Public Housing, Newark, NJ

Surf at Sandyhook, NJ

natural stuff

A Newark Nightmare

CAPTION: Karl Randolph, 32, is comforted Tuesday by his wife Nicole Randolph at University Hospital. Randolph has a punctured lung and a broken rib and is in critical but stable condition with the bullet still lodged within him. He was shot earlier in the day while pursuing two men he caught after they broke into his Georgia King Village home. "This is not the place to be when you have children," Nicole Randolph says about living amid the dangers of Newark. . Newark, NJ 8/12/09 12:08:28 PM Mahala Gaylord/THE STAR-LEDGER

This story ran in today's Star-Ledger and online at nj.com

I went to the University Hospital in Newark to get this photograph where the family was very welcoming of me but the hospital was not. I had only a short time with the Karl and Nicole Randolph before hospital PR kicked me out. Lighting in the hospital room was tough, it was fairly low lighting and no window light at all. The love and care Nicole Randolph displayed for her husband was visible from the moment I met the family and I hope comes through in the photograph. The first photograph is the one that ran in the paper and the one I feel shows the emotion of the moment beautifully while still being wide enough to give a hospital room feel. The closer shots lose a little of the graphic composition of that first shot.

Crime in Newark always seems to be in the news, and a lot of times death. In the short time I have worked at the Star-Ledger I have covered several different criminal cases. And I hate to see all the families that have been hurt. At least the Randolph's are still all in one piece.

Believe it or not: Video of a Painting Horse

Flemington horse paints abstract art

Eli Dock's Dutch Friesian horse, Arjen, makes abstract watercolor and acrylic paintings by holding a brush in his mouth in Flemington, NJ. The paintings go for $75 a piece and Dock donates part of the profits to Mylestone Equine Rescue, a horse rescue facility in Phillipsburg, NJ. Dock started painting with her horse just last year. (Video by Mahala Gaylord/The Star-Ledger)

Hot Air Ballooning in New Jersey video and photos for the Star-Ledger

Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning

Quick Chek NJ Festival of Ballooning
Chuck Wagner, of Milford Delaware, flies his Dela-Bear balloon amidst more than 100 hot air balloons at the Quick Chek Festival of Ballooning in Readington, NJ, the weekend of July 24. The festival flew hot air balloons twice a day, in the early morning and evening, for three consecutive days at the nations largest hot air balloon festival. (Video by Mahala Gaylord/The Star-Ledger)

All Points West Music and Arts Festival

I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have the chance to photograph all three days of the All Points West music festival in Liberty State Park, Jersey City this past weekend. The lucky part: I got to see some awesome musicians like Jay-Z, MGMT, Gogol Bordello, and Xavier Rudd among many others. The unlucky part: I was soaked and covered in muds 2/3rds of the time. Maybe the mud was itself a blessing because it made for some pretty cool pictures. I've always been told that photographing performances is almost like cheating at photography because the lighting and backdrop is all set up for you- all you do is wait for the moment. So going to a music festival to photograph just such musical performances I gave myself the task of finding beautiful photographs I could claim for my own. Many were provided, not just in the performers, but in the awe inspiring crowds of fans attending.