2016: My Year in Photos

The past 365 days have been filled with great professional growth and many personal firsts. I became a college graduate and celebrated my fifth consecutive year photographing both The Arnold Sports Festival as well as The Kentucky Derby. I also experienced the hardships and culture shock of working and photographing in a developing country while in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

At the end of May I returned from Port-au-Prince and took my talents to South Beach for the summer, interning for The Miami Herald. There, I developed my skills at double-dipping: With my Nikon D3 on one shoulder and a video camera on the other, I learned how to balance shooting both photos and video while on the same assignment. I became the versatile, "Swiss Army Knife" visual journalist I set out to be. While in Miami I had the opportunity to ride an alligator, photograph Major League Baseball for the first time with the Marlins, as well as shoot the Dolphins football training camp.

At the end of August I returned home to Louisville, Kentucky, to figure out what my next adventure would be. After nearly a month I got a call from my current editor Angela asking me to move to the Pacific Northwest to intern for 16 weeks at The Seattle Times.

After a daunting 35 hour road trip, I made it to the coffee capital of the world and quickly fell in love with the city. Between the breathtaking views of Mt. Rainier and the supportive, hard-working staff at the paper, I already know it will be difficult to leave. Since September I have been able to cover the Seattle Sounders win their first ever MLS Cup, as well as the rollercoaster presidential election and the ensuing protests.  With the latter, I also had my first experience being pepper sprayed.

Flashing back to the images I made last year and comparing them to this year, I noticed that I am not the same photographer as I was. My vision was there, but in 2016 the execution of what I had in mind was much faster, cleaner and just better overall.

So, thank you 2016 for laying the groundwork to making 2017 another incredible year.

All images Copyright 2016 © Getty Images | The Miami Herald | The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times: November

November was exhausting... From double-header football and soccer games to finding out the effects of pepper spray; this past month was full of memorable personal moments as well as having many learning opportunities. I don't really have much more to say about November, instead, I hope my images express to you how incredible of a month it really was. Enjoy.

The Seattle Times: October

It has officially been 6 months since graduating from Ohio University. Since then I have photographed The Kentucky Derby, explored Haiti, lived and worked in South Florida at The Miami Herald, traveled to Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York City and Baltimore for a Northeastern road trip. And most recently drove 35 hours from Louisville to Seattle and start work with The Seattle Times for the next 16 weeks. I have finished up only my third week and it has already been the time of life. I love the city, the people, the culture but most of all the paper. Even though it is a 16 week internship, I am dreading the thought of having to leave in January.

The feeling of pushing myself to compete against some of the best has made me not only a better photographer but also helped me realize how much more I still have to learn. I am grateful for this opportunity and I am excited to see what the next few months have in store. Thanks for looking!

Miami Herald Monthly Recap: July/August

I am still in shock that my summer in Miami is over. But looking back, the reason why I lost track of time was because of how busy I have been. The past two months, more so than the previous two, have helped develop me into a double-dipping machine while on assignment. Nearly half of my assignments throughout the past two months have required me to take stills as well as gather good audio, unique B-Roll and conduct interviews in both English and sometimes Spanish. The following three video pieces are not entirely the greatest on their own but what makes me proud is realizing I was able to balance both video and photo in order to create an all around visual story package about a specific event or individual. I may have put in a few too many photos but what can I say, Miami is a visual city. Thanks for looking!

Visual Packages

- #BlackLivesMatter -

Along Broward St. in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida,  members of the surrounding community came to march due to recent national events between police and African Americans civilians.

- An Olympian Divided -

Recent University of Miami graduate Heather Arseth will compete in the 100 meter freestyle at the Olympics in Rio representing, however, for her mothers native country of Mauritius instead of the United States. The two-time Olympian and dual-citizen says she chose to make her mother and grandfather proud.

- Miss Florida USA -

Nearly 60 beauty queens, representing every county across the state of Florida, came to Ft. Lauderdale to break down ethnic and social sterotypes to learn more about each others cultures as well as compete for the crown of Miss Florida USA.

Picture Essay

Unfortunately I never found a story during my time in the deep South, however, I did push myself to create more of a photo essay on more than one occasion. The one I am sharing with you today documents the reigning Florida high school football state champions, Flanagan High School, taking the field for the first practice of the season. My goal during the 4 hours I photographed them was to show the emotions going through every young man. From locker room speeches talking about building a band of brothers to helping teammates during the first conditioning drills of the summer; the first day back is a roller coaster.

Stills

Miami Herald Monthly Recap: June

I have had an incredible time living and working in Miami, Florida. The culture is something I have never experienced before and I absolutely love it. The Miami Herald staff have been nothing short of incredible and I can't thank them enough for their help getting me situated here.

This past month was filled with a lot of baseball, both college and professional, and a few incredibly emotional and personal tales of survival. Two stories that stuck out to me were of 10-month-old Teegan Lexcen, who was born with one lung and half a heart and was released from the Nicklaus Children's Hospital after 182 days in the ICU, as well as Danielle Jones, 23, who was just cleared by doctors after being put in a medically induced coma for 24 days, the result of an assault by a roommate she chose on Craigslist.

All together, southern Miami has been an eye opener. Besides the reckless, no turn signal, style of driving, everyone has been very welcoming to me. While on assignments I have been asked half a dozen times where I was from and every single time I have been gifted with the response of, "well, welcome to Miami!."

Anyway, here are a few short multimedia pieces and probably too many photos of baseball from the month of June. Thanks for looking!

VIDEO

Teegan Lexcen, the 10-month-old was born with only one lung and half a heart is officially released from the hospital after 182 days at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Florida.

A well known and loved craft brewer passes away in a car accident earlier in the month of June and the community responds with an incredible memorial.

PHOTO

Miami Herald Monthly Recap: May

It has already been two weeks since I began my internship at The Miami Herald and I have had an utter blast. The people, the culture, the nightlife, the food and the beach make the city of Miami one of the best places to work as a photographer.

VIDEO

The Herald pushes video very hard. I've shot nine pieces in the past 10 days of work. I have begun to learn how to "double dip" and balance shooting stills for a gallery and making enough clips to put together a 1:15 minute video piece. So I have attached a few short videos to go along with the stills.

Video by Logan Riely | The Miami Herald
Video by Logan Riely | The Miami Herald

PHOTOS

I haven't had one dull assignment and I am slowly remembering Spanish phrases that I learned in 8th grade. Here are a few images from the first month of work.

 

 

Port-au-Prince | Part Two

Yesterday I traveled back to the slums of Grand Ravine to dive deeper into the community and the people who live there. Walking around with my translator I was told about a narrow corridor that stretches up through the center of town called the Korido Atis, meaning The Corridor of Artists. I decided to briefly show the lives of three local artists and add a little anecdote about who they are along with a brief quote about their work.

Korido Atis

The past nine days have seriously flown by. I have been busy almost every single day either shooting, or emailing or calling international NGOs to line up schedules. But I finally have time to show you what I've been working on the past few days. I traveled to the community of Solino, located right outside of the capital city, to photograph a brand new turf soccer field that was constructed in partnership with Celtic FC and Catholic Relief Services this past September. The field has already brought families and children together through programs developed by the Spiritan religious order, which is led locally by Father Michel Serro, who has started a free after school tutoring program for children everyday.

 

 

Port-au-Prince | Part One

I walked off the American Airlines plane and into an unfamiliar world. The air was hot and humid and there was a faint sound of drumming in the distance. The local people spoke a blend of Creole and French to me, as if I had any idea of what they were saying. For the first time ever, I felt out of my comfort bubble. Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is the first time I have traveled outside of the United States since a trip to Italy when I was in third grade. Over the next 11 days I will be working alongside Catholic Relief Services and USAID documenting the revitalization of some of the roughest slums in the country as well as showing the recent flood/landslide damage that has displaced thousands of families across the region. But today I wanted to show you images of my first day in the field in the community of Grand Ravine, which is known for its slums and gang wars.

Derby Weekend: Wednesday Workouts

It's finally here! The Kentucky Derby and all its glamour began for me this morning at the backside of Churchill Downs in the stables where the Oaks and Derby horses are kept. Today was mainly a day for me to get my bearings straight and dust the cobwebs off. But over the next few days I will try to show you more scenes from around the track. So stay tuned!

Digital Illustration

During my last semester at Ohio University I took my last VICO class in college: Digital Illustration. At first I was very hesitant to manipulate my own images in order to tell a story or convey a specific emotion or theme. However, over time, I realized how useful this tool is in a visually-oriented society.