Family Displaced

Carrie Wilcox, center, is surrounded by her children, from left, Christina, 16, Ryan, 12, and Logan, 7, Carrie's mother's, Mary Wale, home in Porter township Tuesday night. Over a dozen volunteers and friends stopped by bringing everything from clothes to food to a Christmas tree. "It's unbelievable how many people are just willing to help out," Doug Wilcox said responding to the amount of aid they've already received, less than 24 hours following the loss of their home. "People in this community...word spread just like the fire had spread," he continued as more boxes were being brought into the house.

An emotionally and physically exhausted Carrie and Doug Wilcox, break down at the Red Cross office while waiting for Mary Koskela, emergency services director, to return to resume paper work. The Wilcox's went to the Midland Red Cross for basic essentials after their Porter township home was destroyed by fire Monday night, leaving the family of five with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Doug Wilcox stands next to what remains of his home, a house which once belonged to his wife Carrie Wilcox's grandmother. Her grandmother had first moved into the home when she was 14 years old and it had been in the family ever since. The five member family was displaced from their home Monday night after a creosote build up from their wood stove caught fire. The home is considered a total loss, with not much more than a charred staircase left standing. The family is staying with Carrie's mother, Mary Wale, who is their neighbor.

Running for Grandma

Chris Chandler runs on a treadmill in the basement of his Midland home while watching a movie Tuesday morning. He has been running to raise money to help pay for his grandmother's, Joanne Paulus, medical expenses. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and over a 60 day period ending on Christmas, Chandler committed to running a total of 300 miles. With 15 miles left to go in his basement Tuesday morning, he plans to finish the run while in Petoskey, Mich., for Christmas.

Chicago has good pizza, but not better than Boston

Took a quick, but awesome!! trip to Chicago over the weekend to join in on some family traditions. Just a couple pics I snapped while we walked/drove from place to place.

The Dickersons

Sentencing

Walking to Disney

Construction of the new jail

Snow Shoe take 1

An idea I'm thinking about for a story we're running in a few weeks about the history of snow shoeing and snow shoes. Click the photo to see it with a black border. I kind of like the border with it. Shot on the square crop mode with the D3.

Snow Flower

Out snow shoeing today and came across this plant while trying to brainstorm ideas for an article on snow shoeing we're working on.

Retrospect on the blog, photography and life...but mainly photography

I am completely 100% ripping this post off from Max Bittle's blog. His idea inspired me to reflect on these past couple of years and I also thought I would share, cause it's better than keeping it bottled up inside right? Check out the original HERE

I have no direction
I know where I want to be, but have no idea how to get there or the means at which I get there
I'm inspired by the same things that are uninspiring to me
I'm too worried to take risks because I'm afraid of failure
I love taking risks
I am shy and paranoid while photographing
I loathe obnoxious reporters and photographers
I use a wide angle all the time
I love the 'daily grind'
I take a lot of baths
Money is everything when you don't have it, and nothing when you do
My truck hit 177,777 miles the other day
I'm quick to vent my senseless frustrations online and spend too much time debating whether or not to share, usually ending in regret
I think too much in one big circle and psycho analyze everything
Most of the photo goals I have I'll never meet
Photography is TOO competitive
I miss my wonderful family
I miss my amazing, beautiful, witty, thoughtful, patient, hilarious, stunning, genious, one-of-a-kind girlfriend <3
I miss Denmark
Photography is not life
Contests don't mean anything to me and mean too much to some
The photo community means squat outside of it
I'd rather hang with friends than take photos of them
Have I done anything that means anything?
Making a career out of newspaper photojournalism might not be a possibility
I'm 23
I have week-long passion for a story and it fizzles away when the planets don't align
Posting a project to the blog jinxes it
I think my work is less than mediocre
My pictures are flat...too flat
My pictures lack moments
I think every second is a decisive moment, not just the loud ones
I'd rather photograph what the 30 other photographers are not, whether that is "decisive" or not because it is infact decisive
I miss the bubble called College
I miss being able to walk to a friend's house and have something to do at 3 AM
I'm too negative sometimes
My greatest ideas come at night and in the morning I wonder what the hell I was thinking
I love my job and where I work
I have a job at a newspaper even in these troubled times
I enjoy where I live
I don't care about editing tight on a blog
I don't care about only putting the best stuff up
I rarely read
I have been there for friends and friends have been there for me
Over the past year people have helped me out and I just want to say thanks to: Laura, Ellis, Kruse, Fredman, Benedict, Wood, Reed, Ikuru, Vince, Morgan, Dulai, Scroggins, Mussell, Jero, Nahr, Lucier, Lee, Emil, Hanne, Catalin, Fogg, Detrick, David, Rita, Jackie, Wehling, Gerik, Nick, Parker, Julia, Hook, Barnes, Devereaux, Eich, Smith, Morones, Dylan, Cihelka, Donaldson, Baughman, Bartel, and everyone else!

Photojournalism Goals:

I want to do well in Midland
I want to feel part of a community
I want to one day live near the beach so I can surf before and after work
I want to be more thoughtful and patient and help people
I want to do one solid photo story
I want to go to a war zone
Before I die, I would love to be published in a magazine
I want to make a book
Secretly I want to be a writer and photographer
I want to do something that means something to someone
I want to eventually work for an NGO
I want to learn how college students can afford trips half-way around the world to work on projects
I want to be taken more seriously and less seriously
I want to take more risks
Secretly, I want to be selected for the joop swart masterclass...someday before I die
I want to find my niche or purpose or vision in this huge world

Snow Feature

An outtake from feature hunting today after Midland was hit with some snow causing school closings.

6-12+

Tonight I figured out that grocery shopping at midnight is fun and that a carton of large eggs will survive doing donuts in the snow if they're secured in the passenger seat. The tree in front of my house.

A few in color

Just a few outtakes I dug.

Jail Food

177777 miles

Yesterday I hit 177777 on the odometer so that is my excuse for posting some arbitrary driving photo.

Larger photos on Blog????

Anyone have any advice how to make the photos larger? Right now they are 600px wide. I'm hoping to make them more like 800 but I don't want to host them on Flickr.

Thanks.

Wall Street to Main Street

A few photos from a quick story we did the other day about Wall Street to Main Street. We ran this about a week ago and I'm turning it into something larger.
Getting ready to open a new coffee shop in the small town of Beaverton the next day despite the economic conditions.

Sanford pharmacy is making it.

inventory is good and the shop is affected by the seasons rather than economic conditions. The mowing season lasted nearly a month longer and the snow season has been good thus far.


No runs. No calls. Business is slow and The Key Shop employees aren't affected in their salary, but Jeff the owner's income fluctuates with success of his business.

Good Cheer

'I'll probably work till the end'

Frank P. Popoff. Quite possibly the wealthiest man in Midland. A very well-spoken, diverse, and interesting man. Unfortunately a Chicago Cubs fan. ;)