This is summer

This is long over due but the other day we cooked some brats out on the grill and had ourselves a cookout. Brats, frisbee and softball, still no beer thanks to Ben, Luke and Scott's Lental sacrifice, but this is what summer feels like...

If he only knew what was coming....
It did miss him, if only by inches.


Since the grills our permanetly in the ground we would have had to make a long trip all the way around the building to go back in and out of the apartment. A quick removal of the screen provided a welcomed, but acrobatic, shortcut.

Enjoying the fruits of Luke's labor....

Fightin' Words

and the battles to come...

Picturing Boredom

These two just make me smile...
This cool hat was just chillin in a window, it reminds me of the old "press" hats.

Meet Mr. James Broyles, Bowling Green resident and avid fisherman. I didn't have much to do after school today and I couldn't justify sitting inside on such a nice day so I walked around town and down by the river. I met Mr. Broyles down there struggling to catch some fish.

I probably ruined his peaceful afternoon fishing on the river but he was nice enough to let me hang around while he proceeded to catch a bluegill and what looked like a overgrown minnow. "I can't bring that home, my wife would put me outta da house."

20 minutes and 5 pictures

Crowd shots from Froggies during the Western game. I think they pretty much summed up how the game went.


YES!WHAT?!
O YA!
NO!
S**t.

The ups and downs

Well...tonight could have gone better. To any who didn't watch Western lost to Gonzaga in the last second, literally, of the game. At least that's what I was told. All I saw through my camera was extreme happiness followed by tears, it was at that point that I assumed nothing good came of the game. These are just some of my favorites, more will come tomorrow.

I had gone over to Froggies to watch/shoot the game, it was SLAMMED. Usually I would just turn around but it was fantastic for photos.

This dude was so excited and super expressive so I kinda camped out around him.

The people right under the big screen were kind enough to let me sit in thier booth with them for most of the game so I had the whole bar looking right at me. Good photographically, bad for someone to isn't really an attention seeker.

This was taken from that vantage point in the booth. The TV is inches above the camera. I'm just glad I finally got to use my fisheye!
It's late, I'm tired, Goodnight.

This is all of That

First off- Under construction no more, there is finally a NEW WEBSITE!!! Trashed that nasty old one and put up an incrementally better one. Tell me what you think. CLICK ME.



Secondly- The Illinois Press Photographers Association had their Photographer of the year competition on Friday and I got third place in the student division and my friend PETER HOFFMAN finished second. The Naperville Sun had a good showing in the pro category with JONATHAN MIANO and Danielle Gardner both getting multiple awards and KATE SZROM winning the Illustration category. Congrats to all and if you want you can check out the full results HERE.

And to finish up- the last of the scans from spring break.

Some more of That

More random business from the last few weeks shot on the lovely expired film.



I ... well Jordan, found a sweet camera at an antique store in Pana. Its an Agfa folder camera, complete with bellows and all. For $20 I figured, "Why not," so I got it home and ran this roll of film through it.

This and That

Since the Heroes project took up some time I have been slacking on the processing of other photos. So... in the next day or two there will be a splattering of photos from my trip home, the pana trip, and some recent work. Feels good to get caught up again...


This is at one of the rest stops during the trek home. I shot it on some very expired film I got when I was working at the Naperville Sun. I liked it.


Of all the time I have spent at Nana's house I don't believe that I've never seen this angle before. Well at least I found it now cause I like how it looks...

Another old, expired film shot, I think we were waiting for the El to come on our way to.... (next photo)

BILLY GOAT! The most magnificent burgers ever along with some killer atmosphere. CHEEZBORGER CHEEZBORGER CHEEZBORGER!!

Kiss me, I'm Irish. What else do I say?

Everyday Hero's

Sorry for not posting in awhile, I have been really busy finishing up a project on the Red Cross Blood Donation Center in town. We had to find an unsung hero, anyone we thought was a hero, to do a multimedia piece on. This was my first idea and almost got scrapped because I couldn't get a hold of anyone to interview which lead me to a few other good story ideas. Anyway, here is the finished piece. The music is by a band called Entropy from Naperville, Ill. Let me know what you think! You can see it full size and quality HERE.

O Glorious Day

Who would want to go to work inside on such a gorgeous day, 70 degrees and sunny?

This what I woke up to and made me get outside. Look at that sunlight...
This is between our two buildings. No work has been done to that sky either... Love It!

Off to work.

Hero's of the day

Or at least every 56 days because that is how long you have to wait to give blood again. I was surprised at how many people do it so religiously. On one of the walls sits a list of names of donors who have given 10 gallons or more. Wow.
Anyway, this is more from my day there. It was cool to see the mix of people coming in to donate, everyone from business men on lunch to stay at home moms, teachers and a few that, well, I'm not to sure about, but all there for the same cause. Many had cool stories that may be showing up here later...

Who is a Hero?

Everybody has their "Fantasy hero's," the sports stars, Movie stars or legends that they look up to, but I think the ones that really matter are the people who live their lives not knowing how much someone else looks up to them. These are the true hero's, and these are the unsung hero's.


I went down to the Red Cross the other day for the blood donation day and lit up some portraits of the people donating their blood. These are just four of the the many I took. I had a great time down there hanging out with the staff, after they realized that I was harmless we spent a good half hour when they were slow just goofing around and taking some fun pictures, a few of which may see the light of day here soon. They pretended to be supermodels and such...very fun.

New Stuff... YAY!

Walked out of class today and these guys were walking on a slackline. Slacklining is basically tight rope walking but low to the ground. It was later on and the light was sweet so I mosied my way over and asked if I could take a few photos. I shot for awhile and then the light went away so I asked if I could jump on. Having not done it in a long time it was a little rough, but it came back quickly. They were pretty cool and I found some new climbing partners out of the deal. Sweet!




Julie, these are for you as proof that I do go out. Rick Loomis, a Western grad and pulitzer prize winner came to school to talk and afterwards we invited him out to the bar. Western Tradition I guess. Well, he never showed up, but about 15-20 PJ's did and we just kinda hung out, played pool and drank. Coke. Good times.