*Grand Central Terminal. NYC. Sept. 24, 2007.

This is an image I've wanted to make for a number of years, so after arriving by train on a warm September morning, I popped on the 10.5mm fisheye and made a few frames on RAW. -cg.

"Details, details, details..."

It's the details that sometimes get to me. It's nice to occassionally "get in close." Real close. -cg.


West Point, NY. September 2007.


HIV/AIDS Advocate. Newburgh, NY. August 2007.


White Plains, NY. July 2007.


Harlem, NY. April 2007.


Gardiner, NY. February 2007.


Senegal. November 2006.


Asuncion, Paraguay. March 2006.


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. December 2005.

"The Picture...." Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007. 4:12PM

Army tight ends Mike Evans, #88 left, and Justin Larson, #80 right, leap to celebrate Larson's game winning touchdown catch to defeat Rhode Island 14-7 in overtime of their game in Michie Stadium at West Point on Saturday, September 8, 2007. Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

*It's a little more than just a typical "Jubo" picture. The two Army tight ends jumping to chest bump after Justin Larson, #80, right caught the game winning touchdown pass in overtime about says it all. It was also head coach Stan Brock's first collegiate win. Did I mention how hot it was on the field...?

-cg.
"Go early. Stay (very) late. Get the uniform dirty..."

The Picture Story.

Domestic violence. St. Genevieve, MO. 1991.
*this is the story that started it all for me. -cg.


Late nights with the Seaside Heights, NJ Police. August, 1993

Nothing means more to me than investing the time to document a story. The whole process of researching, making initial connections with a subject, and finally beginning the processes of actual shooting and editing can usually lead to something magical. Doesn't matter if it's in Ethiopia, South America, or Kenya working for a client, onboard the Trans-Siberian Railway on a personal self-assigned trip across Russia, or around the corner documenting an HIV/AIDS advocate on another self-assigned project I'm currently working on. With the improvements of digital image editing software and web-based slide-show applications like SoundSlides, final projects are easily shared with worldwide viewers via the web. As a photographer with a strong passion for observing the everyday and the "everyman", I really gravitate toward telling simple and concise stories that bring the viewer "inside..." When I attended the Missouri Photo WorkShop way back in 1991, that one week challenging master class changed my philosophies on documentary photojournalism. The class structure and faculty did everything as advertised - it made photographers think. It taught me how to spend all the time I needed to get close to a subject and gain their trust. Something I will continue to do in my personal as well as professional work.

-cg.
"Go early. Stay late. Get the uniform dirty..."

here are images from a few of my favorite picture stories, with links back to the stories:


AMMAN, JORDAN. An Iraqi mother watches as doctors and support staff with Operation Smile treat her child at the Jameel Tatonji Hospital in Amman, Jordan on Monday, April 24, 2006. An Operation Smile team of international medical volunteers were in Jordan from April 20-29 providing free medical evaluations and reconstructive surgery to Iraqi children suffering with facial deformities. This marked the third mission during which Operation Smile medical volunteers have worked in Amman to treat children from Iraq. Operation Smile Jordan, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Jordanian Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, has organized missions providing surgeries to more than 700 Jordanian and Iraqi children since 2000. Operation Smile of Norfolk, VA has provided free facial reconstructive surgery to children and young adults in 30 countries the last 24 years. © Chet Gordon / THE IMAGE WORKS
www.flickr.com/photos/chetgordon/sets/72157594265485556/


ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA. An orthopedic patient tries on new orthopedic shoes and leg brace received from the charity Cheshire Services Ethiopia at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday, December 1, 2005. © Chet Gordon / THE IMAGE WORKS
www.flickr.com/photos/chetgordon/sets/72157594266402166/
www.chetgordon.com/group_details.asp?group_number=014&offset=0


IRKUTSK, SIBERIA. RUSSIAN FEDERATION. Train passengers onboard the Trans-Siberian Railway buy omul fish and other food products sold by villagers from the Lake Baikal region near Irkutsk, Siberia on Thursday afternoon, June 16, 2005. Lake Baikal is famous for it's tasty omul fish. © Chet Gordon / www.chetgordon.com
www.flickr.com/photos/chetgordon/sets/72157594334755206/
www.chetgordon.com/search.asp?searchfield=trans-sib&Submit=search
www.fotogblog.com/2005/06/chet-gordon-trans-siberian.htm

*Recent Work or Just Having Fun Out in the Field...

*I just love it when the opportunity and creativity just flows & I get to make images like these:

Youngsters kept cool in the spray of a sprinkler at Audrey Carey Park on Liberty Street in Newburgh, NY on Thursday, August 16, 2007. Times Herald Record/CHET GORDON

Middletown, NY firefighters salute as a caisson bearing the casket of Chief Donald Kimble Jr. passes in front of Middletown Central Firehouse during a funeral procession in Middletown, NY on Saturday, August 11, 2007. Chief Kimble who died on Monday, was the Chief of the Middletown Fire Dept. from 1997-2000. Times Herald Record/CHET GORDON *(see my earlier post "Gadgets, gizmos, remotes, & what'chamacall-its..." on how I made this image with a remotely mounted Nikon D-1X.)


Jamar Lindo, 15 in background, drives to the basket during a shoot-around game at Fancher-Davidge Park in Middletown, NY on Wednesday, July 11, 2007. Watching from the court are Andrew Webb, and Jason Stephens, partially hidden, both 15, as seen through the legs of P.J. Plunkett, 7, seated on the bench. Times Herald-Record/Chet Gordon

*this is from a quick take the other day dodging late afternoon raindrops where I was assigned to find people doing something on the most boring Sports day of the Year. (during the MLB All-Star Game break.) this image didn't make the paper, BTW.

On Photographing Sports. or hey, "These are Really Good Seats...!"

*Touching home plate at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY on Thursday, October 21, 2004. The Yankees were defeated by the Boston Red Sox in Game #7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) the night before. The Red Sox now advance to the World Series.

As long as I can remember & ever since I've wanted to be a 'pro-photographer', the glamour of photographing sporting events has remained high on my list. I mean, I was one of those kids, like countless others, who used to cut out images made by the big name guys at Sports Ilustrated and Sport Magazine. I would very carefully crop & edit the images to be scotch-tapped to my bedroom wall as a young teenager. I started photographing sports when I was in high school on the NJ Shore. Even processing and printing small black & white images to give away or even sell to the varsity athletes. My small prints even included a hand printed, "Photo by..." on the back. Growing up in Newark, NJ and then the NJ Shore, my father instilled a deep appreciation of professional sports, at least from the fans' point of view. He always made it a point of taking me to pro baseball & basketball games. I grew up an avid fan of the NY teams. Having played three sports in high schoool and even while in the military, I was a decent athlete, with profound understanding of the games. People have commented that I'd be a good coach.
Fast forward to today. After almost 20 years in the news business, I've been privledged to have photographed a MLB World Series, 2 NBA Championship Series, countless US OPEN Tennis tournaments, as well as NFL games, major college sports and everything else in between, from Little League Baseball to various individual and team high school sports. Basically, in a nutshell - Shooting Sports (for me at least) can all be looked at the same way. Sometimes you only have to get "A picture." Little leaguers in action on a Saturday morning, or gymnasts in competition during a weeklong sports festival. But when it's the World Championships of whatever, then you're expected to get the "The Picture." You know, Michael Jordan pumping his fist in the air after hitting the game winning jumper in overtime. "The Picture" is an image of the game turning event or the star of the game at his best. "A Picture" or a few good ones are now being combined as a web gallery and carry the visual story. That's what I find myself doing a lot of lately, but still work pretty hard to be prepared, should a game turning moment present itself. Sports photography incorporates all aspects of editorial image making. Obviously capturing peak action is of prime importance here. use of high shutter speeds and "long glass" is a must. 300mm, & 400mm f/2.8 lenses are commonplace. I'm really using a 300mm with a 1.4X tele-extender a lot lately. There are also wonderful opportunities to make well thought out & produced portraits of athletes, coaches, officials, management personnel and even the hot dog vendor at the big league ballpark for a feature story when called for. I also find sports picture stories an invaluable tool in the story telling approach to my documentary work.
Here are a few recent favorites as well as some made through the years with accompanying explanation and anticdotes to follow.

Nowhere more than when photographing sports is my work slogan more appropriate:

"Go early. Stay late. Get the uniform dirty..." -cg.

New promo cards.

I've been printing my own promo, holiday & even party invitation cards myself for years. here's a few new designs. cards are 5"x5", so they fit nicely as a CD cover to send out my work, or in custom envelopes. -cg.

*Graduations 2007.

"Or, how I worked my tail off photographing a boatload of graduations the past few weekends, including covering 5 ceremonies in less than 24 hours this weekend...

-cg.
"Go early. Stay late. Get the uniform dirty..."























*each image here will link back to my Flickr page, highlighting more of my graduation images.