so.. much.. volleyball

I'm on day two of a four-day stint at the state volleyball tournament. With four games a day (our intern Crystal LoGiudice is shooting the other four), getting variety is.. challenging. This is from my final game of the night, Marion vs Pella, after Marion won in a tough 3 games. See our huge gallery here, or click thru to (11/12's) page 1B in the Gazette's eEdition.

Two approaches to a rainy game..

The same night as the cross country race below, I covered a high school football game. Only the most serious fans (parents, and a handful of students) braved the driving rain and wind. The tent is especially smart, but the wind presented a challenge.

Race / rain

Rain can be.. problematic. My makeshift grocery sack / rain cover didn't do much good. And it's really unfortunate to discover that new gloves are not waterproof.



Once I started editing, I realized I've photographed Kyle before. Now that I'm going on two years at the Gazette, it's amazing how much smaller the community seems, and all the familiar faces I see.

Ped Mall walkalong

I spent some time with a few Iowa City police officers who provide extra police presence for downtown/Ped Mall bars on weekends.. it was a slow-ish start to the night. Dark shoots like this remind me just how much I NEED one of these. (As previously discussed, I avoid flash. The Ped Mall's light can be kind of moody and cool, actually - why ruin it?) Here's the Gazette's story.

Mayoral election watch

I photographed Brian Fagan's watch party for the mayoral election tonight, at Dublin City Pub (a rather dark place, which means I actually had to bust out the flash for once). It's hard covering events like this, when you want to be respectful (he was down in the polls the whole night) but also want to get the shot. This was sort of an in-between moment, which is what I like about it. No handshake, no smile for the camera. Here's the Gazette's story on the race.

I love fall..

.. but it's always too short. Before I know it, the lovely yellow tree in my front yard will be bare.

footballin'

I've been shooting football like crazy lately. Three games and a practice last week!

A little high school ball.. (video and slideshow here)


...and a little Iowa football, with a healthy dose of pre-game feature hunting. 1. Those turkey legs always smell so good, but I am not that ambitious. 2. Alumni band marched before the game. Our game slideshow is on gazetteonline.



I've found myself getting increasingly wrapped up in Iowa football this season, probably because they (and thus we, the journalists) have a good chance of getting to a decent bowl. It's not even winter yet and already I look forward to thawing out for a few days. Maybe in Pasadena. Not that I'm getting my hopes up or anything.

old light / new light

Vapor lights are the bane of the photographer's existence, especially those of us who avoid using flash when we can. But I thought the contrast here was interesting -- the orange light was in an older part of the Genencor plant, and the bright light in the background is the new multimillion dollar expansion.