Columbia Missourian

Another Fishy Post

Found this in the archives tonight when I was looking for some sports photos from last summer- it’s one of my personal favorite photos, and never, ever fails to make me burst out laughing when I look at it.

Two of the fifteen catfish caught by Bryan Crump and Tim Sherman rest on a table after the weigh-in at the Wilton Boat Club catfish tournament, held June 13 and 14, 2009. Crump and Sherman had the largest haul of the event, as more than half of the boats in the tournament returned empty-handed.

Easter Shenanigans

I’ve been to many, many Easter egg hunts.

But I’ve never tried to photograph one, and it was a very good thing Caitlyn reminded me yesterday (after her own egg hunt shoot) just how short they really are. There’s a whole lot of buildup, a mad dash, and then…it’s over and you go play games.

When I went to cover the Douglass Park EGGstravaganza (their emphasis, not mine) this afternoon, I intentionally went straight for the part of the park where the 1 and 2 year olds would be gathering eggs, since I knew they would be the slowest group. I was right, but the hunt was still over in less than two minutes.

All things considered, I guess the egg hunt photos aren’t terrible…except that two of the ones I liked best—the first two—couldn’t be used in the paper because I lost track of the families right after the eggs had been collected (there were about 350 people there) and I thus didn’t get names. FRUSTRATING. I’m still mad at myself about this.

The kids are still cute, though.

Extra bonus photo- balance flash from the in-camera flash on my baby Rebel XT! I just love the facial expressions here; the little girl had essentially just cut in front of the first boy, and you can definitely tell.

Softball + Rainout

I covered a softball game for the Missourian this afternoon, but the game was rained out and rescheduled after 3 and a half innings. The reporter didn’t write up a story, and the sports desk had left early, so none of the photos were published. Oh well. I had fun shooting anyway!

Off the Mound

While Mizzou is on official spring break (it’s freakishly quiet in town now) and the Columbia Missourian newsroom is about a fifth of the population it normally is, I’m standing in as the department’s photo editor. I haven’t been in the newsroom at all this semester, and it was a little weird to get back into Missourian mode—but I didn’t forget the workflow process (that stuff gets deep inside your head), which is nice.

There’s only one other photographer working this week, so last night I picked up an assignment while she covered a Passover seder. I got to shoot my first college baseball game since spring of 2007, and it was excellent.

I’m usually pretty good about shooting pitching and batting, so I was trying to focus on baserunning and dugout photos. If there seem to be an excess of celebration photos, that’s because there was a serious excess of runs scored- Mizzou whomped Purdue 22-14.

I actually don’t think I’d like this more if you could see the players’ heads (the 300mm forced to me to compose creatively). Then it’d just be a picture of the backs of heads, which is boring. Discuss.

Bowling in Texas

Last year, I went to the Texas Bowl in Houston as a spectator, when my alma mater (Rice) played and was victorious against Western Michigan.

This year, I went the Texas Bowl as an official part of the media corps. There’d been a lot of Internet commentary regarding Mizzou getting overlooked in the bowl selection process, and while I do feel this is true to an extent, I’m not upset with the game we were picked to play in…because it gave me a chance to go to Houston again and to actually photograph during a major (okay, mid-major) CFB matchup.

I’ve shot football exactly three times before today–once during a Rice-UHouston game in 2007 (when I was stuck shooting from the stands because my credentials were never processed correctly), once during Mizzou-Nebraska (when I didn’t get any game photos at all because I was focusing on fans), and once just for practice during a Hickman High game (when I was using just a 70-200mm)–and I was, shall we say, less than confident in my abilities to make any good pictures at all. I knew enough about college football and enough about how Mizzou and Navy both play (damn the unphotogenic running game) to not be scared completely out of my mind, but the idea that I would come back empty-handed kept nagging me. I wish it hadn’t.

This is not to imply that I took mind-blowing, paradigm-changing sports photos during the game (I didn’t), but what I took was by no means bad. I was honestly surprised by this, and in retrospect, it would have been nice to have had a little more faith in myself. I went back through the take after the first go-round of editing, and ended up finding a few MORE images that I liked, which, again, was a pleasant turn of events. All in all, at least from my perspective (not so much from Mizzou’s…), the Texas Bowl was a definite success.

In related news, I find it very strange to edit my own stuff for use in publication. I’d much rather have somebody else go through it all first.

Enjoy!
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Mizzou vs. Nebraska: Sidelines

Stills from the MU-Nebraska game this past Thursday (I got to shoot pregame activities and the first half before going up to the press box to edit during the second half). I had the D2H, so most of my attention while on the field was actually focused on the people in the stands. D2H + downpour + night + action shots of football…not a combination I wanted to play with.

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Some VOX Assignments (or, more food photos…)

They all seem to come in during my Friday shifts.

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Dressed in period costumes from the 1850s, Brittni Steding, front, and Abbey Milligan clear tables in the J. Huston Tavern in Arrow Rock, Mo., on July 31. The tavern is the oldest continuously operated restaurant west of the Mississippi River.

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Fried chicken plates, one of the main entrees at the J.Huston Tavern, are offered as a family style, all-you-can-eat dish.

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Curly potato chips coated in Parmesan cheese and chives at the J.Huston Tavern.

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Three of the dessert options at the J. Huston Tavern: from left, carrot cake, apple cobbler, and pecan pie.

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Specialty drinks at Bleu, such as the New Zealand “No”jito, left, and Bleu Rosemary Lemonade, are known for as much for their presentation as their taste.

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New Zealand “No”jito

Police in Columbia using such unconventional methods of transport as bicycles also rely on unconventional methods of keeping the bikes from being stolen.

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Boone County Fair: Junior Talent Show

After enterprising at the sheep show, I had an assignment at the Junior Talent Show. On the minus side, the event lasted forever (I was at the fair until 10:30pm)…but on the plus side, that blue curtain made for the best clean background I could have asked for.

072109_FairTalentShow_01Stephanie Stricker, 13, left, and dance partner Caroline Sunvold, 13, wait backstage before performing in the Junior Division at the Boone County Fair Talent Show.

072109_FairTalentShow_05Rachel Guilford, 9, waits for her turn to sing during the Boone County Fair Talent Show. Guilford, along with sister Hannah, 11, performed in the Junior Division

072109_FairTalentShow_04Bill Tempel, left, of Columbia, videotapes his son Nathan, 8, during his performance at the Boone County Fair Talent Show Junior Division. Nathan has been singing since age 3

072109_FairTalentShow_03Taylor Noakes, 16, performs the final song of the Boone County Junior Division Talent Show on Tuesday. Noakes sang “Not Anymore,” by LeToya Luckett.