Tag Archive for 'Clip'

Migrant Death for Mother Jones Magazine

Published on August 31, 2010 in Uncategorized. 8 Comments Tags: Arizona, Clip, documentary, migrant, Mother Jones, project.

I have been stuck to my computer for days now scanning over 84 rolls of film from Italy. It is slow going. Very slow going. There are some images that I am thrilled about and others which I am quite disappointed. It will be interesting to put these images together. Unlike past projects of mine, which were more traditional documentary based, this project is much more subtle. No individual image can stand alone. There are landscapes, portraits, and hidden scenes. It is an experiment. Hopefully it works out. I’ll post as soon as I can.

Until then I am thrilled to share the clips from my migrant death and identification project which are featured in the current issue of Mother Jones Magazine. I am excited for so many reasons. Mother Jones has been a favorite magazine of mine since early on in my college days. Their in-depth investigative journalism is, to this day, a refreshing example of why I do what I do. Because of this, it has been a big goal to work with them and to finally see my work in the publication is really an honor.

Mother Jones was also the first publication I contacted for credentials almost two years ago for this project. I have to give a super big thanks to Mark Murrmann, the photo editor at MJ, who immediately made a pitch for my project and gave his support from the beginning. It is rare to find an editor who is so willing to fight for photographers. While my story wasn’t timely one year ago, it came back this summer and Mark was quick to call me when the magazine editors wanted to run a story. He fought hard to get extra space for the images and such a nice layout.

There will be a photo gallery on the Mother Jones website in a couple weeks. I’ll update when it comes online. Go and grab a copy of the magazine. It is worth it.

T. Boone Pickens in Fortune Magazine

Published on August 18, 2010 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: Clip, Fortune Magazine, people, Texas.

I came home to a nice surprise, finding an old T. Boone Pickens image with nice play in Fortune Magazine. I liked this image when I took it and was happy to see it find a home in publication. I originally shot it during an assignment for the New York Times, although they used a portrait.

The window shades in the background really made the photo for me. The tones of the downtown buildings in the background gave the image a nice 70s look. The moment isn’t too special, but the setting made up for it. Attached is another take on the same image…with a nicer moment.

Migrant Death & Identification for DISCOVER Magazine

Published on July 14, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: border, Clip, Discover Magazine, DNA, forensics, immigration, Migrant Death, science.

After a long six weeks of shooting, I admit it is nice to be lazy and relaxed in Sicily. I was hoping to blog more throughout May and June, but our schedule was so full I had little time to spend online. We ended up with over 40 hours of footage and about 85 rolls of film (of which are yet to be developed.) While the shooting went well, I can’t help but look forward to our return in December to get a few more scenes and improve upon the shoots I have already have (I am looking for light weight dolly options.)

On this day last sumer, I was returning from a pre-production shoot for Campania In-Felix (unhappy country), to continue on my Migrant Death and Identification project. I had spent about two weeks with the Border Patrol Search and Rescue team and had a good month left to spend in Southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. At that time, I had reached out to several editors with high hopes of selling the story. There was little talk of immigration throughout the press due to the economy and health care overhaul. I returned to Dallas in early September and received little news from editors for several months.

As I was preparing for my return to Italy in April, I was thrilled to receive a call from DISCOVER Magazine’s photo editor Rebecca Horne hearing they were going to run the story in their yearly Invisible Planet double-issue. I went back to Tucson for an extra four days of shooting and had a fabulous time getting to know Saguaro National Park and the migrant trails on more of a landscape based photo shoot. In the end, they ran a great eight page spread. Being a science magazine, the emphasis of the edit was science related and mostly used photographs of DNA and forensics. I haven’t seen the actual publication yet, but needless to say I was pleased with the layout.

I am still awaiting the website inclusion of the story and will be sure to update with a link as it comes. Until then, I will be doing little besides eating pasta and cannoli, as I skip rocks on the shore of the Mediterranean. I know…you feel bad for me, right?

Texas Hill Country Blue Bonnets and smiles

Published on May 16, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: America, Blue Bonnets, Clip, Escapes, flowers, Highway 281, Hill Country, Indian Paint Brush, iPhone, montage, NY Times, Texas, travel.

I had an amazingly fun assignment to drive down Texas Highway 281 and Hill Country for the New York Times Escapes section. There is nothing like an amazing field of Blue Bonnets to make smiles appear from nothing. Just love em. There are also Indian Paint Brush, Indian Blanket, Winecup, Black Eyed Susan, Daisies, and probably 15 others I am forgetting. Please let me know if you see any I did not mention.

There is nothing much to add beyond these bad ass flower pics…so I’ll just let you check them out. The Times ended up using a picture I took of a family feeding an Addax at Fossil Rim State Park. It is a cool place offering 1,700 acres of land for 1,100 animals to roam freely in large pastures. But…there were no flowers so I didn’t show them. I also had to shoot an iPhone Montage with it. I also included a couple other random snaps from the trip.

Crawford, Texas Post Bush

Published on May 12, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: America, assignment, Clip, Crawford, George W. Bush, NY Times, Texas.

As the spring comes to a close and the humidity of summer begins, I am less than a week from departing for Italy to continue production on Campania Infelix (unhappy country). Be sure to join the Unhappy Country documentary facebook page to get news on the project throughout the summer.

I have several updates to share before I leave, so I’ll just get right to it.

A month or so ago I drove down to Crawford, Texas to do a followup on the town after years of tourism and media frenzy surrounding President George W. Bush’s ranch. If you’ll remember, there were the Cindy Sheehan protests, which created the media circus in the first place. Bush was also known to invite world leaders to actually hold meetings in Crawford. The President’s presence in Crawford brought activists and media as well as tourists bringing money and numbers to this small country town.

New York Times reporter James McKinley was interested in what this town is up to after eight years of Bush. Apparently not much. Of the five memorabilia shops operating, only one remains. Crawford only has one main street…and several of the stores are no longer in business. One of the stores, The Yellow Rose, still houses all the memorabilia, only to see it collect dust.

“Yet long gone are the days when this town of 750 people played host to foreign heads of state or teemed with journalists, protesters and White House officials.

And as Mr. Bush has settled into a quiet retirement in Dallas, appearing rarely and seldom speaking about politics, so too has this town near which he spent his vacations in office.

He still comes to his 1,400-acre ranch on holidays and on some weekends, but he does not arrive with the thwap-thwap-thwap of helicopters anymore. He slips quietly through town in a black sport utility vehicle and leaves just as quietly, townspeople say. ”

What remains are the local people…who for the most part are obviously Bush supporters. There is the local coffee shop restaurant, and a new bank, and the sole remaining memorabilia store. Crawford, Texas seems to have returned to what it was…another small Texas country town.

The Times ran a cool little slide show of Crawford, Texas with the story and a nice clip in the paper.

Tea Party in Newsweek

Published on April 27, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: Clip, Newsweek, people, politics, Tea Party.

It’s been a few of the craziest weeks in the past year. There doesn’t seem to be enough time for anything. I am not complaining…I love it. It does mean that I am way backed up on my blog posts. I will have a several updates in the next few days before I head out to Naples, Italy for the summer!

In the mean time here is a funny clip from last week’s cover story on Texas Governor Rick Perry. I got a call from Lauren Steel of Getty Reportage (thanks to Ben Sklar), asking if I had photos of the Tea Party. I was super excited to hear Newsweek chose a couple to run in the magazine. While on assignment in Tucson last week I picked up the issue at the airport, full with anticipation, to see how the images looked. It had to smile when I saw the images ran about an inch long each…next to about 12 other images.I’m just happy to see my images make it into Newsweek…a goal I have had for some time.

Here is the clip, as well as the two images which ran (so you can actually see them.) Ha.

Texas Politics & Kay Bailey Hutchison for the NY Times

Published on March 15, 2010 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments Tags: America, assignment, Clip, Kay Bailey Hutchison, NY Times, people, politics, Texas.

Texas had its gubernatorial primary elections a couple weeks back. It was just the primaries, but this is Texas, and we all know no Democrat has even a chance of running this state. The Republican ticket sure got heated though as Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison sparred in a heated campaign. There was also Debra Medina making some noise, but she never really had chance.

I had two assignments in a week to cover Kay Bailey during the end of her campaign. She started strong and looked good in the polls until the last few weeks when she simply fell behind. She was pleasant enough as she shifted through the smiles and handshakes of a seasoned politician. Yet, you could see there was no drive left in her campaign. The tour bus made all the usual stops around the DFW area, resting at all-American cafes, retirement homes, and town-hall style Republican meetings. The other media and I only had access to one leg of the drive between locations, but that was more than enough time to catch Kay Bailey dividing her gifted cupcakes amongst her team.

I also shot the Kay Bailey watch party. Everyone pretty much knew she was going to loose, but the media attention was spectacular considering it was only the primary election. I must say, I am surprised the New York Times found such interest in state politics.The watch party was at Eddie Deen’s Ranch near downtown Dallas. It was very fitting for Texas…the walls are lined with western themed store fronts and the place has obviously hosted a line dance or three.

I do like politics.

***I would like to point out that I was mistakenly given credit for Ben Sklar’s photo of Governor Rick Perry in the sweet clip that ran on the front of the National section. I did take the other two.