A photo that has absolutely nothing to do with a terribly sad story we’ve all been pursuing this week.  Taken with the BlackBerry before a storm blew in late last month.

Cape Cod

Tags: BlackBerry, Cape Cod, Himsel

I drive my 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt everyday, but I can’t remember the last time I washed it. Nathan Parkhurst probably can’t remember the last day he didn’t wash his customized Mustang.

With Lamborghini doors that fold up and forward, Parkhurst polishes his “baby” while at the Sugar Hill Speedway in Weare for a story Karen Lovett is writing for Sunday about the Merrimack teen who will be going off to NASCAR school to become a mechanic and a driver, he hopes.

Nathan kept his handy buffing brush and bottle of spray wax, among other car beautification items, in the back seat, to pull out when needed. There’s more wax on his fenders than there is in all of my wife’s Yankee Candles!

He’s a kart racing buff, and has recruited his parents as the pit crew. I don’t think it took much convincing though. His mother took more pictures than I did during the interview. To see a video of him driving his mini race car, check out Karen’s story on www.nashuatelegraph.com Sunday.

Hey, when you get a chance Nathan, would you mind using some of that wax on my Cobalt? I still want to know why he has a big round mirror hanging inside his kart racing trailer!

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: Bob Hammerstrom, cars, Ford, karts, Lamborghini, Merrimack, Mustang, NASCAR, race, school, sugar hill speedway

CUTLINE: Manchester Central’s Felipe Acevedo eyes a forced fumble from Nashua South’s Nicholas Haskell Friday, Sept. 25 at Gill Stadium in Manchester. The Little Green held off the Panthers 20-14.

TECH SPECS: f/2.8, 1/640, 300mm, 2500 ISO

THOUGHTS: Lately I’ve been shooting my field sports from the prone position (on my belly). There are two reasons for this, one, there’s a whole other world five feet and a few inches below and two, masked sports and sports that look down a lot, i.e. field hockey, you get better facial results. This moment happened about 15-20 yards away as I was laying on South’s 30 yard line. I’m always cognizant of my surroundings and would never recommend this to amateurs or the out of shape. Not to say I’m a seasoned athlete but I can hold my own if the situation should arise a collision. Heaven forbid it should happen but my squishy layer of fat and muscle from the wrestling and football days can take it still. Anyhow, this image was pretty straight on as this Central player took down the South kid. It’s just plain luck the ball popped out. I would love to have the horizon a bit more straight and the ball not riding the edge of the frame so much but this is the end result. Keeping to ethical standards, above is the original and below is a toned image (i.e. contrast, color correction, levels, saturation, cropping and sharpening). This is to give everyone an idea of what originals look like vs. the finished product. The practice of cropping for impact stands true in this example.

Best,

Corey

Tags: Central, comparison, corey, football, Forced Fumble, fumble, nashua, perrine, south, south football

CUTLINE: Window, Pepperell, Mass. Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009.

TECH SPECS: iPhone, Camera Bag App

THOUGHTS: I recently have been obsessed with my new app for the iPhone, called camera bag. My girlfriend has a window that portrays a slice of Americana quite well. While some would be objected to having a car in their lawn, I find beauty in the most out of place nouns. After recently returning from Geekfest 2009 in Florida, I was inspired by the great Sam Abell, a 30 year National Geographic veteran, who recently spoke on his new book The Life of a Photograph. In it, he talked about microframing and how composing within the composition is vital to the layering and elements that add and delete in and out of the frame, if you wait. This photo also represents how expensive gear is not the sign of great photographs. However, the mind, patients, experience and vision of the photographer is. I’m not a photographer in the same sentence as Mr. Abell but just a simple man obsessed with capturing what some pass up as commonplace.

Humbly,

Corey

Tags: Abell, americana, camera bag, corey, iphone, microframing, perrine, Sam, window, window americana

I see no humor in photographing car accidents, except for the bumper sticker I spotted today on the back of this old Ford pickup truck, which was crushed like an accordion when it struck the side of a dump truck on a city street in Hudson, New Hampshire this morning.

Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom

I’m not sure why Building 19 would advertise with bumper stickers like this. Is this a positive or negative ad for the store?

Of course, a more serious photo is running in The Telegraph. There is nothing funny about a person being injured in an accident. Nor, is there anything fun about covering them.

This picture would be just as interesting if it was taken in a junk yard. It’s not what happened to the occupants of the pickup that makes the photo, but the inclusion of the sticker and condition of the truck.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: accident, blog, Bob Hammerstrom, building 19, bumper, car, crash, department, fire, firefighters, Hudson, humor, mva, photographers, pickup, sticker, wreck

CAPTION: A couple walk on the beach in Thursday, Sept. 10 in Treasure Island, Fla. White sand beaches and low tides accompany the Gulf side of Florida’s southern coast. Note: Over exposure was used to achieve the washed out look.

TECH SPECS: f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 400, 70mm

THOUGHTS: This frame was a sight to see with it’s white beaches and sparkling ocean. As a child my dad said the Gulf side was dirty water and contained unsightly beaches. How wrong he was. With a little over exposure, I was able to pull off a nice rendition of a dreamscape.

BACK STORY: I recently returned from a photo gathering in St. Petersburg, Fla. called Geekfest. It’s an event hosted by A Photo A Day or APAD (aphotoaday.org) for the promotion of still imagery.

An old McDonald’s restaurant slogan can only sum up the 7th annual Geekfest experience event this past weekend: Food, Folks and Fun.

While it was only a three-day event, it felt like it lasted a month. And quite honestly, I didn’t want it to end.

For only $100.00 anyone could come and be around some of the best group of people in the photo-j industry. Several dozen gathered to hear the likes of Sam Abell, Bob Croslin, Nicole Fruge, Bryan Moss, Allison V. Smith, Damon Winter, Dai Sugano, Alexis Lambert (media law), David Handschuh and Patrick Farrell.

While days were packed with speakers, the nights were alive with eating, drinking, socializing, shuffleboard, a silent auction, the beach and more.

In a time of turmoil for our industry it was a refreshing and awe-inspiring to hear positive news of why our jobs, staffer or freelancer, still rock.

I don’t care who you ask, I got paid to see today. To experience life. To cry. To laugh. To live. To learn. You really can’t beat that. While I could be wasting away in a cubicle I’d rather be out showing the world what life is all about through the power of the still frame.

Murphy’s a leaner.  He attached himself to me just about immediately upon entering East Coast Skate and Snow while on assignment Monday (no website yet).  Don’t let the studded collar fool you.  He’s a sweetheart.

Murphy

Tags: Dogs on assignment, East Coast Skate and Snow, Himsel, Murphy

Even though the event was rained out I had built in some time in an otherwise full day and could investigate the remnants of this colonial era town.  I had made photos here before, many years ago, but hadn’t been back since.

Niki made it to me before I even got close to the Gould House.  I saw Russ out front.  He had been reading a book in the light of an open doorway.  The property has been under the watchful eye of his family in one way or another for many years.  My visit was brief but enjoyable.  I told him I’d be back to explore another time.  While I was there I was able to make these photos.

Among the items scattered throughout the home is this charcoal rendition of his grandfather, George Dickerman, and was made in 1868.  The dog’s name is Major.

Tags: Gould house, Hollis NH, Milford NH, Monson, Russ Dickerman

I remember being at my desk here in the newsroom when I first started working for The Telegraph in 1989.  The phone rang and the gruff voice on the other end of the line said he “had a horse that eats rocks” and that I should come and take a photo.  He had me for a minute but when he started laughing I finally caught on and realized who it was.

Always upbeat and a constant joker, Bill was a more than a marvelous photographer.  He was a great guy.  A great journalist.  I absorbed a lot from him while working together in Maine.  He left for Ohio.  I left and ended up here.  When we worked for the Lewiston papers we were responsible for photos for three different papers.  He taught me to hustle.  He helped me to see.

We had a very full assignment load, often shooting both color slide film along with black and white for everything (and created the halftones for all our B and W).  On top of that we had to get two stand alone features a day. Each.  So, with four photographers running around our coverage area I would regularly come across someone Bill would have just shot himself.  The reaction was always the same.  A chuckle and kind word about the time they spent together.  But frustrating as that was (back on the road for me) the lasting lesson was that it’s people skills, almost on top of your photography skills, that take you from making good photos to great ones.  I’d watch him light something in the studio.  His photo illustrations were superb. I watched and I learned.

Several times a week we’d all head over to a local Italian restaurant on Lisbon Street for their chicken parmesan lunch special, grabbing a seat for each other if one was out on assignment.  Time off meant dinner at his place with his family (including his then toddler son, Patrick.  I remember him asking the youngster “who’s the best boy?”  The response, beaming, was a hearty “me!”).  Later at nite, beer and guitars. So it was rough last week when I heard about his passing.  He was a mentor in more ways than one.

There are only a few photos hanging in my home.  One is by Kathy Seward MacKay. One is by Dan Habib. Another is Bill’s.  He didn’t go with the fanfare of that other Kennedy but I know there are people in Maine and Ohio, and New Hampshire, where his impact in life was felt just as much.  Maybe more.

See you Billy.  Save me a seat.

Photo by Bill Kennedy

Tags: Bill Kennedy, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Lewiston Sun Journal, Ohio News Photographers Association

“I am the queen of the castle.” Those were some of the words sung by three-year-old Isabel Gerstein of Nashua, N.H., while she twirled and danced in front of a large wall mirror outside her bedroom. Business editor Ashley Smith and I were at “The Castle” recently to interview the Gerstein family.

Photo by Bob Hammerstrom

Her mom and dad, Stephanie and Jeff took us on a tour of the odd-looking home along Lund Road. After all, there is a turret on the front and a weather vane with a witch atop the house. Ashley’s story ran today in The Telegraph.

While they talked with Ashley, Isabel began singing and dancing by herself in front of a huge mirror. Her song went something like, ” I am the queen of the castle.” Although this would have been more interesting accompanied by the sounds of her singing, or video, this still image of her caught in her own world shows the innocence of youth and the dreams of a child.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: article, ashley smith, blog, Bob Hammerstrom, business, castle, dancing, editor, home, house, kings, monday, nashua, newspaper, odd, paper, photograph, photographers, pictures, properties, queens, series, staff, strange, Telegraph, the, witch