Matt Roth » Baltimore

Repelling for Kidneys!

Matt Roth — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:00:09 +0000

The National Kidney Foundation of Maryland is using skyscraper repelling as a way to bring kidney donation to the attention of younger people.

Here’s the Howard County Times article.

Kidney transplant recipient Gordon Nahas, 68, from Ellicott City, goes through rappelling training, led by Justin Britcher, left, from Hamilton, and Caleb Vesely, from Flagstaff, AZ, on the 24th floor of the Legg Mason Tower in the Harbor East area of Baltimore Saturday, June 19, 2010. Participants who raised over $1,000 for the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland were eligible to repel down the skyscraper, from the 23rd-floor balcony to the fourth-floor balcony.

Here’s the big jump.

After getting passed the first ledge, Kidney transplant recipient Gordon Nahas, 68, from Ellicott City, yelled up to the rope handlers on the 23rd-floor balcony Legg Mason Tower, “This is a piece of cake!”

Greg Jacobson, 30, from Ellicott City, is next.

Watch out for that first step! Greg Jacobson, from Ellicott City, goes head over heels on his way down the Legg Mason Tower Saturday, June 19, 2010. Sight safety supervisor Brian Dickerson, from Houston, TX, and Zeb Severson, from Aberdeen (black shirt), keep Jacobson steady while regaining his composure. All this drama, twenty-three stories in the air, is for the National Kidney Foundation. The thirty-year-old, who serves on the NKF of Maryland board, has kidney disease in his family. His mother, Cindy, of Timonium is a transplant recipient. Dickerson was joined by several dare devils who raised over $1,000 for the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland.

Kelli Pease: Arbutus Times Female Player of the Year

Matt Roth — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:00:56 +0000

Left-handed lead off hitter for Lansdowne High School Kelli Pease maintained a .500 batting average during the season. The two-sport junior also played volleyball for the Vikings in the winter. She is photographed at her school’s softball field Friday, June 11, 2010.

A little about how this photos was made, for all you nerdy types. All the Howard County Athletes of the Year photos ran together. …well, they ran in two installments. So, they needed to have a consistent look.

Kelli’s photo is for the Arbutus Times. It’s a totally different paper, run by a totally different sports staff, for a totally different community. So, I decided to give my back a break and bust out the small lights. …er, light.

Yup. I made this with one Nikon SB-800, zoomed to 105mm, shot through a white Lastolite TriFlip, and Craig Clary. Craig’s the writer. He held the Lastolite and strobe.

I used the focal plan (FP) high speed sync mode on my D700 and the super inexpensive Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens — which, by the way, I love. As you can see, it has a really creamy bokeh and, because its made for DX cropped sensors, it has a nice, uh, I guess you could call it “natural” vignetting to it. The FP mode allows me to jack up my shutter speed to 1/8000th, so I can expose for the ambient light while not adhering to the limitations of a traditional sync speed like 1/200th and the subsequent stopped down aperture.

Paige Hanson: Baltimore Messenger Girls Athlete of the Year

Matt Roth — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:00:15 +0000

Bryn Mawr graduating senior Paige Hanson played top-level field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse for her school. She chose lacrosse as her collegiate sport of focus. Next year she will play for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is photographed at St. Paul’s School Thursday, June 10, 2010.

Andrew Barton: Towson Times Boys Athlete of the Year

Matt Roth — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:00:48 +0000

St. Paul’s graduating senior Andrew Barton is the boys athlete of the year. He will be playing lacrosse for Providence next year. He is photographed at St. Paul’s School Thursday, June 10, 2010.

Joe Meurer: The Towson Times Lacrosse Player of the Year

Matt Roth — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:00:48 +0000

McDonogh senior Joe Meurer is the Towson Times boys lacrosse player of the year. He is photographed at Boys’ Latin School Thursday, June 3, 2010.

For the NYTimes, The House That Built Ruth: Gibbons High’s Last Year

Matt Roth — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:29:34 +0000

I recently shot for a New York Times article discussing the impending demise of Babe Ruth’s high school baseball field.

Below are a bunch of photos that didn’t get published.

Mike Hoos’s job as the Cardinal Gibbons Admissions Director has faded away, “because there’s no one else to admit.” The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced thirteen Catholic Schools will close at the school year’s end, including Cardinal Gibbons High School. The site, formerly known as St. Mary’s Industrial School, a school for “wayward boys,” was where Babe Ruth played baseball while in high school. The shutting has left the baseball diamond’s future susceptible to sale and development. The Babe Ruth mural Hoos walks past is slated to be dismantled and preserved.

“Bring it in!” After a rough first inning and a half against guest St. Paul’s, Cardinal Gibbons head varsity coach Matt Foster, in red, gives his team a hard talking-to, “Own Your Field!” A three-run rally ensued. Their field, named for Babe Ruth, might not exist in a year.

Now static, the Cardinal Gibbons home plate is where center field was when Babe Ruth played on the same field as a student of the St. Mary’s Industrial school.

Junior varsity first baseman Chris Van Riper, a Cardinal Gibbons sophomore, grabs a throw during practice Wednesday, April 14, 2010. This will probably be the last year he, or anyone, plays on the same field where Babe Ruth cut his teeth.

Cardinal Gibbons players (L-R) Kevin Howley, senior, Frank DiVinlenzo, senior, Ryan Ellis, senior, Alex Kurth, junior, and Garrett Sites, junior, watch the first inning play against St. Paul’s School atop buckets.

Pat Ingham, left, and Dominic Fratantuond, right, time their swings to St. Paul’s pitcher Friday, April 16, 2010.

Chris Peltz, receives signals from his catcher before the wind up at Cardinal Gibbons High School’s Babe Ruth Field in Baltimore Friday, April 16, 2010.

Cardinal Gibbons senior R.T. Vail makes contact against St. Paul’s School at Babe Ruth Field Friday, April 16, 2010.

Junior varsity first baseman Chris Van Riper, a Cardinal Gibbons sophomore, grabs a throw during practice Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Cardinal Gibbons senior R.T. Vail is surrounded in a cloud of dust after making it safely to second base against St. Paul’s School on the Crusader’s home turf, Babe Ruth Field Friday, April 16, 2010.

Cardinal Gibbons Senior Nicholas Mills guides one of the varsity baseball players to a foul ball. He joins Jessica Bassard atop her truck to watch the Crusaders play St. Paul’s School. Her boyfriend, Steven Schillingberg, plays first base.

Cardinal Gibbons senior Garth Irwin returns to the dugout.

Outside one the Cardinal Gibbons High School offices is a cardboard cutout and a painting of Babe Ruth made by Joseph Boruta.

It’s almost as if the Babe’s waving goodbye to the school, huh?

The House That Built Ruth: Cardinal Gibbons High School’s Last Year – Images by Matt Roth

10am Update: Shoot whatever you want, just not their faces.

Matt Roth — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:00:16 +0000

A new playground for the abused and neglected children of The Ravens Courage House had an opening ceremony Friday January 20, 2005. For the children’s safety none of them are to be identified in the photo.

So, what do you do when you can’t show faces? — thank your lucky stars for the sun location, balloons, semi-translucent playground equipment and silhouettes. My buddy Patrick Smith did a recent post about how he recently succumbed to the temptations of silhouettes. I totally understand. I’ve recently been on a reflection kick, myself.

The way I see it, a gimmick’s only as good as how well it’s used. In this sense, it’s helping to keep these kids safe, while making a beautiful image, AND celebrates the new playground space.

The 10am Update is a regular blog feature showcasing some of the best work from my archives.

I can’t wait! I love baseball season.

Matt Roth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:00:06 +0000

Calvert Hall short stop Christian Burton offers the ball to the umpire after closing out the inning by tagging Perry Hall’s Justin Zeglin on a steal attempt. Calvert Hall beat Perry Hall 19-0 in five innings during a scrimmage game at the Cardinals’ Carlo Crispino Stadium Thursday, March 11, 2010

10am Update: Chocolate Mouthed Duckpin Bowlers

Matt Roth — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:42 +0000

Sara Heubeck, age 3, left, grabs one of the tiny duckpin bowing balls before methodically droping it onto the alley. Reveling in the means, she fails to pay attention to the ends, resulting in 5 or 6 stalled bowling balls mid-lane. Her sister Viviann, right, performs a graceful split in her socks after launching her bowling ball. Community members from the Thornleigh neighborhood gathered at Taylor’s Stonleigh Duckpin Bowling Center, located on York Rd., Friday night, from 7-10PM, January 28, 2005, for their 5th annual neighborhood bowling party.

The 10am Update is a regular feature showing some of the better photos from my archives.

10am Update: Trees n’ feelings.

Matt Roth — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:08:21 +0000

Jean Tansey stands amid a canopy of trees lining Sycamore Lane she maintains for the Cedacroft community. Her work has impressed the Baltimore Rec and Parks so much that they are using her program as a model.

When I was an intern I was a more anit-portrait than I am today. In fact I’m decidedly pro-portrait these days. That’s not to say I hated the idea of portraits. Truthfully, they intimidated me a bit. Theoretically, they’re easy to make. Bare minimum, all you have to do is take a picture of someone looking into the camera. Well, I wasn’t interested in bare minimum. The real trick I realized is to consider how the image will come across to the readers. And this image is testament (not in a big amazing way) that “feeling” trumps composition. Like any shoot, I made multiple frames. I have a bunch where her head is placed in the middle, and she is looking right at the camera. But we started talking, she started moving and her personality started showing. At first I placed more importance on the symmetrical photos during my edit. But this one kept intriguing me. Her face, her expression, her joy, was something I could relate to. It was so human. The other images, while technically closer to “perfect” felt stale in comparison. What it all boiled down to, was that I just liked looking at this image the most.

The 10am Update is a regular blog feature showcasing some of the best work from my archives.