Invasion of the flower snatchers

CPR

Duck!

Some images from the 10th Annual Duck Race to benefit Northwest Missouri Special Olympics.

In honor of...

Today is set aside as a holiday to honor those men and women who help our country when it is in need of protection. Some give their lives for our protection. Others are fortunate enough to live long and storied lives. My grandpa served in the Navy during WWII. The photo on the left is the last one I ever took of him. I've met very few people as caring and full of life as him. The photo on the right was taken on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japan surrendered to the U.S. My grandpa watched the peace treaty being signed from his boat, the one in the center. My mother said he never talked much about the war. He joined when he was 16, though you legally had to be 17 (he didn't provide a birth certificate.) He worked on the carrier the St. Mary's doing maintenance on the planes and guns until the war ended.

I am very fortunate to have been able to get to know such a great man. If you have relatives who have been a part of keeping our country free, please thank them today.

Moment

Local track star Justin Love gives one-fifth of a high five to a Hall Elementary student during Central High School's Senior Service Day.

And it's One..Two..Three..

Found a ladder. Found a hatch opening to the roof. These are a few of the resulting images.

Another smart kid

He got a 36 on his ACT. Must've been all the banjo during study hall.

Drinkin' in the rain

Only in St. Joseph....

District Track

Shot some track this weekend. The second photo is of a girl who was supposed to easily win districts. But, after tripping over a hurdle and getting knocked by the other runners, she couldn't even finish the race. Kinda sad to watch. The other two were champions, however.

Boy in the yellow coat

That time when teenagers finally become "cool"

A shot for a story on the Kansas driving age increasing to 16 and a half.

Fan Dance

Graudates

It's graduation time. Here are a few shots from some of the graduations I covered.

Out of place

Caring

Seniors from St. Joe

Here are a few of my favorites from a recent shoot I had to do for the paper profiling five high school seniors from the schools in St. Joe. I wanted to come up with pictures that spoke to who the person was, while trying desperately to avoid the cheezeball wrist-under-chin senior portrait look.

Marathon minister

66-year-old Dr. Jimmy Albright, senior pastor of Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph, runs along Cook Road early Wednesday morning. Every day at 5 a.m., he runs five miles. Having completed 20 marathons, Albright said he has no intention of slowing down any time soon.

Smart Kid

Rylan Sampson, 17, graduated from Missouri Western State University with a degree in mathematics and physics. He plans to get another degree in computer science and then move on to graduate studies. Once he's finished with his classwork, Sampson said he would like to be a teacher. "At least by then my students will be younger than me," he said.

For you people in Advanced techniques right now, I used three lights to shoot this.

Line.Shape.Form

A few recent photos where I tried to make the subject more a part of the scene than the focal point without it taking away from the photo. Sometimes that's harder than it sounds. Slowly I'm learning how to assess the lines and shapes in a frame to make them work for me, rather than against me. Who thought that some of the stuff I learned in 7th-grade art class would come in handy this far down the road. Thanks Mrs. Smith.

Sidewalk Pomeranian

A child's world

These are a few snaps from the local children's fair at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph. The one with the three children was inside a giant air-filled bubble that was supposed to be a simulated ecosystem. Crawling through a tiny plastic tube with a camera to get inside was a little less than comforting. Claustrophobia is not your friend in that situation, let me be the first to tell you. Once inside though, it was really cool. The yellow and blue photo is from a "neighborhood" set up for children to read and play in — all around it was a good time for everyone.

Painterly

Heather Hummer, an art student at Missouri Western State University, adds another splash of color to her work in the art studio in Potter Hall on Friday. A proposal before the Missouri legislature could give the university $27 million to renovate the hall — something Ms. Hummer said is greatly needed. ‘We’re so cramped in here,’ she said. ‘We don’t even have enough easels for everybody.’

Teacher of the Year

Dawn Smith, center, of Central High School, reacts after learning that she is this year’s recipient of the Teacher of the Year award at the recognition ceremony on Thursday. Denise Dibella of Robidoux Middle School, left, and Julia Chambers of Truman Middle School, right, also were nominees for the award.

Chem Spill

Emergency personnel work to secure a barrel that spilled chemicals into the alley near the former site of Leaverton Auto at 827 S. Ninth St. on April 22. ‘I was across the street and I could smell fumes,’ said Marvin Miller, who recently bought the property.