A tasting

Okay so here’s the plan. This is a short slideshow of photos from the big day. There’s no sound just images. There will be a bigger production later. I’m running on empty with this laptop battery and have to give the converter colling down breaks. No need to blow a fuse or catch the van on fire.

Anyway, it was a wonderful experience. At time it was a little hairy. Lots of early mornings, blizzards, crowded metro cars, cold winds hours on standing.Would I do it again? Ya you betcha!

The day after

So sorry folks it took me so long to post. Deb had the Blackberry during the concert. It was truly incredible to be there. I’m putting together a little slide show this morning. It would’ve been last night but on the way to Bill and Jen’s house the brakes seized up on the van. Totally crazy. Luckily we were near an exit and a Westin hotel so we hung out in the lobby until Bill and the tow truck came. I got actually got some sleep and I’m ready to got today. Well….. we’ll see how long that lasts. Remember more to come.

The black vote

So for the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on voting stories. Tis the season and a very special season it is. I really enjoyed doing this slideshow. The story was basically about how Obama’s presence in the election has mobilize black voters. I went door knocking and to a concert it was fun but I still didn’t have a voice to carry the piece until pastor Alika Galloway. Man I’m happy I stopped by her church again. You know the days where everything falls into place. This was one of those days. She said all the things I needed her to say with no poking or prodding. And told me something new. She said that the folks living on the margins, thug folk, were voting. It was surprising to hear so I went out on the street and found that she was right. Folks who never thought of voting before were. They wanted change. It was amazing to see and hear these people you would cross the street to avoid talking bout the debate the other night. Crazy. Well I’ve babbled enough. Check it out.

NYC girl goes hunting

So duck hunting. I have to say I had a good time. I’ve never bee one of those people who were against hunting, I’m just against stupid. Regardless of what the activity is, you have folks who do it right and people who are idiots. The Strand Family does it right. They take only what they’re going to eat and they try to take only the males because the females tend to come back year after year. The Oldest Strand, Roger, has built more than 100 duck boxes around his county. All different types on ducks can safely lay eggs and he can keep track of the duck population.  So I got to learn a lot about egg color, the birthing process, flight of the bird,  as well as leading the bird,  decoys, and cammo. A good time was had by all. Check out the video.

Testing in the Saints

One of things about my job that I love is that you get to be a part of people’s firsts. First baby, first trip to this country, etc. The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN was an all-women’s college for more than 60 years. But even after three or so decades of recruiting they still only had about 30%. How do you attract men? Give them football. This is the first football team in the school’s history. Too cool. I had an opportunity to shoot their first home game ever but alas the paper had other ideas and I didn’t get to go. Instead it was duck hunt. I’ll post that one in  little bit.

Why is it a test? Well this is the first time I’ve tried to make a slideshow in Final Cut and then use Youtube to view it. I wanted to show you more than one picture from this football practice. I’m still not sure of the quality.

The school is very picturesque. It’s on top of a hill over looking Lake Superior. The team’s practice field in nestled in between the convent and a little nature area that is also  is the nuns’ graveyard. It was fun to be up there and sad that I was denied a first. Let me know what you think of the slide show.

School bus cowboy

So yet again I was sent out to shoot rising gas prices and how it affects people. Very typical newspaper. Very boring. Sometimes on these less than stellar assignments interesting characters pop up. To my surprise I run into a black cowboy who drives a school bus and  who loves Air America. He asks me “You’re not a Rush Limbaugh fan are you?”  I have to say pill-popping conservatives are just not my type. I was entertained ad happy that I made the trip.

Kickin’ it at the spoon and cherry

Being a newspaper photographer means variety. Every day is different and sometimes straight up weird. Meeting four Rockettes isn’t totally weird but definitely strange. The Rockettes Christmas show has three stationary casts and one traveling show. The first stop for the tour, Minneapolis. For each stop rockettes from that region get their picture taken next to local places of interests. Funny.

Because I grew up in NYC Radio City Christmas show was an annual school event until high school. So seeing these ladies up close and personal and in Minneapolis was a little surreal.

Hip hop dads

So I was looking through my posts and I totally forgot one. Father’s day comes every year and when you work at a newspaper you try and find interesting twists on the standard dad story. Well I knew that Rhymsayers Brother Ali’s son Faheem was very important in his life. After talking to friends/co workers Tom Horgen and David Joles I found out that about five or six performers on the Rhymsayers label were young fathers with sons.

Now I had elaborate plans for this piece. Stills mixed with video with the dad and sons reciting their own spoken word piece to each other. Didn’t happen. I had to punt. There were so many times when this was going to fail or I had given up but in the end everything worked out. It was great hanging out with these guys and their kids. Good people, good music. Here’s the slideshow.

Rebuild, rebirth

Thursday the 35W bridge opened again. It was some thing to see. Even though I had get up at 3:15am that morning it was fun and almost electric driving across the bridge with the first group of riders. Check out the video.

I also thought about those folks on the bridge last August 1st. This little girl was still in her mother’s tummy during the collapse. She mother (not pictured) was on the school bus. The folks on the bus along with others celebrated the making of two murals.

The great thing about being is that you get to experience things with people. Where it’s being a part of the big drive across a new bridge or hanging with folks that are forever bonded by a tragic event but find joy and comfort in each other.

Apples and goats and turkeys, oh my!

Goats on the roof? I know. Wacky. I’ll get to that later. I got to go to an interesting apple orchard. Yes apple orchard. These brother Scott and Jay now run the family fruit business, Minnetonka Orchards. Like a lot of family farms they’ve tried to figure out other ways to make ends meat with their orchard. So they’ve got a cafe, hayrides, corn maze, hay pyramid, and animals you can pet. Folks are calling it agritainment. Funny. Well I had fun there. The guys were completely silly. They told me stories of how they use to screw around in the fields as kids and how every apple is sacred now. Most of the animals can run free.

I got to pet a turkey. It was cool. They tend to do most of the roaming. They’re young they don’t know any better. Apparently there’s guys will untie your shoes if you’re not careful. The goats liked being on their perch. You do need to be careful when standing near their barn. Poop rolls down hill. Will I go back? I hope so. Probably to pick up the new U of M manufactured apple Sweet Tassel that is suppose to be better than the Honey Crisp. I don’t know how. I love that apple. Oh and their apple pies….tasty. Not to sweet. So if you’re in the neighborhood. Check them out.