The Image

Harrison Central HS Show-Best Images

2012-02-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

I am posting this a little later than expected but better late than never right? Last Saturday I was at Harrison Central High School photographing the second show of the season. With far more units competing this time, there were a lot of great photo opportunities! The images below are my favorite images from the day with a mix of great facials, emotion, dance, interesting composition and of course some photos where the hair made all the difference. I will be back at it this Saturday in Lafayette at Comeaux High School and I am looking forward to capturing some great action!

New Studio Photo Shoot

2012-02-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

The studio in Old Mandeville is getting closer to being completed every day! Though the renovations are not completely finished yet, I have been wanting to test out some of the outdoor shooting areas. With the help of my friend Alesha (who was nice enough to be the model) and my fiancé (who helped with lighting setup), we were able to test out two of my backyard photo setups. We also went down the street to shoot some photos by Lake Pontchartrain. Despite rain around the area and losing light very quickly, I think we were able to get some nice photos out of the shoot. Below are a few of my favorite shots.

Winterguard Season is Here!

2012-02-01T18:27:00.000-08:00

The 2012 winterguard and indoor percussion season is here and this year I will be photographing all of the Louisiana Colorguard and Percussion Circuit shows! I spent last Saturday at the West Monroe show and had a blast capturing shots of all the competing units. The bar has been raised again this year, and I am excited to see how everyone's shows progress through the season.

Each week I am going to post my favorite images from each show. So, here are some of my favorite shots from the first show of the season!

(to view all of the photos from the West Monroe show click here)

Basketball

2011-12-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite sports to shoot is basketball. Last week I shot my first basketball game of the season in New Orleans as Tulane took on Georgia Tech. It was a great game to shoot from tipoff to the final buzzer with good action and emotion. Tulane kept the lead in the final seconds to win 57-52. Here are a few of my favorite images from the game.

Wedding Favorites

2011-11-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

After a long day on Friday shooting the LSU vs Arkansas game in Baton Rouge, I got up bright and early Saturday to shoot a wedding in New Orleans. It was a lovely ceremony and reception and a joy to shoot! So, congratulations Angela and Corey and the best of luck to you! Here are just a few of my favorite images from the day after a quick first edit.

Showcase with the STM Band & Guard

2011-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

A little over two weeks ago, I attended the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands with a friend who is the colorguard instructor at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette, La. High School marching bands from around the state compete at Showcase, which is held at University of Louisiana Lafayette's Cajun Field. As always, I brought the camera along to shoot a few photos of the guard and band getting ready for their final competition of the marching band season. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some images I shot recently in the spirit of Halloween. First, are a few from a Halloween party I attended in Toledo, Ohio in memory of my uncle, Paul Angelo LoGiudice, who was famous for his Halloween parties. Second, are images of a spider that decided to make its home on a plant on my back porch. And just a warning, if spiders creep you out, these images might as well.

Portrait Test

2011-09-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

The past month or so I have been making the transition from a staff photographer to a freelance and studio photographer in Louisiana. I have recently bought several new pieces of equipment, including a California Sunbounce reflector for portraits. I had the chance to use the reflector in some images I shot of my sister, brother and of a friend and I have to say I was very impressed with the light I got from the reflector alone and when used with some of my lights. Here are some of my favorite portraits from those shoots.

Lightning

2011-06-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been a bit of an insomniac, not being able to fall asleep till at least 1am or so. With that said, around 1am Saturday morning I was working on my computer and chatting with a friend when I heard a lot of thunder outside. I looked out the window and the lightning was just beautiful. So, I quickly got my camera and headed out the door to find a nice place to shoot some lightning photos. I set up on a rural road where I had a good view of the horizon and set up my camera as a remote so I could fire the camera while I safely watched the light show from inside my car. Below are a few of my favorite images.

State Track & Field

2011-05-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

I was in Omaha on Friday and Saturday to shoot the high school state track and field championships. Most of my focus was on kids from school within the paper's coverage but in between events and while waiting on events like pole vault, I took photos of athletes regardless of school. With that said, below are some of my favorite images from the track meet, many of which didn't run in the paper.

Graduations

2011-05-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

I have been back at work for a few weeks now after being out of work for about two months due to surgery. Now that I am back shooting assignments, I wanted to share some photos from the past two days. It is graduation time again so below are some of my favorite photos from two different graduations I covered.

A Good Day

2011-02-22T11:22:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened in the past few weeks from a visit to the Emergency Room in Grand Island, Nebraska the night of the Super Bowl thinking I had an appendicitis, to flying down south to meet with doctors and prepare to have surgery in order to remove a large tumor. Needless to say, any vacation plans I had previously were thrown out the window. So, between the doctors appointments, I was able to find a day to go see the winterguard I use to instruct perform at a competition in Louisiana. I did help design some of their show so I was also curious to hear the judges feedback, but mostly I just wanted to see the girls perform. I was afraid if I didn't get the chance to see them before my surgery I wouldn't be able to see them perform the show at all this season. So, Saturday I went to see the Dutchtown High School winterguard peform their show "Celtic Warrior" at the Denham Springs competition. It was a great day and they had a great show, placing third out of thirteen guards in their class. So, congrats ladies and I know you will have an amazing season! Below are a few photos I snapped during warmups.

First Snow

2011-01-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have been in Grand Island, Neb. for over 5 months now and having lived most of my life in the South, I have been eagerly awaiting the first snowfall. Well, while the east coast and much of the midwest was getting more snow than they could handle in December, central Nebraska hadn't seen much of any kind of snowfall. So, there was no white Christmas in Grand Island this year. But on the last day of December, we finally got the snow I was waiting for. Here are a few snow features I shot for the paper.

Recent Work

2010-12-18T18:41:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I have updated my blog so I wanted to share some of my favorite photos from this month so far. Its been a lot of high school wrestling and girl and boys basketball but I have been shooting assignments other than sports as well. My favorite non-sports assignment was the mid-term graduation at one of the local high schools. The graduation was very short and there were not a lot of graduates but I was happy with the shoot.

State Volleyball & More

2010-11-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

To say it has been busy at the paper the past two or three weeks would be an understatement. Between state volleyball, prep football playoffs and daily assignments it has been pretty crazy. So, now that things have calmed down a bit, I wanted to share a few of my favorite images from the past few weeks.

State Cross Country

2010-10-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

I covered the state cross country meet in Kearney on Friday and here are a few of my favorite shots.

Fall Leaves

2010-10-15T23:58:00.000-07:00

Brightly colored leaves are falling from the trees, there is a crisp in the air, and high school and college football is in full swing. It is definitely fall, my favorite time of the year! Every fall I hope to get a photo of some kids jumping into a pile of leaves but I have been unsuccessful every year at achieving this... until now.

I was on my way back from a portrait shoot when I happened to drive by a park where several kids were raking leaves into a large pile. At first I passed by without stopping thinking that it would end up just being a photo of kids raking leaves and the paper didn't really have room for a feature photo anyway. Well, as I kept driving I kept thinking... big pile of leaves... kids... there is probably a good chance that at least one of them is going to jump into those leaves or do something that would make for a good photo and the worst that could happen is I would get a boring photo of kids raking leaves if nothing interesting happened. So, I turned around, headed back to the park and I am very glad I did!

Harvest of Harmony Parade

2010-10-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I photographed the Harvest of Harmony parade in Grand Island. Bands came from all over the state to compete in the parade. So, its a pretty big event in Grand Island every year. This was by far the best assignment I have shot here so far (then again I like to photograph anything involving bands or colorguards)

I parked near the parade route at about 5:45 am and there were already people claiming their spots on the route. The parade started at 8:15 am and while there were other participants in the parade besides the bands, the marching bands were definitely what everyone came out to see.

So, after a lot of walking and over 2000 photos later, here are my favorite shots from the parade.

Grand Island students play football on 3rd Street along the parade route before sunrise as they wait for the start of the Harvest of Harmony parade.

Wedding

2010-09-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing my friends Carrie and Justin on their big day. The wedding took place on a golf course in Shellsburg, Iowa which is located a few minutes outside of Cedar Rapids. The weather could not have been more perfect and everything was beautiful. It was a long day of shooting but it was all worth it. So, congratulations Carrie and Justin and I wish you the best! Below are some of my favorite photos from preparations to the reception.

Calm before the Storm

2010-08-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been fairly slow the past week or so at the paper though that will be changing quickly since fall sports and the state fair start next week. So, before things get too crazy around here I wanted to share some of my favorite shots from the past week or so.

2010-07-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have been working in Grand Island, NE for a little over a week now and here are a few of my favorite shots from this week.
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William Dittmer, left, and his fiancé Jackie Sprenkle, right, both of Hastings, embrace as soldiers from Troop A of the 1-134th Cavalry Squadron prepare to load the busses following a send-off parade through Hastings on Friday. The solders will join other members of the 1-134th Cavalry Squadron on Saturday in Lincoln for a send-off ceremony before deploying for an Afghanistan mission

Jacob Fosket, of Grand Island, holds his 2-year-old daughter, Aubree Fosket, while he waits to board a bus along with other soldiers from Troop A of the 1-134th Cavalry Squadron in Hastings on Friday. The solders will join other members of the 1-134th Cavalry Squadron on Saturday in Lincoln for a send-off ceremony before deploying for an Afghanistan mission

Allen McDowell, of the team Bad Intentions, prepares to throw the football in the football skills competition during the Grand Island Games at Grand Island Senior High's Memorial Stadium on Saturday. The Olympic-style event is sponsored by Grand Island Hy-Vee and is held throughout Grand Island.

Don Mays, left, and Betsy Miranda, right, from the team CM underdogs, cheer as the last member of their team crosses the finish line of the obstacle course during the Grand Island Games at Grand Island Senior High's Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

A competitor races towards the finish line as he completes the obstacle course during the Grand Island Games at Grand Island Senior High's Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

All Photos Copyright The Independent

New Beginning

2010-07-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after returning to Louisiana from shooting the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, I am back in Nebraska but this time I am here to stay. I am now working as the staff photographer for The Grand Island Independent in Grand Island, Neb. I have been here for less than a week and I have shot some fun assignments. Here are a few of my favorite shots from my first couple of photo assignments.

(above) Hannah Benson, left, jumps into the air next to Allie Conklin, right, after the two guessed the correct answer during a team building game at an Ultimate Image Show Choir rehearsal on Thursday during the show choir's week long camp at Grand Island Senior High School.

(above) Tuba players practice in a hallway of the school at Grand Island Senior High School during their band camp.

Breanna Casares, a senior, tosses her flag as she and other members of the the Grand Island Senior High School colorguard rehearse a portion of the marching band show during band camp at the high school on Tuesday.

Students participate in team building game at an Ultimate Image Show Choir rehearsal on Thursday during the show choir's week long camp at Grand Island Senior High School.

ALL PHOTOS © The Independent

CWS

2010-07-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. I shot more baseball games in the past few weeks than I have all year, spent nearly 40 hours and 2,000 miles driving in my car between Louisiana and Omaha, Nebraska and accepted a staff photographer position at a newspaper in Grand Island, Neb!

This was my second year shooting the College World Series and this year was definitely not like last year. Its sad that this was the final year in Roseblatt Stadium, it really is a unique place. It seems as if mother nature was dictating the games most of the time with rain delays, lightning delays, days of extreme heat and then perfect weather for the final series. Though, the lightning did make for nice photos. Here are just a couple of my favorite images from the two weeks in Omaha.

Bittersweet Ending to Another Season

2010-03-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

While this blog is primarily dedicated to showcasing the photos from interesting assignments and personal projects I shoot, I wanted to share some images from Dutchtown High School's winterguard season. The guard isn't just a group of kids I photographed for an assignment, but a group I spend a lot of time with as one of their instructors and choreographers. For the past three months we have spent many hours working on the winterguard show, which incorporated dance along with spinning rifle, sabre and flag. Only four out of the fifteen members on the winterguard had been on the guard longer than one season and three of them had never spun a flag, rifle, or sabre before December. They attended five different competitions around Louisiana, including two where they took first place in their class. We had many ups and downs, but I am extremely proud of what the group accomplished even though the outcome at Championships on Saturday was not exactly what we had hoped for. So here are some photos from another successful winterguard season that seems to have come and gone far too quickly.

(above) The guard practices leaps to the floor while spinning swing flag during rehearsal at the high school.

(above) The guard practices pointing their toes during a dance technique rehearsal.

(above) The guard practices the opening dance choreography to their show in a hallway outside the official warm-up area prior to performing. This was the first competition of the season.

Instructor Amy Triche laughs as she leads the guard in stretches prior to going into warm-up.

all photos © Crystal LoGiudice

Back in Louisiana

2010-03-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I have posted photos to my blog. I have moved back to Louisiana to pursue a freelance photography career and start my photography business Crystal LoGiudice Photography. Here are some recent portraits and other recent favorites.

(all photos copyright Crystal LoGiudice)

White Christmas

2009-12-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

While I spent Christmas eve and day working, I experienced my first white Christmas ever on Friday. So, I experimented last night trying to capture some photos of snowflakes.

On Christmas Eve, I photographed a mass at a church in Iowa City and below is my favorite out-take from that assignment. The children at the church had put on a little play during the service and I think one of the kids was less than thrilled to be in front of the church.

Birds

2009-12-22T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today I awoke to several birds outside my front door eating from a bird feeder my roommate must have filled the night before. The red birds were beautiful against the snow. I tried to open my door to get a better shot but each time I even touched the door they would all fly away so I resorted to shooting through the window. Here are two of my favorite shots.

Snow Day

2009-12-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Having lived in southern Louisiana most of my life I don't get to experience much snow. Well, working in Iowa, I knew it was only a matter of time before Cedar Rapids would be transformed into a winter wonderland. The area has already received several inches and with a winter storm and blizzard warning in effect, more is to come. Since my evening assignment was cancelled today, I had the chance to shoot snow features. I am sure I will be shooting more in the coming days but here are a few of my favorites from today.

Volleyball, Volleyball, Volleyball... and more Volleyball

2009-11-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

In three days I photographed a total of 12 volleyball matches. The state high school volleyball tournament was held in Cedar Rapids this week and I along with another staff photographer covered the games Wednesday thru Friday. We set up lights on the catwalks a week early so each court would be lit. Since there were two courts and games were played on each court at the same time each of us took a court to shoot.

There was lots of action, celebrations and tears. The hardest thing was trying to capture all of those things from a different angle each game. It was a long three days but I enjoyed every second of it, even the walking up and down the stairs before and after each match. So below are a sample of photos from the 12 games.

Basketball, Football & Manchester

2009-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, I made a trip back to Manchester, Iowa to shoot pictures for a feature the paper was doing on the town. The first time I drove out there the light was pretty bad and there was not a lot going on but this time the weather was perfect and I got there in time for some nice afternoon light. My assignment was pretty much to just document the town and shoot features so I drove around looking for both scenic shots of the downtown area and people doing stuff outside. I found a couple features, got the scenic shots I needed and also managed to get portraits of the two people that will for sure be quoted in the story. So, I had everything I needed except for a night shot of the theatre that recently re-opened. Since, it was about two hours before it was dark enough to get a shot of the theatre lit up, I drove around looking for extra features since the light was still nice. I was driving down a street near downtown when I found some kids jumping on a trampoline. Luckily, the parents were outside and were happy to let me take a few photos of the kids enjoying the afternoon. It reminded me of the many afternoons I used to spend as a kid playing on the trampoline in my family's back yard. All that was missing was a dog under the trampoline trying to bite at feet. Anyway, the photo of the kids on the trampoline was my favorite of the day.

I also liked the photo to the left. For the paper I went with the image above but I really liked the reaction from the little boy in the photo on the left.

After shooting the photos I headed to a coffee shop in the town to edit the photos I had and wait to get the last shot I needed, the theatre lit up a night. Apparently, the theatre lights have not been on at night. So, before even arriving in Manchester on Thursday, I knew that was a photo I needed to get. Like the trampoline photo of the kids, I ended up shooting two images that I liked. The top image below is the picture that I sent in. I thought it said "quiet small town" more than the other photo. Though I think, just as an image, I Iike the bottom photo more.

On Friday, I shot a high school playoff game again and I think the team that won should have been given an award for the team that celebrates the least. By the way the team was acting you would have thought they were the ones losing the game even though they were up by several touchdowns. So, while I didn't get any celebration shots I did get a shot of one of the players on the losing team, clearly upset after the loss.

On Saturday, I had a morning assignment which ran very long. I was an hour away from the football game I had to shoot at noon and was already 45 minutes late. With a mixture of luck and driving just fast enough to not get a speeding ticket, I made it to the game halfway through the third quarter and plenty enough time to get one or two photos for the paper. The photo below was my favorite from the game.

On Sunday, I shot the first basketball game I had the opportunity to cover this season. Both Iowa men's and women's basketball team's played exhibition games in Iowa City on Sunday afternoon. It was a great day. I love shooting basketball and thankfully the two games were the only assignments I had that day. My favorite image (below) came from the women's game.

[All photos in this post are copyright Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette]

The Best Part of Football Season... Marching Bands!

2009-11-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

To some, the title of this post may not be true but for someone who has been involved with band, marching band and colorguard most of their life, it is what football season is all about. Before I fell in love with sports photography and photojournalism, I was on the field at halftime from 9th grade thru my second year in college at LSU (My third year in college I gave up Tigerband to shoot the games). So, now when I am editing and sending photos at halftime from the press box at a high school game, I always find myself glancing up from my laptop to see what the band is performing on the field.

With that said, about a month and a half ago I had the opportunity to shoot a marching band festival for the paper. The reason I am sharing these images now, I will get to in a bit. I was very excited for the assignment given how much of my life has been spent as a band or colorguard member. I had a fairly early deadline (had to have photos in before the competition was over and scores were announced) and I wish I could have stayed longer. Even though I had to leave early, I was happy with the images. Here are a few of my favorites.

While I enjoyed shooting the assignment, it also made me miss Louisiana. What I didn't mention earlier is that I was one of the colorguard instructors at Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana for about a year and a half before coming to Cedar Rapids for the internship. I loved working with the colorguard at Dutchtown and hated to leave them before even getting to see their first show of the season. I have been so very proud of everything the girls have accomplished in the time I have worked with them. Seeing the girls take first place in their class at the LCGPC Winterguard finals earlier this year was just the icing on the cake.

On Saturday, the colorguard will be competing at Showcase with the band. It is their biggest marching band contest all year and I wanted to write a marching band related post to be a kind of good luck post. So, if any of the colorguard members at Dutchtown are reading this, good luck on Saturday. I know you will make me and Ms. Amy very proud!! The images below were taken during last year's marching band and winterguard seasons at Dutchtown High School.

Best of luck to the DTHS colorguard on Saturday and I hope to see all of the girls in January for winterguard!

[Top 4 images of the post are copyright Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette]

Monday Night Football & Tuesday Night Volleyball

2009-11-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

It might not be the Monday night football game most people watched but it was still football and the Saints still won the game. Though, these Saints are far from New Orleans. In the town of Marion, Iowa, which is next to Cedar Rapids, the Xavier High School football team (known as the Saints) defeated the Linn-Mar Lions in a playoff game. It was very odd to be shooting high school football on a Monday night. I had to keep telling myself it was Monday and not Friday.

The game was a bit of a blow out (41-3) and there was not a ton of reaction from the winning team. I also was on the lookout for dejection from the losing team. For high school football I always produce a slideshow and video from the game. Immediately after the game was over I was shooting video of post game interviews on the field when I noticed one of the players from the Linn-Mar team kneeling on the 50 yard line. I had most of the video I needed, so I immediately grabbed my still camera and after fumbling with lenses (I had my wide angle on and really needed the 300 for this shot) I captured the image below.

Linn-Mar's Jody Henton (6) is comforted on the field following the Lion's 41-3 loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier at Armstrong Field in Marion on Monday, November 2, 2009.

(Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette)

Cedar Rapids Xavier cheerleaders celebrate after a touchdown against the Linn-Mar Lions.

(Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette)

Linn-Mar fans watch the game from under the stands during the second half.
(Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette)

Tuesday night was another playoff game though this time it was volleyball and Linn-Mar won the game. I always enjoy shooting volleyball and this time of year always makes for good photos since there is usually a lot of emotion from both teams. It was a close match the entire time and went all the way to a fifth game with the teams matching each other point for point. I think I probably get as nervous as the players, fans and coaches sometimes anticipating what will happen. I moved around a ton in the last game trying to figure out which angle would give me the best reaction. I had my zoom ready for the instant reaction and then the wide angle for the close up celebration shots. The following shots are some of my favorite reaction/celebration shots.

The Linn-Mar volleyball team celebrates their victory over City High on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 to advance to the state volleyball tournament. (Crystal LoGiudice/The Gazette)

I had an early deadline and had about 15 minutes to get the photo above in after shooting it. I had my laptop set up at the scoring table next to the court and immediately edited and captioned the photo after most of the initial celebration was over and while parents were taking pictures with the girls. I can always feel eyes on me and as I was cropping the photo I turned around to find several parents watching me edit. I just smiled and went back to work, It was a very odd feeling though.

Game Face

2009-11-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite images from a few weeks ago. I have shot a lot of high school football games and this is by far the best game face I have seen.

Hello!

2009-11-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to set up a photo blog, so here it is! I hope to update at least once a week with my favorite images or interesting stories.

I am a photojournalist working as an intern at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The internship will be done in January when I will be moving back to my home state of Louisiana to freelance.