I've been here and there. Mostly there and not a lot of time to post. But I am shooting photos, some of which are for Santa Rosa and Savor Magazines. You'll have to wait another few weeks to see those. Here are a few from the last week or so. [...]
January, the uneventful month. Except if you like warm days with nary a rain drop. Photographically for me, it was kind of slow. A small vacation, working the photo desk and finishing up contest entries took most of my time. It never stays slow for too long, though. During the [...]
Sometimes you'll see it in the newspaper, sometimes you won't. Dubbya dubbya dubbya is the fathomless, infinite vehicle in which photos are placed and viewed in perpetuity, never to face the undignified glorious death by fish wrapper or folded and glued to the bottom of your neighbors parakeet cage. Naw, [...]
Twenty E-leven. Tw0 thousand and eleven. It's a new year and the news, keeps keepin' on. The naysayers who predicted the demise of newsprint in 2011 have been stymied for another year. That means more great content in the paper and PD web site. The hundreds of Press Democrat employees [...]
Co-worker Martin Espinoza called it capturing Americana. On Saturday I covered the 140 year anniversary of Dunham Elementary School, located out on Roblar just northwest of Petaluma. One of the great things about Sonoma County is the rural nature of our communities. Just five minutes from any town, our farming [...]
Pique your curiosity with the header? Read on... I used to hunt, fish and hike the 65 mile long swath and 35 mile across, 913,306 acre Mendocino National Forest. I've covered huge fires in the forest, followed college students and native Americans on archaeology digs, hiked through snow drifts, [...]
At the Press Democrat, we haven't shot black and white film in nearly 16 years. On Sunday with color all around, I tried to isolate the two colors for pseudo B&W images. The Citizens Against Roblar Road Rock Quarry held a free rock concert in Cotati, Sunday July 11, 2010 [...]
Fireworks in Windsor. People dancing. Firefighters in moon suits. A hike with a park ranger. Saturday July 3 was a busy day. Varied it was. I have nothing pithy to say. (!) Here are photos. Enjoy I hate busy fireworks photos. Gimme a couple of bursts and some [...]
It's been almost a week since my last post. Forgive me. Pretty busy for us here in the photo department, with six different grass and structure fires. Welcome to summer. If there's news, we try to photograph it. Tuesday it was a quick trip to Lakeport for some ugly weeds [...]
It's fascinating when the Harmony Festival comes to town. Interesting people all around and always a little...offbeat. The Friday heat seemed to stunt some of the mid-afternoon activities, but there were plenty goings on in the shade. -Kent Porter
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