Ohio State 20, Iowa 17

Yeah, I knew he was going to stop.

Celebration surrounded by a lot of heartbreak.
Just out of reach..

media day

afternoon light

Medal of Honor

I was in Washington, D.C., this week to cover the Medal of Honor ceremony for Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, a native Iowan and the first living recipient of the medal since Vietnam. I briefly caught up with Biden photog David Lieneman, who answered allll my questions about working in the White House. Photojournalists go into situations blind every day, but this was obviously different, so I was glad for answers from David and help from Getty photog Chip Somodevilla (who knew me way back in the day when I was a high school intern in Ft Worth) in acquiring a stepladder. I had already heard Giunta's story several times, but hearing it from the President was pretty powerful.. plus trying to get a variety of images from my perch atop a stepladder squeezed between two TV guys, silently willing people in the audience to put their cameras down so I could see over them, then filing as fast as I could, knowing I wasn't going to beat the wire guys anyway. So. These are just a few images I liked. You can see the Gazette's full coverage here.

President Barack Obama awards Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta the Medal of Honor in the East Room at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, in Washington, D.C.



President Barack Obama recognizes members of Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta's unit from Afghanistan before awarding Giunta the Medal of Honor.

First Lady Michelle Obama looks back to the parents of Sergeant Joshua Brennan and Spec. Hugo Mendoza, two members of Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta's squad who were killed in action.

White House behind the scenes

Erik (KCRG) and Orlan (Gazette) in the WH briefing room, waiting.

East Room before the ceremony.

Erik, pre-ceremony

That's a whole lotta media.
Giunta made a statement at the West Lawn stakeout spot.

vs Northwestern

Iowa had a disappointing loss to Northwestern last weekend. I was pretty weak in the first half (I blame the rain) but in the second half things were looking up (for me, not for the team). One more home game to go, and my season's done. It'll be a chilly one.. (good thing I just bought the best. mittens. ever. The kind of mittens a cold-fingered photographer like myself dreams about.)

vs Michigan

Iowa players enter the field for their game against Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

I took a 400mm lens and a rented 600mm lens to the upper deck of the north endzone at Kinnick for Iowa's game against Michigan a few weeks ago. It was so much easier to follow passing plays from up there (something I've always struggled with), and the images so much cleaner. The only obstructions were the occasional excited fan, and the wires for the field goal net. Beautiful.

Iowa running back Marcus Coker (34, left) eyes Michigan State's Trenton Robinson (39) as he runs up the field in the third quarter.

Iowa's Tyler Sash (9, right) laterals the ball to Micah Hyde (18) over Michigan State's B.J. Cunningham (3) after an interception in the first quarter. Hyde took the ball for a touchdown.

Iowa offensive lineman Markus Zusevics (56, right) reacts after Adam Robinson carried the ball for a first down against Michigan State in the third quarter.

Michigan State's Marcus Hyde (11, left) tackles Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi (12) after Stanzi had run out of bounds in the first quarter. A penalty of unnecessary roughness was called on Hyde.

Iowa players make their way through fans on the field after the Hawkeyes' 37-6 win over Michigan State.

this is football, pt 2

Iowa vs Northwestern, Ryan Field

Iowa vs Michigan, Kinnick Stadium

wherehouse

Myohmy, where did I disappear to? Lots to share from the past few weeks, so let's get started with something fun... I had heard about the Wherehouse here and there, but had no idea where it was, or even really what it was, until our reporting intern started working on a story and I jumped on board. The simplest way to describe it is "community arts space." Check out Justine's story, and more photos, here. Big thanks to Nelle Dunlap, the IC Kings and Blizzard at Sea.

Patience and golf carts

I always love shooting at golf courses, for one reason: I get to drive a golf cart. This week, my assignment was almost absurdly flexible. "Shoot a photo at a city golf course to illustrate a season wrap-up story." The folks at Ellis Golf Course pointed out where I was most likely to find golfers, handed me a key and I was off. I drove backwards on the course past several holes, shooting some along the way but not seeing anything as striking as the light and landscape back at the 18th hole. So I found a good vantage point and waited. It couldn't have been a lovelier day to wait for a golfer to stop in just the right place.

tractoring

It's been awhile since I rode on a tractor. Decades, probably. And even that was a rusty old Massey Ferguson, probably perched on my granda's knee. So imagine my surprise when I climbed into the cab of this monster, and it was air conditioned, had a radio, a computer to spread exactly the right amount of fertilizer on each bit of land and pretty much drove itself. Read Orlan Love's story over here.

bboys

"So, would you rather cover Boy Scouts sorting canned food or break dancing Saturday?"
Um, huh?

The photo above was pretty much a wonderful accident. I was playing with slow shutter speeds (below), hoping one of the kids' camera flashes would sync up with me at some point, but after a couple rounds I switched back to a faster speed to at least have a 'safe' shot in the bag. (Of course, the safe shots were fine too, but...). And then, magically, someone's flash synced up with my shot. Joy! Celebration! And then running around looking for the kid for 20 minutes, because he somehow disappeared into thin air after his round.

this is football

..or at least what you get when you combine a darkdarkdark stadium with an oldoldold camera. Fortunately, I did get a few decent photos of the game, but I just had to laugh and shake my head when I saw this frame.

Hobo lunch

Students at a school wrapped up a unit on the Great Depression with a hobo-style lunch of meat and veggies.

It’s disgusting,” said one student. What if it was the only food available? For several days? “Then I’d eat it all."

market

I was at the Iowa City farmers market an hour earlier than the subject I was meeting last week, so I wandered around look for slivers of sweet afternoon light amidst the ugly orange parking ramp lights.

smoked

Just a few frames from a photo shoot for my brother this weekend, as part of my continuing curation of his apartment walls. This shoot has been in the works for months, we just had to be in the same place at the same time!