I was leaving Safeco Field yesterday after making some photos at Fanfest and ran into another photo opportunity. As I was waiting for the light to change so I could legally cross the street I looked up and saw a man on a rope working on a light bellow a sign. It didn't look like he had any other way off the rope other than climbing back up, so I put a longer piece of glass on my camera and waited a few minutes as he finished with the light and began to climb.
I made several frames, and to be honest, I don't know which I like more. I have included four frames here so you can see what I was thinking. I tried to make frames with the man in several places so I could make the decision in the edit. I like the way the large figure in the sign is juxtaposed to the small figure, but I wish there was some interaction between them.
So, My question for you is: Which frame do you like best and why?
I'll give my answer in a few days.
JB

A ton of great images came out of the inauguration yesterday. I'm going to try to link to several blogs and galleries from the shooters who were there.

Matt Lutton
http://www.dvafoto.com

Melissa Golden:
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/Rapport/gallery-slideshow/G0000PVSc0.1G95w/?start

David Stephenson
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=3235

Matt Slaby
http://mattslaby.luceoimages.com/2009/01/21/inauguration-day-3/#more-482

Scott Strazzante
http://strazz.wordpress.com/

Charles Ommanney
http://www.newsweek.com/id/180602

Jen Edney
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=7171

Check out newspaper front pages from around the world here:
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

I was working as our Reader Representative last week and didn't get much chance to shoot the flooding, but few of my frames are worth a second look:

It's even a pretty shot-- a lone vehicle, headlights aglow, a dark forest of wintry trees. Is the car going to make it?

Yet hours later as I worked up the picture for publication I discovered a mystery-- something invisible to me when I shot it from the jostling little helicopter, squinting though a telephoto with a jiggling image.

Look closely, and you can see a figure on the front of the car. What is he doing?

I made two passes in the chopper and ripped about 20 frames. Analyzing them, he seems to be pulling back, as if to return to the driver's seat. On my third pass he had backed his car up to bare pavement.

I say bare, because none of it was dry. The rain was steady all that day, which added a little difficulty when shooting aerials from a small helicopter (a Robinson) with the passenger door removed.

This photo is also kind of pretty. I enjoy the simple abstract quality and the cuteness of a father and daughter together with umbrellas. But that undermines the seriousness of the situation, their town of South Prairie being flooded. So we chose other shots.

That evening, hearing that Interstate 5 might close due to threat from the Puyallup River, I wandered to the junction of the two. I found my way underneath I-5 where the river was roaring and roiling around the concrete pillars.

It was fascinating to see, but it was also dark! With the overpass shielding me from the rain, I decided to try to shoot the scene using a tripod and flash.

The tripod would make it easier to shoot the portion of the river that was illuminated by the distant street lights, but more importantly it would allow me to walk away from the camera and hold the flash (with a radio trigger) about 25 feet away.

Moving the flash away from the camera is nearly always desirable because direct flash-- with the flash attached to the camera-- is ugly light. It looks unnatural and tends to flatten the subject matter.

And the flash was able to freeze the water under the bridge, unlike the blurry waves on the right.

Steam from the cone of the Museum of Glass frames the Highway 509 bridge during Wednesday's sunrise over downtown Tacoma. (Lui Kit Wong/The News Tribune)

The Newsroom's Scott Hansen went out to see if the Nordic center was ready to go.

I spent a few hours with Darryl Nelson a few weeks back. Nelson is from Eatonville and makes his living as a blacksmith. He said it wasn't an easy business to get started, so he began as a farrier. You can see his love for animals in much of his work. You can also tell he loves his job. He has been at it for more than 30 years now and shows no sign of letting up.

You can see the better quality video here.