19•March•11

Brendan Miller (#21) of Burke hangs on the rim after dunking in the fourth quarter of their NYSPHSAA Class B Championship game against Potsdam at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, NY on Saturday, March 19, 2011. Miller had 19 pts. and 9 rebounds as Burke defeated Potsdam 62 - 52. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Returned to Glens Falls, NY this past weekend for the NYSPHSAA Boys Basketball Championship Tournament. Four games in a little over 24 hours. My packing list of gear again included 5 camera bodies, lenses ranging from the 10.5mm fisheye (which unfortunately went unused) to the 300mm f/2.8AF, and a few other focal lengths in between. Four Dyna-Lite Uni-Jr. monolight strobe kits. Numerous Pocket-Wizard radio transmitters & receivers. Two complete sets of Manfrotto Magic-Arms, and enough Super Clamps to securely install all the lighting hardware, as well as a remote camera (left) up in the rafters for Saturday's Finals games. This would be the third remote camera I'd installed in three different venues in the last three weeks as well. The assortment of tools, gaffer's tape, black cine-foil and all the other odds and ends like a quick trip to a drug store on Saturday morning to purchase more AA batteries, and the usual various gizmos I need to have close by for this type of coverage. One game on Friday night went into double overtime.
It was the third year in a row on this early Spring weekend I'd trekked to the ancient arena in the Adirondacks for multiple game coverage of our local boys HS basketball teams that have progressed to the tournament. Not as hectic and demanding as last year's game coverage where I had five teams in the mix; although this year's preparation, installation of arena strobes and a remote camera, editing and transmitting of images on extremely tight deadlines for two nights in a row, and then breaking everything down on Saturday night after midnight proved to be just as challenging. Not to mention leaving the arena after 1AM Saturday night and arriving home at 6AM Sunday morning.


It was also good to see one of our local school's win their first championship game, as last year they came up short in a real heart-breaker.
Here's a broad take on my weekend's coverage of the four games:

14 March 2011

"The Future of Photojournalism..."

Two icons in the world of PJ (David Burnett & Kenneth Jarecke) whose work I've admired throughout my career, share their thoughts on the future of "the craft..." (best if viewed in full screen). ~cg.

09 March 2011

"March Madness is (finally) Here...!" March 2011.


More like "Maddening..."

Newburgh players (L - R, in blue): Parish Canty (#15), Antonio Harper (#2) and Dominique Jacobs (#11) reach for a rebound with Mount Vernon defenders Givvion Jones (#22) and Jabarie Hinds (#55) during their Class AA Regional Semi-Finals game at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. Mount Vernon defeated NFA 72 - 49. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

*My take of just this past week's work from seven games at various college gyms and the Westchester County Center down in White Plains, NY. Stay tuned. ~cg.


04 March 2011

"You Don't See This Everyday..." Shokan, NY 3•March•11

It was a bitterly cold one yesterday. Temperatures were in the teens when I left my apt. for the 1+ hour drive deep up into Ulster County. Spent about an hour this morning on the frozen Ashokan Reservoir near Woodstock, NY one of the main reservoirs here in the Hudson Valley that feeds into the NYC water supply system. Today it was to witness a NYC DEP (Dept. of Environmental Protection) police strategic patrol unit during an ice-rescue training session on the reservoir. The officers, their superiors and our reporter gathered onshore were all encouraging as I donned a buoyant vest and clip-on traction devices over my work boots. The team of rescue officers in their buoyancy suits were agreeable when I suggested that the better images (and video) of them going through their rescue routines would look much better if I could get on the ice and sort of look back at at them, as the scene was horribly back-lit in the bright sun. No way could I have made anything nearly as good with the white snow on the far shoreline and the ice acting as a serious reflector to the mid-morning sun - particularly when viewed from the shoreline. One I was accompanied out on the ice, which I was told was 10" thick, the rescue officers ran through a few scenarios and I had enough images and a few video clips in ten minutes. Much to the relief of the big-wigs onshore. I remember the crew telling our reporter that the water temperature was 38ºF, and a victim would become lethargic in 2 minutes, and would expire in 10 minutes under such extreme conditions. Brrrrr....!!! ~cg.

DEP Police officer Chuck Chapman (left) portrays a victim as fellow officer Paul Dwon (right) crawls on the ice to rescue him during an ice rescue training session by the DEP Police on the Ashokan Reservoir in Shokan, NY on Thursday, March 3, 2011. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

DEP Police officer Chuck Chapman uses hand ice picks to pull himself out of the frozen Ashokan Reservoir during an ice rescue training session by the DEP Police on the Ashokan Reservoir in Shokan, NY on Thursday, March 3, 2011. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

01 March 2011

"What a Week for Pictures...!" Feb. 22 - 26, 2011.

I haven't uttered these words for quite a while it seems, but while closely examining last week's work, it truly was "A Week for (Good) Pictures..." A couple of extra-early wakeup calls - I'm talking the 4:30AM kind on Thursday to get moving on the coverage for the slain Poughkeepsie police officer's funeral across the river. (Needed to be in the neighborhood of the church by 6:30AM as the authorities were closing all the access roads into the village, about an hour from me), and the following day up again early to head to Albany for the first rounds of the NY State Wrestling Championships at the Times - Union Arena. That morning's drive turned out to be nearly 4 hours in what usually is less than two hours, due to heavy and wet snow falling right through the morning rush hour. Saturday proved to be fun too, as I got the assignment to photograph our Div. III women's college basketball team (left) here in town, as they handily won their conference championship. It was fun to work with multiple cameras during the week fr both sports & news assignments, with my usual wide range of lenses, as well as installing multiple camera strobes (right) for the HS & college basketball games. This week marks the beginning of the sectional playoffs for HS basketball with the majority of the games played up at SUNY New Paltz (A college gym I'm very familiar with for installing arena strobes and even a remote camera or two throughout the tournament hosted up there.) Now onto HS playoff basketball tournaments beginning this week, and hopefully continuing through the third week of March - should any of our local teams advance through the state tournament and into the finals up in Glens Falls, NY. ~cg.

Here's a look back at the week that was, February 22 - 26, 2011: