All the best from The Oklahoman Photo Dept.

Pictures from Libya and around the world

Last week I spoke with an Oklahoma City resident who has family in Libya. Mohamed Elyazgi said communication in his hometown had been cut off, so he couldn’t speak with his brother and sister who still live there. He hoped that the rebels would eventually be victorious and end Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. This weekend, rebel forces got a step closer to that by moving into Tripoli and capturing Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam.

You can see more pictures from this weekend’s fighting in Libya by clicking here. Follow this link to see more images from events around the world, or click here to see images by photographers at The Oklahoman.

-John Clanton

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Finding common ground

During Ramadan, Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and sex during daylight hours. After the sun sets, they break the fast with a meal called Iftar. The breaking of the fast could happen at home with friends and family or in a more formal, banquet setting. Religious groups in Oklahoma City gathered this week for inter-faith Iftar dinners that featured local officials and community leaders.

At Langston University’s Oklahoma City Campus on Tuesday, Imam Arif Abdullah, from Masjid Mu’min, a Mosque in Northeast Oklahoma City, and Pastor George Young of Holy Temple Baptist Church, both spoke of togetherness and of finding common ground. Mohamed Elyazgi, an Oklahoma City resident who grew up in Libya, told me how fasting in the daylight hours helps remind him of what others don’t have. It’s a reminder to give to charities and appreciate God’s gifts.

Wednesday night, the Inaugural Capitol Interfaith Iftar featured perspectives on fasting by Rabbi Abby Jacobson, Pastor Young and Imam Imad Enchassi along with speeches by local political officials. Here are a few images from two of the recent Iftar ceremonies. You can always see photo galleries from The Oklahoman’s staff photographers by clicking here.

-John Clanton

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Swim bike run

It’s not often that I get to work as the sun rises while wearing crocs and swim trunks, but if there’s a triathlon in one of the area lakes, I get to do just that. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Arcadia Lake Triathlon and Aquabike in Edmond last weekend.

You can see more images of the triathlon by clicking here, or you can follow this link to see more photo galleries from assignments around the Oklahoma City metro area. Remember that you can get a closer look at any picture featured on Alternate Crop by clicking on the image.

-John Clanton

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Macro photography-the practical application

Until last week, my experiments with macro photography were just for fun. An interesting challenge that made popular blog posts on Alternate Crop, but that were rarely used in the newspaper. When I saw that the City Desk made an assignment to get pictures of grasshoppers for this story, I knew my chances of getting a picture of an insect in the paper had increased dramatically.

To get these pictures, I used a reversed 50mm macro lens and walked through a field in northwest Oklahoma City. I didn’t have to walk very far for the grasshoppers to fly away from me so I could follow them to their next hiding place. I didn’t know that grasshoppers came in such a variety of colors, or that if you sneak up slowly enough, some of them will hold still for as long as it takes to get good pictures.

As always, you can see more photo galleries by The Oklahoman photo staff by clicking here.

-John Clanton

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…and a golden Elvis

I pulled into a parking space in downtown Perry, Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon after photographing some minor storm damage following severe thunderstorms the night before. In a storefront window a few doors down from the Kumback Cafe, was a collection of Elvis Presley figurines, including a bright gold one that caught my eye. I’d been to Perry and the Kumback Cafe before to make this slideshow, but somehow I missed the golden Elvis.

Here’s a photo gallery with images from storm damage in Perry and around the Oklahoma City metro area. Remember that you can click on any image featured on Alternate Crop to get a closer look.

-John Clanton

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Back to school on the southside and elsewhere

Students in different school districts around the Oklahoma City metro area started school last week. At Santa Fe South Charter High School, students start the year with the Back 2 School Bash. Students and teachers get a chance to talk, look over their class schedules and pick up school uniforms a few days before the school year gets started.

I photographed the Back 2 School Bash and the first day of classes for a story by Ginnie Graham at the Tulsa World and the Oklahoma Watch project. You can read Ginnie’s story by clicking here, or take a look at more back to school images collected by staff photographers at The Oklahoman.

-John Clanton

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Macro photography-Heat Dome version

As you’ve read before on Alternate Crop, I’ve been using our “pool” 50mm macro lens, which can focus closer than my 50mm @ 1.8. For the really close pictures like these (except for the fish picture), I take the lens off and hold it up to the lens mount backwards. Focusing is a little more difficult with a reversed lens because you have to physically get the camera closer or farther away from the object to change the focus.

Here’s a few images I’ve collected over the last couple of days. You can see more macro photography posts by clicking here, or you can click here to see some of the hot weather images we gathered in the record-setting month of July.

-John Clanton

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A tribute to ‘The Freakshow’

This was going to be Dallas Bulmer’s night. They’d planned it for months. Bulmer’s character Crisstopher “The Freakshow” Crow was supposed to take the spotlight during a cage match at the end of a show by Sooner World Class Wresting. Instead, his friends gathered around the ring for a ten-bell salute as they started the third of three tribute matches dedicated to him.

Dallas Bulmer was killed in a car wreck on June 22, 2011. He was 21 years old.

“We’re going to put on the show that we think he would want to see,” said Dallas’ brother Brandan Bulmer, who wrestles under the name Drake Gallows. Brandan and two of his brother’s friends talked about Dallas and Saturday night’s show as they stood outside the historic Yale Theater in the Capitol Hill neighborhood south of downtown Oklahoma City.

“It’s not just a show that he would be proud of… He would expect no less,” said Brandan.  “We’re gonna (expletive) bust ass today just because I know that’s what he would do.”

The lights above the ring and the room full of people only intensified the sweltering, relentless heat inside the old theater. After a Battle Royal to start the show, wrestlers spilled out into the alley behind the theater to sit in the evening shade. As the metal doors to the alley swung open, Drake Gallows and two other wrestlers talked about what they’d do in the upcoming cage match. Chants from the crowd drifted into the alley: “Freakshow, Freakshow, Freakshow…”

-John Clanton

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A camp without limits

I take my daughter to gymnastics class every week. As soon as she walks in and sees the equipment and the coaches, she can’t wait to get her shoes off and get into the gym. At first, it was a very different experience for a group of children who visited Mat Trotters Gymnastics in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. The kids, who are blind or visually impaired, visited the gym as part of the Oklahomans Without Limits summer camp. Some of the kids had never been to an overnight camp or a gymnastics gym before and couldn’t see what awaited them.

They walked gingerly on the soft, carpeted floors and felt of the balance beams and the padded obstacles. Before long, and with help from their sighted “buddies,” the campers were accustomed to their surroundings and having fun. They rode zip lines, jumped into foam pits and walked on the balance beams. But the most heartwarming moments happened when the campers were able to “fly” while strapped into a harness and hoisted into the air. That’s when I saw some familiar expressions of joy.

You can read the story by clicking here, or you can see more images from the Oklahomans Without Limits summer camp by clicking here.

-John Clanton

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Unpublished Fashion Show

I had fun photographing a fashion show a few weeks ago. I’ve had fashion show assignments before, but never one that was this organized. As usual, I left my strobes in the trunk of the car and tried to take advantage of the interesting, and sometimes difficult, available light in the room. There’s not going to be room for these pictures in the newspaper, so I’ll show a few here.

The show, which was held at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, featured modern styles inspired by traditional Afghan and Rwandan attire. Students from Oklahoma State University designed and created some of the clothing featured in the show. All proceeds from the event benefit The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women and their program called Peace Through Business.

You can see more pictures by Staff Photographers at The Oklahoman by following this link, or take a look at what’s in the Mood section of NewsOK.com.

-John Clanton

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