One of the lead images from the overnight of March 7, 2012 earned me a first place in the NPPA’s (National Press Photographer’s Association) Monthly News Clip Contest for March. Amazing that I’m probably going to remember that date, as it’s the late night, and subsequent following two days’ coverage of the fatal shooting of a 22 yr. old man by city police here in my town. You can read the original post about the night by clicking HERE . I’ve posted the slideshow again below. If memory serves, the above image was made about 1:30AM, when the reporter and I arrived at the hospital to witness the victim’s relatives reacting after learning of their loved one’s death. We began working the scene together a few hours earlier, and well into the wee hours of the morning, and the following 2 days as well. Another one of those spot news moments / big neighborhood news stories I’ll recall in my career for a long, long time. ~cg.
Here’s what the judges said of the winning image:
Judges’ comments for the category
1st: Compelling, emotional moment. Perfect spot news photograph that captures the reaction as opposed to the carnage. Photographer worked this situation very well.
2nd: Technically a superb image in which the photographer took a risk to view this from a different angle.
3rd. Quirky photo. The content of this image made it stand out among the rest.
Dave Ellis, Director of Photography Suzanne Carr Rossi, staff photographer Peter Cihelka, staff photographer Tom Rothenberg, freelance photographer
Recent Work. May 2012
A few favorites from the day job in the last two weeks or so: A morning visit & mass by Cardinal Timothy Dolan at a Catholic high school in our coverage area, followup of a devastating house fire, Special Olympics at West Point, a big high school girl’s lacrosse game between two rivals, and the family of Jermaine Paul – the local singer who won the show, “The Voice.” ~cg
*(Remember to): “Always Look Both Ways…”
ASUNCION, PARAGUAY. Toddler known to be infected with congenital syphilis, peers into the entrance of the Asociacion Cultural Justicia y Verdad (Association of Cultural Justice and Truth) on Friday, March 10, 2006 in Asuncion, Paraguay. The shelter is run out of a renovated auto garage, where volunteers provide showers, administer health care, simple meals, and classroom activities to some of the hundreds of homeless street children that panhandle and clean windshields for money on the neighborhood streets of the capital city.
I have been a photographer for a long, long time. Probably 3/4′s of my life now. I “chase pictures” and will subject myself to an occasional hushed ridicule on the street to make an image in my mind’s eye a reality. I realized early on in my career that a good picture is a good picture. Particularly when a well respected and experienced photo editor or colleague tells you so. There is no wiggle room, nor should there be any. Doesn’t matter who shot it and with what brand-name, high-end equipment used to create it. What makes a good image and how can the image possibly elicit a reaction from the viewer? That’s it. There are no big secrets here. Countless working photojournalists bust their butts day-in and day-out to produce imagery that represents a subject matter in a truthful way. Photographs – especially editorial photographs aren’t solely produced to accompany the words on the printed page – and nowadays on a website or blog. Most, if not all imagery can stand on it’s own and appeal to viewers. An intelligent viewer or consumer of quality photography realizes it and so all this has got me thinking a lot of different ways lately. This is exactly why I’ve included the famous B/W image “Walk to Paradise Garden” (above left) by photographer W. Eugene Smith. An eloquent, yet simple image made in 1946 by a photographer who many consider to be the originator and master of the picture-essay. Since you can’t possibly see the faces of the two children walking away from the photographer, I’ve often wondered would such an image even be considered for publication by today’s picture selection thought process. When I saw this recent cover of Time Magazine (right) with three U.S. Presidents walking away
from the camera, I started rethinking my own work. Certainly there had to be a serious discussion in the Time-Life building on their picture desk in running this photo, and particularly on the cover of the magazine:
Here are a few of my favorites throughout my career that aren’t necessarily about who the subject is, and definitely not what they look like. Some are taken from multiple image picture stories. These images are more about the feeling in the image, sort of an examining the flow of composition and such. Yea, that’s it. Composition. Light. Recognizing nice moments… ~cg.
“The Device…” April 2012
Added an Apple iPhone 4s to the personal arsenal recently, as sort of an early birthday present to myself. This little handy device is already changing some of my ways of thinking along the lines of daily & even instantaneous communication ~ with the usual features like IM, email, iTunes, web & calendar access and a few other fun apps. One such app that is blowing me away is Instagram. Although it’s primarily a free site for users of mobile devices to post their photos (sort of like a FaceBook for photographers), quite a few pros are using the site to promote some of their best work to an even broader international audience. Being a longtime user of Apple products throughout my career, this addition was literally a no – brainer.
I’ll be writing more about it’s features and functionality as I incorporate into my everyday workflow. It has a pretty amazing 8MP camera too, which in itself is really something cool. And uh, yea, almost forgot – it’s a cellular telephone too…
Here’s a quick slideshow of what the iPhone and an app like Instagram can do. A few older portfolio images are in the beginning, included with newer images actually shot within the last week or so on the iPhone (the last three are with the iPhone.) All the images were processed in Instagram. ~cg
2012 NCAA Final Four Basketball Court
A nice piece by USA Today staff photographer Jack Gruber on how the basketball floor for this year’s NCAA Final Four Tournament is produced, shipped and installed in the New Orleans Superdome.
“The Sweet Science…” Newburgh, NY 26•March•12
NEWBURGH, NY. Twenty-one year old fighter hits a heavy bag during a workout at the HOOK Elite Boxing Club in Newburgh, NY on Monday, March 26, 2012. © www.chetgordon.com
NEWBURGH, NY. Young fighters hit the heavy bag during a workout at the HOOK Elite Boxing Club in Newburgh, NY on Monday, March 26, 2012. © www.chetgordon.com
NEWBURGH, NY. Young fighter takes a break after hitting the heavy bag during a workout at the HOOK Elite Boxing Club in Newburgh, NY on Monday, March 26, 2012. © www.chetgordon.com
NEWBURGH, NY. Twenty-one year old fighter shadow boxing in the ring at the HOOK Elite Boxing Club in Newburgh, NY on Monday, March 26, 2012. © www.chetgordon.com
High School State Championship Basketball. Glens Falls, NY March 2012
“Hoop Dreams Shattered in a Game of Inches Played 200 Miles from Home…”
My thoughts on covering the New York State HS Basketball Championship Tournament last weekend, March 15 – 17, 2012. Finally getting around to recapping my weekend (albeit shortened) up in Glens Falls, NY for the state basketball championship tournament. We had two teams from our coverage area up there playing in their respective “Final Four” Semi – Finals games last Friday. The trick for me to handle the tough scheduling of the games (first game between Livingston Manor and Madrid – Waddington at 11:30AM and the marquee game for us, Burke Catholic against Watervliet was an 8:30PM tip off, with Burke Catholic looking to repeat as the Class B state champion no less.) For me that meant hopefully getting to the arena night before (Thursday) to install my set of full arena strobes and try to get a good night’s rest before the long day on Saturday. This trip would mark the fourth time I’ve covered the tournament up there, so I’ve become pretty familiar with the logistics of the old arena about an hour north of Albany. As it turned out, I made it to the arena around 7PM (right on schedule) on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised that the venue was still
set up for hockey. In fact there was some sort of organized league playing through the evening. Once I ran into the head of maintenance for the building, he couldn’t have been nicer after I explained to him that I’d been coming up for the tournament the last few years and would like to install my strobes that night. He asked for specifics and I remember thinking he was just testing me to see if I truly had worked in his building like I said I had. We exchanged barbs throughout Saturday about who spent the most time in the ancient hall. That’s another part of the business – building relationships that allow you to make the kinds of pictures you need to. Or at least want to.
“On the road again…” 15 – 17 March 2012
I am in Glens Falls, NY for another weekend of the Boys HS State Championship Tournament. Here’s how the trip began yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. Stay tuned.
And Friday night for the Burke Catholic – Watervliet game at 8:30PM… ~cg.
Remote Canon 5D-MKII w/ 70mm – 200mm f/2.8AF mounted in the mezzanine seating during the NYSPHSAA State Championship Tournament at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, NY on Friday, March 16, 2012. The rig is fired by Pocket-Wizard Multi-Max syncing with a full set of Dyna-Lite Uni-Jr. 400 strobes to light the arena. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record
“Anatomy of a Shooting…” Newburgh, NY March 2012
“Sometimes my heart doesn’t quite believe where my eyes have taken me….”
From the first call from our reporter late Wednesday night, to the literally out of control press conference at City Hall on Friday morning – things have been sort of a blur for me the last few days working this story here in Newburgh. The shooting scene is approximately a half mile from my home, on the same street in fact. Yea, another major story I’m immediately drawn into here where I live. I know these streets, even at all hours of the night. I know some of the individuals involved such as the neighborhood clergy, police officials and even the city politicians. This one isn’t pretty and certainly won’t be wrapped up and all cut and dry when a thorough investigation is completed. The police shot and killed a neighborhood kid here after recognizing him on the street and apparently chasing him into his sister’s apartment. The inner city community is upset and rightly so. Although he had a warrant for arrest against him for missing a court date on a domestic violence case, and quite a few “priors” (arrests), there just doesn’t seem to be any justification for two of the four officers from the anti-crime unit here in town known as the “Jump-Out Boys” to fire multiple shots at close range and kill him. Initial stories are also stating that he “lunged” at the cops with a 12.5″ kitchen knife, so they had no choice 
other than to use deadly force, subsequently ending his life. Another side factor in my coverage is that as long as I’ve been in the business covering the streets and major crime stories and the like; I’ve never been invited into the scene where a fatal shooting has taken place. Doesn’t matter who the shooters were or anything dealing with the particulars of the case. I’ve covered a lot of emotionally charged cases and have been around death throughout my career. It was just all very eerie to be invited inside by the family to witness and document a site where a man was gunned down by police less than 24 hours earlier. I have a feeling this one isn’t going away so quietly anytime soon… ~cg.
“There are no words…” Newburgh, NY 8•March•12
Cherry Lembhard (27) views the blood stained floor where the fatal shooting of her brother took place inside 55 Liberty Street in Newburgh, NY on Thursday, March 8, 2012. Michael Lembhard (22) was shot and killed in a police involved shooting in the apartment late Wednesday night. CHET GORDON / Times Herald-Record
