Betsy Shirey, the house manager for the Stephens College production of "Dixie Swim Club" at the Warehouse Theatre, walks on stage before the start of the tech rehearsal on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. The play opens next Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 PM, and will run though Saturday, Nov. 21.
Tonight at 7:30 pm, “The Dixie Swim Club,” a play written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, will be performed at Stephens College at the Warehouse Theatre (Missourian article here), and again every night through Saturday. I photographed a tech rehearsal last Thursday, and this photograph struck my editor, Stephanie Hinkle. I had dismissed it as it is a photo of the house manager coming onstage to welcome the audience to the theatre and to announce a raffle to be held at intermission, it does have a graphic quality to it. It’s funny, as I’ve been trying to focus so much on content-driven photos that I sometimes forget about having a little fun with graphic elements in the frame. Some day I can better blend the documentary with my other styles of photography, but maybe this is a start.
David Champlin of the "Big Mo" drum crew, who lead the MIZ-ZOU cheers at football games, celebrates the Missouri Tigers' victory over the Furman Paladins with the Golden Girls at the end zone of Faurot Field on Saturday, September 19, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. The Tigers defeated the Paladins 52-12. / Canon 1D Mark IIN and 16-35mm f/2.8 II L lens @ 16mm; exposed 1/400 sec. @ f/8, ISO 800.
This weekend I photographed a college football game–Missouri Tigers versus the Furman Paladins–along with John Schreiber, for the Columbia Missourian. It was only my third or fourth time photographing football, and my first college game, so it was a little different. I was also using a Canon 600mm f/4 L IS lens from CPS, which made things extra different. But it was a lot of fun, and there’s a web gallery here.
While at the game, I was assigned to get a feature photo of the crew of “Big Mo,” an over-sized drum on a trike that is used to lead cheers of “MIZ–ZOU” at the games, as well as run up and down the end zone with the cheerleaders after a touch down. At the end of the game, David Champlin started dancing with the Golden Girls, who are a more “sparkly” version of the cheerleaders. The result was the photo above. Sadly, it will never find its way into the Missourian, so I’m posting it here for all to see. I suppose it’s better this way.
Secondly, I thought I would post this portrait of Anthony Fitzgerald and Arnold Cromwell, two custodians–one from Hickman High School, the other from Rock Bridge High School–to be featured in this week’s VOX Magazine in the “On-The-Job” section. I was happy with the final select, but also felt that the image below worked fairly well. I do wish I had some more time with them to get a moment between the two, but at the very least I feel that this was a respectful presentation of the two men.
Anthony Fitzgerald, left, a Hickman High School custodian, and Arnold Cromwell, right, a custodian from Rock Bridge High School, stand in the hallways of Hickman High on Monday, September 21, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. Despite the two schools' athletic rivalries, neither Fitzgerald or Cromwell take it too seriously. / Canon 5D II and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens @ 75mm; exposed 1/160 sec. @ f/8, ISO 800.
I have finally had a chance to go over all of my images from the Tour de Missouri, as well as my other shoots from the week, and found three images that I thought were particularly interesting but were unpublished–they did not find their way into the Columbia Missourian, or my Blog, for that matter–until now!
Old Courthouse reflection, St. Louis, Mo. Canon 5D II and 24-70mm f/2.8 L @ 70mm; exposed 1/500 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 100
I saw this composition with the imperfect reflections of office buildings and the Old Court House as I was walking to the downtown Hilton to pick up my press credentials for the first stage of the Tour of Missouri. This is cropped fairly heavily, so I do wish that I had switched lenses to the 70-200mm f/4 I L IS, but I was in a rush to get to the race before it started without me!
