Houston-based freelancer Robert Seale spent a weekend with the Doolittle Raiders and was flown around in a B-25 with a 95-year-old pilot!

I’m a real military aviation history buff, so it was an incredible honor when I was recently assigned to take portraits of the Doolittle Raiders for Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine. It was especially gratifying because I was able to pitch the idea to the magazine and then get the green light to take on the assignment.

The Doolittle Raid was America’s first major strike back at the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led an all volunteer group 80 men launched 16 B-25 bombers from the USS Hornet and struck Japan. Because a Japanese fishing boat detected the carrier group early, the crews launched early, which weakened their already compromised range, and prevented them from landing safely on Chinese airfields as planned. The crews bailed out or ditched their planes near the coast of China after running out of fuel. Three men were killed in the raid, and eight more would die in Japanese POW camps. Miraculously, most of the crews were eventually rescued and safely transferred back to the US by the Chinese.

Continue reading and see more photos on Robert’s blog.

Sacramento, CA-based photographer Michael Starghill recently documented and shot portraits of a summer basketball league in Washington DC.

Well, I had a grand plan to spend all summer in Barry Farms photographing the ins and outs of the Goodman League but that plan was curtailed when I moved to California early in July. I did spend a good amount of time there in June and was even successful in shooting some portraits of the players. Ironically, the day I hopped on a plane, John Wall (DCs biggest basketball star) showed up and dropped 41. Oh well…at least I was able to shoot these portraits.

See more photos on Michael’s blog.

DC-based freelancer Melissa Golden recently photographed a story for Marie Claire about a woman who had to give up her pregnancy in Louisville, KY.

Marie Claire called me up last October to go to Kentucky to photograph Sarah Ivens, who had experienced the trauma of having to give up her pregnancy.  It’s tragic enough when a woman is told her fetus is not viable, especially when that woman has tried desperately to get pregnant in the first place, but Mrs. Ivens’ story doesn’t end there.  While going through the agony of an unwanted abortion, this British ex-pat living in Louisville, KY was told that she was going to Hell.  You can read her first person account here.

I photographed Sarah and her husband at their home in Louisville.  They are a particularly beautiful couple, but it was obvious that they were still very hurt by the situation.

I spent the rest of my time in town shooting abortion clinics, pro-life centers and baby cemeteries to provide context and a sense of place.

See more photos on Melissa’s blog.

Orlando-based photographer Preston Mack recently had a Sporting News photo shoot with Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Matt Joyce.

I love when the Sporting News calls because they always have a great assignment for me. In late May it was a portrait of Tampa Bay Rays All Star outfielder Matt Joyce. The story was about how in certain MLB stadiums, the intricacies of the stadium make playing there very challenging. In Tampa, The Trop’s big giant ceiling is the issue. Many outfielders complain how they cannot see the ball once they look up into the roof. Matt Joyce told me that if he doesn’t see the ball clean off of the bat, he will not be able to track the ball at all. My initial idea for the photo was a pan motion blur of Matt as he ran back tracking the ball in the outfield. I thought that it would be a great pseudo action shot and interesting because you NEVER see a wide angle shot of an outfielder playing his position. My safety shot was a lit portrait of Matt with the roof in the background. When a batted ball hits the catwalks up there, controversy ensues. In a playoff game, the umpires had to determine which catwalk was hit to determine if the ball is in play or a dead ball. So , of course, the backup photo ran. It made much more sense (in a photo editing stand point) to run the batting photo since every other photo in that Sporting News feature was an outfielder. A good lesson to remember is to shoot as many different ideas you can get done. You never know what they will pick!

Continue reading Preston’s blog.

East Chicago, Indiana-based photographer, videographer, and lighting technician Guy Rhodes shares his lighting technique for a location basketball portrait.

As a lighting designer, one of the best things about location film and photography work is the always-challenging task of transforming an everyday space into an attractive environment for the lens. More often than not, I enter new locations flying blind, having never visited the space before. I never know exactly what I’m getting into, which often causes a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Have I brought enough equipment to light the space, and more importantly, the subjects within? For video shoots, is there enough power? Will I be fighting bright light from windows during a daytime shoot? Can I capitalize on any existing fixtures within the building to create something special in an otherwise bland location?

Continue reading and see more photos on Guy’s blog.

Denver-based photographer Justin Edmonds shot a portrait of skier David Lucy for the University of Denver Magazine.

After some small talk near the top of the lift David turned to me and asked, “where are we headed?” I pointed off in the general direction of the next lift and the next thing I knew he was gone. If I’m still skiing like David when I’m 74 I think I’ll consider my life a success.

Myself and super-assistant Nathan Armes found a few nice locations within 100 yards of each other and David gave us plenty of time to make a few images. Transporting and using lighting gear on the mountain can be a challenge so having two locations close to each other was a huge help.

Continue reading on Justin’s blog.

Bellingham, WA-based photographer Daniel Berman shot a personal portrait series on attendees at Emerald City Comicon in downtown Seattle.

I have always wanted to photograph Emerald City Comicon here in Seattle. The annual event is attended by tens of thousands daily for three long days — and I knew it would be a great opportunity to make some portraits. So this year, I finally went!

All told, I photographed more than 40 attendees. Sometimes it was their costume that caught my eye; others, it was their makeup and character.

I was really satisfied too that this self-assignment was immediately licensed by SeattlePI.com. It really is great to work with clients that value personal work.

See more photos on Daniel’s blog.

NYC-based photographer Ali Smith is currently working on her second book of portraiture about the reality of how women live their lives as mothers.

I’m a NYC born, bred and based photographer. I mainly shoot a ton of book covers for a living (Gossip Girls, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, etc…), and am currently working on my second book of portraiture. It’s about the reality of how women live their lives as mothers entitled ‘Momma Love; How the Mother Half Lives”. My first book was released by Random House.

Read and see more photos on Ali’s blog.

Indianapolis-based freelance photographer Jennifer Cecil shot portraits of Mitch Hunter, a candidate for a rare face transplant surgery.

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to meet Speedway resident Mitch Hunter while on assignment for The Indianapolis Star. In 2001, Hunter was riding in a car with two friends when the driver crashed into a utility pole. Hunter was disfigured when he was shocked by 10,000 volts of electricity after helping the woman riding passenger in the vehicle. These images are from August when Hunter was just a candidate for a rare face transplant surgery. He has now been told by doctors at a the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston that he has been chosen for the transplant. He will be the third American to undergo the surgery.

Read the rest of the story and see more pictures on Jennifer’s blog.

Boone, NC-based humanitarian photographer Paul Sherar recently returned from a trip to Haiti, where he spent the one year earthquake anniversary asking people to write one word that would express their thoughts and feelings for that day.

How do you come up with one word to express your feelings and thoughts about the most tragic event a country has ever seen?  I spent last week documenting on-going projects in Haiti, and on the anniversary day walked around the town of Leogane with SP writer Gary Martyn and asked people to think of one word that would be a culmination of their thoughts for this day.  Some people had words of hope and faith, some were of fear and anxiety, but all of the words they chose had a story.  In fact, anyone you talk to that was in Haiti that day has a story.  The idea of having the people write their word was inspired by Jeremy Cowart’s Voices of Haiti project from last year, and I’ve always loved the look of simple straight forward black and white portraits with simple backgrounds. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on these people and their quotes.

Read their quotes and see more photos on Paul’s blog.