Champion

Emmonnie Henderson
Photograph by Tom Atwood

The most amazing thing about this photograph of Emmonnie Henderson is the discus she has just thrown. You may not even be able to see it, it's so high and far away [the red speck just below the big cloud]. Emmonnie is a champion, winning the IHSA state finals in the shot put last year. If she keeps throwing the discus into the clouds like this, she may become the state discus champ, too. As a sophomore. There is something pure about high school sports: no money, no scholarships, no endorsements. Just kids competing for fun, for their school, (okay and yes, sometimes for future scholarships). Occasionally, among them, a champion emerges.

Shutter: 1/400; Aperture: f/6.3; ISO: 400; Focal length: 18 mm

Track & Field

Lauren White
100 Meter Low Hurdles
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Track & Field is a very practical sport. In many events, the goal is to overcome something, often literally. A bar, or a hurdle. In others the goal is to extend yourself in some way. Throw something farther. Run faster. Jump longer. In this photo, Lauren White appears to have achieved the impossible: running on air! (But, it seems, she can't run away from her own shadow.)  The sophomore at Edwardsville High School is alone in this picture because she is running so much faster than everyone else in the 100 meter hurdles. What you can't see is something else runners had to contend with yesterday - a constant, powerful wind. Maybe that's why Lauren is airborne?

Lovely anxiety

Before the Wedding
March 19, 2011
Photograph by Tom Atwood

If you have read this blog in the past year you know that I am not a fan of pretty pictures, like the kind you might see on a greeting card, or the kind that might resemble elevator music if you could see it. Too pretty. However, I am all for beautiful photographs, especially if they tell a story, or raise questions. The story behind this photograph of a bride and her sister before the wedding Saturday is simple and profound: it is a big day--one of the biggest in anyone's life--and they are a little nervous. It is that point in the wedding day when all the preparations have been made, for the most part, and there's not much to do but wait, and be part of the day, nerves and all. And maybe wish that photographer would go away.

Tiffany

Wedding Reception
March 19, 2011
Photograph by Tom Atwood

From what I have seen, Tiffany Humphrey Suchomski is a detail person. No nonsense, at least not in the hours leading up to her wedding Saturday. At the rehearsal, anyone with questions asked Tiffany. She was like the Executive Producer. But all her planning paid off. As far as I could tell (while taking pictures) there was only one mistake during the ceremony. That was when she tried to place the ring on Kyle Suchomski's right hand. Tried and tried until she realized the problem. But Tiffany seemed to enjoy the error, and laughed. In fact, she seemed to enjoy the entire day. That's why I like this photo.

Wedding

Humphrey-Suchomski Wedding
March 19, 2011
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Thanks to Tiffany Humphrey Suchomski for taking a chance and asking me to photograph her wedding with Kyle Suchomski over the weekend, something I had never done before. I'll post more pictures later, just a few of the hundreds I took, but this one is my favorite, for several reasons. First, the earnest expression on Tiffany's face during this "first dance" with her husband. (I think they're singing to each other?) It's almost heartbreaking, it's so full of hope and love. Second, and more selfishly, I was worried about the reception, shooting in an American Legion hall with fluorescent lighting. But there are ways around harsh and uneven lighting. In this case, a bounced flash coupled with long exposures created motion and streaks that were either hit or miss, depending on the photo. But I think this one is a hit. 

This is true love.

Shutter: 1/5; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 400; Focal length: 18 mm

Garden of Eden

Home in Lucas, Kansas
Photograph by Tom Atwood

This home in Lucas, Kansas was built in the early twentieth century by Samuel Dinsmoor, a Civil War nurse who, after witnessing the trauma of war, looked for other ways to understand humankind. Dinsmoor became part of the free-thought movement, joining with those who believed any issue in life should be dealt with rationally, instead of resorting to emotional responses or religion. For the elaborate scene of the Garden of Eden Dinsmoor created around his home, he chose postrock limestone, the same stone used in hundreds of miles of fence posts bordering farms near Lucas, and throughout that part of Kansas along Highway 18.

Grazing

Grazing
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Of the 100 or so dance landscape pictures last weekend with Joselyn Simms, this is one of my favorites. We had finished shooting on Pin Oak Road and were on our way to another location when we saw sheep grazing near the road. I know these sheep. They usually move quickly away when approached by a photographer. But for some reason, on this morning, they didn't flee. Maybe like most of the people who saw us Saturday they were curious, wondering what exactly were we doing?

Grace on blacktop

Grace on Strasen Lane
Photograph by Tom Atwood

To create a photograph like this, several things have to happen. (First of all, a disclaimer: this photo has a lot of makeup on. More on that in a moment.) You have to decide where to take the picture. I chose this spot on a dead end road (Strasen Lane) largely because of the beautiful tree, and because I knew the sun rose behind it. You need a graceful person (Joselyn Simms), one who is able to look like this when you suggest that she "do a dance pose." You also need someone willing to get up early on a Saturday morning to create a photograph like this. Then you need a sunrise, and after that, everything else seems to fall into place. In processing this digital image, saturation, vividness and clarity were added, giving the photo a slightly unreal appearance, adding to the natural drama of grace on blacktop at sunrise.

Shutter: 1/160; Aperture: f/6.3; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Dance Landscapes

Joselyn Simms
Photograph by Tom Atwood

A couple of months ago I asked Joselyn Simms, a dance student at Webster University, to help me with a series of images combining landscape photography and dance. Our idea was to add motion, life and even humanity to landscapes that are often beautiful and moving, but still. In addition, I thought the image of a dancer in a landscape where she doesn't "belong," could make for some interesting and even thought-provoking photos. These are the first pictures, kind of an experiment at this point. I'd like to thank Joselyn specifically for agreeing to help out, for getting up before sunrise, much earlier than she normally does, and for dancing where dancers normally don't dance.

Shutter: 1/320; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 400; Focal length: 18 mm.

Arbor Day

Elm Tree, Dancer
Photograph by Tom Atwood

My neighbor Joselyn Simms agreed to take part in several experimental "dance landscape" photographs, including this one with an ancient elm tree along Bluff Road on the SIU Edwardsville campus.  I have photographing the tree for several weeks now for an exhibit at the Edwardsville Art Center opening on April 29. None of the images of the elm have included a person, until this morning when I took several with Joselyn, who is studying dance at Webster University.

Shutter: 1/100; Aperture: f/2.8; ISO: 100; Focal length: 35 mm

Famous soon

Joselyn Simms
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Joselyn Simms, a dance student at Webster University, has agreed to participate in a series of experimental landscape photos. We'll be taking the photographs over the next few weeks, if spring ever arrives. I was impressed with Joselyn's grace during a ballet shoot a couple of months ago at Webster. Those pictures were beautiful, but traditional. The landscape images we'll be working on soon promise to be unusual, organic and will hopefully make both of us famous. That's our goal. Stay tuned.

'This one doesn't count'

Aaron Cole on the Silver Creek Bridge
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Over the years I have learned two secrets I'll give up here. First, when interviewing someone for a news story or documentary, the best soundbites often come after asking this question: "Is there anything else you would like to say?" It's almost like the interview is over, the person being interviewed relaxes a bit, and opens up. Second, when taking a still portrait, the best photos sometimes come when taking "practice shots," to set exposure and focus. "This one doesn't count," I told Aaron Cole as I took this picture. So he relaxed, laughed and joked with his girlfriend, Manda, and the result? This one did count. I didn't lie to Aaron. I misspoke.

Moon Over Thunder

Moonrise, Pin Oak Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Some of the light in this stormy photograph is real, some artificial. This is a moonrise as a thunderstorm is approaching Pin Oak Road near Edwardsville, Illinois. During the 30-second exposure, lightning in the thunderhead lights up the cloud from within, but some of the glow near the horizon is from the scattered light around Edwardsville. And in addition to the full moon and stars, the most prominent light is the farmer's yardlight, which glows green in its fluorescence, almost as bright as the moon. 

The cloud is lit from above, below and within.

Shutter: 30 seconds; Aperture: f/4.5; ISO: 200; Focal length: 18 mm

Imagine there's no heaven

Strasen Lane near Marine, Illinois
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Most of my pictures are unplanned. Those of you who know me well probably won't find that surprising. Usually I have an idea of where I want to go to take pictures, but that's about the extent of it. In this case I decided, "I'm going to take pictures of that big cloud." So I followed the cloud at sunset to Strasen Lane. When I took a photo of this sign and graffiti, I didn't plan on making a symbolic photo about life being a dead end, or the possibility that there is no heaven. But I can see how you might think that's what this picture is about. Instead, the sign was just in front of the cloud.

Shutter: 1/40; Aperture: f/6,3; ISO: 200; Focal length: 18 mm

Late Winter

Bluffs overlooking Mississippi River Valley
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Ten days ago snow covered these tall grasses, pushing them almost flat to the ground. This evening, as the sun was setting, they were standing again, high on bluffs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. This is late winter. As late as it can get without being spring.

America the beautiful

The Brown Family
Photograph by Tom Atwood

It's surprising how a maternity photo can become something else. I went to Perryville, Missouri over the weekend to take "bump pictures" of Jamie Brown, who is expecting a baby boy, Weston, in a couple of months. "No cutesy shots," I told Jamie, half-joking. But Jamie wanted this one - a photo of her holding cradling her "bump," her husband Ryan holding a football (for Weston), and their daughter Addie doing what the photographer asked. But instead of gimmicky, this picture becomes something else. The image of a young Midwestern family plowing ahead into this uncertain Century, their optimism, dreams and anxiety all reflected in Addie's eyes. I love cutesy shots.

Nightlight

Elm on Bluff Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

It is amazing, and a symptom of modern life, how much light there is for a photographer to work with at night. My theory is that all the excessive, unnecessary lighting is driven by fear, but that's another discussion, one that tends to make people roll their eyes at me. In this photo taken last night of the elm  I am shooting for an Arbor Day exhibit, the sky glows almost blue from the reflected, scattered lights on the ground, including the streetlamp across Bluff Road lighting up the branches of the tree. Passing headlights also light the branches. There are stars, but many are only visible because this is a time exposure. I couldn't see most of them while taking this. Too bright. And the streak on the right is light from a jet that flew overhead while the lens was open. Next time I'll wear sunglasses.

Shutter: 30 secs; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 400; Focal length: 18 mm