Save $$ & H20

The Chandler City Council is scheduled to approve cash rebates to residents who buy water-saving washers. (Read more at http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0228cr-washers0228.html )

The assignment was to get customers at the Maytag store testing out the new Duet Steam Washer, or if there were no customers I was to get an employee to show some of its features. (This washer seems pretty amazing - it can wash 17 pair of jeans in one load, and spins at a rate 3 times most washers so the clothes are pretty dry after the wash. The amount of water used is about 1/3 of a normal washer as well, so you save on water usage, too.) I walked into the store and could have sworn I was the only person in there. I made my way towards the back as I fiddled with my camera settings and there I met Sheila and another employee. They were expecting me, and greeted me warmly. I explained I wanted to try a fun photo and proceeded to set up my camera inside the dryer (yes... the dryer. I later realized my mistake and then had to reshoot from inside the washer since that is what the story was about.). I had her explain some of the washer and dryer features. It took a few tries to get the composition I was satisfied with. The dryer had a deeper pocket and made it easier to capture the composition I wanted. Unfortunately, the second photo (from inside the washer) doesn't appear as candid. Sheila seemed to have been caught smiling instead of talking about the features like she was in the first one.

cr-washers0228 150687 -- 02/26/08 -- Sheila Schoenwald (cq) points out features on the Whirlpool Duet steam dryer as seen from the inside of the dryer, Tuesday at the Maytag store in Chandler. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic
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cr-washers0228 150687 -- 02/26/08 -- Sheila Schoenwald (cq) points out features on the Whirlpool Duet Steam Washer as seen from the inside of the washer, Tuesday at the Maytag store in Chandler. The Chandler City Council is scheduled to approve cash rebates to residents who buy water-saving washers. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic
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Me setting up.

CLOSING: Child Development & Family Studies Lab

A nationally-acclaimed child-care center and preschool that has operated 17 years at Arizona State University at the West Campus is scheduled to close in June, upsetting parents. The center wouldn't agree to have me photograph inside so I did the best I could with the 6 families I saw walking into the preschool.

Gannett Video Training

I'm sure you've noticed news distribution has changed a lot in the past few years. Online news is growing in popularity, and with the ever increasing speed of the internet online news videos are becoming more and more popular. Last week I had the chance to receive Gannett Video Training. It was an exhausting 4 days - most of them 12 hours long. News reporters, editors, photographers, and broadcast reporters from Phoenix, Reno, and Washington D.C. were among the 30+ participants in the training. Three big guns from Gannett - Lane Michaelsen, Anne Saul, and Harvey Mars - provided the training. Lane was the most interesting of the three - having won a number of Emmy Awards for his broadcast news photography he had a lot of experience and interesting stories to share. The first day we dove into learning the ins and outs of our Sony 1080i HD video cameras, audio (both shotgun, stick, and wireless), and we shot a few staged news events. Wednesday (day 2) was spent learning the Avid video editing software. Thursday we documented 2 real stories.

It was a great experience. I wasn't sure how excited I would be to be a video PJ, but after the training I see it as another great tool to story telling.

My first clip in USA Today

The Arizona Republic is one of many newspapers owned by Gannett Company, Inc. USA Today is Gannett's main newspaper and they often use photographs or even photographers from The Arizona Republic for their stories. About 10 am this morning while I was still half asleep I heard my wife, Rachel, gasp (usually this means I forgot to do something or we forgot to be somewhere), but when I opened my eyes she smiled and said, "You're on the USA Today (website)!" The homepage of USA Today had a link to this article:


(click here to go to the USA Today article)

I previously posted a photo from this assignment - but more of a portrait of Otis, the man in the photo. Here's a link to that post earlier in my blog: http://geoffreymcallister.blogspot.com/2008/02/whispering-ranch-arizona.html

Local Olympic Hopefuls

There are many olympic hopefuls around Phoenix and among them are Lacey Nymeyer, and Albert Subirats (Venezuela). Both of them are swimmers for the University of Arizona. My assignment was to get photos of them at the AU v ASU swim meet in Tempe, Saturday. The venue was great - outdoors, it was nice weather, and occasionally the sun shone onto the pool (as is evident in the photo of Subirats doing the butterfly below.) Neither of them swam in more than 3 events (from what I noticed), so I had few chances to catch them in action. I looked for emotion and different angles. I wanted to come back with something out of the ordinary for swimming photos.



to read of other local olympic hopefuls - (http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/0216oly.html)

Religious Paintball

The Spring of Life Church in Mesa provides a place for paintballers to gather every Saturday. From novice to experienced they offer three different fields and training for the inexperienced.

I ventured into two of the fields - I wore a bright yellow referee jersey and had one of their volunteers shadow me with a round shield (a green sled) to fend off any lost, flying paintballs. I was hit on the head once, the shield was hit twice, I was hit on my jacket once, and the bottom of my legs got splattered on - it was fun. The paint washed out of my hair and my jacket, but my jeans and shoes are still wounded.

More Beagles in Mesa

CEO of Kahala Cold Stone

This was one of those assignments where your boss calls you two hours before and lets you know you've been assigned to shoot it. I was actually familiar with the assignment because I had read about it the night before when browsing through the photo assignments for the next day. Little did I know the scheduled photographer would become unavailable and it would become my gig.

The assignment was to take a portrait of the CEO of Cold Stone ice cream. Because of unexpected traffic coming from an earlier assignment I arrived 15 minutes late and the reporter had already begun her interview; so I got to wait. I used the waiting time to quickly tour the facility brainstorming ideas. I was told I would have 15 minutes with Mr. Blackwell. The tour was helpful and I thought of 2 ideas - take him in the ice cream store near the front and get a fun photo of him with the ice cream (the details i hadn't really worked out in my mind yet), or do a portrait near one of their 30 foot colorful, delicious photos of someone eating ice cream. When I got to meet Mr. Blackwell I quickly told him my ideas and then his PR woman informed me that in fact Cold Stone had now become Kahala Cold Stone - meaning Kahala bought Cold Stone and many other food joints and so they wanted to avoid having the CEO in a photo featuring only one of the restaurants. It turns out their building will be remodeled in a month or so and will look more "Kahala"... but as for me and my portrait... I was empty with ideas. I tried not to panic. Touring the building before hand helped me think of a few quick ideas.

At first I took him to a wall of nice looking wood doors with foggy windows and these curvy, metal handles. I later went back to his office and played with some outdoorsy photographs of himself hanging on the wall. This is what came out. I was very thankful he was so accommodating and lent me more than 15 minutes.



Kevin Blackwell, CEO of Kahala Cold Stone at his office - Photos by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic
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Ice cream maker Cold Stone Creamery and fast-food operator Kahala will combine to form a holding company that they hope will compete with private equity firms for a greater share of the fast-food sector.

The 13 brands under the new Kahala Cold Stone umbrella will include submarine sandwich shop Blimpie, cheesesteak chain The Great Steak & Potato Co., chicken sandwich maker Ranch 1 and Mexican fast-food chain Taco Time. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-11-cold-stone-kahala_N.htm)

6th Annual Arizona Construction Championships

Fine's Cellar's Gnocchi

gnocchi0227 150390 -- 02/11/09 -- Sweet Pea Gnocchi (cq) from Fine's Cellar in Scottsdale. --Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


gnocchi0227 150390 -- 02/11/09 -- The chef of the Sweet Pea Gnocchi pictured above - Chef Cullen Campbell (cq) from Fine's Cellar in Scottsdale. --Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

Runner's Den Classic 10K

Hidden Hills Cyclist Concern

sr-cyclists0212 150362 -- 02/09/08 -- Scottsdale senior transportation planner Reed Kempton (cq) talks with Gary Gin (cq), a cyclist from Phoenix, after his ride through Hidden Hills in Scottsdale Saturday morning. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


sr-cyclists0212 150362 -- 02/09/08 -- Scottsdale senior transportation planner Reed Kempton (cq) talks with Gary Gin (cq), a cyclist from Phoenix, after his ride through Hidden Hills in Scottsdale Saturday morning. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


sr-cyclists0212 150362 -- 02/09/08 -- Hiddent Hills resident Dan Archey (cq), right, chats with members of the Phoenix Triathlon Club (cq) Saturday about the issues residents are having with some cyclists in through the Hidden Hills streets. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

Read more -- http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0211sr-cyclists0212-ON.html

Arizona 1A/2A/3A Girls State Soccer Championship

Flagstaff Eagles v. Scottsdale Notre Dame 4A girls soccer

4a2gsoc 150256 -- 02/06/08 -- Flagstaff's Diane Buzzard (cq) gets tripped up with Scottsdale Notre Dame's Alex Teran (cq) Wednesday night in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


4a2gsoc 150256 -- 02/06/08 -- Flagstaff's Alyssa Miller (cq) heads the ball against Scottsdale Notre Dame Wednesday night in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


4a2gsoc 150256 -- 02/06/08 -- Flagstaff Eagles' goalie Natasha Slaughter (cq) collides with Scottsdale Notre Dame's Alex Teran (cq) to make a save Wednesday night in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


-- 4a2gsoc 150256 -- 02/06/08 -- Scottsdale Notre Dame's Makenzie Bemis (cq) kicks into Flagstaff's Alyssa Miller (cq) Wednesday night in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

ASU softball getting ready

asusoft0208 150312 -- 02/06/08 -- Mindy Cowles (cq), center, leads a group of her team in warm ups Wednesday at Farrington Stadium in Tempe. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister


asusoft0208 150312 -- 02/06/08 -- Katie Burkhart (cq) pitches during practice Wednesday at Farrington Stadium in Tempe. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister


asusoft0208 150312 -- 02/06/08 -- Kaitlin Cochran (cq), right, does a base running drill with her teammates Wednesday at Farrington Stadium in Tempe. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister

Glendale Raymond S. Kellis v. Phoenix Moon Valley 4A2 boys soccer

4a2bsoc 150253 -- 02/05/08 -- Glendale's Everardo Ledezma (cq), right, and Tyler Minton (cq) sandwhich Phoenix's Eduardo Ayala (cq) as they all take to the air to win possession Tuesday night in Phoenix. Glendale won 2-1 in the closing seconds of double overtime.


4a2bsoc 150253 -- 02/05/08 -- Phoenix's Kossi Lokassou (cq) tackles the ball from Glendale's Tony Valera (cq) Tuesday night in Phoenix. Glendale won 2-1.



4a2bsoc 150253 -- 02/05/08 -- Members of the Glendale Raymond S. Kellis (cq) soccer team celebrate after scoring the game winning goal in the closing seconds of the second overtime Tuesday night against Phoenix Moon Valley (cq) in Phoenix. --

Forensic Accountant

sr-biz0207smallbiz 150229 -- 02/04/08 -- Forensic accountant Joe Epps (cq) goes through case documents at his consulting practice in Scottsdale. This spring ASU is launching its first class in forensic accounting which will be taught by Epps. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

Morning of Super Bowl XLII

Scalpers were offering tickets for less than many fans paid prior to Sunday's Super Bowl. I spoke with 4 fans from New England who paid $2,500 for each of their tickets the week before the game, but the scalpers were selling similar tickets for $1,000.



As I was photographing for about two hours Sunday morning I made my way to the ticket entrance and couldn't help but turn my attention to the religious protesters shouting at the fans and calling them to repentance. When I asked them what city they were from they each replied, "The Kingdom of Heaven." I chuckled, and asked what state that was in. They replied, "The State of Humility." I then asked how many people lived there. "Very few," was their reply. Upon leaving them they called me to repentance and tried to give me a religious flier. I just smiled and walked away.

Taste of the NFL

taste 150181 -- 02/02/08 -- Pete Hilger (cq) of Indiana admires a poster signed by the 1972 Dolphins - the first team to go undefeated an entire season, at the Taste of the NFL charity event in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

Saint Mary's v Xavier's girls hoops

Ghoops 150104 -- 02/01/08 -- Saint Mary's Ashley Hutchinson, right, snatches the ball from Xavier's Sam Burke Friday night at Sant Mary's in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


Ghoops 150104 -- 02/01/08 -- Saint Mary's (cq) Shapri Romero (cq) drives against Xavier's (cq) Roni Rodriquez (cq) Friday night at Saint Mary's in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


Ghoops 150104 -- 02/01/08 -- Saint Mary's (cq) Tyler Stephens-Jenkins (cq) shoots high above Xavier's (cq) Chrishay May (cq) Friday night at Saint Mary's in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


Ghoops 150104 -- 02/01/08 -- Saint Mary's (cq) Gianne Fleming (cq) dishes the ball to the perimeter against Xavier Friday night at Saint Mary's in Phoenix. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic


Ghoops 150104 -- 02/01/08 -- Religious supporters at the girls game. -- Photo by Geoffrey McAllister/The Arizona Republic

Rebuilding Together

I was hired as a free-lancer to shoot a community service project rebuilding an older woman's home and a community center. The project was the week before the Super Bowl and three NFL players came and gave their support (Tapeh, Jones, and Garrard). -- Photos by Geoffrey McAllister