Living in the Moment

Skateboarding

2011-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of working on a story about the local skate park for our alternative weekly paper. It took a while for the skaters to warm up to me and my camera but once they did it was a lot of fun. Also, keep in mind that I can't resist a good silhouette...ever.

I also did:

VIDEO!!

Funny Faces

2011-05-23T18:32:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I shot the "Taste of Home" cooking school show. For future reference world, do not make funny faces in front of the photographer because they will inevitably make you the subject of a light-hearted blog post which compares you to a Disney character. Case in point:

It's the Evil Queen from Snow White, right?

Or maybe this is?

A Gerbil?

Outtake

2011-05-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Last week I shot a triple jumper on one of the local track teams. I came back very dirty and chewed on by giant Texas bugs. I really liked this outtake. After snapping this photo I rolled out of the way as quickly as possible. I clearly have no concern for my own safety but its cool, he had my back (and covered it in dirt).

P.S. He made it to state!

Photos that won't publish

2011-04-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

I took this photo last night at a medal ceremony for a WWII veteran who passed away in January. It was probably my favorite. Unfortunately it had very little to do with the story and they only had room for one photo so I didn't turn it in. Therefore all of you get to be privileged with it. Enjoy.

Goliad American legion members Charles Eastwood, left, and George Kullick hold the American Flag and the Texas Flag in preparation for the presentations of the colors during a ceremony honoring WWII veteran E.G. Rubio Wednesday at La Bahia Restaurant in Goliad.

Posing Doctor

2011-04-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

I recently had an assignment at a hospital. I caught this guy standing like this, he caught me taking his picture. It was mutual.

Posing Doctor

Sleepy

2011-04-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

In February I had the um... "privilege" of covering the Victoria Livestock Show. I, of course, as an employee that usually doesn't have to go to work until 1 p.m. (meaning that I usually get up around noon), had to be there at 9 a.m...sans coffee. Needless to say, I was tired. Now, getting to my point either my mindset while shooting informed this set of pictures or it was just the morning. These aren't even all of the photos that i took on the theme of "sleepy times at the Victoria Livestock Show" but they're my favs. Coffee...it's important.

Rabbit judging.

Sleepy queens court.

Yep...that's a spit bubble.

Ok, they aren't really tired but I did really like their faces.

Ok, have a nap then fire ze missles.

Dianna Stanger

2011-04-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

My thoughts today: I have SO many photos to blog. Not knowing where to start I figured that I would (finally!) show off photos that I took for our newspaper's magazine GC. I shot them in February but the magazine just came out like last week. I've never shot for a magazine before and I'm not gonna lie...it was pretty fun. I also got to be a little loose (ok pretty loose) on my ethical editing standards. Let's just say that I was a little drunk with the power.

This is Dianna Stanger. She owns a ranch, some restaurants, a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember and flies a helicopter to work and like owns the airport in Calhoun County. She's pretty cool. This is her with her grandfather's plane. They only ended up running like 1 1/2 photos in the magazine but I liked all of these so you will be subjected to them. If anyone actually looks at this thing still.

Houston Fountain

2011-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend's adventures with the Michiganders found us in Houston, Tx where we found one of the coolest things you could put in a park. I like it better than the Chicago face thing cause it really creeps me out. Plus, y'all should know by now that I can't turn down a good silhouette.

Cute Kids

2011-02-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

I recently did a story on this girl's parents being an interfaith marriage. This little girl wouldn't leave me alone. She loved me! It was super cute. Unfortunately though I think that this was my favorite photo from the shoot. Oh well.

Only in Texas

2011-02-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

Only in Texas would you find this religious symbol.

Is it bad if I'm getting used to this sort of thing?

Most Popular Book

2011-02-11T19:47:00.001-08:00

According to a librarian that I met today on assignment this is the most popular book in the Victoria Public Library. At least I know that it is always there in case I get myself in trouble.

pig

2011-02-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've been coming home lately smelling of various farm animals. It's a good thing that I live alone, except for my bunny...who is also a farm animal. Perhaps the world is trying to tell me I've missed my calling.

Back and Boxing

2011-01-24T14:55:00.001-08:00

Life update: I am back in Victoria, Tx working as their staff photographer. So far it has been a little on the stressful side. Growing up is hard. Enough said.

On to the fun stuff: Victoria enjoyed the return of professional boxing on Friday evening. I’ve never shot boxing before and unfortunately in the important fight (and the first one I got to shoot) the local boxer knocked out the other guy in a minute and 31 seconds. Good for him…bad for me. I had lots of fun anyway so here are some of my favs.

Local kid making his professional debut. He is an eighteen-year-old Senior in high school.

Bloody face. I may or may not have gone home that night with this man's blood on my shirt. Welcome back...

Question

2010-12-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Do these football players have to cut themselves out of their shoes at the end of the game?

Crying Boys

2010-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

I am scheduled to shoot a football play-off game in San Antonio this weekend...again. My only thought is that I hope that they win for the selfish reason that I have run out of ways to shoot crying boys. Here is a sampling from the past week. Please include my past football post in this.

Quiet moment with body language:

Hugging:

Tight, again, body language:

Wider, more body language:

For some variety:

They didn't want to run this photo cause they said that it would upset the readers and there would be angry parent calls. Apparently it is ok to run boys crying and not girls. Oh well. This was from the first cross town high school volleyball showdown.

Symbolism

2010-11-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is Dorothy. I'm working on a story on her. She has Alzheimer's. (insert puns about going to OZ here.) Sometimes when I try to take a picture of her she smiles at me. Sometimes she does not.

I don't think that I am using this photo but I think that you can draw lots of symbolism from it. Maybe that's just me though? I am currently procrastinating working on the photos for the story because I need help. And to shoot more...but I always need to shoot more. I have less than three weeks of work left here in Texas. (read: I'm feeling the pressure) I had better get on it.

So...Much...Football

2010-11-25T15:53:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I had to go to San Antonio and shoot back to back football games. It just about killed me. This weekend I get to do it again. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger right? The two teams playing were Victoria West High School and Victoria East High School. One lost, the other won. They ran these two in the sports section. I liked the polar opposite-ness of two photos that were taken of football games just hours apart. One side of town is victorious the other...they put up a good fight.

Victoria West’s Ebb Garrett, left, is comforted by his teammate, Xavier Ramos, after they lost their area round playoff game to Weslaco East 35-42 ending their season Saturday at Jerry Comalander Stadium in San Antonio. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM

Victoria East’s Jaime Thomas celebrates with the trophy with his teammates after they beat Mission Veterans’ Memorial 54-40 in their regional playoff game Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM

Rocky Horror

2010-11-22T19:48:00.000-08:00

I can make you a man.

I wish that I could have participated and drank wine instead of working.

...My life...

Meteor Shower

2010-11-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night/Thursday morning I went with one of my co-workers to check out a meteor shower. It wasn't quite dark enough but I saw like 8 of them. We were silly and every time we saw one we jumped up and down. If only we would have had boys and a blanket it could have been very romantic.

I didn't get any on my camera but I still dig these two photos.

Miss Julie Zavala, looking at the stars...
<3

Oops...

2010-11-16T15:55:00.001-08:00

Volleyball Play-offs

Crooked back-focused oops.

Football

2010-11-13T17:38:00.001-08:00

These kids were so freaking cute. It was the Crossroads Youth Football League. Little kids in full football pads. And look at those faces.

Friday Night Lights can be difficult sometimes. I call this one "I see the light"

Wrong Photo

2010-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

A story I shot a couple of weeks ago ran yesterday. It was a pretty lame assignment actually but I had a photo that I really liked from it for some reason. They, in true form to my life, ran a different photo. sigh. Tis the biz I suppose. I guess thats why I have a blog. Here is the one I liked:

Mitchel Wilson, 16, laughs with his mother, Tonya Dippel-Wilson and a family friend, Holly Alonzo, reflected, left and right respectively, in the sliding glass door on the family’s patio on the evening of Friday, October 22. Wilson, a junior at Victoria West High School, was chosen to attend the National Youth League Forum on National Security in Washington D.C. in February. Wilson said that he is most excited to see the national monuments in Washington D.C.

Roller Derby

2010-11-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know this I have always wanted to a story on Roller Derby. I would want to actually play but I am not athletic and very uncoordinated. A few weeks ago I got close to doing a story. The Austin Roller Derby Girls (who the movie whip-it is based on) played an exhibition match at the Cuero Turkeyfest (Turkeyfest itself is a whole other story!) Anyway, the paper did a story on the event so I got to shoot my first bit of Roller Derby. These are my favorites (ha, can you tell I liked it?) I don't have the ability to do a photo gallery on here so sorry for the huge post. I'm also too lazy for full captions so I'm adding partial captions and some of the stage names cause that's one of my favorite parts.

When we got there they were building the track in the pavilion. Imagine if football players had to paint the field if they wanted to play football. These girls got there at like 8 am to start building.

Purr-Anna, left, and Hispanic Panic

Team Meeting before the match. The teams were the Hallow-meenies and the Spanks-givings.

Yeti Machete and the Spanks-givings

Stretching before the match.

Greta Ground-N-Pound.

Penalty Pillow Fight. (I'm not kidding)

Penalty tug-o-war

Rozy B. Hind (she was my favorite)

Oh yeah...They skate too.

Although I think that this was actually a penalty cart-race where they had to push the girl in front of them like a cart.

Fans at the end of the match. They actually turned out to be friends with my roommate because she knows EVERYONE! I told her that her life is like Cheers.

I think that this will suffice until I can do an actual story.

Victoria, TX

2010-11-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all (see...I'm Southern now)

A few weeks ago I went for an evening walk because I had the day off with nothing better to do. I decided that y'all should know a little of what it looks like here cause it's not what I expected.

This is my house. We have the bottom, right apartment. There are two apartments upstairs and an office shares the downstairs with us. The balcony is fair game. If I have talked to you on the phone at all since I've been down here chances are I was sitting on that balcony. I call it the Big 'ol Southern House aka The Intern House.

There are a lot of cool houses in the area.

This man was sitting in his yard and I really wanted to take a picture of his house but instead decided to hang out with him instead. (Sometimes I get a little desperate for company) He has a grandson my age who is in college. He owns a ranch about 60 miles away that he drives to everyday. That day he killed a rattlesnake that he said was as big around as his forearm. He later gave me a tour of his house. I didn't like any of the photos though.

He has palm trees in his yard. South Texas has lots of palm trees. It's still kinda weird.

Stereotypes

2010-11-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Stereotypes are bad. We should not judge people or places based upon stereotypes that we hear about those people or places. We should instead make our own judgments based upon experience and observation.

In other news this is the sheriff of a small Texas town...

Maybe I take back what I said...

Dog Love

2010-10-25T19:09:00.001-07:00

This photo is brought to you by yesterday's assignment.
I spent 8 1/2 hours with this woman yesterday. Her story has noting to do with her dog.
My internship has turned me into the official pet photographer. I don't know why, it just keeps happening.
When the Advocate staff photographer saw this photo she said "Now that is true intimacy".

Enjoy!

Beach

2010-10-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month (maybe the last day of September) I went to the beach. Being that I am from Michigan 87 degrees and sunny seemed like beach weather to me. Needless to say I had the place pretty much to myself (some teenagers did show up later). So now I can say that I have seen the gulf of Mexico (no oil thankfully) and that while all of my friends were finding their scarves, I was at the beach.

Holy Camera

2010-10-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I sat at work with nothing to do. (Which really annoyed my editor) Now I have WAY too much to do. I have untimely assignments to edit from last week still. I haven't even been able to make final plans with my source to start a longer term story. Therefore I have a list of things that I want to blog about and just haven't gotten around to yet. I promise though, its gonna be good.

Last week I attended a pet blessing at a local Catholic school. The student and their parents brought their pets on to the football field to be blessed by a prayer and holy water. Lots of dogs and cats, a goldfish and even a horse! (This is Texas after all).

Anyway in the process Monsignor Michael Herald felt it necessary to bless me...or my camera. I'm not sure which. Anyway hopefully I will take some super sweet divine-inspired pics soon.

The Haunted South

2010-10-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

The South is totally haunted.
Earlier this week I had to go out to an old abandoned hospital where they have recently been doing paranormal investigations. The city shut the place down two weeks ago right before a ghost hunt (that I was supposed to attend and shoot) was to take place.
Anyway the caretaker of the place (who lives in a trailer out back with his donkey and pit bull) showed us around and told us all of the ghost stories and about how he has seen the ghosts. It was pretty cool and pretty scary. Like really scary. I didn’t see any ghosts though, just the videographer popping up unexpectedly making my life shorter each time.

This is the caretaker pushing the videographer down the hallway in a wheelchair. Its like a Hollywood dolly, he calls it the “handicam”. Get it? Anyway, I thought it was creepy.

This is a quick portrait of the caretaker I took while Bill interviewed him. I think that his story is more interesting than that of the building. The dude chooses to live and work on a haunted hospital. He is apparently part of “S.P.I.R.I.T.” which is the Scientific Paranormal Investigative Research Institute of Texas.

Here is the video. I helped a little. Mostly I just got in the way. I’m good at that.

Helicopters and Productivity

2010-09-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today was my day off so I decided that I should spend some of it being productive and working on my portfolio.

So of course I came across photos that I meant to blog a long time ago. And now I am no longer being productive.

Some of this may stem from the fact that I have to figure out what I am going to do with my life...and fast. Stupid deadlines.

Anyway. When I was in Illinois I got to ride in a helicopter for the first time. I didn't take any good pictures while I was up there but it was still pretty awesome. Maybe I'll change career goals and be a person who gets to ride in one of the newscopters. Do they still have those?

The helicopter:

Myspace shot. Oh yeah...I'm professional.

Um... So this is where I work.

2010-09-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

The investigator is my editor and the guy who plays Aprill's boss is the multimedia editor. The poster for this is hanging in the stairwell to the office. I think I love it here.

For Costello

2010-09-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today I shot a 4-H fundraiser.
This photo is strange to me.
I blame Canon.
I'm not sure why, but i do.
I miss my bunny.

Texas

2010-09-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Two things I have learned about Texas in the past week.
1. It is hot.
2. It rains a lot. (I'm like 30 miles from the coast)
As an additional note to number 1. usually it is even hot when it is raining.

On a less negative note (Texas and I aren't the best of friends today, I am expecting us to reconcile in the next week or so) it is pretty interesting out here. Victoria is full of old southern houses and Mexican restaurants and there are palm trees just scattered about, completely normal. So strange. I will hopefully have photos up soon but I haven't yet due to the hot and the rain and the mosquitoes (they are huge and vicious!) which are multiplying like crazy due to the hot and the rain.

Last night I shot my first high school football game. I'm pretty sure that I have figured out the three things that Texans love the most, in order:

1. Jesus (I mean, can you blame them?)
2. Texas (You don't mess with Texas)
3. High School Football

Funny story:
I'm gonna let you guess what happened at the game on Friday night. (Here's a hint: it was hot and it rained) Anyway I went into the press box at half-time which was packed due to the rain and I was looking for a place to sit so I could submit my deadline photos and this woman stopped me to inform me that I had mascara running all down my face. She was so concerned that she suggested that I stop what I was doing and pointed me to the bathroom so that I could fix it. She quickly learned that I ain't no southern belle. However, on a trying to fit in note, I have successfully used the word "y'all" seamlessly in a sentence on more than one occasion.

Today I saw that in the mitten y'all were complaining about the rain so I leave you with a shot from my first shoot under the Friday Night Lights:

What you have isn't rain...this is rain:

Funny Bracelets

2010-07-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

So there are these new things that are really popular amongst the kids here in Kankakee. Rubber bands shaped like various things that you can wear as bracelets (when you take them off they go back to their cool shape.) and trade them with your friends. Or, in my case, make them make noises after a few beers. Anyway, I now own several rubber band bracelets shaped like dinosaurs, a shoe, a train and an elephant. The irony here is that I had intended to post this picture before my acquisition of said rubber bands.

This is three-year-old Holly Melant. Her mother, Andrea Melant, left, suffered an aneurysm and brain hemorrhage following routine oral surgery. She was declared a vegetable and given little hope to live. After a year in a nursing home her mother insisted that she take her home. Now she talks, eats, moves her limbs and can almost walk again. The guy on the right is one of Andrea's best friends and one of Holly's new guardians. I have more photos (obviously) that ran as a story. Maybe I'll post them. Anyway, I thought it was important that you know about the bracelet trend.

Whitney's Wedding

2010-07-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, I meant to do this post about a month ago. When everything was fresh in people's minds and it would have really been appreciated. I, however, do not work that way. I am much more of a better late than never type of gal. Therefore I am going to justify this as people being able to look back and appreciate what was, for me, the best part of the summer.

I pulled out a few (ok, more than a few) photos that I really liked. However, in my infinite nerdy-ness everything is in the slideshow that I did make in a much more timely manner.

CLICK HERE!!

The Reason for the Celebration:

Couples coupling... My date wouldn't even let me sleep in the same tent. Haha

Hannah keeping it classy.

Jason taking over...If only you knew what the rest of this scene was...

Sunsets and golf courses.

Heels and Camera Gear

Lovely ladies in the parking lot.

That's our girl.

Texan Breffast.

I'm going to a wedding in August. I don't expect to have even half as good of a time. <3

Chicago

2010-07-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

So I finally took the train into the city. I didn't stay nearly long enough but as it was I had to force myself to go back to the dorms in Kankakee. I can't believe the summer is almost over. I have lots that I could say but I am mainly just blogging to share this photo.

Jason the tourist.

Manteno Cruise Night

2010-07-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

"...Why don't you go to night school in Manteno and learn a real trade."

There is no night school in Manteno for ultra-sound technicians seeking new professions. There is however a cruise night.

After driving to the wrong city (my assignment sheet said Momence) and waiting out the rain I finally got these shots which I love. This is pretty much straight from the camera. A big cloud rolled over and made everything this beautiful blue. It looks like a lit it even though I could probably never light anything this well.

I told the guy on the right that he looked like a Chicago gangster especially when he was walking around with a cigar earlier. He's actually from Miami and does street racing.

Rich Pawlak, of Manteno, left, and Erik Ottero, of Miami, Fla., talk next to a 1968 Chevelle after the rain stopped during Manteno Cruise Night Tuesday on Main Street. Pawlak started the cruise nights which are held every first and third Tuesday of the month through August.

The guy on the left has the bluest eyes I have ever seen although its probably the cloud.

Scott Eldridge, of Manteno, left, and Erik Ottero, of Miami, Fla., talk next to Eldridge's 1968 Chevelle after the rain stopped during Manteno Cruise Night Tuesday on Main Street.

Fun Days in Illinois

2010-07-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Illinois is hot. And then it rains. And then it is hot again. Saturday (before the little league game from Hell) I went to Clifton Fun Days outside of Kankakee.

I'm pretty sure that I hate shooting parades but I'm a sucker for a kid hanging his head out of a window. Always.

Camden Gerdes, 4, of Ashkum, sticks his head out the Askum fire truck that he was riding in the Luau Parade at Clifton Fun Days Saturday in Clifton. (07-10-10)

I saw this, had to shoot it and had to blog it. Sometimes I just can't help myself.

Does anyone else see something wrong with putting a little girl in this string of carts? (which was being pulled by a tractor...it was that kind of event.) If I ever have a daughter they are going to be so confused as to why mommy won't let them do things.

Internship

2010-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

So this one time I decided to start religiously checking other people's blogs and decided that I should be less selfish and start updating my own. This would be easier if I had the internetz in my dorm. Oh well. Internship is good. More pics to come soon.

This photo makes me happy even though it is by no means perfect and, honestly, was an accident.

06-26-10 The Daily Journal/Angeli Wright
Members of the Bradley-Bourbonnais National team celebrate behind the Limestone pitcher after scoring a run to break a tie and win the game during the District 18 Little League All-Star Tournament Saturday at Beckman Park in Kankakee.

Flowers

2010-02-14T11:01:00.001-08:00

Even though sometimes things work out for the best I don't think that means that I have to get over them. And I probably won't. I may never enter a flower shop again. This is dedicated an evil witch.

VIRG

2010-02-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm going to ignore the fact that it has been FOREVER since I updated my blog, and ignore the fact that I was going to put more study abroad photos up and let the past be the past.

Today Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero announced that he is running for Governor. I just liked the light in this photo thanks to TV people... and that kid is cute.

Lansing resident James Trezise, 6, left, stands with his mother, Kerri, Charlotte resident Elva Reyes and Lansing resident Bonnie Gottschalk while watching Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero give a speech announcing that he is running for Governor Monday evening at the Lansing Center. "He's better than what we got now," Gottschalk said was her reason for supporting Bernero.

Oban

2009-08-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

So we made it out of Oban, Scotland alive. Several members of the group got really sick and they were afraid that they had swine flu and called the national health service and everything but people are mostly better and we made it to Edinburgh for the last leg of the trip.
Our assignment for Oban was landscapes and it was really cold and rainy and we went to an island and hiked (in the rain) for like 6 hours. (that might have had something to do with everyone getting sick). Anyway I hated all of my photos except for one but here they are anyway. Hopefully Edinburgh will be better, it is warmer at least.

I like trains.

I also like sheep.

um... and cows.

Down by the Bay.

Seaweed doesn't have to be gross.

Nothing beats a Scottish sunset.

My Love Affair with Prague

2009-07-28T15:48:00.001-07:00

This post is mostly for Nick (Baker) because he commented on my lack of updates.
I love Prague. Some are from my wandering and some are from my project. Turns out I love to look at architecture photos but I'm not so good at taking them.

Charles Bridge which has construction and people in front of my walk really slow when I'm already running late for class.

I think that they pay someone to paint on the sky every morning cause it is too pretty.

The beautiful gardens in front of the castle. I didn't go in them because I am cheap but they're pretty anyway.

View from the castle.

Prague is kinda creepy sometimes.

This shot is deceiving because the rest of the time I was trying not to get hit by zooming Czech driver. It's the dancing house.

We should have rented a boat. Oh well, I'll just have to come back.

Prague Castle at night.

Favorite photos from my project.
This is part of my lesson in patience.

Sometimes nuns make your day by walking into your frame.

Cool shadow.

Who wants to come back with me some time?

Paris

2009-07-27T09:33:00.001-07:00

Paris is dirty, expensive and smells like stale urine in most places. How did I not notice this the last time I was there. Happy to be in Prague. This time I did my project on walkways. These are the only two photos that i liked from my project. Bossen and I have come the the conclusion that I can't help but photograph people... I blame the state news. Oh well hopefully more from Prague later.

Also, I strangely used to never take vertical photos and now I can't seem to stop. Life is strange.

Paris

2009-07-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

Paris is amazing although it is dirty and exhausting. Language barriers alone are exhausting.

Last night we got bottles of wine, bread and cheese and went to the Eiffel Tower to sit in the park. However 1/2 a bottle of wine later this started to happen:

Followed by a massive rainstorm with hurricane speed winds that knocked lots of us over and almost killed us all. Its ok the wine made it pretty hilarious:

Today we were at an art gallery and I couldn't resist this even though I had to be really sneaky cause you weren't allowed to take photos in there. You probably can't tell but they are playing uno.

Benches

2009-07-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

So for our first assignment we had to find a theme to shoot in our neighborhood. I chose benches which sounds really strange but there are parks and benches all over the place and watching the way that people interact on them is really fun. It was essentially like feature hunting for like a week. Ha ha, State Newsers should laugh at the fact that I went all the way across the pond to feature hunt. Here are the highlights.

To me it looks like this bench is watching over the park.

The girls were from Switzerland and were in London on holiday and were leaving that day and were exhausted. They didn't know the guy next to him who didn't look up from his newspaper for anything. It was awesome.

This girl is actually from MSU on the theatre study abroad and Paul totally was in a show with her. Small world. Did I mention that I ran into Julie Baker at the Atlanta airport also. Ha ha crazy.

This bench was dedicated to someone that died in the London bombings. I never thought of a bench as a gravestone before.

The guy on the bench all of the way to the right was from Paris and when I told him I was going he offered me somewhere to stay in his apartment in Paris. Ha ha. The Irish, the French and the Polish all love me here. The British however...
The couple was having the most intense conversation. They may have been breaking up, or she was pregnent. Either way I had the guts to get their names anyway cause I rock.

I just can't escape the lesbians. I saw them from across the park and needed to take this picture.

Benches. Who would have thought.

Stonehenge

2009-07-13T13:53:00.001-07:00

So because we are awesome we got to shoot Stonehenge at sunrise and we were the only ones there and could walk in the rocks and everything. It was sweet except that we left at 2:30am and I slept through my alarm and no one woke me up until they were on the bus which totally blew but we made it.
I decided last night that I hated all of my photos but they are growing on me. I think they are perhaps worthy of putting on my wall cause I am lame like that. What do you think?

I layed in the grass for this one and got really wet.

Inside the stones. I know your jealous.

Oh and we also saw aliens lights in the sky (although they said that it was military testing) and the bus(or the coach if you're British) almost broke down. I suspect aliens.

London Baby!

2009-07-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the epically long rest between blog posts, I have no excuses. In London now, new camera, having an amazing time. We leave for Paris in the morning so I figured that I should blog before I got too far behind. I also hope that I sized them right cause I kinda forgot how.

Here is me being a tourist and loving every minute of it:

Big Ben of course even though Shelly thought that Kings Cross/St. Pancras was Big Ben.

"Wait theres a river around here?"
"Yeah its a bar"

The London Eye sees all. We didn't ride it but we looked at it.

Apparently this bridge gets blown up in Harry Potter.

This is Tower Bridge NOT London Bridge (you know the one that is falling down)

I really wanted to touch their hats. An interesting point was raised: if the royal family doesn't live in the palace, what are they guarding?

Living Room

2009-03-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

So sometimes we build living rooms in the studio and then Jason and I listen to Robert's "Thong Song" vinyl. I wish that we could keep it but i want my record player back and i'm pretty sure that Marty would not have been happy if I kept the chairs from the front. It reminds me of Juno when she says that her big accomplishment for the night is moving an entire living room set from one yard to another. Mine was way harder because i had to steal the living room from various places mostly around The State News.

Photo Withdrawl

2009-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sitting at work I had an overwhelming desire to blog. What I really need to do is sleep. This was my first photo shoot after the giant Mono/Living City fiasco week. I never thought that I would be so excited to be at a driving range.
This man was by far the cutest old man that I have ever met. I really wanna show this photo to my Dad but I never see him and he doesn't own a computer but he does really like to golf.
Dick Belding is 82 and married his high school sweetheart and they just celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary... all of that is not relevant to the article but it is cute none-the-less.

Dick Belding of Lansing, who has been playing golf for 68 years, hits a ball during his golf Lansing at the new heated driving range at Forest Akers East Golf Course on Harrison Road on Wednesday. The facility is still doing some construction but opened on Tuesday and will be open seven days a week.

Back to Work, thank goodness

2009-01-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

So remember how i promised to update about last semester, well apparently I am a big liar because as of today school has started for Spring semester 2009 and I am already 2 assignments into the semester and thank goodness, i missed shooting so much that I think that I almost forgot how. My shoot this weekend was at ELFCO and I had never been so i feel educated.

There are just too many cute kids in the world. I call this one, "take a picture of my organic cucumber". Darling.

Her name is Rosella Bills and she is 4. She was helping her dad shop. It made me want to grow up and make babies and photograph the hell out of them. Oh no, what is happening to me.

Christmas

2008-12-29T23:32:00.001-08:00

This Christmas was strange. Maybe its the fact that everyone is broke, it was at a different house and my Grandfather is gone (even though this was a fact last year and just no one acknowledged it). Either way it wasn't bad, being with family is always good and I am happy to be able to celebrate with them, it was just different.
I had grand plans of taking tons of photos on Christmas Eve and giving some to my sister and having these great documents of memories with my family to look back on and cherish. But then everyone cancelled even though i had been cooking all day. So Andy and I just drank beer and champagne in front of the fire instead and I didn't take any photos. Its ok, this isn't a Christmas that I really need to remember, lots of strange emotions. Either way I took one photo that I liked on Christmas Day.I wish that I had taken more the window light was really pretty, you almost forget that it was freezing out.

Denver...finally

2008-12-16T17:52:00.001-08:00

So… funny story. I went to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention the last week of August and now it is December. I meant to post about it but I was busy and lazy and then I couldn’t post about anything else because I hate when things are out of order. So, in order to make up for my negligence I will be updating about the semester throughout winter break because school is over and my roommate left and now I have an excess of time.

Denver is absolutely beautiful, the trip was not so beautiful. It was probably the most stressful experience of my entire life. I have lots of stories but ill sum it up with the fact that I lost about 10 pounds from running around with heavy gear and being too stressed out to eat and running on little sleep everyday. The twisted things is that I wouldn’t trade it for the world because it was an awesome experience. And, did I mention that it was so pretty?

On the first day there I met a man who legitimately dresses like Abraham Lincoln on a regular basis. He doesn’t think that he is Abraham Lincoln so he is not insane but he does look a hell of a whole lot like him. His name is Everett Stadig and he does it to spread his pro-life message to the people that he meets.

The actual convention stuff was just so full of people. People everywhere. I shot future vice president Joe Biden’s speech at the Pepsi Center and I got there kinda early and thought that I had the perfect spot in a handicapped section because I could see really well and I had a little bit of wiggle room and very little obstructions. Then, I got kicked out of my seat. I missed Bill Clinton’s speech and had to wander around the Pepsi Center for like an hour trying to fight my way into a spot where I could get a photo of Joe Biden. It was terrible because they oversold the speech like whoa so there were frankly just not enough seats for everyone. This was the lady sitting next to me when I actually did have a seat.

This (below) is probably one of my favorite photos although I don’t know why. It’s a little hot, and its super busy but I love it so don’t judge. I was taking photos of the line waiting to see Obama’s speech and some guy asked me if I had a ticket. I told him that we had another photographer inside and I was just taking photos outside. And he said “do you want one” and then handed me a ticket to go see Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention! For free! I took it and then realized that I had all of my camera gear and they would never let me in with it without a press pass and so I couldn’t use it. I ended up giving it to Omar and I am pretty sure that he still owes me even though I got to see Obama 2 more times after Denver.

Taylor Lucas, 7, of Denver holds a flag while waiting in line to see Sen. Barack Obama speak at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver on Thursday.

I have so many more stories about some of the fabulous people that I met but you will just have to talk to me in person about them some time.
I promise that there is more to come from Fall semester, including my adventures in sports and portraits. Either way I promise that I will do better next semester.

Rainbows

2008-08-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Britt and I went to coffee on Sunday and on the way we saw the most perfect rainbow. It was coming out of KFC (yes ryan made jokes about their golden chicken breading) and going into the high school parking lot. Thankfully I have been carrying my new camera bag like a purse because i am a dork and I had my camera on me. I think that it was a sign... sometimes it is good to be home even if I am exhausted and totally stressed out...at least sometimes there are rainbows.

Goodbye Summer

2008-08-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Its been a long summer filled with lots of work, but overall i think that it was good. I wish that I would have done more (which would have meant sleeping and sitting around alot less) I have so much stuff to do before Colorado and very little time to do it in. Oh how time flies... I wish that I could get some of it back.
(yes i know that this pic is super grainy but i like it so there)

Rock for a Cause

2008-07-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

I shot rock for a cause about a week ago and I feel like I've been holding onto these photos forever, the article got pushed back like 3 times...crazy. The article was about a new class for managing and promoting rock bands and the students had to organize a show for charity which i think is really cool. I want to take the class myself.

Anyway. This is was happy accident. I wish that I could get light like this when I try but unfortunately i can only get it when i mess up... go figure. I should really work on that. This is the lead singer of a Lansing band Know Lyfe, Alfonso Civile. They weren't half bad, Ryan would have really like them.

This one isn't very good but i thought that it was cool anyway. Sometimes I just get bored at photo shoots and take pictures of things that I like but i know will never end up in the paper.

I went to the fair today... more to come.

Crayfish

2008-07-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today I met people that are probably going to need a tetanus shot in the near future. However, they were pretty cool, their family was visiting Michigan for the first time from Mexico and they were all really nice, which i appreciate. Oh feature, how you toy with my emotions.

Kevin Wille, 15, of East Lansing stands in the Red Cedar River on Thursday while his uncle Juan Martinez holds up a crayfish that Wille caught in the river. Martinez said that in Mexico they eat crayfish with a little lemon and salt.

Trash Can Style

2008-07-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Despite my recent plague, I shot SN Style on Sunday and it was actually a lot of fun. I think that maybe I should complain as much as I did for this assignment for all of my assignments because the ones that I dread often turn out pretty alright. This photo didn't show off enough of his outfit but anyone that is willing to climb into a trash can for me is definitely alright in my book.

Journalism senior Zach McCune says that his clothing reflects his personality because of its exuberance. He bought his entire outfit at Volunteers of America, except for his shoes which he bought at Scavenger Hunt on Grand River Ave.

Independence Day

2008-07-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I finished my living city last night, it’s not the best but I worked really hard on it so you should check it out. The other day I started to add up the amount of time that one spends on a living city that hardly anyone watches and it made me feel a tiny bit discouraged. Shooting time alone was over 24 hours I think and it doesn’t help that it takes me forever to edit. Its worth it somehow though but I don’t want to think about it any more.
The moral is that now I finally have time to blog about the vacation weekend. Ryan and I went up north for his birthday. I love up north… I think it is such a uniquely Michigan thing. I don’t think that people in other states have an area that covers half the state and still qualifies as a single place. I think that I will have to do a survey.
On the drive up I was looking out the window, smushing my head against the window to try to see the sky (Ryan needs a moonroof) and I realized a very silly thing about myself… I forgot how many stars there were. You can see so many of them, thousands in a single glance. When you go up north you can always see the stars, it’s one of my favorite things. It makes me want to drive way up north to the top of the U.P., park the car, and get out and just lay down and look at the stars for hours. The only things that are stopping me are ridiculous gas prices, lack of time, and my fear of crazed woodsmen, serial killers and that whole “no one can hear you scream thing”. Maybe one day… after I buy a tazer.

Ryan tried to light his little sister on fire after blowing out his birthday candles... he is a little frightening sometimes.

I also discovered that I really like boats. This is Harbor Springs before the fireworks. Across the bay is Petoskey and those houses in the middle are all owned by insanely rich people. One of them belongs to the Kodak family.

This is the barge that they shot the fireworks off from. I think that it would be so cool to be able to hang out on it while they were shooting them off. I thought that the light was pretty too.

Barge in action.

I think that fireworks are almost as pretty as the stars.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Feature

2008-06-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

This isn't the best of my pictures but I really like it and there wasn't enough face for the paper so I thought that I would subject you all to it.

First year human medicine students Madonna Lee, left, and Amrik Singh sit on the dock and dip their feet into the Red Cedar River by the canoe livery on Thursday. They said that they were out enjoying the weather.

Grandparents University

2008-06-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Lia Baldori,9, of Okemos places her hand in Tania Etter's,7, of Flint while dancing a traditional Israeli folk dance called "Nigun Atik", translated Ancient Melody, on Wednesday. The Israeli folk dancing class was a part of MSU Grandparents University held June 25 through June 27.

Sheep

2008-06-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Kaleb Bickel of Howell pulls on his sheep's neck to get it into showing position at the B & B Sheep Show at the MSU Pavilion on Sunday. The Bickel family has been raising sheep for five years and this is the second time they have competed at MSU.

Stormy Weather

2008-06-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

I love storms except when my power goes out for 10 hours.

First Blog Post

2008-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sam made me create a blog so here is my first post to see how it works. Welcome to how i will be spending my time this summer.