David Sorcher's PhotoWorld: Favorites of 2014

On the heels of my "best of" concert photos of 2014 i figure i should also post some of my favorite non-music shots of the year. This is mostly my personal or self assigned projects as opposed to my more regular events oriented gigs for publications like The Cincinnati Enquirer. Perhaps i will also do a post for more commercial and assignment driven work later. Most of these have been published in this blog over the past year and if you see something that interests you i would encourage you to check my archives for more context (of course!). I'm sure i've missed some things, but for now, enjoy the show.

(please click on photos for enlarged view)

These first few are from my ongoing project documenting my neighborhood of Northside, Cincinnati.

Northside ©David Sorcher 2014

Covering City Hall is always a challenge, mostly because not much is really happening visually. So subtle expression and body gestures are often all that is available to tell the story. When newly elected mayor John Cranley took office at the start of the year he met his first challenge in a public hearing on the proposed street car project, something he campaigned vigorously against. He lost that battle in the end after strong community support turned the council against him. This was self-assigned because i had a strong interest in the issue.

Mayor John Cranley ©David Sorcher 2014

©David Sorcher 2014

I shot this environmental portrait of one of the marchers in this years annual BockFest parade.

BockFest ©David Sorcher 2014

I don't shoot a lot of sports, but i do love Roller Derby. It's fast, exciting, fun and just a bit hip, and unlike the TV Roller Derby of my childhood, the on-track play is real sport even if there is a lot of hamming it up on the periphery.

©David Sorcher 2014

I was glad to be onboard with Greenpeace for this outrageous stunt at the P&G Towers earlier this year protesting the company's use of destructively sourced palm oil. I still don't know exactly how these folks got all that gear and rigging past P&G security, but the effect was spectacular.

©David Sorcher 2014

I got to shoot rollerBOYS this year for the first time as well, which was a whole lotta fun...

©David Sorcher 2014

This was just a little aside i shot while on assignment for an event gallery. The camera had been brought in as a vintage prop and i loved the way the late afternoon sun was hitting it, allowing for this shadow self-portrait. Something about the contrasts of technology struck a chord with me.

©David Sorcher 2014

On assignment for Cincy Magazine i took a series of portraits of ex-Colts linebacker turned sports commentator Rocky Boiman.

©David Sorcher 2014

This was the year i upped my communication tech to an iPhone. I find the camera in this phone sometimes amazing and other times absolutely frustrating, but now i always have a reasonable quality image capture device at hand. I still have not joined the instagram masses, but have certainly had some fun playing around with this little camera phone. I will probably post a blog committed to my favorite iPhone of the year in the coming weeks.

©David Sorcher 2014

This was the second year in a row that something upset the bird nest that has become a regular feature on our porch each spring. Documentation isn't always pretty, but this does feed into my ongoing Future Fossils project.

©David Sorcher 2014

Also for Cincy Magazine, i photographed Rep. Thomas Massie at his wonderful home in Kentucky. The self-sufficient congressman, who keeps bees, hens and 50 head of cattle, also built his solar-powered house pretty much on his own, partially with wood and stone from found on his own land.

©David Sorcher 2014

A somber event one year after my father's death was the interment of his ashes at Arlington Cemetery with full honor guard and gun salute. While i have protested every war my nation has been in during my lifetime i have nothing but the greatest regard for those who have served and was greatly impressed with the manner in which these men honored my father's passing.

©David Sorcher 2014

My first visit to coastal British Columbia left me very impressed with the grandeur of its landscapes and constantly changing skies.

©David Sorcher 2014

I really enjoyed the B.C. ferries as well...

©David Sorcher 2014

Kuma and Kisha provided me a great yin/yang moment up in the mountains near Whistler.

©David Sorcher 2014

Kisha ©David Sorcher 2014

...and a brief stop along the Sea to Sky Highway to smell the flowers and take in the view.

©David Sorcher 2014

This portrait of Dave Herche was shot for Cleveland magazine.

©David Sorcher 2014

But no year is really complete for me without a visit to Nova Scotia. I am fortunate to have made two trips this year, one in the peak of summer and the other for the Christmas/New Year holidays. The winter photos captured between Christmas and New Years will have to wait for future blogs, but here are a few from my summer visit.

©David Sorcher 2014

This one is at the annual Dragon Boat races in Northern Kentucky, a charity event that raises money for breast cancer research. A very moving ceremony ended the event with a scattering of pink roses on the water.

©David Sorcher 2014

I decided a bit too late that i would be terribly unhappy if i missed the People's Climate March in NYC in September so i was unable to find anyone to sponsor the trip. Still, i was not disappointed that i undertook it as a personal assignment and went at my own expense. Choosing my favorite images was a bit difficult, so please check out my blog entry for more on this march that brought nearly a 400,000 people into the streets to demand an answer to our climate change problems.

©David Sorcher 2014

Civil disobedience took place the following day at the Flood Wall Street demonstration. Though smaller in numbers than the previous day's march it was no less energized with intention.

I probably did more more with black & white this year than anytime since my film days. I am not a fan of simply converting images for conversion's sake as seems to be the fad of the day. I don't find photographs to be "better" or any more interesting simply because you strip the color from them. In fact, i believe that you damn well better have a solid, well composed image if you plan on doing this because the weaknesses in you composition will only become more apparent once the color is gone. But some content seems to call for it and i enjoy stripping things back to their compositional elements at times. Here are a few from my summer Nova Scotia trip that i really enjoy as B&W.

I love when i am able to continue following a story for a a while or at least return to it later, for some kind of conclusion or resolution. So i was very happy when Greenpeace asked me in December to follow up on the court hearing for the "Greenpeace 8". Originally facing the possibility of long jail sentences for their spectacular protest action back in March, the 8 activists (formally 9, but one tragically died in the interim) got off with community service after P&G themselves petitioned the district attorney to reduce the charges.

Here are a few shots from Spring Grove Cemetery this fall that i really enjoy.

I will leave you with this parting shot of the surf at Hirtle's Beach, Nova Scotia on Boxing Day (December 26th). I am still editing the images from this trip (and adding more to the fray), so the rest will have to wait for a future entry. Until then, here's wishing you all a wonderful and fruitful 2015. Happy New Year!

David Sorcher's PhotoWorld

Friday, January 2, 2015

Favorites of 2014

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