Standing Still

I'm a wander.

I also get overwhelmed way to easily. My brain starts seeing everything and I want to capture it all. This is especially true on assignments when you have a limited time frame.

I'm facing right and then a moment happens left. I turn left and with in a fraction of a second I fumble with the focus button and exposure, but then I'm left watching the moment instead of capturing it.

I try to tell myself to breath, that's if I even remember to do that, because like I said I'm easily overwhelmed.

So instead of being a wander, a worrier or rusher, just realize life goes on.

Take your time. Sit and wait. Wait more and eventually it will happen.

And if you still miss it, just remember it's only a fraction of a second and not the rest of your life.

Where's the jube?

St. Louis breezed through the first two sets against Ithaca in the conference title. The third game was essentially a blowout until the Yellow Jackets started a rally to pull with in a few points, after being down by something like 15.

This frame never saw the light of day of in print or even came close, but I personally love absolutely everything about it.



In the end St. Louis won the third set and the game was over. This was the jubilation.

As far as my photos go I wish they would have lost in five sets, but I guess you take what you are given.

Raising Jylin

I spent a couple of hours with a John Williams, a father, football player, student, and all around great guy.

I felt well received by John and fiance and they very open to me telling their story. It's amazing to see a young man like John who is only 20 years-old take on the responsibility he has. I can not say enough kind things about him and his family. I think this is a story I will continue to work on.

An inny and an outy

Inny

Mount Pleasant head coach Jason McIntyre hugs wide receiver Ryan Heeke Saturday after defeating Cadillac, 17-7, in the Division 3 Regional Finals.

Outy

I made this frame with a wide angle lens waiting for time to expire on the clock and the celebration to begin.

There was some running, yelling and hugging, but the real moment came when the two teams lined up to shake hand and off in the distance coach McIntyre, with a smile on his face, gave Heeke a hug. McIntyre is an intense coach and when I captured this I knew it was rare moment and the moment.

Halloween: A banana, Flo and a hippie

Culmination

As a photojournalist we spend a good portion of the time fighting the elements; terrible light, horrible weather, bad subjects, you name it we fight it.

And then some times it all comes together.

Friday Night Light

I arrived to a Friday football game 30 minutes early. It was a cold night and my jacket was still damp from shooting a cross country meet two days earlier. I started shooting features before the game to keep my mind off the cold.

Water Tower Repainting

I was shooting my second CROP Walk in a week and I saw this. Nothing special, but I thought it made a nice pictorial.

Head to head soccer

Maybe it's because I've become so used to seeing collegiate players, but these two teams were tiny.

The game was a lot of kicking the ball, chasing the ball, kicking the ball in the other direction, and then chasing the ball in the other direction. It was a pretty standard high school soccer game to say the least, but I thought I would share some images.

It's Friday Again

It's Friday again. That means high school football.

Fulton High is literally surrounded by corn fields. They come so close to the building that I'm willing to bet a dollar I can reach both arms out and touch the school and the stalks at the same time.

Ashley (who tagged along for fun) and I approach the field. I take some test shots as these golden rays of light peak over the top of the trees. The light is perfect. In my head I know it's only a matter of minutes before it will be lost.

The teams come out, introductions are made and the National Anthem is played. There and then it hits me. I feel that pain in my stomach. Don't worry it's not kidney stones or diarrhea, but nerves.

The cool dry air with a sight breeze from the west, the orange cast of a dusty sunset, green grass, white jerseys and the sound of people cheering make me suddenly miss it.

The ball is kicked and I turn to Ashley and I say, "I just want to hit someone."

Unless you have ever played, you will never truly know that feeling.

Wheatland 2010

Blenda Chmielewski of Warren, left and Bev Lipmyer of Ann Arbor, right, dance Sunday with Gus Limbo, 72, of Barryton who has been attending Wheatland for 37 years.

Music, hippies and camping. Wheatland had me at sight and sound. I've told all kinds of stories about Wheatland, but nothing can describe the experience.

Had I not been so busy and tired from the KISS concert the night before I would have stayed longer and made more pictures. There are so many stories and different kinds of people.

In short Wheatland is something I would love to attend next year, whether it's camping with friends, or documenting for the paper.

High School Soccer

It's taken some time to get used to shooting sports with a full-frame body. I miss the extra frames per second, but I also miss my 70-200mm being more like a 300mm. I'm learning to adjust and I honest love the shallow depth of field from my 5D Mark II.

And So It Begins

The sun sets earlier and the wind blows a little harder. The warm summer nights are over and it's football season.

Parents and students fill the stands. Girls wear jackets that read John. Moms cheer and dads think he had the first down. Coaches yell and football players throw their helmets. Refs just ignore it all.

It's Friday night.

I love Friday's.

I wish sometimes they played on Saturday's during the day so I could shoot an entire game with decent light, but I guess it wouldn't be Friday than.

Wedding: Tim and Laura

Old 27 Tour

Blake Siefka, 7, of St. Louis writes the name of his favorite cars in his journal Thursday afternoon during the annual Old 27 Tour which stopped in St. Louis. "I'm writing the names of all the cars in my new journal I got today. It has my favorite band AC/DC on the cover," Siefka said.

This kid was awesome, I'm mean he is seven and an AC/DC fan.

I've been swamped with freelance work, creating a business plan, weddings, logo design, helping my girlfriend move back to college and every other lame excuse for not updating my blog.

Expect some real updates soon and maybe even a few other surprises.

Pete and Chelsea

Every wedding is different and each is it's own adventure.

On our car ride to where the bride and groom were getting ready Dan told me about Pete and Chelsea. More specifically we talked about how rainy it was on their engagement shoot. As we approached our destination it only became darker, cloudier and rainier.

After meeting both Pete and Chelsea I knew the weather wasn't going to be a concern. You see Pete and Chelsea have something special. They weren't concerned about the little things or the details. Today they were getting married and nothing was going to stop them.

Just for Fun

Every so often I take the back roads to visit my mom. I always past this small barn on the corner of a 4-way stop and I've always wanted to stop. Usually there is never anyone with me, but this time I had Ashley and I convinced her to stop with me.

We spent probably about 15 or 20 minutes playing around and took a few pictures.

Breakfast on the Farm

There is so much to say about those photos of above and I don't know where to start.

So I'll just say it was a drizzly overcast day that turned out to be one of my favorite assignments from the year.

Makes me want to start a farm family story.

Cheshire Cat

One of the things I missed about living at home is having pets. My mom and her boyfriend left to visit his family in Cleveland. I became the master of the cats. Actually I was their slave. They meowed I let them out. They scratched, I let them in and they ran to the food dish. They meowed more making sure I knew their dish was empty. Then they fought and I had to separate them.

Then I realized why I don't own pets. They are just to much work.

I made a new friend though. Her name is Tigger, she was the one being picked on at the food dish.

I found her in my room and she was too cute not to take a photo of. One problem. I was spotted.

So I did what any journalist would do, I sat and waited.

Animals are like children, keep the camera in their face long enough and they forget you're there. Which brings me to my next blog post where I was licked to death by a baby calve. Stay tuned.

Bob and Nikki Paschall

I made my usual weekend trip to Traverse City to work for Dan Stewart Photography to shoot the wedding of Bob and Nikki Paschall.

My wedding day journey typically starts with me waking up at 8 a.m. and being on the road for my two and half hour journey north. I should also mention that I usually don't sleep the night before because of nerves. I often toss and turn dreaming of malfunctioning cameras, bridezillas, rain, or not waking up on time. Yikes!

My biggest fear though is meeting the couple. Dan meets with all of his clients before hand and being the intern who doesn't live remotely close to Dan I don't have that luxury.

Why is this such a fear?

Because you can't make happy pictures of people who aren't happy. Well you sort of can but it's essential like asking a chemist to make COKE without sugar. It's just not as good.

Back to the story.

Dan and I arrive at the Park Place Hotel where the girls are getting ready and also where the reception is being held. As Dan introduces me to Nikki I extend my handout for a formal greeting and denies my request, but insists she is a hugs person instead.

Right away from her smile and enthusiasm I new this wedding was going to be a breeze.

The nerves settled and the wedding went on.

Independence Day

This is what happens when you add too much salt to your beer.



Vena and the girls had their sparklers while the guys opted for mortars. For those of you who might now know what a mortar it's basically the real thing. They are loud, beautiful and of course a little bit dangerous.

It was amazing to spend the weekend back in my hometown with my friends. The food, yard games, drinking, icing, music and storytelling is already missed.