Saturday July 31st 2010

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My favorite subject


A lot of people ask me what my favorite subject is to photograph. Through my years as a photographer, this answer has changed: nature, sports, social documentary. Today, I’ve decided to come clean. I’m one of those guys who always talks about his children … well, child, in this case (at least until early July!!). This is Lucy, my daughter, who is 20 months old.

Only 20 months, yet, I can’t even remember a time when she wasn’t in my life. She looks a lot like her Mom, thankfully, and also has a lot of her Mom’s personality, thankfully. Eating apples off the ground she gets from me … OK, that apple she’s eating didn’t really come from off the ground.

She does have my blue eyes. I can’t tell you how many photos we have of her, and yet, it never seems to be enough. She’s hands-down my favorite subject. I know that’s not what a lot of photographers would think of as provocative, sexy, daring, adventurous, cutting edge or what have you, but that’s where I am in life, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I honestly believe that all the other work I do as a photographer has become better as a result.

–Andy Sawyer

Is this the one?

I’ve just ordered another brand of camera strap, the latest in my long search for the perfect camera strap. I may not have tried them all but I’ve tried a bunch over the years as I look for just the right strap.

Camera straps are very much an individual thing. For some, the strap doesn’t make any difference – it could be a piece of rope so long as it works. For others (like me) it’s got to be just right. Being “just right” means it has to comfortably carry the camera and distribute the weight when I carry it around my neck. The strap has to be kind of “grippy” so it won’t slide off my shoulder and yet it can’t be too “grippy” when I want to slide it off my shoulder or adjust the position of the camera around my neck. I don’t like it too wide or too narrow. It needs to be a dark color – lighter colors call attention to the strap. I like my straps plain – no company or camera logos. No sense giving a multi-billion dollar camera company a free ad on my camera strap.

I’m now using a one-inch-wide black Domke strap on one camera and a very well-worn stock Canon strap on the other. It’s this Canon strap I’m replacing. Besides being worn out, it’s got a big Canon logo on the strap (see above) so it needs replacing. Over the years the Domke straps have been my favorite but I have always been willing to try another type in my never-ending quest for the perfect strap. My main complaint about the Domke straps is the grippy stuff seems to wear out pretty quickly so they start to slide around.


The new strap is from Think Tank Photo and it looks a lot like the Domke strap. Hopefully it will last longer, especially since the strap cost the company $25.

–Gordon King

Thank you Craig family

One of the hardest things to photograph, for me, is the grief of those who have so recently, and often unexpectedly, lost one of their family members. On Monday night, seven of the 10 people who were aboard a small Cessna plane were found dead at the site of the wreckage. Tuesday morning, family members, friends, rescue workers, and the Yakima County Sheriff’s office held a press conference at the command center.

Television crews and reporters from around the region crowded together while rescuers, family members, and supporters stood across from them, a stand of microphones in the center of the circle.



After various agencies told about the facts of the rescue , members of the Craig family stepped forward to talk about their son and brother, Casey, who was one of the skydivers who was killed in the crash. Casey’s brother, Kelly, stepped up to the microphone to talk about how his brother died doing what he loved. His sister, Ivy, joined him.

Later, Ivy would show me a family photo taken two weeks ago as the three siblings jumped together, wide grins as they hold onto each other in the air. Ivy says her brother was a funny man, and despite a morning of tears, laughs at the memory of his antics. His mother holds up a photo to the television cameras of her three children and behind them, Casey’s friends and the family of the skydiving community hug each other and wipe tears away.



The stereotype of the journalist as heartless “vulture” is one of the things that almost kept me from becoming a journalist. Capitalizing on other people’s pain and grief is, I think, an immoral act. However, as I photographed the Craig family, and in the past as I have photographed people in their grief, I believe that the act of witnessing can be a way to help: to help families remember, to help communities understand and connect, to memorialize those lost in tragic events. I don’t believe that grieving or loss must remain hidden, and that not showing it is the only way to deal with emotions we have all felt.

Casey’s family wants him to be remembered for the vibrant, wild, and funny man they knew, not just a victim of a tragic accident. As they stepped up to the microphones and later talked to reporters in small groups, they talked about what kind of person he was, and gave us a glimpse, through them, of the hole his absence will leave. As they grieve, their community, our community grieves with them. Photographs let us know that we don’t grieve alone. Photographs remind us that the price of disasters can’t be told in maps or charts, but is only apparent in those left behind.

Living their grief in front of a mass of journalists and sharing their memories of Casey, was a gift — to Casey and to our communities. It took bravery and stamina on what has likely been one of the worst times of the Craig family’s lives. Thank you.

–Sara Gettys


A shot in the dark


The photo request seemed simple enough. I was to shoot a local diver competing in a meet at the local indoor swimming pool used by high schools. Still, I knew the assignment would be a challenge. I’d photographed swimmers there in the past and through that experience I knew the pool was dark making the use of a flash mandatory.

Flash photography is prohibited during diving events but I’d I figured my fancy Canon Mark IIN shooting in the RAW mode could deal with the darkness. After all, I had shot night football at Cle Elum High School without a flash. The diving part of the pool (Lions Pool for all those familiar with Yakima) isn’t just dark. It’s Dark with a capital “D.” The best exposure I could get was 1/125th of a second at 3200 ASA. Any movement by the diver resulted in a blurry image. Action shots were impossible. I shot a few frames of the diver on the board as she prepared to make her dive and was relatively still. The photo quality was acceptable but the photo was boring.

But I still had to get a photo of this diver. Plan A (action) didn’t work so I had to shift to plan P. As in portrait. I’m not a big fan of portraiture, especially when there is an opportunity for action or documentary photography. But sometimes a portrait is the only avenue available. And when they’re well done, a portrait can be very revealing.

So then my challenge became creating an engaging and telling portrait of this diver. Diving is an incredibly intense sport and divers, like all athletic contestants, must remain cool and collected to execute a dive. This diver is the best in our area so it’s obvious she could keep her cool under the pressure of a diving competition. So, I wanted to try and convey that coolness through the use of light and the pose of the diver. A blue-colored flash, underexposed background and an incredibly cooperative (and fun) diver yielded this portrait after a half-hour of shooting.

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic West Valley High School diver Kira Lewis chats with competing divers at a swim meet in Yakima on Oct. 16. She won the dual meet against Hanford High School that day.

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic West Valley High School diver Kira Lewis chats with competing divers at a swim meet in Yakima on Oct. 16. She won the dual meet against Hanford High School that day.

Still hoping for an action photo I left my strobes in place to shoot her diving during practice (when flashes are okay). Still, I wasn’t able to get a good action photo for a variety of reasons – her mouth was wide open, her legs or arms obscured her face, etc. I was frustrated at not being able to get a good action photo but knowing I had a good portrait in the bank made me feel better about the assignment.
I combined the portrait with a couple of non-action photos shot during the meet to round out the package.

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic  West Valley High School diver Kira Lewis and her coach Cathy Schlieman tally the diving scores during a meet against Hanford High School earlier this week. Lewis won the meet with 221.1 points.

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic West Valley High School diver Kira Lewis and her coach Cathy Schlieman tally the diving scores during a meet against Hanford High School earlier this week. Lewis won the meet with 221.1 points.

The swim and diving coaches really wanted me to get an action shot of the diver but didn’t seem to understand it wasn’t technically possible. Sometimes a portrait is the only way to photograph a person. Especially when the alternative is a shot in the dark.

–Gordon King

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