Two-faced

In a state known for political corruption, this has been a banner year for New Jersey's crooked officeholders.

Some were unlikely suspects: a Baptist minister, rabbis, a charismatic up-and-comer. That got me thinking about the two-faced nature of politicians - how they seem so sincere and yet simultaneously can be so sinister. So I decided to try to literally portray a two-faced politician in a photo illustration.

I hired a model for the shoot and photographed him making different faces in the studio. Later I took those bits and pieces of the faces and created one face, tweaking with Photoshop to make the sinister side more

frightening. I enlisted the help of Star-Ledger artist Andre Malok, a talented illustrator with whom I like collaborating. Andre, a whiz with Photoshop, turned the sinister side into a politician that would make even the toughest prosecutor cringe.

The end result is published in this month's Inside Jersey magazine.

Anti-Graffiti Man

How do you pull off a portrait of someone who doesn't want his identity publicly known?

That was my recent challenge, when my editor assigned me to photograph a community crusader against graffiti. The anonymous activist hopscotches 'hoods throughout Newark, NJ., once or twice a week to paint over graffiti.

Making a portrait of someone who doesn't want their face shown can be difficult, especially if it's not a visual subject. But this guy was good: I knew I could have fun, graphically, if I persuaded him to show just parts of his face or his shadow.

So we went to his home turf. I photographed him less than a block from his house, using his favorite anti-graffiti weapon - a paint roller - to hide most of his face. For another shot, I used his shadow to make a portrait of him in one area that frequently has to paint over and over.

Fights

The New Jersey Devils hosted a preseason game against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center this week. It was nice to see the Devils take the ice after their disappointing loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs. The team had a lot of new faces - and one missing: John Madden, who left to become a free agent.

I grew a bit rusty during the off-season, so I missed some shots and struggled with timing in the furiously paced game. But I snagged something during this game that has eluded me in my years of shooting ice hockey: Good fight shots! There were five fights during the game, and I scored a shot of a fist to the face. Those are tough to get, because of timing: Often, I've had images a split second too soon or too late, but never at the moment of contact.

During this game, I got a shot in which the Devils' David Clarkson (23) clocked the Islanders' Brendan Witt (32) right in the kisser (three sequential images shown). The second shot is of the Devils' Andrew Peters (25) overpowering the Islanders' Joel Rechlicz (40).

Who says New Yorkers are tougher than Jerseyans?!

Boy, I love faces. In sports, a good reaction is just as important as a good action shot. Tennis is one of those sports that can render a really nice reaction. Tonight I was at the U.S. Open in New York, and I was fortunate to make a couple of good reaction shots. Gael Monfils had a great first set, taking it 7-6 in a tie break over Rafael Nadal, but went onto loose the match.

The top image is of Gael reacting to winning the first set. Great Face! In the second image it's of Gael reacting to losing his 4th round match on day 9 of the U.S. Open.

Even though you can't see his face, his posture is a great reaction telling the outcome of the match.

Dawn and Carlos's Wedding

I love my job - one day I might be shooting the Yankees or the New Jersey Devils, and the next, I'm traipsing through woods for a story about a survivalists' camp. But with the future of newspapers as unstable as a tornado, many of us are "trying on" other careers, in case we find ourselves on the wrong side of the newspaper's door. So for the past year, I have dedicated myself to learning the art of wedding photography.

Weddings are so much like journalism, in that you are there to document the day's happenings. But unlike journalism, which often focuses on tragedy, loss, trauma or conflict, weddings are all about joy. That makes for a fun day for me - but also a creative challenge in capturing the romance, anticipation, excitement and spontaneous moments that illustrate the joy. Last weekend, I traveled to Savannah, Ga., to photograph the wedding of Dawn and Carlos. They were very easy-going and excited, and that made them easy to photograph. Everything went smoothly and I am grateful to have shared their day. Here are a few of my favorite snaps.

Fall Fashion

My fall fashion shoot for Inside Jersey, The Star-Ledger's magazine, appeared in the latest issue. Fashion shoots can get quite expensive, between hiring models, renting vehicles for transportation, buying props and paying various location costs. So my main charge was this: Keep the costs down. I figured, what better way to save cents than to shoot in the Ledger's studio? But rather than a boring backdrop, I imagined real models in an imaginary world. The backdrops would be cartoonish and black-and-white, so that the model would really pop off the page. So I approached Ledger artist Andre Malok, whose work I admire a lot.

It was an unusual concept, so there was a bit more naysaying politics than usual due to the skepticism of others involved with the magazine. But with Andre's talent, it was a big success - so much so that I've asked Andre to work with me again on a photo illustration for an upcoming magazine story on New Jersey's corrupt politicians. Andre is extremely talented and fun to work with; he brings life to my visions. Once our collaboration on this next project is complete, I'll share it with you.

Check out Andre's work on his Web site: andremalok.com

I-280 Shutdown

Today was interesting. A major interstate in New Jersey, I-280 was shutdown for me for 15-20 minutes around 7:30 p.m., so I could photograph a state trooper for a story The Star-Ledger was working on.

Now that is POWER!

The story is about New Jersey State Trooper Gerard Tibbs, who took on a cold case assignment last year. I photographed him standing at the spot, on I-280 west in Kearny, where a women was walking in the left lane when a car fatally struck her on January 20, 1997. Trooper Tibbs hopes to find out the identity of the women using the latest DNA technology.

It was a weird experience. I followed the trooper in my car to the spot. As we approached, out of no where, two troopers pulled out between me and the cars behind to slow the traffic down to a stop. We had open road to ourselves. So I pulled out a light stand and a small flash to set up for the shoot. All the time seeing the traffic build and build.

After finishing the shoot, I checked the traffic report to see if anything was mentioned. Not much just a small blurb about a backup on I-280 west because of police activity. At least it didn't say for a photo shoot!