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.

The big game

All week I've been hearing, "It's Iowa/Iowa State!" and I kind of go, "Ehhh." Not being a native, and not being an alum from either school, the rivalry doesn't mean a lot to me - which is not to say I wasn't excited to shoot it, just that I didn't have the same intensity of my coworkers. I wasn't too thrilled with any of my action from the game (I'm hoping I've worked out the rustiness of my first two games now), but I dug a few of the features from before the game..

Jerry Ratliff was deployed to Iraq last week, so his friends made a life-size cutout of him so the team wouldn't be disheartened by his absence.


In the spirit of fairness, I did also shoot an Iowa tent being put up. I just happen to like this one better.


I saw all sorts of kids and puppies dressed in Iowa gear. But this is Iowa and Iowa State in the same wagon! I had better frames of the ISU kid, but the Iowa kid kept glaring at the camera. Don't know why, I was wearing black, just like him..


This would have been so much cooler from a lower angle. But once they started coming out, I worried they wouldn't see me, and I would end up trampled...


...like last week's close call. (Photo by Rodney White, DM Register) If you happen to watch any future Iowa games, look out for my white bandana..

State fair!

Whoops. I seem to keep disappearing, hm?

Well. Here are some state fair photos to appease you. More here.

Friday at Hawkeye Downs

I spent last Friday out at Hawkeye Downs covering the Miller 100 race. Photographers are at a bit of a disadvantage when covering a single long race out there.. once the race starts, you're stuck in whatever position you've chosen. The view may be better from inside the track, but there's no tunnel under the track, so you're stuck there once the race starts. (Above: post-race rehydration by the winner, Steve Carlson)


I opted for covering the race from outside the track, so I could have *some* diversity to the images in the slideshow I put together.




From before the race, a fan shows her collection of autographs..

Where is summer?

Oops, unintentionally took a bit of a break. Well. I'm back.

Took this for a Neighborhoods story on NW/Time Check, on a rare warm day. Where did our summer go, and can we have it back please?

'It always rains for Fun Days'

.. or, so said a fellow journalist as I prepared to cover the North Liberty Fun Days parade. I had already been to the carnival, which was understandably quiet due to the late afternoon rain showers that started up about 30 minutes before the festival's start.


Typically "cute kid photos" aren't what I look for when I go into an event. (Yes, everyone loves cute kid photos, but, it can get boring after awhile, and we do strive for diversity of images in the paper -- too many kids/puppies/flags, for instance, and it starts to look stale.) But this was event FOR the kids. And when I saw the parade route lined with umbrellas, I pretty much knew what my shot would be. Kid, somewhat restrained by umbrella, trying to take in all the action. Et voila.

Gert and Geneva Tower

Photos of relatives, including 33 great grandchildren, fill the wall of Gert Steele's Geneva Tower apartment in downtown Cedar Rapids on Thursday, May 28, 2009. Steele has lived in same unit in the building for almost 31 years and, at 97, is the oldest resident of the building. "This place saved my life," Steele said of the support she received after her husband passed away shortly after they moved into the building.

Dave Rasdal and I spent a couple hours at Geneva Tower a few weeks ago for this week's Ramblin' column. The tower, whose residents are a mix of elderly, disabled, full market price and section 8 housing, was evacuated last June as floodwaters rose in downtown Cedar Rapids, and, after months of renovation, is now at nearly full occupancy again. Gert in particular was such a delight to talk to. She brought a sack of pancake flour with her when she and her husband moved to CR during the Great Depression, just so they would have something to eat -- her generation's Ramen Noodle equivalent, I suppose. As we were leaving, she made a remark that Nile Kinnick was one of the cutest quarterbacks to ever play at Iowa -- can't find the notebook for the exact quote, and wasn't recording audio, unfortunately.

Deb Dufresne, far right, laughs with other Geneva Tower residents James Marugg, far left, Julie Fishel, center, and Katie Howrey, back to camera, on Thursday, May 28, 2009, during a coffee meeting in the building's dining area in Cedar Rapids. Residents gather three times a week for coffee, and this week was Dufresne's birthday, so another resident brought her a birthday cake.

Here / there

"Tour the Linn County Sheriff's Office before rebuilding starts" is not the most exciting photo assignment. But it's a challenge. Light is scarce (thus the grain), but I can usually count on TV photographers popping some light in there so I don't have to use a flash. Sheriff Gardner milled about this spot just long enough that I was able to get a decent, somewhat sharp, frame. The demolition line you see on the drywall is about 11 ft above ground level.



Tomorrow I head to New York for a very brief visit with good friends. Here's Alyssa in Central Park a couple years ago...

mmm beef

Shot this while working on a story on BBQ dry rubs for the food page. That's about 60 pounds of quality brisket. Yum! (I'll link to the story when it's up.)

I've been blogging over at reFocus (the gazette staff photo blog) with my recent work for the paper, and am figuring out how to transition this blog to outtakes and personal work, and less writing (generally, more pictures, less words). I'll try to post links to reFocus from this blog when there's something new up over there, so I can stop double posting my blogs both there and here. Most recently, I've written about covering Postville one year after the immigration raid.

Sunny Mt Vernon

I went on a little adventure with friends to Mount Vernon last weekend for Chalk the Walk. After brunch and looking at the chalking, we wandered over to the Cornell campus and relaxed by the pond, munch kettle corn and sipping Italian sodas and getting just a little sunburned.

Attn, bargain hunters

I photographed the Coralville city-wide garage sale this weekend for the paper.. Almost left with a $5 rice cooker, but someone beat me to it. Loved this frilly ballerina costume, probably once so cherished, now hanging on a wire on sale for $5. The former owner has a new sibling on the way this week, and her mom was making room for the baby.

from the archive

I'm digging through my archive once again as I build my portfolio for Barnstorm , and came across this photo from last August (which will not be in the portfolio, but I realized I'd never blogged about it..). Nothing spectacular, but keep in mind that the simple turning of this bolt was a big deal for downtown CR, as Alliant worked to restore steam to the businesses downtown that rely on it for temperature regulation. We had to go down below the street, into a truly tiny space -- just big enough for me and the steam mechanic. I think he was surprised that I wanted to follow him down -- but, really, how else am I going to get the photo? And, who's going to argue, when I bring my own hard hat?

In the studio today. Starting a portrait series, and Eric, my first subject, was the guinea pig as I tested a few different lighting setups. Light on the right wasn't firing. Hm.

I realized I posted this on reFocus, the Gazette photo staff blog, but neglected to post it here.. NYT published this photo in their Sunday Week in Review section (neat!)


Erinn Brehio of Iowa City (from left), University of Iowa junior Miranda Welch of Stratford and UI senior Cody Shafer of Wapello wave flags in front of the Old Capitol building before the start of a rally celebrating Friday’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling upholding a lower court decision legalizing same sex marriage on Friday, April 3, 2009.

I covered a rally at the Pentacrest in front of Old Capitol two weeks ago, held in celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. An historic decision celebrated at an historic location — speakers reminded the crowd that in 1839, slavery was abolished in the Iowa Territory, years before it was a state, and in 1851 struck down a law banning mixed race marriage. The LA Times archive has an article detailing Iowa’s progressive politics, and provided a good education to this Iowa transplant.

Flood Buyouts: Elkport, IA

All but one home in Elkport was destroyed by the flooding Volga River in 2004 and bought out shortly after. Residents have relocated to higher ground in Elkport and surrounding towns. The floor, flag and satellite dish of the old community center still remain.

One of the houses burned before the flood; the other was bought out and demolished. The garages and telephone poles are evidence of the destroyed town.

Some residents still receive mail at the mailboxes in the valley. In the background to the left, you can see work beginning on a new community center.

The playground and baseball field were there before the flood. The valley used to be filled with homes and businesses.

Flood Buyouts: Independence, IA

I worked on a story about flood buyouts in other Iowa towns a few weeks ago. About 1,300 people in Cedar Rapids are awaiting word on buyouts.

Independence bought out 84 homes near the Wapsipinicon River after flooding in the 1990s, and turned the land into parks. A band shell was built in one of the parks, along with picnic shelters, trails and playground equipment. These sisters grew up in Independence and remember the area when it was full of houses.