Joe Paterno
I only covered one Illinois football game against Penn State University back in 2009… looks like I won’t be getting another chance to photograph Joe Paterno. Oh well.
Reindeer Ranch
I’ve always wanted to go to Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul, so I quickly put my name in the system when I saw an assignment for a story there. I wish I could have been there during the field trip that the story is about, but I made do with what I had to work [...]
Players of the Year
I photographed a few local high school athletes for some of the fall player of the year awards… Maroa-Forsyth’s Gary Scott was the Macon County football player of the year, LSA’s Morganne Criswell was the Macon County volleyball player of the year (for the third time) and Warrensburg-Latham’s Drew Dunn was the soccer player of [...]
State Football
Two of our local teams made it to the IHSA state football tournament this year, so I got to freeze my butt off shooting Tuscola in the 1A game and Maroa-Forsyth in the 2A. Both teams dominated all year long, but lost by big margins in the final games. It was the coldest game of the [...]
House Fire
Fire photos without fire are challenging… I’ve been to several fire scenes in my time as a photojournalist, but haven’t seen any flames since I started at the Herald & Review almost four years ago. I’m not sure if it’s the fact we don’t have a working scanner in the photo room or the local fire [...]
Wet Cement
Somebody drove their car into a 16-inch deep patch of fresh cement in a construction zone a block away from our office last week… sadly, this isn’t the first time I’ve shot something like this in the past few months. I don’t understand how someone can not pay attention to all the barricades, workers and [...]
Election Night
Election is always a challenge because it’s a lot of waiting around in poorly-lit rooms. I spent most of my night at Lock Stock & Barrel following Republican candidate Adam Brown around while waiting for the results in his race for the 101st House District. I got some OK shots of him checking the numbers and [...]
Early Harvest
The weather around here has been hot and dry, so the farmers are getting ready for an early harvest. I had an assignment for the newspaper to take pictures of a local farmer making preparations to harvest his crops. I don’t know much about farming, so I’m thankful that David, the farmer I was sent [...]
Water Aerobics
Last week I had an assignment to shoot a water aerobics class at the Decatur Athletic Club for a health story. Usually these are indoors in crappy light, so I grumbled about it for a little bit. I changed my tune a little bit when I realized that it was in an outdoor pool… nothing [...]
Update from the zoo
I shot an assignment at Scovill Zoo in Decatur earlier this week that I’m really excited to share, but it hasn’t run yet… so instead I give you a picture of Galapagos Tortoises wrestling with each other. I’m not an animal expert, but that’s what I heard a mother tell her child they were doing.
Teen hangouts
I hate assignments that make me feel like an old man. Mother Nature reminds me about it every day, I don’t need any more reminders. Recently, I had an assignment to photograph teenagers hanging out at Sportsman’s Park in Decatur. Several years ago the cool thing to do in town was drive up and down [...]
Macon County Fair
I spent a few days at the Macon County Fair back in June… my apologies to the three people that check my blog repeatedly. I’m sure you were all anxiously waiting for pictures of miscellaneous livestock and rain-soaked carnival workers. Your wait is finally over. Fair overall (Herald & Review)
Female boxer
I got to photograph a local boxer at the SkyWalker International Sports Complex training for the 2010 USA Boxing National Championships earlier last month. I would have loved to spend more time with her and actually covered her fighting in a match, but it was a quick in-and-out assignment at the last minute right before [...]
New Monticello pool
The newly renovated Monticello Family Aquatic Center finally opened up at the beginning of July and I had the rough assignment to make some images for the newspaper. Yes, I got to kick my shoes off and walk through the children’s play pool for a few minutes while on the clock, but there were some [...]
Grass
One of my morning assignments had me walking through fields of 14-foot tall grass. University of Illinois researchers are studying the grass, known as Miscanthus, as a source of biofuel. Andrew Wycislo, a graduate research assistant with the U of I’s Energy Biosciences Institute, who led me around the different plots of grass said they [...]
Flag Retirement
I got to shoot a flag retirement ceremony at the Mount Zion Lion’s Club Monday evening. Things get pretty toasty when you’re burning more than a thousand kerosene-soaked flags. An honorable ending (Herald & Review)
State Track Jube
I drove down to Charleston to shoot the IHSA Boys Track and Field state finals Saturday at EIU… I don’t know if the heat fried my brain, but I had the hardest time shooting the celebration shots (jube for short) as athletes crossed the finish line. Nine times out of ten the runner crosses the [...]
Bat Phone
I noticed this phone on a table while shooting an assignment in a recording studio at Millikin University last week. It’s always good to know where your nearest Bat Phone is in case of an emergency.
Derby Day
I got to shoot the derby yesterday. Sadly, not the Kentucky Derby… but the Greater Decatur Duck Derby in the parking lot of the Children’s Museum of Illinois. You can’t go wrong with 5,000 rubber ducks, a boatload of kids and thousands of gallons of water. I was hoping for some more excitement from the [...]
Spring Games
I got to shoot the Central Illinois Special Olympics Spring Games at Millikin University yesterday… had a blast. My assignments were scheduled so tightly yesterday that I didn’t get to spend much time there at all. Luckily I got there when I did because I only got to see a couple races before everyone took [...]
Track Portrait
I shot a quick portrait of MacArthur’s Zhitavion Shelby last week in Decatur. He was academically ineligible to compete during his sophomore year, but came back last year to win three medals at state track. The photo request from the reporter wanted something of him holding a book in one hand and his medals in [...]