Day 344/365

     This morning I covered a status hearing of sorts where a circuit court judge turned down the plea deal of a man who's one of three, (plus one who's still at large), charged in connection with the death of a 6-year-old girl. The shooting, which resulted in the girl's death and her father in critical condition, happened this past August when Saginaw was finishing off an extremely violent summer that resulted in the city breaking its 20-year homicide record. Notorious for its "no snitch code," Saginaw residents rallied for that code to be broken, and seem to have been successful as one of the men involved is now testifying against the two alleged shooters. 

Day 343/365

     Last night/Monday/day 343 I covered both a girls basketball tournament and an ice hockey tournament. The post season is approaching for winter sports, making the games more and more exciting to watch, and therefore photograph, as it approaches. 

Day 342/365

     Sunday/day 342 was spent working on cover letters, coding website updates, and sending out resumé/portfolio packages. Finch supervised. 

Day 341/365

     On Saturday/day 341 I shot bowling for the second time ever. I have no clue as to how I should approach photographing it; you can't use flash, and be anywhere in front of the bowlers, and the lighting in both bowling alleys I've been to for competitions has been horrendous. The sooner "bowling season" is over, the better if you ask me.

Day 340/365

     Friday/day 340 had me covering a benefit for Brian Martindale, 10-year-old Jessica Schwerin's kidney donor who's fallen on hard times recently both medically and financially. Luckily he has a great support network of friends, family, and people who've taken note of what he did for Jessica, and thanks to donations he'll be able to keep things going a bit longer. 

Day 339/365

     I got to shoot an anti-bullying rally this afternoon, that this weekend's upcoming Monster Jam took part in. After an assembly giving some local middle school students some tips on how to respond to bullies, an announcer from the monster truck free-for-all picked thirteen kids to go outside with him and spray paint a "crush car" with bullying sentiments that will be crushed this weekend at the Monster Jam. The kids, as expected, loved it, and it was a pretty cool event to witness. 

Day 338/365

     I ended up shooting a boys basketball last night. I was a bit off; I couldn't seem to get my lighting or timing right. The game came after spending most of my day in Flint for some work training, and after not sleeping well the night before I'm just going to chalk it up to being too tired and make it end there. The game itself was interesting enough; both teams had pretty solid defense so it was close the entire time.

Day 337/365

     One of my assignments on Tuesday/day 337 was photographing former Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty during an appearance he made at the Saginaw YMCA to sign autographs and pose for pictures with fans. There surprisingly weren't too many kids there, but this boy was one of the few who was, and I ended up liking his reaction to McCarty the best. 

Day 336/365

     Monday/day 336 was spent catching up on sleep, running errands, and driving back up to Michigan.  I didn't get a chance to get much of anything photo-worthy, which I'm sure is painfully obvious.

Day 335/365

     This morning was spent at the cabin, and the dogs were ecstatic when we all woke up to a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. 

Day 334/365

     I'm spending the weekend back in Ohio, and got to spend last night out at my mom's cabin with some friends and family. It was great to get together with people and just have a fun and relaxing night. Kip, of course, came with me. He makes quite the travel buddy.

Day 333/365

     Friday/day 333 was another basketball night. The game was close, the team that won came from behind to do so, but the playing was a mess. It did make for an interesting night though.

Day 332/365

     Thursday night/day 332 was another night of basketball. The game was between two local Midland rivals, and was pretty exciting. Midland Dow, a team with a perfect record so far this season, kept their record going when they won.

Day 331/365

     Tonight I shot the local OHL team, the Saginaw Spirit. They lost pretty badly to the Plymouth Whalers, but it was still a fun game to watch. Growing up in Cleveland with only two short-lived minor league hockey teams, I'm not as familiar with hockey as I am with some sports. I'm still learning how to shoot it too, and have quite a bit of work to do. Hopefully I get a few more chances to photograph it while I'm up here to get the practice in. 

Day 330/365

     My one non-sports-related assignment so far this week was a sad one. Brian Martindale, who donated a kidney to 10 year-old Jessica Schwerin, is facing some serious financial trouble after having medical complications following the transplant surgery almost a month ago. I went with a reporter to take Brian's picture while he was being interviewed, and to see how broken and ashamed he was was heartbreaking. A benefit is being planned for Brian, and locals are really stepping up to donate, so hopefully things will turnaround for him. I can't imagine anyone who deserves it more than him.

Day 329/365

     I'm working nights this week, so prepare yourselves for sports, sports, and more sports. Monday/day 329 brought me to a high school wrestling tournament. Unfortunately it was at the one school with ugly yellow matts, which cast an ugly shade of yellow on everyone's faces. Yuck! 

Day 328/365

     On Sunday/day 328 I ventured down to Flint with a friend from work who knew the area pretty well. I thought parts of Saginaw looked depressing; Flint was on a whole other level. We definitely found some places we wanted to check out but couldn't get into, so we'll have to make another trip down with better tools sometime. We did find a shut down elementary school that we were able to get into, and checked out part of an old dam as well. It's sad what neglect can do to a place.

Day 327/365

     After a rather tumultuous week, Saturday was a day that needed to be a good one for the sake of my mental health. I slept in, visited a friend in her new tattoo shop to get some new work done, went out with some friends from work to drink and laugh, and then got to spend some time with my boys before getting some more much-needed sleep. It was a good day, and I felt myself recharging. Kip needs a bit of work on his innocent face though, no?

Day 326/365

     Today was all about the snow coverage, and this afternoon I got to go out to a park in Frankenmuth to shoot people sledding. Most public schools in the area had snow days, so there were plenty of kids and families to be seen. My favorite picture ended up being this one though; it's not much to look at visually but it was fun to witness in person. A mother was trying to teach her 2 year-old daughter how to make snow angels, and the little girl was transfixed by the whole thing. I doubt she understood, but she looked like she was having fun with her mom nevertheless. 

Day 325/365

     Last night/day 325 storm Nemo finally hit Saginaw... about an hour before midnight. I went around the area with a reporter, (who thankfully offered to drive), and got photos of the first signs of all the doom and gloom. At one point we decided to check out the view from the top of one of the parking garages in downtown Saginaw, and I ended up putting together this panorama with the results. Click on the image to view it larger!

Day 324/365

     After working late last night/day 323 I covered the opening arguments in an alleged armed robbery trial, with the defendant being charged with eleven felonies. He's a 20 year-old being accused of shooting another person during a botched robbery. I'm starting to see a theme here...

Day 323/365

     99% of the time I absolutely love my job. Every once in a while though, that 1% rears its ugly head, and being in a place like Saginaw it shows up much more than it should. I worked the day shift yesterday, but got called out to a double shooting later at night when all of the other photographers were either out sick or out on assignment. There was a botched robbery out in one of the more sketchier areas of the city, and it resulted in a man and his 5 year-old grandson being shot. When I got to the crime scene police were sending out K9 units. Being in a residential area at night, with flashing police lights, people screaming when they realized who had been shot, and dogs barking as they're being ran around the area looking for the shooter/shooters was a bit unreal. There's a very prominent "no snitch code" in Saginaw, but I'm really hoping it gets broken in this case. 

Day 322/365

     Last night/day 322 I got to shoot my first ever college/Big Ten/NCAA basketball game. It was the University of Michigan vs. Michigan State women's basketball matchup, and each team had a former local high school standout. #24 Jenny Ryan who now plays for U of M is a graduate of Saginaw's Nouvel Catholic Central, and MSU's #52 Becca Mills is a graduate of Midland Dow. It was a great game to shoot, with two pretty good teams that made everything interesting. Not to mention the lighting in the arena was fantastic. It'll be hard switching back to high school basketball, but it was an awesome experience all the same. Hopefully I'll get to shoot another one soon!

Day 321/365

     When I was out and about running a few errands this past Sunday/day 321 I drove by Cheboygan Creek and saw that the layers of ice were piling up on one another to form large masses of the frozen chunks. It'll be interesting to check back on the creek and the river when all of that ice starts to melt...

Day 320/365

     Saturday/yesterday/day 320 I had a sports-filled day of assignments. I started my morning off with shooting the Winterläufe in Frankenmuth, which is a winter 8K run. Then I finished my day with an OHL minor league hockey game between the Saginaw Spirit and the Saul Ste. Marie Greyhounds. 

Day 319/365

     I shot another basketball game Friday night/day 319, which unfortunately wasn't nearly as interesting as the last few I've shot. It had its moments, but ultimately I was a bit disappointed. 

Day 318/365

     On Thursday I photographed an independent singer/songwriter and actor named Brian Vander Ark. He's pretty popular in the state for being a part of the Michigan-based '90s/'00s band the Verve Pipe. He stopped in Midland to be interviewed for an upcoming show he'll be performing. What I couldn't get over, was how much he looked like a friend of mine, Matt Zador. He literally looked like he could be his 40-something year-old doppelgänger!

Day 317/365

     Wednesday/day 317 one of my assignments was photographing a local sports radio talk show. A new host and show has taken over for the time slot that used to belong to "The Huge Show," which apparently is some popular sports radio show throughout Michigan. From what I've heard, it was basically the Rush Limbaugh of sports radio. For whatever reason though, a huge local debate has started over whether or not the show should've been replaced. There are about an even number of fans who say they won't listen to the new one and are adamantly opposed to the new host, Jared Sandler, versus a fan base that says "The Huge Show" was ridiculous and should be replaced, and are interested in the new programming. Sandler seemed nice enough, and seemed to be taking the whole thing pretty well, so hopefully he can hang in there. 

Day 316/365

     Tuesday/day 316 I got to shoot a new antique store in Saginaw, and then a high school basketball doubleheader. Two local Midland rivals played each other, the girls varsity teams followed by the boys. Both games were fun to watch. One of the girls teams had a come-from-beind victory, which is always crazy, and the boys were pretty evenly matched.

Day 315/365

     When I got back to Michigan Monday night/day 315, I unpacked and put everything away, which could not have been done with out the monumental help that was Finch.

Day 314/365

     As I said in day 313's post, I got to spend the past weekend at home in Cleveland. I got to have a much needed lazy day with my family on Sunday/day 314, which meant falling asleep on the living room couch while watching a movie. It wouldn't be complete without the best nap buddy in the world: our family dog Pete. Pete's almost ten years old, which I still find hard to believe. He's the sweetest dog on this face of the planet. Just look at that face!

Day 313/365

     Not much of a photo for day 313/last Saturday. I was able to go home for the weekend to see family and friends. It was a fantastic weekend, and on Saturday one of my best friends and I finally got to do something we've been planning for a while. 

     My friend Clare and I have been friends since we were five years old and in Mrs. Kastor's kindergarten class at Center Street Elementary. We grew up right around the corner from each other in the same neighborhood, and now over eighteen years later we're still good friends. We've been wanting to get matching tattoos for a while, and since we're both huge Star Wars nerds, Clare came up with the idea of getting the rebel insignia from the movies. We were finally able to get them Saturday!

Day 312/365

     It's embarrassing how much i've neglected this blog this past week. Things just got away from me I guess, and I apologize. Prepare yourselves for a slew of updates!

     Last Friday/day 312 I shot a local Bay City boys basketball team's first win of the season. Despite their lack of victories, it was a fun game to watch, and the atmosphere was incredible. The further the game went on, more and more fans and players realized that this was the night they'd finally get a win. It was a pretty cool moment to witness.