Day 360/365

     Today was a big mix of different assignments. It started out with taking a picture of a pit bull mix that reportedly bit a 2-year-old girl. The dog's currently being held at the local pound, and there's a big debate storming about what should be done. The dog was supposedly left by a former roommate of the girl's family, and had bitten the girl before. The family supposedly couldn't get animal control to take the dog without paying $130, which they couldn't afford. The whole situation is just unfortunate from all points of view, to put it mildly. 

   After the dog photos a reporter and I worked on a project we've been building up, centered around the abundance of closed schools in Saginaw. I won't be putting any of those photos up yet since I haven't published them on MLive, but these are a few candids from some of the exploring we embarked on today. Some Simon and Garfunkel-inspired graffiti and some bullet holes.

     To finish off the day, I shot a pretty serious car accident where all three people involved, (both drivers and one passenger), had to be rushed to the hospital. A bit of variety throughout the whole day, no?

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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.

Blogger's Note

     "A man tells so many stories, that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal."

     Four years ago today, your stories became immortal. Backing your car into a dumpster when you were teaching me how to drive became immortal. Trying to fix the ceiling fan in my room only to short out the entire house's electricity became immortal. Inventing swear words by combining three and four of them together the year our Christmas tree kept falling over became immortal. You made everything so much better; even your mistakes made for good stories. You were the best dad I could ever hope to have, and one of the best friends I will ever know. I don't believe in any god or deity, I don't believe in heaven or hell, I don't pray, I don't believe everything happens for a reason. I believe in you. Four years  ago you became immortal, and that's how you'll stay.

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 176/365

     Tonight I covered a cross country meet. It was at a park nearby that had a small pond and quite a few hills, so it was at least visually different as far as the course went. These were the two photos I liked the most, and when it came to posting today's entry I just couldn't pick between them, so day 176 is a diptych! Click on the image if you'd like to view it in a better size.

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.

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. 

Day 65/365

     Today's post is right out of one of my mom's gardens. She has quite a few different types of irises that grow throughout the backyard, but these dark purple ones have always been my favorite. 

Day 51/365

     One of my childhood friends is in town this week so she stopped over today to visit and brought her two year-old son with her as well. He's definitely a bundle of energy. We spent most of the afternoon outside; playing in the sprinkler, running around after the dogs, and playing with bubbles. I could definitely go for a nap right about now!