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!

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 100º 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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!