Last Sermon

I made a new multimedia piece on a pastor from Albany, MO who is retiring. You can find it HERE Make sure to have your sound on. Also, here are a few of my faves from the take.

Hoopz

Central High School's Justin Love wasn't just king of his homecoming court, he was king of the basketball court too. After several attempts to put the hurt on Blue Springs South, Love finally broke away to slam the finishing touch on the game. It was cool that I was lucky enough to capture this, because apparently this only happens a few times a year in St. Joe. It was a pretty high-energy game and gave me some much-needed practice on my sports photography.

Parking Issues

Parked cars are reflected in the window of the public parking ‘Interceptor’ vehicle. It can often be seen with a flashing light next to cars downtown, a good sign a ticket is soon to follow.
Link to story by Clinton Thomas HERE

.Hook.

Today my editor served me what he called a "4:30 special." Which meant I had until 5:35 to come back with a photo for the Midland section tomorrow. No pressure or anything. As I walked outside with my gear, I saw a large feather blowing in the distance. Curious about what it was, I walked to the source. It turned out Captain Hook and Peter Pan were filming a commercial in the parking lot of the Missouri Theater. It doesn't get much more lucky than that. This is one of the outtakes from the shoot that I kind of liked. I have others where he's more emotive, but something about this photo makes me laugh, so I figured I would share it with you.

Doris and Doloris

I met these two when I was up in Albany the other day. They're twin sisters, 85 years old, that live together and take care of each other. They always dress the same, and still "mow the yard, take care of dishes, all that." I'm hoping I can get approval from my editor to do a story on them in the near future.

.Antique Storage.

The woman in the mirror is one of several people in St. Joseph who takes antiques and makes them into something functional in the modern home. Yes, I do have normal photos of her, but I like this one better than those.

Ag and Farm Expo: Last one, a few details

Some of my favorite sayings on the watches: "Pigs are pretty" "Make mine country" "Rebel" (complete with confederate flag with a skull on top of it)

Ag and Farm Expo: Look, bees!

The little girl at the expo...

And what she was fixated on.

Ag and Farm Expo: That Big Ol' Tractor

Not to be confused with the boat and RV expo in the civic arena, I was sent to cover the annual ag and farm expo in the civic arena yesterday. The boats and RVs were replaced with tractors, and there was no creepy bear wandering in the bleachers. It's important for a photojournalist never to be discouraged about a situation, I worked hard to try and find pictures that said something about the event. I came back with a few I liked. This first one ran as the lead standalone for the Midland section today.There was this enormous tractor, or combine, whatever you call it, that kind of became the impromptu meeting place for people. I waited for a while there and made some pictures. I'll post two more sets in the following days from this event.

Zumba!

Mark Gomez of St. Joseph teaches a Zumba Fitness class in St. Joseph. Gomez said the exercise uses Latin and international music fused with dance and exercise to create an intense aerobic workout. "People can burn 500 or 1000 calories in a single session," he said.

Eddie Pickett

This was supposed to turn into a multi-photo package. But when I got down there, I pretty much was closed off by everyone, including the main subject. That's the way it goes sometimes, but the key is to try and make something out of a difficult situation. This is a lesson I'm learning more and more lately
Here is a link to the story

Snowyland

A scene I found while feature hunting the other day. There wasn't enough room to run it, so I figured I'd let the photo see the light of day on the blog.

St. Joseph Sport Boat and RV Show

It kinda goes without saying that an event with this title is going to be a little strange. The idea that people would even consider going out to buy something that gets close to 5 mpg, or something with no purpose other than to burn gas while cruising at top speed on the lake in the middle of winter is beyond me. But, an assignment is an assignment, and you have to make what you can out of it. So, here are a few shots from the show.

.bball.

LeBlond (in white) defeated Atchison 80-28
Those of you who know me know that I'm not a big sports fan, or even a small one, frankly I loathe most sports. That said, I had an assignment (and will probably have many more) to go photograph some basketball. It was a lot more fun to photograph than I think it is to watch. I know almost all bball photography is shot vertical, so I decided to try some horizontal shots, ya know, cause I want to do some things differently. Anyway, this is the photo that ran as the lead sports photo for today, and my favorite sports shot I've taken.

.Teach.

School was cancelled Thursday because of the severely cold weather. Despite the cancellation, teachers still went to their classrooms to finish up grading and evaluations.

Chill

~Do you notice the gathering frost, the shivering branches at night? Do you see the flowing of the sap run slow and gather haltingly in? Can you touch the blades once tall and lush now stripped of all their might? Can you see the people once strong and rich, now homeless, pallid and thin? Now and then now and then, thus come, thus go. Yet, we still complain about the weather. ~

Finding Their Way

I spent an incredible day with Armando Gaza and Nick Cason yesterday. Armando is a hispanic blind albino, and Nick is a blind man from Texas. I learned a lot from them and had several small adventures. They are an amazing pair, and I hope to be able to spend some more time with them in the future. This is a slideshow about them I put together for the paper. It's projects like this one that really make me happy about what I do. How else could you just go and meet two total strangers and hang out with them all day like it's nothing? Good times.

Tired

Here's a shot from Ash and my trip down to KC this weekend. Tomorrow I'll be posting (hopefully) a multimedia piece on two blind men who just moved to St. Joseph, so stay tuned.

Cute n' cuddly

A few more night scenes

A few buildings around town

WireCo

My first front-page photo..

Ed Boeh watches over the 734 machine at WireCo on Thursday. The machine takes thin wire and braids it into strands. It's called the 734 because it can hold 73 spools of wire, each of which is 24 inches in diameter.

Raw materials to make the wire and various parts are melted and transported using a large vat such as this one.

This machine is used to braid several strands into a large multi-strand rope. Huge wheels that are several feet in diameter sit on the opposite end of the braider to pull the rope through the machine.

A cross-section of finished wire rope shows just how many strands of wire are contained inside.

Art Award

Wanda Taylor recently was honored with the Allied Arts Council’s 2009 Biennial Award. Though she has been creating artwork for just 10 years, the award recognizes an artist's lifetime achievement.

Hispanic Church

Pastor David Ramirez is working to gather the first Hispanic Christian community at Wyatt Park Christian Church in St. Joseph. While he is building membership, Ramirez said the new church is having some difficulties with recruitment lately. Despite this, he said he remains hopeful about the future of the congregation. "Some come, some go, but we're still here."

In the dark

Some scenes I found while walking around last night

Mr. Mayes

It was a gorgeous day. Having finished all my assignments, with still some time on the clock, I figured I'd walk around to find some feature art for tomorrow. I saw Mr. Mayes painting the railing and just watched him for a minute. Then I raised my camera and started taking a few shots. He noticed me and smiled really big. He asked me to wait while he tucked in his shirt and straightened his cap. "Son, you just made my day," he said to me. "Likewise, thanks sir," I replied. This is a good job.

Caption: Bob Mayes, maintenance worker for the St. Joseph Fire Department, puts a fresh coat of paint on the upper railing of the Central Fire Station on Friday.

Drummer Boy

Trevin Newton, 12, plays his drums at the East Hills Public Library Open Mic Talent Contest on Thursday. Trevin said he has been playing the drums for three years and recently started a band with his brother Teriq. "I like rock, the rhythm and everything," Trevin said. "This gave me some experience playing in front of people." Librarian Will stuck hosted the event. He said the it is a good way to show people in the community that the library offers more than just a place to read. "You can always tie other things back to books," he said. "But a lot of people think that's all the library is about." Stuck said he hopes events such as the talent contest will help to strengthen community bonds. "It's a good place to come in and engage with the public, and we'd like people to know that," he said. Trevin ended up tying for second place in the competition — alongside his brother, who played a song on the electric guitar.

First Published Clips

I had my first shots published in the News-Press yesterday. Both were scenes I found while driving around feature hunting. Loving the new job. Hard work and a steep learning curve, but that comes with any new job I suppose. I really think I'm going to be able to grow a huge amount as a photographer working here.


Kyle Owens, 19, runs the stairs at the Noyes Complex in St. Joseph. Owens said he has been running almost every day since he was in grade school. "I love it, the feeling you get when you're done," he said. "I just like to run."



Andrew Gillespie, 14, and Dakota Blake, 14, skate on their "Rip Sticks" on a street near their home in St. Joseph. Andrew received the toys as a gift for Christmas, he said. "You can't really do any tricks on them, cause you'll fall." Andrew said he has been a skateboarder for about three years, while his friend Dakota was just beginning. "It's real hard, he's a lot better than me," he said.

Whew!

First day at the paper was intense. Gonna take a little while to get my bearings and not freak out when I'm not getting the exact photos I want. That said, I think it was successful considering I got an assignment to shoot a field covered in brush. I'll post some photos up as soon as they get published (per company rules.) Stay tuned.

Remote location

I found out I can get a great signal if I work remotely, sitting in my freezing car outside my apartment. Yeah, I'm sure I don't look like a creep at all uploading pictures from my car when it's about 17 degrees outside. Oh well, here are a few more from the past couple of days. The statue is found down near the water and is of people during the gold rush. The train shots are from the train that goes through St. Joe several times a day. The yellow building is, a yellow building.

Welcome to St. Joseph

I picked up just a tiny bit of signal from some wireless network nearby, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to put one photo up (as it took about half an hour to upload it.) Why not use two photographic cliches at one time.. a sunset and a silhouette! I love winter sunrises/sunsets, something about them is different from those you see in the spring or other seasons. I have a great view outside my apartment, so I snapped this shot yesterday before going out to explore the town. If the internet signal holds, I'll post some more.