Someday I'll Sing in an Opera

Waiting for an assignment, this view caught my eye.

Iron and Wine concert

Sarah is her name but her friends call her Sally

Dear Sally turned 99 today. Last year while I was working on a photo essay about her, this poor lady refused to let me take a portrait of her. In an attempt to earn her trust, I even walked her home one day, where she fed me milk and cookies and then played the violin, only to refuse again when I requested a portrait session (she did however give me a lucky penny that day which I've carried in my wallet ever since). I don't know what changed for her, but this year she was more than willing to spare some time and pose at the Capitol.

Coffee Shops

Hunting for baristas who get poor tips.

Cranes and a 2-Headed Turkey

Lesson learned - only give the paper one photo

Had fun hounding down a location at the Capitol to do this portrait of local celebrity Brigitte Dale who won the 2008 Yahoo! Video Awards Best Internet Personality award.

Intuition and climbing over fences

The National Guard building was devoid of any suitable background for this gentleman who served overseas. I stumbled upon this building a few hours later and it provided the perfect backdrop to fit his story.

The circus

State Basketball

Boys State Basketball is over...thank the heavens. I caught a lucky break and got to use the new Nikon D3 camera and not have to use lights for most of the games. Josh Jones dunking the ball during the Class A state championship match.

Sorry

The cops came and busted this man for selling Salvia (which is a legal herb) the day after a photo and story ran in the paper directly linking him to selling it. The police found some silly law stating that because it is a hallucinogen, it is illegal, then ticketed him and seized all of his product.

Too Many Lights

Lugged all my lighting gear into Omaha Central high school to get a photo of Josh Jones, the Creighton basketball recruit. It was a fun time, and he was more than glad to jump up and down mimicking his idol Michael Jordan. Glad I asked him to come back and do it again after we were almost ready to call it quits as it yielded the winning shot.

YMCA Plea

I had to beg the guys at the YMCA to let me take a photo of them for a Germophobia piece we were doing, but then we never used the image.

Reshoot with Ribbon

Had to reshoot the lemony shrimp fettucini as I neglected to get a close up of the dish and the ribbon.