interesting cast of characters as of late...

i spent a few hours with mike gamble on one of those "why didn't the reporter tell us about this earlier?!" assignments. he lives on the missouri with his two dogs and loves the river life. "It's like being on vacation everyday," he says, even though he lost everything in the flood of '93. he rebuilt his house a half-foot higher and hopes that will spare him the next time.

what was essentially a last minute portrait turned into a few hours talking about wildlife, old cars, the habits of hyperactive golden retrievers, and an addiction to home-improvement shows. there were long lulls in our conversation when we both just stared out over the water as the sun dropped beneath heavy gray autumn skies. there's something very peaceful and open about people who live in their own version of paradise.





richard williford was driving on Route B north of Hallsville when he struck a deer that leapt from the roadside. The deer totaled the car, and Williford had to pull an antler out of his mouth after pushing the deer back through the windshield. it caused some damage to his teeth as the deer rattled its head back and forth after impact.

"I don’t even know how to explain it to anybody when you realize after impact that you’ve got a horn in your mouth and there’s something alive attached to it."



brenda haynes was my "our town" earlier this month. she opened a kindermusik studio to spend more time with her kids. she hasn't levelled out financially and her kids struggle with sharing her attentions with others. "“My daughter knows she can control whether I succeed or fail if she acts out in class."



stefan melnick leans on his sword as director tammy walker gives the cast notes after a run through of Robin Hood. teens will be teens.



i came up with a crazy idea for a fashion shoot: wear fall color, literally. over a period of two weeks i collected leaves from columbia and tried every method of preservation known to man. for the scale and duration of this project i ended up using paraffin wax to keep the leaves from losing color. we enlisted the help of two awesome design students from the local college to sew the leaves to a basic dress we got at walmart.







i learned alot about expectations and communicating with the design and writing side during this ordeal. i didn't quite get the shot i was looking for, but i'm very happy i spent the time to give it a whirl.

cpoy

one of the priviledges of living in columbia is being able to sit in during the judging of two very prestigious photo contests, CPOY and POYi. in between assignments this week i sat in a darkened room and listened to four judges narrow the field for a dozen categories of entries for cpoy. it was neat to see familiar work from friends make it into the finals and win awards. it was inspiring to see interesting characters and issues flash on the screen by the thousands.

in the context of this particular competition, there are qualities of good photojournalism that make it into the top tier everytime. excellent photography won't always get you past the first round. a pretty picture without a story will fail against an equally pretty one with a story. in other words, it's about the story, stupid.

this morning's judging of individual audio-slideshow confirmed for me some thoughts about what "the story" is. there is a glut of bad storytelling in this format in general. at its worst it's a source of boredom, missed opportunities and misapplied resources. seeing the things that don't work, over and over again, will hopefully innoculate me against doing them in my own work.

• The story is not "Hello, my name is _____."
• The story is not the recited history of place, people or events.
  
• The story is not the summary of the story.
• The story is not the introduction.
• The story is not the interview.
• The story is not the process.
• The story is not people talking about other people's stories.

there's a much more helpful list to be made of what the story actually is. i'm still working on that one. haha.

barnstorm XX - back in black

last year i had the incredible opportunity to attend the eddie adams workshop in upstate new york. it will always be one of the biggest honors of my career. four days of sleep deprivation, inspiration, scortching critiques and induction into the barnstorm family. it's a lot to take in.

over the last year i've gone back in my mind to that first walk up the driveway to the barn. faculty and alumni line the gravel road, cheering me on towards the door that reads 'you've arrived.' i try to recapture that feeling of relief, that moment saturated with pride and humbleness and confidence. it was the complete lack of doubt i remember most.



sometime over that next four days the doubt crept back in, small but persistent. in the face of so much amazing work, by peers and mentors, the power of my own seemed so jouvenile, like baby steps to their ballet. those cheers on the drive hadn't all been for me. and with a few more careless thoughts i deconstructed the moment i had worked so hard for.



i still felt an incredible boost from the workshop and an imperative to use the talent so many had invested in. there was just a lingering doubt. until this year.

on october 1st i rode a bus into the catskills as a member of the black team, the alumni that run the behind-the-scenes of the workshop. for four days there is non-stop raking, weeding, mowing, painting, scraping, sanding, cleaning, dusting, mulching, raking, tacking, planting, sweeping, hedging, insect-bombing, stocking, raking, mopping, excavating, furniture arranging, stone laying, pumpkin carving and did i mention raking? it's the most meditative housework i have ever done and as close to church as i have ever felt.

day two, standing on a ladder, two stories up, scraping paint from a window frame, my triceps aching from a day of raking, my blisters stinging from the sweat, my sense of gratitude overcoming my fear of falling, it hit me. everyone on that driveway the year before had done just as much work for me. over 100 people. countless man hours in dedication, in service, in belief in the talent that walks through that door. and all at once, i finally felt like part of the family.



i hope i have the opportunity to go back again next year.

smattering

sports and festivals, old ladies with ice cream and a touch of the medieval.


first MU home game. first home game touchdown.




high school football just before half-time. this is one i want to revisit.




softball games can be excruciatingly slow. one of our local high school teams has an outstanding pitcher. she's been in the paper so much we are banned from shooting her for awhile. most of the game is her striking people out. with very little field action, i was glad to get an "almost" with this play at second.


these girls won the local civil war, volleyball match between the two high schools in columbia.


the tour of missouri sprinted through columbia. the staff spread out over the city. we each got one, maybe two pictures as the group hustled through. as i waiting, baking in the sun, for the lead pack to appear some of the local cycling team rode through the course in elvis costumes. sweet.


the heart of america marathon at 6am.


ice cream social. another almost. still dig the red hat enough to post it.


mulekicker cloggers. fanning away the heat before another polka.


columbia hosted a(n) (inaugural?) roots n' blues n' bbq festival a few weeks back. a local bank was celebrating 150 years and payed for it all. no one knows if it will be back next year. at least it was fun while it lasted.






an outtake from this week's our town. the father and daughter were the ones that spoke to me (click the link for the story), but this guy had a good one, too. he's a teen with amtgard, a sort of society for creative anachronism, but with fantasy role-playing elements. he won the title of "champion" for his group for the next year. which means he has to lead the combat exercises and know all the rules and keep everyone in line. a sort of "coming of age" in a video-game-dungeons-and-dragons-come- real-life-boffer-fighting-swordsman sort of way.


brittany, 14, and her father cecil.

from the dailies

football season is upon us. it'll be a tough season to shoot with only a quarter of nice light before darkness falls. sf prep teams played in the afternoon to avoid gang violence, so i never had to use strobe during a game. le sigh. let's hope all the important plays happen in the first 15 minutes of the game.



a local frat was hanging out in the front yard to cool down during a spat of 100 degree days. the guy at the end on the right gave me a fake name so this could only be published here.


local firefighters and emergency workers participated in a acute-angle rescue workshop. some of the rescuers needed rescuing themselves.






portrait of an artist.


this is my first contribution to our paper's weekly photo column called "Our Town." It's one of the longest running, maybe the longest running, photo column in the US. Photographers find stories around town and bring it to the reader in one photo and 300 words or so. This is a great outlet for the journalist in every photojournalist. I hope to go back and do some audio and more photos with this mother of quadruplets.

epic weekend at the local balloon invitational. editor's note** this post contains gratuitous layers of content-slim color.

three days of getting up at 5am payed off with a media flight. woo-hoo. i love my job. finished an audioslideshow from that trip today. spending four days with the aeronauts was exhausting. i now know random facts about wind speed, pibals, envelopes and propane.








































and lastly, my view after our sideways landing. "gimmie that camera, i got a shot for you!"


by the end of four days i knew quite a few people out on the field. it's nice when people refer to me by name instead of "media girl."

this small town atmosphere will be an interesting experience. i've already run into people i've shot on assignment elsewhere in the community, and i've only been here a month. that never happened when i worked in bigger markets. i'm interested to see how this will play into my work, what stories it might bring me to tell.

long time, many miles.

this summer was amazing. i'm still getting adjusted to my new digs here in columbia, missouri. as of the first of august i'm a staff photographer for the columbia daily tribune. and that's full-time, people. the internship train has made it's final stop. i have to rethink a name for this blog and post a huge update of images and links.

for now here are links to my final projects at poynter back in july. click on the photo to link to stories.

i found a group for young fathers in st. petersburg that helps its members find resources and stay active in their kids lives.



for my last week of the fellowship i really wanted to tell a more intimate story. i had been to many events but i wanted to get deeper with the people at those events. scott and emilie were a father/daughter duo at the softball game from the previous week. i spent a few days with them and fell in love with their small family.