After the parade

Believe it or not, this photo was taken as part of spot news coverage, for this story from the July 4 parade horse escape in Bellevue. I arrived about three hours after the fact, so I shot what I could. This was about the point in the route where the horses ran onto the sidewalk.

Cool down

Any day I can wear shorts and sandals to work is okay by me. I've had two days at the pool so far this summer..



Blue pool water makes the reflected light sorta funky.

Worker cottages

You know how I love my dilapidated buildings.. and with a news peg!

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church is reflected in the window of a flood-damaged cottage across the street on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, in Cedar Rapids. The city is set to demolish the cottages, citing them as a threat to public safety, but Preservation Iowa is seeking an emergency grant to move and rehabilitate them. The cottages were built to house immigrant workers at the Sinclair meatpacking plant and other factories.

Skating at the Tree

I spent the afternoon with a group of skaters for a story back in June? May? Something like that. The story, at the time I shot it, was about the location -- skating where they're not supposed to -- so I tried to incorporate the surroundings as much as I could. We were there at just the right time of day for the Tree of Five Seasons to cast its distinctive shadow on the plaza.

State track

...just like soccer, was also a blur. A slideshow of every image I submitted exists somewhere, but I can't find it, and you don't want to see that anyway, do you?


PC'er Matt Holst attempted to foil this celebration photo. Karma got him in the end, and I got my shot.

Saying goodbye

Carol Robert (left) stands with her daughter, Stephanie Walker, as they look over the lot where their house stood before the flood, on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Robert had hoped to have a chance to say goodbye to their home of 29 years, 1527 4th Street NW, but never received a call telling her the demolition was scheduled.

When the action has already happened, you do what you can to make an image that tells the story...

Jeez, I'm behind.

After three days of soccer at the state tournament back in June, it all sort of ran together. But you can always count on good celebration..

This kid (11, above) was especially great. He scored in overtime for the championship -- even better that it was his first goal of the season. Had I been shooting from the ground, I probably would have completely missed this moment. Fortunately, I got bored on the field and climbed to the top of the press box.

It was so easy to tell the Xavier players apart for the first two days. Then they all got mohawks for the championship. Thanks, guys.

IC West always played at the end of the day, when the light was pretty from one direction, but awful from the other.



This is the photo work, uh, table. Don't ask what happened when it rained.. it wasn't pretty.

welcome, summer.

First corndog of the season was ohsodelicious.

Campaign headquarters

See more (and read the story) here.

Water treatment

For part of our flood anniversary package, I photographed the water treatment plant in Anamosa. You can still see the high-water mark. Eventually all of the facilities will be moved out of the flood plain.

Pony show

I was sent to Kirkwood Equestrian Center last month during a show -- but since the story was about the place, not the event, I had a bit more freedom, and didn't take a single photo inside the arena.

And now for an installment of "Really, Canon 1DMkII?! REALLY?!"

Overgrown

...in the flood zone.

Haley's hearing

I went along with reporter Cindy Hadish to talk with Haley and Michele Walstrom about a hearing study Haley is involved in. Haley has had hearing impairment since birth, but gets along pretty well with her hot pink hearing aids. At school, her teachers wear a mic that transmits via FM frequency to her hearing aids. I shot a portrait of the two of them before the interview, but I liked this little moment when Haley was thinking about an answer. Read the full story over on easteriowanewsnow.com
(On the technical side, I'm playing around with a new flash bouncing technique taught to me by Brian Hall, and pretty pleased with the result here.)

Postville two years later

I went to Postville a couple weeks ago for a story with Orlan Love on the town, two years after the raid (my photos from raid are here). There are so many different possibilities for how to cover this story now, but the realities of newspaper deadlines (and two-hour drive) kind of got in the way of that. And then there were the cultural differences.. not many women (if any) go into the gathering place I took a few photos in, and several of the men scattered when I explained who I was and what I was doing there. Above, Aden Abdi (left) and Hare Warsame watch television at a private club where many Somalis gather on Friday afternoon, May 7, 2010, in Postville. Warsame and Abdi are among the more than 100 Somalis who moved to Postville to work at Agri Star. Abdi's family is still in St. Cloud, Minn., and will join him once he has a place to live and his employment is secure. Below, a delicious-smelling rice and goat dish.. or what was left of it. The group gathered around it eating left shortly after my arrival.

Photographing the photographer

A couple weeks ago I was assigned to photograph George Henry, who has been photographing events at Coe College since the 1940s. An exhibit of his nature work spanning several decades is on display at the college. It's a bit strange to photograph someone who is used to being behind the camera, not in front of it, but George was a wonderful subject and had such great stories to tell. I asked him to pick a favorite photo from the exhibit -- but he said it would be impossible.

Dancer's Edge

Between the advanced ballet class and the "Tiny Dancers" class at Dancer's Edge studio in Hiawatha, I had plenty to shoot... and too much to choose from when it came time to edit.

Red wash

An early maybe-favorite / at-least-intriguing frame from last night's Post Mortems show at Gabe's. Sometimes you just have to give in to the wacky lighting.

Rough game for the goalie

I shot my first and second soccer games of the year last night at the Washington/Jefferson doubleheader. Took me a little time to warm-up, and the boys almost moved too fast for me to keep up. I ended up with a couple similar photos from both games.. Jefferson getting trampled.