More Graduation

I got this shot tonight at a graduation for the Skyview High School Class of 2008. Nothing much to report, I just thought it was cool and worth posting. Enjoy!

Long Road Home

My how quickly time goes by. I spent the past couple days moving boxes (mostly all of which contained my sisters kitchen gear) as my sister and her husband prepared for their big move. I won't bore you with the details of the move but I thought it'd be fun to share a picture of their almost 1-year-old baby boy, Joey. He's a great little man, and when I say little, I actually mean big (he now weighs in at an unwieldy 30-lbs). Here is a shot of him enjoying one of his favorite pastimes... cruising in the walker.


I returned Wednesday evening after a six-hour drive in a borrowed pickup with a full load of Lindsey and Brian's personal effects. The drive took a little longer because I was hauling a good sized desk and also because I made several stops off to take photos of people floating down the Payette River, which follows the highway for a ways north of Boise.


Now it's back to work for a couple days before I take the weekend off to turn 24. I'm looking forward to catching some sun and maybe playing a little golf. Check back in a week for fun pix from the weekend.

Running on Fumes

How quickly optimism can turn into spiteful pessimism.

This weekend I was busy. Busier than I have ever been and I have not yet decided whether it was good or bad. One thing I do know is that I am very thankful that this weekend was very much the exception to the norm.

Over the course of the past three days I have covered just about every kind of event you could imagine; mundane and catastrophic, jubilation and dejection and most things in between. Now that it is over and I am on the verge of a two day break I am taking the proverbial sigh of relief.

Among the highlights from the weekend were a handful of graduations, more high school rodeo, a bike race in downtown Nampa, a massive fire in Caldwell and a couple of Memorial Day ceremonies.

I have encountered a variety of interesting experiences over the past few days, but I will spare you and instead leave you with a quote I heard at a Memorial Day ceremony today in Caldwell, Idaho.

"America is not at war; The military is at war. America is at the mall"

Thanks for checking in!

Breathe Deep and Count to Ten

As promised, graduation season is now in full swing and it has brought me as much stress as I had anticipated it would. This weekend I have four graduations to cover in two days and a number of other athletic events including State Track finals Saturday and more High School Rodeo on Sunday. Oh and I am going to be the only one on staff because my weekend counterpart is taking an extended weekend. Sound's like fun huh?

Believe it or not I am actually pretty optimistic about the whole situation simply because I will be leaving Tuesday on a road trip up to see my sister and her husband for the last time in their home in Moscow, Idaho before they move to Logan, Utah to settle in greener pastures. I'm hoping for some quality time with them, their boy and their dogs and hopefully some quality time in the saddle up on Moscow Mountain. In addition, Saturday, May 31st is my 24th birthday and I will be taking the weekend off to enjoy the company of friends and family.

So here is a taste of things to come in the next couple of days.

What a Weekend

The past three days of my life have been crazy. Saturday I worked an 11-hour day where I covered Boise State's graduation, a Boy Scout Fair and the WAC Track Championships. I made a slideshow from the Boy Scout Fair, which is most certainly forgettable but I'll let you be the judge... Check it out...


There have also been a flurry of prep championships over the course of the past few days which has added to my stress load. And to make matters worse, summer has arrived in the valley and temperatures have soared well into the 90's.



On the bright side, I'm coming up on a couple of days off, which I am looking forward to with breathless anticipation.

Something a Little Different

So this post is going to stray a little from the format I typically follow. I usually post updates on what I am doing at work and the stories behind the random assignments I shoot, but today I thought I would try something a little different.

As some of you may or may not know, I typically take my weekends on Tuesday and Wednesdays, which means that today is essentially my Saturday. You may also know that a few of my hobbies are skiing and mountain biking and since the snow has basically vanished, this morning I decided to hop on my bike and go for a ride.


I have done a fair amount of biking in the Boise foothills, yet there are still a ton of trails I haven't even located yet. So this morning I left home with the simple goal of going someplace I hadn't yet been. The trail I settled on was a lightly traveled stretch of singletrack which climbs almost 3,500' over the course of 10 miles (amazing!). The trail is called "Hard Guy" which I think appropriately captures the shear burliness of the ride.


The ride up was gorgeous and every bit as grueling as I had hoped. About an hour and a half after setting out I reached the ridge road, which as the name states, runs along the top of the ridge of the Boise Front. I had originally hoped to ride the road for a while till I could hook up with a trail that would take me back down to town but to my surprise the road was still covered in nearly a foot of snow. Highly unusual and a little disappointing but still very satisfying to have even reached the road.


When it was all said and done the ride took a little over three hours, covering 25 miles. So much fun that I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Farewell Concert

Monday night I went to a farewell concert for the music director of the Nampa School district who is retiring after 36 years in the district. I made a slideshow from the concert. Check it out...

Here

Tony Bennett

On Saturday, May 10th I covered a Tony Bennett concert which turned out to be the highlight of what was a long and busy day. I started working around 9 AM and was only able to nab one 30 minute break the entire day.

It's not every day you get the opportunity to see a legend perform and I have to say, I feel very privileged to have had the chance to see him. I've never been a huge fan of Jazz but I found the music pretty toe-tapping, and not in the Larry Craig sense of the phrase.

Gymnasts

If I could provide anyone out there with a minor pearl of wisdom, it would be to always remember to bring your memory cards to assignments.

Today I ventured over to east Nampa to take a portrait of four youth gymnasts who will soon be traveling to the U.S. National Championships.

I strolled into the gym around 3:15, met the girls and immediately came up with the idea of catching all four posing in mid-air. I then set up the lighting equipment and quickly realized something wasn't right. You know when you have that feeling that you are forgetting something. For me it is a very common occurrence and it seems like every time I get that feeling, I almost always am in fact forgetting something.

So I got ready to shoot and realized I had forgotten my wallet of memory cards in the office. Fortunately, I had a friend in the office who was able to run them out to me, for a nominal fee of course.

On Sunday, May 4th I officially kicked off the summer season with two assignments which were very much the first of many more to come.

For those of you who are unaware, rodeos are huge in Idaho. In fact, they are so huge that over the course of this summer I will more than likely cover somewhere between 10 and 20 rodeos. Some are big, some are small, but one thing they all have in common; dudes in funny hats with big belt buckles, boots and bad country music. I have some moral objections to rodeos but I can't help but get at least a little excited every time I get the opportunity to cover one.

I took this photo at my first rodeo of the season this past Sunday morning at the High School Rodeo in Homedale, Idaho.


Another very distinct assignment that rolls around every year is the annual turning of the tassels. Unlike rodeos, I tend to dread covering these events simply because of the sheer number of them I have to attend and the fact that they are all essentially the same. The kids walk in, sit down, listen to a forgettable speech, do the grip and gin and if you're lucky they'll throw their hats, hug and cry. If I sound jaded about graduations, that's because I am.

I took this photo Sunday night at the commencement for Northwest Nazarene University.


Congratulations, now get a job!

Slow News Sunday

Here is the link to a slideshow I did this past Sunday at a National Guinea Pig Convention in Caldwell, Idaho. Sort of a silly assignment so I felt that it would be okay to put together a sort of silly slideshow. Take a look...

Here.

Another Beautiful Day in my Neighborhood

Today was a great day.

I'm not trying to be overly sentimental, however, I have to say; I love it when the weather changes and the world seemingly comes back to life. Today the sun was out and the colors were wonderful. I'm not going to break into poetry here, but I can't help but share my satisfaction with the weather.

I spent the majority of my afternoon in the Boise area today, covering a district softball game and taking a feature shot of a pair of quarterbacks who head the local arena football team. This softball shot is pretty much the run-of-the-mill, however, I think the portrait turned out pretty stellar. Take a look and let me know what you think...



I also wanted to through in a random feature I took of a local ripper catching some air on his bike.


As always, thanks for taking the time to take a look!