see a fine (set) of pictures: ny times photo replay

tsonga, in valencia. photo by kai foersterling/european pressphoto agency via nytimes.com

james blake, in basel. photo by georgios kefalas/european pressphoto agency nytimes.com

with baseball season officially over, we can now divide our leisurely attentions toward other pursuits--movies (i still haven't seen where the wild things are...and would like to see an education... up is coming out on dvd/blu-ray next week, i'm told that's a must-see?)...music (monsters of folk, anyone? i'd not heard of them, but a friend has an extra ticket to their show at the united palace on friday), tv (the mentalist--as if baseball could really divert my attention from simon baker...and....hello james franco, actor/painter/writer, and now guest-star on television's number one daytime drama, general hospital) and...other sports. like tennis. only a few more weeks left before the long season ends, so i'd do well to start paying them some mind.

some of the men are playing in valencia and basel (nadal, not in either tournament). both of the men that i've featured in the photos above are no longer "active" --tsonga pulled out of his match in valencia, with a wrist injury, and blake lost at the swiss indoors...but i like the photos, from the new york times "photo replay."

i seem to read a lot less when i'm reading a newspaper online, which is terrible--i have to re-start home delivery soon--but i really like the multimedia content, especially the slideshows. the new york times has impressed me with their sets. they'll cover the big "american" sports like baseball and football (which sometimes merit their own reportage-style gallery). but the almost-daily "photo replay" mixes in some "other" sports or "global" competitions (formula 1, european soccer, tennis, gymnastics, winter sports) and they'll take advantage of their photo resources (beyond the ap and getty) to avoid some of the duplication on other sites. just know that you have to check them out regularly--they only keep the most 8 or 9 recent slideshows up before they go in to the archive. and their archive is not fun or easy to navigate.

i also love the ny/region galleries...will post some of those another day.

"it really is your birthday..."

for the last couple of years, i have been engaged in a row of sorts with a friend, who is a federer fan. (you know where i stand.) beyond merely being a fan of federer, it's fair to say, he cannot stand nadal, which staggers me. but i suppose, it makes for some good wagering and sparring between us.

a couple of weeks ago, i mentioned that my birthday was coming up on june 21st.

late last week, we were engaged in an im exchange that went something like this:

friend: oh my god

me: what?

friend: it really is your birthday on sunday. wanna know how i know?

me: how?

friend: the new york times is running a cover story on rafa on sunday.

me: yes! fantastic coincidence

friend: that was god

i was amused by the exchange, but in the context of nadal's lame knees and his withdrawal from wimbledon, this is really not the dream birthday cover that it should have been.

photo by ryan pierse/getty, via nytimes.com

under injury-free circumstances, i might have thrown a frame around this nadal cover and hung it up on one of the big, white blank walls in my apartment. or at least pinned it to the grey walls of my cubicle at work. instead, i filed the magazine away, in my "to read someday" pile, in pristine condition. i did not even flip the cover. i had read the first several paragraphs of cynthia gorney's article online earlier in the week, when the times decided to give readers a little "teaser." but that was all i could bear. and that was before he officially bailed on the tournament.

(i did scroll through the accompanying photo gallery. this is one of only 2 original photos related to this cover story:)

nadal, photographed at the grand hotel parco dei principi, by paolo pellegrin/magnum, for the new york times.

***

nadal is the player who brought me back, fully and heartily, into the game a few years ago. i've felt like a kid--unfettered enthusiasm, now powered by the internet. these eyes followed the "smaller" tournaments, not just the slams, tracked news and "pressers" and followed blogs (and happily discovered a world of the most engaging, thoughtful writing). but it got so that i started to wonder if i was really loving tennis, or if i was merely loving it when nadal played.

after nadal's withdrawal on friday, my first feeling was to skip wimbledon this year altogether.

but that same night, my favorite writer posted a preview of the ladies' championship. and i felt a little stirring...

hey ladies! i had forgotten about the ladies.

my favorite, ivanovic, has been a shadow. but there are others that i will cheer for (caroline wozniacki!). and wow, sharapova is back--i never thought i'd be happy about that, but i find i prefer that merciless competitive glare of hers, to the sight of the other players...whiny and limpy and dragging her body and her racket (read: serena), ever-wincing and ready to burst into tears, even after a win (azarenka).

and if they weren't all so plain loud (ok, nothing plain about larcher de brito's "grunts")...

oh well. i will still have to watch the ladies "on mute," but i will most certainly tune in.

and: the cherry on top? mfw is blogging from wimbledon (terrifically prolifically--twice daily, so far).

i still miss rafa, but it's looking like there will be plenty during this wimbledon fortnight to satisfy this tennis fan.

cheerio!

***
steve tignor @ wimbledon, to date:
ladies' preview: "fortnight forecast"
gentlemen's preview: "fortnight forecast"
a little london color: "calm before storm"
peek at the london rags: "keeping tabs"
nice report on the young ones: "queen bees"

damon winter and "s.o.n.!"

shadrick johnson, 6, photographed by damon winter for the ny times, outside the columbia convention center in south carolina, as he waited to hear then-senator obama speak. via pulitzerprize.org and nytimes.com

i came home late from a job today, and felt completely out of touch with the world (i hadn't been online all day) and the first piece of news i read thrilled me: damon winter was awarded the 2009 pulitzer prize for feature photography. hooray!!

i posted a link to some of his slideshows a while back, and think about his work often. (i invested in a new camera a couple of days ago and my mind is aflood--even more than usual--with the work of photographers who i admire. i actually fell asleep last night thinking of damon winter's obama images...)

here are links to the "a vision of history" slideshow which can be viewed on the ny times site and the pulitzer site. also on the pulitzer site is mr. winter's bio, and of course, a full list of winners and finalists.

***

i love the look and smell of the newspaper. and the sound of it being lightly smacked and folded at its center. i love carrying it under my arm or stuffing into my bag on my way out the door--after all these years, it still feels cool, somehow (especially if you've got more than one on you). and i really like the crossword puzzle, in pencil or pen. but i am currently taking a break from receiving the new york times at home, a small change that is meant to benefit my wallet (working!), but is doing greater harm to my mind (and maybe my soul).

on the one hand, all that content--the slideshows, especially--is a feast for the curious, the infohounds. i've got a good bit of that in me. but one article can so easily lead me astray-- those slideshows (again!) and related links are so tempting, sometimes i don't finish an article, let alone think about it long enough before moving on to the next thing. i'm all over the place! with the actual newspaper, i can settle in... note-taking during or after required a bit more effort and time. even if only for the few minutes it took to find a piece of paper and pen, that time actually felt a bit thoughtful. and then there came a time when you were "done." whether you finished one article, or your favorite section, or the whole darn thing (you intrepid reader you), there was a satisfying end. i miss all that now, and don't want to imagine not having the option to have all that again.

and every time i hear about newspapers laying off staff, shrinking sections, going online only, or shutting operations for good, which is practically daily, i want to call and "un-suspend" my deliveries, as if my dollars will make an impact.

i found this video the other day: can design save the newspaper? jacek utko, a polish newspaper designer, whose redesigns of newspapers in eastern europe has increased their circulation 100%, presents an interesting case. is it too dreamy for our newspaper industry's deep-dish problems? perhaps. but it's a good dream.

save our newspapers!

here's 6 minutes of inspiration, anyway (i love the cirque du soleil bit).

the potus, and winter

the POTUS, before he officially was. photographed by damon winter for the ny times.

chester, pa. november 2008.

i'm getting ready to listen to our potus' address tonight. primetime with the president. i'm sort of thrilled (that's a first).

seems like a good opportunity to re-visit the extraordinary work of damon winter. his work will appeal to admirers of obama, and anyone with aspirations as a photographer or editor. winter shot of 90,000 images of then-candidate obama--can you imagine selecting fewer than 20? but the result is thrilling. i've seen this many times, and it still makes me well up. great commentary too. president obama has to be one of the most photogenic public figures, but winter notes that it can be challenging to photograph him because he can be so good at controlling his temperament--he's not as expressive as other candidates.

photographer's journal: following obama

the second presentation--a diptych slideshow--is brilliant. who doesn't love a good diptych, right? finding themes, colors, patterns in random images, and aligning them to make a statement...here is one and while it's not my favorite, it seems fitting tonight.

see the rest of winter's "photographers journal: political landscapes," originally published in october 2008, here. i love the feet, the food, and the clinton one. you'll hear which one is winter's favorite, and it's hard to argue against it...

i would love to know yours...

here's a link to a great, albeit brief interview with damon winter, courtesy of photo district news.