Through the fog

No blog without a picture. That's been my self-imposed policy since I started this little log, and is the reason that I have been absent from it for so long. I just haven't made the pictures and it's driving me nuts!
Every year about this time, every photojournalist that I know go through their "year in pictures" as a way to either congratulate themselves for jobs well done, or to remind themselves that they need to work harder. I'm embarrassed that for the first time since I entered this profession, I fall firmly into that latter category. It's not that I haven't had the ideas. I've got notebooks and post-it's filled with the scribblings of story ideas that I should be working on. And it's not that I haven't been filling my time working. I've been building business contacts, making cold calls, developing web pages and taking online tutorials on web design, video production, and business practices. I've been going to networking meetings, handing out business cards and guest speaking to any group that will listen. I am ever hopeful that all those I've met, and all that I've learned in the past year will pay off in the long term. BUT, I haven't been making pictures and telling stories.
Every writer I've ever traveled with knows that if I haven't made a good story-telling picture for a few days, I'm not my usual happy-go-lucky self. I get down right bitter and angry. Now that months are going by between them, you can imagine what my poor loving wife is going through. And, if some of you are wondering why I fell off the map, it's because I can't face that most important of all questions that we PJs are constantly faced with: "What have you done lately?"
I've talked myself out of doing what I should be doing with a variety of excuses ranging from:
"I've got to concentrate on the commercial side of my business" to "I don't have an audience/outlet for it" to "I can't afford it and when I have enough money to finance the stories, I'll do them."
But the truth is, I can't afford NOT to do them because I am a photojournalist, a story teller. It's not just something I do for a living, it's something I HAVE to do.
For the past year, I feel like I've been feeling my way through a heavy fog, but it's time to push through it. I'm getting back to shooting and telling stories. They won't all be tear jerking or world changing, and I honestly don't know who will see them or if anyone will be willing to pay for them. But, I know they are out there waiting for me and I know I have a lot of catching up to do.
We're heading home to see the family on Dec. 26th and on Jan. 20th, I'm off to spend a few days with an indian tribe in the Panama rain forest. Thanks to my wife for her continued encouragement and seeing me through the fog. Happy holidays to all.
J

Busy Month

It's been a busy but fulfilling month. Amazing how much faster the time goes by when you have projects you're working on. I did manage to make a trip to S.C. to work on some video for my mother's C21 McAlpine real estate firm. But it was all work and little play this trip with the exception of getting a chance to frolic in the pool with Muddy, my nieces, and nephews.
For the video series, I followed C21 agents around Conway getting shots of them doing what they do. They'll be a total of 5 videos on her web page in the coming month highlighting both the features of the area, and this top selling firm. Here's a preview:

C21 Conway Profile Video from JLeephoto on Vimeo.
The down side of the increased production schedule is that my time out fishing this summer has taken a major hit. Tami and I did make a short trip down the Hocking River in the canoe where I managed to get a lunker smallmouth right to the side before performing a "professional catch and release." (read: it got off) It was the size of a boulder, shining like a copper penny with the most menacing evil red eyes. So, naturally, I've got to find time this weekend to take another run at that monster! I'll let you know how it goes. In the mean time, hope you're all doing well. Drop me a line when you get a chance.

New River Gorge

New River Gorge from JLeephoto on Vimeo.
It's been too long since updating and too much to tell in this short post before I head to S.C. for some projects I'm working on. Instead of photos, this time I'm including a video that should give you all an idea of how our summer is going. Hope you enjoy and hope to talk to you all again soon.

Wandering Around Heaven

Standing in a smoke garden in Singapore’s airport in Feb., trying to suck down one last nicotine stick before my 19hr. flight home, I met Jim Booth, of PRISM International (Professional Records & Information Services Management). Jim said he needed a photographer in May and wondered if I’d be interested in going to Alaska.
I thought about it for about a nanosecond before jumping at the chance!
My conference coverage in Anchorage would take about 3 days, and I have a chance to do a little exploring before flying home.In the two days I had to wander, Alaska completely blew my mind and if the King Salmon run had started, I’m not sure I would have made it home before fall. This is an outdoor paradise.Waters teeming with fish, jagged snow capped mountains in every direction, glaciers, elk, bear, yeah haw!

Without consulting the first guide book, I jumped in my rental car and headed south out of Anchorage on what was labeled the “Seward Scenic Highway.”The label was a massive understatement. They should call it the “Absolutely Awe Inspiring, Eye Popping, Most Beautiful Stretch of Road You’ll Ever Travel and If You Don’t Try It You’re A Complete Moron Highway.” I’ve taken some great drives through the Rocky Mountains, the California Redwoods, western Ireland’s coast, and even across the red center of Australia, but I can’t remember ever getting more excited on 90 miles of tarmac. Ten minutes out of Anchorage and I was slamming on the breaks and pulling over to take in the view. Around every corner there was another, seemingly better than the last. A crystal lake here, bald eagles sitting on the banks of a marsh there, towering mountains spanned by glaciers, cascading waterfalls…This went on and on. I stopped and talked to native fishermen dip netting Hooligans to feed their family, watched climbers hanging from cliffs over head, and saw snowmobiles on distant ridgelines..All of it easily accessible by just pulling off the road and hitting the trail. To top it all off, all this went on during 18 hours of sunlight! Heaven.
Unfortunately, I was told when I called a local guide that none of the King Salmon for which the Mat-Su valley was famous, were being caught yet but that the first of the run should start any day. It seems the first to catch them would be local celebrities in the region. Never one to miss such an important opportunity, I hired Howard with IfishAlaska Charters to take me out on the Deshka River. Howard was right, the Kings weren’t in yet, but I had a great time with him swapping adventure stories while dragging our baits and wildlife watching, beaver, muskrat and moose. He made me promise to come back when the fish are in thick and it was the easiest promise I ever made.
I will be back! I’ve got to take a glacier/whale cruise, fly-in to a remote river camp in a seaplane, combat fish for Salmon, hike Denali National Park, and see Mt. McKinley. Alaska doesn’t just capture your imagination, it surpasses it.
You can see more pics from my wandering here: Alaska Photoshelter Gallery

Singapore Explorer

International photography sounds exotic and exciting to most folks, and it can be, but it can just as easily be just as tedious and boring. In February, I was hired by Defense News to cover the Singapore Air Show. I knew that meant incredibly long hours first on a plane and then behind the booth of a conference center editing video. I knew from experience, that I’d likely see little more than airports and modern hotels. In which case, apart from the minor differences, usually related to the bathroom facilities, I could be anywhere in the world. And another thing about professional photography in general: it’s so easy to fall into the trap of shooting only what you get paid for and in the style that your client approves. If you’re not careful, you can forget what you love so much about the work. With all this in mind, I went to Singapore determined to do this trip a little differently. I decided to stay a few extra days, as cheaply as possible, and explore this city, get a feel for the texture of the place, be open to chance encounters with the people and the culture. Photography for me, has always been about much more than making great images. My camera forces me to look at people, places, life, from a different perspective and I needed to get out of my self-imposed dungeon (read basement) and back to what I love. So, when the air show wrapped with plenty of good video for the defense news web page (HERE at Defense News), I took to the streets.
From my first trip to SE Asia in 2005 to cover the Tsunami, the region has, in some strange way, felt a little like my home in coastal S.C. I’m comfortable there. I’ve tried and I’m not sure I can quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the humidity, the close association with the water, peoples tendency to slow down a bit and talk to a stranger. The attitude, the salt in the air, or the slight sunburn…I don’t know. But, every time I sat down at a sidewalk café, ordered up a Tiger beer, and made small talk with a stranger sitting at the next table, I felt like I was sitting at Sam’s Corner in Garden City Beach, on a lazy summer afternoon having just stepped off a fishing boat, watching the tourist walk by.
I explored, like a new photography student, walking miles through China Town, and Little India, across the waterfront keys, through the myriad of shopping malls and down back alleys where the cooks and restaurant staff stepped out for a smoke. I met strangers, ex-pats who, too, have found a home in the region, a team of Hurricane Hunters from Keesler AFB, and had a long talk with a Singaporean painter about his life and his art. I watched him paint reflections on the water long into the evening.
The pictures…well, they probably look like travel pictures anyone would make. Good photography IS work and I was just enjoying the exploration. I’m thankful for the reminder of that simple joy and plan to do much more of it, now that I’m home. So, people of the Mid-Ohio valley, when you see a slightly overweight, balding guy with a camera wandering your city, take a moment to introduce yourself, tell him a little of your story, and point out something of your town that he might’ve missed otherwise. It will mean more than you can imagine.

More pics from Singapore HERE at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Snowbird Greetings!

Holiday Greetings from the land of yankees! OK, not really, folks here in SE Ohio are not much different from my home of South Carolina, though I'd have a hard time convincing my hometown friends of that. To them, everyone North of Charlotte are "damn yankees." Just to illustrate, I was recently looking for a recycling center to get rid of all these moving boxes and the first three replies I got from the patrons of the local country stores were, "We just use a burn barrel 'round here." Ah, refreshing...feels like home already.
My last days at Army Times were both rewarding and stressful. I made a trip to Germany to tell the story of members of Charlie, 1-26 INF returning from a particularly devastating 15 months in Baghdad. I'd spent some time with the unit back in Feb. and it was good reunite with them. The unit lost more men in Iraq than any other Army unit since Vietnam, and I felt it was important to document their experience. Luckily, Army Times felt the same way and committed more resources to telling it than any other project I've worked on with them. I think Kelly Kennedy got their stories right in print and I shot video interviews and portraits that were put together in a final four part series on the web and in the paper by the combined efforts of an extremely talented staff at AT. Editing many hours of their interview footage took more of an emotional toll than I could have imagined. This Christmas, I would encourage you all to read and watch their stories here at Blood Brothers. It's important to remember what our soldiers are experiencing as we think about all of our own blessings.
Working on this project right up until the moment I took my leave from Army Times kept me from thinking about everything and everyone I was leaving behind. But, in my final days there, I experienced an outpouring of care and support that I didn't feel I deserved after just three brief years. At final happy hours and goodbye dinners, I got the chance to replay all the stories and adventures that I'd experienced with the staff. From the tsunami, to hurricanes, to the border to combat. From the mundane to the life and death experiences, I realized just what these people had meant to me, my growth and to my own story. I'll forever be appreciative to them for accepting, teaching, pushing and supporting me and most of all, truly caring for me. I both honored and humbled to count them as friends. The newspaper industry has their own equivalent of a "roast" and send off staffers with a newspaper cover in their honor. Here's mine that will always hold a place of honor above my desk.
Tami and I are now in Vincent, OH starting all over again. In the last few weeks I've been reminded of all the responsibilities of home ownership. (Tami constantly reminds me.) I've gotten my basement home office organized, taken on a myriad of handy man tasks that I just wasn't born to do, and shoveled snow for the first time! Since it's holiday time, Tami's spending most of her time at JCPenney's where she was honored with Manager of the Month in November but she still managed a moment to walk the kids in our first snow.
As always this time of year, I'm realizing just how important all my friends are and, once again, am resolving to reconnect with you all in the new year. Until then, Tami and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a new year filled with great hope and cheer.
Note: All my contact info has changed. Please update your books and drop me a line so I don't get too lonely in my little basement.
James J. Lee
45 Simmons Cove
Vincent, OH 45784
H: 740-445-5004
C: 740-517-5225
jleephoto@gmail.com

Changes

Sometimes it baffles me how many changes can take place in such a short time. Just three years ago, I accepted my first news job at Army Times. Very green by photojournalism terms, I remember how entirely overwhelmed I was en route to the Tsunami for USA Today on my first international assignment. Since then I've made three trips to Iraq, designed my own web page, learned to shoot and edit video, and seen both my sisters begin their families. I've gotten re-married and started a new life in a new apartment with a new wife. I now have seven nieces and nephews with another on the way next month! Then last week, on vacation with the family at Garden City Beach, my wife Tami got the call telling her she'd finally reached her professional goal after so many years...a store of her own. Next week she'll become the Store Manager for J.C. Penney in Vienna, West Virginia. I wish I could somehow convey to all of you just how proud I am of her. I've never known a harder worker with more commitment to her people. Years of getting up at 4am, working through the holidays, and mentoring countless associates, is finally paying off. And now, in the face of all her accomplishments, her greatest concern is for ME and what I will do in West Virginia.
I admit, I'm once again overwhelmed, even a little scared about the road ahead. But, I'm excited as well about the new opportunities, the things I'll learn, and the stories I hope to tell. A mix of emotions that I've come to know well, to accept, and even embrace. My plan for now is to become a freelance photographer doing a mix of commercial and editorial work that I hope will finance a few of the hundred of ideas for stories that are ricocheting through my mind.
Tami leaves tomorrow for West Virginia and I will follow in a month or two, after I've completed some final stories for Army Times. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement. It will continue to be appreciated in the months to come.
Now for the latest story. Pvt. Channing Moss was impaled by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) in Afghanistan, becoming a living bomb. If his fellow soldiers had followed protocol, they would have sandbagged him and considered him "expectant." Instead, they risked their lives and save his. Watch the video: Channing Moss' Story
Thanks for reading. JLee
Family Vacation Pictures