I thought i would throw this image that i shot yesterday up this morning. Im headed off to shoot the Softball state finals in Battle Creek , MI.

The Southern Yankee

Roger Manning is a country music singer who moved from Tennessee when he was 1. I spent about 3 hours with him today, most of which was spent talking about music, photography and passions in general. He also has a duet that plays in bar around town. They play a lot of Eagles, John Prine, Tom Petty and such. Ill definitely get around to seeing him play at some point. Give me some feedback about which portrait you like best, and why.

Schools out for summer

Last day of school at Smith Road Elementary School.

Sarah

Sarah was recently chosen to represent the state of Michigan in China for 11 days where she will train under Master Wubin in the martial art known as Wushu. Both her and her brother were chosen to go, however her family could only afford to send on child. After many fundraisers they have just about raised enough money. Although it is not part of the newspaper article, Sarah is a story by herself. She is finishing highschool as well as maintaining a 4.0 GPA in the college classes she is taking. She is learing 4 languages, works 2 jobs to take care of her mother who is ill with a disorder that effects her muscles. She lives in a small apartment with her grandmother across a courtyard form her mother and her 3 brothers, who she often takes care of. Sarah also loves to write, read, paint draw, and take photographs. She does alot of other things too, but the list is too long to remember. Her great grandmother also runs a weekly bluegrass music night at the Racoon hunting club in a small town north of here called Romulus. If i can find time, i plan on going tomorrow, so check back for that. This next picture was origionally set up to be a portrait, but it sounded too cool to just shoot a portrait. So i set it up to go over when she would be practicing. I think it paid off.

Chelsea

Chelsea won an essay contest with an essay about her guidance counselor who helped her overcome her eating disorder. Unfortunately I was only able to spend about 20 minutes with her because of another assignment. Anyways, this is what i got.

Strawberries

I Photographed a family that is starting a small strawberry farm on their land.

A day on the lake

By day, i mean the whole thing. We're talking an 18 hour work day. I know, if only i were under 18 that would be child labor, but as an intern its just called working hard. Despite the long hours, i loved every minute of it. Thats what i love about this job, you never know what a new day will bring or where you will end up, but you can be sure that it wont be stuck in an office somewhere or caged up in a board room. In this case i spent the day with a group of middle school students that chartered a boat to take them to a private research island on lake Erie called Gibraltar Island. It is owned by Ohio State University and is used to conduct experiments and teach classes and workshops. The kids spent the day on boats testing water levels and catching fish, bird watching, and pulling the heart out of a live fish as it kept beating. It was a long day, and so i shot a lot of images. And the best part... i got payed to spend the day on the lake.

Tyler Westfall stubbed his toe while kicking around rocks looking for fish.

And, of course, the popular crowd.

Removing a live fish heart.