Thomas Cain’s Blog

Yesterday I photographed a building demolition in the town of Derby, Connecticut. I spent a good hour waiting for the work being done but as it started, I got this image. About 25 residents showed up to watch the building get knocked down. Most of them spent the time discussing their memories of the building and their thoughts on its history.

27-year-old John Burdick, (pictured) a lifelong resident of Derby, said he remembered the building when it used to have a candy store.

Today was the final day of the 2009 Travelers Championship. This year I shot two days of the tournament, which was very exciting. This photograph however, sums up my feelings after shooting today’s final round.

It is of David Toms on the 17th hole, missing a birdie putt that would’ve put him in 2nd place. Instead, he ending up being tied for 2nd with Paul Goydos.

I followed all the players who had a chance to win the tournament for most of the day. I got good shots of mostly everyone I covered. The newspaper however, only wants a couple photographs of one person, and that is whomever wins.

Unfortunately, the winning shot was not to be had by me today. Kenny Perry, who scored a course record -22 under par, got to the last hole and made his first shot on the green facing in my direction. The shot was extremely close and his reaction was going to be powerful. Here are my images of Perry about to react after hitting his ball. As you can see, he was preparing to show some emotion…

He missed that shot however, and on his second attempt, the ball went in the hole. Perry however was facing the exact opposite direction I was in and gave every photographer across from me the shot of the day. Here are my photos of the reaction shot from the wrong side of the green…(Notice the photographers in the background getting the shot)

All in all the event was fun and I will shoot it next year if I get the chance. Next year I will get the shot!

Here is a great photo Jim Rogash of Getty Images took of me in the totally wrong position (I am the kid with the big lense above his right arm haha)…

To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of golf before I shot my first tournament last year. After spending my first day lugging 30 pounds of gear all over an 18-hole course, I was hooked!
It is quite the nerve-racking experience. When the tournament starts it’s really anyone’s game-you need to start taking photos of every single golfer on the course because you never know who will be in the lead at the end of the day. This makes shooting golf quite the headache, because you have to constantly keep checking the leaderboards strategically placed all over the course to make sure you have a photograph of whomever looks like they have a chance to win.
This picture in particular wasn’t as stressful to get because by the end of the day Kenny had quite the lead. I could spend my 30 minutes shooting just him. Overall the stress and the tension are worth it, especially if you get the shot that will make your editor happy.
I can’t wait to start shooting the final day of the tournament tomorrow morning. I promise to have more images tomorrow!

I spent today photographing the first round of the 2009 Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. Normally I wouldn’t post a photo I didn’t submit to the newspaper, but I shot this photo with only one thought it my mind…Desktop Wallpaper!

While I waited for the players to make their way to the green on 14th, I noticed Vijay getting ready to take his shot right on the crest of the hill. I knew that the newspaper wouldn’t run the shot, but I could picture it looking cool as the backround to my computer.

I will post the photos that are running in the paper after it’s already run…

How it looks on my desktop..

I took this photo last summer of Elaine Quinn of New Haven handing a jubilant David Holland Jr. his promotion certificate at the Montessori School on Edgewood in New Haven, Conn.

I was shooting some enterprise for the New Haven Register this past Tuesday and I found this two little guys playing in the fountain on the green in New Haven.

Please click through the the PDN gallery of these images. This whole project is really interesting with a great story behind how it came about. Thank you Benjamin Lowy.

I got a few phone calls recently asking me to shoot Bar Mitzvah’s, so I decided to post this image which I took last year.

I shot another foreclosure story for the New Haven Independent a week ago. The story is quite interesting and worth taking a look at. This will be my last work for the New Haven Independent for the summer, because I am starting my second internship at The New Haven Register this week!

This past friday, I graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with my bachelors degree in Journalism. I took my camera on stage with me to receive my diploma, in order to get the picture you see here.

The man in the picture is Selase Williams the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Southern. He was slightly unsettled by the camera, but he laughed and shook my hand.