MSNBC just published their annual Year in Pictures package… They have categories for news and sports, but I think they should have added a special category for the election. There were so many stellar images from the primaries and general campaign and — in my opinion — the four in this slideshow weren’t the best from the year.
Anyway, it is worth a look if you have some free time today.
I got to shoot the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge at the Assembly Hall Tuesday night. What a game… good shooting, good defense and then no final shot. Apparently Illinois lost track of the game clock and didn’t get a last chance in to tie or take the win at the buzzer.
Here are a few of my favorites from the night…
I got to shoot the IHSA Class 2A state final game at Memorial Stadium last weekend. I used to enjoy shooting state football… I actually used to shoot all eight games over the two-day event for the Associated Press before they stopped paying freelancers to cover high-school events.
In previous years photographers have used the photo tent, a vinyl tent under the horseshoe bleachers. Sometimes it has heat, sometimes it doesn’t… but it had power, lights and it was right off the field. This year the IHSA provided a place (a ledge with room for four people) for photographers to use in the press box. While the idea of working from the new press box sounds nice, with heat and snacks and comfortable seats, it doesn’t work out well for the photographers. If I was a reporter I’d have no complaints… other than the fact that I was a sports reporter.
Usually at halftime, which lasts 15 minutes, I download my cards from the first half, edit a few of my favorites and send them in to the paper’s network. I can usually squeeze 6-10 photos out before the start of the second half. This year it took six minutes to get to the press box and another five to get back down to the field. That leaves four minutes to work, which gives my work computer just about enough time to log in. Sweet.
Oh well… I got to watch a group of kids play their heart out. Unfortunately for them the other team was bigger and faster.
Here are a few of my favorites from the game…
I made the Mal & Steve page almost two years ago as a place to tell people about our wedding and had plans to use it to update people about us, our house, pets, etc… Well, I kind of forgot it was there, so it hadn’t been touched since right after the wedding.
This past weekend I redesigned it and will now be posting personal stuff, random nonsense and anything else not photography or work-related over there. Maybe I can talk my wife into writing an update every once in a while… probably not, though.
So, for any friends and family reading this blog, be sure to check the M&S site for the latest on us.
I got to shoot the area’s first high school basketball game of the year last night. Luckily I made it in time. Apparently one of the teams didn’t have enough girls for a JV team so they started the varsity game early. I show up at 7:25 for my 7:30 assignment and there was only four minutes left.
Luckily I wasn’t planning on just shooting the second half. Oh well… things happen.
I can’t believe it’s already basketball season. This year has flown by too quick.
I got to drive down to Cahokia (just outside of St. Louis) for a high school quarterfinal playoff game between MacArthur and Cahokia Saturday. The drive felt like it took forever, but it wasn’t as bad as standing in the freezing wind for a few hours.
MacArthur lost 31-6, but making it this far after a 2-7 season last year is pretty impressive.
The players, fans and coaches were all pretty emotional after the game. The coach had all of the seniors line up so that he (along with all of the other coaches, teammates and fans) could give them all hugs.
I’m still a huge fan of shooting high school sports over college or pro… sure, it’s nice to do those things, but the access and emotion is completely different. For me, this was just another day at work. For some of these kids it was the last game they will ever play, the biggest day of their life (so far) or maybe something completely different. I’m sad to see any of our local teams lose, but I’m glad that I got to catch a small glimpse of this team’s heart on the sidelines of a very cold football field.
This dresser was nailed to the workbench supports in our garage when we bought the house over the summer. I had kind of written it off and thought about getting rid of it last week but then we decided to try to fix it up and use it in the guest room. It’s not the nicest piece in the world, but it’s free.
It’s going to need a new top, a new drawer, new hardware, new side panels… it obviously has to be sanded and re-painted. At first it sounds like I may as well just build a new dresser, but the piece is pretty solid as a whole, but the sides are made of a simple panel that even I should be able to fix.
These are the “before” shots. I will try to document the progress as it comes along for anyone who cares…
So… I had a little accident Saturday afternoon while shooting a high school football playoff game.
I dropped my wedding ring down a porta-potty. I had been standing outside in the cold for a couple of hours and took my glove off to use the restroom and my ring flew right off my finger, bounced on the seat and dropped straight down the hole. The whole thing happened in slow-motion, like in a Disney movie when the kid makes the winning basket or goal or home run or something else sports-related. I felt like I was diving trying to make the catch, when in reality I just moved my arm a few inches in a horrible attempt to stop it.
No worries though, I was able to fish it out. I happened to have a tire gauge in my pocket, which when fully extended was just long enough to reach the ring.
Yes, that involved sticking my arm down the hole of a porta-potty, but at the time that seemed like a good substitute to having to deal with my lovely, lovely wife and buy a new ring.
So, for now, my ring is wrapped up in a napkin inside a sandwich bag. Now I just have to take it to be resized.
And cleaned.
When Chuck Norris isn’t selling the Total Gym exercise machine he writes commentary for World Net Daily… today’s column was an open letter to President-elect Obama.
Now that Democrats have a virtual monopoly over our land, with control of the White House, both houses of Congress, a majority of gubernatorial positions, state legislatures, the courts, the news media, the unions and the entertainment and educational fields, it would be relatively easy for you to rule as king, casting liberal edicts in any direction. But now will come your biggest test: Will you be able to lead the other half of the country that doesn’t agree with your vision, views and policies?
In other news… Chuck Norris is so busy writing about politics and shooting infomercials that he forgot to roundhouse kick his web designer in the face. Chuck’s official site looks like it was made when he started on “Walker, Texas Ranger” in 1993. His filmography doesn’t even have his cameo in “Dodgeball” listed.
C’mon Chuck…
From the Change of Subject blog on the Chicago Tribune site…
Speaking to the Illinois delegation breakfast, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D.-Evanston) recalled a meeting she and other lawmakers had with President Bush in the White House in February.
As they were leaving, Schakowsky said, she pulled on her coat and Bush “literally jumped back and looked stricken” when he saw the “Obama” button.
Shakowsky said she explained that it wasn’t Osama but Obama, and that he was running in the U.S. Senate primary in Illinois.
Bush said, “I don’t know him,” according to Schakowsky.
“I said, `Oh, you will, Mr. President,’” she said.
I'm Stephen. I'm pretty awesome. I have ADD. I'm addicted to caffeine. I could live on chips and salsa. I have incredible friends. I am madly in love with my wife. That's about it...
