I had a quick editorial shoot for MSNBC.com the other week with Laurie Besden, a lawyer and recovering drug addict who begin using prescription drugs to pass the bar exam. The habit eventually took over her life and she was arrested on multiple occasions and lost her license. She has since quit the habit and been reinstated as a lawyer in Pennsylvania. It’s a story with a pretty happy ending and hopefully one that inspires others with similar habits.

The shoot was a pretty low-budget affair, so I appreciate Laurie being patient with my having to wrestle with my lighting gear, since I didn’t have an assistant. Something that I’ve become pretty accustomed to having on my shoots. Here are some outtakes from the shoot:

It went down like this: Yoga Journal asked me to shoot 3 separate assignments in one day because all the subjects would be in NYC attending or teaching at the annual Yoga Journal Conference at the Hilton. So in a six-hour period my assistant, Ryan, and I had to come up with 3 distinct portraits that wouldn’t run until the following year and make them look as though the subjects weren’t in the middle of an urban jungle (save for one subject who is a rapper). And with subjects that only had a bit of time in-between classes. Fortunately, we were within a few blocks of Central Park, which offered us a million location choices. Almost too many. I could have shot each subject for hours.

Thanks to Leslie Kaminoff, Lilias Folan and MC Yogi for being great subjects and to Yoga Journal Creative Director Charli Ornett and Assoc. Art Director Ron Escobar for the tapping me for the gig.

Here are some outtakes from all 3 shoots:

After packing it up, I continued my other task, which has been re-editing my portfolio books. I was looking through the images that I made in Paris last April and was struck by the difference in tone and feel between the images shot digitally and those that were made analog (-ly?) on the Hasselblad. It almost like two photographers were shooting the same trip. I’m not getting too deep into the (pointless?) debate between film and digital. As a commercial photographer who wants to make money shooting pictures and as a lazy person who hates spending a lot of time scanning (and removing dust from) film, I love digital. But as a photographic artist, I understand that I am wed to a camera (a mechanical thing) to create what I create. And each of these mechanical things, whether digital or analog has a different personality, which make me see, feel and create differently. I’m sure sketch artists have their personal favorite pencils or pens. (Do they have long debates about electronic stylus drawing vs. old-school pencil drawings?)

All I’m only saying that I miss shooting with that 501CM as much as I used to shoot with it. And besides, it’s an excuse to post more images to my blog:

Paris – Hasselblad – Images by Ryan Donnell

Here’s the whole gallery, including the digital images.

News Photos, on the Move, Make News

In the middle of December two trailer trucks left New York City bound for Austin, Tex., packed with a precious and unusual cargo: the entire collection of pictures amassed over more than half a century by the Magnum photo cooperative, whose members have been among the world’s most distinguished photojournalists.

‘The trucks had GPS, and I was so nervous, I was tracking every single second of the trip,’ Mark Lubell, Magnum’s director, said.

I haven’t gotten the hard copy of the Girlfriends Getaway issue that has my images from a piece on Philadelphia, but I thought I might post the link and a few outtakes from the story. It was a fun assignment, not only because of the great locations, but becuase Girlfriend Getaways (and parent mag Budget Travel) is one of the few clients that still requests film. It was great to break out the ole’ Mamiya and Hassy.

Check it out online here: http://www.girlgetaways.com/articles/2009fall/philadelphia.html

2202 St. Albans St.

Philadelphia, PA 19146

All the phone numbers will be the same. And, most importantly, could anyone who works with one, please forward this address on to your accounts payable department. Thanks.

“The first question I asked,” Mr. Taxali said in a recent interview, “is ‘What’s the fee?’”

Mr. Taxali said that when he was told Google would pay nothing, he declined.

Good for you Mr. Taxali. Shame on you Mr. Google.