Dan Aykroyd


Dan Aykroyd poses for a photo with members of the Steel City Ghostbusters before signing bottles of his Crystal Head Vodka at the Shadyside Wine & Spirits store on December 15, 2010.

On a personal note: Dan was perhaps the rudest most self-centered person who has ever passed in front of my lens in my entire 11-year career as a photojournalist. While shooting him, along with a handful of other photographers and TV cameramen, he stopped signing autographs to instruct me to stop shooting him because he felt I had enough photographs of him. He then proceeded to explain that the flash was distracting him. However, I wasn't using a flash, so I assume it may have been the flashes from the other photographers or perhaps the countless fans who walked up to take a picture of him. After explaining to him that I wasn't using a flash he then scolded me and told me my shutter was distracting him. Then he continued his rant by telling me that if I didn't listen to him and stop shooting him that he would see to it I was removed from the store. Going even further he then told me that he would personally escort me outside. Standing in front of him confused and shocked that this was actually happening, I was speechless. He then continued by telling me that a, "Real professional photographer would have his picture in 6 frames or less." Completely unsure what to say or do, I stood in front of him and the packed store, baffled by his rude comments and tone. He proceeded to go back to signing autographs and continued muttering "6 frames" several times under his breath. I packed up and left. When I got home I checked my files to see if perhaps I was heavy on the shutter. In the entire 10 minutes of him signing autographs, I shot 9 frames!
Justin Merriman

Justin Merriman, a freelance photojournalist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has traveled the world to cover politics, wars, natural disasters, civil unrest as well as covering assignment throughout the United States. His work has appeared in leading national publications and he has received multiple top journalism awards.   

After covering the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – including the crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – Merriman committed to chronicling the U.S. military and its war on terror.  He has followed this story across the United States and into the conflict zones of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He also has covered life in Fidel Castro’s Cuba in 2002, India’s efforts to eradicate polio from its population, the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba in 2012, the 2013 conclave and election of Pope Francis in Rome, the second anniversary of Egypt’s revolution and subsequent unrest, Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the international political crisis that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014, a look inside of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2015 and its uncertain future, and most recently, traveled the entire U.S. border with Mexico documenting issues on immigration. 

Merriman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Time, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and other publications across the globe. 

He has been recognized with numerous regional, national and international awards from organizations including Pictures of the Year International, Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Northern Short Course, the Southern Short Course, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Military Reporters and Editors Association, and the Western Pennsylvania Press Club. He was awarded Photographer of the Year by the News Photographer Association of Greater Pittsburgh four times and most recently was honored with the Keystone Press Award’s 2016 Distinguished Visual Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Merriman graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Writing. In 2009, the university awarded him its prestigious Alumnus of Distinction award. 

Currently Merriman lives in Oakmont with his fiancé, Stephanie Strasburg, a photojournalist with PublicSource. 

http://www.justinmerriman.com
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Gunnery Sgt. Schmalstieg

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Justin Bieber