Last Minute Holiday Shopping

This time I have a good excuse...

Being a human tripod is exhausting! I broke my ankle on November 15th and had surgery on the 24th.

Vaccination

Kids have it easy these days... I got my arm stuck a few weeks ago.

The Sportrait

I love making sportraits...



That is all.

I'm Sorry

I've been MIA for a few months. My bad. I'm apologizing to you with a photo of a cute kid.

The Chad

Yep. That's Alltel's Chad. He came to Farmington. Don't get excited though... it was pretty much just a PR stunt which I hate. By now you should all know that Alltel has been bought out by Verizon. I wonder what is to become of this ding-dong.

Special Olympics

Rebecca Craig/The Daily Times
An emotional Sarah Surette, 27, of Las Cruces hugs Carol McMillan after winning a silver medal for the 200 meter freestyle during the Special Olympics Aquatics Competition at the Farmington Aquatics Center on Saturday.

Dancer

More Rodeo

I had the worst couple days off! I'm glad to be back working.

Into the Arms of Safety

Bending

Rebecca Craig/The Daily Times
Paige Nicholson of Mississippi competes in pole bending in the third performance at the National High School Finals Rodeo at McGee Park on Monday. Nicholson dedicated her ride to her grandfather who died earlier in the day.

NHSFR Opening Day

The rodeo owns my LIFE this week.

Hanging out with Rodeo Queens

Rebecca Craig/The Daily Times
Heather Lea Ballantyne, a contestant from Ontario looks at her outfit in the mirror before going on stage for the Impromptu Speech portion of the NHSRA Queen Contest at Farmington Civic Center on Friday.

Cooling Off

After living in Michigan, my body no longer tolerates the desert heat. I envy this little girl every time I get into my truck, which does not have the luxury of conditioner.

Be a Paint Brush

Dear Readers

I have neglected you... I am sorry! Here is a sad puppy for you.





You should probably know that I've moved back to New Mexico by way of Michigan. I got a real job! I'm now a staff photographer at the Farmington Daily Times. My days of bouncing around the country as an intern are over! I'm finishing up my third week here and I haven't had a bad day yet. Thanks all for your support for the last 2 years!

School Bus Heros

From the left Marques Rangel, Grant Walker, Britney Matthews, Alex Dewitt, and Katlyn Scovill, students at Bay City Central High School took over their bus on Monday when the bus driver passed out. They took control of the bus, parked it and called 911.

Tennis Portrait

Lauren Russell is in her third season as No. 1 tennis player at Essexville Garber.
As a lefty, she has a unique advantage on most of her opponents, who are accustomed to facing right-handed players.

Religious Times

Released

Donna Yost is a name heard quite a bit in this part of Michigan. Today she moved into an apartment in Bay City. She hoists a dreamcatcher above her head where she plans on putting her bed.

Yost had been accused of killing her 7-year-old daughter in 1999. She was released last month after she agreed to plead no contest to child abuse. The no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt. "I never did hurt my daughter, but I feel because of my being highly depressed, I had to accept this to put this behind me and be with my family," Yost said. Yost was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of her 7-year-old daughter Monique Yost, who died from a fatal dose of prescription medication. The conviction was overturned last year, and a new trial was to start next week in Midland.

This photo shows emotion that you rarely see in Donna.

Thoughts?

Trying to make it all come together.

I'll be the first to say, there's a hell of a lot going on in this photo.



I ended up with 10 players for a portrait. 10 PLAYERS!!! I how the hell are you supposed to make a portrait with 10 people work without it looking like a team shot. I was stressing out about this assignment for a few hours today. When I got there, I saw how the outlets were conveniently installed near old bleachers... and behind the bleachers are was a wooded area. These are the All Saints Cougars... cougars live in the woods right? They also come out on cloudy days to play baseball and softball I guess.

Anyway, I think this photo would have been a disaster without the bleachers. I used them to contain the situation. If this photo had any chance of working I would have to make a few kids more prominent than the others, which may piss some parents off but I can't please everyone.

I placed the kids unevenly on the bleachers, and then balanced the sides with the two kids with the bats. I noticed how serious and focused the kid front and center was so I had him hold his hat and lean forward. Had he been wearing his hat I think his eyes would have been hidden and would conceal his attitude. He also holds a good solid center in a photo that has a lot going on.

Shelter

It's been cold and breezy... She was keeping out of the wind.

Here Fishy...

There were in fact fish down there...




...I did put forward the idea that it might not be a good idea to eat anything he catches from that ditch.

When Less is More

Cadia is a tri-athlete who competes for charity. I was assigned to get a portrait of her. She lives in an apartment complex which isn't the most athletey place so I suggested we take a walk. I had all of my lighting gear with me but decided to ditch it all save one SB-600 (outdated I know) and we headed straight for a nature trail. All I did was frame her up with her head blocking out the sun and added a simple fill and wvalah... a portrait! I think less was more in this situation because I didn't have to deal with the no outlet problem or carrying around Dynalites, I needed to be as more mobile. If I had I probably would have only used one.

I think most people have a photo like this...

Keeping your head cool for the kids.

I almost walked out on an assignment today after dealing with two uncooperative coaches, the baseball coach who threatened to call my boss to complain about how many of his players were to be in the photo (we don't do team shots... period!) That photo will not appear in my blog or in print. 10 minutes later the softball coach takes me aside and says, "Tell you what, you put an extra girl in there and maybe you'll get out of this town without a speeding ticket." Their softball coach is a cop apparently. The Alpha Female in me almost packed up and walked out (I've done it before)...but then that would have spoiled it for these kids. The photo with the extra girl will not appear in print or my blog either.

To be honest, I'm glad I stayed because I wouldn't have got this shot.

Thea

I was experimenting today and I like like the result

Pulsatory

This was an interesting assignment! I spent much of the day hanging out in scrubs in the doctor's lounge. They even fed me! I even sat through a doctors in-service, and I'm not exactly sure what it was about because it was all medical terms and such. I did however understand what they meant by "pulsatory"... and I also was involved in a demonstration when I had to duck to avoid being hit by a pulsatory spurt of blood during this procedure.

Archer

Not what I was trying to do but I like it anyway.

Beauty and Grace?

... I'm not fooled! Swans are evil.



Tomorrow is the first day of Spring... Rejoice!

Beveled

Wondering what your looking at?

This is Charlotte... both faces belong to Chalotte, she's an RN at a pain clinic here in Bay City, and both faces appeared in a beveled mirror, the small sliver was in the beveled edge. I thought it looked cool.

More Ice

Ice

I woke to the sound of my work cell ringing this morning before the sun was up. An entire neighborhood in a town near by was evacuated because strong winds were pushed giant ice floes up the beach threatening homes on the shoreline. The ice piled over the roofs of some houses and broke windows cascading ice into homes. This is just one shot from my first take. I went back later in the day for a follow up story... and I'll post those later as I just switched of the night shift and I'm running on 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours.

Cake...

...is good!

Falsehood in Silk.

Water

...yep! That would be water.

Tara Caverly