NEW BLOG

It is with some mixed emotions that today I am announcing the launch of my website and new blog. I have been posting here at this blog for the past three years but I have decided it's time to make my own. So if you get a chance cruise over to the new website and from there you should be able to navigate to the new blog.

www.charliejlitchfield.com

Please leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know what you think. I'm still sort of working out the bugs so if there is something egregious or out of place please let me know!

Thanks for checking in!

Charlie

Wanderings

Just some photos from today. Not much more to say.

A Heavy Cross To Bear

It seems like the world often works itself out in very weird little ways for me.

You see, the past few days have been a little taxing as I have made the transition from a somewhat typical five day work week to a little less common four day work week made up of four 10-hour shifts.

I have been surprised to find that starting my day two hours earlier has proved to be rather difficult. After working the same shift for three years I have settled into a routine. Now that routine has changed and it is certainly taking some getting used to.

Anyway, I tell you that to tell you this. In addition to the new schedule, I've been dealing with a mammoth amount of trepidation about the future. I tend to get worked up about who I am and where I am going from time to time (as all of us do) and today I began to crack.

That is, until I went to Caldwell to get a few shots of the construction of a new community college. On my way there I saw an unusual sight that caught my eye. There was a man walking along the side of the road carrying a ten foot wooden cross. Like many passing motorists I slowed down to take a good long look at what was going on.

I literally said, "hmm, don't see that every day" and kept driving. I thought about it for the next 10 or 15 minutes and then decided "what the heck, I'm sure he has an interesting story, why not go listen to it". So I did.

I circled back around the block from where I saw him last and found him as he was sitting down to rest for a minute.

I sat with him for about 20 minutes listening to him tell me stories from the last 20 years where he claimed to have walked thousands of miles to "remind people that the good lord died for their sins and through him they can have ever lasting life".

I wasn't inherently interested in what he had to say about his religious beliefs but the thing that I found surprising was that I actually enjoyed listening to him talk. He had some pretty interesting stories to tell of his endeavors over the years and for some reason I found his humble message pretty refreshing.

People walk for miles and miles always in a hurry to get somewhere. Today I met a guy who walked for miles and miles to go nowhere in particular. It made me realize that it's easy to get caught up in where you think you need to be or where it is you should be going but in a lot of cases worrying about it doesn't get you there any quicker.

First Few Weeks of 2010

Life over the last couple of weeks has been fairly busy on a few different fronts. I'm staying occupied at the office with happenings like the kickoff to the 2010 Idaho legislative session and with winter sports season in full swing I'm spending a good chunk of my time outside the office out in the elements.

Here are some highlights from the first few weeks of 2010...

Great Polar Bear Plunge


Renovation and reopening of the Idaho capitol building and kickoff to the 2010 legislative session.





And some random features...




On the horizon... I am getting closer to moving myself into the 21st century and laying the ground work for a website to showcase my photography. It's still a ways off but I have a really good start. If any of you web gurus out there have put together your own or come across any really nice photo websites please feel free to send me some info. I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time...

Moving the Mountain

With roughly 24,000 people holding season passes and thousands of day-use tickets issued every Saturday, the scene at Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area can seem quite hectic.

But behind the hustle and bustle of skiers and snowboarders making their way up the mountain is a group of people who aim to make things move along as smoothly and as safely as possible.

"It's like directing an orchestra" snowplow operator Jim Livingston said as he made his way through the parking lot on a particularly busy Saturday afternoon. "There are a lot of moving parts."

Many of these individuals are rarely seen, but in some respects play a critical role in the safety and enjoyment of their guests. This is a look at the jobs that often go unnoticed.

Click below to see their stories...

Jim Livingston



Myron Hermon



Tanya Eckert

Think Snow!

It's nearly the middle of December and I have yet to even slip on my ski boots. We are finally starting to get some snow here in southwest Idaho but we could use A LOT more. So take this moment to do your best snow dance and help bring thoughts of powder shots to the inland northwest!


Thanks!

A Cold November, and December...

After yet another lengthy break away from the ole' web log I have once again returned to inundate you with stories from this small town journalist (Please, hold your applause till the end).

Over the past two months I have ebbed and flowed through the proverbial ups and downs most anyone encounters on this roller coaster called life. I have seen things that have made me smile and experienced a hand full of heart-ache along the way. Let's see... Where to start?

As I recall I last left you hanging on a happy note about how my job has been something spectacular as of late. While that largely remains the case, over the past couple of months I have taken a couple of careening detours from the yellow brick road of journalistic joyfulness.

I won't delve into the details of these aforementioned detours because I'm not here to complain. Truthfully, I don't have much to complain about. I've fought with my equipment, struggled with my horrendous hours, stressed out about my mounting credit card debt but none of this is new.

Bottom line: I can still find things to enjoy about my job and I guess that is enough for me.

So here it is. The quick and dirty run-down...

There have been a number of truly great assignments lately but I can't talk about it all - I'm not that patient and I'm sure you aren't either. Instead here are a few of my favorite photos from the past two months...








As some of you may know, I have had the opportunity to cover the Boise State Broncos all season but unfortunately I won't be making the trip down to Glendale, Ariz., for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. I am not terribly dejected about being denied the opportunity to shoot the game but I am however incredibly disappointed that I will miss the chance to see my Iowa State Cyclones line up against my second favorite school - the Minnesota Golden Gophers - in the Insight.com Bowl, which is a few days prior to the Fiesta.

Had I been selected to go down to represent my newspaper I would have no doubt had the chance to cheer on my Cyclones as they participate in their first bowl game since 2005. Big Bummer indeed but I suppose my co-worker and roommate Dave Southorn (who is from Minnesota and whose father attended Iowa State) will be down to cheer 'em on for me.



Before I go I just wanted to share one more thing that weighed heavy on my heart over the past months...

On Sunday, Nov. 15th my grandfather Charles Edward Litchfield passed away at the age of 76. I traveled back for services later that week and although I had the opportunity to reconnect with family whom I hadn't seen in years, it was with a heavy heart that I did so. As I now know him, my grandpa Charlie (or Tuna as he was affectionately referred to by many) was an extraordinary man.


For much of my trip to Iowa I tried to spend time just listening to those who knew him better than I share their stories. Quickly I came to realize that he had a bigger heart than I ever knew and cared greatly for his family, his friends and of course, his Cubs. After only a short time I was overwhelmed with feelings of regret for having never taken time to know better the man for whom I was named after. Although I have regrets I am tremendously thankful for the times we did share. I will always have a special place in my heart for bottled pop, Cubs baseball on WGN and the serpentine sounds of an old ford pickup as it picks up speed.


He was a great guy and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the fact that he raised my father to be a great man himself. I can now see some of my grandfather's greatest traits in my father and I am more thankful than ever to be my father's son.


After he passed away my dad and I acquired the bike which was considered one of Charlie's most prized possessions...

A 1951 Schwinn Phantom.


The bike was always something I quietly admired and now knowing that it meant so much to him makes it priceless to me.

I'm also happy to report that it has now been outfitted with a new set of replica Schwinn Typhoon whitewall tires and a new fully functional horn assembly. The bike rides like a dream and as I get older I know that its importance will never fade, even if its paint job does.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

A Day Unlike The Day Before

Today I was again reminded why I love my job.

Now granted I don't love every aspect of the work that I do but then again, who does? There are small things that drive me a little nuts from time to time but at it's most fundamental level my job is what I believe I was born to do.

On a good day I get to meet people from such vastly different walks of life that it's often hard to remember what kind of person I have convinced myself I am or exactly what socio-demographic I feel I should fit into.

Thing is, in my past I have never felt comfortable being put into one category or another. My circles of friends has always looked like a Venn Diagram, and so have my interests.

And that's why I think I fit so well into this niche I've found. Every day I meet different people and every person that I meet presents me with a completely different personality; challenging my ability to communicate with, understand and of course photograph them. Truth be told, the actual act of taking a picture is often secondary to the experience of being at an event or meeting a person or group of people. Rather, it's simply a tool to gain access to slices of life most often only read about or pass in fleeting glimpses. Or maybe a tool that enables me to see slices of life that people often overlook. However you want to frame it it is something that I am aware of and thankful for.

I would argue that what makes some photojournalists so great is that they have a truly exceptional ability to relate to all walks of life in all situations. In some respects they just happen to know a little bit about a lot of things but whatever the case may be they find something they can identify with in their subjects.

I think the reason I have found so much happiness in this line of work is because this is what I have done nearly my entire adult life. Learning about the people I meet and the things they do and in the process learning about myself. The picture taking has pretty much always been an afterthought.

Now I am not saying that everyday is lived under a rainbow with sunny skies and yes, many days do feel like work. But every now and again I get a day like today...

I arrived into work an hour early fueled by a half a pot of coffee and an angelic 12-hour slumber... and not just any old 12-hour slumber. This was the kind of sleep that mattress companies advertise can only be achieved by sleeping in their beds. You know, bed in a field of rolling hills at daybreak with a man and a woman embracing as if they had literally spent the night sleeping on clouds. Mine was just like that, except instead of a beautiful woman it was my smelly 60-lb Lab.

I digress...

After unloading my camera, computer, lunch and coffee cup I sat in my swiveling seat and awoke my computer from hibernation. As I looked at a blank slate of assignments for my shift my mind began to race in search of tasks to accomplish over the course of the next eight hours.

I starred at the computer for a minute more and then began typing about what else...? You guessed it... The weather. I had a pair of photos I had taken from a trip to a pumpkin patch a few days back and thought that I would attempt to dictate a defense for why I loved the changing of the seasons.



Fortunately for humanity my attempt at defending the goodness of pumpkins was interrupted by an assignment at an antique store in Caldwell. The antique store was under new management and... Well that's not really important. I snapped a few photos of the kind folks at Avalon Antiques and then begrudgingly began my journey back to my cold grey cubicle.


I drove about six blocks before encountering a man standing on the corner of a busy intersection near downtown Caldwell. Not entirely unusual except that drapped over his shoulders was a gigantic piece of cardboard donning the phrase: "NO ON THE JAIL BOND". As it turns out the man was one of more than a couple who was hired by a candidate to display the signs in the days leading up to Tuesday's election.


Naturally, I stopped to talk to the guy and was surprised to find that he was only in it for the money and was actually intending on voting in the opposite position for which he was advertising. So we talked for about 20 minutes and as I thanked him and turned my back he softly said, "The Lord blesses you". I thanked him again a walked away happy to have met him.

I arrived back in the office with a small spring to my step feeling as though I had just experienced a truly unique character. I mean, who gives you their name followed by the statement "I have a misdemeanor" and concludes the conversation with "The Lord blesses you"?

So I sifted through my photos for a few minutes before being dispatched out to photograph a 19-year-old who had recently arrived back in her home state after spending the last two months in an Intensive Care Unit in Seattle for injuries she sustained after falling from a window on the campus of the University of Idaho in September.

I walked through the doors of Trinity Mission Health & Rehab - an assisted living facility in Nampa - and immediately grief and anxiety hung over my head like a black umbrella. The swelling of self pride I had previously carried was swiftly deflated as I entered a dimly lit room and passed by the privacy curtain to see a beautiful young woman lay nearly lifeless. She was surrounded by her mother, step-father, brother and sister who, considering the circumstances, were surprisingly upbeat and supportive.


I visited with the family for about 15 minutes before thanking them and gracefully making my exit. As I walked down the halls of the facility towards the front door I noticed that every patient looked to have lived a long life, and although choices had been made and likely could have been avoided I found it overwhelmingly unfair that Amanda Andaverde was not going to get the opportunity to reach her potential.


Although I will admit it sounds like the proverbial emotional roller coaster ride, today was just one more day at the office. Nothing like the day before and hopefully nothing like the day after...

One Week Later

It's been a week since the marathon and I have now had ample time to collect my thoughts and put together a post... So here it goes...

A week ago yesterday I celebrated the culmination of 4 long months of training by running in the Des Moines marathon. There was a lot of stress in the week leading up to the race as thoughts of airborne viruses and injuries raced through my head but I am happy to report that I made it to the starting line in great condition.

On the day of the race I woke up around 5:30 AM to give myself a couple of hours to eat and get loose. After enjoying a couple cups of coffee and running through the hallways of our hotel, Jessie and I left the comfy confines of the Super 8 and stepped out into the cold and dark morning air; surprised to find frost on the windshield of the car.

We made it down to the starting area about 45 minutes before the start and took care of some last minute "business".


The forecasters turned out to be right as the weather report held true to the guarantee of sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's (although at 8AM it was still a little chilly).



The race went almost exactly as I had envisioned. I started out a little fast running splits about a minute faster per mile than I had originally planned but I felt great. At that point I hadn't run in almost 5 days which seemed like an eternity after having run 4-5 days a week for 15 weeks.

There were supporters lining nearly every mile of the course which was truly remarkable. And the course itself was gorgeous! Beautiful tree-lined streets, sunny boulevards, nice neighborhoods, and wonderfully scenic lakeside trails.

Around mile 18 I started to hit "the wall" and began dropping off about :15 seconds per mile pretty much the whole way home. Regardless of the loss of energy towards the end I was able to bring it in at 3:36.

Garmin Connect - DSM Marathon

I tried not setting up too many expectations and instead vowed to just "run my own race". Having that mantra running through my head as more experienced runners blew by me in the final miles served me well. However, in the last 10 miles I realized that finishing in under 3:30 was possible so I set my sights on that but honestly the time doesn't mean a whole lot to me; just knowing that the hard work payed off and I was able to finish my first marathon was enough.



Immediately afterward I claimed to have run in my last marathon. Now, a week later, I am giving that a second thought. I found the entire experience to be immensely rewarding and I am pretty certain that I would like to give it another go. With that said, I know it is going to be tough to match the enjoyment and emotions from running this race because of the amount of support I received from family, paired with the experience of enjoying my home state with my girlfriend for four days.



And I swear, ice cream tastes a million times more delicious after you've finished a marathon.


In the days following the race Jessie and I made a few trips out to my grandfather's lake house for some much needed rest and relaxation. Looking back on the entire experience almost brings me to tears because the whole thing went so well. I got to see old friends, spend time in my hometown, go to a football game, eat at many of my old haunts and most importantly spend some much needed time with my best friend. Makes me wish vacation came around more than two weeks every year but I guess that is why it's so great; because you don't get to do it every day.

Special thanks to everyone who made the trip more enjoyable!

Now it's back to the grind. I've got the first week back under my belt and I will say that it does feel good to get back into a routine.

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by a see what's up!

Check back for more soon!

One Week Away!

This time next week I will hopefully be celebrating the successful completion of my first marathon. The nerves are starting to build now as I look forward and worry about things like the weather on race day or look backwards with concerns about the training I've put in. I've been nursing a couple injuries for the past few days and I'm hoping that the wounds will heal in time to run the race. A steady dose of ice and pain killers over the next couple of days outta do the trick.


In addition to running in the marathon, I will be turning this trip into a nice little vacation back to the home state of Iowa. I'm particularly excited because my girlfriend Jessie will be making the trip with me giving me the opportunity to share with her all sorts of things (mostly restaurants) I enjoyed during my time in Iowa. I'm also looking forward to seeing some old friends. To those of you who may be in Iowa, hope to see you soon!

Hopefully I can find the time to post a couple updates during the trip.

So here we go... A couple more days of work and then it's off on a week of vacation!

Oh and when Sunday rolls around, if you wanna keep track of my progress check this out...

HERE

Cheers!

Spud Story

As I had hoped the potato story went national. Check it out... HERE

Kind of Cool New Find...

I just realized that the data that my shiny little wrist top computery doodad collects can be shared from the website Garminconnect.com. I thought it would be a cool way to share my training.

This was from a run on Wednesday, which happened to be my last long run as I am now starting to taper off the mileage as the race gets closer.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Shared via AddThis

A Contrast In Personalities

On Saturday I started my afternoon out at the Albertsons Boise Open which is arguably the biggest golf event in Boise. There were no sightings of golf elite like Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson. This is a Nationwide Tour event, which is like the minor leagues to the PGA. Even though big name golfers rarely come through, this tournament is still something I look forward to every year.


In years past I have spent entire afternoons meandering the course at Hillcrest Country Club but unfortunately this year I was unable to spend so much time out there. The reason? I had to drive out to New Plymouth, Idaho to cover The Big Nasty Hill Climb, an event I had never before covered.

People come from all over the northwest to attempt to do battle with gravity and race up a super steep 600-foot hill on their high powered hill climbing dirt bikes. It really is a truly unique event that I have never covered and so I was very excited to see it for myself.

Let me just say that I was not disappointed.

I watched as men over the age of 75, women in their mid 20's and just about every other demographic in between attempted to safely scream this highly rutted mountain. After watching the first person attempt a run on "The Big Nasty" I couldn't help but smile and laugh.




It really takes a unique kind of person to attempt such a feet and after spending most of my morning rubbing elbows with the yuppie elite of Boise at a golf tournament I really enjoyed the stark contrast in personalities that I experienced in one day.

I made a quick little video of the whole hill climb experience. Check it out...