Staff Photo

Some VOX Assignments (or, more food photos…)

Posted by Ivy

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

Posted by Ivy

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.

Baseball hooray!

Posted by Ivy

I’m trying really hard to actually post Missourian assignments…so here’s an enterprise photo from today. I was waiting around for Show-Me State bowling to start, and started to head back to the newsroom when I realized they were playing Show-Me State baseball at Hickman Field. Baseball, for the record, is way more fun to shoot than bowling is.

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Right fielder Brennen Wood of the West Plains Zs connects with a pitch from Eliel Malpica, back left, of the North County Indians during the pool round of Show-Me State baseball, held July 18 at Hickman Field in Columbia. Despite Wood’s efforts, the Indians won 10-1.

Hole-in-One!

Posted by Ivy

Second time shooting golf for the Missourian. This was a loooooong tournament–and I only shot the back 9–which lasted about five hours, including a rain delay and the trophy presentations at the end. Whew. On the plus side, I got to use the 300mm, which I love…on the minus side, I had to handhold it because the monopod wouldn’t attach to the lens, and I needed to be able to quickly switch from horizontal to vertical framing. Whew.

The girl who won the tourney, Chelsea Schriewer (wearing the black shirt; Alisha Matthews, in the stripes, placed second), won by twelve strokes, tied the overall course record (as shot by a man or a woman) with a 66, AND got her first hole-in-one on the 16th. On the 16th, while she was hole-in-one-ing, I was, of course, changing lenses. CHANGING LENSES. Rotten, terrible luck. That’ll teach me to go out without two camera bodies.

Once again, these uploaded a little undersaturated…

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Staff: Enterprise photo + this week's idea log

Posted by Ivy

I had really been hoping they wouldn’t fill the outdoor pool at the Rec Center before I could get pictures of people tanning around an empty hole in the ground, but, of course, by the time I actually got over there with a camera, it had already been filled for the season. Oh well. I took this picture anyway (before an employee spotted me and made me leave). It reminds me of some sort of elite Miami Beach hideaway or hotel.

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As for other enterprise ideas, I’m hoping to get out into Columbia sometime towards the end of one of my shifts (6pm-ish), when the light is excellent, and find some subjects. I saw some kids playing pickup soccer over by the ARC today; if they do that regularly, that would make a good feature photo. Actually, there’s a surprising amout of events at the ARC that the Missourian doesn’t cover, so that whole area is probably a good place to start for enterprise things.

I found a subject for my first grad component–she’s the newest member of Columbia’s improv troupe–and wish I had more time to work with her on this project (it’s due Monday), but I’ll work with what I have (and will have, after Saturday), and hopefully make a good presentation. I started thinking about other potential subjects, since I’d like to get more of a jump on the next grad component phase, and so far am still liking the over-50 softball player idea, as well as the professional bagpiper idea, the interpreter-for-the-deaf idea, and the wedding-cake-maker idea. I’ll start exploring all of these further as soon as this weekend (which is going to be insane) is over.

Also, in super exciting news, I bought a new camera! Yay! It’s a Canon 50D– I couldn’t make the switch to Nikon after all, mostly because I couldn’t justify buying a new camera AND strobe AND telephoto lens when I already had the latter two. I probably didn’t absolutely NEED new gear, but I wanted to make the upgrade before I go to California in three weeks, and didn’t feel like waiting any more (mostly I’m just excited about going to CA). I’m also relieved to have my own gear around a a backup to the Missourian equipment….I made the mistake of using a D2H last weekend, without realizing that that camera has a terrible, terrible megapixel count and can’t handle high ISOs. Ugh. Better to avoid ever having to use it again.

I get to go shoot a catfish tournament this weekend! I don’t think there will be noodling (from what I can tell, it’s just standard rod-and-reel fishing), but I’m still looking forward to it. I think one of my favorite things about Staff is how many opportunities I’ve had to get out of Columbia and explore. Reporters with cars are awesome.

Staff Photo: Arrow Rock

Posted by Ivy

After a semester of fumbling around with strobes, sometimes it’s nice to just use available light. And 70-200mm lenses. 20090607_0009_01

C.J. Fam, the nine-year-old lead actress in the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre’s summer production of “Annie,” waits for the start of rehearsal on June 7. She has previously worked in productions of “Sleeping Beauty,” as Maleficent, and “The Sound of Music,” as Marta, but says Annie is her favorite role to play. Fam hopes to one day act on Broadway.

Week One at the Missourian

Posted by Ivy

Whew.

Last week was my first as part of the photo staff of the Columbia Missourian– I’m taking Staff Photo over the summer so I can actually graduate in May 2010 (and because my lease already goes through August, so I figured I’d just stay in town as opposed to going the sublease route). I shot six assignments in four days, although I’ve only had one official six-hour shift. I know I have a long way to go as far as my photographic content and composition is concerned (not to mention the fact that I’m still perfecting all of the technical stuff- gah), so I really wanted to get as many shooting opportunities in as possible this summer- the more practice, the better. I start my Qualitative Research Methods class on Monday, which is going to cut into the amount of time I have to take volunteer assignments…so I’m trying to squeeze in everything I can while I can.

Here is the most important lesson I have learned this week: I have much to learn.

Another important lesson I have learned: I’ve already learned a lot. I didn’t even realize how much I had been absorbing in Fundamentals and Advanced until I got thrown out onto the streets of Columbia with an old Missourian Nikon. Hooray!

Anyway, these are the selects from this past week (this weird slideshow format is temporary- as soon as I can get a computer that has both Bengalspace AND Soundslides Plus, I’ll put up a Soundslides show with captions)- many thanks and kudos to Erin for her sick nasty editing and Photoshop toning skills. The links to the actual articles that accompanied the photos are here. Also, you should check out everybody else’s Staff photos on the Missourian website, because they rock.

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