Windsor's stunning come from behind victory yielded some nice photos, Friday Dec. 9., which were published in Saturday's Press Democrat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw these two teens celebrating post victory in their own way, kissing. To be sure, a private moment in a very public [...]
After a Friday night of shooting football and finally falling asleep at about 1am Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of a dreamless slumber at 4:30am, slipped north up the 101 and headed to the Geysers to get a clear view of the lunar eclipse. Surprisingly, as the valley was [...]
Hang on to your hat. A wind storm is on the horizon. If the forecast holds true, this could be a prolonged damaging event, with winds a little stronger that the wind storm we had way back in March, gusts reached as high as 50mph that night. The National Weather [...]
Beside Occupy Santa Rosa, I have been shooting other things too, all over the county. I'll start with Santa Claus arriving at the Petaluma River Turning Basin. How many times have I covered this event? Let's just say the kids I photographed 24 years ago are bringing their children to [...]
My beat it seems, along with writers Martin Espinoza and Kevin McCallum, has pretty much been Occupy Santa Rosa. Of course, the entire PD staff has reported or photographed the Santa Rosa City Hall encampment at one time or another. It's been a team effort. On the heels of the [...]
The merry-go-round of news photography keeps on keeping on. This job never gets boring. Right around the corner another story awaits and that's a good thing. When I'm buried in another few decades, my cameras will have to be pried from my hands. This an awesome time to be a [...]
Last year at this time, Christopher Chung, John Burgess and I were shooting baseball playoffs and World Series at AT&T Park . This year, alas, no such luck. Instead, football is being played on turf relegated more to ground balls than midfield tackles. The California Golden Bears are renting new [...]
Just another day/week/year in SoCo. The Catwalk for a Cure is a raucous but sobering lunch soiree, a fundraiser in the fight against Breast Cancer. The event, in it's ninth year, makes for good photographs. Anyone here not been affected directly or indirectly by Breast Cancer? I didn't think so. [...]
We've been busy in the photo dept. You wouldn't guess the newspaper industry has been hammered by the economy, based on the amazing amount of photos we have been shooting here at the Press Democrat. The month of September was taken up with the Fort Bragg story of Aaron Bassler, [...]
Man, what a busy two weeks. Not really much to pontificate about today, but I'm glad my chosen profession is interesting; just can't imagine doing anything else. I mentioned a few posts ago that photographers get used to working it out with light thrown their way. Several photos in this [...]
How many frames in a photojournalists life? Millions. Literally.
I’ve lost count since I started shooting photos at eight years-old with a Polaroid Land Camera (which I still own). It’s a way of life this photojournalism thing which is endlessly fascinating. The trip along the way, now in my 31st year professionally and the last 25 with the Press Democrat, has been an adventure in life. What it has to offer, ranging from implausible beauty to the utterly cruel things life randomly pitches out have shaped and molded who I am. That means I get to witness history. Pretty cool, eh? This journey has included photographing lots of inanimate objects which can be terribly boring. I’ve also borne the brunt of people unhappy to see a photographer show up to document less than pleasant circumstances. Then there’s the weather, which wreaks havoc on the human race daily. So I document the clouds. My advice for anyone having a bad day is to go outside and take a picture of those clouds once in awhile. It will do wonders for the interior beast. Unless you are using a metal tripod in an electrical storm.
-Kent Porter