Chasing spot news
Oklahoma City police take a suspect into custody after a brief chase near NW 10th and Doris Drive in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , Wednesday June 29, 2011. The suspect received bites from a K-9 unit. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Spot News is a term we use to describe news events that aren’t planned. Fires, tornadoes, shootings, floods and robberies would all be considered spot news. Staff Photographer Steve Gooch chased down an interesting spot news event on Wednesday and got some unusual pictures. Using one of our police scanners, he got into position to photograph a suspect who was taken down and bitten on the face by a police dog.
While looking for a place to park close to the event, but not too close, Gooch heard police alert each other to a white male in a black Impala driving slowly through the neighborhood. That just so happened to match the description of Gooch. While he was watching the Oklahoma City Police, they were watching him too.
You can read the story by clicking here or you can follow this link to see more pictures by photographers at The Oklahoman.
A suspect is taken into custody by Oklahoma City police after a brief chase near NW 10th and Doris Drive in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , Wednesday June 29, 2011. The suspect received bites from a K-9 unit. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Summertime pictures
Odalie Wildes takes shade under an umbrella during the first night of Jazz in June in Norman, Okla., Thursday, June 23, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
There have been plenty of nice pictures taken recently by staff photographers at The Oklahoman. This one of a woman holding an umbrella as the sun sets behind her was unfortunately used on a black and white page in the newspaper. You can follow these links to see pictures from assignments like the OKC Pride Parade, LibertyFest in Edmond, the Pacesetter Games, or click here to see all the galleries.
-John Clanton
Heat Features
If there was one request that I could honestly say I have received every day since my internship started, it would have to be the heat feature request.
The guys in my department are obsessed with heat features; an image that embodies the spirit of summer. And who could blame them? It’s a great chance to connect with the community and tell the story of summer.
The heat feature photo mentality has been branded into me, and now it’s become a daily challenge.
Here are some heat feature photos I have made this summer.
Jared Palma, a Putnam City West sophomore, takes a break to spray himself with water during a football camp at the Putnam City West High School football field Monday, June 27, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Bryan Ritzendollar, a sophomore at Putnam City West, takes a break for a drink of water during a football camp at the Putnam City West High School football field Monday, June 27, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Travis Comer gives Madison Clem a drink of Gatorade before marching in the Oklahoma City Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma City, June 26, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Madison Clem and Danielle Miller march during the Oklahoma City Gay Pride Parade in Oklahoma City, June 26, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Children wait for their chance to operate kayaks during the Olympic Day Corporate Classic Regatta at the Chesapeake boathouse on Saturday, June 25, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Jovanni Rodriquez, 13 of Altus, a member of Youth Force, from St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City cleans a window screen during a mission trip trims hedges during a mission at Strawberry Fields Senior Center in Mustang, June 20, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Mikala West, 13 of Mustang, a member of Youth Force, from St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City cleans a window screen during a mission trip takes a break to cool down with a drink of water during a mission at Strawberry Fields Senior Center in Mustang, June 20, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Logan Clemence, 11 of Washington, sticks his face in some cool water for some relief from the heat during an All-Star game between Class 3a-4a East and West at the OU Softball Complex in Norman, June 18, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Tuesday Webb, 7, cools off before a train ride with a drink of water during the Crawfish Festival in Yukon, June 4 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
12-year-old Shannon Taylor shares an umbrella with her 6-year-old sister, Megan, during the Ozarka Oklahoma City Nationals Drag Boat Racing, in Oklahoma City on Sunday, June 12, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Fans enjoy a beach ball between innings during a game between the Oklahoma City RedHawks and the New Orleans Zephyrs in Oklahoma City, June 17, 2011. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Chicken Outlaws
Hermione the chicken peers out of her enclosure in a backyard in northwest Oklahoma City. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to photograph “illegal” chickens in northwest Oklahoma City.
In Oklahoma City, it is illegal to have chickens in backyards, so the videographer and I were told not to show the faces of the owners. I was surprised to find that you can make some interesting images of chickens and their owners, without showing faces.
Read more about the criminal chickens at NewsOK.com.
See more from our staff photographers at NewsOK.com/Multimedia/Photos.
Click here to see me hard at work. (Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman)
Hermione the chicken walks around enclosure in the northwest Oklahoma City backyard where she lives. A growing number of people are lobbying the Oklahoma City Council to legalize backyard chickens. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Eggy the chicken is held inside the enclosure in the northwest Oklahoma City backyard where she lives. A growing number of people are lobbying the Oklahoma City Council to legalize backyard chickens. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Chicken feed is displayed in a northwest Oklahoma City backyard where a family keeps tww chickens. A growing number of people are lobbying the Oklahoma City Council to legalize backyard chickens. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Macro photography-Bug version
A butterfly steps over to another flower to eat in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Readers of Alternate Crop will remember a few macro photography posts like this one a few weeks ago, or my first one last summer. If I’m not careful this is going to develop into a hobby. I’m not really a huge fan of insects or flowers. I think my interest in macro photography comes from an effort to slow down and take a closer look at everyday things. It’s also quite challenging to sneak up on a butterfly—a very different kind of effort than this job usually requires.
You can see more interesting pictures by clicking here. And remember you can click on any of the photographs featured on Alternate Crop, including these, for a closer view.
An insect rests on a wildflower in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
A spider walks on his web strung between two windows at a home in The Village on Thursday, June 16, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
A ladybug crawls across a stone wall on the north end of Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, April, 26, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
A butterfly rolls up its tongue after feeding on a flower in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, June 22, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Looking for pictures
Sarah Johnson (center) and Jadyn Barefoot (CQ) Barefoot, react as they learn dance steps during Hearts for Hearing Camp at the Oklahoma City Museum Of Art in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 21, 2011. Two Thunder Girls taught dance to the kids who are deaf or have hearing loss. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
The summer interns are probably already sick of hearing my speeches about looking for pictures that connect with readers. Pictures that tell a story or a convey a mood instead of simply proving an event happened. On Tuesday, I looked for kids’ reactions as they learned dance moves from Thunder Girls. Bryan Terry got a picture at a dive-in movie, recently, that really feels like summer. Here are a few pictures we’ve taken in the last couple of weeks.
For more pictures from The Oklahoman photo staff, click here. Also, if you haven’t seen the slideshow page recently there have been a few additions.
Swimmers watch Space Jam during Dive-In Movie Night at Pelican Bay Aquatic Center in Edmond, Okla., Wednesday, June 16, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
James Duncan kisses his great grandchild Bryson Jetter, 2, as his daughter Amby Duncan holds her during a Father's Day picnic at The Edmond Senior Center on Thursday, June 16, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
The Road To Recovery
On May 24, 2011 life was changed for many Oklahoman as multiple tornados tracked across the state leaving in its wake the devastation of destroyed homes and loss of life. The path of destruction hit Calumet, Okla. and leveled the family home of Jesse, Miranda and Copper Lewis. Luckily no one was injured, but the family lost most of everything they owned as the tornado spread their belongings for miles northeast from where their home once stood.
Friends and family start the search through what is left of the home owned by Jesse and Miranda Lewis west of El Reno, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
The following day friends, family, neighbors and complete strangers voluntarily arrived to provide aide for the Lewis family, as they began the process salvaging any personal items they could find, and take the first steps of recovery after the tornado. Miranda Lewis was able to recover a few very important items like her undamaged wedding dress, husbands wedding ring and the boots he was married in.
Through out the process Miranda kept an extremely positive attitude as she picked through the rubble that was once her home, and even took the time to laugh as she modeled an undamaged red dress she found in the pile of debris.
Miranda Lewis makes the best of a bad situation as she models a dress that was undamaged by Tuesday's tornado that destroyed her family's home west of El Reno, Okla., Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Having experienced this life changing event, the Lewis family is now moving forward , and beginning to rebuild. They are living in a rental home just a few miles from their old home , and will rebuild where it once stood. Over the next year or so I will be following the Lewis family as they work to recover and rebuild, and will provide updates on their progress along the way.
On my first visit with Miranda and her family she took the time to read the emotional words she wrote down a few days after that express her sorrow of loss and gratitude for all those she knew and did not know that worked side by side with her and her family as they took the first steps on this long road to recovery.
-Chris Landsberger
Mary’s minis
Mary Shellhammer feeds her miniature horses at her home in Coyle, Okla. Saturday, June 18, 2011. Shellhammer breeds the horses to show and to sell. Photo by Zach Gray, The Oklahoman
On Saturday, I had an assignment in Stillwater that completely fell through as I was halfway up the turnpike on my way into town. It was my only assignment of the day, so I thought I might as well go ahead and take a trip to my old college town and see if I could find a picture in the way that Oklahoman photog John Clanton often does on Sundays.
I drove around for a while, but when the temperature is more than 100 degrees, there aren’t a lot of people who stay outside. So with my gas gauge drooping, I decided I had better leave town.
My last-ditch effort was to take a route that goes between Perkins to Guthrie instead of heading straight for I-35. Every time I go this way, I notice all of the mini horses and desperately want to stop.
Wendy, one of Mary Shellhammer's miniature horses, eats alone in a barn in Coyle, Okla. Saturday, June 18, 2011. Photo by Zach Gray, The Oklahoman
It would turn out to be my lucky day as I noticed a woman out and about around horses. I quickly pulled in and introduced myself to Mary Shellhammer.
After following her around for a few minutes, she invited me inside to share about her life and her love for horses.
Paralympic rower
Paralympic Rower Tony Davis gets his oars into place as he practices with rowing partner Jacqui Kapinowski on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Tony Davis was a Rescue Diver in the US Navy. A crewman aboard the SeaHawk, the Navy’s version of the BlackHawk helicopter, he served overseas for 18 months only to be paralyzed in a car wreck on his way home to Washington state. We talked last week as we walked through the Devon Boathouse as Tony headed to rowing practice on the Oklahoma River. He told me that the feeling he got gliding across the water was similar to the feeling he got back in that SeaHawk helicopter. A BlackHawk helicopter flew over the boathouse as we walked out into the light of the morning sun. Tony the SeaHawk for several seconds and pointed it out to his rowing partner and his coaches as he followed them down to the river.
You can see more images from Tony’s practice by clicking here or you can click here to read Ed Godfrey’s story.
Tony Davis practices with rowing partner Jacqui Kapinowski on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Tony Davis carries his oars toward the Devon Boathouse after practice with rowing partner Jacqui Kapinowski on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. A car accident left Davis, a former Navy Rescue Diver, paralyzed. He taught himself to walk again by watching his son learn to walk, and has been rowing for two years. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Clara Luper 1923-2011
Clara Luper, civil rights leader and educator, in a Nov. 20, 1988 photograph by staff photographer Jim Argo.
Since Clara Luper’s death on Wednesday, June 8, the photographers at The Oklahoman have been remembering her through our archive photos and making new pictures to document the mourning of her death and celebration of her life by our community. Below are more pictures of the civil rights leader and links to galleries and slideshows we have made the last week or so.
Click here for a gallery of photos from Clara Luper’s life
Here are photos from Clara Luper in repose at the state Capitol
This gallery features Clara Luper’s memorial service
Finally, an audio slideshow about memories of Clara Luper
Mrs. Clara Luper of Oklahoma City and other demonstrators outside the privately-owned Doe Doe Amusement Park in Lawton, Okla. Demonstrators protested a segregation policy barring blacks from the park's swimming pool. Staff photo taken June 11, 1966. Twenty-two demonstrators, including Mrs. Luper and 10 children, were arrested for blocking the entrance to the amusement park.
Civil rights pioneer Clara Luper reacts to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Luper was watching TV with Councilman Ronald "Skip" Kelly, her daughter Marilyn Hildreth and 9-year-old Alexia Grant at the Freedom Center at NE 26th and Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City , Okla. January 20, 2009. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Gov. Dewey Bartlett, center, looks on as NAACP youth council adviser Clara Luper accepts a donation from an unidentified woman. Funds were raised for the NAACP' s Freedom Center as hundreds marched to the state Capitol in memory of the slain Martin Luther King on April 6, 1968. Photo by Robert Taylor, The Daily Oklahoman
Oklahoma civil rights leader Clara Luper was honored by the state as her body lay in repose on the first floor of the state Capitol, Thursday, June 16, 2011. Her dark wood casket remained closed as a pair of Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers stood silently on either side of the casket. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Family members laugh and applaud a speaker during the memorial service for Clara Luper. At left is son Calvin Luper. Next to him is daughter Marilyn Hildreth. . About 2,500 people celebrated the life and legacy of Oklahoma City civil rights pioneer Clara Mae Shepard Luper during a lively service in the Cox Convention Center that lasted more than three hours, Friday, June 17, 2011. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
From left, Sasha Wilson, 8, granddaughter of Clara Luper, Chelle Luper Wilson, daughter of Clara Luper, and Oneita Brown, sister of Clara Luper, sit together during the graveside memorial service for civil rights activist Clara Luper at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens cemetery in Spencer, Okla., Friday, June 17, 2011. Luper was 88 years old when she died on June 8, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Rev. A. Byron Coleman, middle, speaks next to Colin Boldien, a Luper family friend, during the graveside memorial service for civil rights activist Clara Luper at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens cemetery in Spencer, Okla., Friday, June 17, 2011. Luper was 88 years old when she died on June 8, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Be sure to check out our audio slideshow of memories of Clara Luper.
-Nate Billings
