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!

A Day at the Track

My paper recently did a preview on the upcoming racing season at the local horse park in Boise and I got this shot of a trainer doing laps with his horse. It's not really anything that would ever run in the paper, but I thought it'd be good to post on here...

Caught in Action

I just got this shot from a friend from a competing newspaper and thought it was funny enough to share. We happened to both be covering the last day of skiing at the local ski hill and she caught me in the act of picture taking.

Recent Work

Really not a whole lot of fun stories to report, but I do have a couple photos to share.

Two new for you...

I always think it's interesting when people from your past reemerge somewhat unexpectedly.

On Saturday night I covered a NBA Development League game between the Idaho Stampede and the Iowa Energy. It shouldn't seem surprising but little did I know there were a few Iowa all-star basketball players on the Energy roster, all of which I had run into in the past.

First was a former Cyclone, Curtis Stinson, whose picture I had taken on multiple occasions while working at the Iowa State Daily. Playing alongside Stinson were former University of Iowa ballers Adam Haluska, Jeff Horner and Doug Thomas. I had seen Horner play years ago when he played for an Iowa high school which often tipped off against mine. Haluska, who as some of you may know, once played for Iowa State before transferring to the University of Iowa for reasons unknown to me.


On Sunday I went up to the local ski hill which was ending its season with an end of the year "Beach Party". It was a pretty fun time, although it would have been more fun to be skiing than to be watching people ski. Here are a couple shots from my afternoon.