2015: Year in photos (oh, and welcome to this site!)

In 2011, I started Journographica, a blog dedicated to journalism, visuals, and visual journalism in as many forms as I cared to blog about. It was primarily aimed at my journalism students (I used to teach journalism at Stony Brook University) and it offered buying advice, shooting tips and other news and information on the industry.

Sadly (well, happily actually) a baby and a new job has forced that blog into hibernation. The baby for obvious reasons, the new job because of the perceived conflict of interest of working for a camera company.

(Disclaimer: The opinions on this blog are purely my own and not affiliated with or representative of Canon USA in any way)

And so with that out of the way, here’s an attempt at something else – a blog dedicated solely to photo technique – I’ll be carrying over my photography guides from Journographica in a bit, but in the meantime, I’ll start with something I’d occasionally do over there – take stock of my year in photography. In later posts, I’ll go into how I created some of the more elaborate images, for anyone interested in the technique. Also, please pardon the construction dust. I’ll spruce up the design later.

I started the year at an airport (I didn’t realize just how much time I’d spend at these things) – on a last trip for my old job, teaching a workshop on mobile photo/video for scientists to communicate their research. Before starting the workshop (which took me to Florida), I snagged a photo of the old TWA terminal:

And since I was at the workshop talking about mobile photo/video, I thought it would only be appropriate to include a mobile photo shot here, from when I was at the workshop. I was walking from one building to another during a shoot when a flock of seagulls pounced, and I decided to shoot them with a fisheye lens:

I also won an award for a photo this year! This one took second place in the “Take your best shot” contest at work – they made a large DreamLabo print of it for the wall and there was some money involved. Very cool. That’s me on the docks in Ronkonkoma for this shot:

The first trade show I worked for the company was the NAB Show in Las Vegas. It wasn’t just the first trade show I worked, but also the first time I checked out the Valley of Fire with some coworkers:

Fire indeed.

Though as cool as that one from the desert was, the picture I’m most proud of this year was definitely this one:

After that, I hit the road again to visit Portland for a Canon #BringIt event, where we shared photo tips at a venue we took over in the city. I’d post some cool photos of Mount Hood and such, but really, the best part about the city was its food, much of which looked like this:

July was a busy, busy month (Little man turned 1!), but I also got to spend it doing what I love – teaching! First a shot from time spent with Canon interns at the Bronx Zoo:

And then later on in the month, I spent a few days coaching the Robert W. Greene Summer Institute for High School Journalists, a program to train future generations of Long Island journalists that I have been involved with in some capacity for six years now:

And then it was off to London:

To see these two fine folks get married:

And then back on the road again so San Diego, where I was lucky enough to catch this one from the plane:

And while out in San Diego, a trip to Lake Cuyamaca late one night to attempt (somewhat successfully) star trails:

Brooklyn was my muse for September, when I reshot one of my favorite bridge photos with a new skyline and much newer tech:

And also photographed another inspiration – famed photographer Louis Mendes, seen here at Brooklyn’s Photoville show:

Of course, nothing beats my favorite muse, my son. Here’s his picture at 15 months old in October. I could make a whole post full of pictures of him!

And what’s a picture of the son without an outtake from the session?

Also in October, I got back to the Fall Workshop in Syracuse to coach students there in photography. This workshop was such an important part of my development as a photographer that it’s a great feeling to give back and help the next group of students grow in the same way. This year, a student that I coached as a basic photo student a few years ago won an award for her work as a senior in the program now. Amazing progress on her part. On the first day of the workshop, a rainbow opened up in the sky at dawn – a good sign:

And finally, I found an old photographic friend in December – twice I went out to Montauk Point to do some photography (one was for work, the other was for me) – they had some great lights adorning the lighthouse before Christmas:

Which unfortunately they took down after Christmas:

It got pretty cold to get that last shot.

Enough for now, but stay tuned (I hope) for more, and keep an eye out for more photography guides on the way.