*For Gil...

"Winter in America."

It's been a week since musician Gil Scott-Heron has passed away at 62. Heron was certainly much more than a poet and songwriter whose infectious tunes just had a way of staying with you, even after nearly 30 years. He liked to call himself a "bluesologist" and I'd heard in one interview he said, "I'm just a piano player from Tennesee..." I'd written about his passing last week here on the blog, including the article that appeared in The New York Times. Listening to radio programs, reading some of the other testimonials to him and listening again to some of his past interviews, it is time to post this multimedia piece which I began putting together about six months ago. All the images were made here in Newburgh, NY, encompassing my coverage on the streets the past few years, although I'd had the soundtrack in my head for much, much longer.

I've wondered what Gil would think of the piece utilizing his words & music, but just a day or two ago I realized he'd already seen it - all over this country. ~cg.

*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.

*"Back on Track..." (or why I still get juiced shooting sports.) June•2010

There's still something sweet about arriving early to a venue, knowing you're there working a big game, no matter what the sport. Throw in some of these newer stadiums and arenas where even local high school games are contested nowadays, and when weather conditions are favorable - it's just about nirvana for me. I've written quite a few posts on this blog the past few years about (my) sports photography and have tried to highlight a lot of the intricacies on what I go through in preparation, the gear and supporting hardware I utilize, just about everything I try to do and work to accomplish in a routine manner in covering games, if you will.

The past few weeks have sort of meshed together with game coverage of HS baseball state tournament games, HS track & field state championships outside Binghamton, NY (another 18+ hour day, but who's counting), HS lacrosse state playoff games a few weeks ago at Middletown HS (top photo) and Thursday at media day & practice (I stayed later) for our local professional minor league team, the Hudson Valley Renegades - where even the simplest of images of a couple of bats in the bat rack (right) in their empty dugout sort of has meaning. It's another image that can be used anytime in conjunction with a baseball story.

Beyond all the talk, notes, diagrams, remote cameras, radio transmitters to trigger those cameras, fancy lenses and do-dads, finger-crossing, silent meditative chanting, and bubble gum chewing I could ever do, I wanted to again emphasize that making good sports images, no matter what level of play, requires an innate amount of concentration, attention to detail, and probably most of all - a working knowledge of the game. It all began for me eons ago, probably way before I gave much thought about being a professional photographer. Because way "back in the day..." I was a pretty decent ballplayer, and to this day understand the minutiae of sports and fine sports photography. In fact, I almost crave it...

Here's a slideshow highlighting recent sports work where I've brought out the small strobe kit again for team headshots of the Renegades baseball team during their media day (right), added a 2x tele-coverter to the 300mm for the pole vaulter warming up on the runway (above left), and laid on my belly a few times for low angle images for action & feature images around the ballpark or track. Still not one to be ashamed about getting a little dirty on the job. "Cheers...!" ~cg.
*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. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button. There is no audio track with this presentation.)

*Homage to Kingston & NFA Basketball* - Final Take. April•2010

"...Baby, I'm from New York... Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, There's nothing you can't do, Now you're in New York..." -Alicia Keys.

NFA vs. Middletown. Kingston vs. Minisink. Mix in the possibility of a Newburgh - Mount Vernon rematch in the NY State Quarterfinals at West Point's Chrystl Arena in mid-March. What a season it turned out to be photographically for me. Throughout the season, even a mere reference to any of these teams would elicit a wave of excitement from fans, players and even we in the media covering these kids. Names like McLeod, Henderson, Coffey, Castro, Dolson, Pooley and even Nick Smith at Middletown on the floor, just about guaranteed a night of first rate HS basketball. The high school basketball season that ended a few weeks ago was one of the most memorable I've ever photographed. Period. Probably just as exciting as covering Newburgh Free Academy's run to their first state title and of course Will Bouton's last-second, game winning heave from beyond mid-court to beat rival Mt. Vernon last season. (Click here to view the video the paper produced after that game and Bouton's miracle shot.) That all could've just as easily been 10 years ago now in news-cycle time. Besides, it was all about winning everything last year - so you almost became accustomed to the jubilation, high-5's and frenetic fans in all the gyms and arenas I'd worked then. Fast forward to this season for both the Kingston HS girls and NFA boys. Both were destined to have back-page headline stealing seasons. Kingston senior guard Rachel Coffey (right) deserves her own slide show here on the blog, as I can't conjure up enough adjectives to accurately describe her game. I think I read somewhere she picked up the nickname "Lady A.I.", after NBA guard Allen Iverson, replete with her own tattoos and all. She is easily one of the top 20 athletes at any level that I've photographed in my career and that alone is saying quite a lot. I've witnessed and photographed top ballplayers like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, an even Elton Brand throughout his high school career over at Peekskill HS, his college days at Duke, and right into the NBA in his rookie year with the Chicago Bulls. In a simple comparison of pure athletic ability, talent and sheer hard work - Coffey is right up there with the best of the best. Knowing that this was going to be her last season in high school proved to be a sentimental year for me in photographing the Kingston Lady Tigers, as she and other teammates like Charlise Castro and Ariana Parker would also be graduating this Spring. On the boy's side of the hardwood if you will, state champion Newburgh Free Academy was touted not only by our sports writers but by other publications as a potential repeat state champion. So what did they do in the first weeks of the season? They landed standout guard Devon McMillan (left) as a transfer student from Uniondale HS on Long Island - whom NFA had defeated in the state tournament last year en route to their title. That move alone had the whole state literally talking about Newburgh basketball all season. It was all going to be some year for photographing basketball, particularly the big marquee games. Couldn't forget about the big girl over at Minisink Valley HS. Stefanie Dolson (at right) earned a full ride to UCONN, she was named a first-team McDonald's All American, and she was itching for another opportunity to knock off Kingston and Rachel Coffey in the sectional playoffs prior to the state tournament. Coffey had also accepted a scholarship to Syracuse - so who knows, maybe these two young ladies from the area will continue their rivalry on NCAA courts in the Big East.

For the better part of the last two seasons, the names Castro, Kell, Coffey, Parker, and Longto up in Kingston along with Henderson, Bouton, Cousar, McLeod, Johnson and transfer student McMillan here close to home at Newburgh Free Academy have meant something to me. Making images like these reinforces why I continually work as hard as I do - particularly in fully strobing gyms and utilizing remote cameras for those added extra camera angles, especially at the big games during the playoff tournaments.


*With apologies to Alicia Keys and her "Empire State of Mind (Part II) - Here's an edited look at my take on both the Kingston girls and NFA boys seasons - including their sectional playoffs and state tournament games (boys) up in Glens Falls, NY. ~cg.

*(Use the arrow at the bottom left of the player or click the image to start the slide show. Enable full screen viewing by clicking the 4-way arrow icon above the captions button at lower right of the player. Pause the portfolio slideshow in the right column by clicking the "II" pause button. Remember to turn up your volume.)

"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.

Eid al-Fitr Prayer. 1•Oct.•08

Last year on this day I photographed the first Eid al-Fitr prayer in a new mosque here in the Middletown, NY area. Wanted to revisit that piece here again: -cg.


*(Click in the text above or click the arrow at the lower left of the player 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. Remember to turn up your audio for the 5-minute piece. -cg.)

*"The Greatest Story Never Told (Sold)..."

Personal Work. NGO volunteerism. Self-assigned projects. Whatever you want to call these initiatives that we photojournalists undertake throughout our careers, I wanted to again look at one of my ongoing projects that I'd previously posted to the website last year, and figured it was now time to post it here as well. In combination with my longstanding volunteerism with clients Operation Smile and Americares, as well as a few personal trips back to Africa, this is a piece I put together to highlight some of those images. Working anywhere in Africa means the world to me - so hopefully this piece w/ audio will give you a brief idea of my love affair with the continent. -cg.


*(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. Remember to turn up your speaker volume as well.)

*Personal projects...

Now that the software for producing multimedia pieces for the web have become much easier and user friendly, I'm going to occasionally add some of my personal projects here on the blog. Who knows, I may just get around to doing a VO (voice-over) slideshow or two discussing my equipment & shooting style for various assignments, editing work flow, location lighting, or even where my fav places are to eat in the tri-state area.
In all seriousness, I put this piece together last summer with a woman I'd met on an earlier routine assignment here in the neighborhood. Listening to people describe their own everyday work & concerns is basically how I sort of "tune-in" and find a lot of my personal projects. This is one where we hit it on all cylinders right from the beginning. -cg.


*(Click the arrow at the bottom left of the player 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. Remember to turn up your speakers, or plug in a set of headphones if you have them. )