Pictures I Like
Rebecca Tyberg, a junior at Piedmont High School, puts on her blindfold as she enters a ballroom for Dining in the dark at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Boone Pickens, center, holds court for a group of past and present Holdenville, Okla. residents during game day of the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and the Grambling State University Tigers at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Stillwater, Okla. By Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
The Oklahoman Photo Department has been busy in the last seven days. Henry Bellmon’s funeral, OU vs. Miami football, a feature story about T. Boone Pickens and, of course, high school football are a few of the assignments we’ve photographed. Here are a few images that stand out over the last week.
Gov. Brad Henry and his wife Kim pay their respects at the casket of former governor Henry Bellmon as they remove it from the State Capitol on Friday, Oct. 1, 2009, in Oklahoma City, Okla. By Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman.
Miami's Thearon Collier (28) just misses catching a pass in front of OU's Quinton Carter (20) during the college football game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) Sooners and the University of Miami (UM) Hurricanes at Land Shark Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, Saturday, October 3, 2009. Miami won, 21-20. By Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Thunder media day
Oklahoma City Thunder player Kevin Durant poses for Oklahoman staff photographer Chris Landsberger during media day for the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
If either of you have looked in the paper and seen a nicely lit portrait of Sam Bradford, Dez Bryant or Russell Westbrook, chances are we didn’t take the picture the night before. We probably took the picture during the team’s media day. Professional and collegiate-level teams hold media days to try and meet a portion of media’s requests for access to players and coaches all at one time in one place. Basically, it’s a chance for still photographers, reporters, and video photographers to take pictures, ask questions and tape interviews so that later in the season we can concentrate on coverage of the teams. We usually archive the pictures so that when the sports department needs a nice portrait to augment a feature story, we can use a picture from media day instead of sports action photo from a game.
Chris Landsberger and I set up our station between the Associated Press and the official NBA photographers. We brought a backdrop, three lights, stands for the lights and background, pocket wizards, a pile of cords, battery packs for the lights and a partially filled basketball. The photographs that Chris took will be used throughout the season on NewsOK.com and in The Oklahoman.
Nick Collison talks with Thunder employees while staff photographer Chris Landsberger photographs another member of the team during media day for the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Mid South Wrestling
Zack Whitaker, age 8, poses with his toy championship belt prior to an event at the Golden Goose Flea Market Event Center in Midwest City on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. Whitaker says his dream is to be a wrestler. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Over the last month or so I’ve been collecting photos and audio from a group of wrestlers at the Golden Goose Flea Market and Event Center in Midwest City. The events are held every two weeks at the event center. The story ran in Sunday’s newspaper, but I realized driving back from Holdenville today that I hadn’t blogged about the slideshow I made of the wrestlers.
I’ve included two of my favorite images here, but you can watch the entire slideshow here.
A member of TMS or "Too much Sexy," Stephan Katz, who wrestles as Seth Allen, poses for the crowd at the Golden Goose Flea Market Event Center in Midwest City on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
More State Fair
My daughter and I split an order of curly fries at the 2009 Oklahoma State Fair onThursday, Sept. 17, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
In years past I spent so much time working at the Tulsa State Fair that I was sick of it by the time my wife wanted to go. This year I got the family out to the fair early on Friday, and then went to work on Sunday for the paper. Here’s a picture that I like from Sunday evening. You can see a gallery of pictures from the fair as well as this weekend’s football games by clicking here.
Waiting in line for a ride, Kayla Melher (right) and her sister Olivia, wear glasses they bought on the midway during the 2009 Oklahoma State Fair at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Kites in Enid
Last week, an event titled W.O.W. Kites over Enid attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the most kites in the air at one time. Staff Photographer David McDaniel covered the event for the newspaper and produced a video for NewsOk.com.
-John Clanton
2009 Oklahoma State Fair opens Thursday
Carnival worker Tyrone Mosley sets up stuffed prizes in his midway booth, Tubs of Fun. Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
For the last two days we’ve photographed vendors and business owners setting up for the 2009 Oklahoma State Fair. We’ll have a photographer at the fair everyday and Doug Hoke, the Director of Photography at The Oklahoman, wants to see a photo gallery everyday.
Josh Minshull, an employee of Express Ranch, uses a step ladder to reach the top of Troy, one of the Express Ranch Clydesdales during a bath before the 2009 Oklahoma State Fair at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009. Troy, Minshull said it takes 20-30 minutes to wash each horse. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Health care rallies
People on both sides of the health care debate held rallies at the State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
People in favor of a public option gathered on the south side of the Oklahoma State Capitol at around noon on Sunday, after a short march. A few hours later, people opposed to the legislation gathered on the other side of the building. I collected several images from the afternoon, and paired it with a counterpart from the opposing rally.
-John Clanton
The Moving Wall
James Krick, a veteran from Shawnee, Okla., looks at The Moving Wall exhibit, a replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, at Woodland Park in Shawnee , Okla., on Sunday, August 23, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
When I was a kid, my father, a Vietnam Veteran, took his family to see The Moving Wall when it came to Veteran’s Park in Tulsa. I was young, and I’m sure I didn’t fully comprehend or appreciate what I was seeing. My dad, like many Vietnam veterans, knew people back in 1968 whose names are now on the wall. I remember thinking that for such a large exhibit, the names were very small.
A bottle of beer left near a flag at The Moving Wall exhibit, a replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, at Woodland Park in Shawnee , Okla., on Sunday, August 23, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
I’m 23 years older, with a family of my own now, so the wall was infinitely more meaningful to me, seeing it at a park in Shawne, Okla., on Sunday afternoon. Most people around me were in their church clothes, looking at the wall, touching it and taking pictures. Photographing it for the newspaper, I wanted to keep in mind the small type on the wall, and how many names it takes to fill the panels.
Mary Morse, of Shawnee, is reflected in The Moving Wall exhibit, as she look at the memorial, a replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, at Woodland Park in Shawnee , Okla., on Sunday, August 23, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Prep Photo Day
Three times a year the Sports Department invites metro-area high school coaches to bring themselves and their players into The Oklahoman’s offices for picture day. We catalogue the pictures for use in our Prep Grid every week or when players achieve something outstanding in their sport. Then we use the pictures in the paper or on NewsOK.com. For nearly four years of working here, I’ve somehow managed to miss this assignment. Wednesday afternoon, though, I loaded up lights, background, light stands and background stands, extension cords and cameras and hauled them to the banquet hall of our offices in Oklahoma City for Prep Photo Day.
Several participants accurately described the process as they walked toward the “X” I had marked on the carpet. “mug shots…like in jail.” Exactly. With nearly 400 people showing up to have their pictures taken, we need a way to elimiate mistakes. Each person holds a piece of paper with their name, high school and sport written on it. That way, when I write the cutlines, the chances of getting the names wrong goes down drastically.
Just a few pictures in, I decided to keep an eye out for interesting moments. Most of the high school boys try to look tough, while their teammates stand behind me, trying to get them to smile. A couple of girls from Blanchard, Okla., ask me to take funny pictures. One coach suggested I take a picture “like this” as she held her name card in front of her face. Two girls asked for a picture together, and a kid from Santa Fe South High School was just dazed by how bright the lights were.
I put together a video of all 380 athletes and their coaches. You can see all 779 pictures in less than a minute, while it took nearly 5 hours to photograph them all.
-John Clanton
“It’s pretty wild.”
Staff Photographer Bryan Terry attended the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo in McAlester on Friday night. He photographed the event for the newspaper, but also produced this video for the website.
The rodeo didn’t get going until 8:30pm. That’s a fairly late start when editors start worrying about art for the paper by about 9pm. Bryan had to take pictures quickly, send them back to the office by 9pm and then continue working on the video.
An inmate breaks his ankle as he falls off a horse during the Mad Scramble event at the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo in McAlester, Okla., Friday, August 14, 2009. By Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
