Day 226/365

     Tonight I covered another volleyball game. I don't really know what to say about them anymore; I've covered so many it seems like. Nothing against the sport or anyone who plays it personally, but I can't say I'll miss it all that much once the season's over.

Day 225/365

     Yesterday/day 225 was one of the craziest work days I've had in a while. My boss and one of the other photo interns were out for the day, so it was just one other photo intern and myself covering anything that happened between the Saginaw and Bay City coverage areas. We got a lot of nasty weather compliments of Hurricane Sandy, which meant lots of car accidents, (including an overturned semi hauling corn!), so those kept us pretty busy, on top of other assignments that we had already. There were definitely some interesting ones, like a new stroke prevention tool that one of the local hospitals is now operating thanks to one of its doctors being its champion, or the ride-along another reporter and I did with an arson watch group last night. 

     I think the assignment I was most interested in though was the one about dogs, ( go figure). Apparently the city of Saginaw passed an ordinance last summer called the 'dangerous dog ordinance.' Anyone with dogs that have had past aggressive or violent behavior that's on file had to pay a fee to get a 'dog on premises' sign to hang on the front of their home. That part I understood. The part I wasn't so sure of was any dog owner with a certain dog breed, typically those with the 'aggressive breed' stigma, (pit bulls, German shepherds, dobermans, rottweilers, etc.), also had to get these signs, regardless of whether or not their dogs have ever had any problems. A reporter and I went knocking on the doors of some of the houses with the signs posted, and ended up talking to a really nice lady who had two pit bulls, (along with another dog and four cats). Her dogs were sweethearts, and were extremely photogenic!

Day 224/365

     I ended up having to work Monday night instead of having the day off as originally planned. I covered some high school sports and some early trick-or-treating, and a sad story about a family's dog who was killed by loose neighborhood dogs. I was in a weird mood after that one, but the amazing sunset managed to make up  for it a bit. 

Day 223/365

     This past Sunday/day 223 was a lazy day inside. The weather in Ohio was rainy and cool, so the only time I actually ventured outside was to take the dogs out in my mom's front yard. Other than that, it was a movies and sweatpants kind of day, (not that that's a bad thing).

Day 222/365

     My apologies for the delay in updates; I spent the weekend home in Ohio and tried to see everyone and do everything, (except sleep), and then had a few crazy days at work. Any spare time was pretty much spent catching up on sleep. 

     This past Saturday I got to catch up with a bunch of friends from home, and we carved pumpkins like we've done for the last couple of years. Today's photo is my mustachioed jack-o-lantern. It was a lot of fun, and while I was pretty aware of how much I missed all of them before visiting, it was made even more obvious after getting to actually see them. They're literally some of the best people on Earth!

Day 221/365

     Last night/Friday was a football night. This is the first week of high school playoffs in Michigan, and the game I covered last night was between two Saginaw high schools. One of the schools was making their first playoff appearance for the first time ever in the school's history, but unfortunately they lost pretty badly. It was quite an exciting game though, so much so that I was literally one step away from getting knocked out at one point when a defender tackled a receiver on the sidelines. Luckily the TV cameramen had left already...

Day 220/365

      Tonight I covered my first swim meet, and while it didn't frustrate me as much as shooting volleyball does, it wasn't all that far off. Something else to work on!

Day 219/365

     Tonight was a frustrating one, as I had to shoot a volleyball quad, (four teams holding two matches at the same time). I swear I will figure out how to shoot this sport properly if it's the last thing I do. I'm at the point where I almost prefer shooting golf to volleyball...

Day 218/365

     Yesterday/Tuesday marked the beginning of fall sports playoffs coverage for the high schools in the Saginaw News and Bay City Times coverage areas. I covered the regional semifinals for boys soccer, which were held near Lansing. The two games I covered last night were easily the most interesting soccer games I've seen, (admittedly, the only ones I've seen are the high school ones I've covered up here). Each game had between two and three goals scored within the first five minutes, so they were definitely action-packed. 

Day 217/365

     Today was a super quiet one work-wise, although I was officially offered an extension on my internship, so I will be in Saginaw until June! It's a big relief. I love my job and I work with some great people, so I'm really glad I get to stay longer. 

     Anyways, before I was on shift, I took Kip for a walk around the apartment complex and took a quick photo of the steadily-growing ground covering of leaves. Quite a few are still hanging in there on the trees, and have started turning this fantastic golden color; it's quite pretty. Today was mostly sunny, until right before our walk it let loose for about fifteen minutes and then abruptly stopped, leaving huge puddles on the easily-flooded sidewalks by my building. 

Day 216/365

     Today, (Sunday), was pretty much a lazy day for me. Other than laundry and sending out cover letters/resumés/portfolios, I didn't do much else, and I'm quite alright with that. I don't know what it was about this past week, but it seemed I'd be tired all day and then be wide awake at night, making for one seriously off-kilter sleeping pattern. I'm sure being sick in the middle of the week didn't help, but nevertheless, I spent a good portion of this weekend catching up on sleep. Anyways, there's nothing really special about today's photo post; I just have a soft spot for repetition I guess...

Day 215/365

     Today's post is a pet one, but I tried to mix it up a bit and do something different this time!

Day 214/365

     Yesterday/Friday/day 214 one of my assignments was to try and get a few portraits of some local Bay City area firefighters. There's a proposal currently being looked over for the area where the police and fire departments would be combined in an attempt to save money. Police officers would be trained to handle fires, but firefighters wouldn't be trained as officers, resulting in the fire department having to go through lay offs but not the police. Understandably so, this has morale at the fire departments at an all time low. Many of the firefighters we talked to have said that they've been losing employees each year due to cuts and feel like they're being mistreated. 

Day 213/365

     Thursday I hit the ground running in order to make up for missing work on Wednesday. My first assignment was a food giveaway first thing in the morning in the Bay City area. It was the first food giveaway/food drive that I've covered where everything that was donated and being given away was fresh produce; it was nice to see nutritious and wholesome foods being given to those in need for a change. It was also raining pretty steadily, and I thought the weather had a nice aesthetically-pleasing effect on this flat of tomatoes. 

Day 212/365

     Between being sick and then playing catchup at work, my blog suffered some neglect this week. Wednesday I woke up with a lovely case of the stomach flu, and spent the entire day in bed since doing anything else, (including eating or drinking, unfortunately), made my stomach attempt to turn itself inside out. 

Day 211/365

     Today's post is from one of my assignments at work today: a road in Bangor Township that's in pretty bad shape and in need of repair. When I drove over it, I couldn't believe it was paved; it felt more like gravel. Out of the three assignments I shot today, this one was easily the most mundane when looking into its subject matter, but ended up being my favorite photo for the day. Even though it's a pretty big photography cliché, I'm a sucker for a shallow depth of field. 

Day 210/365

     Today one of my assignments was to try and get some photos of the local fall color since it probably won't be around much longer. I'm a sucker for bright and vibrant autumn leaves, and, as much as I love snow and winter, I'll miss them when they're gone. 

Day 209/365

     The rain did let up a little bit on Sunday/yesterday/day 209, but you wouldn't have known it with the way the parking lots in my apartment complex like to flood. The wet leaves  on the trees did make some nice ripple effects in the puddles *cough* lakes *cough* though. 

Day 208/365

     Saturday/day 208 is a pet post! You know you've missed 'em. Saginaw weather was pretty dismal this past weekend; with cool temperatures, gusting winds, and plenty of rain. I kept waiting for a break in the weather to take Kip for a walk after I got off work, but it never came so we ended up going for a walk/swim. Saturday's entry is a photo of the aftermath!

Day 207/365

     Friday's/day 207's post is from an MLive story on a high school freshman with a rare genetic disorder being elected to be on homecoming court by her classmates. It was definitely a feel-good story, and it was nice to see her community and classmates coming out to support her during her school's homecoming parade.

Day 206/365

     Sorry for the especially long delay this past week; things have been crazy as usual. Thursday/day 206 is a portrait of a Christian store owner who's retiring and closing his store after 34 years in business. He and his wife seemed like really nice people, and it was a tad bittersweet sitting in on their interview about how much they're going to miss running their little shop in Saginaw Township. 

Day 205/365

     Today's post is a two-for-one from the Ken Bluew trial. The Saginaw County Medical Examiner testified today, stating that Jennifer Webb died from being in a choke hold, and not from hanging herself with an extension cord from the roof rack of her car. The Saginaw County Prosecutor asked him to demonstrate what he meant by a choke hold, and thus the gem that is today's top photo was born. The bottom one is Bluew watching the medical examiner walk down off of the stand and out of the courtroom, (or, at least, that's what it looked like to me). Since where I'm allowed to sit in the courtroom is behind Bluew and to his left, most of my shots of him are him in profile like this photo, but I still liked this one even if it's been overdone a bit by now. If you'd like to see more photos or articles from today's coverage, you can find them on MLive here.

Day 204/365

     This afternoon had me covering the Ken Bluew trial again, (the, currently suspended, police officer accused of strangling the woman who was pregnant with his child, then hanging her from the roof rack of her car with an extension cord to make it look like a suicide). The whole afternoon I was there was filled with the playing of a video of two Michigan State Police officers interviewing Bluew the morning after the woman, Jennifer Webb, was found. For the first two hours of the footage, Bluew said there was no way he could be the father of Webb's unborn child because they had never had sex. It wasn't until almost the very end of the tape that Bluew finally said that they had slept together, so there was a possibility of him being the father. Full coverage from today's proceedings, as well as the rest of the trial, can be found on MLive here.

Day 203/365

     I've learned that Kip pulls out the trademark ear quirk anytime he thinks he's in trouble... like when he chews holes in blankets, for example. 

Day 202/365

     Fall is definitely here, and I'm extremely happy about that fact. I just hope the leaves stick around for a while longer. 

Day 201/265

     Yesterday was a pretty dreary day, but when it rains that usually means you can have some fun with reflections on the road, especially at night when you get different colored lights involved. So day 201 is just a little abstract bit of fun; I'm not big on abstract photography all that often, but every once in a while it's fun to play around with everything. 

Day 200/365

     Friday/Day 200's post is from the second night of the Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival in Bay City. Producer Alex Barreto and actor Rider Strong, pictured above, were part of a panel discussion called "Why Make a Short Film?' Friday night and had some great tips and personal anecdotes from their own experiences. I got to catch their short film, "Walter Don't Dance," yesterday and really liked it; it was definitely a unique and creative little film. 

Day 199/365

     My apologies for the delays with the past few days' posts; the last half of this week's been a bit crazy. Anyways, this past Thursday the Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival kicked off in Bay City. It's a relatively new festival that showcases short and feature films, and plays host to a couple of independent music acts as well. The Bay City Times branch of MLive that I work for is a major sponsor, so I got a lot of access to cover a lot of different events over the past few days that were really cool to be a part of. Thursday night the feature film Missed Connections premiered at the State Theatre in Bay City, and afterwards some of the cast and crew from the film took part in a Q&A session on stage. I really enjoyed the movie, and the cast and crew members that I got to talk to over the past couple days were a lot of fun. Pictured in day 199's post are, (from left to right), writer and actor Kenny Stevenson, actress Dorien Davies, and producer Lisa Rudin. 

Day 198/365

     Tonight one of my assignments was covering the preparations being made for a haunted house in Bay City. It's actually supposed to be a pretty decent attraction, it's in the top ten haunted houses in Michigan, so I'm hoping I get to check it out once it's up and running. 

Day 197/365

     Yesterday the tree with bright red leaves in front of my apartment, (in other words, my favorite tree), started to drop its leaves. They're super pretty, but at the same time it's a little bittersweet because that means the tree will be bare soon... 

Day 196/365

     I'm working the night shift this week, which means you'll probably be seeing a good amount of high school sports coverage. Tonight's assignment was a boys soccer game at the high school down the street from my apartment. The only soccer games I've ever been to have been the few I've covered up here in Michigan, so I'm still getting the hang of shooting the sport, but I think I'm improving. It also helped that tonight's game was by far the most interesting one I think I've seen; lots of flipping and rolling and diving from the guys makes for some pretty easy photo opportunities. 

Day 195/365

     Sunday/Day 195 mainly consisted of recuperating from Saturday night's festivities. My bed was my best friend for most of the day, and the same seemed to go for Kip and Finch too.

Day 194/365

     Saturday night was fun... at least what I remember of it was fun. Some friends from work came over and we had a taco/drinking/game night. Apart from the fact the maple rye whiskey and I will never ever be friends again, I'd say it was a definite success.