Thursday, January 24, 2013

Day 311/365


     Tonight I got to go back out to Central Michigan University to photograph former Secretary of State and retired General Colin Powell. He was invited to CMU to give a speech in honor of the university's week-long celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The catch, of course, was that other members of the press and myself were only allowed to photograph/record video for the first three minutes of Gen. Powell's speech. What I heard was interesting, and he was a very eloquent speaker. To see the article written about his appearance and to see more photos, you can find them on MLive here.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Day 310/365


     One of my assignments tonight was another basketball game. I didn't get to stay for the entire game since other assignments and a bit of spot news popped up. I would've liked to have stayed; the game was pretty close the entire time I was there, and both teams seemed to be playing well. Plus, it was freezing cold outside and the snow was coming down pretty steadily making the roads pretty bad. Eh well.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Day 309/365


     Tonight I shot a girls basketball game in Saginaw. There weren't very many people in attendance, which is probably due to the fact that it was ridiculously cold out today. It's supposed to be even colder tomorrow, and I'll be shooting another basketball game tomorrow night so I'm expecting more of the same. Stay warm, friends!

Day 308/365


     Monday/yesterday/day 308 was a pretty quiet work day. I went on a tour with an MLive reporter in the morning of two buildings in downtown Saginaw that have been in the local news quite a bit recently. The Bancroft and Eddy buildings have changed hands over the years, and most recently it seems they were both assisted living homes. They've been closed down for a while, but have recently been bought by an investment/construction group that are renovating the buildings and hoping to turn them into upscale apartments in order to bring more people/business back to the downtown area. The décor left over from the last owners was all pretty outdated, but the grand ballroom in the Bancroft building had some beautiful detail work still intact. Luckily the group is planning on retaining as much of the buildings' historical significance as possible, and have some nice plans to restore the ballroom as well. 

Day 307/365


     It's certainly been a cold couple of days. Granted, I'm much more of a winter weather fan than I am of extreme heat/humidity, but lately the cold air's been getting extreme as well. We're experiencing single digits up here in Michigan, and subzero temperatures with the wind chill factor. There's warnings about people limiting their outdoor exposure, and there've even been reminders to keep pets in mind when letting them go out in the cold as well. 

     Kip's been experiencing some cabin fever, I'm sure, as we haven't been able to go on one of our typical lengthy walks because he starts to favor his paws too much for my liking within about ten minutes of being outside. He also has a short coat, so his daily outside time has decreased majorly. It's supposed to be back up in the 20s or 30s by the start of next week, so I'm hoping to make up for it then.

Day 306/365


     After what turned into a bit of a hectic week, this weekend was pretty quiet. It was a nice reprieve, albeit a pretty sudden change that was a bit hard to adjust to. I had to work for an hour or two on Saturday/day 306 for a Friday assignment that got pushed back with Jessica Schwerin's homecoming taking up most of my time Friday afternoon.
     
     The assignment I rescheduled was on a family that luckily averted what could've been a major tragedy. The Bittner family had their neighbors, the Childs family, over to play pool in their basement and one of the neighbors noticed the smell of gas. This lead to the realization that there was a gas leak in the home, and the Bittner family was advised to evacuate and stayed the night at the Childs residence.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Day 305/365


     Yesterday/day 305 10 year-old Jessica Schwerin got to come home to Bay City, exactly one week after having her kidney transplant operation down in Ann Arbor. She and her mother were driven back in the limo again, and before going home they stopped in to see Jessica's kidney donor, local business owner Brian Martindale. It was a fun reunion to witness, (Jessica was mostly asleep when Brian visited her in her recovery room when they were both still down in Ann Arbor last Sunday). I've loved being able to be a part of this story from the beginning up until now, and I'm so glad these two are both recovering well and rather quickly. They both deserve it. If you'd like to see more photos and articles written on Jessica's homecoming, you can find a few with links to others on MLive here.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Day 304/365 - Part 2





     Like I said in the first part of today's post; today started off normal enough. Then, excuse the language, the shit hit the proverbial fan as far as breaking news stories go. Hang tight, folks, this one's going to take a bit to explain. Stick with me here. 

     Around 9:30 pm Wednesday night, January 16, a female Central Michigan University student was leaving the student gym and walking out to her car. Eric Ramsey, a thirty-something year-old man, held the girl at gunpoint and kidnapped her in her own vehicle. He then took her to his house, bound her, and raped her. He then loaded her back in her car, placed some cans of gasoline in the car, and took off with her again. As he was driving, he told her he was going to kill her. She fought. She managed to jump out of the car as it was moving, and ran away towards the closest house she could see.

     The Mount Pleasant area, where this took place, is pretty rural. Other than an indian reservation and the CMU campus, it's a bunch of corn fields. So the fact that this girl happened to jump out in the near vicinity of a house is extremely lucky, but not as lucky as what happens next.

     The girl ran to the front door of the house, pounded on it, screaming for help and that a man was trying to kill her. During this time, Jim Persyn Jr. was on his way to pick his fiancé, Tiffany Ramon, up from work. Since Persyn only had about a fifteen minute roundtrip to pick Tiffany up, their children were left home alone. Their children being their 14 year-old son James, their 11 year-old daughter Acelin, and their 2 year-old son Angus. It was the Persyn residence that the CMU girl ran up to.

     James heard her screaming, opened the door and let her in. When she told him a man was after her and trying to kill her, James locked the front door. He then grabbed his hunting knife,  got the girl, his siblings, and the family dog and had all of them go into the bathroom at the back of the house and they barricaded themselves in. Since the bathroom door didn't have a lock, James made sure to sit closest to it with his knife. As this is happening, Eric Ramsey has realized where the girl has gone and is banging on the front of the house yelling to let him in. James had the girl use his phone to call 911, and then James called his dad to tell him that someone was trying to get into the house.

     When Ramsey couldn't knock the front door down, he tried to light the house on fire with the gasoline he had put in the trunk of the girl's car. Luckily Ramsey was unsuccessful, and left the area. The children's parents rushed home and were able to put out any flames Ramsey had managed to start, and the police arrived. After crashing into a state trooper, stealing a sanitation truck, and then crashing into two other state troopers over the span of three other counties, Eric Ramsey was shot and killed.

     James Persyn III, a fourteen year-old boy, had the presence of mind and a level enough head to save not only the rape victim, but protect his younger siblings as well. I have never been in awe of anyone before, but I was today when I had the honor of meeting the Persyn family and taking their pictures as they were interviewed by an MLive reporter. I was also heartbroken, as it was easy enough to see how scared both James and Acelin were, but they were calm in spite of the shocking events they had been witness to. 

     Today, I met a fourteen year-old hero.

Day 304/365 - Part 1






     Today was so action-packed and filled with photos that I had to separate it into two parts! The day started out normally enough; I went to my only scheduled assignment of the day bright and early this morning. There's a section of turn-of-the-century historic buildings in downtown Saginaw that are slated for demolition if the local developmental authorities receive a $4 million grant they've applied for. 

     I got to tour a few of the buildings today with two reporters. We were only actually able to go inside of two of them; the others had little to no structural integrity left so we could only look in from the windows outside. I love touring abandoned buildings. There's something so beautifully melancholy about them to me, especially when they're historical buildings. These were structures made with so much attention to intricate details, that even as they're rotting and becoming the definition of urban decay they're absolutely gorgeous. It really is a shame that they'll most likely have to come down, but it was nice to get one last look into them in the meantime. 

You can see a full gallery of photos taken in the closed off buildings on MLive here.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Day 303/365


     I switched shifts with a fellow photo intern so that I worked the night shift tonight. I ended up covering a wrestling quad. at a high school near my apartment. I think tonight's meet was the first time that I noticed how painful wrestling can be; I guess it never really occurred to me before. I always figured that it had to be exhausting. The way some of the wrestlers seemed to be bent in half by their opponents tonight though, ouch. I mean look at the guy's face in today's post; he does not look like he's having fun.

Day 302/365



     Yesterday/day 302 one of my assignments was touring the construction going on at a local power plant in the Bay City area. This particular facility used to be one of the worst sources of mercury pollution in the state of Michigan, but is currently updating pollution control equipment throughout the facility to be in compliance with new EPA guidelines that'll take effect in 2015. It was a pretty interesting tour, but my favorite part by far was getting to go up on the cat walk with one of the heads of construction. It was a great view, albeit an extremely cold one. 

Day 301/365


     Monday/day 301 was a slow workday, as Mondays too often are. It was at least sunny out, even though there was a bitter chill in the air. After I got home from work I bundled up and took Kip on a nice long walk. As almost always is the case, Finch was waiting in the window for us, (well, most likely me more so than Kip), to get back. It makes me smile each time I see him do it. He runs to the door when I get home from work too! He breaks about 90% of cat stereotypes, which is one of the major reasons I love him so much, I think. He plays fetch, comes when he's called, (most of the time, but dogs blow you off too), and he cuddles. Anyways, when Kip and I got back from our walk Monday I went over to my living room window and went to take a picture of Finch, when Kip noticed he was in the window and decided to say hello!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Day 300/365


     Yesterday/day 300 was a good one. I went back down to Ann Arbor and got to see how Jessica and her donor Brian were doing. Brian said he was almost back to 100%, just moving a bit slow and taking it easy for the most part. Jessica was asleep for almost the entire time I was there, which is understandable given everything she's been through these past few days. It was pretty easy to sense how different the mood was with her family though; her mother Stacey was so much more relieved and just so happy. She stopped herself from hugging Brian when he first walked in because she didn't trust herself not to hug him too tight and hurt him. It was a great moment to witness all the same. I got to write the update that went with the other photos I took, and if you like you can find them on MLive here

Day 299/365


     Saturday's/day 299's belated posted comes to you from C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor. I went down to the hospital to see how Jessica and her donor Brian were doing after having a kidney transplant operation done this past Friday. Both were still going through the more uncomfortable stages of recovery, so I opted to come back Sunday/yesterday/day 300 to see if they were feeling more up to having their pictures taken. 

     While I was waiting to take to a P.R. rep. from the hospital though I got to hang out in the pretty spiffy lobby. The hospital was redesigned last year to be more colorful and fun, with sparkly floors that glitter even more when the colored lights on the ceiling reflect on them. Totally worth the trip down.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Day 298/365



     My boss was nice enough to put me on the night shift today since I got back to my apartment extremely late last night after spending time with Jessica in her hotel room in Ann Arbor. I was assigned to cover a boys basketball game. I tend to make a point of showing up early so I make sure I get team rosters and get a decent spot to start shooting from. When I got to tonight's location, the girls varsity game was still going, and the sports reporter that was covering both games asked me if I could get a few quick pictures of the girls game since it was turning out to be a pretty big upset. 
     
     There was some decent playing in both games, but after covering last Friday's craziness, (day 291), every other matchup just pales in comparison.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Day 297/365


     I got to hang with my favorite ten year-old today. As I mentioned a few days/posts ago, there have been some major developments in Jessica Schwerin's story. Jessica, who was diagnosed with kidney failure mid-2012, is getting a transplant! She's spending tonight down in Ann Arbor before having her operation tomorrow morning. A local business owner heard her story and lent her, her mother, and her donor his limo to be taken down to the hospital in. We covered her sendoff, and her arrival at the hospital today. I took quite a few pictures of her, but this one was by far my favorite. She was saying goodbye to her dog, and you all know how I can't resist a dog photo op.

    What gets me the most, is that the man who's donating his kidney to Jessica decided to do so after seeing her story in the Bay City Times, which I photographed. It's incredibly humbling to know that in some small way you can help someone, and I can't think of any girl who deserves it more than Jessica. Today was one of those days that reminded me how much I love my job, which I don't often forget, but still; I. love. my. life.

     To see the article/more photos on her limo send off, you can find them on MLive here, and to see photos from her first night in the hospital, with a short copy block written by yours truly, you can find that here.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Day 296/365


     A new lens I had recently ordered happened to arrive today! I'm a camera nerd through and through, as I'm sure is obvious to anyone who knows me or who even glances at this blog from time to time. The lens arriving today is perfect timing though; I've been dying to use it and I think it'll especially come in handy with the new developments in Jessica's story. I couldn't wait until tomorrow to use it though, of course, so my boys got to suffer through being my test subjects yet again. I'm pretty sure they're more than used to it though. I mean, c'mon, look at those poses! They were born to be a photographer's pets.

Day 295/365


     Tuesday's/day 295's photo isn't much to look at, but it certainly carries a lot of meaning. If you remember me talking about Jessica, the 10 year-old Bay City girl in need of a kidney transplant, then this sign will make more sense, (she was in my posts for days 186 and 254). Jessica was originally brought to MLive's/the Bay City Times' attention when her mother, Stacey, was seen standing on the corner of a major intersection in Bay City asking passing drivers to be organ donors, as her daughter had been diagnosed with kidney failure. This is that sign. I'll be covering some major developments in Jessica's story starting tomorrow/Thursday/day 297 through this weekend, so stay tuned!

Day 294/365


     I ended up being off of work Monday/day 294... but I didn't realize until after I had been at the office for a few hours. Nevertheless, I went home and attacked the mountain of laundry that's been trying to inhabit my apartment. Not the most exciting day, but it was nice to get some things done that have been getting to me the past week or two. Kip was a huge help of course, as always.

Day 293/365


Sunday/day 293 was most definitely a lazy day, so much so that Finch and Kip even got along for most of the day.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Day 292/365


     I covered a wrestling invitational this morning. A few guys/fellow photo interns and I were talking about how wrestling photos can really change into something else entirely when processed in black and white, and I realized that I had yet to attempt it. It certainly does change the impact of the photo, and I could see times where it could be effectively used or could add extra emotion to the image as well. What do you think?

Day 291/365

 




     On Friday/day 291 I got to cover the biggest basketball rivalry in Saginaw, and quite possibly the biggest in the state as well: Saginaw High vs. Arthur Hill. It. Was. Insane. At least 1,600 people packed into Arthur Hill's gym, and local celebrities like Michigan State's basketball coach Tom Izzo and Saginaw High alumni/Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley were in attendance. It's the showdown of the season, and it was easy to see why. 

     I've loved basketball for a long time. I've been to enough games and played it enough times that I've seen amazing plays made by amazing athletes. Most, if not all, of those pale in comparison to the moves I saw in this game. Incredible doesn't seem to to them justice. 

    It did get a bit dicey towards the end of the game. Both schools are in the heart of the inner city of Saginaw, where there are high crime rates and strong gang activity. Metal detectors are built into the entrance of both schools and anyone who set off Arthur Hill's Friday night was searched. Towards the end of the game, a few technicals were called on Saginaw High, and a few players from both teams almost came to blows over it. This resulted in the majority of the people in attendance trying to rush the court. Security and the police managed to keep them at bay for the most part. I ended up with an elbow to the face and my body twisted in two different directions, but it could've been much worse all things considered. All in all though, it was a great game, and made for a great night.

Day 290/365


     The one assignment I had on Thursday/day 290 that wasn't basketball-related was a fun one. A local middle school here in Saginaw won a $50,000 grant through a national competition. The theme for the school's campaign, (and what the school plans to put the grant money towards), was computers on wheels, or COWs. The school's principal dressed up as a cow everyday for over a month as her and one of the school's teachers held up signs encouraging students, faculty, and everyone they know to vote for their school. White Pine Middle School came in first out of 2,500 schools nationwide; deservedly so I'd say.

Day 289/365


     I worked nights this week, and it was a week filled with basketball games. I'm in no way complaining. I'd like to think my sports shooting is improving. I know I have a long ways to go, but I think I'm picking it up more and more each time I shoot.

Day 288/365


Happy belated New Year! I hope your year started as interestingly and entertaining as mine did.

Day 287/365


     As a peace offering for the delay in updates; I give you a picture of Kip sitting pretty for the camera!