By Seth A. McConnell

Kristina and I had the fortune of Photographing the Rush’s home opener today. Tomorrows paper will have two huge spreads with tons of photos (which is always music to a photographers ear). So we tag teamed the event so we could cover all of our bases. I managed to get in the tunnel before the start of the third period where I made the above photo. I almost missed it as I was facing the other direction making photos of the team giving each other high fives as they hit the ice.

Kristina and I put together a slide show of the game which can be found on the Journal home page or here.

Above the ground that is.

I had the opportunity to go up in the catwalk of the ice arena this afternoon to get a bit of a different perspective on the ice.

I’ve fallen in love with shooting really high angles as of late. It may have something to do with looking at a lot of former NY Times photog Vincent Laforet’s work. The obsession started with volleyball last week and has continued on to the new ice arena today. Although I was told that we probably won’t be able to shoot from the catwalk during games. Which is a huge bummer but maybe, just maybe, I can sweet talk them into it. Never hurts to have an open discussion about it. None the less, it is a beautiful facility with amazing light and should be a ton of fun to shoot in even if we can’t get those overhead shots.

One more overhead shot from last week.

-Seth

State tournaments make for some long days. I’ve only been here since 1 o’clock this afternoon, so I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. My fellow shooters put in the long hours today as well. But it’s 11 o’clock and I’m ready to go home, feed the dog, and hit the hay. I’m posting this photo because it didn’t fit into any sort of edit. And I seem to like this blog as a place for outtakes. The body language of this Philip player doesn’t say “win,” but I was having too much fun playing with space and this awesome red floor. Thank you to whomever opted for red. Best color ever. Good luck to all the girls tomorrow.

Photo by Kristina Barker

 

Photographing food can be a challenge. But with a little bit of back lighting, food can be made to look beautiful. This pecan pie was already gorgeous, but add the right kind of light, back light, and it pops.

Yesterday I walked around the courthouse for a solid hour, examining the lines and shapes and textures of the old building. I always like going to the courthouse because it reminds me of every other capitol-esque building I’ve been to. The sheen of the marble and the arches of the towering windows mirror the beauty of so many other city and state buildings from its time. To photograph it, I’d find a place that showed an interesting mix of the various lines and shapes, and wait for a person to walk by. You get a much better idea of the scale of things with a human shape walking through the frame. I’m sure many of you have been to the courthouse, but if you haven’t, or if you missed out on the incredible architecture of the building, take a walk through this awesome space.

By Seth A. McConnell

I made this image last Saturday of 2 year old Annabelle Hernandez in a motel room she is sharing with 12 others after a fire during the blizzard on November 6th forced the family from the tiny two bedroom house they were renting in North Rapid.

This image is an outtake that we decided not to run.

Its stories like this and the Wanblee story from Sunday that make me feel fortunate to have the few posessions I have, the roof over my head and the food on my table.

I’m not sure when this story is running but it will be in the next few days.

I may take the rest of the images and make a slideshow.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell

I love window light… absolutely love window light. (I think all photographers do but its not something that always comes into play in the way one hopes.) I’ve lucked out twice this week when shooting that the window played perfectly into the lighting.

I made this image on Friday. The story was about the city calling out a plow to make sure a woman in labor made it to the hospital to deliver her new baby during Thursdays blizzard. This was the grandma holding the baby so while the light played well for this image it didn’t get used because we were looking for an image of the mom and baby. This was shot during the interview.

I spent the day on Pine Ridge in Wanblee with residents who had to seek shelter at the local school during Thursdays blizzard. I made this image in one of the upstairs classrooms that was converted to a room for a family who had spent the last 5 days sleeping on a gym mat. The entire town was without power leaving the school very dark, luckily this room had a nice big window in the corner. I didn’t end up using this image either opting to use a wider shot that showed the mother, children, some of the supplies they had gathered on the table and the gym mat and blankets on the floor. It was a lot more telling of the situation.

I made the images from today into a slideshow which can be viewed here.

-S

This isn’t meant to be self congratulatory so please don’t take it that way.

When I started photographing homeless people 4 years ago I did so in hopes of putting a human face and story to an increasing social problem in America. To help people realize that everyone is human, everyone has emotions and feelings and should be treated that way. I wanted to tell the stories of how people ended up on the streets and explore the problems they have. I made a goal if I could help even just one person with this project it would be worth all of the time, effort and danger I put myself in to make these images and tell these stories.

I photographed a homeless man in Rapid back in August named Mark. He was the first homeless person in Rapid that I had photographed, the previous images I had made of homeless people were from around the nation and in Europe. These were the first images of a homeless person I had made in 2 years. I had bumped into Mark several times on the street and it was always a pleasant experience. He would beg for change and when I would tell him I didn’t have any he would say thank you and I love you man. I gave him the rest of a pizza I had one night and it was like a kid on Christmas morning the way his face lit up. He’s a kind soul and I knew at some point I wanted to photograph him.
I had a chance encounter with Mark as I was walking down Main St. in August. I don’t know why I felt compelled to make images of him that afternoon but I knew I had to. The light and location were perfect and having had past encounters with Mark I knew he was approachable.

I made several images of Mark (including the one above which was my favorite) and spoke with him learning a little about his past and how he ended up on the street. Mark smelled of booze and was obviously intoxicated as we spoke. When I made the photographs I told him I would try and get them in the paper as a part of one of my Monday All Angles pages. It took me a while but I did manage to get them in. I hadn’t seen Mark in a while when the images ran but I really hoped he had seen them. I kept a copy of the paper in my car just in case I had seen him on the street.

I bumped into Mark today as I wandered the streets hunting for features photos following yesterdays blizzard. He recognized me instantly and struck up a conversation. He showed me the new coat that was given to him by the people at Detox. He told me he kept the newspaper with his pictures in it in the new place he was staying. He was sober. He just kept thanking me for putting his picture in the paper and the positive impact its had on his life. I smiled and thanked him for the opportunity to photograph him.
Never in a million years did I ever think that I would end up making a positive impact in somebodies life by just taking a photo and sharing their story. Its the reason I took up journalism and shied away from working in a studio or doing commercial work.  I’ve never been so humbled by a moment in my entire life as I was this afternoon. I can only hope that these positive things stick in Marks life but only time will tell.