Madisyn Springer
Madisyn is a really cool fourth grader at Howard Elementary in Grand Island. She saw a need for her classmates to have calculators to help them with their math homework, so she saved up her allowance and bought 17 small calculators for her class. (Here’s our first story.) That story, right before Christmas, inspired a local high school teacher and other members of the community to donate money and more calculators for other students in the school. This brought along another story as her class toured the school to hand out those calculators. That inspired Gov. Dave Heineman to proclaim Jan. 26, 2010, Madisyn Springer Generosity Day. Pretty awesome.
About the photo: I lit Madisyn with a couple of strobes in her classroom up against the white board. What really makes the image work though are the drawings by Bill Dunn.
The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
Over Christmas my wife and I escaped the cold snap and blizzard of Nebraska to visit my folks in Albuquerque, NM. We’ve been down there a few time so we are familiar with much of the wildlife. (I can say though I haven’t seen any tarantulas, rattlesnakes or scorpions.) Common in the area are road runners. Now, being old enough to have enjoyed the cartoon, I thought they stood pretty tall. They don’t. They’re small and as long as Wile E. Coyote (or my parents’ dog, Nina) is in the house, they aren’t afraid to come up to the house. Thus this cute shot of one on a rock.
However, after seeing Nina through a window this is what happened. Now I’ve heard of animals puffing up to make themselves appear bigger and unswallowable, but I’d never heard of a bird doing it. Pretty cool.
Don Dunn Portrait
Every year the Grand Island Independent chooses a Man and Woman of the Year. A story is written a portrait taken and they are honored on the front page, one on Dec. 31 with the other Jan. 1.
I was lucky enough to photograph the subjects this year. I tried to think of a cool location for the shoot, but all of the ideas met road blocks. So I asked Greg Ulmer at Grand Island Senior High School if I could use their small stage. It is a large space with black curtains and stage lights. I thought a simple portrait, a subject along in space, would work best. And it did. I supplemented the stage lights with three more of my own. Very successful indeed.
Man of the Year Don Dunn’s story.
Woman of the Year Dori Bush’s story.
Ed Armstrong
Ed was a great sport after his interview with Robert Pore for a story in the Grand Island Independent. The lighting scheme for this classic executive looking portrait was pretty simple. There was a sliding glass door to the left that I used as the main light with secondary lights to the right and left (to fill shadows from the door). The lights were two Canon flashes. Overall I thought it turned out very well.
Highway 34 — Platte River
Well I guess we can safely say this was taken a while ago. With the state reeling from bitter cold temperatures over the past week this shot from Halloween looks down right tropical.
