Girls State Track

Quick update from the Illinois Girls State Track competition last weekend. I'm leaving out the basic running across the finish line shots. Instead are the falling, crying, pole vault, umbrella and praying to track shoes shots.

Fotos de Abril

My internship here in Peoria is drawing to a close and I've not posted nearly enough photos. As I move from my basement apartment back into my car I feel I should put up some shots before I become too consumed with other tasks. These are just a few shots I took in April that I have close at hand. In order, first is a feature shot of a Mustang League baseball team's first practice of the year that I stumbled upon after driving out to shoot a high school game that was canceled due to cold weather. These guys were tough enough to brave the chilly temperatures, though. Next is a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force watching the Prairie Air Show from out on the wing of his plane. Last month I also spent a rainy Friday evening at and Illinois State Police "Safety Check Point" where there were no major violations or arrests, just lots of people handing over their ID and proof of insurance. Fourth is a shot of some children playing with Peoria's anti-litter garbage can mascot. Second to last is a feature I found of some guys at a RC Car (remote control car, savy?) race track just north of the city. I saw the top of the observation deck through some trees on my way to shoot another assignment and decided to check it out. I'd never seen an RC car track before. Interesting way to spend a Saturday. And finally is a face painting photo, generally reserved for intro to pho jou assignments, I realize that I've never really shot face painting before. So, this fills in that gaping hole in my life experience. I just like that you can see this little girl's brother, who's face is painted like a tiger, staring on has she gets a flower painted on one cheek and a rainbow on the other.

Cat in a Fire

Sunday started early for me. A couple of lackluster assignments had me ready to go home when the scanner reported a possible fire in a garage on the other side of the river. I ran on it and arrived just when the scanner announced an explosion. Surprisingly, despite the explosion, I wasn't kept back (possible because I arrived right when I did) and was able to shoot the fire with nothing longer than my 80-200mm. There were firefighters in the house when the explosion occurred and they suffered minor injuries but stayed to continue fighting the blaze before going to the hospital with hearing damage. The house's occupants got out safe and two pets were rescued, including this singed and ornery cat, which headed straight back to the house to hide and was picked up again by another firefighter.

The March Madness Experience

The Illinois high school state basketball finals are held in Peoria every March. This year there was a big exhibit hall at the Civic Center full of basketball related activities. I shot it for the Journal Star's Heartland section (a weekly photo page/section). The conditions were pretty tough. Dim lighting, super high black ceilings, and sports action made my job pretty hard. I really didn't want to have to lug a lighting kit around with me and set it up at each station, but eventually I caved (not soon enough to get all the photos I wanted, though). So, the results are a mix of lit and unlit shots from the different stages of my coverage. These ran awhile ago but I forgot to add to the phlog. Here they are.

Softball Screwup

So, I went to shoot a high school girls softball game today for some sports page wild art. After shooting the whole game, I noticed that the sign in front of the school I was shooting at said Jr. High on it. After a quick check of the rosters I'd gathered from the two teams I realized that I had somehow shot the sophomore game instead of the varsity game (which took place directly across the street and was apparently over long before I realized my mistake - I checked). Luckily (sort of) there was a night game on the other side of town so I went and shot that. Unluckily, the lights on the third base side were out (not that it would have mattered that much). This is the shot I got of a play at home plate from the daytime game that I accidentally shot (the photo that is in tomorrow's paper will not appear on this phlog). Ugh.

Weather and a Movie

Last Sunday was a pretty full day here at the Journal Star. A few stories fell through and left us all scrambling to fill in the holes in the Monday paper. Among the things I shot were this weather/kids having fun feature and this photo from the opening of a local indie horror film at a theater downtown. The theater shot is of one of the film's producers who was nervously pacing in the back by all of the projection equipment. Being a movie theater, it was very dark so I had to do a long exposure (2 seconds) but this guy was nervous and kept pacing, becoming just a blur in the images. Luckily, he paused right in a spot of light from a screen and stayed there long enough for me to make this frame (camera braced on the railing and prefocused manually with a prayer). The great green color was an added bonus.

Backyard Ice RInk (one year of phlogging)

Today is the one-year-anniversary of this phlog. I don't have anything brand new to put up (not on this computer, you see), but I do have these photos from a few visits I made to this family who've been building an ice skating rink in their backyard for the last nine years. The son (a hockey player) is graduating this year and going on to college so this is probably (supposedly) the last year that the dad will be building the rink. Some of these photos are from a day when the high was 10 degrees (colder in a shady backyard) and I forgot my gloves. That was horrible. This is a very loose edit (um, kinda). Forgive me.