the start of a very long day

worked the night desk friday - which, by the time i get out of the office, i am always wide awake after and up for a few hours later, which ain't too pretty when you're facing a 12-hour solid day starting in the a.m. with 4 assignments and running through to that saturday's night desk duties...this was the first assignment of the day - boy scouts placing flags at the grave sites of veterans in one of the local cemeteries...to make it manageable, i tried to stick with a small group of kids, and this first image is what ran dominant on a little back-page package a couple days later

this little boy was running like a maniac through that cemetery...scanning the site, he'd suddenly yell "i see one" and go running and screaming to the next headstone - it was a chore keeping up with him

seems like there's always that one kid that just kind of gets to you...this little boy started talking about how his grandfather was buried here he thought - he got lung cancer and died, and his uncle got "the cancer" too and then he died too...the other kids weren't really paying any attention to that, but i started talking to him, and he just kind of stuck to my side after that...i'd start shooting some other boys, and i'd notice him standing there just kind of waiting for me to come back, so i did, and he told me about how much he'd like to have a toy flying plane, and that he was going to a Tigers game soon and they had seats right behind the dugout...later, after they'd put out all their flags on the graves, he started playing with his handful of left-overs - "i have funny ears" he'd say, sticking them about his head, until one of the parents scolded him and the others for mistreating the flag...they are kids after all, and really, amidst all the seriousness we all face, and of which this little boy is obviously aware in his own family, can't kids just BE kids?

oh, this one is SO still life - bound!

sports o' the week

at a track meet last monday, and i know this has been done before (by one of our interns i believe even), but i  just wanted to play and see what i could see...not totally into these, i think they're kind of "almosts," but not so bad i s'pose

saturday's weekend shooting included a doubleheader, and i just liked this dive back to first pic - this is one of my safety shots, but i'm usually shooting it from the third baseline, so this was a little different and cleaner

on the lighter side

just some natural prettiness here....

while in line at the grocery check-out a couple weeks ago, i saw this pretty bunch of tulips on sale for a couple bux, so i got 'em, and before they totally died, had to break out the lensBABY and make some frames.....

making my way back to my car after shooting golf, and i was struck by how the roots of the very old stately trees had come up out of the ground and woven themselves over the base of the trunk, and the texture of the lichen growing...just liked the feel of it...and it suddenly reminded me of when i was six, and my first grade teacher (whom i loved - Mrs. Beavers) held her own little workshop over the summer break - she took us to the museum, introduced us to her neighbor and his big boa constrictor pet that he told us all about and let us touch, and one day we went to the park, where she told us that the green stuff growing on the trees was called "lichen" and we got to make our own little glass bottle dioramas (or whatever those things are called) of 'foresty stuff" - strange how the mind works - one day you learn what lichen is, and over 30 some years later, suddenly your mind goes right back there....a good memory

dirt, worms and color

so the last two days have been simply gorgeous - a complete hint of summer - the nice summer, not the very hot, sticky stuff that will be sure to rear its rather ugly, dehydrating head the week of the county fair - and i have the days off - my weekend for working through the typical-work world weekend yet to come....a-planting i shall go, a-planting i done gone....this is the garden so far....with a few close-ups of some of my favorites - dahlias and daisy varieties, i'll have to hold up on the beauty of the gazannias, because they have already closed up and retired for the evening!

dahlia

i decided this year to try and plant some veggies, and i bought a tomato plant....i was so very excited to see the flowers and this little nubbin of a tomato that had just started to grow....just as i was putting stuff away yesterday, i accidentally knocked over the pot, and the plant toppled, breaking the stem completely off its roots - so here's the first tomato i WOULD HAVE grown :(

 but, i was inspired to try again, so hopefully i will have more home-grown produce in my future!!

another dahlia - they are so beautiful!!

the front plot

one side of the porch - dug up the grass (which never got mowed anyway) and made this bricked-in area to set the pots on - the circular nature was a little tricky, so i left a middle space and planted some flowers in there....still a couple flats of to-be-planted things and extra pots set out on here, but you get the idea- it's no martha stewart, but whatever.....

all in (roughly) a week's work

picks of the picks from what i've shot in the last 7-10 days -- been in a lot of feature hunting and kid scenarios, but that's okay...here's my eye-ful for the week as i try to get back to posting more regularly (well, at least more than just once a month)!!

i was chatting with this little girl and her mom after making their portrait yesterday - she ran to get her doll and asked me to take a picture of them together....the weird thing is that just that very morning i was shooting a toddler play group at the library, and one of the girls i focused on was clutching this very same doll!!!

outtake from a story about a school bus driver who put her extra 10 minutes before kids can unload and head into school to use by holding a spelling bee every morning...the kids are divided into teams and the team that gets the most points each month gets a special treat...they've spelled over 2000 words since it started in october....while i was on the busride to shool, i tried to get some pictures for our weekly photo page and if lucky maybe even a still life...

and now for something completely different...

got this assignment to make a portrait for our relatively new seasonal glossy publication Monroe Magazine - this woman is starting a club for teens to get them exposed to Lake Erie and its beauty and richness...it was dark, gloomy and/or rainy for most of the last half of the week, but it had to be shot within a couple days, so weather be damned, try to make a good portrait - i thought i was going to get lucky and have a nice sundown - i was shooting a softball game, and as the time approached for me to hightail it over to the lake and meet this woman, the clouds started rolling in, looking pretty threatening - i'd brought an antique umbrella i have just in case, and i like the element it added to the portrait, but i also liked the shot without it (my "test shot" actually, but i think it was the best one), which is what they're running in the mag

and the beat goes on....

just an outtake of a grab i made while at a family's house before school earlier this week - this family had just bought a house and moved to that street so their kids could be within walking-distance of their elementary school - as of late last week, that was one of 4 schools slated to be shut down due to budget cuts...below, the mother snuggles with her toddler son (whom they'd planned also to go there when he was ready) as they watch the ducks on the river banks from their living room window...just liked this tender moment between them...

the art of feature hunting - get in car, point said vehicle in some direction, drive around in big squares until you find somebody doing something....found this one one day, and the one below it the next

the older of these 2 cousins had donned his dad's baseball cap as they rode up and down the sidewalk in front of their house - he could barely see - i think you could have fit about 2 of his heads in there!

So, to end on one of my favorite notes, the bus ride was kind - not only did i shoot the assignment and get some contenders for the photo page, i found a still life - just love all these faces! everyone is looking off in their own direction, and miraculously none of them are looking at me!

"There are no ordinary people." -- C.S. Lewis

couldn't have said it better myself...til next time

moments

"Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect."

                                                                          -- John Ruskin

"Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives : where we focus our attention."

                                                                             -- Greg Anderson

over a month with no posting...just seems every time i intend to do it, i either get distracted, run out of time or am simply, regrettably, too lazy....pretty lame...i think the weather has had me in a funk - too many chilly grey days with not enough warmth and light mixed in to keep a forward momentum going...but, those days when it has been nice have felt so good - like the friday night a few weeks ago when i actually got to shoot sports not in the cold or rain or both - beautiful light, beautiful sundown....and interspersed have been some moments of feature hunting and even a couple still life pix...so, from what i could dig up that i have sized and intended to post for weeks now are some of those frames....i'm hoping/intending that when spring REALLY arrives, it will bring me a personal renewal as well, and everything in me that has been lying a little dormant below the surface and feels like it won't ever come out (and on the worst days makes me feel like it might not even really be in there), will finally break through and show itself....

on the way driving back from the game, i came up to this stoplight and noticed these two coming up to the crosswalk - grabbed my camera off the seat, quickly changed the exposure and managed to get this frame just as they passed in front of me....

since i had the camera out, i just thought i'd keep shooting as i headed back to the paper - so here is downtown Monroe at sundown...gotta love shooting and driving at the same time...now if only i'd been smoking, drinking coffee and shifting gears, i'd be the ultimate multi-tasker, and/or currently recovering from some traffic-related injuries....more soon!!

a spring chicken & spring play rehearsal

today was a busy day, but i feel good because i got a lot done, and i liked some of what i shot...went to a play rehearsal (i know, say it ain't so!), and i can't help myself....i'm just drawn to the whole backstage, kids peering out from behind the curtains anxious to take the stage thing, but even though i've over-shot this theme, i still liked this frame...

later, it was to the middle school...students met the challenge of completing 20,000 homework assignments in 6 weeks, and as their reward they got to choose what they wanted their principal to do for the day - strikes me that this IS after all April Fool's Day - they all voted that he wear a chicken suit all day....so i got him making his way down the hall to the cafeteria, whereupon he was besieged with high-fives from passing students on their way to class
...if you stare at it long enough, it starts to get a little creepy....