Bizarro World
May 9, 2009. Today was one of the strangest days I’ve ever had on the job. It went from being one of the best days of my career when two assignments went great, then to one of the worst days when I got back to the office and found out my card was corrupt. Then it went back to being okay when I went out and covered those same two assignments again and still got some decent stuff. And then it went back to being an awesome day when Photorescue saved half of my shots from the morning. I started the day at 6:45 a.m., and I’m about to head out the door for an 8 p.m. shoot. Weird, long day. I wonder what else might happen…
In the rough
May 7, 2009. Covering a high school golf meet, my attention drifted from the green to a Great Blue Heron fishing for its dinner in the fourth hole water hazard.
Embarrassed
May 2, 2009. Soil under her nails from planting a flower, she hid her dirty face behind a half-eaten apple.
Lucky train
May 1, 2009. Needed several portraits of local soldiers for an upcoming Memorial Day tab. Saw this beautifully rusted out train car behind the camp’s PR office and knew I had to use it. I dismissed the idea of having one of the soldiers climb up into the back figuring it was a tetanus shot waiting to happen. But then this first sergeant jumped up there without being asked – I think he knew it would make a neat shot. I’m so happy this presented itself, because the whole time I was driving to the assignment I was wondering what the heck I was going to do. Below is another portrait showing the side of the train.
Never meanin’ no harm
This is a portrait of the General and myself from a couple summers ago. We needed a shot of a guy who restored the original car, and I jumped at the chance to meet my childhood fixation. I even dressed up like Bo Duke for the assignment. The owner, a reporter and I rode to a nearby park, and I yelled “Yeeee-haaaaw” at everyone we passed. It was one of those great moments you get to experience just because you have a cool job.
Cepillar(t)
Amy and I are the proud new owners of a Sonicare toothbrush and a Jackson Pollock-themed bathroom mirror.
(Okay, it’s not really this bad. It was at first, but we’ve gotten better at using the sucker. We staged this for her column.)
Video portrait
April 28, 2009. Trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. I’m talking about you, Canon XHA1.
Earth round, tire flat
April 25, 2009. Amnesty on tires at the recycling center. I was amazed at how many people pulled up with a truckload full of ‘em. It was nonstop.
Couch Tater 5k
April 25, 2009. I registered for this 5k run, and then I found out the paper wanted a photographer to cover it. I’m the only tog available on Saturdays (and we’re trying to cut down on stringers), so I brought along the D3 and fired off a few running Hail Marys from the starting line. I shoot a lot of Hail Marys – it’s just my style – but running while doing it was a first. People got a kick out of it, too.
I think my time ended up being a little over 29 minutes. I’d say that isn’t too shabby for a recovering couch potato who smoked like a Virginia Ham.
Botched exchange
Kind of a messy shot, but I suppose real life is messy sometimes. What did Burt Reynolds say in Boogie Nights? “There’s shadows in life, baby.”
Flood survivors
A hammock of stuffed animals is about the only thing that made it in a house that was hit hard by the flood last year. The whole place had to be gutted, and renovation is coming along slowly.
Babies
April 22, 2009. I came back from a long weekend in a bit of a funk and in a photo-slump. Nothing to do but shoot through it. These are okay, but neither will likely run for various reasons. Slumps bad. Window light good.
The blah hat trick
April 21, 2009. Today’s assignments: 1) Bread pudding, 2) volunteer drive, 3) city council meeting. Yuck. Even Uncle Tilty couldn’t save the day. I am depressed.
Deja vu
Shot the bottom photo as a feature (actually, it was just an exposure test that I liked for some reason) about two weeks ago. Shot the top one just yesterday for a news story. That was weird.
