Marion Avenue nativity

For the 39th year, Marion Avenue Baptist Church in Washington put on a live animal Christmas play. Not all the animals were at the rehearsal I photographed, but I was still completely in awe of the production. Make sure you read Alison Gowans' story for the Gazette, and see more photos.

Ushers Ferry

Last month at Ushers Ferry Historic Village, I tried to make the most of the fading light on a cold night.

Tangled

Outtake from a recent shoot at a new boutique in town.

Waiting on a downtown train

Two days of jubing

In photographer-speak, “jube” refers to photos of celebration, or jubilation. With the state volleyball tournament in town, we’ve had plenty to go around. We each had a two-day rotation at the tournament this year, which meant five games a day with plenty of opportunity to get great jube photos. Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of days. To see the Gazette’s coverage of the tournament, with 40 (yes, 40) game galleries, click here.

Photographer-in-training

This photo has languished my 'to post' folder for awhile now. I met this fledgling photographer at a story in January; he was following me around the classroom pretending to take pictures of me, so I turned my camera back on him. Kids are always curious about my own cameras, and I find myself giving little lessons while on assignment on a regular basis. Of course, those lessons are usually just along the lines of "Okay, now push this button for a really long time!" and waiting for their expressions of amazement at the rapid-fire of the shutter.

Pomerantz

Jeff Pomeranz, Cedar Rapids city manager, has teamed up with the City Council to provide City Hall economic-development incentives for developers willing to invest in new projects. Geonetric Inc.’s new three-story office building on 12th Avenue SE in New Bohemia, pictured here, is one such project. Geonetric, a local and growing health care software and services company, is investing $4.5 million in the project. Photographed on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Cedar Rapids.

Sunrise at the Tree

Cummins Central Power employees Gordon Harrison of Shellsburg (from left), Dave Kirker of Newhall and Lyle Krug of Cedar Rapids walk back up the river bank to the Tree of Five Seasons Plaza after collecting trash along the river on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013, in Cedar Rapids. The men were part of a larger group of volunteers helping remove trash from along the riverbank downtown. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

Early harvest

One hour to kickoff

Off the grid

At the drive-in

Last month I spent a Friday night at the Grand View Drive-In, where, despite the heat, a small crowd still turned out for the evening's triple-feature. Our story focused on the business side of things -- the future of drive-ins as theaters switch to digital. You can see more photos at the link.

Once it was too dark to continue shooting (you know how I feel about shooting available light almost always...), I headed back to my car, where a far-off lightning storm and the field lit by the concession stand's neon lights caught my eye and I stuck around a little longer. 

After the vows

Some dear friends celebrated their marriage this weekend at Squaw Creek Park. After taking family photos I ditched the big camera in favor of my RX100 for the rest of the night; I was a guest and not the official photographer for a change! Giant balloons, cute kids and a gorgeous sunset were irresistible.

New CR library

This Saturday, I got to spend some time at the downtown Cedar Rapids library's grand opening, which was a pretty ideal day for me; some of my earliest and fondest memories are of the library in the small New Jersey town where we lived in the mid-80s. I've been photographing the progress of the library over the past few years, so to see it all come together was really rewarding. For those not familiar with the story: the library was one of the many buildings flooded in 2008, and since then has operated out of a makeshift home in a mall and a small downtown storefront. The new library has been built further from the river and houses more than 200,000 new materials. It's also two blocks from the Gazette/KCRG newsroom, sitting right across Greene Square Park from the art museum. I'm sharing a few favorites from work in July along with Saturday's celebration; the full gallery is over here.

Here comes football

First game of the year. These early-season games have such sweet evening light, and I couldn't resist the silos in the background. For the game gallery, head over here.

Hard Charge

Muddy, sore, tired, exhilarated. And I was just photographing the event. See more photos over here.

Pony up

Cassidy Sundine, 12, of Iowa City turns her pony Glitter, 12, to join other riders during a clinic for the Johnson County 4H Horse & Pony Club in the horse arena at the Johnson County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, in Iowa City. The club is trying to raise $30,000 for a new arena at the fairgrounds, which would be twice to the size of the current arena to accommodate all horse show events, including popular events like barrel racing, and have permanent 60-inch permanent panels, instead of the current 40-inch panels. The footing of the new arena will be safer for horses and riders, too, with a lime waste base topped with sand, compared with the current dirt arena that becomes compacted with use or other events. Read Meredith's story here.