The year’s hot shots

Daily Pilot photographers are always on the lookout for the colorful, candid and quirky moments that occur regularly in Newport-Mesa. Photographers search for them up close and from far away. Once again, there were several discoveries this year, but these images were the ones the staff settled on.

In this year’s best feature photo, we see a biker flashing a peace sign during a Patriots Day motorcycle ride on Pacific Coast Highway, and a panning technique to make the rider stand out of the background. These moments last only an instant, and it can take hours of waiting to capture them. Or sometimes it happens in the first few seconds after a photographer arrives on assignment.

Many assignments are for feature stories. It’s always a challenge to photograph these in new ways.

Consider a shot by Kent Treptow showing the Estancia Eagle mascot being carried by Costa Mesa Pop Warner football players for the opening game of the season, at Jim Scott Stadium. It was a nice moment capping off the opening day festivities at a new stadium that took several years to complete. Photographers are sent to lots of museums, clubs and galleries throughout the year. They take hundreds of pictures from various types of events. The shot of the paintball player by Don Leach illustrates the sport well with a paint burst on the player’s goggles.

Much of what photographers do is about composition, but it must be about capturing a moment within it that makes a picture special. A photographer can shoot hundreds of images just to arrive at one that sums up the feeling of an event — be it happy, sad or funny. Much of that can be seen in Kent Treptow’s shot of Melissa Cook with the National Championship trophy while running through a tunnel of cheering fans. It sums up the moment of triumph the players, and student body felt at Vanguard.