Skatin'

These guys were skating at a local park today. One had the Santa hat, the other was skating with skates he received for Christmas. It was actually difficult making a useable image because so much of the graffiti on the skate ramps were a tad inappropriate. Oh well, the kids were cool.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all !

Yee haw

These are from a few months back from my trip to Dallas,Texas. Just got the film processed so here are a few. The Taco Bueno is good (not as good as Taco Jose in Houston) and the burger is from Whataburger, a popular burger restaurant chain in those parts. The flag photo has some weird marks on it which could either be from leaving the film in my car during different temperatures, or the processors fault, I wish I knew.

Grand Tour

OK, the tour wasn't all that grand. But the building was designed back in the day by Alden B. Dow who is a well known architect.

the goods

Fellow photographer Wendy Torello has a sister (Leslie) that makes delicious baked goods. Here are two of them prior to their disappearance in my stomach and they were good. Any awesome food that is sent my way will find its way onto my blog. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Sewer

A nearby village is getting a new sewer system put in and this is the fella in charge.

Watching

This was an assignment for a couple that built a dance floor in one of their bedrooms. The guy, an avid photographer himself, was just watching as I was getting my settings adjusted.

Blog post #101

That's right, this is the 101st blog post so cheers to that. Also it's school swimming season and it's been real busy lately so here's one of the photos from the madness that is high school sports in the winter time.

Cold

Standing at a main intersection asking for money on the coldest night we've had yet. I can only hope that Don's luck changes for the better and that his future is paved with a warmer road.

Ficus

This ficus was left by my girlfriend as an addition to my living room. When it was first placed in this location maybe five months ago, it was flourishing. I tried lots of water, very little water, talking to it, cold and hot temperatures and as you can see, it will soon (probably tonight when I get home) pass on to that garden in the sky. Rest in peace little ficus.

Mmmmm...cement

While walking to an assignment today I came across this cow that a furniture store was selling. It was on clearance and for $2,000 it can be yours.

The Beach

I took this photo last summer with a Holga camera on the bulb exposure mode at a local beach.

Mop bucket

This is the bucket that a local wrestling team uses to mop their mats with.

Tandem

Found this guy cruisin' solo today in a nearby downtown.

Mmmmm... carrots

This farmer's family bought him this donkey for his birthday because he'd always wanted a donkey. The farmer named it "Donkey". It's kept in the same confines as two other horses and apparently, when it gets annoyed with the horses, it can run backwards and kick its legs while doing it. What a funny ass.

sign

If you cross the railroad tracks, lightning bolts will strike your trailer.

Player of the Year

This is the 2nd Player of the Year honor for this guy and when I got into the office, I saw that I was the one shooting it and I only had an hour and a half. I know it's not the coolest thing ever, but the last photo of this athlete was a simple black background and some poses. So I set up some boxes and called him (thanks to Michael and Paul for helping me arrange this), and he brought two baskets of tennis balls. This isn't the shot that ran, although, how awesome would it be if it did! I just thought how strange it was to have this Player of the Year in the studio, laying on the ground surrounded by old boxes and tennis balls. I've gotta give props to the athlete, he was a super sport about it.

Cheating death

Don't tell OSHA, but this is my standard setup when shooting hockey in this building. Until today that is. It's usually a great spot to shoot because the glass is often marred up so the ladder gives me a nice overall, clear view of the ice and the hockey action. No joke, just after I took this photo that you are looking at, a hockey puck was sailing over the glass at HEAD LEVEL over the ladder ! Needless to say, it was a definite sign from God so I took the ladder down and found a couple of newly replaced pieces of glass to shoot from. So God, me and my braces thank you.

Teaching class

This was at a local college today involving a veterinarian and veterinary technician teaching Girl Scouts how to care for their pets.

Reverend

This fella has been pastor at a local church for 40 years and I was lucky enough to be able to follow him for a morning. He was real humble and soft spoken and has done so much for the community and its people.

Orphanage

Folks, sorry the blog has been suffering lately in both quantity and quality. It's been pretty nutty. The hour change leaves me with less light and lately my assignments have been consisting of basketball practices of area teams and play rehearsals and lots of them. So, I realize it's time to kick it into gear. I don't know if this photo does or not but it is definitely better than a lone tree in black & white : )
This is in front of a local church that is trying to donate two retired army trucks to an orphanage in Africa.

tree

This is a tree I saw in a parking lot before I went to shoot an assignment tonight.

Candy

Thanks to my roommate, any trick-or-treaters that roamed the halls of my apartment building were rewarded with peppermint candies served in a ceramic bowl. Surprisingly, when I got home from work last night, about half of the candies were gone. Apparently no one was brave enough to eat the bag of microwave popcorn.

halloween

Today was rough because instead of just photographing cool trick-or-treaters, I was running all over town at different haunted houses which wasn't what I wanted to take photos of at all. Anywho, these thugs insisted I take their photo and although I usually don't, tonight I did. Just one of those nights.

Mr. Hockey

Yesterday was the fourth time I've met Gordie Howe and he's a class act EVERY time. Including the time I worked at Home Depot in Traverse City back in 1997. I was the helper outside and I loaded some flooring into the back of his van for him and his wife. There was a hockey stick in the back of my car so like that annoying fan I told him to "Hold on." So he was cool and waited. I ran to my car and asked him if he could sign the stick. He took a look at it, then looked at me and then he grabbed the stick and hit it onto the ground a few times. " Tell me you don't play with this piece of shit," he said. I know it wasn't the best hockey stick but it was the only one I had ! Regardless he obliged and signed it.

Goat

Don't let that smile fool ya. When this goat wasn't in front of my camera today, it was trying to win the title of "world's most annoying animal" by lightly head-butting my shins and trying to eat my shoes.

Ain't no party like a chippewa party

I've missed posting photos, I was in Dallas visiting my girlfriend so it feels like forever since I've gotten to post on the 'Octpob' ('Island' in Russian pronounced in English- Ostrov). It was an awesome time, Texas is a great state. Now down to business.
This is from the Central Michigan University homecoming toward the end of September. It's 35 mm and a lot of the photos have been coming back to me overexposed so I'm hoping it's a Wal-Mart mistake and not my camera's. The second photo is from Houston, it's a taco stand somewhat similar to Taco Jose* (*see earlier post on Taco Jose's insanely delicous tacos) except this one is 'El Taco Llenito' and is a vehicle, while Taco Jose is a trailer. Anyway, both tacos were the best. I didn't see one taco stand in dallas, although I'm sure they've got at least one. So I was dissapointed. However, they had tons of other good food (Buffalo Burgers..etc.).

R.I.P.

While driving to many an assignment I pass this dried up pond but yesterday I actually took a photo of it. I suppose that if you were a boat, this is how you'd want to go.

Pickup truck repair

I was driving around south of Port Huron (Marine City) and this fella was sitting under his '86 GMC pickup hood fixing his truck. I thought it was cool that he was actually sitting in it. We stood around and talked about old trucks for a while and how the newer trucks don't have any room to work on them any more. Something you can't tell by looking at the photo, is that there were two good size dogs on the other side of a fence to my left (behind the truck) and they wouldn't stop barking. It was one of those continuous loud barks. A couple of good guard dogs just doing their job.

Fire

The air quality in Port Huron is super bad and as I saw this on the Canadian side tonight coming back to the office, I'm not sure what's burning but it makes me think that it's not helping.

Record high

Yeah, today reached 88 degrees which surpasses the old record of 84 degrees set in 1997.

Downtown PH

This is the part of downtown Port Huron that can be seen from inside the Times Herald's building.

Cross Country

Cross country runnin' today south of town.

Go Vikings !

These were some superfans that have a reputation for putting their all into cheering for the home team. Took this photo tonight and the home team couldn't score quick enough 'cause this crew was chomping at the bit to jump from their seats to yell and applaud.

Second chance

This fella is a cook and is participating in a program that allows ex-prisoners a second chance in life.

pigeon food

So up to the pump I pulled today, and there was this pigeon that wouldn't move and it wasn't fake. Turns out it was standing its ground at the summit of large bags of corn kernels. It reminded me of that squirrel in the movie Ice Age and how it lived for acorns.

Carving

It's funny because as I'm driving around looking for photos, I sometimes just hope that some guy will be sitting outside carving wood or something and on last Thursday, that's just what this guy was doing. He was also fun to talk to. Plus, his name was also Keith so he was extra cool.
"I'm 77 so I don't get around so well. I can still make it down here though. I come here all the time to putz around. The lake relaxes me and it's a good spot," he said. "I'd like to teach my kids how to do it, I've got five kids, three of them boys, but no one seems to have time. Everything's hurry, hurry, hurry, " Keith continued. "I've got a grandson but he's got a girlfriend and you know how that is. He's with her 99% of the time," he explained.

mustang

Driving through Royal Oak I was surprised to see this car next to this car shop just because they both looked circa 1960's. I've never been happy with the composition of this photo but I only had the 50mm on me and to square up everything I would've had to stand in a busy road. This is another film shot which makes it fun, i've been using some film lately because Wal-Mart processes it and puts it onto a CD (around 6-7 MB/ ea. photo) for less than $5.

Monica

Ok, so this photo of Monica isn't recent, it was taken last winter. But I just got the film developed last weekend and I think she's pretty so here it is.

Houston

So I recently got back from a trip to Houston to see my Monica. It was an AMAZING time and we did tons of stuff. Zoo, aquarium, mall, ate cheesecake (our fav), I had costa rican Mahi-Mahi, hard rock cafe, the list goes on. However, across from her apartment in a Shell gas station parking lot was this place called Taco Jose. It was just a little stand on four flat tires but the tacos it served were the BEST I've ever had. I'm telling all who read this, it's not crazy to move to Houston just for these tacos, they're that good. They come with a bag of limes, and an assortment of salsas. Fourth meal my ass.
The one of her being stared at by a ground hog was at the Houston Zoo which was also amazing. The place was huge and was like a jungle. I love wondering what the ground hog is thinking as it looks at her.

Joe

This is a fella named Joe that I met today. He was just really cool. He was 72 and he's driven tractors for the better part of his life. Although he's from a rural area, he told me he married a city girl. It's nice meeting fun people like this on assignments because it keeps me from getting TOO focused on what I'm doing and helps me laugh a little bit.

The Million Dollar Chair

I know my last post was a chair also, this should be the last 'chair' photo for a while, but look at this beauty! I call it "the million dollar chair" because that's how I feel each and every time I sit in it. Rumor has it it was originally the publisher's chair, then another employee used it until it found its final home with me at my desk. Take a look at the photo and notice what the 'common-folk' sit in.

That's a huge chair !

So I was driving toward the location of my 10-year high school reunion the other day and I missed the road. But just past the road was this HUGE lawn chair. That's not a toy tractor in the background, it's just a really really big lawn chair. I wanted to try it out because it's been a while since I've fit comfortably in a lawn chair, but there wasn't anyone around to take a photo of it.

My hero

Here's my hero (mom) doing what she loves. Any oddities I have, good or bad, come from her and I wouldn't change them for anything. I love my mom for so many reasons. Recently she purchased a Jamaican flag at a garage sale and will hang it somewhere outside because she "loves the colors." If there's anyone that doesn't believe in conformity, it's this woman.

Levi in TC

This is a friend of mine Levi Britton. He's from Traverse City, but he's been playing in an awesome band called Down The Line. He was playing in downtown Traverse City for an event called Friday Night Live where the streets are closed off and people can walk around, eat food, watch artists and have a good time. Levi tore it up and played an awesome set. I took the photo right when he started playing but as time went on there was a good sized audience watching him.