Small Town Photojournalism

Longmont Pit Bulls

Matthew Jonas — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:45:28 +0000

Last week, I worked on a story about Pit Bulls in Longmont. After a couple recent attacks, the breed has been brought into the spotlight again. It seems that both supporters and opponents have quite a bit to say about them. I feel sorry for the reporter who had to cover the story. She had quite a few emails and some voicemail about the subject. Here’s a few photos that accompanied the story. Enjoy.

Just Pictures

Matthew Jonas — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:52:30 +0000

Good Light in a Bad Venue

Matthew Jonas — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:26:15 +0000

Never send a photographer to an assignment around sunset and expect them to come back before dark. I live for these opportunities. The picture above was made inside a department store during a job fair for students. Not exactly the best light. A west facing doorway can be a great asset in a situation like this.

A Steep Learning Curve

Matthew Jonas — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:28:00 +0000

There is a lot to say about my first month at the Longmont Times-Call. Mostly, it was trial by fire. Some things worked out and some things fell through the cracks as I struggled to keep up with the pace of a daily news cycle again.

The biggest change has come from being a one-man-band to managing 3 one-man-bands. I am now part of a staff again which has solved as many problems for me as it has created. I now worry about what 2 other people should be producing as well as what I need to do to make sure they can do what I want. Make sense?

There are a slew of new technical issues to work out as well. As we (slowly, sometimes) transition to the “Digital First” model, we are challenged to produce a wider variety of content than we ever have before. This includes but is not limited to video, stills and galleries of photos, sometimes all from the same assignment.

Overall the limiting factor right now is time. This will be a challenge for us as a staff to overcome. Good video takes a lot longer to edit than I remember. And as much as I hate to admit it, I am less than thrilled with what I have been able to produce thus far. At least I am not limited by technology.

Technology is both my friend and my enemy. I now shoot Nikon at the paper. I know…I know. You thought this was a Canon only blog. I can’t begin to say enough good things about the D3s and D700 I get to use. The other staffers will get new Nikon D4′s as soon as the order comes in. I am honestly a little jealous. Those things see in the dark!

When the iPad first came out, I wrote a post about using it as a tool to transmit photos during breaking news . I am very excited to say (after working out the bugs) that I used an iPad 2 today to send photos of a car vs. bicyclist accident from the scene. Soon we will be able to send video as well (I hope).

Facebook, twitter and probably a few other outlets I am forgetting are playing a much larger part in my daily life than I thought they ever would. I have already learned to make sure that whatever gets posted to social media needs to be checked and checked again to make sure that it is perfect. It only takes one reader/user/viewer to point out that, for instance, the captions to a photo gallery are not showing up properly to make you feel like shit the rest of the day.

I will admit that updating this blog has not been as much of a priority in 2012 as it was in 2011. Things are starting to settle down a bit now and that should help. Here are a few photos from the first month. Enjoy.

Angst for the Memories Evergreen

Matthew Jonas — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:39:07 +0000

“Can you be here Monday?”

In August of 2007, I got a phone call from a former college instructor that would start my career in photojournalism. In the span of a couple days, I packed up everything I owned and drove 1700 miles back to Colorado in just under 24 hours.

I was excited to have landed my first staff job. I hit the ground running. I dove into every opportunity that I had. And as much as I complained (what else are photographers good at?), I enjoyed every second of it.

So here I am 4 1/2 years later about to take the next step in my career. You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with a goose?

The picture above requires a little explanation. I made it on one of my last assignments for the Canyon Courier. I did my best to capture the longing ‘Nita had for her recently deceased mate, Pedro. Yes, you read that correctly. The story I was working on is about a grieving goose and her quest for a new mate.

In a way I can kind of understand the feeling. After years of working the same area, with the same reporters and building relationships within the community, I too will feel like part of my life is missing.

As I start my new position at the Longmont Times-Call, I will work to build new relationships and fill that part of my life again. I understand that it’s going to be tough at first. However, I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.

I will use every experience, every relationship, every failure and every victory from my time at Evergreen Newspapers and build up from there. Thanks to everyone who made my work at the paper possible.

So long Evergreen. It was fun. Angst for the memories.

Death Race Competitor Portrait

Matthew Jonas — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:45:39 +0000

Yes. You read that correctly. There is an actual event called “The Death Race.” It’s a 24-48 hour endurance race that features some unique challenges. These can range from carrying a 20 lbs stump for several miles, crawling through mud under barbed wire or memorizing and reciting bible verses after climbing up a mountain. Yeah. I’m dead serious about that last one. (Get it? You’re so smart!) If you are looking for more info on the race, check out www.youmaydie.com.

Community Recycling in Conifer

Matthew Jonas — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:19:07 +0000

I suppose that I am a little strange but I always get excited when I get to cover a community recycling day. Sometime the most mundane sounding assignments can present opportunities to make really fun pictures.

Girls Basketball Floor Remote

Matthew Jonas — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:53:43 +0000

2011 Year in Pictures: News, Features and Portraits

Matthew Jonas — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:12:11 +0000

2011 flew by. It was a busy year. This is a selection my favorite (not necessarily my best) news, features and portraits from 2011. Enjoy.

Chatfield Senior High School Swimmer

Matthew Jonas — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:46:23 +0000

I meant to post this last week but I never got around to it. I cover a fair amount of swimming during the winter sports season. Its always a challenge to come up with strong swimming pictures when you are limited to what you can see above the water. I think this one is fairly successful for 2 reasons. The first is the drama of the water splashing around the swimmer. The second is the red digital display of the time clock reflected in the swimmers goggles. I almost chose another picture over this one until I saw that small detail.