I had an assignment in Allentown NJ Monday and to me, that means a farm photo. I used to drive a mail truck through this area many years ago and it's hard to believe that a mere fifteen miles from the center of Trenton can look like the center of Iowa.

The annual Puerto Rican Day parade in Trenton is a blast to photograph. I've always worked Sundays so I've done it quite a few times (fifteen or twenty). This year's twist was I ran into a guy who went through grammar school and high school with my youngest son. (They're now in different colleges.) I talked with him a little and then took his picture, thinking I was just going to show it to my son, but with that big smile and him wrapped in the flag for protection from the sun, I decided to submit it and Ben wound up on the front page.

Hot weather is the story around these parts (the northeast). On my way back up north to Trenton from an assignment for a tomato tasting in South Jersey, I stopped at the Burlington waterfront ... and waited. In desperate times like these, when nobody is around doing anything to photograph, a photojournalist has to earn his keep using perspective, composition and other visual tricks to come up with something. So here it is, in the original form and the cropped b&w version that appeared in the paper.

Last night, I covered an assignment held at Scudder Plaza at Princeton University. Thanks to the university for having free wifi so I could set up my laptop in the plaza and transmit an image moments after I made it in order to make deadline. Hosted by the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action, it was a commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Below, floating candles are sent into the pond as is done at the river in Hiroshima on the same evening.




“ The purpose of this event is not to look back with 20-20 hindsight to question whether the atomic bombings in 1945 were justified. What’s done is done. Rather, our reason for having this commemoration is to remember the absolute horror that nuclear weapons represent, and re-commit ourselves to working for the global abolition of nuclear weapons so such total destruction can never again be inflicted on anyone.Floating candles are placed in the fountain at Scudder Plaza on Princeton U campus, where Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action hosted a commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki." http://www.peacecoalition.org/action/2004Q3/040805_hiroshima.html

"Akiko Seitelbach was 22 years old and working on the second floor of the Mitsubishi Electrical Works in Nagasaki, Japan, when a bright light silently burst in the cloudless sky about 2 miles away. Amazingly, she survived the blast unscathed, and was able to escape from Nagasaki on foot. Later, she went on to marry an American serviceman and make her home in New Jersey, where she recently authored her memoir, Nagasaki Woman. " http://www.whitedog.com/02132007.html

I had photographed this woman one-on-one previously and listened to her recount her experiences. She witnessed unspeakable human horror. Read her book if you dare.

Seven-year-old Yeji Han, 7, of Princeton plays with the oregami crane she made at the event. If you don't know it, here's the crane story from http://www.sadako.org/sadakostory.htm

"The paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a result of it's connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease. Sadako's best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve."

This qualifies as "Hot Fun in the Summertime". Campers let frisbees fly at a HomeFront summer camp disc golf tournament held at the Katzenbach School in West Trenton. BTW, HomeFront's Mission is to end homelessness in Central New Jersey, by harnessing the caring, resources, and know-how of the community.



In between all that physical exertion, it was time to cool off, by any means necessary.

Baseball can be a vexing sport to shoot. There can be lots of runs scored, but no actual "plays" happening. Even if there are plays, you have to have the right lens and the right angle to get a good 1/2000 sec image out of it. At yesterday's Trenton Thunder game, I had the luxury of being able to spend an hour and a half before my next assignment, so I had high hopes for something good happening. It didn't, so I thought I better go with the old stand-by pitcher picture. I crouched between rows to at least get an angle where the pitcher's release lined up with an interesting element on the wall behind him. I remember reading a quote from Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss. "Watch your backgrounds." I thought that was a strange thing to say, since sports photography is so subject-oriented, but the advice comes in handy in a case like this.

Trenton Thunder's # 28 Carlos Mendoza is tagged out at home by catcher #24 Drew Butera. For those who might not know, The Thunder are the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. I heard the crowd groan when their guy was called out, but I guess the photo proves the umpire right, but at full speed, who could really judge?