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During the RedHawks home opener I noticed a man shooting video between innings with two phones. He said one phone for himself  and the other was for someone else.   Then the next day I took a photo of grandparents shooting a picture of their granddaughter during the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Family Day.   This made me think about all the pictures we take of people taking pictures and video, or getting their pictures taken for keepsakes. Seems like I have done this a lot recently. I did a quick search of our archives for these types of photos and found a variety. Here are a few different ways we have photographed people taking photographs.

Runners and race officials pause for 168 seconds of silence to honor those killed in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, before the start of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman   At the beginning of my career, I photographed the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon from 2002-2006. When we’d begin to plan for the race, I knew I’d soon have my earliest morning of the year, since I usually work nights. Yesterday, I woke up at 4:30am and went downtown to photograph my first Memorial Marathon in 7 years. It’s still remarkable to see so many people in the streets of Oklahoma City. And it still makes great pictures. Garett Fisbeck and I worked the start and the course, while Paul Hellstern covered the finish of the run. Below are a few of my favorite pics. You can see more (86 in total, I believe) in this photo gallery.   Runners travel east on NE 4th during the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, For The Oklahoman   In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, runners pass the west gate of the Oklahoma City National Memorial as they travel south on Harvey Ave. during the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman   Firefighters in more than sixty pounds of gear cross the half-marathon finish line during the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 28, 2013, By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman   Mitch Halliman greets a runner making her way north on Shartel Ave. near NW 40th in the area known as Gorilla Hill during the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 28, 2013. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman   -Nate Billings          …

As I walked into the office last week, fellow photographer Paul Hellstern said, “Hey Bryan, my wife’s friend is upset with you for chopping her granddaughter’s head off.” “I’m sorry, I hope she recovered,” I replied.   I understand that parents want to see the faces of their children in the newspaper, but sometimes concentrating on a detail in a photo can add to the story, as well. In an effort to make up for this I thought I would post a different picture of her and explain why this happens.   I explained to Paul that I had already taken similar photos of children with their Easter egg baskets and I was looking for a photo that emphasized

  Steve Gooch is a dedicated listener to our police scanners. He runs out on plenty of calls that don’t make pictures, but sometimes he strikes photographic gold. Last Friday, Gooch followed a group of police cars to a neighborhood where the Oklahoma City Police and the FBI apprehended suspects in connection with a bank robbery at MidFirst Bank. Positioned five houses away and across the street from the scene, Gooch was able to capture the event as it happened with his 300mm f2.8 lens and a 1.4x teleconverter. It is rare to be able to get this close to something actually happening with the management of the media these days. He made many nice pictures there, but the photo above stands

I shoot a lot of basketball from Class A high school to the NBA Finals. As photographers, we collect our favorite memories and moments from the various games we photograph. My all-time favorite basketball game was Game 4 of the 2010 NBA playoffs between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the L.A. Lakers, which the Thunder won, 110-89. To this day, I have never been in an arena that loud, and as I sat on the baseline I could feel the energy in the building. But, there is a new number one: Louisville versus Baylor at the Oklahoma City Regional of the Women’s NCCA basketball tournament. This game was wildly entertaining. Louisville was shooting three-points from Timbuktu, making circus layups and they were

Yesterday, I photographed  the National Circuit Finals Rodeo. I really enjoy shooting the rodeo. Here is a selection of my favorite photos. Flip through the gallery to see all the photos.

  I’ve been lucky enough to have covered Oklahoma teams in the NCAA Tournament for more than a decade. And, when I think about the Tournament the first thing that comes to mind is not the crazy upsets I’ve covered, such as Kansas losing to both Bucknell and Northern Iowa, or the cities I’ve been able to visit. No, I think of the color blue. One area in which the NCAA excels is the consistency of the Tournament’s brand and feel at the games, especially in the work areas. Every site seems familiar because of the ubiquitous blue carpet and drapes, as well as NCAA-specific basketball floors at each arena. It’s been this way since as long as I’ve been

The Oklahoma City Astronomy Club invited the public to gather at Lake Hefner for a viewing of the Pan-STARRS comet on Tuesday evening. The comet appeared shortly after sunset and was not easily seen with the naked eye. I used a 400mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter to search the sky just to the left of the crescent moon.

$(document).ready(function() {brightcove.createExperiences();}); Dorshell Clark stood in the a sea of orange fans cheering on her son, Stephen Clark, for his last championship basketball game at the Big House. “This is probably the biggest place where you can play the state championship. The atmosphere is awesome. The people are awesome. So we’re just excited to be here again for the fourth time.” On the other side of the court stood Roland fans also dressed in orange in black. Two small schools from opposite sides of the state. One in the heart of the city, the other near the Arkansas border but both having the same

Here is a selection from Class A Girls/Boys and Class B boys/girls state basketball championship games at the State Fair Arena. To see all the photos click the following links.

It is championship week for small school basketball. Friday we shot 8 games with the first game starting a 9 am and the last game starting at 9 pm.. Here is a quick glance. Check out our galleries. Class B girls Class B boys Class A girls Class A boys   Today is championship Saturday so check back for more photos.

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to cover one of my favorite events, the Oklahoma high school state wrestling championships. For over three hours, 112 wrestlers competed for 56 individual championships.     Most of the high school championships I cover are team sports, so I generally photograph one or two games with one or two championships awarded. This is different. It’s a non-stop roller coaster of emotions and action, with a few brief pauses for medal presentations.               To see the rest of the photos click here.

  Some days just don’t go as planned. And, this was one of them. Because of a winter storm dropping freezing rain over the city, half of our assignments were cancelled today.   Then there was a phone call from our features department. “I’m in the lobby with people from SeaWorld and they brought penguins. Can we bring them up to the photo studio?”   “Sure,” I replied and asked staffer Chris Landsberger to grab a camera. Neither of us knew what to expect.

Today I was assigned to shoot pictures of a newborn gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden. It was not an easy task to take pictures of the baby gorilla. The zoo enclosure was very dark and I had to shoot through a reflective glass. To make matters worse momma Kelele sat on a perch and kept her arms tightly wrapped around her precious new bundle. I waited for over an hour for Kelele to come close to the window so I could get a good view, but it was difficult to focus the camera through the window. She kept her arms wrapped around the tiny, little ape only giving me quick peeks of the baby. Perhaps the most difficult part of taking pictures of the baby was a jealous orangutan housed next door to

  You may have heard that it snowed in Oklahoma yesterday. It was the kind of snow that’s great for playing in and doesn’t cause too much havoc. While I was off of work, photographing my dogs in the snow, everybody else on staff spread out across the metro and took pictures for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com. Here are some of our staff pictures of the winter storm.                         For more snow photos from our staff and some submitted by readers, check out this gallery.

  On Friday night, Douglass’ Stephen Clark joined an elite club by scoring his 3,000th point during a game against Northeast. Since Clark started playing for Douglass, I’ve been excited to get assigned to the Trojans’ games. It seems like he is a threat to pull up and hit a jumper no matter how far behind the 3-point line he is. He hit that 3,00th point on a free throw. I knew he was coming up on passing the mark, but had been counting incorrectly during the game. I thought he had another three points to go. So, I didn’t get in the best position to shoot the foul shot that was his piece of OSSAA history. But I did get something. Congrats, Stephen. And good luck in the

  With a high level of danger in many of the events, the rodeo usually makes exciting pictures. But sometimes there’s good stuff between the shots of a cowboy getting thrown by a bull or a textbook ride of a bareback bronc. Here are three pictures that I liked away from the action at the International Finals Rodeo this weekend. For more IFR photos (and lots of action pics), these galleries will hook you up: IFR, Friday, January 18. IFR, Saturday afternoon, January 19. IFR, Sunday, January 20.

  I’m usually not a fan of photos of people being sworn into offices, but there were some historical firsts recently that deserve a mention. Tom Colbert became the first African American chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday, Jan. 4. Retired Oklahoma County District Judge Charles Owens issued the oath of office to Colbert. Owens was the first black judge in Oklahoma when he was appointed in 1968. The next week, Colbert administered the oath of office to T.W. Shannon to become the first black Speaker of the House in Oklahoma. And, all of this happened close to the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863.

  John Clanton, former Oklahoman staffer and the driving force behind this blog for many years, has just finished a really cool project called “Everday People” at his gig with the Tulsa World.   Everyday in 2012, John photographed a portrait of a different person in his community. This is the type of thing I wish I had thought of doing or even had the commitment to attempt.   It’s well worth your time to check out the project.   If you’re in the Tulsa area, go by the Zarrow Center for Arts and Education in the Brady District and see this project in print at the gallery. It’ll be showing until Jan. 20.

  The Oklahoma State Cowboys finished their season and started 2013 with a win in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Here are some of the pictures Sarah Phipps and Bryan Terry captured at the game. You can see more photos in our Heart Dallas Bowl gallery.                 Looking for more photos from the game? We’ve got them.