James Brosher Photography

Portfolio website for James Brosher, a Bloomington, Indiana based editorial and wedding photographer specializing in action, documentary, and portrait images.

Portraits

Cheyenne painter Carleen Williams

I’m back in the saddle. Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’m in a new saddle. Today was my first official day of work at the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. After a whirlwind of a week including a two-day move from Peoria to Cheyenne, it is finally time to get back to picture making. My first assignment was a portrait of Carleen Williams, a 97-year-old artist who has painted some 5,000 pictures. I shot a few looks of her in front of her paintings before she asked that I come down to her basement to see more of her paintings. I immediately liked a corner where several of her paintings were sitting on the floor.

Painter Carleen Williams, age 97, poses with a small portion of her paintings on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011, in her Cheyenne home. Williams, a native of Lincoln, Neb., started painting when she was bed stricken with asthma as a small child. From her bed, she started sketching people. "Each day when the doctor would come, I'd have a new picture," she said.
Painter Carleen Williams, age 97, poses with a small portion of her paintings on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011, in her Cheyenne home. Williams, a native of Lincoln, Neb., started painting when she was bed stricken with asthma as a small child. From her bed, she started sketching people. "Each day when the doctor would come, I'd have a new picture," she said.

Adios Peoria

Today is my last day as an intern. Next week, I start my first full-time job as a staff photographer at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, Wyoming. This internship has been a great learning opportunity, but now I’m excited to be heading west soon for my next adventure. Before I leave, I thought I’d take a look back at a few of my favorite images from my internship in Peoria.

Ongina reacts as a man stuffs money down her bra during a drag performance of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at the Peoria Pride Festival on the Riverfront.
Ongina reacts as a man stuffs money down her bra during a drag performance of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at the Peoria Pride Festival on the Riverfront. (James Brosher/Peoria Journal-Star)
Marion English looks skyward as she tracks the flight path of her balloon as it sails southwest over the Interstate 74 bridge during a launch as part of the National Day of Remembrance on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, at the RiverPlex. English was on hand to remember her 19-year-old niece Jasmine Brittine who was fatally shot on March 21, 2010.
Marion English looks skyward as she tracks the flight path of her balloon as it sails southwest over the Interstate 74 bridge during a launch as part of the National Day of Remembrance on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, at the RiverPlex. English was on hand to remember her 19-year-old niece Jasmine Brittine who was fatally shot on March 21, 2010. (James Brosher/Peoria Journal-Star)
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Canton fire chief Ernie Russell

I ended up spending most of my day in Canton, Ill. working on two assignments. A basketball tournament in the evening (posted below) and a portrait of the local fire chief earlier in the afternoon. Ernie Russell is the interim fire chief in Canton, but he was previously a fire chief in Peoria and the Illinois state fire marshal. I was trying to say “firefighter” with these photos even though Russell wasn’t dressed in a fire suit. To do this, I gelled a Nikon SB-800 red and placed it a couple feet behind him pointed downwards to create a sea of red under his feet. I lit him with a second SB-800 fired through an umbrella at 1/4th power. It was a fun shoot, and afterward Russell insisted that I stick around the firehouse to watch the end of the Auburn-Alabama football game. Russell is a really nice guy, and his personality is reflected pretty well in the second photo below.

Ernie Russell, the former Peoria fire chief and Illinois state fire marshal, is now the Canton Fire Department's interim fire chief.
Ernie Russell, the former Peoria fire chief and Illinois state fire marshal, is now the Canton Fire Department's interim fire chief.

Ernie Russell, the former Peoria fire chief and Illinois state fire marshal, is now the Canton Fire Department's interim fire chief.
Ernie Russell, the former Peoria fire chief and Illinois state fire marshal, is now the Canton Fire Department's interim fire chief.

Girl’s golf player of the year portrait

My main assignment today was a portrait of the paper’s girl’s golf player of the year. The golfer goes to school in Oneida, a town about a two hour drive from Peoria on the edge of the paper’s coverage area. Unfortunately, there isn’t a golf course nearby so the background was the main challenge. On our way into the town, the reporter spotted a sign near the town’s grain terminal that looked interesting. I wanted to show that she came from a rural community so I decided to use the area near the train tracks as the background to help illustrate this.

Iben Thuroe, a foreign exchange student from Odense, Denmark, finished tied for second in the Class 1A girl's golf tournament this year playing for Mid County as a student at ROWVA High School in Oneida. Thuroe, 18, is the Peoria Journal Star high school girl's golf player of the year.
Iben Thuroe, a foreign exchange student from Odense, Denmark, finished tied for second in the Class 1A girl's golf tournament this year playing for Mid County as a student at ROWVA High School in Oneida. Thuroe, 18, is the Peoria Journal Star high school girl's golf player of the year.