This is what 70 degrees on a Saturday looks like in the month of February near Chicago when the norm is around 25 degrees with a howling 40 mile an hour wind and horizontal snow stinging your face.
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Some stories are fun to shoot because they're important to people, and some stories are fun to shoot because they're just fun - like spending a day at a brewery. The challenge in this instance is to make effective photographs with a camera in one hand and a beer in the other. I get paid to do this stuff!
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This is what firefighters mean when they say a fire was "fully involved" when they arrived. Luckily, in this instance a man, a woman and two children were able to climb out of a window before help arrived.
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Back in August I got the bright idea to post "an interesting" photo everyday for a year to my facebook page. Now I know it's not an original idea, but I thought it would be fun. Well I was wrong. It's not fun. It's been a huge challenge, and I admit there have been days when I was really straining to find a photograph to upload but today is the 101st day and this is the 101st photograph. You can see more by searching Mike Voss on facebook. My feed is public so you can hang around if you like.
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 It feels great to be outside shooting baseball,at any level,again. It means spring and then summer are definitely on the horizon here in the frozen north.
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That's me atop a ladder on a roof in the rain on a very cold and windy day. You might wonder why I would do this, and the truth is I kind of wonder myself.
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We have been lucky because this winter has been very mild in the mid western USA until now. However Mother Nature has decided to remind us what the "normal" winter is like. The temperature outside now is 6 degrees, but because of the wind it feels like 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Yikes and it's supposed to be even worse tomorrow. There will be some interesting cold weather photos to be made I'm sure. 
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We survived the North Michigan Avenue Art Show in Chicago. We sold some art, met some great people, and made it through rains of Biblical proportions, flooding and high winds.

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One lunar cycle) is 29.53 days. There are about 365.25 days in a solar
year. Therefore, about 12.37 cycles (365.25 days divided by 29.53 days)
occur in a solar year. In the Gregorian calendar, there are 12 months
(derived from the word moon) in a year, and normally there is one full
moon each month. Each calendar year contains roughly 11 days more than the
number of days in 12 lunar cycles. The extra days accumulate, so every two
or three years there is an extra full moon. The extra moon necessaril...
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Some days it's not easy to keep your eye on the ball.

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This morning the Chicago Sun Times fired the entire photo staff of all of their Chicago area
newspapers. Apparently the photographs for the newspapers will now be taken by reporters using
cell phones, and by some freelancers. I'm told there were twenty-eight staffers who were called to a
meeting and told their jobs were gone effective immediately. I know many of these people, and I
know that many of them were born to be photojournalists. Many of them have been photojournalists
all their lives,...
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Aperture refers to the opening, which is actually located in your lens,
that allows light to enter your camera. To understand how it works,
imagine that you are in a darkened room with a window covered by
curtains. If you open the curtains, light enters the room. The wider you
open the curtains the more light enters the room. If you close the curtains
the room becomes dark again. You are controlling the amount of light entering
the room the same way you adjust your aperture to control the light ...
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I was killing time on an assignment when I was approached by a police officer
who said her husband had given her an "expensive camera" as a gift for
Christmas so she could photograph their children and she said she didn't
know where to start.
I told her there were plenty of classes she could look into and I suggested she try
calling the community college in her area to inquire about non-credit classes,
but in the meantime I suggested two things even though I have never seen her
photographs.
First...
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Late Last year I joined Arcangel-Images, a stock agency
in Spain, the United Kingdom, Paris and Brooklyn, specializing
in images for book covers.


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You want a photojournalist who will record your wedding day as it unfolds
without orchestrating the photos. You’ll want to make it clear to your family,
your bridal party, and your guests that the photographer will not be staging
events or posing photos during the day. The photographer will remain in
the background and shoot unobtrusively. This is very difficult for many wedding
photographers. They can’t shoot from a “shoot list” when asked to work this way.

 

Keep in mind there are...

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Photojournalists tend to forget that when we show up it’s a big deal. Some
people obviously don’t know what to expect or what to say, but they know
they might have their photo in a newspaper or magazine where it will be seen
by the masses and they say strange things. There are some things you should
never say to a photojournalist.

 

HEY PAPARAZZI!

 

The term “paparazzo” (one is a paparazzo, more than one is paparazzi) is
insulting. I am not a paparazzo, cameraman, camera guy, shu...

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I was talking to a college student studying photojournalism the other day and she was
complaining about a summer internship at a newspaper.

 

She was surprised that photojournalists aren’t racing from one dramatic news story
to the next at break neck speed and illustrating story after story of great significance.

 

The reality is the mayor’s press conference, which will start late followed by a
photo feature on a one armed beer can collector. It’s quite often, “Take these
lemons a...

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A professional photographer is accustomed to dealing with people under stress,
and today’s weddings are the very definition of stressful, especially for the bride.

 

As a bride you don’t want to be standing at the altar ready to exchange vows
with the love of your life only to look out and wonder why ‘’the photographer’’
does not seem to be able to get his camera to work. I have attended a wedding
as a guest and witnessed this.

 

Part of the job of the professional ph...

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Recently I shot a story for a consumer magazine. It's not the first time, and I hope it won't
be the last, because the pay is pretty good. Non-photographer friends think this, "is cool".
They are impressed, and they think this must be fun. Photographers, on the other hand
ask with some trepidation, "How did that go?". Those who have done this sort of shoot
before know how stressful these can be.

There's a sort of stage fright involved. Thinking that millions of readers will see
your images with...
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Ask permission before taking someone’s photo.

 

I know a photographer who took a photo of a woman and her daughter
walking under an umbrella in the rain. I’m told the images were nicely backlit.
Because it was raining he shot through an open window in his car and when
mom saw him he introduced himself and explained what he was doing.
 She went ballistic. She yelled and screamed and called the police.

 

Legally the mom had no basis to be upset, because she and her daughter
were in a pub...

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I don't know Alex Garcia of the Chicago Tribune. We've met a 
couple times, but I can't imagine anyone could have explained any better 
the photographers you want to avoid than he does here on his blog:

Assignment Chicago

If you're a bride, a groom, a parent, or even a photographer 
you should read this.

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That depends on your wedding and your budget. Many couples want
photos before the ceremony – the bride dressing, the men getting ready,
first look etc. Some couples opt to have formal portraits done before the
ceremony and sometimes the groups with the bridal party, family and friends
are done immediately after the ceremony at the church and/or other locations.
Many photographers prefer to finish with the reception after the cake is cut, the
first dance has been danced and the bouquet and g...

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Some photographers recommend a second photographer. Often the need
depends on the size of your wedding and on the number of guests. At some
weddings one photographer will concentrate on formal posed photos while a
second photographer will function as a photojournalist, capturing the day as it
unfolds. If that appeals to you go for it. Some studios include a second photographer
or an assistant in their package prices.

If you’re being charged extra for a second photographer be sure to ask a...

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It can cost $20,000 to outfit a professional photographer. There are also costs
you can’t see like computers, software and insurance. You want to be
absolutely certain the photographer you hire has high quality equipment
and back up equipment. You are paying for expertise which would be hard to
put a price tag on.

Many couples underestimate the cost of photography. It’s not unusual to
spend ten to thirty percent of the entire wedding budget on photography when
it’s all said and done....

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I have been busy over the holidays shooting cookies
and home made candy... and eating more than I should.
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Will you be photographing our wedding or will it be someone else?

Because weddings are booked in advance and photographers move around
(and change careers) like everyone else these days, it's not unusual for a
photographer to move on by the time your wedding day rolls around if you're
dealing with a large studio.

There's not much you can do to prevent this other than follow up by asking
when you can meet the photographer who will actually be photographing
your wedding. You should insi...

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