landings.

i am jealous of the freedom of flight that birds posses, that's probably why i make pictures of them, but even birds have to make a choice when landing. life presents so many choices. i only wish the landings were more easily chosen.

a tribute.

to the kertis family. steve and i have been friends since before either of us could grow a beard. now we'd both give jeremiah johnson a run for his money. that said our friendship hasn't changed at all. great seeing you as always. as for mr. and mrs. kertis, thanks for all the love, care, wisdom, and home cooking over the years.

1000+.

that is how many miles i put on the ol' honda on my trip home. those thousand plus miles brought new and familiar faces and i was thrilled to see you all. thanks to everyone who hung out, cut up, and made it feel like home.
ps. to my family, i'm sorry i left the camera in the car. i love you all just the same.

if he tries to leave, shoot him.

i found out that not only does a tree falling in the woods make a loud noise, so do guns when they are fired within a few feet of you. i'll post more details from my trip to eastern kentucky later.

big style.

i keep telling sara that its big time not big style, but she's not buyin it. on top of shooting three assignments today which began at 8:30a.m., it's now 1:52a.m., i shot my friends sara and her brother josh's portrait for their mother's christmas gift. i'm jealous as hell of josh's beard. here are some of the random process and they settled on the last one for the gift. i kicked it with a true 80s style minus the fogged look and the background with a barn and fall trees in it.

typical of my life.

the day i find out that the dog i had high hopes of adopting is part hound dog and barks like a fool making him a poor choice as my pet, i get an assignment to hang out with this guy ryan at his dog daycare. on any given day he has as many as 25 dogs at his house. today he had 13 and it was chaos. i actually went back this morning to go on morning walks with him. it was fate's way of slapping me in the face i guess. maybe someday i'll have a dog again. in the meantime i think fish might be a wiser choice.

poor grandma.

can somebody spot grandma five bucks so she can get into the game.

various stages of water... very cold water.

so i've talked to a few people from down south over the past few days and i keep hearing about these 60 and 70 degree days. BULLSHIT! at least the state of michigan is keeping it real with snowflakes the size of my palm (no joke), three inches of accumulation in as many hours, and shitty driving conditions. tis the season. i'll be kickin it in some shorts and a tshirt with you guys soon enough.

a guatemalan princess returns home.

megan returned to michigan this past week to visit with friends and family and to do more driving than most people attempt in months. it is often tough to uphold the obligations to see all of your loved ones when returning home. i'm faced with the same battle every time i cross the ohio river. megan did a pretty damn good job of it though. we made the most of a night in midland: surfing the free wireless i get at my house, which is probably a slower connection than she is used to in santiago, SLEDDING; hence that amazing snow suit that i happen to pick up at good will on a hunch and, despite a somewhat short torso section, fit megan pretty well and kept her quite warm and in style, watching a movie, and a mad dash to dunkin doughnuts for coffee and a bagel before she had to get back in the car to lansing this morning. it was great seeing you cabrito. safe travels. i'll see you when i see you.

a kick in the nuts and another santa.

last night i shot ryan's father-in-law's company christmas party. i was totally out of my element and learned quickly that event photography isn't my bag. in the end i came out with some alright pictures but getting there was tough. at one point i shot a half assed moment of some guys standing around talking. the next frame there all looking right at me giving me wolf tickets. i pulled the camera down from my face at which point one of the guys called me over and told me that he was going to break my camera. his buddy took the opportunity to chime in and tell me he'd kick me in the nuts. they were both smiling, but you could tell that was their way of being polite, but they really meant what they were saying. i tried to laugh it off and joke back, but i took my que to leave when the guy told me his wife would be pissed about cleaning my nuts off of his shoes. i won't publish the photo to maintain confidentiality and to save future generations of the marshall family. here are a couple photos from the party last night and a visit from santa to the local indian reservation.




on an ending note. i hope to one day know the feeling the man in that last photo seems to have.

cold turkey.

while most of you were home with your families eating cold turkey sandwiches and watching holiday television i was kickin it at ford field with the chemics and our intern alex. the day began at 7am and ended the next day at 1:30am and its contents filled our paper to the tune of our front page, the local page, sports section front and inside, and a photo page as well as a multimedia piece. not much goes on in midland, so when the boys make it to state the whole world stops. the game started out good and spirits were high going into halftime. the second half things went to shit. they lost 47-21. here are a few photos. hope all is well with everyone who looks at this regurgitation of light paintings.
ps. alex smoked me in the coverage.

thanks.

i opened my window and stepped onto my roof this morning amidst the bitter morning air to shoot the first photo of yes, snow on thanksgiving day. all the damn leaves haven't even fallen yet. i made a few phone calls and headed with ryan, angie, and the girls to grandma bishop's house. ryan's family cooks some mean eats and welcomed me with open arms and books and taunts. i'm greatful to them for being my surrogate family for the day, but to my own, there is no replacement. i miss and love you all. no offense to the wood, bishop, etc. clans.

r-dub.

ryan helped me out with our all area football photo yesterday. this is ryan, trying hard to look like an intimidating football player. i wasn't scared, so when he challenged me to a foot race i accepted to his surprise and told him i'd beat him. "hah! yeah right," he said. it was on. after the shoot we took our mark at the 50 yard line and he called out the start. "on your mark... get set........... GO!" he yelled jumping to a quick lead with his premature start. I caught up with him at the 25 and crossed the goaline a couple yards ahead of him. come on ryan, cheaters never win. i'm sure we looked funny as hell, two grown men racing on a field neither of us ever played on.

kevin in 3D.

kevin had his first 3D movie experience last night.

bird.

early bird.

they say that the early bird catches the worm. well i got up this morning at 3:15 to meet up with roughly 90 WWII veterans who were flying to washington d.c. to visit the new memorial there. dow was footing the bill and even gave up their private jet for the day to make it happen. anyway i showed up at the airport around 4:30 as the vets were arriving. it was mostly lame. old guys, up way too early, going to a place to sit and wait. there were tv crews in guy's faces all over and me chillin in the background waiting for something good. i took some time to talk to our reporter tony and he pre visualized the frame below. "you should shoot somebody kissing their wife goodbye," tony said in a somewhat sarcastic, but underlying serious tone. i nodded like, sure dude, that's going to happen, they're only going to be gone for the afternoon. well sure as shit, ol' tone was right and ceil gave her husband bob a kiss before he passed through the metal detector. the frame is cluttered as all get out and there's a damn photographer in the background, but it's still a sweet moment between some sweet folks. the above photo was taken after i took a quick nap in a gas station parking between assignments at around 6:50.