Evergreen Newspapers

Angst for the Memories Evergreen

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2012/Evergreen Newspapers 2012

“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?

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Weather Art

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011

Like any good photojournalist, after a good snow storm, you make weather feature pictures where ever you can. Covering the same area for the last 4 years has its advantages – you have a mental address book of all the good sledding areas. I started off going to the areas I knew would produce good pictures but I also kept an eye out for a few new unique locations along the way. It worked out pretty well. Special thanks to my Subaru for driving me through areas that my last car would have easily given up in. Click through for more pictures. Enjoy.

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2011 CHSAA State Hockey Semi Finals

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011

State hockey playoffs began last weekend. Out of the 8 schools I consistently cover, we have 3 with hockey teams, Columbine, Dakota Ridge and Chatfield. This year Chatfield made it to the second to last round of playoffs which took place at the Pepsi Center last Friday, February 25. I always enjoy shooting at the Pepsi Center. The security staff doesn’t get in my way, the WIFI is generally fast (and free) and the lighting is very good. To go on top of that there are “cutouts” in the glass at various locations throughout the rink that allow you to shoot through the glass with little to no affect on image quality. I wish our local rinks had these. It would make my job a lot easier (that and 50 lights instead of 10). I always like the overhead shots but for hockey I feel like being at ice level produces the best opportunities. I was somewhat inspired to post these after seeing this post on the FM forums which actually include some of the same plays from a different angle. To make a long story short, Chatfield was shutout, 3-0, by Lewis Palmer ending their playoff run. Even as one sided as the scoring was, it definitely made for a few great pictures. Enjoy.

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The Gallery Owner and the Speedlights

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011

I shoot a lot of environmental portraits and have written about it before. Generally I choose to light a portrait and not include the gear that I use to do it with in the actual picture. I’m not sure where I got the idea or what I was looking at that gave me the inspiration but this time I decided to leave it in. I’m still not sure if I like it or not but think I am going to run it this week as the main photo in a supplemental publication we have called Upslope.

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Red Card: 2 Sports Editors in 6 Months

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2010

A lot of very talented writers are leaving the ranks of newspapers right now. The guy with the recorder above is the legendary Brian Forbes – sports reporter, page designer and editor. It seems that we are having a hard time holding onto sports editors. After working for Evergreen Newspapers off and on for the last 10 years, he is finally moving on to marketing (isn’t that just another word for PR), the place where good journalists go to die. In reality that’s probably the place where good journalists go to get paid what they are worth. The Forbes family seems to be growing exponentially and journalism isn’t exactly the place to be right now if you have dependents. I have only been working with him for a short time but I can say that he will be missed by both the staff at the papers and by the many coaches and athletic directors he has bothered over the years. Good luck with your next endeavor. Now that you are making the big bucks, you should buy me a drink. I might need it to put up with whoever they hire to fill your position.

4A State Basketball with a broken lens

| Matthew Jonas

© Matthew Jonas 2010/© Evergreen Newspapers 2010

I haven’t shot basketball without lights for a long time. I have to admit it was kind of relaxing. I didn’t need to worry about getting to the venue super early or setting up and transporting a ton of gear. All I needed was 2 cameras, 2 lenses and a custom white balance.

That may have been what I needed but its not what I had. Currently my 70-200mm f2.8 (a must-have for indoor sports) is being held together with gaffers tape. I can’t manually focus it because of the tape, so I have to rely on my auto-focus. In basketball I usually have to use a combination of both. It was a tough game to shoot, but the Conifer Lobos made it easy by defeating the Pueblo South Colts advancing to the final four. Super high ISO, newspaper sharp, over toned basketball photos commencing in 3, 2, 1.

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