Between 2001 and 2009, I recorded many thousands of sports images, mostly as part of my job for The Seminole Producer, a daily newspaper that covered Seminole County, Oklahoma. Over the years, I’m more able to see the faults in many of those images, but some of them stand out as really good, at least[...]
I’ve you’ve watched or listened to a sports event broadcast lately, you’ve heard at least one of the commentators say “out of” when they meant “from”. It’s getting worse, and it bugs the hell out of me. “James Johnson, the quarterback, is out of Billings, Montana”, they’ll say. I’ve got news for them. Unless the[...]
Texas A&M’s freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel won college football’s biggest honor, taking the Heisman trophy last night. I found it ironic that the same performance of a lifetime that earned him the necessary votes went unnoticed in the more important voting process: the BCS standings.
My recent entry (My Best Images: Softball) showcased what I think of as my best softball photos from my years covering that sport for a local newspaper in Oklahoma. Here, I’ll show off some photos that didn’t make the cut but that I still like very much. The following image, depicting the Konawa Lady Tigers[...]
Various news reports, editorials and blogs have described the 2012 Olympics’ opening ceremony in London as “exuberant”, “rousing”, “dazzling”, and even “quirky”. Did you watch it? What did you think?
Regularly, I’m asked about photographing sports, the equipment required, settings to use, and techniques to learn. Most people want an easy one-sentence answer, like “Buy X lens and you’re good to go.” If you’ve received that answer, you’ve been cheated. If someone answered you with specific settings, like “Set your aperture to…” then you’ve been[...]
News story here The problem with putting the score of a football game in the headline is that now the score is listed twice. Make sure one of them isn’t a typo. Every game story should have the final score listed in the body somewhere; that’s just a rule of sports writing (a rule that[...]
Congratulations to Robert Griffin III on winning the Heisman Trophy. While all five finalists are amazingly talented athletes and seem to be outstanding citizens as well, Griffin seemed to be the only one that came into a bottom-ranked football program and helped it rise to the top. And it’s kind of cool, living just 15[...]
Tuesday evening, I watched Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. And I was very disappointed. Contrary to what some would expect, I was not disappointed in the game itself, but in the presentation. The game was tremendously exciting. It was 31-31 after one quarter (a WNBA record), and went 105-105 by the end of regulation,[...]
Title: The Raven, A Biography of Sam Houston Author: Marquis James Year: 1929 Publisher: University of Texas Press, Austin ISBN 0-292-77040-5 View it on Amazon View it on Google Books Sam Houston on Wikipedia This book was awarded the 1930 Pulitzer Prize for “Biography or Autobiography” (James is one of the very few people who’ve[...]
Flickr holds a special place in my heart, at least compared to other internet sites. I’ve spent more time on Flickr than most people have spent on Facebook or Twitter — daily participation since I joined in Sept. 2005. Not only have I uploaded over 30,000 images to my photostream (most of them now non-public),[...]
“I thought the left loved freedom of the press and open government. I guess that’s only when ‘The Man’ is someone else.” That’s what one commenter said on a news story about the federal government hoping to charge a journalist for publishing news. It’s an astute observation about the way our two-party political system works:[...]
Commentary: A record Powerball jackpot isn’t a record to celebrate (Christian Science Monitor) The editorial board of CSM concluded their piece with this: Before the news media play up the next record-setting mega-lottery like Powerball, they may want to add these kinds of caveats in their reporting. It could deter people from rushing to the[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of To Sail Beyond The Sunset (1987) by Robert A. Heinlein, the last novel he published before dying in 1988: “I remember Earth. I knew her when she was clean and green, mankind’s beautiful bride, sweet and lush and lovable… It is futile to mourn over[...]
There is a school of thought, albeit a relatively unpopular one, that poor grammar or punctuation on printed signs should be corrected with a Sharpie or other tool, vigilante style. In the News: Vigilante Copy Editor (New York Times) And there are older instances, such as this one (The Virginian-Pilot).
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A Comedy of Manners (1985) by Robert A. Heinlein: “It does not do to encourage bad banners; one should retaliate, urbanely but firmly.”
In The News: Adobe starts subscription for Photoshop and Dreamweaver (BBC News) This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone; many software companies are moving in this direction. Instead of having to ship millions of boxes and discs every year when they upgrade the software, they’re just going to add the updates to the online[...]
Following are some passages I underlined during a reading of I Will Fear No Evil (1970) by Robert Heinlein: “…most people think of money as something to pay the rent. But a money man thinks of money in terms of what he can do with it.” “…it’s impossible for a woman to lay it on[...]
For about $5, I made this measuring cup holder that’s hidden inside a kitchen cabinet: (Copyright © 2013 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)
Not logged in