Black Bear cub sighting at midnight. 30•April•11

Another late night phone call from my reporter colleague on the scene, and I found myself out on the streets again after midnight, this time photographing a Black Bear cub only a few blocks from my home. Well, I'm sure one doesn't see this kind of thing everyday... ~cg.

A Black Bear cub kept Newburgh Police and other law enforcement officers at bay for several hours in Newburgh, NY on Saturday, April 30, 2011. It is believed the cub wandered north from the Cornwall and West Point areas, seeking food and became disoriented in a neighborhood near The Foundry Condominiums. The animal was eventually tranquilized and safely removed from the area at approximately 2:30AM. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Good Friday thru the Years...

After covering my fourth Stations of the Cross processional on Good Friday here in Newburgh, NY, I thought of some of my favorite images from similar assignments and images made in other countries on this day... ~cg.

Esteban Guerrero of Marlboro portrays Jesus prior to walking the Stations of the Cross processional from St. Patrick's Church through the streets of Newburgh, NY on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. The Stations of the Cross commemorates the Crucifixion of Jesus. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Rev. Fernando Hernandez holds a crucifix during an interview after the Stations of the Cross processional from St. Patrick's Church through the streets of Newburg, NY on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Esteban Guerrero portrays Jesus as he carries the wooden cross past The Church of St. Francis of Assisi on Benkard Avenue during the Stations of the Cross processional from St. Patrick's Church through the streets of Newburgh, NY on Good Friday, April 10, 2009. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Esteban Guerrero portrays Jesus as he pauses with the wooden cross on Broadway during the Stations of the Cross processional from St. Patrick's Church through the streets of Newburgh, NY on Good Friday, April 10, 2009. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Esteban Guerrero as Jesus carries the wooden cross on Mill Street during the Stations of the Cross processional from St. Patrick's Church through the streets of Newburgh, NY on Good Friday, April 10, 2009. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

MOMBASA, KENYA. Parishioners carry a wooden cross into the Holy Ghost Catholic Cathedral after the Good Friday processional through the streets of Mombasa, Kenya on Friday, April 14, 2006. © www.chetgordon.com/blog

VENICE, ITALY. A nun walks through the streets of Venice, Italy on Good Friday, March 29, 2002. © www.chetgordon.com/blog

Two Photojournalists Killed in Libya Today. 20•April•11

For Tim and Chris.

MISRATA, LIBYA (April 20, 2011) – Academy Award-nominated photojournalist Tim Hetherington, 40, and Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros, 41, of Getty Images were killed today when they were hit during a mortar and grenade attack in Misrata, Libya.

I've closely followed and greatly admired Hondros' work for a few years; particularly his images made in Liberia during civil war fighting there in Monrovia in 2003 (above). I remember his work back then crossing my electronic picture desk almost nightly when I was a night photo-editor at the NY Daily News. He's probably best known for this haunting, iconic image of the crying Iraqi girl after American soldiers gunned down her parents at a checkpoint in Tal-Afar, Iraq in January 2005 (right):

This is a video interview he did with MSNBC back in 2007. Many of his icon images from Iraq, Liberia and Afghanistan are featured in the interview.

Tributes to Tim Hertherington from publications around the world can be viewed here on his agency's site: Panos Pictures of London. I also found this video he produced on his work, called Diary. What a wonderful collection of his work and a brilliant way to see what he's seen. If you want to see how good digital video shot with a DSLR can be, you owe it yourself to watch this piece... ~cg.

Diary (2010) from Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

Hetherington also produced the Academy Award nominated documentary film RESTREPO, and was a previous 2008 World Press Photo Picture of the Year winner for the image of an American soldier exhausted in a bunker in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan (bottom).

*Personal Work (re-edit). Paraguay. March 2006.

"These Children of the Street..."

It's never too late to go back and carefully re-examine your work and do a re-edit, if you will. Good images & good stories will stand the test of time. This brief multi-media story is a piece I'd shot on my own dime back in the Spring of 2006 in South America. I'd already spent a week or so for a non-profit client in Paraguay's capitol, Asuncion, when a few young NGO workers told me about this shelter primarily for street children, essentially run by a doctor out of her own pocket. When I finally made contact and began spending time in and around the shelter, I knew it was a story I'd want to commit as much time as I could to. It operates out of a former auto repair garage, donated to the organization by the landlord. Long story short - I ended up staying in the country for another three or four days to work on the piece, and that alone meant changing my return flight itinerary, additional fees at a brand name hotel across town, meals, transport, etc. Fortunately, I'd made a few new friends in the NGO world and a few even served as reliable "fixers." The digital recording voice over narrative with the doctor as she viewed most of my take on the Mac, was made just an hour or so before hustling off to the airport. It was just this past weekend that I've thought about shortening up the original slideshow, which meant moving images around again, and diligently editing out her pauses, "umms" and "errs" for the piece. Needless to say, some of the images of these children have haunted me since the trip... ~cg.

"The River..." Newburgh, NY 16•April•11

Earlier this week on Tuesday evening, a 25 year-old woman drove her minivan into the murky waters of the Hudson River here in Newburgh, NY killing herself and three of her four children. Her ten year-old escaped after he managed to roll down a window and literally swim to shore and flag down a car. He was then taken to nearby fire department HQ, where a massive search and rescue operation began. Unfortunately for me as a news photographer, I wasn't able to respond to this unfolding event right in our backyard so to speak, as that's the same night I was initially being treated for a severe medical condition which kept me hospitalized for three days. *(See "Don't Try This at Home..." below.) I promised myself that at some point when I was well enough to go out, I'd at least get down to the scene and pay my respects, and analyze the location and logisitcs of that night for myself... ~cg.

NEWBURGH, NY. A man views the toys and balloons placed among a candlelight memorial at the boat launch on the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY on Saturday, April 16, 2011. LaShanda Armstrong, 25, her sons Landon Pierre, 5, and Lance Pierre, 2, and daughter, Lainaina Pierre, 11 months, were killed when she drove her van into the river on Tuesday evening. Her 10-year-old son Lashaun Armstrong escaped through the window of the minivan and notified authorities at a nearby fire station. © Chet Gordon/THE IMAGE WORKS

" F*ck You. Pay Me." | Mike Monteiro - San Francisco, CA. 03•2011

2011/03 Mike Monteiro | F*ck You. Pay Me. from SanFrancisco/CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

Found this on the web this morning while home recovering (see earlier post, "Don't Try This at Home...") and wanted to make sure and share this talk with colleagues and friends in the creative world, particularly the working photographers I know. Designer Mike Monteiro of Mule Design in SF offers advice worth it's weight in gold to design professionals like us. Just simply substitute 'photographer' for his use of the world 'designer' in his presentation. *"Hey, it's my blog after all..." ~cg.

"Don't Try This at Home..." 12 - 14•April•11

I was diagnosed with a kidney stone after sudden and incapacitating pain in my lower back forced me to halt the workday on Tuesday afternoon. After quick thinking and solid health judgment, an ambulance was called to the scene and I eventually spent that night and the last two days in St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital, the local hospital here in the city. The stone, more like a rounded grape seed, with a few jagged edges, was removed from my urinary tract by natural means early this afternoon. For a few moments there I was mentally preparing to remain in the hospital for as long as necessary, and / or have the pesky foreign object removed by a urologist. Thanks to all the wonderful hospital staff - everyone from the ambulance personnel and first responders on the scene in a retail parking lot who transported me, to the housekeeping workers, medical interns, nursing staff on the ward, the on-call doctors in the ER, and of course the very patient urologist who assured me that this was a common occurrence and very treatable. Let's just say it's been a tedious and "tender" time around the ranch here the last 72 hours or so... ~cg.

Holding the 4mm kidney stone in a specimen cup after it was removed by natural methods from my urinary tract at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh, NY on Thursday, April 14, 2011.

"Clink...!"

#51. "It's been some ride so far..." ~cg.

A breakfast toast with my friend and fellow photographer Ivan Shapovalov of Moscow, in the dining room of a hostel for Russian Railroad employees in Irkutsk Siberia, Russian Federation on Wednesday, June 15, 2005. Ivan and I were just beyond the midway point of our 11-day journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway across the Russian Federation. © www.chetgordon.com/blog

www.chetgordon.com/transsib/

"Once a Marine..." Newburgh, NY 8•April•11

"Semper Fi..."

Angela Ryan (right) caresses the gloved hand of her son, Marine Sgt. Eddie Ryan during his separation and discharge ceremony from active duty at Stewart Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Newburgh, NY on Friday, April 8, 2011. Sgt. Ryan is the Ellenville, NY Marine sniper who was severely wounded in Iraq in 2003 after being shot twice in the head by friendly fire. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

"Untitled..." Kerhonkson, NY 2•April•11 4:48PM

I thought this image made this afternoon during an assignment in an old Catskills hotel now reduced to hosting a 3-day Rock 'N Roll Festival, kind of summed up my workweek, month and year so far... ~cg.

Concert goers and their pets during the second day of a three day Rock N Roll Resort at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson, NY on Saturday, April 2, 2011. The resort began the year more than $26 million in debt and had declared bankruptcy in an effort to avoid foreclosure. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record