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.

Confused robin

Poor robin, thought it was time for spring, for green grass and flowers and cookouts and frolicking! Nope. In Iowa, you never know when you'll get six more inches of snow.

polar

A few weeks ago, it was 70 and sunny. Yesterday, it snowed, while I was shooting the Polar Plunge at Pleasant Creek. Some of the teams, like the Nukesickles from Duane Arnold nuclear plant or the ducks from Midwest Xtreme Tri Club, went all out with costumes. My 'costume' was more of the tall rubber boots and lots of layers variety. See gazettonline for the story and more bone-chilling photos.

sunny/blue

Just a few things I saw today while out on assignment. It's a lovely Sunday; I'll soon be leaving the gray, florescent-lit office for an afternoon of sipping sweet tea on my patio.

Here comes the flood. again.

Photographed this morning at Jones Golf Course. No, that's not a water hazard. You can almost hear all of Iowa holding its breath, waiting to see what happens, dreading the possibility of a repeat of last year.

archive surprise

I was digging through the archive today and found some fun surprises. This guy introduces the CR Rollergirls before their match at US Cellular. This may be the one photo in existence from that arena with killer (as opposed to flat/colorless) light. Taken 11.22.08.

Jackson the Action Whippet (and his human)

Last month I photographed local artist Fred Easker as he worked in his basement studio. His new puppy, Jackson the Action Whippet (think Jackson (Pollock) the Action Painter) is almost always scampering about the studio or perched in that chair while Easker paints. I know my presence can be a distraction in some situations, much as I try to just be a respectful observer, but it was tougher than I anticipated in such a silent space. When he works, he says it's like a meditation, so imagine attemtping that when a camera is clicking in the background.

Jackson, a four month-old Whippet, chews on a toy while Cedar Rapids artist Fred Easker works on a painting of a view near Harpers Ferry in his home studio on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. Easker is one of the five artists selected to create work for the new federal courthouse.