Cadet Search & Rescue - Part II

I had never been out to Waiperous before shooting the cadet search and rescue.

On the day of the training it was a little slow at the paper and no one knew how long it would take to get out there.

I wanted to leave a little early so their would be time to stop and shoot any wildlife I might see on route.

As it turned out, it was a much shorter trip to get out there than anyone had estimated and there wasn't any wildlife to photograph.

I arrived very, very early for the training.

It wasn't really a bad thing, I was able to interview the media contact prior to the exercise and get the background on what was going to happen thus making it possible to plan ahead to get the best pics.

This assignment also included one of those perks that don't happen a lot but are really nice, I was fed dinner by the camp.

After dinner, the real work started.

The civilian nurses got the causality kits out and began transforming three healthy staff cadets into three badly injured individuals in need of rescue (or at least a shower.)

Once the victims were ready, the were hidden around the camp and the cadet searchers got started. It didn't take the group I was following very long to find their victim and rescue him.

With the photos and the exercise over, it was time to get some interviews done.

Unfortunately for me, all three of the cadets I needed to talk to had very thick accents, two were from Quebec and one was from Britain.

It made the interviews long as I often had to repeat and reword questions so they could understand.

Quotes were also tough, full of pauses and ums as they searched for the right words.

As my first multiple source story in years, this was a tough way to start.

Overall it was a fun experience and I am looking forward to continuing to work on photo essays for the Eagle.

Read the story here.

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Cadet Search & Rescue - Part I

So a little bit about what I do at the Eagle on Tuesday production days. When I started at the paper I hadn't written a story since I was at SAIT. Since I was a little rusty, I wasn't really qualified to lay out and cut the news stories of the other reporters. Because of this I spent a lot of time bored while I waited for the pages to be laid out and proofed. While I was waiting one Tuesday, I decided to go through the old issues of the paper.

I discovered a story on the army cadet search and rescue training at the Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre which is located past Waiparous on the forestry trunk road. The camp accepts the best cadets from across Canada as well as exchange cadets from the United Kingdom. They go through different training modules that include mountain climbing, a service week and other outdoor activities.

The photos with that year old story weren't any good, but they showed the potential of the training exercise. The army uses a causality kit that includes props and fake blood that can be disturbingly realistic.

The next day (after production) I spoke to my editor about doing a photo page and short story on the camp. She agreed, later that same day, the camp's media contact called the Eagle to invite a photographer out to cover some of their upcoming activities. From there it was simply getting down the details and the story was a go.

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Finally, A great front

It took longer than it should but I have finally got an excellent photo on the front of the paper.

From shooting the Lord Strathcona's horse musical ride in St. Albert, I knew what picture I wanted to make from the RCMP musical ride's charge, basically

the one shot I didn't have from the Strathcona's. As the show started to draw to a close, I made sure to be at the end of the arena, ready with my 300mm lens. From there it was all about luck. I was in the right spot with the right gear, I just had to hope that the officers would have good expressions. I was lucky and they did.

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More Red

The Musical Ride performed at the Cochrane Agricultural Society grounds on Tuesday Aug. 3 at 1:30 p.m. Since the paper's deadline is 5 p.m. it was decided that we would hold the paper to get it on the front and two full-page photo pages.

It was a lot of work and stressful but more then that, it was a lot of fun. for the first time in a long time I had to rush to make deadline and more importantly I can say, now that it is over, that the quality of my work didn't slip.

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Seeing Red

Going to keep this one short. The RCMP's Musical Ride was in town for about four days with the performance on Aug. 3. In the morning before the ride, a couple of horses and riders visited the residents of the Bethany Care Centre.

More to come...

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Wildlife in Town

So wildlife photography has never been my favourite thing to do, especially when working for the paper. All three of the newspapers I've worked for liked the occasional wildlife feature but I don't really have the patience to wait for the animals and I tend to feel guilty about not working while I'm sitting there waiting.

Its a different story when the wildlife

e comes to the city. It can be both challenging and exciting to try and safely find and photograph the animal whatever it is.

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Portraits are fun

Since I started at the Cochrane Eagle I have been assigned several portraits a week. When I started in Photojournalism this fact would have depressed me. Starting out, I found portraiture tough and unpleasant. I wasn't comfortable or confident enough in my photography to tell people how to pose. I also didn't have the lighting equipmentor knowledge to light portraits or the experience to see and use available light properly.

This has changed as I gained experience as a photographer. I started to improve technically as I played

with lights and learned to see the potential of available light. As I gained confidence in my technical skills, I developed the experience and confidence to pose people and create the image I wanted, one that fits with the reporters stories.

Things have now turned a full 180 degrees from when I started. I've picked up a pair of studio lights and battery packs for location lighting. My outdoor lit and unlit portraits are getting to be consistent and good. I still struggle sometimes with indoor lighting, however I am looking forward to winter when outdoor portraits stop occurring. After about a month of shooting a portrait every other day, my indoor work will be as good and consistent as my outdoor.

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