so kiss me, and smile for me

this is it. in 12 hours, i will be at epply, going through security and then waiting to board my series of flights that will have me trading Lincoln for Lusaka. i have spent tonight with my brother, including eating pizza at isles pub and drinking a very cold and amazing pitcher of fat tire. Im watching monday night football, and cramming in all the america i can for the moment. take a deep breath, and let it out. i realize i am very lucky to have been born here, where power, food, health, and all the other things we take for granted come easily. I will be leaving for a place where over half of the population of 2 million in the city are unemployed, one in five have hiv/aids, and most do not even have electricity.

so, im mostly packed. after fitting all my gear in a backpack (thanks, CVK) and having charged all my batteries, im just about ready. i'll be thinking of all of you.

CVK

Friday marked the end of my tenure as photo editor at the Daily Nebraskan. Chris VanKat, rock star and all around great photographer has taken my place. Best of luck to you, CVK. I know you will do great.

As a side note, I have only 8 days until i leave for Africa. Nervous? Damn right. I have never been so excited and anxious before in my life.

Volleyball

Saturday was the last regular season game of the Husker volleyball season. The Huskers beat Texas in three sets, and held a farewell for the two graduating seniors. Here, Dani Busboom hugs her mother after the game. I have not been able to shoot as much volleyball as I would have liked this season. I think I only shot two games. It showed on some of my action, as many more shots were out of focus than i was used to. meh. still, managed to come away with a decent frame, even if it has the arm of some stupid TV person.

some football fun

much football love.

six man football

So, i went to Bartlett Nebraska last Thursday to cover the six man football championships. everyone was very nice. sadly, the team from arthur lost 70-6 to wheeler central. it was great, i shot a quarter of action and then spent almost the entire rest of the game shooting features.

Texas A&M

That was close. Nebraska pulled off a miracle against Texas A&M this weekend. here is the catch after what people are now calling "the drive."

President Bush

So i went and took some pics of President Bush's visit to Grand Island. what a circus. get there are 1230 and wait until almost 4 for him to talk. sigh.

Carraway Lane

So, my friend John Wenz and i made a short movie for the Cinema 16 Halloween film festival. It is called "Carraway Lane" and it is a film about zombies....and sock puppets. hooray!

Africa

So, I now find out that I am going to Africa over christmas break. Johnny Perez, Jeff Sheldon, and I will be leaving somewhere between the 21st and 23rd of December untill about the 3rd of January to report on a UNL lab set up in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. I would say that I am excited, but that does not touch anything i am feeling right now. More to come.

Ramadan

Sunday marked the end of Ramadan, one of the most holy and blessed months of the islamic year. For those who participate in Ramadan, it means fasting from sun up to sun down every day. When the clock struck 6:37 p.m., muslims in Lincoln were allowed to break their fast for the final time this year. They celebrate the breaking of the fast with a giant feast, starting with dates and coffee. After prayer, they eat on the floor together.

weaver potato chips

this photo illustration is not so great, but i did want to point out all the hard work and wasted chips went into carving nebraska out of a deep fat fried potato. it was, once again, a 5 minute illustration drill. sigh. plus, the chip started getting soggy sitting in the guy's mouth, hence the fuzzy looking part on the lower left point of it. meh, i'm over it.

Kstate

i hate, hate HATE HATE HATE shooting night games. more so when at Kansas State, because this was shot at 1600 iso and 1/500th of a second. ive seen highschool games lit better, and i can use flash at highschool games. but, texas is this weekend at 11, and it will be cloudy. hooray!!!!!

o, and this facemask did not get called. brings me back to the days of crouch, when that facemask did not get called. sigh.

runnin down a dream

HOTDOGS!!!!!!!!!!!

portrait of one of the guys who works Der Weiner Schlinger, the hot dog gun.

KU football

So, Saturday sure was a white knuckle finish to the KU-Nebraska game. we won, but it did not look pretty. side note, i hate night games. and next week is a night game. how fun.

DN football

so, we had a football game with some DN people. i just liked this one because his face was in focus, and it is uncropped. i get happy when i have photos in focus.

Kosuke Koiwai

photog and all around rockstar, kosuke. i wish this light was when i was shooting the portrait he was helping me with. but, the clouds had ruined my fun by the time we got there.

Ideal cleaners

Local Lincon band Ideal Cleaners

rockstar, 24/7

Looking through some old photos instead of working, i found one of mi amigo Kris. sigh, i miss him, along with everyone else i grew up with at the DN. i've found out that i get depressed when i am not shooting enough. damn editing. i really, really need to shoot some more. but, a project i have been working on (read:havent done a damn thing except say that i am starting it) is finally coming together. i will be shooting a magician. and he has something that launches fire. hahahahaha!!!

coffeeeeeeee!!!!!!

photo illustration on that wonderous hot drink.

time to shoot some more

yes, i admit it, this is an old photo. i just felt a need to post something. what'cha gonna do about it? i need to shoot more. i have been stuck down in that basement, only surfacing to shoot some stupid speaker photos every so often. sure, being an editor can be fun, but with a crazy large staff, i have no time to do what i love. as in shooting. tonight, i go shoot some photos of ted kooser, so that should be fun. i think this will be about the 7th time i have shot the kooze's photo.

some fun with the 400

some USC action

Went down to LA to shoot the USC game, you know, the one where they kicked the 'skers booty. get that? i said booty, like USC's quarterback John David Booty. Ha, i'm so clever.

Some football action

So, the Nicholls State football game was wet, cold, and miserable. It did not stop raining for the entire game. Sigh. Good news, however, because this weekend i will be shooting in sunny california at the USC game. And yes, that is rain falling off them.

Highschool Football

Some buddys and I went down to auburn to watch some highschool football. good times. and yeah, i know the bottom one is not really sharp. what you gonna do about it?

robot.....ahhh!!!!!!

This is what happens when idiots (including me) have too much time and energy on their hands. we make a robot. from a cardboard box. it's like i'm 7. god, i love being me.

p.s. you can wear the robot suit. and kill all humans. or just enslave them.

Hallelujah (Hopluia)

O, how i love beer. I went down to Cortland to shoot some photos of the guy who makes hopluia and foggen lager. Very nice guy. You should pay him back for being such a nice guy by drinking his nice beers. I know i do.

I'm gettin old

Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Rogge. Matt has always been a good friend of mine, and he was wed to Shae this saturday. fantastic light, how can you go wrong?

One year later: New Orleans

sing us a song, you're the piano (wo)man

I WANNA ROCK!

I wanna rock! (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)
I want to rock (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)

Turn it down you say,
Well all I got to say to you is time again I say, "No!"
No! No, No, No, No, No!
Tell me not to play
Well, all I got to say to you when you tell me not to play,
I say, "No!"
No! No, No, No, No, No!
So, if you ask me why I like the way I play it
There's only one thing I can say to you

I wanna rock! (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)
I want to rock (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)

There's a feelin' that
I get from nothin' else and there ain't nothin' in the world
That makes me go!
Go! Go, go, go, go, go!
Turn the power up
I've waited for so long so I could hear my favorite song so,
Let's go!
Go! Go, go, go, go, go!
When it's like this I feel the music shootin' through me
There's nothin' else that I would rather do

I wanna rock! (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)
I want to rock (Rock)
I wanna rock! (Rock)

On July 6, Christa Buettner, at right, will be having surgery to have a quarter of her lower liver removed to give to her six month old nephew Trey Gulzow. Gulzow has a condition called Biliary Atresia, which causes a build up of bile in the liver. Without a transplant or treatment, babies with Biliary Atresia rarely live past age two. At left, Trey's sister Emma, 6, plays on the floor with him.

my god, was my last update really in may? what have i been doing? don't answer that. so, photos. i've been shooting as a part time staff photo journalist at the Lincoln Journal Star. they have treated me quite well, and i only have a week left. i'd put some photos up on this post, but all my photos are on my external hard drive at home, so when i get there, it shall be so.

Every other year, students, grades fourth through sixth, of Merridian, a school outside of Daykin, NE, hold a civil war recreation. weeks go into the preparation, including lessons on battle tactics, authentic dress, and general history lessons. They even included a cannon, stuffed with firecrackers and smoke bombs to simulate the explosions. Mock amputations were preformed, along with large amounts of fake blood and limbs.