Foul weather is part of the Pacific Northwest in the fall and winter, and that can make for some interesting evenings under the lights. Newport hosted Eastlake for their homecoming game on Friday night, and as luck would have it for this photographer, some of the more nasty shooting weather in recent memory. Personally, I’d rather have the snow than the torrential down pour, but the bright side was it was a warm rain. The following images are some quick favorites that showcase the conditions for players and fans… Be sure you have an umbrella handy before viewing.

I worked up this audio slideshow from the road during a trip to cover Bellevue High School at Katy, TX, and to experience high school football in the Lonestar State. The sports editor at the Katy Times, Nick Georgandis, was great tour guide and obliged a quick interview to get some town and football history. Admittedly, I am learning on the go for audio and video capture, but enjoy the challenge none the less.

Two stereotypes were lived up to during our trip: the people of texas are very friendly and they are serious about their football.

The Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA) handed out its awards for the 2009 Better Newspapers Contest on Friday night. Appreciative to have garnered a couple mentions in this years contest for my work with the Mercer Island Reporter. All photos by Chad Coleman/Mercer Island Reporter.

First Place, Color Photo Essay

Fall sports season is here and the local high schools are gearing up for back to school and big dose of Friday Night Lights. One staple of a newspaper’s sports section is a preview of the high school football season. As a photographer, I have developed stylistic tendencies –and while keeping with that– I strive to create a “different” portrait for each team’s preview. I readily admit to favoring a wide-angle lens, shot from a low vantage point for sports portraits, as I feel it lends to the bigger-than-life, heroic view of athletes by much of society. The following take is my attempt to differentiate… Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Nikon D300 | 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 28mm | ISO 100 | 1/250th sec | f/10 | SB-800 Flash @ camera right

There are many ways to light a portrait. Sometimes the viewer can quickly say, “the light is here,” and other times may not even know the photographer used anything but available light. I make my lighting decisions after weighing a variety factors including story type, location, subject and if I even have lights with me on the assignment. In all honesty, sometimes I have to remind myself that simple is not a bad thing…

Nikon D300 | 50mm/f1.8 | ISO 400 | 1/125 sec. | f/8 | SB-800 @ camera right

Thanks for stopping by our new photo blog by photojournalists Brad Camp, Charles Cortes and Chad Coleman. As staff photographers covering the Puget Sound region, we get to see a lot and are excited to share with you expanded visual stories, behind the scenes looks, a little how-to and whatever else captures our eye.

Let us know what you like and feel free to ask any questions in the comments as we’re always happy to “talk shop.”

One of the largest –and loudest– draws to the region is Seafair culminating in hydroplane races on Lake Washington and the annual visit of the Blue Angels, an elite group of U.S. Navy pilots that perform airshow across the country. Here are some quick hits from this year’s assignment photographing the action and faces.

Nikon D300 | 400mm/f2.8 | ISO 400 | 1/8,000th sec. | f/5.6