A closer look

There's a page designer who knows how to make me happy.... (head over to the reFocus post for more photos)

Distracted at the pool

Three months?! Yikes. I have a huge backlog of photos from recent months, but I'll start with a recent distraction from a shoot at a pool.

Judy

I've been waiting all month to share this photo of Judy, who shared her story of gambling addiction, a felony theft conviction and continuing recovery with me and reporter Rick Smith. Click through to reFocus to see some outtakes and hear more about the shoot.

57 and a half years

Francis and Betty King of Cedar Rapids have their photo taken in the bakery section of the Oakland Road Hy-Vee before renewing their wedding vows on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, in Cedar Rapids. Five other couples with a cumulative 175.5 years of marriage exchanged renewal vows at the same time as the Kings, who have been married for 57 and a half years. More than 100 couples renewed their vows at three Cedar Rapids Hy-Vee stores. In addition to exchanging vows, couples had a dance, received flowers, cake, a framed photo, a certificate and were entered in a drawing for a weekend trip. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)

I wasn’t actually assigned to cover the mass wedding renewals at Hy-Vee grocery stores in Cedar Rapids today, but after I read the press release earlier this week (and two of my own friends were selected to renew their vows), I couldn’t resist stopping by between other assignments.

Snow day

I have a love/hate relationship with Midwest winters. A fresh blanket of snow makes everything look so magical… until I have to go clean the 6 inches of heavy snow on my car and drive down an unplowed alley to get into work. Of course, when most of the city is out on a snow day, “work” means covering the storm’s aftermath...[continue reading and see more photos on reFocus]

Today I stalked a stairwell

...hoping someone would come upstairs. No one (aside from other media) did.

Apache

It's no secret that I'm easily distracted by interesting details while on assignment. My guides and reporters find this charming, I think (hope). Here's a recent outtake from a shoot at Apache, a Cedar Rapids-based company specializing in fabricated belting and hoses.

Helmick's jury

While touring the new US District Courthouse in Cedar Rapids a few weeks ago, a sculpture installation by Ralph Helmick in the atrium caught my eye. The silhouettes of 12 Iowans, the number on a jury, are represented in the piece. I've covered the building's progress from the ground up, including photographing local painter Fred Easker before he'd even begun working on his paintings for the new space. More photos and the story here.

The birds

While loading up the car to head back to Texas for Thanksgiving, I was briefly distracted by a huge flock of crows that were circling overhead. It's a common sight around here once it gets cold, but it never fails to creep me out. 

Obamney

While covering presidential candidates is nothing new to most photographers working in a swing state, we don’t usually cover both candidates in one day. So, this Saturday’s rallies in Dubuque were a unique challenge to photograph each candidate in a balanced way for both the print edition and online galleries. ”Obamney” seemed a fitting name for the day’s adventures, and I took to calling the local media work area “Obamneyville.” Some similarities are inevitable at campaign events like these, even when the degree of access is pretty different, so I’ve put together a series of diptychs from the day’s coverage, over on reFocus.