doggy

Andrea has the market cornered on doggy photos. I thought I'd try my hand at it while feature huntin'.

slideshows

Here are a couple slideshows I put together recently. They aren't heart-wrenching stories, but I had some fun putting them together. There will be more to come, hopefully with more depth.

http://www.deseretnews.com/photo/sslides/detail/1,5498,38,00.html

http://deseretnews.com/misc/mm/sslides/orchestra/index.html

Mike Terry put this one together for the death of the president of the Mormon church. Photos by four Deseret News photographers...

http://www.deseretnews.com/photo/sslides/detail/1,5498,37,00.html

cold days and bitter nights

I'm not sure what a blizzard is like, but today was the closest I've ever been to one. Ridiculous snow and strong wind hit as school was letting out. I was shooting an orchestra rehearsal and stuck around as all the kids ran through the snow toward their mode of transportation. Girls screamed and boys tried to buff it out...many unsuccessfully. I was just cold.

Last night, the president of the Mormon church died. So, we went out to temple square where many of the buildings are as people morned his death.

putting the special in special hockey

coach don

gay adoption

Ruth and Kim want the Utah legislature to remove the cohabitation clause from the adoption law. It basically means that any same-sex couple can't adopt a child if they are living together. Ruth's kids, Riley and Casey, small kid at left, are legally hers, and Kim already adopted Riley in Massachusetts. It's a pretty silly law since she could adopt him if she wasn't living in the same house.
I caught Ruth in a patch of light.

sink or swim

the spectrum

After a heavy snow last night, I got up early to look around the area, to see how things look with a blank, white slate. In doing so, I met a Thai family trudging through the snow. I walked with them for a while and when they turned to walk into their apartment complex, I assumed this was goodbye...for what reasoned person would allow a total stranger into their home.

To my surprise the guardian of the bunch looked at me confused, like why wouldn't I want to come out of the snow and into a warm place. I guess that's eastern hospitality. So, I followed them in, sat down and talked for a while despite the communication gap. They told me they were refugees from a dangerous city in Thailand and came to Utah in search of a better life. As I had to leave for another assignment, they told me to come back and visit any time. I turned around as I walked out the door, and there they were, with wide smiles, wishing me a good day.

This guy is quite different from the friendly Thais. He was in the State Capitol lobbying representatives to support "Minuteman" issues. These guys basically want citizens to patrol the borders to keep out immigrants. He had the whole getup, the hat, a Ron Paul pin, camo, and big boots. The only thing I did see but expected were shotguns.

looking for something different

Just wanted to try something new shooting a women's basketball game tonight...not sure how the second one turned out the way it did.
another pretty sunset...

hockey, etc.

I had the opportunity to shoot a special hockey team tonight. It seems like a really great program for both the kids and the parents. The coaches and families were really welcoming and I plan to go back...hopefully making this into a photo story. I know there are lots of moments that I missed, but here are a couple.



This is a photo I found exploring before work today. The boy in blue was waiting on top of the hill for his brother to get out of school. When he got out, the boy ran up to him and grabbed onto his arm. Precious.

pouring light

As I was driving out of the cloud-covered canyon after snowboarding all day in temperatures hovering around 0 degrees, a small gap in the distant clouds revealed rays of the sun pouring over the mountains. It at least made me feel warm for a second, and then I rolled down my window to take this photo.

eyes on balloons

I had the opportunity to attend the weekly Homework Club today. The kids spent about 15 minutes doing worksheets and then spent an hour running around playing with balloons and eating cookies. I wish I could be in Homework Club.

I'm making a slideshow, so there will be more in a couple days.

fire training

I shot a fire training session at an old mall in the snow today...hence the dark snow spots on my lens. I'm still foreign to this snow thing.

A Quilter

The Difference

I saw this guy all greased up as I was walking to the office from an assignment. So I snapped a few realizing I hadn't changed my exposure.

Not so welcome

I went to a Hispanic Pentecostal church this evening for one of their services. I was interested in doing a story about them, so I decided to just show up and ask if I could take some photos. After some thought the pastor OKed it, but after shooting for an hour or so he came to the back of the room where I was and told me (in Spanish) that it was too personal for me to take any more photos. Not knowing quite how to explain what I wanted to tell him in Spanish, I left. I don't think I was too forward or obtrusive. I hung out in the back of the room and didn't shoot too much. Maybe I'll write him a letter in my botched Spanish and send him some photos to show him where I'm coming from.

A Long Day

These girls waited outside in the cold for 4 hours for the chance to get tickets for the first 20 rows of the Jonas Brothers concert. I'm not sure who these brothers are, but apparently a lot of girls between the age of 11- 17 do.

waiting for the tickets

dancing with Radio Disney
a homemade igloo

Jazzin' it up

Some Flippin' Bball

praying before the game
I remember the days where kids would do back flips in the high school halls to impress people. Brings me back...

Composition

As Joel Rosenberg composed and conducted his orchestra tonight in a gym, I composed his photograph. I figured it was a fair trade.
some snowy branches in front of the sun

Driving through the snow at night to go to a basketball game

I shot a girls basketball game tonight. This photo reminded me of a photo I saw of Bryan's recently. His, of course, was cooler and actually ran in the paper in their photo column called Still Life. It also had a nice quote under it. I too am a fan of dead space and odd crops.
Tonight, I drove through snow for the first time. Feeling like your car is going to slide off the road at any second is not a good feeling. Having to follow the faint tire tracks left by the car ahead of you to make sure you stay on the road is not a good feeling. Having to drive 30 mph to an assignment that would normally be an hour away is not a good feeling. By at least I get to check off one more thing on my list of things to do before I die...and thankfully, it won't be the last thing I check off.

Babies and Guns: My First Day at the Deseret Morning News

I stepped off the cold downtown street and into the glass doors of the Deseret Morning News building, thankful for our knack for climate-controlled rooms. Onto the elevator I went to the fourth floor to tell them I had arrived. It was 10 o'clock. I scrutinized the awards hanging in the reception area for a couple minutes before my photo editor briskly walked toward me with a woman at his side. The reason she had accompanied him, I quickly found out, was that I had an 11 o'clock assignment with the reporter, who was writing a story about some sort of advanced fetal surgery conference.

In the next half hour before the assignment, my editor lead me around as he multi-tasked like none other. I was relieved when he gave me professional equipment since I had to recently give up the lenses I had borrowed from my school for the past year. I grabbed my gear and made it quickly to my car, arriving somewhere between a walk and a run. I would later find out that the $4/hour parking that I paid would soon be $10/month with validation. Deciphering the odd block system I made my way to 1130 E 3900 S for a press conference on a new fetal surgeries to adjust the amniotic fluid in the womb. I spent an hour trying to find some authentic moments as the 5 TV cameras around the room posed the mothers and babies for emotional draw to the 6 o'clock news.

When I made it back to the paper, I underwent the necessary torture of filling out loads of paper work, wondering which parts I really needed to fill out and which I could slide by. I got the run down on the work flow at the paper, which always seems to be minutely different at every paper I've worked at, enough to make it so you have to learn it all over again. Then, the night photo editor came in and asked what I was doing, suggesting to send me out on a news assignment. Of course, I was eager to shoot.

A man threatened to blow up his house and kill any cop who approached him, so the SWAT team was called out for a good ol' standoff. So I grabbed an enormous lens and headed out to stand in the below freezing temperatures in my less than adequate attire for an hour and a half. Even with my long lens I could only make out the guys with guns as tiny figures. I never though that someone would need a lens longer than 400mm, but this made me wish for a 1200 with a 2x extender.

My feet and hands gradually became numb as the twilight approached, but the anticipation of a house blowing up made it all worth it. Maybe the fire would warm my feet, I thought. But for the sake of the general love of people, the man was safely escorted out of the house by tear gas and Tasers.

I rushed to my car, turned on the heat full blast at my feet and sighed a happy sigh.

As I drove back to the office I found a street spot close to the building to protect my poor southern feet from the gristly snow and ice. I turned in a couple photos and boarded the elevator at 7 o'clock for my trip down six floors. A sweet scent creeped up my nose, reminiscent of Florida oranges. I ran my finger across the shiny wooden panes inside the elevator, feeling an oily residue. I put my nose closer for a big, refreshing whiff. Someone had prepared the elevator to perk up the morning journalists for a new day.

From Florida to Utah: On the Road

I made the 37 hour trip to Salt Lake City over the past week or so, stopping in Kansas City to see my mother for New Years. After moving out of my house in Gainesville, I had to return all the camera gear after I left Palm Harbor that I had been borrowing from the school for the past year. All I own is a 20D , a 50mm and a flash. To my luck, the 50mm stopped focusing, so it was stuck on one distance. I had to shoot almost everything at f/22 to be sure that something was in focus, evidenced by my speckly spotty sensor. So here is my trip across the United States, mostly shot while driving. It was great to see the landscape and people change as I got further and further into the west. From flat, hot Florida to snow-covered spires jutting out of the earth. Last Florida sunset, Crystal Beach, Florida
Power line birds in morning, Palm Harbor, Florida
That big arch, St. Louis, Missouri
Wax man, Kansas City, Kansas
Snowman, Kansas City, Kansas
Drunkards, Kansas City, Kansas
The "Plaza", Kansas City
Setting sun, Colorado
Ice on my morning windshield, Boulder, Colorado
Fire-emitting plant, Wyoming
Smoke-emitting plant, Wyoming
Me with a backdrop of hay barrels, Wyoming............Photo by Vanessa
Somewhere, Wyoming
First sunset over mountains, Salt Lake City, Utah