A Few Fall Frames

A few frames from the fall.

 Scotty Carow, 38, of Cody, Wyo. smokes a cigarette while harvesting green beans on Bradley Farms in West Liberty, Ky., Friday, September 1, 2011. "This is the first time I've been out picking beans since I was a little kid," said Carow. "I think I picked them faster back then." Residents of West Liberty have increasingly turned to backyard vegetable gardening to help make ends meet. (Luke Sharrett for The New York Times)

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September and more...

I figured it was time to post some more pictures, so I rounded up some loose sports features floating around my desktop. Leading off are some quadryptchs I took from Amtrak during a train trip up the Northeast Corridor to New York City.


Maryland Area Rail Commuter - Washington Terminal.

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A Hero's Homecoming

Last Saturday I had the privilege of covering the homecoming parade for Marine Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer in his hometown of Greensburg, Ky. I spent the day shooting for Getty Images and was thankful to be able to cover such a neat event alongside my good friends Leslye Davis and Daniel Houghton. The experience of the whole day was uniquely American in more ways than I can express.


Former active duty Marine Corps Corporal and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer waves from atop a U.S. military humvee while leading the Cow Days Festival parade down Main Street on September 17, 2011 in his hometown of Greensburg, Ky. Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor after saving the lives of 36 American and Afghan soldiers while serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, September 8, 2009 during a firefight in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Meyer is the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.  (Photo by Luke Sharrett/Getty Images)

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The Flood That Never Came

On May 13, 2011 the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway in Southern Louisiana and diverted millions of gallons of water per second from the swollen and flooded Mississippi River down into Cajun country in the Atchafalaya Basin. The Corp projected nearly 18 feet of floodwater would settle over the sleepy Cajun hunting community of Butte La Rose. In a matter of days nearly 800 houses and trapping camps were abandoned, effectively rendering Butte La Rose a ghost town. Some residents spent their life savings elevating their homes on stilts and evacuating their families and personal belongings. The people of the Atchafalaya Basin held their collective breath waiting for the massive wall of water to envelope their community. Days passed, then weeks, but the water never came.


A towboat steams downriver on the very swollen Mississippi River past the flooded headquarters of the Golding Barge Line in Vicksburg, Miss. on Sunday, May 22, 2011. Heavy rains across the Midwest and higher than normal springtime snow melt caused one of the largest floods of the Mississippi of the past century. As the crest of the river made its way South into Louisiana, floodwaters threatened to engulf Baton Rouge and New Orleans for the first time since Katrina.

Posted by Luke S at 1:39 AM 1 comments

The Circus Train

Throughout the Fall of 2010 and the Spring of 2011 I caught up with the Ringling Brothers Circus train across the Midwestern United States to work on a photo essay about life on the train. Thanks to my editors on the National Desk at The New York Times I was able to get access to work on the one project that I've wanted to tackle since I first picked up a camera sophomore year of high school. The project ran in the Times on May 30th, 2011.

Though usually pulled by diesel engines, the Union Pacific railroad and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus collaborated to allow UP's Challenger No. 3985 steam locomotive to pull Ringling's "blue unit" circus train from Speer, Wy. into Denver, Col. on September 28, 2010. The collaboration allowed officials to boast that the world's largest operating steam locomotive had pulled the longest privately owned train in the world. (Luke Sharrett for The New York Times)

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Summer

Summer's been giving me time to go back through photos from the first six months of the year.


Shooting range. Lynchburg, Va.

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The Kentucky Derby

I had the privilege of covering the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby for AFP (Agence France Presse) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Having worked alongside a talented staff of AFP wire shooters in Washington, it was a treat to have my work appear on the same wire. A real plus of shooting the Derby is working amongst all the professional sports photographer who descend upon Kentucky in the first week of May, as well as friends and fellow PJ's from WKU.


Steam rises from racehorse Miss Havisham as she is given a bath by stablehands in the stable area of Churchill Downs after her morning workout in Louisville, Kentucky on the morning of the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, May 7, 2011. AFP PHOTO/LUKE SHARRETT

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Alabama Tornadoes

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Baltimore-ish

Here are some more frames from my Zeiss Ikon 6x6 rangefinder. there's nothing like shooting film and developing in the darkroom in a digital world. Enjoy.

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More film.

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H(old)ga

I found some old Holga negatives in a dusty shoebox under my bed. It doesn't make sense to shoot film.


Gloomy morning at Andrews AFB.

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Wrastlin

Sometimes a good story just falls into your lap. The story of Neil Superior's Wrestling School was one of those stories. Last summer I was grabbing some dinner one Friday night after work in Washington, DC when one of the metro editors from The New York Times gave me a call. She asked if I would accept an assignment in Western Maryland on Saturday night. Details were sparse at the time, but I thought "why not?" It would be a nice change from shooting politics downtown, even if it was on a Saturday night. Sometimes not having much of a social life can have its benefits.

The story ended up being an early midterm election profile on Linda McMahon (Connecticut Republican Senate candidate and wife of WWE CEO Vince McMahon) I met NYT reporter Ray Hernandez in Hagerstown, Md. and we scoured Neil Superior's Professional Wrestling School for any possible ex-WWE pro wrestlers who might have insights on Mrs. McMahon. There were no leads to be found, just a bunch of wide-eyed young wrestlers who dreamt of making it to the big leagues one day. While the photos never ran in print or online, I made a few more visits over the summer and really had a blast shooting photos and making friends with the good folks of Hagerstown.


Aspiring professional wrestler D.J. "Tytan" Crim of Martinsburg, W.Va. gathers his gear before wrestling at Neil Superior's Professional Wrestling School in Hagerstown, Md. Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

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100% Lynchburg

Winter break was the first time I had been home in Central Virginia for a long time. It was such a joy to see my family, my dog, and revisit spots around town where I fell in love with photography in high school.

Posted by Luke S at 9:26 PM 2 comments

Travel Pool Polaroids

Aged to perfection like a fine wine, these Polaroids sat in a dusty shoe box under my bed for nine months. I made these frames on May 26, 2010 on a trip to California with President Obama while I was interning for The New York Times. They were taken with an old Polaroid Land Camera #250 and Fuji FP-100C instant film. There's something strangely gratifying about not being able to see a photograph for more than half a year in this digital age where the constant deadline looms. I'm just happy they survived being stuffed into my Newswear chestvest for two days of constant crawling, running, and jumping into helicopters. Thanks for looking, friends!



Andrews AFB, Md.

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The Old Guard

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End of twenty ten

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