This photo comes from a few days before I left The Grand Island Independent in July.  We were working on a story about the new tax on tanning booth sales and the consequences of using tanning beds.  Ideally we always liked to have people in the photo, but we weren’t able to make that happen in this case.  The lights from the bed though made interesting colors and shapes which helped make this an effective photograph for the story.

Here are some of Breanne’s pictures from the senior portrait session she shared with her sister, Becca.  Breanne was awesome to work with.  Like her sister we started out by the piano before moving outside with the viola.  While the setting was similar to her sister’s I think we made some images that really fit her personality.  A stop in the ally between Second and Third Street in downtown Grand Island made a for a shot by a brick wall that came out nicely.  We rounded out Breanne’s session by getting portraits of her with Ebony, her dog, who was a little reluctant.

A couple of weeks ago I was back in Grand Island for several senior portrait shoots.  The biggest day was shooting Becca and Breann Preisendorf.  They are twins and were awesome during the whole day. I’m going to separate the shoots for the blog and start with Becca today.

Becca was great to work with.  We started off exploring the instruments she plays.  First off was the piano at her home.  We worked on emphasizing the lines of the instrument and trying to to be too literal.  Then we went outside for shots with her violin before coming back inside to cool off and do some more shots with the instrument inside.  Then it was off to downtown Grand Island with her guitar.  Exploring the alleys really worked well for those shots.  Lastly we had to get some shots of Becca with ‘The Panda,’ her car.

Two weeks ago I ducked back to Nebraska for a busy week of  photography.  First on the docket was Brandon Pfeifer.  Brandon was great to work with and we wandered around Grand Island and the area all morning for his shoot.  We started out at the Vet’s Home before being chased away by mosquitoes the size of ravens.  We stopped by Eagle Scout Park before finding a wheat field south of town.  We finished up with finding many different opportunities in downtown in the alleys.

Overall a great day of shooting with a great subject.  I think we were really able to capture Brandon’s personality throughout the shoot.

(Sorry for the old photo from 2004)

No I haven’t disappeared.  I’ve just moved down the road a piece.  A little over a month ago my lovely wife was hired at a residential treatment center to pursue her passion of social work.  She just graduated with her Masters from UNO and it’s the perfect fit.  She loves her job and the kids that she’s helping through both individual and group therapy.

The thing is, the center in is Albuquerque, and long time readers realize that we had to pack up and move.  Jess came down in mid June and then I followed a couple of weeks ago after packing the apartment (with her help before she left) and finishing up my work at The Grand Island Independent.  The best part about being down here has to be that we’ve both got family in the area.  The low humidity is a close second though.

Now that I’m down here I’m focusing more than ever on finding a job.  I worked on that before I left, but you can only do so much long distance.  I’ve seen some good opportunities, but I haven’t gotten a call as of yet.  I’ve got a few more lines in the water so we’ll have to wait and see what turns up.

Ironically though I’ll be back in Grand Island this coming week.  I’ve got three senior portraits to work on, a possible family portrait and a wedding in Lincoln on Saturday.  That will keep me busy for sure.

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than covering the annual Bear Parade and Picnic in Central City, NE. More than 100 kids took part in the event including this older brother playing keep away with his popsicle from his younger counterpart.

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall made a long stop in Grand Island over the holiday weekend.  While it’s only a 3/5 replica of the one in Washington it proved to be a very moving experience for many. I’d always thought of the memorial as just that: a place to pay honor and respect to those who died in the Vietnam War.  Marlin Seeman put it in a different light for me.  One I think veterans relate to more so than another: “My name would have been right there,” Seeman said. “If I hadn’t turned my head, if I had raised my head, that bullet might have killed me.”

Nebraska is known for its corn crop, but when I leave I’m going to remember the fields of wheat.

I’ve been wanting to blog about this image for quite some time, but couldn’t until it was published. Dalton Sealey was named The Independent’s Boys Athlete of the Year. During his senior year he hoisted state championship trophies for St. Cecilia in football, basketball and track. It was the third straight time for the basketball trophy, by the way. Heck of an athlete and a really nice guy.

I didn’t quite know how to photograph Dalton. Traditionally we try to incorporate all the sports in which the athlete of the year participates. We want to try and show how talented they are overall, not just one side of them. A basketball and football were easy props for those sports, but what about track? Shoes around the neck? Been there, done that. It was then that I started thinking about the starting position for sprints and how similar it was to the three-point stance in football. I had my pose.

The lighting was a different story. I wanted the background to go dark, so that meant controlling the spill. I also had to light the basketball which would be far away from the main light (which was on the ground on the left pointing up). An umbrella pointing down worked for that. Then for good measure I tossed in a small flash on the left to help light that side from a different angle and fill in some shadows. I tossed a reflector on the right, but I don’t think it added a whole lot.

Dalton was great to work with. He bought into the idea and got in and out of the pose several times while we tweaked it all. In ten minutes or so we were done shooting and had captured an image that merged who Dalton is, with the vision I had for the image.

Late last week we were working on an advance about a program today at the local water park to encourage kids to stay active and safe throughout the summer. It was late in the afternoon and I was in jeans. I was going to stop by shoot a bit and then head home. That was before I saw Entisar Gebraeil and her sister playing in the shallow end. There’s something contagious about children’s exuberance and utter joy at simple things. I photographed them for quite a while hoping I adaquetly captured what I saw. Read the story about the “Catch the Wave” event.