Senator McCain speaks to NE Ohioans in Rocky River (Cleveland)

Today was another political rally that I was out on assignment for-- this time covering John McCain's Rocky River Town Hall meeting. The highlight of the event was the audiences question and answer session. Senator McCain had great expressions when he answered the audience. One man asked if he (McCain) supported the draft. McCain said that he would enact special legislation for a draft of only one-- that would be him-- the man who asked the question. McCain then popped back to seriously answer the question.

My favorite photographs from this rally (like the Obama Cleveland rally) were from a lower angle of coverage so I could include the more colorful background behind McCain and to add more depth to the photographs of people in soft focus infront of McCain. The McCain rally was smaller than both Obama rallies and the backgrounds had a more polished look-- they had less area to decorate and therefore were able to more thoroughly decorate the backgrounds with the American flag, McCain posters, etc.


Rocky River Rally:

Press Q&A after Rally:

All images ©2008 John C. Kieger / www.KiegerPhoto.com


Until I Blog again, remember not to take life too seriously and make sure you tell someone that is close to you how much you care for them-- no one knows when our loved ones may depart so we should try to let our loved ones know how much we care for them.

Thanks for reading,

John :)

Barack Obama Rallies in NE Ohio (Akron + Cleveland)

Today was a busy day for me. I was out on assignment covering both the Akron and the Cleveland "Keeping America's Promise" rallies with Barack Obama. Obama ended up arriving a 1 & 1/2 hours late to Akron which in turn threw off the Cleveland rally as well.

Both rallies were very different atmospheres. The Akron rally was a smaller and more intimate event whereas the Cleveland event was significantly larger and had more people in the backgrounds that detracted from the photographs. For some of the coverage in Cleveland I opted for a lower angle of coverage to give a cleaner background behind Obama and to add more depth to the photographs. I ended up leaving the Akron rally early to allow time to arrive in Cleveland so I only was able to photograph the meeting the crowd in Cleveland.


Akron Rally:

Cleveland Rally:

Meeting the crowd in Cleveland:

All images ©2008 John C. Kieger / www.KiegerPhoto.com


Until I Blog again, remember not to take life too seriously and make sure you tell someone that is close to you how much you care for them-- no one knows when our loved ones may depart so we should try to let our loved ones know how much we care for them.

Thanks for reading,

John :)

Nancy Moore, Shaker Heights Vice-Mayor

Today I have the privilege of photographing Nancy Moore, who is Vice Mayor of the City of Shaker Heights, other council duties include: Chair, Neighborhood Revitalization Committee; Member, Finance Committee, Economic Development Task Force, and Tree Advisory Board. She had been past President of the Shaker Heights Board of Education and she has always been very involved in the community. It was fun scouting locations for the photography since Nancy's house provided such a beautiful background. The first series of photographs were taken when Nancy was being interviewed by Jen Proe. The second series of photographs were environmental portraits.

Candids during Interview:

Environmental Portraits:

Chinese Academy of Cleveland Celebrates the Chinese New Year with the Shaker Heights Public School

The Chinese Academy of Cleveland moved their school to the Shaker Heights Middle School this summer. The Shaker Heights School District and the Academy both have benefited from this association. All Elementary School Children in the 1st and 2nd grade at the Shaker Schools learn Mandarin Chinese. They School District works with exchange teachers from Mainland China to teach these Shaker students. They also offer Mandarin at Shaker Heights High School. This year these students celebrated alongside the Academy's student this Saturday February 9th, 2008. I was the photographer for the event and below are some of the images from the event.











Until I Blog again, remember not to take life too seriously and have a great Weekend,

John :)

Sarah & Caleb - engagement session

Family Fall Fest

Every year the Shaker Family Center has their Family Fall Fest. Here are some of the images that I provided them. As the photographs illustrate, children look forward to this event each and every year.

Neighborhood Pharmacist

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing Phil Parsons for CVS/pharmacy Caremark. This was a fantastic photo assignment to work on. Not only did I remember him from my old local pharmacy from twenty years ago in my old neighborhood, but it ended up being a great reunion as I became re-acquainted with neighbors from years gone by. Loved by the community, Pharmacist Parsons still takes the time to care and interact with each of his customers-- no wonder why he is this years winner of the "CVS Caremark Paragon Award", a very prestigious award honoring the best of the best.

It not only was a fun assignment for me, but my client loved the results as well:

"What you have uploaded is exactly what we were looking for. You were worth every penny." - EH, Advertising Ventures, Inc.

A Classic Wedding

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing Melissa & Tim's Cleveland wedding. We all had a wonderful time at St. Ann's Church in Cleveland Heights followed by the reception at Manakiki in Willoughby Hills. Despite the rain that day, Tim still brought out the family's classic Corvette. Sammy's always does a great job catering and the rain had passed in the afternoon so all were able to enjoy the beautiful weather outside.

Jeanne Freeman Smith 9/21/1910-4/3/2007, My Grandma

My Grandma & Grandpa gave me a $4000 loan back in 1991 so I could buy my first Hasselblad system to photograph weddings & commercial work in medium format. I will be eternally grateful for their generosity. This is the first photograph taken with my Hasselblad Classic kit-- a Hasselblad 500 C/M w/ an 80mm CF f2.8 lends with Ektachrome (EPP) Color Transparency film. This is one of my most cherished photographs. It was taken outside their house and illustrates a very happy time in their life. I am truly blessed to have a career in which I can capture precious moments of people for generations to come.

My Grandmother just passed away on April 3rd and I spoke at the memorial service. My Grandfather passed away on December 13th of 1997.

Here is what I said:

Jeanne Freeman Smith 9/21/1910-4/3/2007

My earliest memory of my grandmother is indeed not my memory, but hers. She told me how she held me, rocking me in the rocking chair, when I was very very sick. She was terrified that I was going to die and she loved me so very much and did not want me to die. She rocked me back to health. She was always the one to go to when you were sick or sad or having trouble. Grandma--- the giver of unconditional love.

I remember going on walks with Grandma to the Five & Dime store @ Cedar Center. Later in life it would be shopping on the west side @ Parmatown mall.

I'm so fortunate that my children got to meet Grandma Jeanne. I never got to meet any of my Great Grandparents. Jeanne was different things to different people. I never knew Jeanne as a mother, that was who my mom & aunt knew. I knew Jeanne as my Grandma who I was so very close to. Will & Carissa never knew that Jeanne. They knew Great Grandma Jeanne. We all evolve over our lifetime into different parts of a whole. Each moment in time represents a different part of us, of our lives.

The night before Grandma Jeanne died, Will & I had a discussion about life and death and how none of us go on living forever. We talked about how Grandma Jeanne would probably end up being the next one to die. We talked about how fortunate we were to have known her and how grateful we were to have seen her one last time over Thanksgiving in Washington. I now believe that this was the Holy Spirit talking to us letting both Will & I know about Grandma Jeanne's condition. It was indeed Grandma Jeanne asking permission to leave this world and join her husband, Charles Smith.

Military Retirement Ceremony

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing a retirement ceremony for Army Colonel Cheryl Kyle at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven. She served as a nurse in the Army and is currently completing a PhD in Health Services Administration. She told me she wanted to wear her Battle Dress Uniform since she wore it for most of her career and wanted to retire wearing it. Many wonderful speakers paid tribute to her, including: Rev. Dr. Henry J. Payden, Sr., Frmr. U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes, U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Warrensville Heights Mayor Marcia L. Fudge, Esq., just to name a few. She surprised a colleague with a promotion ceremony. Both she and her colleague were pinned with their Colonel's wings that night.

Jennifer & David's wedding

It was a pleasure to photograph Jennifer and David's wedding. I have always liked military weddings. The uniforms are so colorful and it's always fun watching the bride & groom cut their wedding cake with a sword.

Keep it Simple- Portraits of my Kids

Maybe I'm being hard on myself, but I guess I'm as guilty as the cobbler. The cobbler's children don't have many shoes & I haven't taken as many quality pictures of my kids as I should have! Generally when I have lit people for photographs I end up pulling out cases & cases of equipment and set up my A/C powered studio lights. For These portraits above, I used one battery operated flash with a softbox.

My kids: My Oldest, Will, attends pre-school and takes violin lessons. My youngest, Carissa, attends pre-school as well.

Lighting Specifics: For today's portraits of my children I took a simpler approach while still beautifully lighting them. For both portraits I used one Quantum Q Flash on manual mounted in an XS Chimera Softbox on a Manfrotto light stand. The Chimera Softbox was mounted to the Q Flash with a Chimera Speed ring for a Lumedyne battery strobe.

I decided to add another post today that was more upbeat and worthwhile to my audience. More than likely I will continue my diligence and return soon to post more! Until then have fun, remember not to take life too seriously and have a great Sunday,

John :)