BABY, look at you now

i sometimes wonder when or if it will get old - when i will run out of seeing new things, finding new images, not becoming completely repetitious - when will either i or it get stale?

to my utter gratitude, it hasn't happened yet - the lensBABY continues to enthrall me...i'll be sitting on the porch or poking around the garden and something will stand out - some portion of a flower, some angle or nature of light, an insect, a water droplet - i'll think, ooh, i should get out the lensBABY and shoot this...


then, ya know, an hour later i have gotten completely lost, and whatever drew me in was merely a gateway to a whole new exploratory journey...
and i keep seeing new things, or new things keep deciding to let me see them - whichever way your zen pendulum swings

and for that, i am eternally grateful

on fire n coolin off

the week (a short one, mind you) began with a couple assignments, both of which could be undone by the weather, thursday evening - first was a recreational softball team - the oldest in the league for a forthcoming sunday piece about the decline of people participating in the adult rec leagues - the weather called for storms, which did eventually come, but i was able to get in a half hour's worth of shooting before they called it, which was okay, because i had another assignment to get to anyway - area fire departments participating in a propane fire training....i got to the place where they said the event would be held, but no one was there - perhaps they called it off because of the lightning? but no, turned out they just had the classroom portion of the training somewhere else and just hadn't gotten there yet....even though the lightning had tapered off, it was still raining pretty good, so by the end of it all, i was a pretty drowned rat, but it was actually kind of cool - they started out small - just a little propane grill - then worked their way up to a 40-gallon tank, which i learned is called a "pig" - and which, when on fire, sends flames shooting about 80 feet in the air - "wait til you see this," the fire chief of one dept. told me, "this is gonna be really cool!!" luckily for me, they did this one a few times, so all the guys could get the experience, and i could work on getting better and better angles - the rain actully worked to my advantage, because it gave me a really nice reflective surface in the parking lot pavement, which added to the visual aspect

noticed these guys composing themselves after their turn at battling and shutting off the propane - just liked how their body language mimicked one another

next day was to go to a pool for a story about how people beat the heat....the only problem being that after the previous day's rain, it wasn't quite that hot anymore, and then to make matters more challenging, it poured early that afternoon, so i waited til it cleared to head down, and there was really only 2 moms and their kids there, but i stayed a while and worked it, and i think it will be okay for telling the story....maybe having things less hectic actually made it a little easier

saturday, had "family game day the library" as a stand-alone feature to run whenever - a really beautiful day, and i was a bit skeptical about how many people would actually go sit in the library to play wii on a day like this - guess my thinking was right, cos i got there and there was no one playing, and the librarian seemed pretty skeptical herself as to the turn-out - i took it as a sign that she handed me a pamphlet of events and said, here are some things coming up that people might actually show up to - hmmm, so, instead of sitting there for an hour or so waiting to see if anyone showed (and really, fotos of people playing video games, not too visual even on a good day), i decided to go back to the town i passed thru on the way here and shoot their farmer's market - it goes on every saturday, which at least makes it newsworthy in an informative sense, and they have seminars on herbs and cooking, and gardening, etc, so it just seemed a bit more substantive to highlight as well - so off i went, but it was getting toward the tail-end of the market, so traffic was light, and at least i found these two cousins whose family runs a farm and who decided they wanted to run this stand to make some money, which they have been dutifully putting in the bank as savings - pretty smart kids

not the greatest, but i think better than the alternative at least

took a break, then went in later to shoot the "minor league" regional football team playing their first home game - got a foto of the defense i kind of like, partly cos we rarely shoot defense, but i liked this frame....

then a went looking for a feature - tried to follow these two little girls playing beneath the bleachers, but that wasn't coming together, so i started working something of this little boy and his father in the stands - i did shoot a more standard, easy-read frame, but i think i like this one, or maybe i just like it in the "wish this would work" sense....but regardless, this is the one i'm posting, so you'll just have to take my word for it i s'pose!

after that, back to the office - edit, submit, tone tone tone, then go home!

what have i been up to? well.......

been a while again since i posted - my bad...clearly, i am not the most disciplined blogger, but i'm sure no one's really waiting on the edge of their seat every week to see what pearls i drop out into the blogosphere either - plenty o fish in that sea!

anyway, had a long weekend since my last post, got to go home and go to a first annual family reunion at a cousin's house - really fun and very cool to not have to miss out on it because of work...unfortunately, i caught a pretty bad bug while there, which kicked in in earnest on my drive back up to michigan - not a pleasant journey, to say the least...

back to work the next day, and since bryan had been solo for several days and had a pretty busy time, i really didn't feel like i could call in sick, so i just worked...which i guess was somewhat of a good distraction

like this one of comcast donating a couple thousand meals to a food pantry - the funny part was that there were 2 women in the group whose sole job in the drop-off process was to hold up a big comcast sign - they kept trying to position them so they would be in the background of my fotos - silly

but after 3 assignments, i was pretty shot, and by the next morning it was worse - got sent home and spent the next couple days lying in bed or on the couch just being a big sick slug for the most part

next day, back to it - a new walking/biking trail through town that connects up to the state park was being officially dedicated and the new trail sign unveiled..

i must say, i've sort of learned to take the hoopla over new things here with a bit of a grain of salt - okay, maybe a mound - but this sign was actually really cool - particularly given the fact that it was designed and completely built by 4 local guys who did the bulk of the work in one of their garages!

saturday was a long day - had day-long events on the new trail, a robotics competition running at the same time and a softball all star game that evening, then the night desk work....

went to the trail first to hit the "family time on the trail activities" - which turned out to be golf cart tours along the trail and kayaking, but it was overcast with predictions of possible rain, so that kept a lot of people away..i wasn't getting much of anything, and they wanted to run a package from this thing, so i left to go shoot robotics, which was, ya know, robotics

then back to the trail for the next set of events - a pet walk on the trail etc, and people generally just walking and biking - the weather had cleared, so more people were out, but it was still a bit tough visually - caught this moment of some of the pet walkers on the trail...nothing great, but at least it was somewhat of a moment...

got some other general pix, too, but nothing worth posting really...then softball, then the desk, then home...don't think i was quite back up to speed for a marathon day like that, cos by that night i was running a fever again, felt like crud, and spent the next day back on the couch - uggh

monday i was solo, had 3 assignments scheduled for the afternoon and night - a couple portraits and the all star baseball game...but i got a call early that morning that another tornado had come through in the north part of the county and there was some damage and i need to get up there to get something in for that day's paper...so, throw on some clothes, brush the teeth and run up there - found the damage and hung out with one of the homeowners - alot of the people weren't home or had already piled up much of the downed trees etc, since the tornado came through early sunday afternoon and this was now monday morning, and i'm sure many of them had to go to work, but at least there was this guy - he had more than 20 trees ripped up - some had been thrown into their deck, others just uprooted and dragged through his yard

pretty crazy - mother nature is one mean old broad when she wants to be!

i don't think he knew quite where to start in the clean-up - he just stood there looking around and saying "what a mess!"

so then there was the first portrait - a retiring school superintendent - kinda liked the way this turned out

then i met a few kids who are on a pee wee football team that had been playing their games on a field behind the fire station, but were informed that they can't anymore because of some crazy zoning issues

and then baseball that evening, which i forgot to bring home, so nada to post from that, though i did get an action frame i liked

so, another longish day all in all - think i was just trying not to keep getting run down and get sick again for the better part of this week

so the next day was another retiring superintendent portrait - not as cool as the first though, and then later a speech for people working in the state's prisoner re-entry initiative program and the public - she was going to be talking with parolees enrolled in the program first, but we couldn't shoot that, so it was pretty much her at the podium, and then afterward at least some people came up to talk with her, shake hands, etc - nothing terribly cool, but better than the talking head shots - interesting woman, though - made the speech time go a little faster

next day there was nothing on the agenda, so i went looking for a feature and checked out one of the many summer time vacation bible school camp type events..i actually kind of liked this feature - kids playing with one of those parachute things in front of the church

later, i was able to set up a portrait for the girls athlete of the year

next day was light in the afternoon, but i had a couple other sports portraits that evening - nothing too memorable

friday, had a couple feature ideas to go check out - the first was about 2 fireworks businesses located right across from each other having a rivalry over attracting customers - they were having food and music outside the shops and somebody had called to say they were packed....well, by the time i got there, not so much, and it turns out that the guy who called is related to one of the food vendors, which has been in the paper in their own right for having a licensing controversy with the city, so really, our being called out there had a little agenda behind it as i came to discover, and the only people who were taking in the "party" were the family and friends - the other business was dead, so i tried to make something, then went off to the next thing, which was a regatta at a boat club - sounded cool, and it was a gorgeous night, but i came to discover that regatta only means doing something with your boats for sailboat folk - for power boaters, it means a party - i.e., hanging out on the docks and getting ripped...but, i liked a couple of the pix i made there, so i guess it's all good in the end....

after that, it was night desk and then home.....counting down the time til my long weekend!

but first, there was saturday, which actually was pretty cool - get a feature of the holiday weekend activities at the state park beach, then get something from another beach in south county - which has been closed for a couple weeks due to dangerous e coli levels in the water - the story being of course, how this would impact their holiday events and attendance....

went to the state park first and spent a couple hours or so hanging out on the beach - sat down to contemplate what i had, took off my shoes and socks to feel the sand for myself, and as i'm sitting there, looking at my feet in the sand with the lake in the background on what was another extremely gorgeous day, i thought - man, this is my job! really, just when things get to you, you have to sit back and take stock of what doing this work can entail, and really, hanging out on the beach just ain't too shabby

made a couple more feature shots of some other kids playing in the surf, then it was south to the next beach

i was kind of visualizing what i might make down there to tell this story - cos, really, how can you make a picture that says less people are here than normal, or if they are there and swimming, how can i make it look different from the other features i just shot...

i though they might have signs posted up on the beach advising people against contact with the water, but there only one, on an 8x11 sheet of paper posted up on a construction workhorse off to the side of the beach entrance; which i suppose could be considered eye-level, if it was eye-level for your average chihuahua, and what was written on it couldn't have been less vague - i think all it said was to avoid full body contact and don't go in if you have an open sore - no real reason why, just, ya know, avoid that...

of course people are in the water, and a few that i and the reporter talked to didn't even realize there was an advisory, but i don't think they were too concerned

so, we went with a sign foto and a generic beach shot showing people in the water...the one i liked was this kid who was running in and out of the water...but, i think, given how he's looking back and running away pretty much seemed a little too editorial on my part - i mean, given the context of the story, he pretty much looks like he could be fleeing in terror from the bacteria- ridden waters....i think it's kind of funny, but, like i said, a little too much of an editorial image for this story

after that, it was toning on the desk, then home, for 4 whole glorious days!

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