Coming up: Tropical plant photo shoot, meet Indy Star photographers

A couple of events aimed at photographers are coming up in the Indianapolis area and worth noting here.

From 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday, July 13, the Garfield Park Conservatory, 2505 Conservatory Drive, on the Southside of Indianapolis will allow just photographers inside to photograph the climate-controlled greenhouse, which houses an array of tropical plants and a koi pond you would not otherwise see or photograph unrestricted in this area.

The key here is that photographers will be allowed to bring along and use tripods for this shoot only.

This is the third time I know of that the conservatory has done this for photographers. It's a big deal not only because of the opportunity to photograph tropical plants and foliage, but also because tripods ordinarily are not allowed inside the conservatory.

Why are tripods important here? Although the conservatory has glass side windows to allow natural light to pass through, it has an opaque roof, so the natural light illumination is partially restricted, making exposure a critical issue for photographers. Some kind of camera support is necessary most of the time to shoot at those desirable low ISO levels, which in turn require slow shutter speeds; wider apertures could be a variable, too, but with close-up shots, stopping down to f/8 and lower is imperative to ensure inclusive depth of field for the full range of the picture subject, thereby requiring slow shutters, which often renders hand-hold shots dicey if not impossible.

The cost of this shoot is $5; registration is required for this photo opp, and space is limited; they don't want to overbook so as to result in photographers tripping over each other.

To register, call (317) 327-7580 or send an email to gpcons@indy.gov.

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Then from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 19, The Indianapolis Star will host another free "Meet the Photographers" night.

Photographers and the general public will be invited to the sixth floor of the Star building at 307 N. Pennsylvania St. for an evening of conversation discussing techniques and the joy of sports photography and visual journalism.

The Star asks that you RSVP by email to staff photographer Danese Kenon at denese.kenon@indystar.com

I attended the previous "Meet the Photographers" evening in January 2012 and thought it was very well done; others who attended had similar impressions. The evening began with an informal chat with individual staff photographers one on one and was followed by a slide show presentation that included images taken by Star photographer Matt Kryger in the moments after the stage collapsed from a sudden wind torrent during a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair in August 2011 (two photos above).

The 2012 program concluded with a question-and-answer session (above), where photographer Rob Goebel is answering a question, flanked by fellow staff photographers (from left) Danese Kenon, Marc Lebryk, Joe Vitti, Kelly Wilkinson and Matt Detrich.

The upcoming session could be particularly poignant given two recent developments: 1) The Star's impending move out of its longtime headquarters (this could be the only -- or last -- opportunity you'll have to be in the building); 2) the decision by the Chicago Sun Times to lay off its entire photography staff in favor of photo stringers and reporters using phone cameras.

Community gets to meet photographers from The Indianapolis Star

The Indianapolis Star, Indiana's largest newspaper and now a multi-platform media company, held its first-ever "Meet the Photographers Night" at its downtown Indy plant on Friday night, inviting anyone in the community to meet and talk to the people who capture pictures and video that appear in The Star print and digital products. More 120 people took advantage of the opportunity.

The Star began the evening's program by letting visitors meet, for the first hour or so, one on one with individual photographers. All of the staff shooters were on hand except Charlie Nye. At the same time that was going on, attendees were invited to have a free portrait of themselves taken by Star staff photographers. Portrait subjects had the option of posing with provided props -- old-fashioned press hats and/or a choice of three or four antique cameras. The photos will be available to download at flickr sometime next week. A representative of Roberts Imaging, the premier photo retailer in Indianapolis and all of the Midwest, was on hand to talk to any comers about pictures, gear and accessories.

After the one-on-ones and portraits, the company showed an audio-visual presentation featuring some of the staff's best and most dramatic images. Interviews with several shooters were included in the presentation, including one of Matt Kryger, the photographer who happened to draw the assignment to shoot the country-western music act Sugarland on Aug. 13, 2011, at the Indiana State Fair. Right before Sugarland was to take the stage for its performance at the outdoor grandstand that evening, an abrupt, but powerful wind and rainstorm swept through the fairgrounds and knocked over the concert stage infrastructure, which fell onto spectators in the first several ground-level rows from the stage. Seven people died either that night or shortly afterward; 61 were injured. Many of Kryger's photographs taken that night, from the capture of the actual stage collapse to the rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath, were part of the AV presentation Friday.

After the AV show, all of The Star photographers went to the front of the seated area to field questions from those of us who were attending. This consumed the lion's share of the evening, and it seemed like many of us would have liked for it to continue longer when they called it a night. Several people who I talked to afterward remarked about how impressed they were with the staff as a whole, and how their interactions with each other during the Q&A seemed as if the shooters enjoyed an intrastaff camaraderie. Mike Fender, director of photography at The Star, told the crowd early in the evening that the company would like to make this an annual event. From all indications of those in attendance and those I talked to afterward, I bet it would be well-received and -attended if they had even two or three of these a year.

The pictures in today's post are from Friday's event, almost all from the Q&A session. The lead images is a perspective shot of the left side of the stage area where the photographers sat during the Q&A. From left are Danese Kenon, Rob Goebel, Marc Lebryk, Joe Vitti, Kelly Wilkinson and Matt Detrich.

Above: It's always great when you get Joe Vitti to smile, because his smiles are big ... and genuine. Here he shares a laugh with (from left) Rob Goebel, Marc Lebryk and Kelly Wilkinson.

Above: Although all Star photographers are generalists when it comes to the assignments they are given, Frank Espich and Michelle Pemberton do draw the lion's share of assignments for The Star's features products, including Indy Living (publishes Sundays), Weekend (Thursdays), Taste (Fridays) and Home & Garden (Saturdays). 

Above: Greg Griffo (with microphone) is The Star photogragraphy staff's point person for auto racing. He has coordinated its photo coverage of the Indy 500 for many years and will travel to the bigger Indy Car and NASCAR races. Next to Griffo are (from left) Matt Kryger and Joe Young.

Above: On several occasions Friday, Espich heaped glowing praise on his photo staff colleagues. 

Above: Matt Kryger (far right) was The Star photographer at the State Fairgrounds the night of the concert stage collapse on Aug. 13, 2011.

Above: Robert Scheer (left) gets a lot of Star Media's Colts, Pacers and big-college sports photo assignments. He told the crowd that he's among the one-third on the photo staff who use Canon gear, the rest, Nikon.

Above: Matt Detrich, like Scheer, also is on the newspaper's Colts photo coverage team.

Above: Kelly Wilkinson during one of the light moments of the Q&A session.

Above: Marc Lebryk (with microphone) actually isn't on The Star newsroom photo staff; he shoots almost exclusively for Star Media's marketing and advertising departments. He is flanked by Rob Goebel (left) and Joe Vitti.

Above: Yet another capture of a lighter moment, this time with Goebel as foil. He is looking at Danese Kenon. Behind Rob is Marc Lebryk.

 

Above: Danese Kenon was one of the event's chief organizers. For the longest time, she held true to a project to take and upload one photo per day to her website, although a recent check would seem to indicate that the streak was snapped in November. She has some amazing shots in that collection, certainly worth a check if you have the time.

Joe Young (right), a longtime shooter for the old Indianapolis News and now a part-timer at The Star, shot the tragic aftermath of the State Fair Coliseum explosion on Oct. 31, 1963, which occurred during a performance of Holiday on Ice. Seventy-four people were killed, 400 injured. He was recalling that experience this picture was taken.