Mr. Stark

Got to hang with Rodney Stark and his daughter today while they were working in his wood shop. He's 82 and along with building his current home, he built 7 other homes that he and his wife lived in and 150 other homes around the country. Really cool guy.

This is in Midland?

I went back to Benny's Biker Rally on Saturday night, except this time I had a beer in hand. Ryan Wood, Nathan Morgan and I went to see Dr. Duke Tumatoe and brought our cameras just for fun.

The Gladdest Little Fair in Michigan...

Or at least until the economy hit a sour note.

Jade Durbin, 12, takes a break in her stable from decorating the outside to match this year's Rock n' Roll theme Saturday afternoon before the start of this week's Gladwin County Fair. She has been a member of the Farm Central 4-H group in Gladwin for the past four years participating in events each year including the Gladwin County Fair. This year, she is a novice rider working with a Pony of America at the fair for the first time. Due to the decline of Michigan's economy and the State of Michigan's deletion of premium funding to all fairs, the Gladwin County Fair board has removed premiums for this year including monetary awards for events like the 4-H showings. Durbin currently owns a western style saddle, but has been saving the money she has earned from awards to one day purchase a barrel racing style saddle. This year's harness races have also been canceled.

a feature hunting day

Ron Brabon sweeps off the entry rugs to the Buckeye Town Hall while preparing the hall for a party on Saturday. Brabon's father, Fred Brabon, was a carpenter and helped build the hall, completed on June 6, 1938 for the cost of $11,800, Brabon said. After being raised on a small farm about a half-mile down the road, Brabon spent 34 years in the machine shop at Dow Chemical Company, retiring 9 years ago. Five years ago, he began caring for the building as the hall coordinator, keeping up with maintenance and renting the building for anything from small gatherings to weddings. "Feels good to be the guy doing the maintenance on it," he said. "Our family has had hundreds of weddings, open houses and events." Recently, the hall's roof and clock were replaced. When the clock was taken down, Brabon said he counted 42 bullet holes that had been shot through the clock. "I can't completely restore it because the gears are shot up," he said with a smile. After the clock was taken down, he brought it to his garage where he has been working to restore it for the historical society.

Interesting Day...

a lot on the mind.


With the bike's flying by at 90-100 mph and after seeing a lot of "extreme crashes" videos, I was a little spooked each time they came around turn 1.

Can you guess the mood of the day?

Therapy in the form of 120 film

Yesterday the Midland-based 1460th National Guard Transportation Company arrived at the local airport from a flight from Fort Dix, New Jersey where they spent several days after returning state-side from being deployed in Iraq for the past year. Because of planning, I was able to be at the airport on the runway and was the only "media" there. I decided to bring along my co-worker's medium format camera.

Although I'm pretty disappointed with the photographs I made throughout the day on both cameras, I came away with a great love for the film camera. Today I got the 4 frames I shot developed and see potential in working with the camera in the future. Particularly on a project about daily life along a stretch of highway south of Midland. It was great to just relax, remain calm and compose and wait for a moment or just a composition. Sometimes I miss a lot of moments and chances for intimacy because I'm always worried. Worried about not getting a shot, worried that I'm not taking enough risks. Worried about failing. This has probably been the single most issue I've been facing over the years because there's this feeling of always trying to keep up, prove myself, get better and better, but I've realized that the more I worry about all that nonsense, the less energy and focus I have at actually improving and figuring out who I am as a photojournalist and what I have to say. I haven't found it yet and maybe I never will.

1460th home

Home

Soldiers from the Midland-based 1460th National Guard Transportation Company are greeted as they deboard the plane that landed at MBS International Airport Sunday morning from Fort Dix, New Jersey. For many, Sunday's homecoming event at the Midland County Fairgrounds marked the completion of their second tour in Iraq. More to come...

1460th Homecoming preparation

JOHN TULLY | jtully@mdn.net
From left, Nick Davis, 9, of Alger, sits with friend Zachary Towne, 11, of St. Charles, at the Midland County Fairgrounds Saturday afternoon while taking a break from helping decorate the grandstands for Sunday's welcoming home ceremony for the Midland-based 1460th National Guard Transportation Company. Towne's father, E-6 Mitchell Towne, has been in Iraq for the past year with the company and his mother Kim Towne is the president of the Family Readiness Group along with Davis' mother, Lori Davis, who is acting vice president of FRG. The group, along with some friends and family members of the soldiers, met Saturday to prepare for Sunday morning's event. While Towne's father arrives home on Sunday, his uncle deploys to Iraq with the 1434th Engineer Company the same day from Grayling, Mich., and was there several days ago to say goodbye.

JOHN TULLY | jtully@mdn.net
Erica Braley of Hope Township attaches yellow ribbons to the fencing at the Midland County Fairgrounds Saturday afternoon while helping other family members and friends prepare the grandstands for the welcoming home ceremony of the Midland-based 1460th National Guard Transportation Company that will take place Sunday morning. Braley's husband, Sgt. Steven Braley, has been deployed with the company in Iraq for the past year. This is the second time he has been deployed, previously in 2003, but is the first time being deployed as a father. Their 2 year-old daughter was born on August 21, the date of their wedding anniversary and the date of his enlistment into the National Guard, all by coincidence, said Erica. "There are a lot of stresses, but it's hard to pinpoint," she said. "Not being able to call when you need or want to." She said once her husband is back they'll "spend a lot of time with family."

15-8 Win Sends BC Western to semifinals

Bay City Western defeated Hudsonville and will play in the state semifinal game Friday in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Softball

The game went to 12 innings before Bay City Western lost to Hudsonville in the state quarterfinal.

HS Graduation Time

It's that time of year. Tonight we had three graduations to cover. I was assigned both H.H. Dow and Midland High Schools who had ceremonies starting at 7 PM. So I arrived early to the first one and hung around until the last person filed in the gym, then raced to the second one and caught people as they left the ceremony. I prefer shooting the before and after part rather than the ceremony itself.