They called it the 'fat wall'

On my way back to my car from photographing an assignment for Friday's paper about two coaches for Northwood University football, these guys were sitting outside the locker room after practice beckoning people to come and sit with them on the 'fat wall.'

Quote of the day: "Come on! You're going to get me fired from a job I don't even get paid to do!" said one coach to the punters after several less-than-successful punts.

Feature

An assignment this morning was canceled, so on my way back to the office I drove around some back roads.

Gary Brandt, of Williams Township, works to load freshly picked vegetables into his truck Tuesday afternoon in preparation for Wednesday's farmer's market in Midland. When Brandt was eight, his parents Walter and June Brandt, purchased the farm. After his they retired 15 years ago, Brandt and his wife took over, farming mainly vegetables and cash crops. "I've been farming most of my life," he said. "You have to do something so I guess that's why I do this."

River of Time

MaKenna Timm, 6, and her brother Austin, 11, look through umbrellas at the Sanctuary Traders shop set up Friday for the weekend long River of Time being held at Veteran's Park in Bay City. MaKenna and Austin, of Bay City, were touring the event with their mother, Laura, during education day. Joey Davis and Travis Gross, back left to right, of Tinley Park, Ill., are portraying shop owners around the time of the French and Indian War to the Revolutionary War. They are mainly a historical tobacco shop, however, will not open until Saturday.

The Window In Front of Me

While shooting hockey tonight I decided to play around with what happened directly in front of me and the glass I was looking out. It may be a start of something fun during the next hockey game.

Adopting a new philosophy

Well, I'll keep this brief. I think from now on I'm going to only post things that I am happy with or that represents my 'vision' or my 'voice.'

Since now, I have generally posted all my work, whether personal or daily assignments, save for a few assignments.

I'm going to start editing more and paying closer attention to the work I do post and what it represents in a more than day-to-day sense.

I was thinking about deleting the blog and starting fresh, but this thing goes back a ways and it's almost like a running journal for not only stories, but experiences and events in my personal life.

Now, I just have to figure out what I have to say...

Pushing forward

Back in February, I woke up to a phone call saying there was an accident down the road and I needed to check it out. So, by the time I arrived, EMS had cleared the scene of the people involved and there were 3 pretty mangled trucks, two in ditches and one on the road. Turned out, this jeep belonged to Max Yatch, now a senior at a local high school. From the scene, he was airlifted to a hospital in really bad condition. It was great to see Yatch at his home today as I photographed him for an article we're doing about rehab awareness week. He begins driving again on Monday, the first time since his accident.

With a radio purposefully playing in the background as a distraction, Max Yatch tries to concentrate as he completes various memory tasks with Beth Brookens, a speech pathologist with Special Tree's Neuro Rehabilitation System. Yatch was injured in a car accident in February and was released from the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids on May 1, three months after the accident. Yatch has entered his senior year at Bullock Creek High School.

Midland Night's Dream

I just got back from a late night ride along with a police officer with the Midland Police as part of my on going Midland Night's Dream project. A noise violation, speed trap, domestic disturbance, and O.W.I arrest and I am back home. Hopefully I'll head out at least one more time in the hopes of a story popping out so it's more than just a ride along.

Movies in Michigan

A group from Hollywood are in Clare County to film a horror movie about aliens abducting vacationers. Apparently the alien costumes are awesome, unfortunately they are keeping the look a secret and I'm not able to photograph any scenes with aliens. It was pretty fun hanging out and seeing how everything operated.

Jubilation

After the winning point in a very close game 5.

Soccer is back...

So is the king of pop...







This followed probably the weirdest, most confusing, *cough* cheapest goal I've seen in high school soccer. The goalie picked up the ball apparently after it was last touched by a player on the same team. With the clock winding down to the last seconds of the game, the opponent grabbed the ball, passed it, and a player kicked it in the goal tying the game 2-2. Meanwhile, the other team stood confused and the ref offered no explanation until it all ended. So it goes I guess.

Game photo gallery

Some of these photos may be a repeat from the photos I posted from the game yesterday, but here is the gallery I put together from the game.

MSU v CMU

I had an awesome time photographing the Central Michigan University v. Michigan State University Saturday afternoon. CMU defeated MSU 29-27. Some favorites in no particular order.

Close call

Instead of trying to focus, I decided to jump out of the way before being demolished by Michigan State's 6'2" 215 lbs. quarterback, Keith Nichol. A gallery of today's photos to come soon.

Redwings come to town

Midland Night's Dream

When I began walking around my neighborhood one night, I took my camera and snapped a few photos, but didn't think much of it. Night after night I began walking around and an interest in making the wanderings a personal project grew along with a focus. Because they are photographs from wanderings tied together by late nights in Midland, we thought it would make for a cool blog. No pressure of deadlines with the intention of pulling an essay out about nights in Midland at the end of it all...whenever that is. So, I hope to work with the internet guy to tweak the look and functionality, but for now, I introduce a new blog:

Midland Night's Dream

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First Day of School

I've found that sticking with one family, one subject, one focus eventually pays off in the end instead of running around trying to get everything and do everything. For the first day of school, I met the Cauchi family outside the elementary school where they were dropping off their daughter, Hannah, 6, for her first day at kindergarten. Being their oldest child, they said this was a pretty big deal for them...sending their oldest off to school for the first time. Despite seeing tons of other potentially interesting people and stories, I decided to 'just say no' and stick with the Cauchi family through the end. I'm glad I did.

Sunrise

On my way to an assignment this morning I pulled over on the highway about 3 times as I came across some cool scenes at sunrise. Didn't get much, but thought I'd post it nonetheless.

One Year Later...

September 1, 2008: I left my recently acquired apartment in downtown Midland and drove in my Cash For Clunkered truck to the newspaper wearing a tie. It was my first day at my first job following a summer in Washington, DC at an internship with The Washington Times. I was excited to finally be in a place where I could sink into a community and begin to learn and grow. The excuse of too much homework, general ed. classes, and the feeling of waiting for the right opportunity, were washed away with a diploma, a visit to HR to sign some papers, and my first assignment. My opportunity had come and I wanted to milk it for all it's worth.
But with the passing of one excuse comes another and a feeling that the grass is always greener. Leaving college was a huge deal and I didn't realize it until the end of September hit and I was no where close to something that had been apart of my life for so long. On top of being away from the college bubble- of being able to call people at 3 AM to hang out, or to have the endless supply of entertainment at any moment- I was away from the love of my life. I had always heard long distance relationships as being tough, but now I was in the thick of it. I chose to be in the thick of it and despite being far from her, it's been worth every day. Worth every frustration. I probably would have quit and become a pizza boy in Columbia just to be close to her, if it wasn't for her keeping me in check with reality. Keeping me motivated and believing in me. She is my number one supporter, my number one source of inspiration. She is a huge reason I try to remain positive and has been there through every step of my personal transition. Through the annoying reminisces and nostalgic banter of a time that once was. But always there to remind me of the time that is and the time that will be.
Today (this was written on Sept. 1) is exactly one year since beginning my job at The Midland Daily News in Midland, Michigan and what a great year it has been, not without hardships, but great nonetheless. I can distinctly remember my first day eating cheeseburgers at a local pub with staff photographer Nathan Morgan and Hearst Fellow, Shaminder Dulai. Shaminder also started his eight month stint on September 1, and we quickly bonded, feeling like outsiders in a small family-oriented town.
Before Midland, I remember hitting many funks in shooting during school and at internships. I remember seeing great work in one style of photography that I wanted to attempt to get better at, and then in the same moment see other work completely different that I wanted to be able to shoot. I was bouncing from advertising to gritty black and white documentary photojournalism. I loved the static pieces in museums and the equally powerful but different images in National Geographic and in between the two, I couldn't find a middle ground. Until September 1 of 2008, I couldn't figure out my purpose. Where little me stood in a field of giants. But now I know. I want to be a photojournalist for a newspaper that respects its photographers and the visual stories told on a daily basis. I found that in Midland. I also know that my time in Midland is not forever and that the way the industry is headed, I'm not sure what, if any, options will be open when I am ready to leave. I know I want to continue learning and growing to tell stories with my camera. I know the life of freelancing as a primary source of income is not for me, at least not at this point.
I was never one for contests, seeking out grants, and really haven't the slightest idea how to market myself. I did have some yellow business cards printed out not too long ago, so maybe that's a start. But in January, I told myself I needed to set some personal goals, something to keep my head up if a funk ever came around. Those contest goals involved the MPPA (Michigan Press Photographers Association) and NPPA clip contests, BOP, POYi, and POY MPPA. Other goals were to push myself into more intimate situations, spend more time on assignments trying to find the story beyond the story I was given, work on more video, and become more organized. So far, I am leading MPPA clips through the month of March. I held first place through the month of May in NPPA for Region 4, currently in 3rd place with 6 months to go. I have pushed myself into more intimate situations with the hope and sometimes success of a better photograph to tell the story. I have picked up the video camera more times than I thought I would and am beginning to enjoy it on certain assignments.
For this next year, my goals for photojournalism are:
• Take more initiative with assigned stories and try to turn lemons into lemonade on every daily assignment.
• Have a successful running blog at which an essay can be compiled from the posts
• Complete 2 long term stories dealing with something happy and fun and another dealing with a social issue in the community that many people are unaware of.
• Complete a story for a magazine and pick up more freelance assignments. Possibly even weddings.
• End the year in the top 3 for NPPA Region 4 clips and MPPA clips
• Become more of an active member in the community, somehow related to photojournalism, whether through galleries, hosting open discussions...etc...
• Become involved with an NGO part time
• Really push my assignments beyond the typical or expected.
• Visually think more outside the box and work on including purposeful content in the frame.
• Become a decisive photojournalist through stories in my backyard.

A phat shout-out goes to Ryan Wood and the rest of the MDN photo crew for all the support.

This photo was from a spot news event on my first day at work where an unknown chemical was released from a box at the local Salvation Army and people had to be hosed down by a hazmat unit.

A little trip

Another awesome time in Missouri with Laura and friends.