The 2011 POY - Pictures of the Year. *(full version).

"The 50..." OK, so another year in the business is in the books. Fondly looking back at 2011, it wasn't such a bad year for making images, both for work and on my own self-generated & self-financed assignments. *(see: working vacations...) Bermuda. Kenya. My fifth Army graduation where the low-angle remote camera finally delivered the image I'd been chasing in my head for five years and three previous attempts, way too many games and / or general news events with multiple cameras & a super telephoto on a stick, as well as hauling around more full strobe sets to light HS & college gyms and medium sized arenas than I care to remember, installing a remote camera in the ceiling of an arena in White Plains in less than 15 minutes for a HS playoff basketball game, numerous video clips with the Canon 5D-MKII (which you won't see here yet, unfortunately), a few decent feature images and portraits. And the news; major snowstorm and Hurricane Irene followup coverage, the new governor doing his thing at Marist College, an FBI led pre-dawn raid (with temperatures in single digits) of suspected gang-bangers wanted for unsolved murders, a 23-year old shooter and his partner sentenced to life in prison w/o parole and the funeral for a Poughkeepsie police officer who was gunned down on the job. Here's how the best of my take on 2011 kind of shakes out. Again thanks for looking. "See you in the paper..." ~cg.

My 2011 POY. (Pictures of the Year.)

Yep. It's that time of the year again. The task of combing through one's archive for the year's best images and posting them somewhere out here in cyber-land for viewers to possibly notice, and hopefully appreciate. These are my six favorites that were made for work during the year. (We've been asked to submit only six for publication...) Remote cameras & arena strobes. Lenses ranging from a 10.5mm fisheye to a super telephoto ~ 300mm w/ a 1.4 extender for HS baseball and other sports. Going early and staying late. Some were fun. Some were difficult. A few were award winners. A couple made it into the updated portfolio slideshow in the right hand column here on the blog. All were challenging at different degrees for me, and are the culmination of the physical work, patience, attention to detail as well as the subject, and represent a mastery of the equipment that I try to employ in creating these types of images. *(Dripping sweat above the arena floor while hanging the ceiling remote camera for the overhead basketball image comes to mind...). The paper is going to highlight our staff photographer's best images on the website with each of us doing an audio voiceover, so I'll be sure to include those links here as well. I'll produce a more in depth slideshow of my personal and work favorites here on the blog in the next week or two. It was a good year for making images. Thanks again for looking. Stay tuned... ~cg.

Newly commissioned 2nd. Lieutenants toss their covers skyward in the traditional "hat toss" during Army's Graduation and Commissioning ceremony in Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY on Saturday, May 22, 2011. Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff delivered the commencement address as 1,031 cadets received their diplomas and were commissioned as 2nd. Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record *(Link to original post by clicking HERE).

A man shovels the sidewalk in front of his Liberty Street home in Newburgh, NY on Wednesday January 12, 2011. The third major snowstorm of the winter has blanketed the East Coast from Georgia to New England. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Newburgh Free Academy 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 *(Link to original post by clicking HERE).

Trevor "Little T" Mattis is led from Judge Don Willams' courtroom after an expletive laiden outburst in Ulster County Courthouse in Kingston, NY on Friday, May 6, 2011. Judge Williams sentenced both Mattis and co-defendent Gary Griffin to life sentences without parole in the shooting death of Charles "C.J." King Jr. in midtown Kingston last year. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record *(Link to original post by clicking HERE).

Livingston Manor shortstop Ken Fisk (#14) dives but can't make the play on a ball hit by Tim Steffens (#9) of Smithtown Christian during the fourth inning of their New York State Class D regional final at Pine Bush High School in Pine Bush, NY on Tuesday, June 7, 2011. Livingston Manor defeated Smithtown Christian 5 -3. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record *(Link to original post by clicking HERE).

A boy uses a smartphone to photograph exposed flames burning through the rear of a 3 - story house during a three-alarm fire at 488 Liberty Street in Newburgh, NY on Sunday, October 23, 2011. Nearly a dozen people were left homeless after the fire erupted in the multi-family home when a resident was cooking in a second-floor apartment in the rear of the building. All the occupants got out safely and there were no injuries. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

"Happy New Year & (finally) my POY..."

Glenda Hyde of Modesto, CA holds a graduation photograph of her son, then a 2nd. Lt. Daniel Hyde after his graduation from West Point in 2007. The Hyde family of Modesto, CA were at West Point on Sunday, August 8, 2010 for the Hyde Challenge presentations to the Class of 2014, which was renamed in honor of their son, 1st. Lt. Daniel Hyde, a 2007 West Point graduate who was killed in Iraq in March of 2009. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

The POY. (Pictures of the Year.) One of those abbreviations that a lot of photographers in the business truly dread. The mere mention of organizing one's images from the year just ended for the major contest entries in the business conjures up memories of sleepless nights, headaches, teeth gnashing, bloodshot eyes, rewriting of captions, major caffeine fixes, and way too much time at the computer. (Not to mention what it was like back when entering the year-end contests required either copy slides, prints and sometimes even the actual newspaper clippings of your best work during the previous year...) As I prepare my year-end retrospectives once again for publication, contest entries, other blogs & websites in the trade, as well as a new slide show folder as my screen saver here on the Mac, I began to realize that 2010 was a good year for making pictures.

Actually, it was all a VERY good year: Two presidents. A return trip to Haiti with less than 24 hour's notice from a longtime NGO client, to document the work of their volunteer trauma surgeons treating victims of the January earthquake. Graduations - both big and small; including my fourth ceremony at the United States Military Academy at West Point with President Obama delivering the commencement address. Another weekend trip upstate to Glens Falls, NY following HS State Champion NFA (Newburgh Free Academy) on their quest to repeat as the top HS basketball team in the state in their division. A return personal holiday to Bermuda. A two-page piece in Popular Photography magazine. Extensive coverage again of Army Football, including the first college game played at the New Meadowlands Stadium against Rutgers in East Rutherford, NJ and my fourth Army - Navy game down in Philadelphia. The continued use of multiple & remote cameras, as well as strobing arenas and gyms for sports - and working hard to continually refine those techniques - including the installation of remote cameras firing in sync with the arena strobes for basketball, wrestling and swimming. There were some difficult moments to document as well: The ongoing coverage and funeral of little Marc Bookal; the four-year old Newburgh boy who'd been missing since December 2009 - whose death was finally ruled a homicide. Coverage of more shootings, crime scenes, a major gang raid by the FBI at sunrise, more arrests, perp walks and homicides right here in my small city than I care to think about...

*But most of all and without question, the strongest photograph for me during 2010 came in meeting the parents of U.S. Army Lt. Daniel Hyde of Modesto, CA last summer (top image). I'd photographed then 2nd. Lt. Hyde at his graduation back in 2007 (at right), and had a nice frame of him in prayer immediately after the traditional "hat toss." It wasn't even an image I'd thought about, as the "hat toss" is the real money shot that sort of seals the day's graduation coverage for those of us covering the day. Any additional images are considered "B-roll" or in my own terms, "gravy." Well, long story short; Lt. Hyde's family had seen the image of their son on our website back then, contacted me, and we corresponded a few times via email. It wasn't until I learned that he'd been killed in Iraq two years later, that I felt an attachment to this Army family on the West Coast. Fast forward to summer training this past year for cadets at West Point where I learned that Lt. Hyde's parents, Glenda and Brian and sister Andrea would be at West Point in early August for the Hyde Challenge presentations to the Class of 2014. The Hyde Challenge ends summer training for the cadets and was renamed in honor of their son. Needless to say I'd made arrangements to work that Sunday, and to personally offer my condolences to them.

This is the a prime example of what it means to me to be a photojournalist - connecting briefly with people you don't know, and know nothing about, but by being courteous, respectful, professional and above all, a gentleman - you sometimes get to make a difference in someone's life with your work. You can view an earlier post on that day's coverage at West Point by clicking HERE. I will never forget the Hyde family of Modesto, California. Semper fi. ~cg.

My 2010 POY:

*(Use the arrow at the bottom left of the player or click the image to start the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the credits button at lower right of the player. This is best for viewing the images with captions. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button.)

"Recapping My 2009..."

*"Oh No, Not another look at a photographer's "Best of 2009" post out here in cyberspace...!"

Yea, I figured it was time to get around to sifting through my favorite 10, 20, uh, probably more like 40+ favorite images from the past year. Hey, It's my blog, right...? After a bit of teeth-clenching, sleepless nights, and laying on the delete key to whittle down my favorite 6 for the paper and then 10 to post over at SportsShooter, here are the images that truly meant the most to me in 2009. In all seriousness it was an extremely rewarding year for making photographs - and that's what all this is about in the first place, isn't it...? There were days where I couldn't wait to get out of bed - way before sunrise - to head out on the job. Shoot, there were a few long haul nights again last year where I didn't get to sleep at all (see: The Newburgh Bombers' Bust - Here.) or napped in the car after logging more than 1,000 miles for three days of coverage up in Glens Falls, NY for the HS State Basketball Championship Tournament games, including installing arena strobes & remote cameras alone. Worked assignments that routinely called for two, and sometimes three cameras (see: remotes for HS basketball and feverishly installed a remote for an unforgettable hot air balloon ride Here.) The highlight of the year for equipment overkill on one assignment was covering my third West Point Graduation & Commissioning ceremony in Michie Stadium, where I arrive with five cameras, and enough supporting gear to open a small curbside camera shop. Slipped away from it all in June to get the passport stamped again for a week in Bermuda. There were stories that touched me & grabbed my heart, and countless people who went out of their way to offer a kind word, share much needed laughs, hold a ladder, loan me gear, or put something in writing about the work. Continued the most basic mindset to be in the right place at the right time when I could - and probably more importantly, worked my butt off to be in that place to not only witness firsthand but to capture those oh so special fleeting moments that we as photographers live for. Realized again that it's not all luck at this level, and just as Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes told me in a lecture years ago when I was still pretty green in this business, "Luck is where opportunity meets preparation..." I never forgot that.

I trust that some of the following images in the click-thru slideshow will leave an impression on you as well. *(Click the image or the arrows at the bottom left of the player to manually scroll through the slideshow. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the captions button at lower right of the player. You can stop the small continuous slideshow in the right column by clicking the pause II button under that player.)

Here's the video again that the paper put together where sports writer Kevin Gleason and I talk about HS player Will Bouton's game winning 3-point shot with two seconds remaining, to knock off arch rival Mt. Vernon in the state playoff quarterfinals. (first two pictures in the above slideshow) What made these two sports pictures particularly sweet was that NFA went on to win the State Championship up in Glens Falls, NY. This game exemplified their full roster of talent, unselfishness as a team, and a picture I surely needed to have. Talk about being in "the Zone..."



I am already looking forward to the challenges of the new year 2010... Happy New Year & Don't touch that dial! -cg.

"Mr. Scalo..." HS Football POY. Dec. 2009

Monroe-Woodbury quarterback Dan Scalo is the Times Herald-Record's 2009 Varsity Football Player of the Year. (Middletown, NY). He's seen photographed in his bedroom of the family's Chester, NY home on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. Scalo ran for 1,569 yards & 20 TD's and threw for 1,143 yards & 13 TD's. Scalo was also the paper's Player of the Year in 2007, and was named NY State's 2009-2010 Gatorade Player of the Year as well. Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

Dan Scalo. I can't recall when a HS athlete was such a pleasure to photograph. Both on and off the field. I've seen a lot of them play throughout my career, including athletes who've gone on to play at major colleges and even the pro ranks in various sports. This kid's accomplishments on the football field were something to behold the past three years that I've been photographing him and the rest of the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders. Before joining the staff here at the Times Herald-Record, I had no idea of the "mystique" of MW football and their previous trips to Syracuse for the HS State Championship. I would eventually wind up in the Syracuse Univeristy Dome the last two seasons myself, following MW's consecutive runs at a state championship. All in all, this is a kid who brought it every week. I'm talking about a true "A-Game" player. Throughout last year and this past season he endured the effects of a surgically repaired throwing shoulder, but defenses just couldn't handle his running ability. For the record, he ran for 1,569 yards & 20 TD's and threw for 1,143 yards & 13 TD's. He was also named our paper's Player of the Year (POY) in 2007.

Our portrait session was made in his bedroom (not my idea) as I tried to incorporate a few props; a football, his Gatorade NY State Player of the Year trophy on the bed, and even put a third strobe on the Michael Vick poster in the background. Stripping the image into the 35mm film template held by my fingers was an additional idea I wanted to utilize, otherwise it might've just been a portrait of the kid in his bedroom... -cg.