Demolition Derby Video

When my friend Ryan Horn asked me if I wanted to come watch him compete in a demolition derby I knew it was a great opportunity to do an interesting video. Horn has been doing derbys for years and is actually in the demolition derby video game Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. I followed him as he fixed up his car and later as he competed in the Arizona State Fair. If you ever get a chance to see a derby live, go. It's a blast.

Pat Shannahan

Hockey Fisticuffs

They never fight when I cover hockey. Last night was a nice exception. I ran down to the press room to transmit my images after the first period. My deadline was 8:30. After I got my initial images in I went out to see what more I could come up with before deadline. Shortly after I got back to my shooting position Phoenix Coyote Paul Bissonnette and Montreal Canadian Jay Leach decided to duke it out. I rattled off a few frames and headed back down to the press room to send them to the photo desk. I got the photo in with a few minutes to spare.

Click here to read the story about last night's game.

Pat Shannahan

www.patshannahan.com

@pshannahan on Twitter

Swimming

Shooting swimming can really be a challenge, especially if you are shooting the freestyle events. The nature of the stroke makes it hard to see the swimmers face. I made this image while covering the local high school state championship swim meet last weekend. It was made just as he was coming to the surface after diving in at the start. He ended up winning his race.

Pat Shannahan

www.patshannahan.com

@pshannahan on Twitter

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

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

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.

Click here to see the interactive version.

Pat Shannahan

www.patshannahan.com

www.stepintoaz.com

@pshannahan

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

For a while I have wanted to make a portrait of my wife's grandfather. Over the weekend I was able to the make this portrait of him with my Mamiya C330. I could tell he wasn't too sure about having his picture made. After four frames he was done. He's really in interesting man. Throughout his life he's worked in the boiler room of an aircraft carrier, raised bees, been a truck driver, and organized unions. I always find his stories interesting because each time he tells one, he adds new layers of detail. 

Pat Shannahan

www.patshannahan.com

www.stepintoaz.com

@pshannahan

Photographing Arizona's Wine Country

AZ Wine Country - Images by Pat Shannahan

These are my favorite pictures I made for a recent story about Arizona's wine country. We went to vineyards in Arizona's Verde Valley as well as vineyards in Sonoita to the south. For me, the most interesting part of working on this story was meeting the wine makers and seeing the work that goes into making wine. In Sonoita, we walked through Todd Bostock's vineyards at sunset sipping Dos Cabezas wine made from the grapes that surrounded us. In the morning we photographed Dick Erath walking though his vineyard outside Wilcox as workers harvested grapes. He started the wine industry in Oregon and is bypassing retirement to experiment with making wine in Arizona. In Jerome we hung out with musician Maynard James Keenan of Tool in his Caduceus Cellar. He is teaming up with Erik Glomski of Page Springs Vineyards to make Arizona Stonghold wine. These photos will be part of a AZ Mag edition dedicated to Arizona's WIne Country. We are also planning on creating a wine page for the travel section of AZCentral.com.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan
www.patshannahan.com

Taking the Canon G10 Underwater

Swimming - Images by Pat Shannahan

In an effort to try something new, I borrowed a coworkers Canon G10 and underwater housing to shoot photos for a story about the Chaparall High School girls swim team. In the past, I have shot underwater photos with a Nikonos underwater film camera where you have to focus using the distance scale. The underwater housing allowed me to compose the picture and follow focus using the screen on the back of the camera. The buttons on the housing allowed me to easily turn the flash on and off when I needed it. The waterproof houseing I used was the Canon WP-DC28. I went into the assignment planning on shooting everything RAW. I figured out after the fact that the camera was set to Large JPG. I was surprised at the quality. Not bad for 400 ISO on a point and shoot.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan

Ramadan Class

I made this picture while photographing a class at the Phoenix Metro Islamic School, in Tempe, Ariz. The kids were learning about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The boy in the picture kept teasing and playing around with the girl sitting behind him. She on the other hand, was not pleased with his silliness. I thought it was a fun, playful moment.\

Pat Shannahan

Longevity

Doctors at the Sun Health Research institute are finishing up a study looking at longevity and what things people who live long healthy lives have in common. Recently I had the chance to photograph several patients participating in the study. I photographed 92-year-old Doug Morrill as he did his daily weight lifting exercises and 106-year-old Catherine Mehan. The common factors the study found that led to healthy lives are: good diet and exercise, active social networks, ability to overcome hardships, and religious beliefs.

Click here to read the story in The Arizona Republic.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan

Havasupai Waterfalls, a Year After the Flash Flood of 2008.

Havasupai Falls - Images by Pat Shannahan

They almost don't look real. The shades of aqua blue and green look like they belong more in a swanky resort pool than in the Grand Canyon. One resident of the Supai village told the reporter I was with, that tourists have asked about what time of day they turn off the waterfalls. You can hardly blame them, but this is all Mother Nature. Disney couldn't do a better job.

I backpacked into Havasupai with Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner to work on a story about the condition of the area a year after a major flash flood in August 2008 forced more than 400 people to evacuate. The tribe closed the area until June 2009 to repair the damage to the trails, bridges, cemetery and campground. The flood rerouted Havasu Creek away from Navajo Falls, leaving it dry. It made Fifty-Foot Falls bigger and created a new waterfall that is temporarily called Rock Falls. Water now only flows from one of the channels in Havasu Falls. Mooney Falls, which is taller than Niagra Falls, now has a larger swimming area.

In addition to still images, I also shot some 360-degree interactive panoramic images that you can see on AZCentral.com.

So you can get an idea of the power of one of these flash floods, I included a video I found on YouTube of Havasu Fall shot during the flash flood by AOA Adventure Tour Company guide Jon Opem.

Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com

www.patshannahan.com/panoramics

www.stepintoaz.com
@pshannahan

Earp/Holliday Mustache and Beard Contest

Earp and Holliday Mustache and Beard Contest - Images by Pat Shannahan

It was a proud day for facial hair. Men young and old came from all over The Valley to show off their chops, soup strainers, and Wyatt Earps in the Earp-Holliday Mustache Contest at the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction. The contest was part of AJ's celebration for National Day of the Cowboy. What a collection of characters. I set up a white background and lights and tried to make portraits of all the contestants. Everyone had their own style. Some were dressed in costumes, others came as themselves. This was so much fun to shoot. I tried to capture a bit of their personality, as well as the detail and texture in their faces and mustaches. Who would you have picked as the winner?

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan
www.patshannahan.com

Saying Goodbye--- Troop Deployment

Troop Deployment - Images by Pat Shannahan

On Thursday I photographed the Phoenix-based 3666th Support Maintenance Company as they deployed to Iraq. I grew up an Army kid. While my dad never had to deploy to war, I do remember what it was like for him to leave for weeks at a time to go on maneuvers. On this assignment I tried to concentrate on capturing moments of families saying goodbye.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan
www.patshannahan.com

360 Degree Interactive Kayaking Photos

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SET OF 360 DEGREE INTERACTIVE PHOTOS FROM GLEN CANYON

The Colorado Rive is well known for it's white water rapids and rafting trips that can take several weeks to finish. Most people don't know that there is a place near the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River runs smooth and calm through towering canyons, and you don't need a permit to enjoy it. Just north of Lees Ferry, where the Colorado River rafting trips through the Grand Canyon start, is Glen Canyon. For $40, Colorado River Discoveries will take you and your kayak up-river from Lees Ferry to the Glen Canyon Dam. From the dam it's a 14-mile trip back to Lees Ferry. The trip can be done as a day trip or as an over night camping trip. My friend Chris and I decided to take our time and camp at one of the six camping spots. Each campsite has a bathroom and fire ring. We stayed at a spot that was on the south side of Horseshoe Bend, which we had seen the previous day from the top of the cliffs. In the morning, the calm water reflected the cliff walls making it feel as if I was gliding on top of a mirror. It was several hours before we encountered any other people. One of the thing I like about this trip was that we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Other than the occasional tour or fishing boat we didn't run across many other people. The roughest water we experienced was the wake from passing boats.

For more information about activities at Glen Canyon click here.

Step Inside the Tovrea Castle

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of photographing and exploring one of Phoenix's most interesting and mysterious buildings, the Tovrea Castle. Most people from The Valley know it as the house shaped like a wedding cake near the 202. The castle has recently be renovated by the City of Phoenix, part of their plan to open it up to the public. Over the past several months I have been playing with taking 360 degree photos. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to take people inside, before it is open to the public, and allow them to look around. The link below will take you to 5 interactive panoramic images. The tour starts outside the house and then take you from the basement up. The highlights are the basement and the top floor. The basement features tunnels that lead off to the surrounding garden, a textured ceiling, and a walk-in vault. The top floor is surrounded by windows and has a great view of the Phoenix Valley.

We will have a story soon in the paper about when it will be open to the public. When the story is online, I'll update this post with a link.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PANORAMIC IMAGES

Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
@pshannahan twitter

Tied to a 400-lb. 'heart,' man awaits new wonder

400-lb Heart - Images by Pat Shannahan

These images are from a photo story I am working on about Charles Okeke. In the fall, doctors removed his ailing heart and replaced it with a Total Artificial Heart. The new heart is powerd by a 400-lb driver that must go everywhere with him. For the past 340+ days he has been trapped in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant or for modern medicine to find an answer. There is hope that the company that makes the heart he currently has will get permission from the FDA to try out a new artificial heart system that weighs 12 lbs. If he is able to get that he will be able to leave the hospital and live at home with his wife and three children.

To read our story in The Arizona Republic click here.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahantwitter
www.patshannahan.com

Man Sentenced for Crash that Killed Officer

Yesterday I photographed the the sentencing of Salvador Vivas-Diaz for the manslaughter death of Phoenix Police officer Shane Figueroa. Vivas-Diaz crossed the middle line and crashed into Figueroa as the officer was responding to a call. his blood-alcohol level was 0.24, three times the legal limit in Arizona. The judge sentenced him to 16 year which was the max for this case. Over 40 uniformed police officers filled the courtroom. I made this image of officers reacting as the prosecution showed imags from the crash and from officer Figueroa's life on large monitor in the courtroom.

Shooting in court is always a challenge. Normally you are positioned in the back of the courtroom. Everyone talking is facing away from you. Photographers are also required to put their cameras inside a cloth blimp to dampen the sound of the shutter and to put there camera on a tripod which make it physically awkward to shoot. Courtrooms are always dark which makes it a challenge to make pictures without movement. I like this picture because I think it shows the emotion that the officers had in the courtroom that day.

To read the story on AZCentral click here.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan
www.patshannahan.com