Richard Hamm's Photojournalism Site

I’ve moved again

rhamm — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:28:21 +0000

In an effort to consolidate and look more professional, I’ve built a new blog with a new domain at richardhamm.com

Hope everybody will come by and check out the new site.

I’m Still Shootin

rhamm — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:28:54 +0000

Hello world, I’m still shootin. So obvioulsly I have been neglecting the blog recently but I’m going to try and start over and do better with at least a weekly post.

So I graduated in May and have still been living in Athens working as a freelancer. I shoot mainly for the Athens Banner-Herald and a few websites. Overall, I’m still lovin life, although I’m sort of broke. I make decent money, I just don’t have health insurance, and that scares me.

A few months ago, a Banner-Herald staffer left the paper to pursue other options, and since then the Banner-Herald has been kind of desperate for good shooters, which is a good thing for me. I ussually shoot about 3-5 assignments a week and stay busy shooting other personal projecet so that I’ll keep growing. So of my ABH assignments have been fantastic. I have shot everything from turkeys to senior citizens in a swimming pool. I am constantly learning from triumphs and screwups. I have pulled a few great shots out of assignments that I was sweating on the way to them and that’s a good feeling. You can see some of my work from the paper and some personal stuff here.

Tomorrow, I’m going to do a post with all the stuff I shot this weekend. I don’t like talking about things before they run.

Also, I’ve been really getting into location lighting and I’ve got two strobes with remotes, with plans to get an Alien Bee 800 Monolight and two more strobes for christmas, so expect to see some non-PJ stuff on the site soon. I am going to do a portrait session with the Classic City Roller-Derby Girls later this month. I lucked out and Rudy Huxtabrawl, one of the skaters is my roomate. You can see her in one of the slideshow shots cracking some poor girls skull.

Yee-Haw, The Rednecks have a home.

rhamm — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:36:01 +0000

Saturday I drove to East Dublin to witness something that only the south could spawn, the Redneck Games. The Redneck games were started in East Dublin in 1996 while the Olympics were in Atlanta. Its basically a giant gathering of blue-blood rednecks, good ol’ boys, white trash, and those who come to watch. There are games like the mud pit belly-flop contest, the arm-pit serenade, seed spitting contest, bobbing for pigs feet, well you get the idea.

This year there was even a redneck wedding filmed by CMT for the show “My Big Redneck Wedding.” All in all this was a fun event. As much as I pic, the people were very nice, well until later in the day when the Natural Light and PBR had been flowing like water for several hours. For those who see these pics and want to go and shoot this next year I give you one warning. Watch out for fat kids during the mud pit belly flop contest. When they go belly first into that mud, they really do part the red sea.

Patrons dive into the mud pit at the Redneck games in East Dublin Saturday, July 5, 2008. One of the events at the games is a mud pit belly-flop contest.

Elbow walks past a flag at the 2008 Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Ga. Saturday, July 5, 2008. In previous years, Elbow has been a mascot for the games, but has given the role to fellow redneck Preston.

Patrons bob for pigs feet at the Redneck Games in East Dublin Saturday, July 5, 2008.

Eric Outler from Vidalia, Ga. throws a frozen pigs foot aside during the bobbing for pigs feet event at the Redneck Games. Outlter won the event after pulling out 6 pig feet in thirty seconds.

A group of teenagers jump from a tree into the Oconee River in East Dublin during the Redneck Games. With tempeartures reaching the high nineties, the river was a welcomed relief from the heat.

A crowd watches as Rawni and Rob Sprague jump into the mud pit of the Redneck Games in Dulin, Ga. right after exchanging nuptials on Saturday, July 5, 2008. The Sprauges maried at the Redneck Games while filming an episode of CMT\

Dark Meat @ Athfest

rhamm — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:01:29 +0000

I’m back.

Well it’s been a while since my last post. I’ve graduated and I’m on the prowl for a job in the pj world. Over the past month I’ve shot a few assignments for the Athens Banner-Herald and a few random gigs here and there. The other night I shot a local band called Dark Meat rehearsing for their performance at Athfest, an annual music festival in Athens. They were a wild bunch with about 15+ members, so decided it would be fun to shoot them playing Friday at the festival. Here are some of the pics. I plan on keeping up with blog so keep checking. Also check out my online portfolio at www.rahphoto.net.

Need a new angle? Get up.

rhamm — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:26:19 +0000

Today I had to go shoot practice sessions for the NCAA Championships at Stegeman Coliseum, which actually has really good light. I’ve shot several gym dog meets and needed to do something different. The paper wanted a good overall shot so I wanted to get up. Some of my fellow photogs have gathered the courage to go up the scaffolding that is connected to the main scoreboard above the floor, but I had yet to tackle this feet.

After acting like I was supposed to be there to get past some blocked off areas, I climb two set of rickety stairs to come out at the top of the coliseum and see this.

Yeah, not so fun. But either way. Hit the jump for the rest

So the scaffolding wasn’t in the best of shape. Some sections had cardboard tape over the top to hide god only knows what. Either way, the struggle is worth it. To get some of these shots I had to shoot through the cage like barrier. It’s very noticeable in the bars picture, but I still think it works. I look forward to shooting the NCAA Championship there. Here are the rest the pics.

Photo Weekend Extravaganza!!!!!

rhamm — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:48:30 +0000

Last Weekend Mark Johnson, the man when in comes to PJ at UGA, put together the third annual photojournalism seminar weekend at Grady. Basically he got together a bunch of pro photogs and editors to come to Athens to work with photojournalism students over the weekend. We had to find a couple of things to shoot or a good story to follow, go out and shoot and bring them back to school to get critiques. Then at the end of each day there was a large critique session where all the editors talked about the edits. It was a great weekend, in fact it might have been the best weekend I’ve had in a long time and that makes me feel good. I know that the weekend was as close to the reality of being a staff shooter as you can get, and I loved every minute of it. Any fears about whether or not wanted to live such a fast moving chaotic life of brief moments were quelled at the end of each night. I went home every night exhausted but happy. I knew I busted my ass doing what I did, and even if I didn’t shoot the best pictures, I spotted my errors. I learned from every frame. Hit the jump to read about my shooting experiences. The first thing I shot was a decathlon at UGA. It was around noon so the lighting was bright but harsh and hot. Shadows killed a lot of my pictures. I have never shot track and field stuff so I first shot the basic action stuff. Track people running and jumping. then I tried some different angles, got some basic stuff that I thought was good and headed in for my first edit. Mike Haskey, the photo editor at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer edit my first shoot. I think he liked what I shot but, I shot a lot of the same things. He told me to go back and work different angles and try to see different things. Here are the shots.

So after my second shoot of the decathlon, I went in for a second edit and then Mike Haskey and I headed over to foley field to catch a Baseball game. I don’t really like baseball and I don’t really like shooting it. I used to think it was a boring game. Mike on the other hand saw a complicated battle of whits unfold at the swing of every bat. He not only knew where the action would be, but the emotion to. Now that I’ve seen the reality of baseball, I like shooting it. After spending a little to long at baseball we went in for the final edit and show. I was excited to see my pics come up, but kind of scared because everybody else had such cool things. Ultimately people liked the random little shots like the one above than the action stuff. Mainly because of the dirty backgrounds. I went home that night feeling like crap but in a good way. I new I could have done better. I knew the shots I took might very well run in any decent newspaper, but they wouldn’t wow anybody. The main thing I learned that night was to not be afraid to waste frames. I shot the safe decent stuff for too long. Get the shot, move on, and try something new. I went to sleep that night pissed off because I didn’t do well, but I was still excited for the next day.

The next day I went school talked a few things over and headed off to shoot my next thing, an invitational iron pour. Yeah I didn’t know what it was either. Basically a bunch of iron sculptors make molds for personal pieces, bring them to an iron yard and make sculptures. The have to work with a large furnace to melt down raw iron, then pour it into a ladle and then into the molds. It’s hot, dangerous and fast paced. I don’t want to put all the pics up here so here is one, and a link to the rest.

This was really a total surprise. A got this tip from work to shoot. I had originally planned to shoot the international street festival, but once I got to the iron pour, I knew it was too good to pass up. The place was filled with molten metal, flames, and characters. A lot of the guys had donned mustaches like their teacher’s Jimbo. The place looked like a metal yard run by 1970′s porn stars. They also had several small incidents, like the small furnace exploding with little balls of flame (see above), and the main furnace almost falling over, that really made the day.

The next day I was beat, but I went to the local skate park and shot some stuff. This is always a great spot to grab a few shots. It’s wild to see kids half my age do stunts I couldn’t dream of doing, unless I wanted to get severely damaged. This is my favorite pic.

The weekend was amazing. I think I became a photojournalist after this weekend. I was a photographer before. I took good pictures, but rarely told stories. That’s the main thing I wanted to work on this semester. I got a lot of help in my class with my teacher Johnny Crawford. He taught me how to see more than just the action in front of you. This weekend was the first time I saw stories all around me. I understand what the journalist part of the title means.

I’m Back

rhamm — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:34:01 +0000

Well I’m finally back to the old blog. Or new blog I guess I should say. I’ve been really busy since I became photo editor at the R&B, so the blogs been hurting. The good news is I’ve got a lot of new stuff. These shots are from a campaign stop by Congressman Paul Broun (R) at The Varsity, a staple of Athens. It was your typical press event with cheesy campaign sign covered RV and all. I also shot the opening of his Athens office which you can see below in the post “American Politicians and British Rockers.” A shot some horrible grip and grins there and I promised myself I would never shoot them again unless absolutely necessary. There are always better pictures to be had. The two pictures below are what I came up with.

These two pictures are my favorites. The first one was just luck. I saw the mans reflective glasses and followed him for a bit. Then came the congressional grip and grin and the perfect moment to get the shot. I only wish I could have gotten a better expression. The second picture is the one I thought we would run. I didn’t think the picture would look good medium in black and white newsprint. Luckily the eds liked the reflection pic moved it dominant.

Congressman Paul Broun (R) is reflected in the sunglasses of Dan Norman, of Athens, during a campaign stop in Athens at The Varsity Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

Congressman Paul Broun (R) kicks off his campaign at The Varsity in Athens, Ga. on Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

Spot New, Hooray

rhamm — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:08:29 +0000

On Monday night Juanita Cousins, the chief editor of the R&B, called me at around 8pm and told me police were making an arrest at one of the dorms on campus. When I got there, i managed to get myself into the building and go up to the third floor. As soon as I got off the elevator, some cops escorted two guys onto it, so I jumped back on. I didn’t shoot in the elevator for fear of getting screamed at so I waited until they got the suspects outside the building before I shot these pictures. I don’t know what the charges were, but I did see an airsoft gun in one of the bags the cops brought out. The two suspects arrested weren’t UGA students so the paper didn’t use them, but it was fun none the less. Here are the pics.

Paper Cranes ohhhh pretty!!!

rhamm — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:58:42 +0000

We needed to shoot a paper crane-a-thon on campus for the Red&Black and even though we sent a staffer I decided to show up and shoot just for practice. Here is my favorite shot.

Sugar Bowl 2008

rhamm — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:13:17 +0000

With a lot of luck and the perks of my new job as photo editor at the Red & Black, I was able to grab a sideline pass to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans this year. The Bulldogs were facing the Hawaii Warriors in what was supposed to be a tough match-up. It turned out to be a slaughter obviously but still a great game. Hawaii’s star quarterback was sacked 8 times and threw 4 interceptions, welcome to the SEC Colt. I had strep throat the entire time so I wasn’t able to bust my tail like I would have liked but I got some pretty good shots. Despite my sickness, it was one hell of a ride. As soon as I walked out onto the field of the Super Dome I knew this wasn’t just another football game. Although the Warriors lost, it was still a cool ride for them. And the bulldogs didn’t rub it in their face at the end of the game.

I also like meeting all the big pros from other papers. The AP did a slide show in the photo room at the end that made me want to stay in school. I was also really impressed with Pouya Dianat of the AJC. He looks young but his work sure isn’t. While all of us were scrambling to get pictures of the cheesy award ceremony (we all got the same shot of coach Richt holding up the trophy, wow), Pouya mounted his camera on his monopod, held it high and remote triggered it. The shots were cool to say the least, but he also seperated himself from the rest of the pack. I want to start thinking more creative like that. Good stuff.