The Boys (and Girls) of Summer Are Back

As March Madness swings into full effect this week there is plenty to be excited about, however, the sport of baseball will likely be an afterthought at best for most sports fans.

The greatness that is the NCAA Men's basketball tournament has been well documented so I won't waste time to pander to those of you who are in agreement with this fact. Instead I want to remind you that as the days get longer and the landscape grows greener the passage from winter to spring and summer sports is something to get excited about.

This week I bought a bag of sunflower seeds and ventured out to the ball park to cover my first game of the season; an NAIA matchup between the College of Idaho and Concordia University at the newly constructed Wolfe Field in Caldwell. The weather was less than cooperative as a cool wind steadily blew through the ball park all afternoon and although it wasn't the true sunny spring Saturday I had hoped for on Friday night, it was still enjoyable.



So as your glued to the television praying for your 12 seed to upset that number 5 this week, take a minute to tune in to see what your favorite ball club is up to. Whether it be to a local high school, a minor league club or even an MLB squad, get out and catch a game. Who knows, you may even forget about that heartbreaking loss your number 5 seed dropped to that 12 seed.

Dogs Behind Bars

I'm a dog person. I said it. It's not that I dislike cats. I just love dogs.

For pretty much as long as I can remember I have wanted a dog and throughout much of my college years the famous phrase from my mother: "you can have one when you move out" reverberated through my head.

Well, in December I decided that the time was right to adopt a dog. As previously mentioned, this whole process was something that I had been anticipating for much of my adolescent years and so when the time came to adopt a dog I had it pretty well planned out.

The dog that I got was from the Humane Society in Boise and was enrolled in a program called the Inmate Dog Alliance Project of Idaho. I will admit, when I first read the line in the dog's description that said "This dog is currently training in the Inmate Dog Alliance Project of Idaho," I didn't think much of it.

To my surprise the dog was very well trained, knowing all the basic commands including sit, lay down, roll over and stay. It wasn't until this week that I put two and two together for why my dog came equipped with such an uncanny array of talents.

On Monday, March 9, I ventured out to the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise to photograph the 12 dogs that are currently enrolled in this IDAPI Program. Very quickly I came to realize that at one time my dog, Buddy, was one of these puppies in cell block B.


It was an incredible experience to be able to step inside the heavily fortified walls of the ICC and see these offenders letting little puppies lick them in the face. The general sentiment from the inmates who I spoke with was that these dogs were changing their lives.

"I've seen everything from a garden variety burglar to a murderer, down on the floor with a dog licking his face," said one inmate. "That's what we live for, because there isn't that much to live for in here."

Check out a slideshow I produced by directing your mouse here.

Two Years in Review

On March 1, 2007 I began work as a full time Photojournalist here at the Idaho Press-Tribune. Two years have now passed in what seems to have been the proverbial blink of an eye. For most, two years is not considered a great deal of time to be working in one place and I would generally agree, however, in two years I have seen so much that it almost seems unbelievable to me that it hasn't been longer.

In this position I have had the opportunity to witness the very best and the very worst in people - occasionally in the same day - as well as many moments that fall somewhere in between.

There have been rodeos and carnivals, parades and high school, college and semi-pro sporting events. There have been hectic days that seem to go on forever and slow days with nothing but a ball game on a sunny Saturday afternoon that seem to go by far to fast. I've watched as sprint boats race around waist deep water and I have seen rodeo cowboys hang on for dear life in a battle between man and beast. Along the way have gotten to know many people both young and old who, under normal everyday circumstances I may never have met.

Everyday has been different and as I look forward to my third year and beyond I can only hope that the daily routine continues to be anything but routine.

Exciting Times at the IPT

On Sunday, March 1, 2009 my paper, The Idaho Press-Tribune, began a 20-year Joint Operating Agreement with the competing local newspaper The Idaho Statesman. The agreement requires the IPT to print the Statesman daily newspaper product on our newly expanded printing press. As you can imagine this is a pretty big deal for us at the IPT.

The Statesman prints roughly 56,000 copies in their daily edition compared to around 20,000 by the IPT so as you can probably imagine, this working relationship is somewhat unique in that our largest competitor has now become our largest customer.

I covered the initial press run last night and made a slideshow as well as a video and they can be found HERE.

In addition to my coverage you may want to take a look at what the local NBC news affiliate did. Watch till the end and see if you recognize anyone... Check it out HERE.

Goodbye Rocky

The current condition of the newspaper industry has been pretty well documented with the large layoffs and deep cutbacks but up until now no newsroom downturn has been as well covered as the recent closure of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo.

The story is truly tragic. The Rocky Mountain News has been producing a paper since April 23, 1859 and on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 they printed their final edition after Rick Boehne, E.W. Scripps President/CEO and Mark Contreras, E.W. Scripps Senior Vice-President of Newspapers announced earlier in the week that the downturn in the economy paired with the faltering newspaper business model has left them with no choice but to essentially cease to exist.

For years the Rocky has been a beacon of professionalism and journalistic integrity and it is an absolute shame that they will no longer be there to lead the way in what I consider to be the highest quality of journalism.

Check out the content they produced in their final hours... CLICK HERE.

Awakening from Blogging Hybernation

If I recall correctly, in my last post I confessed to not having time to publish a very detailed post... Well, I again don't have a whole load of free time but again, I do want to get some new photos up for those of you wondering where I've been.

So here's the deal...

The 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games have now come and gone and after last night's championship games the Idaho High School Girls Basketball season is now over.

The Special Olympics ended on a sort of high note for me when I had the opportunity to photograph Vice President Joe Biden as he deboarded Air Force Two in Boise a day before the closing ceremonies.



This weekend I covered Middleton High School as they played in both the semi final and state championship games (Friday and Saturday nights, respectively). I was able to come away with a pair of photos I am pretty pleased with...



The Girls state tournament is always so much fun to cover because in every game there is just an overwhelming amount of emotion - both happy and sad - and in some games you don't know what kind of shot you are going to end up with or shoot for until the last couple of seconds.

I also have a couple more photos that I took earlier in the month that I neglected to publish in my previous post. The first was a shot of a few fans celebrating at a local sports pub as a Pittsburgh Steeler defender returned an interception for a long, long touchdown.


This other shot was taken from a house fire a few weeks back.


Outside of work not much has changed. I have been keeping myself busy as I am preparing to run in a half marathon this coming April. It's slated as "The Toughest Half Marathon in the Northwest" and as my first official race I have been training daily in an attempt to finish with a respectable time.

I should just quickly apologize for such spotty posts lately. As the weather begins to get warmer I will hopefully begin to come out of my winter blogging hibernation. Stay tuned...

Back for a short time

Well I don't have a ton of time to devote to a detailed update this evening, however, I did quickly want to post an update to prove that I am in fact still alive.

As you can most likely imagine, things have been immensely busy as of late. This week nearly 2,500 athletes from 100 different countries rolled into Idaho to compete in the highly anticipated 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. The opening ceremonies took place on Saturday and the sports action will undoubtedly stir some excitement starting Monday and concluding Friday with the closing ceremonies. I shot a little figure skating Sunday. This is a shot from that event.


As if that weren't enough to keep a newsroom busy, Idaho High School Girl's basketball will be coming to a close over the course of the next couple of weeks starting with the district championship games, which will be played this coming Friday.


After the Girl's basketball state finals come to a close in a couple weeks, Idaho High School wrestling will be heating up as the State championships land the following week.


I would hazard a guess that I won't be updating much in the next week or so but rest assured that once the dust clears and the action winds down I will take some time to reflect on my experience. Until then, take'r easy!