Power Struggle

One of the reasons I've been MIA on this blog for the past few weeks is that I've been working hard to finish this multimedia piece:

to go with this story, about a small town in the throes of a conflict over whether or not a coal plant should be built nearly in the middle of town. The story was a difficult one, for a number of reasons. Watch the multimedia, and please, let me know how you feel about it. I would love some feedback. Audio recording by Mara Zepeda, production by a now exhausted me. I'm getting ready for a much-anticipated trip to Colorado with the boy and the pup. The camera will be coming along too, but just with the prime lenses and only to be used when the light calls out for it. And yes, there will be whiskey and steaks and reading and napping and fishing and swimming and happiness. It's about time.

Small Town Sunset

Confederate Soldier

Though it doesn't feel as virulent as Alabama, where I once lived for a summer, Virginia has no shortage of monuments to the confederacy. Or historical reenactors.

Prom: revisited

My new friend Matthew Craig was giving me some shit tonight on the phone about how I don't update my blog enough. That may be true. It's been a busy few weeks, but I have a moment now, and I'm going to rock out a series of photos in honor of Mr. Craig. Happy Friday. Warning: I toned the heck out of the top photo, and that isn't journalism. Just for tonight.

Like This, or Like That

Another installment of like this or like this, which I am now calling like this or like that. Frames, just seconds away from one another, and yet, so different. Let the voting begin.

Little League

Softball

More practice makes better pictures. I need lots more practice in sports-- I've been out of practice for a while, but it feels good getting back into the swing of sports.

Portraits of Power

Top: John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Below: General David Petraeus, Commander of the U.S. Central Command

Cynicism can Suck it: Volume IV

Another Saturday night, another installment of the kind of story that makes your heart lift right out of your chest. A student took a special needs student to his senior prom, and now, for her prom, he's returned to be her date. Did you ever have a tough day when all your pictures sucked and you ran out of coffee and Final Cut kicked your ass and you felt really sorry for yourself? Suck it. Something will enter your life that lights the fire under your optimism, so you can continue to blaze a path of joy that borders on annoying. That's how I roll.

Cynicism Can Suck It: Installment 3

That's right. It's happened once again: the triumph of good over evil, of hope over despair. In other words, another graduation ceremony in Norfolk. I really do love my job. And the perfect beginning of a weekend-- all smiles and sunshine. Take that, cynicism!

Stop. Collaborate. (and listen)

I've been learning a lot lately from other people about how to be a better photographer, and a better reporter. Most recently, I spent a day reporting with my friend Mara Zepeda who, in addition to being a remarkable calligrapher, is finishing up her Master's (yes, Katie, some people do actually get that degree) in New Media at Columbia. I can't wait to share what we worked on together-- these pictures are a part of it, but the whole will take the story to a new level. I love that I can report multimedia pieces on my own, but it is a humbling experience to watch someone whose craft is audio conduct interviews, place the mic (yes, brad, that mic!), and chase down the sound of the spokes on the bicycle with the early evening birds in the background. Collaboration like that doesn't happen all the time, but when it does . .

Pretty, Simple

I love this part of the job-- the simple, the graphic, the pretty, the little bit of styling you have to pull off when you have two minutes and drinks melting in the 95-degree heat and another assignment to get to. Then, you just need clean and pretty and colorful. Happy weekend!

Home

Home to Connecticut for a weekend with my parents, listening to the rain in the morning and drinking coffee and reading and sleeping that deep sleep you can only find in your childhood bed.