I first read about Kyle Dake, a collegiate wrestler, for Cornell in The New York Times . Dake is one of the few athletic champions the state of New York can call it's own.

Dake, is a three time NCAA Division 1 champion in three different weight classes.

I immediately called my photo editor at the New York Post. Joe Amari and said, "Joey this kid is a big deal.  We gotta get some coverage for this." Joe says sure it's yours.
That was the easiest pitch that I ever made.
Here is the gallery.  Needless to say they never ran the photos. However it was such a great experience observing Dake and other athletes of this caliber tactfully use their strength and prowess to compete in this event.

I shot this with my Nikon D3 and 200mm f/2.0 VR lens.

Kyle Dake: Grapple at The Garden - Images by Kendall Rodriguez

Between the day job at the phone and company and my nights and weekends at the New York Post. I've been quite busy. It's an interesting balance. Though most of you readers, albeit a small amount of you that actually do read this blog I've been trying to have fun with photography again. You know that feeling that most beginners have when they set out to the street of their hometown and unconsciously and subconsciously snap pictures of what ever they see. Well in my case when I started photography some 9 years ago, I was shooting with a Mamiya 500TL 35mm camera. So I had my share of mistakes. Of course I didn't now my f-stops from a shutter speed. All of that was a foreign concept to me. But that my friends is a great thing. The unknown. Not knowing if your picture is going to come out or just having that itch to always walk out the door to explore the everyday and mundane with an objective eye.

It was fun.

Fast forward some 9 years and a Nikon D3 later (yes I finally settled on shooting with nikons more on that in another post) and I'm bringing myself back to that sense of almost irresponsible carefree and light shape finding bliss. The challenge though is that my editors of the New York Post expect me to shoot a certain way on assignments. Some assignments don't lend much to creativity due to the fast paced nature of let's say a perp walk, or a celebrity running and taking off into a car and having to shoot through a window. So I've been yearning to make things look interesting because I love what I do. The beauty of this job is you can have a low point of creativity but you'll still love it. But when you begin to pull yourself out of that rut the job becomes more rewarding. The occupy wall street protests have been a great opportunity to attempt to make that scene look different though I've only been assigned there 3 times out of the two months the protests have been going on I've found my creative edge once again.

Ok I said enough.

Here are some photos that I added to my personal work section of my website.

My first video

December 24, 2010 Man hit by Car from Kendall Rodriguez on Vimeo.

I had shot this back on Christmas eve when responding to an MVA (motor vehicle accident) in the Bronx. After making my photographs of the scene and minutes before heading to the hospital with my reporter. I decided, "hey I've got a 5dmarkII let me shoot some video of the scene" and later on I'll piece the whole thing together in a 25 second news package. Well three months later I finally got the time and did my editing through Adobe Premiere and recorded my voice separately on my Olympus ls-10.

It only took me about a 30 minutes to pull off the editing for such a short piece. I have to say I like it and the 5dmarkII is a remarkable camera as all the lighting is ambient, but i'm sure a shoe mounted LED light would have helped somewhat. I do hope to find the time between shooting to be able to put together more pieces such as this and other's that aren't so gruesome.

Enjoy.

Carmelo Anthony New York bound!

Carmelo Anthony Collection - Images by Kendall Rodriguez

Like most New Yorkers you cannot escape the hype of Carmelo Anthony being traded to the Knicks he will of course be a welcome addition to the team as New York basketball gets the kick in the nads it deserves. For too long we've all been waiting for that special something to grace the those dimly lit courts of the world famous Madison Square Garden. So here it is 28 games left in the season for the Knicks who (k)nots up until right before the all-star weekend and we get a welcome suprise.

I thought it would be in taste and a great gesture despite my health right to dig through the archives of for pictures that I've taken of 'Melo on March 20 2007 when they beat the New Jersey Nets. These are just a few photos and of course the only ones that I've taken of this intense player on the court.

Enjoy!

Resurgence

Hello everyone, I've taken some time off from writing on this blog because I've been really busy with work. I've been covering breaking news for the New York Post newspaper (yes the print edition) for the last 8 months. I won't share any gripes or negative things here because I love the job so much. I've reached my goal to work for an NYC daily paper, and let me tell you it's quite the adventure. There are many long nights of listening to the fire and police frequencies on the radio scanner and many cold nights hanging out in the streets waiting for that infamous perp walk.

Here are a few photos that have made the paper over the last three months:

View the story online.


View the story online




View the story online at NYPOST.com

February Image of the Month

January Picture of the Month