Patrick Traylor's photoblog
Today I got up at 5 a.m. and met one of our sports reporters at the News at 6 a.m. and then drove 3 hours to the Kansas high school 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A state cross country championships in Wamego, KS. I shot eight races- girls and boys in four classes for not only the Hutch News, but also for the other newspapers in our chain. It was a long day, but at least the weather was nice.
Best,
Pat
An outtake from the other day.
Matthew Creed gets attention from two of Pat Tharp’s dogs while his older sister Julia (the focus of my assignment) meets the Tharp boys- Carlos, 10, and Marcos, 9, at their grandmother Pat Tharp’s home in Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon, October 29. After learning about the boys’ condition, Distrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa, Matthew’s sister organized a spaghetti dinner benefit to raise money to help the boys. The benefit will take place on Sunday, November 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Ave. F and Maple in South Hutchinson.
Cheers,
Pat
This photo was probably my favorite from in an assignment last week, but for a couple different reasons, it clearly falls into the category of an outtake, a photo that would normally never reach the eyes of our readers.
Last Saturday night, October 17, reporters Amy Bickel and Kristen Roderick and I went to do a story on the new Halloween attraction, The Forest of Horrors, near the small town of Elyria in McPherson County. Amy had arrived separately about a half an hour before us, and after getting lost and turning around several times, it was about 10:30 p.m. before Kristen and I arrived at the ticket stand. From there we met up with a group of fright-seekers and were taken on a hayrack out to the forest where we were told unspeakable terror awaited us.
I knew this would be a challenging environment to shoot in due to the fact that horror filled woods at 10:30 p.m. don’t usually contain a lot of light. I wanted to use my time sitting on the hayrack ride to experiment with different exposures so that by the time we were dropped off, I’d be ready to shoot and could keep the fumbling with buttons on the back of my camera to a minimum. After getting some spooky, blurry images of the tractor pulling us along, I turned around to try capturing some faces of the people on the hayrack. During this one-second exposure, the red taillight of the tractor pulling us along lit up part of one face with a ghostly red color. I still have no idea where the lights forming lines behind her came from, but they create a surreal sense of motion in an otherwise black frame.
I love this picture because it is completely unexpected from the context and plays with light, lines and color within an otherwise utter blackness. What makes this picture cool, however, is precisely why it is inappropriate for publication with the story. As a photojournalist, the photos I’m looking for are not only visually pleasing, but help tell the story of the subject I’m covering. Although this image does portray a somewhat eerie mood, it does not easily identify the Forest of Horrors experience. Secondly, the face in this picture is that of Hutchinson News reporter Amy Bickel, a fact that makes this photo unsuitable for publication with the story even if it did happen to accurately represent the scene.
This photograph is a great example of an outtake, a kind of picture that we photojournalists are thrilled to have made, but have to leave out of the paper in order to tell the story clearly and objectively. I was very pleased to be able to share and discuss this outtake in today’s Ad Astra section. It is one out of many that will never take shape in newsprint.
Here are a few photos from my adventures in the Forest of Horrors near the small town of Elyria, Kansas last Saturday night. It was challenging to make pictures with pretty much no light. Anyway, it was an interesting time as always.
You might notice that the post has been ammended since I first posted it yesterday- I’ll post the photo I previously had featured as the first one in this post again on Sunday when the Ad Astra comes out. I’ll be writing a short essay about outtakes for the Sunday Ad Astra photo page to go along with that photo. More to come on that soon.
Cheers,
Pat
Last Wednesday I was able to spend the afternoon with nurse Karen Kelman in the Burn Unit at Via Christi-St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. Kelman lives in Hutchinson and commutes to work in Wichita everyday, to a job that she loves and is very passionate about. I was only able to photograph her with one of her patients and his wife- Kennith and Virginia Harris of Wichita, who were extremely nice to let me photograph them. I produced an audio slideshow to go with the story, which was published today.
Best,
Pat
Today I shot an assignment at Via Christi-St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kan. for a great story about a nurse in the burn unit there, which I will post after the story is published on monday. It was also especially interesting for me since this was the hospital where I was born. I was back again for just a few hours after almost 24 years.
Cheers,
Pat
I shot soccer yesterday in some freezing wet weather. My hands could barely move to zoom in and out or try control the plastic bag covering my camera from the elements. Still, I think I came away with some nice frames. I went out and bought some heavy fingerless gloves with mitten covers last night- the only non-camo gloves available in the outdoor section at Walmart.
Best,
Pat
Here’s an outtake from a portrait shoot with Pastor Andy Addis of Westbrook Baptist Church in Hutchinson with his son Noah, 10, in the church sanctuary. Having dealt with painful headaches for years, Pastor Andy Addis of Westbrook Baptist Church in Hutchinson recently had brain surgery to correct Chiari 1 Malformation, a rare congenital deformity of the lower compartment of the cranium. “I believe in miracles,” said Addis.
-Pat
I’ve more or less finished constructing my new blog, with only minor adjustments yet to come. I decided to switch to wordpress from blogger so I could have more control most importantly over image rights, but also regarding customization of aesthetics, usability, and searchability. Having this blog powered through wordpress and hosted from my own server on my domain, in addition to the style and meta features, further integrates my blog into my website, and hopefully vice versa.
Anyway, I hope you like the new look. More coming soon…
-Pat
If you wish to view older work please visit http://cuzpatsaysso.blogspot.com/