http://www.poorpeoplelikepizza.com/

Sitting here in Jewel waiting for my mom to finish shopping. Seems like its taking forever. Just went to the gym. I'll be sore tomorrow.

Alright, so I'm still...

Alright, so I'm still driving. We're up to 20 miles an hour and I should be over at Ken's house at 6:34 for a birthday party. Ed(?) still smelling it. It's not that bad. listen

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So, yeah. I don't know....

So, yeah. I don't know. I'll probably gonna pause this for a while. See you.
listen

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So I'm on my way to...

So I'm on my way to Ken's house right now. I'm on I-90, and I think we're going like, 15 miles an hour. Everything is definitely gonna take a while, and I hope I'm not about to exit, but yeah this
listen

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2 WIU students face weapons cache charges

http://www.wqad.com/global/story.asp?s=9516550

The info was released at Thursday's police briefing and ran front page on Friday's issue of the Macomb Journal. News here at the Courier really needs to step it up next semester.

I try competing on the photo side but it's not all that hard since they're all writers, no offense but I think news can take on that same competitive mindset because jobs are getting few and far between and you got to be on top to get anywhere.

But besides just complaining, I need to make sure I'm on top of it too. Granted I'm the photo editor but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on staff with a police scanner so I'll try to do what I can too.

Well it's finals week here. Gtg.

Production Night 12-9-08

Well it's not night anyway but I'm back in the office. Seems like I'm never out of here. We're coming down to the last 2 productions for the semester and then it's finals week so no paper.


It's raining out there; A lot colder than I expected with my room being so #$!#% hot with the window open.

Doubt there'll be too many photographers or writers at the meetings today. I've got a bunch of papers to type so hopefully I can get some work during the down time.

I guess only having 3 classes this semester was as hard as I thought it'd be. I know it sounds crazy but it's just so hard to stay motivated with all this free time. Being an editor probably doesn't help much since there's so much I want to do here. Started out well but faded out. Hopefully things pick up next semester.

Also, expect a new masthead (i.e.- top of the paper) for next semester and hopefully more online content. Really need a studio here for some easy setup.

-Portfolio is just about done photo-wise. Still need video and articles in though. This is taking FOREVER. It's going to be rough when I graduate. Need to outshine everyone if I plan on making it anywhere.

Production: 12-7-08

Almost done with everything. Just sitting at my computer listening to Sublime. Some copy editing going on at the main table. Just an 8 pager for tomorrow. Wish we got more photo requests because we only have 1 photo on the front page and two graphics.

Besides that, I really need to bring some DVD's or CD-R's in to get this portfolio done. I think I have all photos done with cut-lines but just need to add a few video's and probably some PDF's.

Right now, I think everyone's just waiting for a graphic and then we're out of here.

Finally over.

Masters Degree?

I don't think I was every really thinking about getting a masters degree. On the Society of Professional Journalists trip to the Quad Cities, we were told not to get one. It makes sense because with newsrooms cutting staff and looking to cut costs so if they needed to pay someone with a masters or someone with a 4 year college degree, they'd just go cheap.

I need new ways to market myself as a journalist. A one for all type of thing but wait! That's not all! I did spend 2 years in exercise science so if a newsroom needs a personal trainer, they know where to go. Not only will it help the staff get in shape but also, cut down on health care costs. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'll still say it. Plus it would just give me an excuse to put all that otherwise useless schooling to work.

Seriously. Journalists need to find way to market themselves and be self promoters. Can't wait for someone else to do it.

In real news, the trial I've been waiting for for a few weeks was canceled. I'm still looking for info on the 2 football players that got arrested. Trial should be sometime this week. I'll ask again tomorrow.

Homecoming this weekend. Being the only one with a telephoto is rough. Got a lot of assignments to cover. Did do a voiceover with Ken, the sports editor. Might do my own next time. Ken needs a little more enthusiasm next time.



City Council was today at 7pm. Got video of the whole thing so I got to cut it down and do some voice overs.

Tomorrow, got a quick session with the guys from SGA for a video segment. Oh yeah, police briefing at 8:45am so I better get to bed.

Adios.

medianess

Multimedia is something every journalist has to learn. It won't cut it to just know how to write or just take pictures or just shoot video. If there's another medium out there, chances are I'll be learning it in the next few months.

Just happened to see an ambulance over at Everly Park so I went and made a project out of it. Started editing yesterday and finished today. With pictures, it's so easy to edit and SO much quicker. Making a multimedia piece on some spot news on the other hand, takes a lot longer.

One thing I've been reading is to edit as you shoot. For the most part, all the video and photos are in chronological order anyways so if I can narrow it down to only the things I'll want to use, it'll be a huge time saver.

Live video was a failure because they meet every other week now. Something about that doesn't seem right but I won't get into that right now.

Media. It's the future. Now I just need to get back to writing.

Live streaming coming soon...

Finally have a place to put this video up. At the job fair, a guy mentioned a website for live streaming. I'll be trying it out tomorrow at the Student Government Association meeting at 7pm. It'll be live so check it out if you like. I won't be doing much since I'll probably be in the office editing (production night ever Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday). Need to start promoting it to the students.

Still learning

Headed over to a TV station and newspaper over in the Quad Cities. Really wish I had done that before. People over there were really helpful. I got some video and took a few pics so I'll try to get those up maybe this week. Tried to get those business cards out to a few people too. Hopefully, I got a few contacts. While we were out there, heard about how horrible the market for journalists are right now. Luckily, I follow the news and hear about all the job cuts. It's going to be difficult when I graduate in the Spring. Just hope for the best and keep working.

There was a soccer game today at 4pm while we were in the Quad Cities. I sure hope that was taken care of back here. We only have 1 camera here at the paper and only one of my photographers has a camera and it's the IT department's camera.

As for football, probably not traveling this weekend. They'll be in North Dakota but I'll be at a job fair in Springfield tomorrow and back Friday. I just need to print out a few resume's and maybe a few pics while I'm at it.

I found out some campus news, big news, at the morning crime brief last week at the station. Really wanted to report it but it just doesn't seem timely anymore. Also found out the next court trial in Macomb is on October 20th at 9:30am. I have no idea what it's about but I'll try to make it.

Missouri State trip

Over in Missouri this weekend. No plane, just a bus from 8:30am till around 3pm. We did take a break over in Jefferson City for Subway. There's three busses this trip and since they only took 2 to the stadium, Ken and I stayed back here in the hotel instead of going to the pregame stuff.

Just been in the hotel since we've been here. Out the window, I can see a Walmart so I'll probably head there later. Right now, watching game 2 of the ALDS, sox vs. Rays. After this, grab some food, maybe Steak and Shake, and then get this podcast going. I'll try to get that up tonight. I should start looking for content.

Founders Day

getting back on topic

Whoa, got way off topic again on some AC rant. I really got to work on staying focused Getting back to the topic of podcasts, listening to the NYtimes front page podcast and they're talking about the dangers of texting with the recent train wreck. Something studnets could easily relate to. Texting, not trains. Might even be my first opinion article if I can get something out soon enough. Last think I need to be is untimely. I admit, I've texted while driving. Usually while on an open highway but it is stupid. As if talking wasn't bad enough, now we're trying to type out messages? The brings me to Jott feeds. I think Jott could become pretty popular since you could sent emails just my speaking your message instead of typing it. Something I definitley want to talk about in the podcast.

Need some stats once again like amount of text related accidents and so on. Starting to seem more conclusive that the conductor of that train was in fact texting around or at the time of the crash. 25 people dead I think. Might even check with the Macomb PD to see how many accidents around here are text related or just cell phone related. Could be an article too I guess. Feels like it's been so long since I wrote one. Last thing I wrote was this article about the Geothermal truck here working on the multicultural center. Not the most exciting thing. Also need to remind Ed to get his writers conducting more interviews. One interview for an article is just lazy journalism. There's alway someone else that can say something. Just gotta look for them sometimes.

I think I got off topic again. Getting back on podcasts, need something entertaining. but not like some hollywood gosip crap. Want to get in some tech news but reach I wide audience. Can't just be something I like. Speaking of audience, don't want it too wide. If it's too broad, won't have the same connection but we'll figure that out.

Interviews- Try to get the president in at some point. Probably make a list of people and contact them to try and get an interview and if we're going to do this, probably need something a little more professional that a video camera that we extract audio from. Took me forever to figure out how to convert .mov files to mp3 but I did so that's good.

Students. Talking to students will not only give people someone else to listen to but let other people know about the show. Maybe we should get some business cards out for the podcast. Also, special guests on campus like musicians, entertainers, etc.

We need a length too. I was thinking something under 10 minutes that students could listen to between classes and then maybe a longer show on the weekend for a recap.

Need to let people know what there is to do around town since Macomb isn't the most exciting place.

I heard a lot of mistakes I was doing during the first cast like rubing my hands is really noisy and probably need to breathe quieter. Yes, I am a mouth breather and the mic always seems to pick it up. Sometimes, I have good days where my nose is pretty cleat but others, not so much. I know how I sound now so I'll try to sound more professional for next time but not boring. I'll find something in between.

Don't think I really feel like typing much more. Football today at 6:05pm and Volleyball at 7. I'll have a few of my new photographers out there learning how to shoot sports. Thing is, I think only one of them has a camera so I'll need to figure out that and do the same for Sunday when there's soccer at 2pm and I'll have 2 more people out there. Sounds like it's going to be a busy weekend. I better get to the office and get ready.

later.

Just need ideas

Second home game of the season of football. Wish the game was in Texas but whatever. As for the podcast, I've been trying to get some ideas on what exactly it's going to be about. We definitely need an outline and a set day to record with a few extras here and there.

Been checking a whole bunch of different sites. Started out with what's going on on Campus. Campus briefs like what's going on for the week. It'll be quick becasue unless something is ridiculous, it'll probably get old and boring quick.

Weather is something I want. Something more than just weather though. Somehow relate it to peoples actual schedules (wake up, heading to class, comming home, out at night. The average temp just doesn't do me any good if the temp drops 20 degrees at night and I'm freezing my arse off walking home after production night in the office.

It'll just be the next day or 2 becasue I never remember much past then. Maybe weekend.

Speaking of weather. It was the middle of August and I was back in Macomb FREEZING. I really hated that first week in the dorms. I'm not a big fan of the cold and hate winter (love summer) and it was such a huge change becasue I go from the heat of summer in Kansas for the internship to my parent's house back in Chicago. My mom isn't running the AC and we've just got fans going around the house to stay cool so going from that to the dorms was soemthing I wasn't used to. The part that was so frustrating was I couldn't control how much the AC was on in my room. I'd leave the window open just to try to stay warm and let some heat in. I even covered the top of the AC with duct tape and put a towel below but it really didn't do much.

As much as I hate it, I wonder how much money Western wastes on blasting the AC. I'm going to have to check on that. I know other dorms have some controls but mine, none. I'm sure I just sound like I'm complaining but students end up footing the bill when energy prices are skyrocketing and the University does little to change. What I want to find out is the cost of comfort.

I can understand partly why the university doesn't completely change things becasue I'm sure somebody's gonna go apesh*t when the temp goes up a few degrees becasue they can't handle it. If the university got solid facts, some thing concrete that students could see and then used those numbers to show how much money could be saved and what that money could be used for, who knows? Doubt anything is going to change but when I'm wearing a sweatshirt and hat in the middle of the summer, maybe it's just a little wasteful.

I remember last year, the theme was global responsiblity. I saw a few things the university did to try and be more green. Now, I don't mind being cool and people can suck it up and deal with it but when I'm needing to remember to bring a sweatshirt with me to the library when it's 80+ degrees outside, maybe it's just a little bit much.

Speaking of stats, I'll try to get some of those.

Wow that was long.

Up and running

Finally getting those podcasts started again. I'll be honest, they suck now or I guess I should say it sucks since we've only done one. I'll talk to Jon Oakley, a broadcasting major for some tips and once we get interviews and some stories to talk about, we should be good.


http://www.westerncourier.com/podcasts/


----------------
Now playing: Bush - Cold Contagious
via FoxyTunes

Choices

It's nice to have options. Liberal/Conservative, Energizer/Duracell, PC/Mac. Choices allow people to think about decisions instead of having others do it for you. Let me just get right into it. So the university theme or whatever is Health and Wellness and yet the only late night options we have around campus are Pizza, Burger King and the crap in the C-stores?

This semester, The Union lost the sandwich place I never went to and replaced it with Mexican food. Don't get me wrong, I love good Mexican food. The problem is I love good Mexican food. Now I'm left with Burger King at night. Despite getting a salad when I can make it in time for dinner in the dorms, the overall menu's there haven't seemed to change much either.

Now, what can Western do to change this or... oh I don't know, be more healthy? Leaving a fast food restaurant as the only option doesn't seem like a good start. After eating at Burger King, I don't feel healthy or well. Actually, I end up feeling a little gassy.

Complaining only does so much so what can Western do to be more healthy or well? I understand being healthy usually costs more money but if the university is going to make it a theme, they better but their money where their mouth is. I appreciate the effort the university puts in to get various speakers and maybe there are things going on for the first year students but besides what the university already offers such as intramural athletics or the Rec, nothing is really standing out and changing my feelings about wellness.

Hopefully the theme is much more than speakers and posters. Students should take advantage of whatever comes next, if anything, and make real changes for a healthier life.

BK

25 minute wait for a crispy chicken sandwich at Burger King. Seriously? I got to find another option.

Gotta work out tomorrow morning. Got some homework to finish by noon and probably getting my photographers mugshots and get some press passes printed out for them.

Other than that.... not much.



Yup.

WIU Football vs. SDSU

It was a big change from Arkansas. We got in South Dakota on Friday in Sioux Falls. It was boring. Seemed like nothing but banks. Took a while to find a chain resturant. There were a ton of little local resturants but all expensive. Lot's of older people around. Seemed like a big Macomb.

Video was rough. I had the laptop up in the press box. I get back and the thing won't turn on. On the plane, tried, kept trying, still nothing. Wasn't until I got back in Tanner till the thing finally worked so just a quick edit. Home this weekend.


No more Burger King. That crap is killing me, or just making me gassy. Nap, then I'm out to the Rec.

WIU Football vs. Quincy

CERN

Completely forgot to try and write that article about the CERN being so busy being the photo editor. Just a if you're still reading this... yada yada. Don't think anything's gonna happen but it sure would spark interest in science. Well I'm typing this at a wierd angle off my bed listening to Buzz Out Loud so I'm out. Busy day at the paper but I'm out. 5 minutes till CERN, whoop.

Pregame Prep

1_6055, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Just another pic that'll probably never make the paper. Just saw the groundskeepers spraying the field on my way back to my dorm. Always wanted to shoot the guys doing this. I talked with them for a little, watched the process, got some info and yes I have captions. I'm really trying to avoid pics with none. I'll get my notebook from the office tomorrow. Nice guys.

Game is tomorrow at 6:05pm. Not sure what I'll do with multimedia. Feel like I'm getting burn out. Gotta slow it down and just relax. I'm trying to walk through pics with the new people. Guess we got a few for next Tuesday's meeting. Hopefully they all show.

We had this major error on the front page where one of the new reporters got all these dates wrong for the completion of a building on campus. Makes us look bad. Problem is, these writers are being sent out with no experience and they have no idea what they're doing I guess. Things at the paper are rough. I'm trying to do whatever I can to keep my section producing with all the new people we're using. So far, been getting by, hopefully get easier as the year goes on.

MTV is somewhere in Macomb. Some show called Busted so I'm sure there'll be a bunch of people acting stupid for the cameras. I got the scanner going so if anything crazy goes down, I'm gettin outta bed and finding it.... maybe.

So far, it's been someone passed out across the street from Sherman, a streaker on Adams St, a suicide threat (happens several times every week) and the typical loud party complaints. Ahhh, college. Just don't get calls over the scanner like this back in Chicago.

Well I got work to do in the morning. Later.

2 quick ones

Just had 2 assignments today. One was a portrait of a woman who's retiring. It was just the standard off camera lit portraits in the office. I tried to add some motion blur but got a cool effect. Ended up looking a little ghostly but maybe its a metaphor? Eh, whatever.

Next was my favorite. A building shot. Just basic stuff but I seriously need to step it up and light these suckers. Just gotta pack strobes, lightstand and shoot around dusk.

Quick night in the office. Got 2 of the videos from the weekend football game in Arkansas on the Facebook group.

I made up a quick list of rules for our new photographers to follow. I'll probably try to email it or print out some copies of it. They have no photojournalism experience so I'll try to start really basic. My goal is to get them all better than me. I want the best photo's in the state in a school with no photo-j. It's my job to teach and motivate so hopefully I can and through teaching, and I'll learn myself.

This weekend, might be heading to Bradley University with mens soccer or maybe it was womens? Not sure. I think theres another sport on Friday and maybe a photo assignment? Things are starting to get busy and we at the Courier need to keep up and then some. We need major changes and need to make the paper more exciting. News is changing. Other mediums are comming up and newspapers need to adapt. Can't have long boring articles about things no one cares about but we still need hard news. Last thing I want to see is this newspaper turn into a Chicago Sun Times or a New York Post.

I don't know. We need changes, more multimedia. I was talking to Martyn about starting up podcasts again. He's got an english accent and I'm sure we American's would be ammused rather than just me talking about whatever. We need a show with direction though. Should be fun. Maybe a week in news.

We also need some campus newsbriefs section. Right now we have this What's happening now section. A map with stars and some AP stories. Every single week. It's insanely boring. Just need something better. Important but better. New design, yada yada. Speaking of which, need some front page design. To be honest, I hate the font on the cover, no offense to whoever picked it. Just seems outdated and ugly. I got goals and hopes but I can't do much without a good nights sleep so adios.

Oh yeah, have students vote for a new front page design. Got a lot of ideas up this head of mine. Some good some bad. Either way, better than no ideas.

More Muli-Media

Been having some fun with this. This video was the first time I tried to make something during sports. It was rough to say the least. I decided not to bring a tripod becasue of space contraints. Thats another thing. When I'm shooting both video and photos, it means more equipment to carry.

Even with all the equipment, only lost one thing, my hoodie. Thank you USA JET airlines.

I know I missed a few shots, sometimes it was my position and other times, just too many players or refs in the way.

In total, there was about 35 minutes of footage to go through. About 7 minutes was the view inside my pocket. Hoped to get some audio from the mistake but nope. For photo's, I shot a gig on the first day and 5 more on game day.

Everywhere we went, there was a police escort. It was pretty cool. The crowds were huge. Not sure what the capacity of the stadium was but I know it was in the thousands and it was PACKED. I couldn't imagine competing in that. The noise was incredible too.

The game was surprising. WIU recovered a fumble right off the kick off and things were looking good. After the 1st half, still good, 3rd, good, 4th, things started to fall apart. WIU was up 24-21 but with about 1:45 to go in the game, Arkansas scores and takes the lead. After a few more snaps, that was that.

I had a hard time getting audio. Didn't get into huddles as much as I should have to get voices. Plus it was hard combining photos with game sounds. Videos actually turned out okay. Only a few worked but for not being able to move the camera, it was still alright and caught a few things.

One other thing was charging all the batteries. I definitely messed up on this. Sometime during the 2nd quarter, my 20D with grip died. Some of it might be the connection but I still should have had those batteries in the chargers the night before. Luckily I had enough spares to get by for the rest of the game.

Got a few post game things but missed the press conference. Took forever to get up to the press box . Only had to go up 1 floor but it was so packed, I had to find another way up. Half time was horrible too. I think the stadium really needs to do something about that. Traffic was moving slow for everyone. Luckily I didn't have to transmit.

All in all, it was a very good experience. After finishing the second day's footage and photos into a multimedia piece at 2am, realized how long it takes for sports. Guess I should write times down. Wouldn't mind a copy of Photo Mechanic either. Learned a lot, hopefuly improve next time.

We got back in Macomb at 3am and my sleep schedule is all outta whack. It's almost 4am so I guess I should get to bed.

WIU vs. Arkansas

_MG_3995

_MG_3995, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Over in Arkansas with football. Plane ride was pretty smooth and I was surprised how easy check in was at the airport. With all my gear, figured I'd get searched but it actually went by quick.

I'm in the hotel now with Ken the sports editor. Went downstairs to get some shots of the walk through but I guess one of the coaches decided otherwise. Not a big deal.

Heard some pretty thick accent's. It's my first time in Arkansas. Well we got to see if we can get on the bus to head over to the stadium.

Oh yeah, we got stuck in the back of the plane so no window for about 2 hours. Fun.

geo

I'm sitting down in the Tanner laundry room wishing I did this last night. Got the trip to Arkansas tomorrow and heading out at 9am so I NEED to set a few alarms for the morning. Only about 4 minutes left according to the drier. Would have done this yesterday but didn't have any quarters only to realize I could just use my card. Hmph.

Well production night went a little smoother. We got out before midnight so that's a plus. Didn't really have any photo assignments today besides taking a picture of a truck. It wasn't doing anything so, yeah, not really worth posting. I was just shooting it for this geothermal article I interviewed and typed up today. Speaking of which, had a ridiculous thunderstorm this morning. The poncho did nothing for the legs and shoes. Thought I was gonna die with how loud it was getting.

The article was okay but nothing special. I guess my goal of writing one article a week worked out for this week, next one... not so sure. Laundry is done. I gotta get to bed.

Hey, I am sitting outside...

Hey, I am sitting outside the Courier 'cause Sarah is giving us a ride. So, I am bored and Jotting and I want to see how long this thing last and here comes Ed and I don't know what he's doing but, yeah looks ____. iIt's Ed. listen

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CUPP_3894

CUPP_3894, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Decided to check out the CUPP block party this evening. I already sent one of our new photographers out but just decided to go check it out. I guess it's just one of those things where I have to get used to not shooting the majority of the assignments.

I checked out her shots when I was there and they were looking alright. Had a lot of posed shots but I told her the type of shots we'd need so she should be alright.

I got there pretty late so the light was low and I was shooting at ISO 1600 for the most part but it turned out okay as long as the pics aren't huge.



Just looking at the caption right now. I was trying to find out who the kids parents were but couldn't. I had them spell their names but I don't think they were 100% correct so I probably wouldn't run them except in an online slideshow maybe.

Speaking of which, I need to get an online photo store organized and start handing out business cards too. All in all, went alright. Would like a press pass but I do alright without it.

Flying out to Arkansas Friday at 9am.

Move In Day 2008

Just a quick video I made of Move In Day a few days ago. It's my first news video and hope to get better as the year goes on. Well I got an article to start writing so I gotta go.

-Adam

Late Night

Finally got out of the office around 12:30am. Definitely sent my assistant editor home way too early because after Martyn went home, got pounded with assignments. It was definitely a rough one but it's done and hope it turned well.

We had our first photo meeting today. Had 1 new girl who writes, designs and shoots so that's pretty good. Seems dedicated. Martyn and I still need to advertise the meeting to get people in. Dave came back too and sent him out on an assignment. I felt like a bum since I had to go cover volleyball that just happened to start when my photo meeting started.

Volleyball was okay but I definitely need to get into the swing of things and work on my timing and angles.

Well, it's 2 days till Arkansas and since it's 1:30am, I should get to bed.

EEOC Class

_MG_3274, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

First photo meeting tomorrow at 6pm. Probably send out reminders. Spent near the whole day in the office outside of class again. STILLLLL deleting old files from last year. So glad I'm almost done.

I just had one assignment today. Went out to Horn Field Campus with Rob for a story he's doing on the EEOC class. Forgot what that stands for but it's a 18 credit hour semester long RPTA class that involves camping till December. I mean, I like camping and think the idea is cool getting away from the city and all but don't think I could last that long. I mean, maybe if I could use solar power to charge my camera batteries and a laptop so I could still get online, maybe...



A little something I picked up on during my internship, detail shots. Gotta start doing more of these for photo packages. Now that I think about it, didn't really do any for Move In Day. Hmmm.

This was also my first assignment using the 28mm f/2.8 lens I bought in May. It was okay. The f/2.8 was nice and it was a lot wider than the 50mm f/1.8 I'm usually stuck with in prime. Still, it seemed a little restricting at 28mm but definitely usable. I'll probably be using this thing for a while till the 16-35.

Probably heading out to Arkansas on Friday with football. I think Monday is Labor Day too so that's good.

That Fall Sports Preview from a few days ago was out. I didn't adjust enough for the print so the pics turned out a little dark. Bah, gotta adjust that for next time. Ken says he's got idea's for features so I'll have more chances.

Only got 1 class tomorrow at around noon so probably work out and get breakfast. Enough South Park, I'm going to bed.

Yeah, so it's 1:15am, watching ping pong, gold medal match. I gotta find someone to play with on that table in the rec.

Well watched 2 stoner movies the past 2 nights, good times, funny stuff. Don't smoke myself.

This weekend has been insanity. It's rough but far from impossible. This ping pong is intense. I've just been covering move in day for the past 2 days. Don't think that makes sense but yeah, busy busy. Ma-Lin WINS! Wasn't paying attention.

Tonight was First Night Fun. It's this carnival type thing the school has the first Saturday. Made to give students who don't drink something to do I think. I got there pretty late. Honestly, didn't really feel like going after all that shooting the past 2 days but it was okay, pics were okay. Pretty sure I killed my flash. It's weird. Earlier in the day, I was over at Camera Land and one of the guys was talking about how it might be safe using my Nikon flash on my Canon 20D now but it could still fry my camera later. That's really odd. That happened last time with something. Hmm.

Well what happened was I was shooting this rotating ride at around 9:30pm so it was pretty dark out. I tried to add some flash to get a cool effect but after one of the shots, heard this LOUD pop. Hope the flash didn't blind anyone. Had a weird smell too. Tried the flash a few hours later, yup, still gone. Luckily, it was an old used $65 SB-24 but still, it was a great flash for off camera and I'm kind of sad it's gone. Just lucky nothing happened to my camera. Hope I learned my lesson. Looks like it's back to Canon flashes for me. Arg.

Wow, gold medal basketball is live tonight at 1:30am. I probably shouldn't watch it all but probably will. Led Zepplin is playing at Bejing's Closing Ceremony?? Just seems odd.

But yeah, Flash is gone, I'm done messing around with that. Thing is, I still have my Gadget Infinity triggers and since it's wireless I should be alright.

Besides that, I think I'm done shooting for the weekend but I'm sure some random thing'll come up tommrow and I'll end up shooting it just in case.

As for being the photo editor, it's pretty different. A lot more responsibility but I like it. My goal for the year is to teach my photog's everything I can. Every picture in the paper represents me in some way, good or bad. If I teach em well, we'll be fine, if not... well that won't happen. Next semester anyways. I'm pretty sure we have the Sunday off since we're just running the Friday paper again. Hopefully a meeting on Tuesday and sure hope we have MORE PHOTOGRAPHERS. Martyn and I need to recruit. Go to classes, make posters, whatever.

Oh yeah, I'll be in Arkansas next weekend :) Yay. Get to travel with football on a plane! Really wish my lens would come in but I doubt it.

Well I'm going to watch this gold medal basketball game and go to bed.

Alright, so what I'm...

Alright, so what I'm saying right now is going to be turn into text and I'm gonna get an e-mail about it .but what I'm trying to do was go to my blog and it would read it and this is the end of the message. listen

Powered by Jott

Fall Sports Preview shoots

herb_1856, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Finished up the fall sports preview portraits. I wanted to use some motion but I guess I'm kind of glad I didn't. Herb's shoot went well. Martyn and I had a ton more time to set up unlike the other two.

First one we had was a volleyball shoot around 12:30, Monique Houston.

Had 2 strobes set up, 1 dies. Frig. I ended up just using the 1 with the snoot, 8 inches I think. In retrospect, kind of wish I just shot it wider. Beam was really tight and can't really see enough of her.



Wait a sec. I had a soccer one right before that at 12:25pm. They ended up kind of overlaping and we (Martyn and I) had to work quick because both girls had practice right after.

Well on to the soccer shoot, Ashley Hoch. Wanted to get close to a stationary ball and have her kick it with the strobes. Problem is that second strobe died right before this since Martyn and I were testing the lighting.

Used the snoot again and got a spotlight just to the left of her and had her juggle the ball. Umm, ignore the quality. I got to learn the downsize in CS3.

Turned out okay but could've been better.

Right after that, we had the volleyball shoot where I was standing on one of the boxes shooting jump height. The net was making a big black stripe on her. Should've used the higher light stand but yeah, gotta learn to work quick. I know now I guess.

And finally Herb Donaldson, running back for football. We ended up using this one.

We had a few hours before this shoot so I had time to charge the batteries and think up some ideas. We were thinking something in the locker room since the only time we had with him was around 5pm, too bright outside. Before that, tried the weight room, didn't work out so well. Just him sitting on a bench. Nope.

Went over to the locker room, used Martyn as my light stand. First shots weren't firing. Ends up his had was covering the sensor. ( I was optical slaving it) The shot up top was because of that. (no purple) Oh yeah, forgot to mention I was using Rosco gels. Anyways, I liked it.

I tried him jumping Heisman but didn't really turn out either. Kind of funny though. He was a good sport.

We were done with the shoot in about half an hour. Then just headed back to the office for the insanity of the first production night of the year. Looking forward to it.

adios...

Making a pretty big move. Getting thr 70-200 and 16-35 and second 20D. I REALLY need to step it up and get that portfolio up. Hope this works out. I'll be heading back to western this Sunday. Probably heading out early so I can watch the track events. Glad i'll be in the dorms this year. Really need to focus and get those grades as high as possible. Along with the internship credit, i'll only be taking 3 classes this fall.

wow. just watched the womens gymnastics all around final. Americans go one two. spiffy. Well friday is tomorrow which means TRACK IS STARTING!! whoooohooo. Its weird. Im usually only watching track but the other sports have been great. Guess thats what happens with good journalism. NBC really did their research.

cont. bought soon. had to split it since my phone doesnt have enough space. im watching the olympics now tring to figure... nevermind its a replay. Its past 2am and i should really get to bed. oh yeah' pardon the grammar, im typing on the cell phone qwerty on the rumor. g'nite.

HEY! Finally figured out how to get the blogger text screen working so I can finally blog on my phone. Well i've just been watching the olympics for the past few days and not really much else. They're actually pretty good this year. I mean its 1am no 2am and im still up watching. Never realized how ridiculous gymnastics is. I've been glued every time its on. probably good nbc got things moved to primetime or who knows how late id be staying up. well ive got about 2 more days till im heading back to macomb. trying to get a few things taken care of like the cd i forgot from topeka. gotta mail that thing back. ugh. plus a few paychecks from the summit league from the spring. Really need that money since books need to be bought soon.

Found out that I can have on site transfer capabilities with my phone. I got a Sprint LG Rumor and I got the Vision Pack $15 and with my Yahoo Mail and file attachments, if I can get a CF card adapter for my 20D to a SD card and use the micro SD adapter for my phone, it takes me about 6 minutes for a 3MB file transfer I can do some basic edits and crops on my PDA and I'm set. Freakin awesome. Only thing is, I'm pretty low on the cash. Well, low as in none so I need to wait till I'm working again at school.

Decided to check the stats for my smugmug site and found I had nearly 19,000 hits last month. Not too shabby. I think a lot of that was from my moto gallery. It had 13,000 hits by itself! Wow. Now, just need to keep converting these views into sales. I'm trying to get my business card out everywhere I go and it's going alright. Gave out a lot at the Death Ride event and so far, I've sold about$46 in the gallery. Of course, the site itself cost $149 so it's going to be a while till I break even. Hopefully this investment pays off. I'll try to push it hard when I get back to school.

Speaking of which, Nate, an editor over at the Macomb Eagle was asking if I was interested in a position over there. I think it was sports editor. Sounds pretty cool so I'll have to check it out when I'm back at school. Need to figure out my other two jobs (photo editor at the Courier and student photographer with Athletics) hmm... Thining about freelancing with athletics. Heard the photo store made about $1000 one month. Only thing is finding the audience. Might try to do some more advertising. I really should look into a business class as well. Lots to do.

Well I only have 1 more month of this internship. Looking forward to getting back home, getting some Deep Dish first. That Lou Malnati's is damn good. Doubt I spelled that right.

Well I'm at work right now. Could have gone home hours ago but I'm trying to maintain my website and trying to get pictures up as quick as possible. I can see why pro's have assistants. That'd be a HUGE help right now.

Probably another 10 mintues before these musical pictures finish uploading. Speaking of which, had a hard time shooting it. Granted, its just a play rehearsal but the lights were killing me. Half the time, it was bright red and I couldn't white balance for it. Wish I had my flash but the batteries were dead. I've got rechargeables in now so I'll be ready next time.


Today, just had one assignment this morning in Leavenworth, Kan. It was about an hour and 20 minutes away. I left out early hoping to grab some breakfast somewhere but it was just country roads for the last half of the trip. Shooting went alright. Since I didn't stop to eat, I arrived about a half an hour early so I got some shots out of the way and then just talked to Eathan, who the story was on. Got some nice facts on Horse hooves like how their diet affects the hooves. They're like fingernails on people so it's not painful to the horse. Weird thing was what the dogs did. Apparently, dogs love the shavings and clippings left over. Dog treats or something. Nice dogs though. Made me a little nevrous at first but played around with them and they were okay.

Sure hope some spot news happens. Been pretty slow news days these past few. There was a roll over last night but I guess the driver had left and it was pretty dark. I was going to head over to it but couldn't get the address until after a while. Kevin, the police beat reporter heard over the scanner it was downgraded.


Well, I'm tired, want dinner. Just need to wait for these pics to finish.

Last day tomorrow. Probably heading back Friday or Saturday. Probably Saturday.

Death Ride

_DAM0463, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Yesterday was HOT. Played some Tennis on Jason's XBox360 and then tried to go to bed. The apartment next door was having a party and had a bunch of people outside so I couldn't fall asleep until around 4am. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wake up at 4:30am to head out by 5. Madison, Kan. is about 2 hours away so had to head out early. Plus, I couldn't go my usual 60 mph to save gas.

When I arrived, the sun was still pretty low and the light was great. Only problem, I was only taking metering shots of my hand but the background of the shots were looking pretty good.

I had no idea where to go at first but saw a pickup truck with bikes in the back so I just followed it down and found the community center everyone was meeting at.

After talking to someone there, I found there was no lead back to be with but that's probably good becasue it would have limited me a lot.

Going to the event, The Death Ride, I was assuming there'd be a bunch of crazy jumps and steep hills but it was mostly country roads. I guess the Death part of it comes from the 80 or so miles of biking with a 5000 ft. vertical climb. Total, I think there were about 150 bikers.

I followed a yellow truck to the first station. Thought about waiting around but heard there were some good areas to shoot so I headed out there. Country roads make me nervous. Being unpaved and all, can't go too fast.

I got to one spot but it was unmaintained road so my car couldn't go on it or I wasn't going to risk it anyways. If I was first out there, might have worked but the lead riders had already gone by.

The race itself was from 730am till the lead riders started comming in after 1. People were still out there past 3 when I left.

I drove around for a while out there and got lost and drove back to the first stop. Country roads are a pretty easy grid to follow for the most part Just road A, B,C, and so on and 100, 200, 300, etc. There's some little roads in between and dead ends.

Saw a few people get flats and I got some pics of that. Only saw one person fall. It was more of a topple over though. I was at this last rough spot for an hour or two thinking they'd be through by noon but it wasn't until an hour later when the leaders rode through. On a side note, I hate this keyboard.

Anywhoo, the bikers were very friendly and easy to work with and I'm happy I went. I'm working cap shift today (1pm to 9:30pm)

GED and a courthouse

_MG_9902, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Today began around 11am. Had the day off yesterday so I finally got some decent sleep in. I'm still staying up way to late playing Need For Speed, I forgot which one, Most Wanted I think.

Anyways, had my first assignment at 1pm over at the Let's Help center. They offer GED classes and just wanted some shots from in the class. I wasn't sure how people in the classes would respond to a newspaper photographer but most seemed alright. Some didn't want their picture taken so that was fine with me. I think it's nice to see people getting their degree. Without an education, it's pretty hard to get by in America. Speaking of which, just 1 year of college to go, then....? I have no idea. Hopefully the market or my photos improve.

Headed over to the DOC because apparently, a sheriff turned himself in after shooting a man or two while off duty. Not sure what the deal was but I'll try to read about it in the paper tommorrow. I think Steve might be writing it right now. The guy managed to make it out without me seeing so no pic. There's way too many exits to cover for a facility I don't know.

Well, it is getting late and I think my shift here in the office is just about done. Probably head out to a party one of the writers is throwing tonight.

Still need to talk about that pool assignment but maybe later. I'm hungry.

Almost over

1, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

This internship has been rough. Probably what I should expect being upaid but Wednesday was by far the worst. Well, hopefully it doesn't get any worse. Just a long day all around I guess. Thing is, days like that just make me happier to be getting out of here.

Well, it's late.

The Grab

_MG_5038, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Been a while since I bogged. Probably should have picked a better time than 3:30am. Anyways, shot another Royals game today but remembered the 400 this time. It definitely helped but I didn't really have as many creative options as I did last time. Either way, it was great experience.

The day before, went to the game just as a Sox fan. Always feels wierd being in an opposing teams stadium.

Sox lost today. Eh, 2 out of 3. I'm trying not to be a big fan. From what I learned at the IPPA conference, got to be objective. Hopefully got some portfolio stuff. I'll check with Jason or Tony in the office.

I got tomorrow off, only a few weeks left of this unpaid internship, then back home to Skokie.

Adios

Just had some Wendys here in Topeka. Not feeling so good. I need to just make my own food. Well had the day off today, just shot some motorcycles at Heartland Park on my day off. Ugh. ok im done.

Only a few more hours till kansas and almost out of missouri

Just watching PBS. Some thing about ants. Its really crazy. Well, only a few days till Kansas...

4x400

4x400, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

I feel sick right now. Just glad I didn't get a heat stroke or anything. Sure was hot out there. 10 hour workdays...well, work at the track anyways. I guess if I want to be technical about it, I've been working since 8am and it's 9:15pm now minus an hour of getting pics up on Flickr, that what? 11 hours?

Well anyways, track is over with. Three days of non-stop work with some sleep in between. Got a headache but all in all, I'm happy with the pics. Shot the entire meet on a Rebel Xsi. For a $900 camera, sure does the job well. Only problem is, it takes SD cards and I only had 2 gb of those this weekend.

Well my 40 pics are sent out but still got CD-R's to burn. Probably end up with 10 or more of those. Got a ton of pics, few thousand. Really wish I had that smugmug account to sell some since my work with the Summit League is freelance afterall. Got asked by a few parents at the meet. Bah, maybe next year.

Well I'm gonna go take a shower and start packing, I feel this sunblock starting to get in my eyes.

Adios

Gallaga, Lorenzo_1011491

Gallaga, Lorenzo_1011491, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

I hate accidentally pressing the backspace button and losing everything i wrote so.... yeah don't like massive product placement in movies, yada yada.... Casino Royale. Still a bad ass movie though.

I want to work out tomorrow morning so I'm out.

Windy weather

Windy weather, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

I'm trying to watch There Will Be Blood but the CD drive on this laptop always craps out about halfway through a movie. ARGG. Haven't gotten to that milkshake part either. hmph.

Well just been shooting baseball. Got canceled today and moved to Monday because of this weather we're having.

I woke up and looked out the window this morning and saw how windy it was so of course, checked the scanner for anything. Heard there were some trees down and then something about an important powerline in the Hardee's parking lot about 2 blocks away so checked that out, nothing but cops sitting in their cars, drove around some more, heard about this tree outside of Sherman Hall. Took some pics and that was that. Gas is way too expensive for me to be cruising around looking for pics that aren't getting published.

So yeah, baseball doubleheader tomorrow and then hopefully get my 20D back from repairs on Wednesday for the Track and Field Championships Thursday-Saturday.

Can't wait till Kansas. Less than a month now...

This is bad. So my camera broke today. Right in the middle of shooting a baseball game. No, I should say start since I only got about 100 pics in (mostly pregame).

I got an Error 99 and the thing just kept on shooting. Not recording any pictures but battery showed dead and it just wouldn't stop. Lens or no lens, on or off, replaced batteries both main and internal. This sucks. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I guess I'm glad it didn't happen last night.

I got to figure this out before my internship June 1st.. ugh.

Just trying out different online video servers for the paper next year. Here's blip.tv



Got another slideshow coming up tomorrow from a softball game Martyn (another staff shooter) and I were at today. Well I got 6 pages to type so I better go.

'Necks fall to Illini, prepare for SDSU - Sports

'Necks fall to Illini, prepare for SDSU - Sports

Made my first slideshow for an article. It was actually pretty easy. Hopefully it's something that I'll be doing more. Maybe some soundslides next. NEED some audio.

Been a while since I made any videos. Here's a few clips from the Lee Calhoun Memorial Track meet held in April here in Macomb.



It was cloudy pretty much the whole 3 days. That or raining but I did what I could. Wasn't really planning on shooting video but it was sitting in my bag so... yeah.

linedrivedive

linedrivedive, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

headed out with baseball over to U of I. Never traveled with baseball but glad I did. Got to shoot my first night game. It was a little challenging since I'm so used to shooting with the sunlight but the lighting wasn't horrible.

Also, saw these wheelchair racers over on the track nearby so I got a few shots of them. I got so much stuff to do.

IMG_0973

IMG_0973, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Just football spring ball and an ROTC ball. Got golf at 7:30am tomorrow for the Summit League. Gonna be a long day.

g'nite

baseball and such

IMG_0791, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Still working on baseball. I'm starting to catch more action but still missing a few things. The knee pads really help since I'm shooting low the whole time. Those rocks sure would hurt the knees. Glad I'm young and can still get low.

Anyways, been extremely busy with track going on this weekend too.

Weather was horrible and the sun didn't come out till today. (been gone since Thursday I think)

Still need to figure out the apartment situation for Topeka. hmmm. Oh yeah, and getting credit for school too. Well I need to study or do a paper or something.

Later

Been a while since I updated the site...

Just added some more sports, took down some news and features.

Adam Sacasa


Best viewed Full Screen- F11

Bizz-E

_MG_0687, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Ugh, woke up at around 6:45am, took a shower, grabbed my gear and headed out to the golf course.

It was a little chilly but nothing too bad. Now that I got access to a golf cart (since I'm media) Shooting golf is kind of fun. Still need to figure out all that etiquette whatnot. Those golf carts are crazy loud. I can get some decent speed too.

Anyways, shot golf till about 10am, then I headed back over to campus to shoot womens tennis. Shots turned out alright. This girl ^ up top, ran in last weeks paper so I'm not sure if this pic'll run. Maybe I got something better so whatever.

Oh yeah, I was shooting this one for the Athletics Department (who I also work for) so Steve, the assistant photo editor was out there shooting for the paper. Gets kind of confusing sometimes who I'm working for.

I get paid by the hour by the Athletics department ($7.50) and $15 per assignment for the paper so if the event's long like a quadruple overtime to start the football season, works out well.

So yeah, shot that and headed back to golf because Athletics needed pics of the awards at the end and some golfer shots since we don't have any on the web photo store yet.

Well my last photo assignment for the day starts in 30 minutes so in a nutshell, shot the rest of golf that was supposed to end at 11:30 but ended at 3:30!

Missed the first game of baseball but got the second since it was a double header (they lost but theres another game tomorrow) Oh wait, I shot mens Tennis before I made it over to baseball.

Finally done with sports for the day

Then it was COFAC for another music related concert thing and now some folk singer concert thing in the Union at 10:15.

Long day, love my job though.

adios.

little by little

_MG_9570, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Baseball went a little easier today. Didn't get anything phenomenal but better.

Started the day off with a 9am interview for an article I'm writing on Ethanol. Went okay, never did a phone interview before. Headed over to a gas station for some quotes from an attendant and got the thing typed up in the library.

Golf was FREEZING this morning. Got to ride around in a cart for a change so that was cool. I'll be back out there at 7:30am when they tee off tomorrow. Why they can't start later on a Saturday morning, I don't know. Guess it's good because I got Tennis, Baseball doubleheader and 2 news assignments tomorrow. No, make that 3 news assignments. Got to take as many assignments as I can handle to try and save up for the summer.

Well I'm hungry again so I'm out.

eclipse

eclipse, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

I should probably get going soon but had my first baseball game of the year. Didn't really get anything to special. Had to go over to Softball and shoot that too. I'm going to need to talk to the other photographers because I can't shoot EVERY SINGLE event here on campus and still get my school work done. Seriously. I don't know how next year is going to be when the other two guys graduate.

That's the problem with going to a school with no photojournalism program. There's no one here to shoot! It's rough but I'll get by. I can only hope for my shooters next year or it's going to be a very long year.

Other than that, I found out I got my internship over at the Topeka Capital-Journal so I was excited to hear that. Only thing is, it's not paid so hopefully I can find a part-time job when I'm down there. Got to figure out if I get credit too. Busy busy.

Well I'm out.

extra security

extra security, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Everything's been hectic with the shooting threat. I think a lot of people think that someone just wanted a day off on a nice day. By the afternoon, there were already a bunch of house parties going on. Seems like people at Western just don't care about much. (not everyone but a lot)

Heard over the scanner about 2 more incidents but nothing either. I really hope they catch the people or person doing this.

Some kid over at Macomb High School had a knife but it was already taken away and he wasn't combative. Things around here just keep getting weirder. Yeah there's lots of news to cover but I'd rather have no news than some really bad news.

As for an internship, might have one over in Kansas. Thing is it's not paid so it's gonna be rough next year.

Well I'm off to the Illinois Press Photographer's Conference this weekend in Champaign.

hmph.

Climbing Wall at Horn Field Campus

Climbing Wall at Horn Field Campus, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Got to climb up 40 feet for this assignment. Wrote the article too. It was a little chilly but a good time. Kinda of hard climbing with the 20D on me. The wall wasn't too hard, I was just worried about bumping that camera. Need to do some better framing of the shots.

Other than that, it was my birthday yesterday too. Well Saturday. The big 23. Didn't do much, nothing crazy.

scanner goes off....... things happen


Alright so half a house burns down and a woman gets shot. Granted the house fire was at 230am but I probably could've covered the latter had my scanner been on and I wasn't in class.

I hear sirens as I'm typing. Wonder if something else happened? Well I need some sleep.

birthday in dos dios.....

gonzalez, Chris_MG_5340

gonzalez, Chris_MG_5340, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Well, it's all over. Both teams were eliminated in the first round. Oklahoma was nice. It's always great getting a free vacation. Only bad part was the 8 hours on the bus to and from Oklahoma.

Better luck next year.

on the bus since 1pm but had an hour dinner break a few hours ago. We passed some weird border passing a while back so I guess were in in OK

Dear Adam,

Your credential application for inclusion on the institution's official media list you requested for the upcoming 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship has been approved by the school's sports information director.

Your name will be on the list of media that the SID sends to the media coordinator at the site where the school will play.

Team Media List: Western Illinois

Adam Sacasa, PRINT: Photographer
Credential Type: Photography (P)

The NCAA will provide a limited number of courtesy telephone lines at the competition venue, in the media work room and photography work room. The only way to ensure that you will have access to a standard business line, ISDN line or high-speed data line or wireless capabilities is to order one for your agency's exclusive use. To order individual telephone or communications service from the NCAA Championship Telecommunications Center, please click on the link below:

Hey! Im just testing out my mobile blog. This should be cool.

Mitch Thompson of Western Illinois

_MG_1710, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

Wow. Shooting track for an entire Conference is a lot harder than I expected.

We headed out Friday morning which worked out because I didn't have any classes and managed to go to my hard Thursday ones. There was a lot of confusion but it got cleared up eventually. The bus ride was about 2 hours. We headed straight to the track where the multi's were already competing.

I was relaxed the first minutes but later realized how busy I'd be. There'd be several events happening at the same time and I'd walk around with my flashes and get whatever I could. Shooting 1 school was hard but yeesh, must have been about 7 I think. Just non stop shooting for day 1. Didn't manage to work in a lunch break until night. Lasted about 2 minutes but it was good. Just a sloppy Joe.

Turns out the place didn't have wifi so I had to email the pics when we got to the hotel. (Holiday Inn) It took FOREVER!!! Horribly slow internet there. I talked to this other photographer, Richard, who was there shooting for Southern Utah University and a newspaper out there.

I ended up missing the team dinner in the hotel while I tried to get the pics out. Sounded good. I just went over to Culvers down the street and had to buy my own.

I stayed up for a few more hours editing a few and transferring the 6 GB's of pics to the portable hard drive and because of a room shortage from rain damage, our room of 3 guys only had 1 bed so I spent the few hours of sleep on the floor with a blanket and pillow. Wasn't too fun but I managed to fall asleep. The van for a few people headed out at 7:45. I missed breakfast but grabbed some granola bars at the track.

Day 2 was rough. Just so much going on- shot put, triple jump, 60m prelims, all going on at the same time. I mostly used my flash for the field events. Oh yeah, add Pole Vault to that list of simultaneous events. Shots turnout out well. The non flash shots were all at ISO 1600 so they were pretty grainy. Not really anything great. A ton of them were out of focus too so that was really annoying.

In total, I ended up with around 2500 pictures. Today, I edited it down to around 1000 so I just need to get those sent out to the Summit League on CD-R's and I'm done with all this.

Besides that, got papers to type, resumes and cover letters too. Got to add that 1st place feature story award to that. I should go.

I think it's snowing outside but I can't really tell. It's too dark and there's no lights. I'm just sitting in the kitchen, drinking some orange juice, listening to the p olice scanner and def Jam poetry...

Been busy, still busy/

Chicago last weekend for Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) conference- Placed 1st in the Feature Story category. Kind of unexpected being a photographer but just another thing to add to the resume. Drew, News Editor and writer won 1st in the News Photo category. Weird? Guess that's how we do at the Courier. It's the future of Journalism and it sucks but just the way things are. One of these days, I'll start my own paper where the writers only write and the photogs shoot. I'll keep dreaming.


This weekend, its off to Sterling, IL for the Summit League Track and Field Championships. I got laundry to start/brb/


okay so got track tomorrow. It's really cold in this house (61 degrees). Yeah, so got that tomorrow. We head out at 9am. Then next weekend, or Thursday, heading over to Oklahoma for the basketball championships. It's been a busy 3 weeks, or its going to be anyways. Well.... I'm just trying to type now. I really need to blog more.
Honestly, not a HUGE fan of writing but I am a journalism major so.... It's really not that bad. I enjoy writing features or at least trying to find some creative angle for an otherwise boring press conference or the like.

BIG NEWS!

I got this new phone. It's pretty cool. It's got a camera, bluetooth, qwerty keyboard. It's my first "real" phone. FINALLY off prepaid. I just got a basic plan since I really don't talk that much. I guess thats one of the benefits of being quiet, lower cell phone bills. Alright, I think that's it. I got batteries to charge for tomorrow.



Oh- my 50mm 1.8 got stepped on a few weeks back by a basketball player. That kind of blows. Good thing it wasn't a $1000 lens or something.

Iowa Open

_MG_8694, originally uploaded by SacasaImages.

Lighting in there was nice. Not going to the meet this weekend though, Busy in Macomb shooting swimming and basketball.

ChrisDell Harris Feature1

ChrisDell Harris Feature1, originally uploaded by blazinhispazian.

I have to grab some lunch soon but did the ChrisDell Feature a few days back. This happened by accident because the SB-80 was on standby and didn't fire. I got another idea for this that I might try some other time. Should be awesome. Well I got to head over to work and get some Women's Soccer pics up. Then hopefully finishing my resume and portfolio tonight.

Oh yeah, smokers, I'll talk about that later.

chinatown

chinatown, originally uploaded by SacasaImages.

boring = break. So umm. Probably gonna try to get an essay going on chinatown. I was trying to think about where I could go. Just somewhere different. Another state? That'd be nice. Heading over to the projects for one but don't feel like walking around with $1000 worth of equipment. There's complaints about lack of media coverage in the slums but then again, how many journalists want to go in? Then again, there's Iraq. hmm.

Need to do a ride along. Not sure how but I gotta do one.

Other than that, portfolio's going ok. Just need cover page, resume and photo essay. Yeesh. No idea what I'm doing.

I got a week.