Monitor photogs write about their craft, photojournalism, daily assignments, and more.

Fond farewell

After working as a photojournalist for over twenty years (the last eight at the Monitor), I have decided to pursue my dream of teaching. I have left the Monitor, and starting this fall, will be an instructor at The Hallmark Institute of Photography in western Massachusetts.

Authoring this blog for the last two years has been a joy. Big thanks to my cyber readers for their support and encouragement.

Just days after leaving the Monitor and days before moving, I took pictures with a throwaway camera at my kids' gymnastics show. (As a dad, I rarely pull out my big pro gear, unless it's to let my kids take some pictures.)

A mom was watching her kid work the beams and parallel bars. Knowing of my career change, she noted the camera I was using and quipped something like:  "That's the technology you are going to be teaching?"

"A camera is just a box," I answered. And pointing at my head, I said, "It's all about vision."

I hope to blog again in the future. To be in the loop, shoot me an e-mail. 

July 17, 2006 in Lifestyle | By John Nordell | Permalink

Family mealtime

Given the unpredictable nature of assignments, I don't always get home on time for dinner with the family.  But it is my goal.

Sometimes I feel squeezed between my professional and familial roles.  Such was the case when, homeward bound after an assignment, I saw this snack-time scene on a golf course.  Do I have time to stop and shoot?  Hmm ... the light is awful nice ...  but the kids are waiting.  What if there is traffic?  Oh, what the heck.

I slapped a 2x teleconverter on my camera, followed by a telephoto zoom.  I shot quickly, under the watchful eye of the adult bird on the left, and then made it home on time!

June 5, 2006 in Connections, Lifestyle, Nature | By John Nordell | Permalink

Copper crooks and contracts

Two weeks ago, I was in my basement going over a job with a plumber. A week later, the written proposal price came in higher than his on-site estimate. I asked him about it. The price of materials like steel and copper keeps going up, he said.

A few days after that, my editor dispatched me to photograph consumers and get quotes from them regarding inflation. Outside a Boston Home Depot, I found Paul O'Toole loading WonderBoard onto his truck. Last weekend, crooks stole copper pipes from his job site. "You don't expect someone to rip it [copper] out of the walls," the astonished general contractor told me.

While attaching fresh lumber to the roof of his van, Alex Pepin explained that price spikes have hurt his profits and make estimating jobs more difficult.

Whew. The modest plumbing price increase I signed off on looks pretty good at this point.

May 21, 2006 in Connections, News | By John Nordell | Permalink

Media to go

Slogging knee-high through the river-like streets of downtown Peabody, Mass., did not bother me, as I had a change of clothes in the car.  I held an umbrella low to protect my camera from the rain.

I sought refuge in a bakery to transmit photographs back to my waiting editor.  Images sent, I retrieved my dry clothes.  Emerging from the establishment's restroom, I saw a radio reporter for Fox News, hunched over her laptop, getting ready to file her report.

May 15, 2006 in Nature, News | By John Nordell | Permalink

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