Lincoln Marathon

I spent early sunday morning shooting the Lincoln Marathon. It was really early, really wet, but also really fun. The man who won was the first Lincoln resident to win the marathon, despite it being the first marathon he had ever ran.

something new

So, now that i am moved into the new place (sorta) i decided i wanted to do something different to decorate my room. Since i am a AAA member (not to be confused with AA) i get all the free maps i could want. So, i went down to the AAA offices, told them i wanted a map of every state, and they gave them to me. The plan was to cover every inch of my wall space with all 50 states of the US. I did not realize untill i got home that most of the maps had 2 states on them, with each state on a separate side. i got 2 walls covered with the 27 maps, and now i need to go back and get some other maps to fill in the rest of the room. The panoramic of the room i am trying to post is not wanting to post, so when i have more time i will get that up there. here are some shots before and during the process.

happy birthday

happy birthday to my grandpa, who turned 83 yesterday. we had burgers, cake, and lots of iced tea. hooray!

One of my favorite poems

Not much chance, completely cut loose from purpose,
he was a young man riding a bus through North Carolina on the way to somewhere.
And it began to snow.

And the bus stopped at a little cafe in the hills and the passengers entered.
And he sat at the counter with the others, and he ordered, the food arrived.
And the meal was particularly good.
And the coffee.

The waitress was unlike the women he had known.
She was unaffected, and there was a natural humor which came from her.
And the fry cook said crazy things.
And the dishwasher in back laughed a good clean pleasant laugh.

And the young man watched the snow through the window.
And he wanted to stay in that cafe forever.
The curious feeling swam through him that everything was beautiful there.
And it would always stay beautiful there.

And then the bus driver told the passengers that it was time to board.
And the young man thought: "I'll just stay here, I'll just stay here."
And then he rose and he followed the others into the bus.
He found his seat and looked at the cafe through the window.
And then the bus moved off, down a curve, downward, out of the hills.

And the young man looked straight forward.
And he heard the other passengers speaking of other things,
or they were reading or trying to sleep.
And they hadn't noticed the magic.
And the young man put his head to one side,
closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

There was nothing else to do,
just to listen to the sound of the engine,
and the sound of the tires
in the snow.


Charles Bukowski - Nirvana

the shaving

Coming down to it

Tommorow my images from africa finally see print. I'm very excited, and am very thankful to all the people who have helped along the way. This photo is the photo illustration that will be running tommorow. For light set up, i used a very expensive and complex set up using a box of woodchuck hard apple cider and a sheet of paper. i love playing macgyver.

i'm movin on

round one of photos from my move this weekend. Saturday was a long day, with much soreness to be had on sunday. when i post photos of the new place, i will describe everything.

AH HA! i lied.

more baseball. ta da! i've got a bit of a cold, so being in the sun was nice. now back to being sick.

when you were young

Long weekend of baseball. shot two games and on saturday went with some friends just to watch. it was fun, it was the first game in a long time that i had just gone to as a fan. but, i swear, the next post will not be baseball related.

i think im in love, but it makes me kinda nervous to say so

Baseball time!!! hooray baseball!!! it was cold.

the version of this photo that will be running is cropped down, but i kinda like it a bit more wide. i was just tryin something different. so sue me.

mama i'm comin' home

So, i went home today for the first time in a couple of months. i got to see my grandparents (that's my grandpa there), eat some tasty fried chicken made by my mom, and i got to check out a new trail that fairbury has built. i took a nice walk on it, and i was rather impressed with it. it was rather short, but the shortness was redemed by the old railroad bridge over the damn.

the other photo is some friends at a cowboy theme party. hooray party!!!

I'm back!

so, long time no post. ive been shooting a whole lot of freelance, a bunch for the omaha reader and for the GI independent, so that has been nice. I got to cover a lot of state basketball action, and i just got back from a small trip to KC with some friends. good times.

this fire is out of control

part 3 of the light painting workshop. hooray. after getting bored with the plain black background, i decided to add a little color with an orange gelled hot light. what i did not expect was that it would make it look like i was on fire. two words. hell yeah. i'm quite happy with how it is shaping up.

Ballet class

Ok, so i shot some ballet class, which made me feel very unfit and definitely not flexible. i was hoping for a better moment, but i settled for a decent enough composition.

side note for the light painting, it has slightly changed focus, it will be for the spring sports preview. It will include 6 sports, 3 men, 3 women, and will be track, baseball, softball, gymnastics, golf, and tennis. i have done some work on the baseball, softball, and track ones, and have ideas on the other 3. i'm rather excited about this project, and i hope it turns out well. the photo professer here told me i could just take the photos without the traced light and then just add that in photoshop, but that is kinda missing the point. ive tried it, saw how it looked, and it just does not look as organic. meh.

the evolution of an idea

ok, im going forward with an idea that i have been enjoying. i have more free time on my hands now that i am no longer photo editor of the DN, and taking time on things that make me happy makes me....well, happy. ive been practicing forming shapes for a series of sport portraits, and these are a few that are starting to take shape. the disk golf one turned out a little bit better than i expected, the football one was terrible, and the basketball one was in the middle. i could only practice for so long in my garage, because it was damn cold. i could see my breath, and i could no longer feel my fingers, even while wearing gloves.

light test

So, bored one night, i decided to play around with some long exposures, in preparation for a portrait i am starting to set up. here is my room outlined, my attempt at a flower vase, and my attempt at drawing the globe, which ended up looking like two sea horses.

some times i like to get fancy

Gabe Baldwin

In the corner portrait of polevaulter Gabe Baldwin. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. For those curious, it was shoot on a cloudy day on tungsten white balance and with pink and orange gells on a strobe. Some times i like to get fancy.

a little track and swimming

I miss the rains down in Africa

I've been back in the states for a little under a week now, after a handful of weeks in Zambia. Thanks to all those who sent emails of support and encouragement while we were there. I will post a more in-depth explanation later of everything we did, but I'm in a bit of a rush right now. Sorry.

As for the photo, this was taken in the shanty town Buseko in northwest lusaka. The photo is not that good, but i just wanted to show what many people are living in. We had gone there to talk to a family that lived there. We were told we would be OK to go to their home, but when we got there, the "mayor" of the town brought a large group and basically told us that we should leave. I was not able to shoot pretty much anything, and i really wish i could have had time to do some work. The only photos i took there were basic pray and spray, shoot from the hip type, and it was only about 20 images total.