A young boy relaxes under the mist tree in Discovery Green Park in Houston, Texas.

One of my regular editorial clients is my hometown newspaper, The Houston Chronicle. Since the majority of my workload lately consists of work that differs from my work as a newspaper photojournalist, getting an assignment from the Chron often seems like a much needed break. The variety of things a newspaper photojournalist photographs is vast, from sports to portraits, and you never know what you’re going to get. From drag racing to triathlons, I have photographed a ton of different events in the first 6 months of this year, 2010. I have also had the pleasure of meeting and making portraits of several interesting characters from MLS soccer stars to skilled surgeons.

The gallery below highlights some of my favorite images shot on assignment for The Houston Chronicle during the first 6 months (January – June) of 2010. The group of images may not necessarily represent the “best” photos in a journalistic sense (depends on who you ask) merely my favorite photos for whatever reason. Although I tried my best to showcase images and assignments that were not previously featured on the blog, some of the images may be familiar. Some of the images made it into either the print edition or the web edition of the publication and some images were simply outtakes that I deemed interesting for whatever reason. Please note that some images may appear differently than those originally sent to the publication for print, as I went back into the archives and did a few different edits, but for the most part the images were plucked from my “sent” folder.

Please let me know what you think, and of course, please use the “TWEET” button at the end of this post to share with friends!

PS: Click here to check out the new blog from the photo staff over at The Houston Chronicle entitled “Depth of Field”.

BEST OF THE CHRON 2010 (JAN-JUNE) – Images by Todd Spoth

Local Houston pitching phenom, Jameson Taillon, at Scotland Yard in The Woodlands, Texas.

This past weekend I was assigned to photograph a local high school pitching star from up north in The Woodlands, Texas, Jameson Taillon. As I usually do before a portrait session, I research the subject to try and understand why they are being photographed and to learn a little bit about them. Jameson who recently graduated from The Woodlands high school was recently selected 2nd overall in Major League Baseball’s 2010 first-year player draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Not only was he considered the top pitching prospect of the draft, Jameson was offered a scholarship to Rice University and a spot on the prestigious Rice Owls baseball team. Given the fact that I love sports (especially baseball) the research on Jameson was more exciting than tiresome. After coming to the realization that this kid was a little more than just decent high school baller, I tried to come up with some ideas on how to approach the shoot.

Saturday morning I arrived at Scotland Yard, the home field for The Woodlands High School baseball team, early, to scout locations. Although there were a few lingering clouds, rain was not an issue, but the 110 heat index was definitely going to play a role. I had my gear set up and ready to go well before Jameson showed up.

“How did you get in here,” Jameson said with a grin.

Little did he know that in the absence of any facilities personnel on a Saturday morning, I roamed around long enough to find an unlocked gate and let myself in.

Local Houston pitching phenom, Jameson Taillon, photographed by Todd Spoth.

Given Jameson’s recent success, it’s no wonder that several of my colleagues in the photo world have photographed him recently, with most of the shoots taking place at this same location. Although it may have been repetitious for him, he was in good spirits and a great sport. Unfortunately for me, since my shoot was taking place after the high school season was over, Jameson was unable to be in full uniform for the images. He had a cap, a glove and a logo t-shirt. The trademark socks, pants, jersey and cleats that set the iconic baseball uniform apart from the rest of the sports world were no where to be found.

Some of my planned shot ideas involved shooting Jameson full length and in a variety of different locales around the ballpark. Since his uniform was incomplete I adjusted my game plan and decided to work in tight and concentrate on Jameson’s look.

Pitchers in baseball are known to “stare down” their opponents. There was a certain look in his eyes that showed me he had what it took to intimate batters, but there was also a touch of innocence about him. Here is a kid that was just another high school teenager a few months ago and now is on the verge of a possible multi-million dollar offer from a Major League ball club. Once I took a few tight frames of Jameson, concentrating on his eyes, I knew that my last-minute game plan adjustment was for the better.

After we started shooting, Jameson was very accommodating. Since I was dealing in tight, it meant that he wasn’t able to be as mobile as maybe he would have liked, but we pushed through several different angles and lighting setups and were done well before he had to leave.

I played baseball for about 8 or so years, before I moved to Paris, France in my younger days, so I am definitely proud to see another local Houstonian about to break out in the big leagues. Our area is known for producing exceptional sports talent and Jameson will hopefully go on to become an awesome Major League hurler, whether he decides to jump right in or attend Rice for a few years.

A gallery of some of my favorites from the shoot is below. If you dig the photos, please use the “tweet” button below to help spread the word.

JAMESON TAILLON (10-06-19) – Images by Todd Spoth

Kingwood High School swimmer Matt Barber, photographed by Todd Spoth

A couple of weeks ago I got an assignment to photograph an up and coming high school swimming star from Kingwood, Texas. The image was going to accompany an article for the All Greater Houston section of the Houston Chronicle which is a special section highlighting outstanding high school athletes from the Houston area. After briefly looking around the internet and my magazine archive for a little inspiration, I packed up my car and drove out to Kingwood High School. On shoots like these I tend to pack way more than I end up using, but you never know what to expect and I have plenty of stories where I have said to myself, “well, we could have done this, but we forgot this.”

I gave myself plenty of time and was able to introduce myself to the swim coach as well as requisition a small conference room to set up. The Kingwood High School colors are blue which worked well with my blue backdrop. I took my time and got everything set. Since the campus was pretty much deserted, save the swim team that was in pool at the time, I was forced (as usual) to test my lighting set up on an inanimate object. Usually for larger jobs I will bring an assistant with me, but last minute, smaller, editorial jobs like this one, I am a 1 man band.

I scanned the room for something that could work as a stand-in model. A small, handheld camcorder on a tripod. It would have to work.

when you don't have an assistant to stand-in, you find the next best thing.

Although the camcorder was a lot smaller (and shorter) than my subject would be, it allowed me to at least get my lights and camera set somewhere in the ballpark.

By the time Matt finished up practice, I was set up and ready to go. He had a limited amount of time so we fired off the shots. I had him jump back in the pool and run back into my makeshift studio so I could capture a few frames with the water droplets on his body. We did some of him in the pool, but I really liked the set of images we did with the simple backdrop

After I got home, edited and sent my image to the newspaper, I took a look at my favorite images from the take. I liked them, but they were all very similar. I decided to challenge myself and take each and tone each a different way for different looks. Some of the edits are obviously a little much for the editorial world, but I like them. After all I am in a creative field, so dammit Im going to be creative! I like the image on the top of this post, because I think the goggles add a bit of mystery to the look, with the catchlights almost looking a bit otherworldly.

Matt was an awesome guy and very patient and willing subject. I hope he becomes the next Michael Phelps, goes to the Olympics, and earns gold. With any luck I will be right there with him photographing it.

MATT BARBER (10-04-19) – Images by Todd Spoth

This is my second installment of my 2 part favorites post highlighting my favorite images taken during Houston Chronicle assignments. This post contains images from roughly mid-May 2009 through this past weekend taken from my Houston Chronicle assignments only. I am a regular contributor to my hometown newspaper and get to shoot all kinds of things. A few months ago I posted my January through mid-May favorites and I thought now was a good time to post some selects since then. Some may have made it into the paper, some may have not. They were all taken from images sent to the paper from my various assignments.

*Note: I have consolidated my favorite images from all of 2009 into one nice and neat Photoshelter gallery. View the slideshow of 57 images below!

So I got a call from a friend and newspaper photo editor to cover the high school season opener (aka Week 0) game between the North Shore Mustangs and the Katy Tigers at Rhodes Stadium in Katy last night. I don’t shoot as much sports as I used to given the fact that my primary work isn’t newspaper stuff, but if I was going to shoot any high school games this year, this was a good one. Texas high school football is legend and this rivalry would prove to be as good as I had hoped. North Shore is in a lower income, eastern Houston neighborhood, with a primarily minority/blue-collar base whereas Katy is in a middle to upper class, primarily white neighborhood. This rivalry means more when you are made aware of the fact that Katy has many state titles under its belt including 2007 and last year, 2008, however last year North Shore was one of Katy’s few losses of last season.

Rhodes Stadium in Katy is one of the nicest high school facilities around (and we have plenty in Houston…Berry Center anyone?) and a little over 14,000 people came out to see this game. That is practically the attendance numbers you would see at many smaller collegiate level football games. To put it in perspective, the catered Italian food in the press box was better than most press box meals I’ve had the pleasure of tasting over the years.

There was a lot going on before the game and since I showed up with plenty of time before the actual game started I tried to shoot some featury stuff. Lots of nice color to play off of.

After I had edited and transmitted my images to the newspaper, I played a bit with a few of the images. I edited a set of diptychs that I put together called “Saturday Night Lights”. The diptych series appears in the gallery below, followed by the single images from the game.

I was greeted nice and early with a 7am sheet of ice covering my entire car. Needless to say I am not used to waking up at 7am, let alone waking up to 30 degrees and ice covering everything. I did notice that the morning light was just so amazing as I drove to my first assignment. I always feel guilty as a photographer for not spending every waking moment capturing something, but I guess its a natural feeling a lot of people who are passionate about what they do feel at some point. Regardless, my first assignment was rather ambiguous. It said to be at a certain local high school at a certain time for a “big announcement”. When I got there the entire school was holding an assembly which turned out to be in honor of a local teacher who was presented with an award which included a monetary prize of $25,000. The spokeswoman for the foundation had students come up and hold paper numbers to form the prize sum. The above image is a frame I liked from that moment. The girls were holding the 2-5-0 and there was another girl to the right with another 0. The girls eyes were all on that last 0 when she displayed it. My second assignment turned out to be an odd one where I just photographed some dolls that are to be part of an exhibit opening soon at our Pioneers Museum featuring SimpichDolls, which apparently were made here in the Springs. My third assignment was a food assignment featuring the Pearman family. It is going to run as a food story about their relationship and their cooking and competing. What I really liked was not only their relationship, but their relationship and love for their recently adopted Chinese daughter Emilie, who is disabled. They are such a sweet and caring family.

At the risk of throwing my blog off chronologically, I am postponing my baseball post until later tonite, so stay tuned…it will be good. Trust me. Today, however, I shot the 4A men’s tennis regionals held at Cheyenne Mountain High School. I arrived at the school around 9am and students were still piling into the school. As I got out of the car after finally finding a close spot near the courts, I was approached by a faculty member and was told that students were not allowed to park there and that I would have to move. When he turned around and saw I was with the newspaper he looked baffled and then apologized profusely. I guess I look like a high school kid. Go figure. I had never shot tennis before, either professional or prep, so it was a little disorienting to find that there were a handful of local schools participating and 8 courts running simultaneous games. The players also did not have any identifying numbers nor was there a roster. Before I knew who I was featuring in the event, I sought out the best balance between the court with the best lighting/background combination and the player with the tennis “look” What I found was Phil Long of Mesa Ridge High School. He resembled a 70′s/80′s era tennis pro with the long flowy hair held (partially) in position by a sweatband, and even gold shoes. While it was fairly easy to shoot (easy action) shooting through the fences wasn’t that easy. I liked this shot because not only does it have peak action, the ball and eyes in the frame, but Phil is fully airborne and his eyes are on the ball.