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Covering meetings and press conferences is never something a photojournalist considers a dream assignment. The options always seem predictable. It is hard to walk into the same scene over and over and try to come up with something different.

And something different, at least for someone competing with Getty Images or the Associated Press, is key.

It is hard to beat the major wires at news coverage. So my thoughts are to not concentrate too much on the expected and try for a different look and feel. For me that means finding the light.

At first glance the hearing rooms on Capitol Hill do not seem to be lit in an interesting way. But there actually is quite a lot of falloff from the subjects at the witness table. This can make it more interesting.

From time to time I will try to use the lights as a graphic element in the photo. Sometimes it works and makes the photo a bit more interesting like in the photo of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.

Even in the Senate TV Studio where a lot of press conferences occur, seems bathed in light. But again, from the right angles, it can be interesting if exposed for the highlights on the subject.

The studio on the House of Representatives side of the house, is pretty much the same, but a much larger space. The photo below was just a happy accident because even with the soft side light, the only thing that makes the photo interesting in my opinion is the two staffers walking in the background.

There are more opportunities for interesting light in the Capitol but you pretty much have to find them and stake them out. There are three or four places that I know about that can be good depending on the weather and time of day. When there is down time and not much going on, I will usually roam these areas looking for something to happen.

The image below is an example. Turned out even better when it won second place in the NPPA regional clip contest.

The last photo I shot while covering the historic Health Care vote in the House of Representatives over the weekend was also the first photo I shot on Monday, March 22, 2010.

This photo was a happy accident. It was 1 a.m. and after covering the healthcare vote for 16 hours, I was looking for my ride home. I came across this man sitting on the Capitol steps.  He looked so alone. It was not until I asked his name that I discovered he was there to protest bill and arrived late and missed all of the hoopla. The moment just seemed fitting for the day’s events.

My ride had left without me and I had to have my lovely wife, Jenny, come and give me a ride.

Sometimes a bad turn of events can turn into a good thing.

My agency, ZUMA Press, picked the photo as one of their Photos of the Day.

The image can be found on my Photoshelter Archive (Click here).

One of the best things about being a photojournalist is having the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. From the everyday working stiff to the rich and famous.

Back in October  2006 I was planning on attending the NPPA’s Flying Short Course in Philadelphia. A few days before I was to leave I was in our managing editor’s office to ask a question and he looked up from his computer as I walked in and said, “Do you know Joe Frazier is almost broke and living above his gym in Philadelphia?”

Well I did not and he went on to tell me that there was a story in that day’s New York Times detailing Frazier’s career and current situation. Of course my mind is racing trying to think of how I can make a side trip during the short course to visit the gym and maybe get a chance to make some images of the legend.

So on the first day of the short course I had some time and made the short walk to the gym from where we where staying. I wandered in to the gym and found that it was empty except for a few guys working out and Joe’s son Marvis watching two boxers spar. When Marvis got a break I approached him and told him who I was  and that I has hoping to do a story and photos for  American-Journal Magazine. He could not have been more pleasant and agreeable.

He said his father was not there but he was expecting him at any time. So I humg out a bit and when Joe arrived, Marvis introduced me. Joe agreed we could get together the next afternoon so Jenny could interview him and I could photograph him during his daily workout.

We showed up the next day and when Joe arrived he was outgoing and gracious. We went upstairs to his office and Jenny interviewed him as he sat on his couch underneath a Life Magazine poster of a cover shot of Joe and  Ali.

We spent about an hour and a half with Joe and Marvis. Jenny got what she needed for a short story and I got the photos and a lesson on the speed bag with Marvis. (There are photos of this that need not ever be seen.)

As we were about to leave, Joe insisted that Marvis take a photo of him with Jenny and I so we could have something for the scrapbook.

The story and more photos can be found on American-Journal.org.

To purchase prints of Joe Frazier visit my archive.

Photographing kids can be as challenging as it can be fun. Fun because  it is usually easy photographs and lets be honest, what can be more fun than hanging out with children when you are supposed to be working?

The challenge is getting them to forget you are there. Not every child likes to be photographed and many can be quite shy. Others will insist that you take their picture. Sometimes this will get them to forget about you and get back to the job of playing with their friends or whatever they may be up to at the time. Other times it just makes them think that you are there just to take photos of them.

Then there is the real problem. Parents and relatives are constantly telling their kids to look at the camera. This is good for the Sears portrait studio, but bad for a newspaper photographer trying to get a candid moment and the subject is staring at the camera like it is some growth coming out of your face.

Of course if this is the only trial that I have to get through on a given day, I will take it.

It usually turns in to a compromise of letting them get their fill of examining the camera and having me be their personal photographer for a bit and an exercise in patience. And usually when I go back and look at the shoot, I will have what I need plus a few extra moments that I just have to put in the keeper file.

BURNED

In 2008 U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,451,500 fires. These fires resulted in 3,320 civilian fire fatalities, 16,705 civilian fire injuries and an estimated $15,478,000,000 in direct property loss. (The direct property loss includes the California Wildfires 2008 with an estimated property loss of $1,400,000,000.) There was a civilian fire death every 158 minutes and a civilian fire injury every 31 minutes in 2008.

In 2008 home fires caused 2,755, or 83%, of the civilian fire deaths. 403,000 fires or 78% of all structure fires occurred in residential properties.

In 2008 every 22 seconds, a fire department responded to a fire somewhere in the nation. A fire occured in a structure at the rate of one every 61 seconds, and in particular a residential fire occurs every 78 seconds. (Source: National Fire Protection Association Fire Loss in the U.S. 2008.)

The above series of images were created from items in the Harrisonburg Fire Department’s fire safety exhibit. The charred and burned items collected by the fire department from fires in the city have been a staple of the department’s fire safety education program for over 20 years according to fire chief Larry Shifflett.

For more about this essay click here.

Remains of a fire - a portion of a melted computer keyboard.

I got the idea to photograph items from fires while covering the Harrisonburg Fire Department’s fire safety education display exhibited at the Valley Mall in the city each year.

I was struck by how many of the items look like some sort of modern art, even thought I know a tragedy was responsible for the weirdly textured, melted and charred items.

Every time I return to the scene of a fire with investigators for follow-up stories, I am moved by the destruction fire can cause. Seeing pieces of a family’s life burned and soaking wet is a humbling experience.  I’ve often thought that if more people could tour a home after a fire, they would be extra careful in their own homes.

While that is not possible, I decided to go for the next best thing. I hope people who see these photographs realize the devastation fire can cause, and it moves them to do everything they can to prevent fire in their own homes.