I travel around quite a bit. One day I may be in the City, the next I could be in Ferndale or Clearlake or Sacramento or Phoenix....It's an adventure to say the least. One thing that I love to shoot is the coast. Out near Big Blue, nature can be [...]
This is not about the finding the perfect Christmas tree. Been there, done that. I've been putting together some photos that will appear the Sunday Dec. 20 paper in the Lifestyle section of the Press Democrat. This means I've been cruising the very back, back roads of Sonoma County to [...]
Every once in awhile I add to my list of things. By the way, these are all true experiences. 1. Metal tripods and lightning do not mix 2. It's the photographer, not the camera. 3. Never press the shutter on a famous golfer's back swing. Make sure you point to [...]
I've sorta become the unofficial bike race shooter here at the PD. Everyone on the photo staff is equally adept at covering bike races, it seems though that these big bicycling events land on my shift. In February I endured four hours of pounding rain from Davis to SR on [...]
I've gotten tons of email on the lightning pictures I shot on September 12 near the Hawkeye Ranch above Geyserville. Most were complimentary, while one person said she was "sure it was judgement day" and another thought that I was crazy like a loon to be out in lightning. I'm [...]
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