Monday, October 26, 2009

5 Reasons to Hire a Photojournalist

I just read a really well written blog post by Andrea James about why it's a good idea to hire a photojournalist for a photo job. You can read her article here. The point I most agree with concerns a photojournalist's ability to capture moments. Being consistent in photography is like being consistent at playing a musical instrument. It requires daily practice. Newspaper photojournalist get daily practice at capturing moments. Who better to hire for a job when getting "the" moment is the main requirement.

Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
@pshannahan

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Shots of shots



On Saturday I photographed people getting their seasonal flu and H1N1 flu shots. This family of five got everyone vaccinated. What drew me to them was their son sleeping in the cart next to them. He was knocked out till it was his turn to get vaccinated. I was surprised to see that it was a three hour wait to get a shot.


Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan

Friday, October 23, 2009

New 360-degree Interactive Panoramic Photos


What I love about 360-degree VR photography is that it lets you put people in places they might not otherwise experience. This week I did a panoramic photo of firefighters practicing taking a whole side of a car off with the Jaws of Life. They gave me a set of turnouts and a helmet to keep the shattered glass on the seat from cutting me. I wanted to shoot it from inside of the car because of the interesting point of view it provided. This was a really hard pano to stitch because I had to shoot it using a monopod rather than I tripod. Keeping the camera in one place was hard wit them pulling and moving the car. Also, this was shot while they were doing their drill. They are not posing.

Click here to see the interactive version.


This is the second time I have made a pano at night at a fair. This time I wanted the pano to start out looking up at lights. This pano is made up of seven frames. Each exposure was around six seconds. The long exposures pick up the movements of the rides and capture the mood of the fair at night.


Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
www.stepintoaz.com
@pshannahan

Monday, October 19, 2009

Photographing the San Diego Coast


San Diego Coast - Images by Pat Shannahan
I have always wanted to try making some long exposures at the ocean. On a recent trip to La Jolla and Coronado I had time to give it a try. The first frame is a 4 minute exposure made in La Jolla, CA, shortly after the sun went behind the horizon. The long exposure allows the waves to turn to a surreal myst. The second frame was made on Coronado Island. It's is a 2 minute exposure made shortly before the sun came up. All of the black and white photographs were shot using a Mamiya C330 medium format camera. The color image was shot on a Holga. 

Thanks for looking,
Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
www.stepintoaz.com

My Holga on a Lonesome Highway in the White Mountains


There is just something about a camera with a plastic lens. These images were made with my plastic Holga camera and some Kodak 160 VC film. I really love the dreamy feeling a Holga can give an image. It makes photos that look like memories, a little fuzzy around the edges. These images were made up in the Arizona White Mountains. My Holga and my Mamiya C330 are becoming my favorite cameras for landscape photography. I really like the medium format negative the produce, and sometimes it just nice to use a fixed lens on a film camera. Having to wait to see the results is added fun.
Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
www.stepintoaz.com
@pshannahan  Twitter