Friday, June 29, 2012

Day 103/365


     Today's post is a closeup of a light fixture in the old Plaza Hotel here in Saginaw, Michigan. I was assigned to cover the clearing-out of the hotel today, since it's set to be demolished sometime within the next month. It was surreal being in the hotel today; it seemed like the last people to be in it had just dropped everything and left in a hurry. There was still water in the pool, martini glasses sitting on the bar, and other things like that. If you're interested in seeing the photos that got into the published story, or would like to read the article that went with them, you find all of that here. Barring any crazy amount of breaking news this weekend: I have tomorrow and Sunday off, which will be spent moving my things into my apartment at last... and probably catching up on the sleep I've missed out on these past three weeks between road-tripping and starting my internship!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Day 102/365


     Today's post is from a food giveaway that a local group up here in Michigan organized. A bunch of volunteers got together in this hot 100ยบ day to give food donations to the under-privilidged. 800-900 people were estimated to have received the donations, and cars were lining up as early as six o'clock this morning - five hours before the giveaway started. To see the article that I shot the photos for, written by another intern, you can go here.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Day 101/365


    Today one of my assignments from my internship was covering the final matches of the United States Youth Soccer Association, (USYSA), Region II Championship Tournament. Apparently it's this annual national soccer tournament that's held in a different city each year, and Saginaw won the lottery to host it this year. There were tons of people, parent and players, and I've never seen so many different soccer games going on all at one time in my life. This photo wasn't used for the online article and slideshow, but if you'd like to read the article, (written by a fellow intern of mine), and see my slideshow with captions that all go with it, you can see those here. If you'd like to follow me specifically and what I cover up here in Michigan, you can check my public profile on MLive.com here.

Day 100/365


     Sorry today's entry is a bit late; I put in a full day at my internship and then went out for a bit, and before I knew it it was midnight! Today's photo is from my first shooting experience at my internship. Where our newsroom is located is also where the city of Saginaw, Michigan retires its old historical neon signs after the businesses they advertised have gone out of business. Today, the historical Gables Rooms Motel neon sign was added to the collection. I haven't worked a night shift yet, but I'm really interested in seeing how all of the signs look lit up!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Day 99/365


     I finally get to sleep in my own apartment tonight! Even without any furniture or without most of my things, it's one thousand times better than the motel I stayed in last night. I was at work all day, then taking care of apartment stuff so I didn't get a chance to take a picture until just now... out the window... of my bedroom. I promise the entries will get better as soon as I get settled in here! The first day of my internship went great. Everyone I'll be working with seems really nice, and I'm so incredibly excited to get out there and start shooting. I'll keep you posted!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Day 98/365


     I found it a little funny that the picture I ended up taking for today's post was quite similar to the one from yesterday, even though they were taken in different states. Today's photo is from outside the motel I'll be staying in tonight here in Saginaw. Here's hoping that I get into my apartment by tomorrow night; I don't know if I can handle another night of the bouquet of b.o. and stale cigarette smoke that my room smells like. At least I have the first day of my internship to look forward to tomorrow!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Day 97/365


     Today did not go as planned. I was supposed to pick my car up from getting an oil change after my long road trip, drive up to Michigan to meet my landlord and get my keys to my apartment, and get as much moved in as possible so I'd be all ready to start my internship this Monday. Instead, there ended up being an issue with a sensor in my car that had to be fixed and took longer than expected, and my landlord wouldn't stay at the leasing office later to meet me, so I'm still in Ohio. I'll be driving up to Michigan tomorrow to stay at a motel overnight, since my landlord doesn't work on Sundays, and I'll just have to hopefully be able to pick my keys up sometime before/after/during my lunch break at work on Monday. Anyways, when I found all this out I was a bit stressed as to how to handle it so I went for a drive to calm down, hence this photo.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Day 96/365


     Today's photo's not that interesting compared to the past two weeks, I know. We were in the car all day today, stuck in traffic three-fourths of the time due to construction, and the rest of the drive was pretty boring. (The photo for today is a close-up of a strand of seashells our friend in Oregon gave us from the west coast that we wrapped around the car's rear-view mirror). We got home a few hours ago and I've been laying low ever since. It was an amazing trip; I still can't believe we got to see all of the things we did. I know we barely even scratched the surface, so I definitely plan to go back to quite a few of the places we explored, and plan to see other places that we didn't get a chance to check out as well. Tomorrow/Saturday I move to Michigan so that I can start my photojournalism internship this Monday. It's time for the next adventure! I have more photos from out west that I still have yet to edit, and I'm hoping to go through those once I get settled tomorrow, and after I finish editing my last Cleveland-based freelance assignment. I'll be sure to post a link on here when there are more photos up on my Flickr page, and when I've been able to add them to my website as well!

Day 95/365


     Day ninety-five's belated post is from the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. We walked around the main floor and the grounds outside, and just the simple fact of knowing that this was the place Stephen King imagined as the setting for The Shining cast everything we saw in a much more eerie light. It was almost like going back in time; the hotel is maintained to look like the early 1920's time period, and that just adds to its legendary significance as well. I thought converting it to gray scale would add even more to the effect!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Day 94/365


     Today's post is from outside of Fairplay, Colorado. We stopped to admire the sun coming through the clouds in between our multiple stretches of driving through the Rocky Mountains. It was a pretty and uneventful drive, up until about the last two hours. Between a speeding ticket and coming within inches of slamming into an enormous elk while driving up one of the mountains, (which was completely dark since there are no street lights out here), the two of us are especially fried and ready to sleep. We're currently at our motel in Estes Park, Colorado, and will be heading over to the Stanley Hotel tomorrow morning to explore a bit before starting our first day of driving back to Ohio. I'll either update while at a gas station with wifi-access during the day tomorrow, or at whatever motel we stop at for the night. Until then! 

     Also, there's a few new updates to my Flickr page as well!

Day 93/365


     I'm sorry I haven't been able to update as frequently; these past two days of camping at the Grand Canyon came with little-to-no internet access. Anyways, day ninety-three's photo was taken at sunset last night/Tuesday night at Powell Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely amazing camping there the last couple of days: fantastic views both during he day and at night. We had a minor almost-but-not-quite scare the one night where I was worried that we were in the general vicinity of a mountain lion while walking back to the car, but I could have been wrong. Either way, we made it out of the park unscathed, and are currently on our way to our last stop before heading home: Colorado! We should be getting to our motel sometime tonight, and will be visiting the Stanley Hotel, (the hotel that inspired Stephen King's The Shining, and which is apparently haunted if you listen to local legend). I'll update when I can!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Day 92/365


     Day ninety-two's belated post comes to you from Glen Canyon National Park, right on the border between Utah and Arizona. We were on our way to the Grand Canyon after leaving Bryce Canyon on Monday morning when we saw signs for Lone Rock, and then saw the lake it was sitting in from the main road we were on. It looked so beautiful we decided to stop and check it out, (not to mention that seeing such blue water in the middle of the desert was a welcome change of scenery). We walked down to what we now know was Lake Powell and waded in to take some pictures of Lone Rock. It was a nice little reprieve from the drive. 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Day 91/365


     I tried some night shooting for the first time on this trip. This is the nighttime sky as seen from our campsite at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. We're pretty exhausted; the temperature got up to 113° while we were exploring around in Death Valley National Park in Nevada this morning, so by the time we got to our site here we set up our tent and laid low the rest of the day. Tomorrow we'll go check out more of Bryce Canyon before heading out to the Grand Canyon where we'll be camping the next two nights! I'll update whenever I get the chance, but in the meantime I added a few photos to my Flickr page if any of you are interested.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Day 90/365


     To recap the second half of our day yesterday: after leaving the Redwood Forest National Park, we headed on our way down the coast to Yosemite. Along the way we stopped at an overlook that a park ranger had told us was infamous for whale sightings, and saw whales ourselves! They were further off in the distance so I didn’t have a decent-enough lens to get any discernible photos of them, but it was amazing to see all the same.

     Today’s post is from Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite National Park, California. It was a truly wonderful experience for me as a photographer to explore a park that Ansel Adams considered his own personal muse. The park was pretty spectacular, especially seeing all of the different landscapes within it, (rocky cliffs, Sequoia forests, snow-covered mountains, lakes and ponds with crystal-blue water). We even had our first bear sighting; when we were headed on our way out of the park we saw a black bear ambling along off in the distance in one of the more forested areas. We’re currently on our way to our campground in the Inyo National Forest/Sierra-Nevada mountain range. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting Death Valley National Park before heading over to Utah to Bryce Canyon to camp for the night. I’ll try to post more the next time I get the chance!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Day 89/365



     We’re officially half way through our road trip, and it’s been amazing so far. Day eighty-nine’s post is from the Jedidiah Smith Redwood Forest National Park in California. We stopped to do some light hiking and ended up reaching the Smith River, which has crystal clear blue water; it was absolutely beautiful. We’re currently on our way to Yosemite, (I got mixed up when writing yesterday’s post – we won’t be camping in the Sierra-Nevadas until tomorrow night). I’ll be sure to post more the next time we find some wireless access!

Day 88/365


     Day eighty-eight was taken just a few moments ago on the Coos Bay board walk that's just a short walk down the road from our motel. Today's post will be my last from Coos Bay, Oregon; tomorrow we're heading down to California to stop at one of the state parks within one of the redwood forests before camping in the Sierra-Nevadas for the night. I'm not sure when I'll next have access to wi-fi, so my next post might be a bit late. We'll see! I also added a few other photos from today to my Flickr page too, as a side note. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Day 87/365


     Tonight we're staying in our first motel of the trip, so that means wireless internet access! We're currently in Coos Bay, Oregon visiting a friend, and we'll be here 'til Friday morning. Today's photo was taken at sunset at the Hollering Place, a local pier right on the bay where you can usually see people fishing and crabbing off of the docks. Tomorrow we're planning on exploring some of the beaches and other areas around, so I'll be sure to update soon!

     Read after the jump for a recap of the past few days of the trip...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Day 86/365


     Day eighty-six is a diptych of Geyser Hill at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. We're currently at a rest-stop/almost to our campsite in Washington so I don't have as much time to type much; will post more next time.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Day 85/365


     Today's post comes to you from the Badlands! It was absolutely amazing; I've literally never seen anything like it. We saw quite a few different animal driving through the park also: coyotes, prairie dogs, mountain goats, and pronghorns. We're currently a few hours away from Yellowstone National Park; more to come the next time we get a chance to stop for wi-fi!

Day 84/365


     Day eighty-four's belated post comes to you from just outside of Jackson, Minnesota. It was taken last night, (Sunday), as the sun was setting. Our first day of driving went well overall; Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were all flat and boring, Chicago had way too much traffic, but Wisconsin and Minnesota were beautiful. We saw tons of wind turbines, like the ones from today's post, in Minnesota, and got to drive through a pretty spectacular thunderstorm with some great lightning. We got into South Dakota late Sunday night and stopped to catch some sleep, and we left early this morning and are currently on our way to the Badlands! 

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Blogger's Note

     Tomorrow, (Sunday), I'll be leaving on a road trip out west with a friend of mine. We'll be traveling for about two weeks, and we'll be visiting a few of the national parks and a few other spots along the way. Naturally, I'll be taking tons of pictures each day, (and maybe some audio and/or video here and there, depending). Since we'll be tent-camping for most of the trip, I can't say for sure if I'll be able to stop somewhere with wi-fi access each day. I'll do my best to update this blog as often as possible, if I can't manage to update it every day. I've been looking forward to this trip for months, and I can't wait to see what photographs come out of it. Make sure to check back!

Day 83/365


     We had a party to celebrate my brother's high school graduation today. The weather was great: a little hot in the sun but otherwise beautiful and breezy. Once the sun started to set we out out candles to help ward off the mosquitoes. 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Day 82/365


     I was commissioned to put together another multimedia piece involving Jerry Schmidt, (the welder/sculptor I did a project on a few weeks ago). Jerry teaches a welding class once a week to a group of four or five guys from a training center for developmentally disabled adults. The project I was commissioned for is a general synopsis of what the guys usually learn in class, and how they've progressed through the past four years they've all been working together. I'm hoping to have it all edited together before I leave for my road trip this Sunday. 

Day 81/365


     Today completely consisted of yard work and packing for my road trip out west that I leave for in a few days. In between that, I made macaroni and cheese, and took a picture of the bubbles when the water started to boil. Voila. 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Day 80/365


     We always know summer's on its way when the daylilies alongside our patio start opening up. 

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 79/365


      Tonight one of my friends and I went out to Headlands Beach to try and catch the Transit of Venus. We were too late to see it, but we did get to see a pretty nice sunset. I took some audio of the seagulls that were keeping us and the rest of the beach-goers company. All in all, it what a lovely way to end my twenty-second birthday!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Day 78/365


     I figured you were all missing my pet posts so I decided to indulge you with one today! Since the weather's so nice and mild today we have a lot of the windows open in my mom's house, which the cats absolutely love. They've even ignored all the boxes and bags that are taking over my room from packing in order to watch all the birds and animals outside. 

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Day 77/365


     This is my last week in Ohio. One week from today, I'll be leaving with a friend on a road trip across the country to explore the western half of the U.S. for about two weeks. The day after I get back from that trip, I'll be moving up to Michigan to start my photojournalism internship at the end of June. I started to pack up my room today, which, if you know me, you know that process mainly consists of gathering my plethora of books together. I started out with an entire ball/spool of twine, and only got about half-way through my collection before I ran out. 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Day 76/365


     My brother graduated from high school today! I can't believe it; four years ago I was doing the same! So much has changed over the past four years, some for the better and some for the worse. Despite everything that's changed though: my mom, brother, and I have stayed close and gotten through it all together. Ryan and I have talked about our dad a good deal the past few days, and while he was sorely missed today as he always will be, it's pretty clear that he'd be immensely proud of the young man his son's turning out to be. Congratulations, Ryan! 

Day 75/365


Read after the jump for an oatmeal cookie recipe; or, just watch the video!