IT'S GOOD TO BE IN D.C.: August 2005

There must be something wrong with me...

I'm watching the hurricane coverage from the south.

I'm horrified by the destruction, the destitution, the death.

But more than anything, I think:

"God, I wish I was there."

My first football game... shooting one, that is.

I shot my first football game yesterday afternoon. It was here in Manhattan, but one of the team's was from my hometown so they knew about my business. This was a good thing, because parents actually came to me to ask for my card so they could see the shots.

I hand-held the entire game, while the official photographer on the other side (who had a slower lens than me and what, in all likelihood, was an outdated body, I might add) used a monopod. Wimp.

There are major differences between shooting baseball and shooting football. The first is that you're usually further away from the subject, but every once in a while the subject runs right in front of you so you must be ready. Also, it's a lot harder to focus on the player with the ball because the uniforms blend together into one mass. Third, and this is an absolute plus, you get a lot more freedom of movement with youth football whereas in baseball and softball you're required to stay in one place, for the most part.

Here's the photoshelter gallery, and here's a special series of ten images that happened in sequence.

Insomnia-induced update

I just wrote a long post about how I've been feeling lately and a few other things, but I decided that a posting a long, depressing diatribe about my lack of a personal life and my frustration with so many damned things wasn't a very mature thing to do. I'd like to say that writing it out helped me out personally, but I don't like lying to my readers. It's just wrong.

So instead, I shall post an old rhyme that keeps bobbing around in my head:

There was a girl
who had a curl
in the middle of her forehead;
and when she was good
she was very good
but when she was bad she was horrid!

By Special Request: more pictures of annoyingly cute kittens.

Such a happy pet...

Some just don't want to be held.

The good father.

You love kittens, right?

Trapped.

Almost there...

We called "Kitty Pie."

Reach, sucka, reach!

My friend LeAnne asked me over tonight to shoot her kittens (with a camera, sicko).

What I learned on the first day of school...

There are few better ways in this world to meet friendly, desirable women than by having a nice sized umbrella on a rainy day at KSU.

A small view of my room

My schedule for tomorrow

8:30-9:30: AM POLSC 325 U.S. Politics with Prof. John Fliter Union 101
9:30-10:30: Free
10:30-11:30: SPCH 105 Public Speaking, my brother Drew is in same class, East Stadium 123
11:30-5:30: Hunting down stories for Collegian
5:30- 7:20: MC 430 Digital Photography in Kedzie 208
7:20 On: Only God Knows...

Reminiscensce

Jessie Bonner paid me a visit last night. You might remember her as my friend and colleague from my internship in Washington.

Jessie emailed me a few nights ago and inquired if she could borrow my couch for the night on her trip from her old home in Idaho to her new job at the Naples Daily News in Florida. I called her back that night and did her one better, she could stay in the guest bedroom of my hospitality-icous cousin and her family, with whom I am living here in Manhattan.

She got into town last night around 9, I guided her in via wireless phone to the house, and we spent a couple hours talking, sharing pictures, and remembering the time we shared together that ended 4 months ago.

One of the most interesting parts of that conversation was when we talked about where the six of us have been going since mid-April.

Joe graduated and is looking for work. He's in a tight spot on that, and I hope some good employer finds him soon.

Glenn went back to the Phillipines and is working for a Japan-based news service.

Kate was the summer Editor-in-Chief at the Iowa State Daily, and is a managing editor there this fall (I think).

Lauren discovered she didn't want to be reporter, but a teacher. I hope to call her Dr. Rivera someday.

Jessie had a fellowship in St. Petersburg with the Poynter Institute, and now she's going back to the sauna state for a full-time, true-blue job as a reporter. Jessie left at about 10:00 this morning after I treated her to breakfast at Early Edition and showed her a few things around Manhattan. Like an idiot, I forgot to get a picture of us for posterity's sake.

Me, I went back to Kansas and got a job covering County Commission in a place I don't live in and doing other things for the Manhattan Mercury while I started my photography business. The County thing ended Thursday when I covered my last meeting, and I immeadietly jumped ship to the Collegian. I'm a staff writer there now and I'm taking over the business beat.

Here's my first big report, by the way: http://kstatecollegian.com/article.php?a=6494

This blog is still called "It's Good To Be In D.C." because that's how it is best known, but it needed a change to the sub-headline.

A look at how news is made

The Post has a great story on journalists desperately trying to get ahold of something on Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts, Jr.

When New York Times reporter Anne Kornblut reached the front of the line, she requested Box 51.

"No," said Archives official James Hastings, checking his list of available files. "But I can give you a nice special on 47."

"Box 34?" she ventured.

"Gone," Hastings said, proposing Box 36.

"Thirty-two?"

"No."

"Twenty-seven?"

Read the whole thing here.

Hey blogosphere...

Take this!

NATH is BACK!

New chapter posted.

Burn in hell, shutterstock!

I give you the newest evil to photographers everywhere: Shutterstock.com

Here's how they work: subscribers get to download up to 750 images per month for a flat fee starting at $140 per month. They are allowed to use them however they want. Photographers who submit photos get 20 cents for each time one of their pictures is used.

What's better? They brag that 1000 unlimited COMMERCIAL uses of your images will get you $200.

You couldn't get unlimited commercial use (essentially me giving away my copyright) of any of my images for $200. Not a single damned one. But there are over 13,000 photographers who think this is a good deal.

(Bad language ahead: little children, nuns, and grandparents should not continue)

The only screwjob that could compare with $0.20 for commercial use of any image is an elephant taking indecent sexual liberties with a baby shrew.

The Monarch Butterfly Migration is coming, are you ready?

Declare that Ditty

"I won't be there when you need holding,
But I'm sure that he can pull you through.
But I can sing this song to everybody,
And pretend it's not about you."

Declare that Ditty

"And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here"

Canon's got the photo world going nuts

Over the past few weeks, and especially the past couple days, speculation over what new cameras Canon will be releasing, if any, in the next couple months.

And then there's this PDF in Spanish about the "5D."

This camera gets 3 frames per second to my 20D's 5, but has 12 MP to my 20D's 8. Also, it has a full-frame sensor.

That is, in most Digital SLR's the sensor that takes the place of film is actually smaller than a 35MM film plane. This creates what is known as "Crop Factor," where lens focal lengths are effectively increased because a smaller part of the refracted image is used for the picture. My 20D has a 1.6 Crop Factor, turning my 70-200MM into a 112-320MM, which is nice.

But this totally screws things up at the normal and wide-angle end. 50MM's (the otf-called Normal lens because it's closest to the way our eyes frame the world) become 80MM's. 35MM's (a mild wide-angle) become 56MM's. This means a ultra-wide lens, which are always expensive, is needed to get a moderate wide-angle. Say you want an ultra-wide with your digital? Too bad, it's not going to happen.

Unless this 5D turns out to be real, that is.

I'm not interested in it though. I shot film for a year and a half, making great work, without ever even using a wide-angle. And I also like the fact that my 200MM has that much more "reach."

Also, every new camera has a wear-in period after it first gets put to use in the field. Bugs get worked out, firmware (the camera's operating software) updates are common, and it's all one big headache for those who spring for the new gear.

But not me. I'm happy with my 20D.

Does it sound too much like something out of "Fight Club?"

I give you: Project Hometown.

Goodbye, Mr. Avers

Mr. Greg Avers' funeral was yesterday morning at his church here in Council Grove, Kansas. I went to pay my respects and perhaps console those who weren't taking it so well.

Mr. Avers' death didn't surprise me at all; on Tuesday morning when my mom told me he had passed the night before, I felt as if I had already known it had happened. There are many who are in a state of disbelief at his absence, but I have been able to accept it very easily and without much pain.

I feel a lot of guilt for that, even though I know better. I'm happy for Mr. Avers for I know in my mind, heart, and soul that he is now in the very embrace of the Lord, and shall never know pain again. He suffered far too much for far too long in his fight against the cancer that took his life, and the time had come for heaven to open up and pull him in.

Avers taught Driver's Education. In fact, he taught me to parallel park, along with all the other in-car things that the driving instructor teaches you. Each new batch of students would be told one thing at the beginning of their term, and possibly again later on; Avers would stand before his new pupils and tell them his goal: "I hope to die before you do."

Well, Mr. Avers was a good teacher, and he kept a close eye on every student throughout the learning process. I believe that he saved many a student's life through his efforts, efforts that were roven successful by the number of students present at his funeral

Avers was a man of God and the pastor at the First Congregational Church here in Council Grove. If you saw how they had to pack people into every available space inside and even outside that church, you'd agree he was a great one. After all, he filled that church without even being there.

Mr. Avers, here's to you.

Picture Time!

Two months have passed since I made my victorious (at least in my own mind) return to Washington, and I just now had the prints developed. How sad is that?

Anyways, They're totally out of order and look like crap, but nevertheless, Enjoy!