Snowmageddon

"Howling Blizzard Deepens the Misery" is the understated lead headline in The Washington Post this morning (the online edition; we're certainly not getting home delivery). Not to deny there are many people seriously affected by this storm (we too played overnight host to relatives who'd gone days without heat or plowed streets), but isn't that a bit much?

Yes, the federal government and schools have had to pack it in for the week, but does this record-setting winter of snow really deserve the same treatment you'd give a Haitian earthquake or Indian Ocean tsunami? Perhaps the problem here in the capital of the known universe is that the snow serves as a useful reminder we're not the masters of the cosmos, that nature and other potential "inconveniences" still hold the upper hand, even in the 21st century.

And for those of us lucky enough to have electricity and a working oven to bake cookies while the landscape outside is transformed, this memorable week has had a lot to recommend it. Clients have asked if I'm off shooting monuments in snow. No, I'm sure they're very beautiful - the whole city is beautiful right now. But in a family that loves snow and snow sports, this has been an opportunity to enjoy ourselves right outside our front door.

Snowmageddon II from Jay Mallin on Vimeo.

Graduation

On a personal note - Jacob, my eldest, graduated from elementary school the other day. After seven years of wonderful teachers and classmates, he walked out of school a new (and well-dressed) 7th grader, headed for junior high.

For his graduation present Jacob got new bike. It's beautiful, but playing around for the photo below we decided it would be safer to use the old bike - something he's had some practice with!

Boy anthropology

I traveled to NY city last week to spend a day photographing at an all-boys' school in Manhattan. When Robin Breckenridge, the president of the design company I was working for, suggested that along with photographing the students themselves I could look for some of their stuff lying around (she sent me a photo of a couple jackets thrown aside as an example), I objected. "I've just spent the weekend trying to get this sort of stuff picked up at my house," I explained.

But Robin was right. I took an early morning train from DC to New York, and when I arrived at the school there was great stuff, often definitely "boy" stuff, all over the place. Even better was working with the kids. The school covered all the way from K to 12, and the students were unfailingly polite, helpful, and fun to work with, whether I was photographing them "in the wild" or in a staged shot. I felt like an anthropologist working in a not-unfamiliar world. Now I just wish I could get sent to photograph a similar school, a girl version. The comparisons would be a blast.

Max's Baptism

When Kodak introduced Tri-X film back in 1954, photographers - especially journalists and documentarians - were thrilled. "If you can see it, you can photograph it!" they said of the new high-speed film's sensitivity to light. Well, not quite. But this past fall photography took a similar leap with the introduction of a digital camera that works great in bad light - dim, funny colored, ugly light.

The Nikon D3 has been a great boost for those of us who must often work indoors in places where flash is undesirable, or prohibited. It was also darn useful for taking available-light photos of the baptism of our newest nephew, Maxwell, in a dark chapel in a Baltimore.

Actually, flash did play an indirect role in this picture. As Max leaned over his Dad's shoulder his Aunt Farah was taking flash photos of his adorable face. Following each flash he would have this amazed expression at the bright light. That's the expression that was captured here, just after Farah's flash went off.

Austin plays the trombone

Driving on a back road of the Eastern Shore this weekend I was passing some homes when I noticed a boy playing the trombone in the middle of a front yard. "That's great," I thought. "His family has kicked him outside because of the noise!" (Having played trumpet in elementary school, I have some knowledge of these things.)

I turned around and went back and introduced myself to the boy, and to his Mom. He said, and she confirmed, that he was playing outside because he liked it out there. So much for my theory. In any case, he played the solo he was practicing while I took a few photos.