The Pearls

I'm glad to finally post this essay I've been chipping away at over the past few months.  I saw a note on the staff calendar left from Nathan Morgan that it could make a neat feature, so I followed up on it.  It started out as a good excuse to practice some underwater photography, but as you can see from the layout it ended up being a little deeper than that.  I want to send out a special thanks to coaches Kathleen Wenz, Becky Barnes, and Jennifer Rey and the entire team for their hospitality and letting me into this portion of their lives for the past few months.

The layout was done by Nick King who put in hours into the design to ensure that the presentation came together right.  This is why I love working for the Daily News.

The Qualifier

This past Sunday was Midland's first marathon.  Nick King and I tagged teamed the event, and it was my job to photograph the start and the middle, while Nick caught the finishers at the end.  It was painful to watch the some of the runners slug it out in the heat - especially later on in the race.  Marathons can be emotionally charged events and I admire any runner that takes on the task of running 26.2 miles.  I hope to join their ranks one day soon.

She's all grown up

So proud of her.  She's done some incredible work as a student and I can't wait to see what she does next.  To read Libby March's poignant blog post about graduating click here.

Spring sports update

Optional post headline: "Title IX."

Burn

There are feature hunts and then there are feature hunts.  This one started out like most.  It was a slow news day and I pointed my car south to see if I could find something interesting to shoot.  I passed by some kids playing outside their farmhouse, and soon caught sight of a wisp of smoke on the horizon.  I thought it might be the remains from a grass fire I heard come over the scanner earlier in the day, so I went to investigate.  It was a grass fire, but it was a controlled burn.  I spent the next few hours photographing the men working to burn off the old growth to maintain a habitat for pheasants.  The light got better the longer I stayed.  It was something to be that closer to the inferno.  If I wasn't a photographer I'd be a firefighter.

Crash on M-20

This accident happened a few blocks from my house though I didn't get the call until a half hour after it happened.  When I arrived everyone was on their way to the ER and the emergency crews were packing up. I'm not sure of the extent of the injuries (the other car was much worse).  The scene was silent with the highway closed and the emergency crews gone when I clicked the shutter for this photo.  Life is short, live it well.