In this job, there's no avoiding water. Even when the sky is bright blue, I still manage to get soaked. On Tuesday I was assigned to cover frost protection measures in area vineyards. Of course, some growers had sprinklers running to coat young vines from near freezing temperatures. To get [...]
Ah. Spring is around the corner. Daylight savings time jumps forward on the 14th of March. The blooms are turning to leaves, grape buds are swelling. It's getting soooo close. So what's with all this rain if blooms are on the trees? We're almost 97 percent of average rainfall in [...]
Photogs here at the PD document life with images. It's a challenge day in and day out. This past year, I've documented the water levels at Lake's Mendocino and Sonoma. It's amazing to see reservoirs fill up so fast. Especially after reporter Bob Norberg wrote about both reservoirs being [...]
I am drawn to weather mayhem like a moth is attracted to a 60 watt light bulb. Give me a storm with bad roads and impossible odds and I will try my best to get an image that illustrates the story of the day. I have to admit though, I [...]
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