school, sports etc

back after a nice break...which is a little surprising since we had a tornado rip through sunday morning, and when i saw monday's paper, i was really shocked that i didn't get pulled in to help cover it - bryan rocked it, though - big kudos to him - i felt more than a wee bit guilty that he was running around with the reporter doing all that work and i was just sitting here...but, i was really happy to have a longer weekend to kind of recoup from the past couple weeks....

anyway, back to it, and with school about to be out and the holiday stuff and custer week over, things are getting a little more back to normal

wednesday morning, out to a school to shoot a teacher who is retiring - we profile a few retirees every year, and this guy was very cool - an elementary school music teacher....got there just before the school was having an assembly to honor he and a few of the other staff who are retiring - the event was, well, like most assemblies, not easy to make visually interesting, but there were some nice moments after of kids hugging him and waving goodbye - you could tell he was pretty much beloved by all - some older kids actually came back to the school to see him and tell him how much he impacted their lives - very cool....

after that, we had about 40 minutes before his last class started...so we just talked as he got the room ready, then the first grade class arrived - such a cute age to shoot, and he was a real joy to watch - i can see why all these kids love him - he would have been perfect for audio, too - just an animated, kind of kooky, fun guy, and really good with kids...

i felt pretty happy with what i shot, and liked this one moment at the end of class when this little girl hung back to tell him how much she loves his class, and telling him that at the end, she thought she wanted to cry a little....awww

and one for next week's feature foto page
later, there was a portrait of a woman who found a job despite the repeal of a federal young worker subsidy for businesses - which will now make finding a job for younger people more difficult - well, that's the crux of the story anyway....

nothing terribly cool....

thursday, just had a graduation - the kids of the town hit especially hard by the tornado had to cancel their ceremony, which was originally to be that sunday night, but as the town was ripped apart and the school damaged along with it, they postponed and took up an offer from EMU to use their convocation center - which was very cool of EMU, but as for the actual ceremony, it kind of hampered the visual side it seemed - less than 100 kids in this big facility - it just looked kind of like they were dwarfed, and they were so separate from their families and friends, and they have the speakers projected on the jumbo trons -

i don't know, it was a little impersonal feeling, and hard to get any moments, and of course there was toledo and detroit press there, cos we know how they love a good tragedy in monroe - not blaming the people themselves, they're just going to where they're assigned, like me, and in all honesty, we wouldn't have covered their graduation had it not been for the fact that they had had to reschedule due to the devastating storm, so, we're all painted with the same brush to some extent i suppose...

anyway, tried to get better stuff afterwards - but it was a little chaotic once they emerged onto the concourse to greet their families, particularly with all these other media there all vying for the same moments....

friday - the morning was a little slow - in the afternoon, i had to cover a town hall style meet and greet by one of our gubernatorial (love that word! hate typing it, though - too much thought involved) candidates - so, the usual him speaking, framed by the heads of the audience, the audience listening, hoping to get something better, more interactive after the speaking and q&a, but, he's not a real animated guy, and he seemed to be on a pretty tight schedule, and he had to be pulled aside and interviewed briefly by our reporter, so that didn't yield much....and after that, i went down to make a portrait of miss monroe, who was leaving next morning to head to the miss michigan pageant...she was pretty much done preparing to leave, so it was just a portrait, and i kept it pretty simple...

what i kind of liked later is this totally blown-out frame - the first shot, obviously before i ratcheted down the speedlight!

saturday i just had sports - i say "just" - but it was really an all-day affair - had a softball and baseball team in the regionals - baseball started at 10, softball at noon, and they were playing at a college in a town about an hour away...but, i came to understand friday night that those times were just the semi-finals, so i asked the sports reporter when the finals would be - but baseball was supposed to lose, so either way, had to go in the morning so we could get some game action of them - which means, stay for the softball semi-finals, all of which will be negated when they make it into the finals, because they won't want action from the semi's when they could get finals action....so, just have a big old long sports day!

and it was nearly 90 degrees with 100 % humidity, so, be prepared to be a drained rat by the time it's all done!

so, i get to this town, and i start to look for a sign for the college, but apparently they're not very into posting signs, so i stop to ask someone directions, and this guy tells me just turn around and head back down this road you're on, and he gives me a couple landmarks and the college is on the left - sweet, how easy i think - and it would have been, had the road he thought we were on been the actual road i was on....so, long story short, after driving in circles and getting directions three more times for about 40 minutes, i finally find the college..now, where are the sports fields....get more directions, find the fields, and now it's about an hour into the baseball game by the time i find a parking spot in some neighborhood, cos the parking lot is full, but that's okay, cos it's baseball, and i should have plenty of time, and if they lose i only really need one or two action shots anyway....

so, i get to the field, and after an hour they're only in the top of the second inning! holy cow! that game lasted nearly 3 hours! and, they won, which meant they'd play again in half an hour, so now everything i just shot of that game is kind of a wash, and i have to get over to the softball field and shoot there - get there ion the 4th inning, and the action is pretty abyssmal, and it's the semi's so when they win (which it was 2 local teams, so either way, we were shooting the finals for sure), they're not super-reactive, but now, they have a half hour break before starting the finals....

so, back over to baseball, whose game is about an hour in at this point, and when i get there, it's about the 4th inning, and again, against all predictions, they're winning! so, cool i'm thinking, at this rate, i can probably shoot the end of this game, cos they're gonna be pretty happy if they win the trophy and advance to state tourney, especially since nobody thought they'd get this far, and then i can make it over in time to get some action in the final couple innings from softball and their reaction....

but, once we get to the bottom of the fifth, the whole thing just starts dragging - both teams are hitting, and the opposing team changes pitchers, then in the bottom of the sixth, our team changes pitchers, then they change again in the seventh, so it's just crawling, and i'm looking at the time, and now it's probably getting close to the end of the softball game, and i am seriously running out of time to get any game action - so, now i'm in that conundrum - do i leave, now, when they're about to win and i will miss all the reaction, and if softball is losing for some reason, then i'm not going to get any good reaction there, or at least not pix they'll want to run - basically, do i stay with the sure thing, or potentially screw up both in the attempts to do it all....so, i stay, and just as the game is about to wind up, i see people walking out of the stands over at the softball field - well, crap, now i not only have no game action, i may miss any reaction, too, so as soon as baseball wins, i shoot some reaction as fast as i can

and then i high-tail it over to softball - all i can get is them posing for the parents with their trophy - pretty lame, but at least it's something.....and after that, hike back to my car (and yes, i was quite the sweaty, heat-drained, just spent 5 hours shooting continuous sports, mess!), drive the hour back to monroe, edit, caption, submit, go home for a couple hours, then come back in to process the fotos for sunday's paper....long day!

back to my baby, lensBABY, that is

been remiss about posting up this season's series of lensBABY flower photos...something about just getting outside with your camera and playing and exploring that makes me feel so reinvigorated, or something - sort of like i just nourished my senses for the day...

anyway, this is one of my new favorite flowers - columbine


especially with the lensBABY, it almost looks like some kind of sea anemone - so interesting and graceful - when i look at it, i feel like i'm under water

custer, NOT custard!

on to the next craze - Custer, as in Gen. George, as in Battle of Little Big Horn - yeah, THAT Custer...he grew up in Monroe, led the Michigan militia, helped win the Civil War with key battles in Gettysburg, fought in 1812, and yes, then there's that whole Native American aspect of his career - love him or hate him, he's an icon here in Monroe, and this week marked the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Custer Statue that stands in town, as well as the beginning of the annual Custer Week celebration...

i name the title of this post as such, because it used to crack us up when we'd get an intern fresh in to town, and they'd be like, "so i have to go to the "Custard" Statue - where's that?" and we'd have to tactfully explain that it's Custer, not Custard, as in a general, not a dessert...ha ha

anyway, it being such a milestone event, our paper has joined in the Custer craze, and was bound and determined to cover the bejeesus out of this one! what of the events should we focus on to cover, asked an editor - well, everything was the directive....so, thursday was to kick it off with a Custer Expo - a conference of the Little Big Horn Associates was in town for the anniversary event, and they were to have an expo of vendors and historians, collectors, etc, set up from morning to night - but, when i went there, 3 times mind you, the place was all locked up with nary a soul in sight...hmm, hope this doesn't set a tone for how this whole thing is going to play out, because we have extra pages and very high turn-out expectations for our coverage of the official friday start of events....

needless to say, thursday was a light day.....friday, i got in early to swing by and see if they were doing anything (supposed to be open again from 8 am to 9 pm), but still nothing, so i just headed down to the square, where a civil war-era brass band was to play, relatives of custer and of the original statue committee were to be on hand, re-enactors of Libbie (his wife, who was played by another Monroe icon - Kaye Lani Ray Rafko - who won the Miss America pageant in 1980-something) and Pres. Taft, who attended the original statue dedication, were to be there mingling in character through the crowd, a 1909 Model Z Oldsmobile (the car in which Taft arrived back in the day) would be on display, a canon will be on display, too, a group photo of the assembled (like the one they did at the original event) would be taken for publication in a national magazine, and local businesses would be decked out in period costume and other Custer/patriotic regalia....and we need photos of all of that

funny, even as Libbie, she still had the pageant wave going on!

well, it all went pretty much as planned - bryan and i had to double up on the morning events, because the brass band was running that day - so he focused on that, and i was to get the rest...which was totally do-able....

except the group photo happened before the event was slated to start, and the businesses aspect, well, let's just say i didn't see much in the way of Custer decor and was told by one business that they were going to hang a Pepsi banner in the window, because it's the only thing they had that's red, white and blue....okay, so you see where all THAT'S headed! bryan did find a Custer poster in a window, so i guess we vaguely got that one covered, but still, nowhere near what we were led to expect to find

not sure why i like this, or if it even works, but i just do!

anyway, after that, i headed out of town a bit to the old Custer farmhouse - bought by George and his brother Nevin and their wives - George only lived there shortly, if at all, because he wanted to be out west, blazing the trail and battling it out at places like Little Big Horn (some may argue he should have stayed in Monroe, but so goes history) - the conference attendees were on a bus tour of local Custer sites, and the farmhouse was naturally a big stop, so i was on tour bus duty...

the tour was pretty much confined to looking at the historical marker in the front yard and the front of the house, because the current owner really wasn't into the idea of people roaming around, so, it wasn't so cool for visuals, but it is what it is, as the saying goes

liked the button on this guy's cap - Custer for President - hmmm, not sure certain members of the Indian nations with whom he dealt would agree, but an interesting detail that speaks to the event, nonetheless

later that afternoon, the official rededication of the statue would take place - the mayor will speak, a member of the historical society will speak, and they will unveil a "secret" new addition to downtown Monroe...

so, again bryan and i double up, cos they want video, and we've gotten access to a building across the street so we can shoot the crowd from that angle...so, i go to the building, which was kind of lame, especially since the assembled crowd wasn't nearly as big as i think was anticipated - i mean, back in 1910 they had nearly 30,000 people in attendance - we'd be lucky if the count was over 300 - so, i shot a bit from up there, then went down to street level to shoot some more....

and such was the end of the Custer events for the day (for me at least - poor bryan had to cover the banquet that evening - i.e. Custer relative speaking at podium as people ate dinner - not a visual dream, to say the least)

saturday, it was a Civil War military encampment demo at the park near the statue, then district finals softball and baseball in the afternoon...went out to the park, and hmm, no one's there, and we have been given no contact info, so i figure, maybe they're starting late, go home, get coffee, check the paper for any other info, and go back - still nothing - not even anyone out there pitching a tent in preparation to get started - weird, so i head out to another historical site where they're holding an 1812 Militia Muster - i figured someone out there may have some info on what's up with the other re-enactors - but they have no idea - and since i'm there, and we were going to have a freelancer cover this event for us sunday, i may as well just shoot something while there and save us the cost...

had planned to go back to the park again, but i got a call from the weekend reporter -wtf - no one's here, what are we gonna do? so i tell him where i am, and if there's still no one there, i'm guessing they just blew it off (lame!), and maybe we should do this for sunday 1A, but that will leave them without this as planned for monday - so, he calls the editor, and they have something they can throw in for monday, so just cover this for sunday instead...so i keep shooting

and then i gotta scoot, cos i have to get to a town in the next county for my sports....

i arrive, and it turns out the sports guys got the times wrong, and the softball finals are over, and the baseball semi-finals are just finishing up....and i'm not sure if our team is winning or not, cos if they lose, then i have NO pictures! so i shoot the pitcher quickly, then ask around and find out they're winning, so they'll play the finals - phew! except now i have an hour to wait....so i wait....

and luckily the predicted storms, which looked to be threatening the horizon don't move in while the game is on, and then it's back to the paper to edit and get it in, then home to put in my galleries from the day's pics, and then i am off again, for 3 whole glorious days!

end

by saturday, i am seriously counting down to this week being over over OVER!!!! but i have 3 days to go....

start with a portrait of a guy who is making a documentary film centered around the story of his brother, Rico Hoye, Jr. - a local championship boxer who made a name for himself in the sport after serving 8 years (i believe) in prison for manslaughter...as we set the appointment up, he said he'd like his film crew to be in there, too - i asked how many people we're talking about and he said 4 - i said, i know they're important to the film and will probably be in the story, but maybe we should keep it to him, since lots of people make it pretty tough to make a really nice portrait that doesn't turn into a group shot - he said he understood, but i guess not, cos when i got there, 2 other guys were with him, and then a third showed up, and he really wanted all of them in there....they were all really cool, and honestly, at that point, i'm not gonna tell them to just go home, so i did what i could - not really happy with the way this turned out - but i think my energy to (tactfully) argue the point was pretty much spent....so, you get what you get

took a break, since i was working the production desk again that night, and i still had to find features to fill next tuesday's photo page, so, i went out feature hunting early evening....came across these two photos....

the ice cream stand - pretty lame, i know, but i had to go with something i knew would produce something

then went on the drive through neighborhoods, and found this family out playing - not totally excited about it, but i think i made a couple pictures that at least approach the "feel" of the pictures that i get proudest about...it was funny, because i'd stopped to shoot the dad taking his kid out for a bike ride - holding on to the seat as his kid learned to ride, and i thought it was his daughter, cos it was a little girl bike, and with the helmet on, i just assumed it was his daughter, but it was his son on his daughter's old bike...meanwhile the daughter was running around like little annie oakley shooting at everything in sight, including the "bad tree"

the mom joked about the gender reversal at work in their family, and i think i really kind of like this image of her daughter taking aim in the sky

sunday morning, i still needed at least one more feature, so i went back out on the hunt - spied kids playing way off in the back yard, on a tire swing no less! holy cow - i NEVER see anyone actually using their tire swings! - so i spun around, parked and walked into the yard - was met first by the family's dogs, pit bulls to be exact, and i ask a couple kids if their dogs are friendly - oh yeah, yeah, they're fine - okey dokey, then, well, on i go, with the dogs in tow behind me....and i shoot away as they play on the tire swings

and at one point, the mom of the house gets in on the play, and she gets on after winding the rope round and round tight, so that by the time the kids let go, she is spinning in ever-faster circles, which gets the dogs super-worked up, and as i am shooting, they decide to circle round me, barking away - and let me just say, knowing these aren't the most predictable of the species, having pit bulls standing at your feet growling and barking at you is a little disconcerting, but i try to not show fear, cos we all know where that can lead, and i shoot my pix, and then i head out....

later that evening, i head out to the annual "Tribute to the Fallen" - usually honors area veterans who stand up and recount their personal stories, and then they have a video showing all the photos of the vets throughout the county who have died in service from WWII to present - this year, all the honorees were dead already, so it was just the emcee reading from a sheet of paper, and then the vidfeo (which you're not allowed to shoot during) - so, it was more of a challenge than normal - and i resorted to shooting the guy playing (or standing with trumpet as a recording played) TAPS at the program end

then back in to the paper for production work - since monday is a holiday, the paper is built the night before, so another desk night

monday, memorial day - assignment to shoot the big downtown parade - an hour before the start, the big storms forecasted begin to arrive, but they should pass by the start....so, i head out to the starting point, looking to find a pre-parade feature amid the thunderstorm...but there's no one there...so i go to the paper to see if there's any updates - delayed? cancelled? but there's nothing on our website, and the reporter on that day has no cell phone, and he's not home, nor is the guy in charge of the parade, so i have no idea if i should just go feature hunting for page one, or stick around or what, so i drive back down to the parade start site, and still no one, but i see a city truck with "street closed" signs on back, so i ask them, and it turns out the parade has been cancelled, and then i get a hold of the wife of the parade marshall, and she tells me they're all at the VFW, which is where i go and make some features

and on the way, i shoot some kids riding a bike home - they'd come downtown for the parade and were heading home after learning it was cancelled....

so, that was the week's finale, and i was really really ready for 2 days off!

middle

after tuesday's insanity, the week got a bit more manageable - still had 3 sports features to arrange and shoot - and trying to get our photo reprint orders out - as i suspected that the large orders were graduation gifts and should really be done asap so they get them in time, and since our reprints are so cheap, people tend to place pretty hefty orders - suddenly every sport shot their kid may be in is being ordered, and if it's night sports or poorly lit gym basketball,, they all need some touch-up before we upload them and send them on their merry way - so, that's a chunk of work right there...

anyway, wednesday, it was back out to the track for what will be my last track meet of the season (thank god!) - didn't get anything too cool, but this high jump pic is okay, and it was of a member of the school that seemed poised to win the meet, so that worked

then i met a woman for the first sports feature - she's been chosen to be the bat girl for the Tigers' annual breast cancer awareness fundraising game in mid-June...not sure i made the portrait i'd hoped to, but it's alright, and thankfully she had a friend who had a pink Tigers jersey, so that helped with the story-telling aspect

next day, it was off to shoot the next 2 sports features, or so i thought....

first one is about a kid who is training to be a soccer ref - his dad has been doing that for years and often workjs with his son, giving him pointers as he refs games - but of course the game they had was the day before in a downriver city, and i already had track and the other portrait set, so no go - would have to be a portrait, which we set up for after-school (only time they'd be available) at a soccer field...so i pull up and clouds are rolling in, looking forboding, and i discover the field is all locked up...well, hmm, what to do, what to do, then rumbles of thunder begin, and by the time the guys arrive, it is starting to pour - so we decide to try and wait it out - this one is running the next day, so i have to get something now...looks to be lightening up, so i suggest we just get out and get it done before the next bank of clouds arrive - they know of a back entrance that will be open - so we hike out there, and i start to set up the lights, and more rumbling begins, and then some drizzles, and i get off a few frames, just barely have time to get the exposure down, let alone compose as i want and adjust the lights, before lightning strikes, and now it starts pouring like some deluge on order from Moses, and the lightning is getting closer, and we're all like, we gotta get outta here now! - cos, standing in an open soccer field with a large metal lightstand nearby during a lightning strike - well, not too safe - so, we high-tail it back to our cars and call it a day - go home, change out of my completely drenched clothing, then head out to the next sports feature

story is about a guy who's a fast-pitch softball guru - has coached several girls from throughout the region to pitching success - the writer told me he coached out of an old warehouse on a road running south of town, but i can get the exact locale from him - "just call his cell, if he doesn't answer, he al;ways calls right back" - well, not for me apparently - after consulting another writer about where this old warehouse might be, i have a pretty good idea of what block i should be on, and since i haven't gotten a call back from the guy, i just head that way - after driving up and down and around the backs of the buildings in that block, i stop to call the guy again - more voice mail, so i call the sports writer - he's out playing basketball, then will have to go to church choir practice, so he won't have time to call me back, per his wife - still no word back from our subject, so i finally just go home...

did a get a call the next morning from the guy - he's got a new cell phone and hasn't quite figured it out, so he just got my messages - get his coaching schedule for that night, as well as the exact location, which it turns out is on a totally different road, in a totally different township, nonetheless!

so, friday, go shoot that, and then later that night go out to an assignment about a christian youth group that is having "cosmic bowling" night....why this is a front page story for the next day, neither i nor the reporter can understand - must be that there is really nothing else going on, and there wasn't anything else pre-planned....she could barely eke out more than an 11-inch story, and shooting kids in a bowling alley with all the lights off so their balls can glow in the dark, well, you can imagine the technical challenge such a scenario presents!

could barely see to focus, so it was pretty frustrating, and even moreso later when they asked for more than one photo to run since the story was so short! oy vey!