Sports Portraits

Some people go all out when they photograph an athlete's portrait. For some reason, I'm not sure if it's my photojournalism mentality of being a "fly on the wall," my set-up athlete portraits, never turn out as well as my candid athlete portraits. I have a long way to go to master the art, but it's something I'm considering, as I find myself working at it every now and again. It's true that in some situations a soft box or one little light might really make a good portrait, great. But at the same time, I take pride in knowing that the facial expressions or moments that I get in my candid portraits, happen out of chance - rather than me controlling the situation.

Here are a few recent ones:

May Brings People Outdoors

With May, comes spring and lots of opportunities for outside shoots at festivals and other events.  It seems at times that there is so much more going on when the weather is nice out, or at least there are more places to find people out. 

Here's a look through some outside shoots I did throughout May...using natural lighting at all times. 

Shooting Sports

A variety of sports in May has given me new techniques and a different range of images than football in the fall and basketball and wrestling in the winter.  I've been trying to take the time to look around and focus on all the aspects that are brought on by a sporting event.

Photos by Julie Koehn/The Gazette

The Conditioned Human

I've noticed in the last few weeks how conditioned humans are to smile when they see a camera pointed in their direction.  I'm not foreign to the concept, and I've definitely dealt with it before.  It just seems that lately there has been an overwhelming amount of tilted heads with smiles, facing my direction - ruining the moment that I kneeled down to capture.  

I remember when I first began doing photojournalism and I didn't know how to deal with this.  Many times I would run away and decide not to continue photographing that particular person.  It would always throw me off because as a photojournalist I strive to be "the fly on the wall" - capturing moments as they happen in front of my eyes and documenting them as they are - rather than having my presence be a factor in the photograph.

But the more I shoot, the more I try new tactics.  And a new tactic I've tried is to humor those who I am photographing by snapping a picture of them smiling. Sometimes that's all they need or want is for you to get a quick photo of them.  After that, they go back to their natural poise and you have all the freedom to move around the room and they don't acknowledge you for the rest of the shoot.   

Other times, however, it's a little more tricky - especially with children.  They are programmed to pose for a camera - it's all their parents ever say is "Say Cheese." OR I've even heard parents yell at their kids for not looking at the camera.  So in these instances I either try to talk with the people I am photographing and try to get them comfortable with me so they will go about their daily lives.  Or I'll sit there and let them smile at the camera... Believe it or not, EVENTUALLY people do get tired of cheesing it up - and in seconds a moment can unfold in front of your lens. 

A few days ago I photographed a story about the Wellington Heights neighborhood in Cedar Rapids.  A portrait of someone smiling at me would not have worked in the context of this photo shoot...and even though I tried explaining that I wanted pictures of them hanging out on their porch, like they had been when I came up to the front lawn, I had to humor them for awhile before I eventually got the moment that I was hoping for. Luckily, I had found a great group of people.  The kids had a lot of fun with it, and I did as well...which made it a lot easier for me to be patient and wait for the shot that I was seeking.  Take a look at the steps I took before getting the moment that I was waiting for.

At this point they were done posing for photos...but they were still paying more attention to me than I hoped for.

And finally they had a moment that had nothing to do with me standing off to the side holding up a camera. I was pleased.  This is the photo that ended up running in the paper:

Updated Portfolio Needed

I'm in the process of editing down/selecting new photos for my portfolio.  I have included several in this blog post.  Any feedback/suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.  My current portfolio can be found at http://juliekkoehn.wordpress.com.  If there are any that should be pulled, I would like to know that as well.  Also, if you'd like to know more about the photos or the story that goes with them, just let me know - I put a brief description by a few of them for the sake of context, but full captions go with all of them. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

National Day of Prayer - in attendance were also athiest protesters.

Portrait of a Photographer 

Long Jumper

Vigil for a man who was run over by a car in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  

He passed away a few days later. 

Woman walks away from her flood-damaged home as it's being demolished.

Woman watches as the home she grew up in is demolished.

Woman who was on the verge of being homeless shows her uncertainty of the stability in the life she leads after having to move several times in the matter of months

 in the aftermath of the flood.

Man is the last person on his block after the flood of 2008.

Haiti victims receive goods from the Salvation Army.