People I meet along the way.

2009-09-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Baby Shayna

2009-09-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome Shayna Pratt to the world...

I spent a lot of time with the Pratt family during my last photo class at Western when I worked on a story on their family. They are an amazing family and have become good friends of mine. I was so happy when LaCretia asked me to take photos when their baby girl came.

Kitties!

2009-09-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Since I've been back home, I noticed there are a lot of cats around the house. One day I noticed a black cat laying on the porch, then a grey one. The first grey one I found looked like she just had kittens. Then I saw two grey kittens that looked exactly like the first one. Finally, my mom woke me up this morning to see that our front porch was a kitten paradise!

This one's my favorite. I love her eyes and the brown line that goes down across her nose.

Slate Run Farm

2009-08-23T15:27:00.001-07:00

Our Big Crazy Family

2009-08-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

I just started a new story. I had met two families at one of the parks in Columbus earlier on my internship when I was shooting a feature, both of which had adopted from Ethiopia. I had wanted to do a photo story on one of the families, but wasn't able to. Instead, I was pointed to another family with 7 children, 4 biological, 3 adopted from Ethiopia. Anyways, I finally got to meet the family, and they are the nicest people and their kids are so well behaved. Here are a few from my first visit with them.

And here are a couple from some of the kids jumping on the trampoline that I liked...

Seagull Bags

2009-08-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Got to check out Seagull Bags today. The bags are pretty sweet...might have to snag one before I leave Columbus. Anyways, got to hang out with the people, and see the messenger bags being made. It was definitely a breath of fresh air to see a small, local company that is seeing success, making quality products, and having fun at the same time.

Alice Cooper

2009-08-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

Obviously not my cup of tea when it comes to music, but he was definitely fun to watch.

Trains Across the Sea/The LifeScouts

2009-08-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

2009-07-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Field of Dreams

2009-07-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Jazz and Rib Fest

2009-07-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

Bird and Flower

2009-07-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Lately at the Dispatch, the staffers here have been responsible for some of the photo requests for Columbus Alive, an alternative weekly publication, also owned by The Dispatch. The assignments I've gotten for Alive have been musician portraits and food assignments, which I really like because they are assignments where I can work on my lighting. Here's a couple portraits I liked from a shoot with the singer of a local band Bird and Flower.

2009-07-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

For some reason I thought it would be really easy to make a good picture in one of these bouncy things. I was wrong...I could barely keep my balance.

Man in the Mirror

2009-06-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

I went to two church services today. One was a church service that remembered Michael Jackson's life, and the second was a Kenyan Baptist Church. It was really refreshing to see people in church that weren't afraid to get out of their seats and have a good time.

Red Cross Blood Drive

2009-06-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

PRIDE!

2009-06-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be Pride without a giant rainbow flag...

or the uber religious gurus...

and lastly, half-naked people, of course.

Last one, I swear!

2009-06-24T16:17:00.001-07:00

Feels like I haven't updated in forever...

Cricket

2009-06-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Never shot cricket before. Hopefully I can shoot it again but with longer glass. I tried to sneak in closer on the field, but they caught me and told me to move because it was the finals of a tournament.

Bhuddist Temple Opening

2009-06-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

Can't believe this is in Columbus...such a beautiful building.

Some older images I never posted, but liked...

2009-06-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

2009-06-04T18:45:00.001-07:00

Hell City Tattoo Festival

2009-06-02T09:38:00.001-07:00

tennis/track

2009-05-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

At a mausoleum near my house. Two family members who has never met or heard of the other had met for the first time this weekend because one of them has been doing research on their family geneology. He found out he had family buried at the mausoleum, and the preservation society of the mausoleum sent him the obits for the family members, where he was able to get the name of a lost relative who lived just out of Columbus. So the two finally met and shared stories about their family members buried there.

These are a couple pics from a Confederate ceremony at Camp Chase.

And I just now noticed there is a lot of dust on this pic...oops. Need to clean my lens.

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!

2009-05-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Oh High School...Those were the days.

2009-05-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived!

2009-05-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

Elephants celebrate Mother's Day too

2009-05-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

A new baby elephant was born on March 27, but wasn't named until today, in honor of Mother's Day! So here's Phoebe and baby Beco! And some people that came out to see them.

Sports

2009-04-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get as many sports assignments and tag along on as many games as I can lately because I know that's my weakest area. Here are some of the shots I got this weekend.

"Between Eye and I"

2009-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

A dance troupe exploring the relationship between body and landscape.

Cruisin'

2009-04-23T15:45:00.001-07:00

Outfield

2009-04-19T13:51:00.001-07:00

Fans watch the Clippers' season opener at their new field, Huntington Park, from outside the gates...

2009-04-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Finally learned how to make my images bigger...yay!

2009-04-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

2009-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

2009-04-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

2009-04-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

I was assigned to take pictures of this empty lot in an old shopping center. I was the third person they sent on this assignment, and didn't get anything too awful exciting since, well, it's an empty lot, but there were these adorable dogs there running around...Shasha and Murmmer.

2009-04-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Pinwheels for Prevention

2009-04-05T13:00:00.001-07:00

Science Museum

2009-04-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

2009-04-02T15:25:00.001-07:00

2009-03-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

2009-03-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

I found these two really awesome families at the park today when I was looking for a feature. The two families both have adopted children both domestically, and from abroad. The families met at the airport when they went to pick up their newly adopted children that had just flown in from Ethiopia, and have been friends since. These are two of the Ethiopian children flying a kite for the first time.

Get your hair did!

2009-03-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

2009-03-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

South Park Apts.

2009-03-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Full Moon

2009-03-13T18:21:00.001-07:00

PBA Bowling

2009-03-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

I spent all weekend shooting bowling. First high school bowling, then PBA bowling. Here's a few things from the PBA tournament...

2009-03-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

Alice in Wonderland

2009-03-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Last Herald assignment...

2008-12-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

So these are from my last assignment at the Herald EVER! It was a story on international students and how they assimilate into American culture, but still stay rooted in their own cultures, partially by surrounding themselves with other international students. The writer focused on the Saudi Arabian students, and these guys were all really awesome.

Last home game...

2008-12-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

WKU vs Troy

2008-11-03T10:05:00.001-08:00

International Festival

2008-09-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Finally updating...

Polo

2008-08-09T14:53:00.001-07:00

2008-08-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Pocono Raceway

2008-08-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

This Past Week...

2008-08-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

We are Burmese, if you please...

2008-07-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today I went back to my Burmese family's house. I got to meet one of the family members I didn't get to meet on moving day, so now I know the whole family, but I'm still working on trying to memorize everyone's names. At the house, everyone was downstairs, I thought, and then I thought I heard something upstairs. So I go upstairs, and hear music. I put my ear to the door because I couldn't tell if it was the radio or someone actually singing. So I knock on the door, and one of the kids opens the door with a guitar in his hands and some sweet sunglasses. He was playing the guitar, singing in English. I didn't know he knew so much English, and I asked him if he wanted to work as a musician someday, and he said yes. I thought that was the coolest thing, especially since he had his sunglasses on like he was already some famous musician, and I guess he's already got paparazzi with a camera around:)

Eagles Training Camp

2008-07-30T10:22:00.001-07:00

2008-07-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

I started a story today...

2008-07-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

...on a family of Burmese refugees. A family of 7 were reunited with 3 other family members, who have been in Allentown for a year now, a week ago. Today is the day they all started moving in together, and the first day I met them. I was a little overwhelmed with the fact that so many people were moving in, with the help of their case worker and an intern from Catholic Charities, and the fact that they didn't speak English. Eventually, they hope to house 12 people in the house, when they are able to bring a set of the family's grandparents over. It's been a while since I've been this excited about a story... I wish I had more than just a couple weeks to work on it. The family is so sweet, and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my time in Allentown with them.

Sportsfest Day 2

2008-07-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

So after this game, I go to get the team rosters. One team's roster consists of only numbers. Anyone watching the game could've figured that out. Then, as I'm captioning my pics of the team that did have an actual roster, there are two girls with the same number. Who does that!

Sportsfest

2008-07-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

2008-07-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

2008-07-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Make-A-Wish

2008-07-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

8 year old Ashari was diagnosed with leukemia in May of 2008, and had her wish of a shopping spree granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was picked up in a limo and taken to King of Prussia with her parents and older sister. Ashari shopped at Best Buy, Toys 'R' Us, and the King of Prussia Mall, where she went to Build-A-Bear, which was her favorite stop, where she got a pink leopard cat that she named Princess.

Dalai Lama Protestors

2008-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

The Dalai Lama visited the Lehigh Valley this past week, and following shortly behind him was this group of protesters. The protesters consisted of Shugden Buddhists, who worship a deity of the name Dorje Shugden. The Dalai Lama has banned the worship of this deity, leading to a lack of religious freedoms in the country of Tibet, which is why the Shugden Practitioners are protesting.

Next to the Shugden protesters, was a small group of Chinese Lehigh University students, who were also protesting the Dalai Lama for a different reason. The students said that although Tibet is a part of China, the Dalai Lama's actions treat Tibet as if it has nothing to do with China.

Lastly, a young man waits for the second Sunday session of the Dalai Lama's lecture outside of Stabler arena by doing yoga.

p.s. one of the protesters thought I was from the Tibetan press...which is funny to me.

Union and West End Cemetery

2008-07-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Girl Scout Troop 6678, Home Depot's volunteer group, Team Depot, and Properties of Merit repaint the iron fence at the Union and West End Cemetery, which is the only cemetery in the United States that holds the remains of both Union and Civil War soldiers.

Tour de Pool

2008-07-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Little Lehigh

2008-07-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-05T07:29:00.001-07:00

These people let me hang out with them while they celebrated the 4th on their porch. I swear this town was like a ghost town, since it rained and no one was out celebrating in the afternoon.

Arts Camp

2008-07-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Milford Carnival

2008-07-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, when they ran this picture in the paper, I was shocked to find that they cropped it into a long rectangle of the hand and the apples.

Hex Signs

2008-06-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

The roof is on fire...

2008-06-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

So I proposed to my boss that I do a little project on the real world operations training that the fire department does once a year at the end of an 18 week training program for new firefighters as they approach graduation this week because I was getting sick of shooting meetings and press conferences. My boss ok'd it, and I'm shooting tonight when another photographer from my paper, but a different bureau shows up. Supposedly, he had planned to shoot this since May, and had informed my boss so that no one else would be assigned it. I guess he was confused as to why I was there, and why my boss ok'd it if someone else was doing it. No biggie, and I'd still be shooting it for my own sake...It just sucks that there is this lack of communication.

I just couldn't help it...firefighters just look a lot hotter silhouetted...

Asian Persuasion...

2008-06-24T19:01:00.001-07:00

This is funny to me...

So one day I show up to work and I have two assignments:

1: A restaurant review on a restaurant named "Asia"
2: A softball game versus Team China

Velodrome

2008-06-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Bicycling is hard to shoot, in my opinion...

Bobby Lea: Olympic Bicycling Qualifier

Heat Wave

2008-06-24T18:06:00.001-07:00

The local fire department sent fire trucks out to some of the parks to help people stay cool when the first heat wave hit.

Easter Seals

2008-06-14T09:35:00.001-07:00

I had an assignment to take photos of Emma, 9, who has Rett syndrome...it's like autism, but worse, and it typically only occurs in females. It can occur in males, but they don't usually survive. I only got to spend an hour with them, but I really liked them. I might follow-up on them and see about doing a story because I've never heard of Rett syndrome, and it's very interesting.

features

2008-06-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

These are just some pictures from a feature picture package I turned in. Employees of Lamb Studios repair the stained glass windows at Christ Lutheran Church. I'm not sure how I feel about the way the paper runs their features. I really liked this package, but it didn't run...

The paper typically only runs packages for features, which I think is a bummer because typically they are repetitive and it would be nice to show off a nice single image and run it bigger. Second, it seems like the only features they run are of little kids at parks, which is fun, but there's more in this town that cute kids...

Reading Air Show

2008-06-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was assigned to shoot a ceremony at the Reading Air Show, which has a WWII theme, where German reenactors awarded a gentleman named Edward Sakasitz replicas of the awards that he should have received, but never did. I wish I would have had some time to walk around more and take some more pictures, but was stuck in the same area for a while waiting with the reporter for someone to take us to the ceremony...

This is Edward Sakasitz meeting with German reenactors who are playing the role of the 5th Mountain Division, which was the unit that Sakasitz served in during the war.

Atlantic City

2008-06-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

My roommate, Karen, took me to Atlantic City this past weekend with her daughter, Nikki and her daughter's friend, Jessica...

This was Jessica's first time at the beach ever...

P.S. I gambled for the first time, and lost 10 dollars on the slots...boo! And my roommate won 30 dollars after sitting for like 2 minutes :(

Just a Day at the Park...

2008-06-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Malcolm W. Gross Memorial Rose Garden

Everyone else is doing it...

2008-06-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Since it seems like everyone else in the world has a blog, I thought I'd try it out...

Here's some older stuff... just some of the pictures I liked from my project last semester...

This is the Pratt Family, and they are a struggling low-income family doing their best to move forward with their lives and improve their financial situation. When I met them, the two were both unemployed, but now both have jobs and are currently enrolled at WKU. Lacretia just graduated with an associate's degree in sociology after being in school for six years. Regardless of their struggles, they keep an optimistic outlook, relying on their faith and their families for any and everything.

Lacretia Pratt and her one-year old daughter, Makala. She is quite possibly the cutest thing ever...

Shonte Pratt and Makala