maple sugar festival

sparton plant fire: day 2

Much of the area near the fire scene was covered with ice today after Saturday night's massive blaze on East Ganson Street, due to fire trucks' water fighting of the fire freezing in the night.

sparton plant fire

kids

Western High senior Emily Snyder cuddles close to week-old kid Dimtri, the smallest of a litter of five from Emily's four-year-old goat, Starlight. Emily has goats as part of a 4-H club. Her family owns 14 goats, 21 when seven new kids from the past week are included.

Sunny, a week old billy goat from a litter of five, sniffs at the boot of Allison Snyder, 14, March 25 in the early evening at the Snyder family's farm.

Emily Snyder, 17, left, and her sister Allison Snyder, 14, hold week old baby goats March 25 at their family's farm. The kids are from a litter of five from Emily's goat, Starlight, which is an unusually high number for a goat birth.

where the wild things are

another sunday feech

Drake Smith, 8, of Howell, plays with his new basketball Sunday afternoon around 1:00 P.M. while at Cascades Park with his mother, Beth Smith. Drake plays hockey, but just got the basketball today. "I used to always pick the balls up (at the store)," Drake said. "But now I have my own."

scenesters

Volleyball Dads drummer Alex Christoff, 16, a Western junior, left, guitarist Jace Roffler, 17, a Western junior, center, and guitarist Steven Hoag, 16, a Western junior, right, run through a few songs before their set during the Battle of the Bands at the Michigan Theatre.


Glowstick-bearing baton twirlers from the Michigan Royalty on Parade performed before bands began their competition Saturday afternoon at the Michigan Theatre.


Caesar guitarist Brennan Guernsey, 15, a Napoleon sophomore, left, and Caesar bassist Dustin Eley, 17, a junior at Napoleon, lounge in the back of a vehicle Saturday afternoon outside the Michigan Theatre after their band's set during the Battle of the Bands.

fire

spellin'

Stockbridge Middle School eighth grader Peter Nyfeler traces letters on his hand to help him spell Wednesday night at the Western Community Arts Center in the annual Jackson Citizen Patriot Spelling Bee.



Paragon Charter Academy sixth grader Louie Jeffries screws up his face in concentration during the Jackson Citizen Patriot Spelling Bee Wednesday at the Western Community Arts Center.


Spellers gather to re-enter the stage after a short break from spelling Wednesday night.


Frost Elementary fifth grader Aaron Leiss, left, and Grass Lake sixth grader Liam McDougall watch backstage as other spellers compete while waiting their turns Wednesday.


Spellers wait their turns Wednesday night at the Western Community Arts Center in the annual Jackson Citizen Patriot Spelling Bee.


Bean Elementary fifth grader Kazune Nakashima, 11, sits tearfully in a side room after being eliminated from the spelling bee. She placed 8th overall in the competition.


Homeschooled seventh grader Hannah Weaver relaxes during a break in spelling rounds Wednesday night. "I'm really into medieval stuff and my mom made (this cloak) for me," she said.


Spellers line up to compete in another round Wednesday night during the Jackson Citizen Patriot Spelling Bee at the Western Community Arts Center.

60-year-old triplets

Triplets Louise "Loulou" Haughian, left, Vincenza "Vinny" Hamisfar, center, and Theresa "Tessie" Carlisle, right, turned 60 on March 10. The sisters, maiden name Mattone, were born to Italian parents in Jackson, each two minutes apart. "They kicked me out and that's why I got all these headaches!" joked Tessie, the eldest of the trio. In 1975, the three had a triple wedding at St. John's, with roughly 800 people in attendance at the melding of four families. All three are now mothers and grandmothers, Tessie with two daughters and eight grandchildren, Vinny with a son and three grandchildren, and Loulou with a daughter, a son, and seven grandchildren. They often spend time together playing cards, watching TV, and sometimes taking walks. Tessie's daughter, Antoinette Kilpatrick, says they can feel each others' pain, and will know if something is wrong before getting a phone call.

discover!

basketball - a single

basketball semifinals

pool hall punks

Vandercook Lake freshman Haley Brockwell, 14, of Jackson, lets her licorice hang out between her snakebite piercings while focusing on putting the ball into a pocket Sunday afternoon at Avenue Billiards. Haley has been playing Scotch Doubles pool with her parents for about two years now. Scotch Doubles involve the pairing of a parent and a child to face off against other family duos.

Jackson High freshman Anna Corrigall, 15, sits with her friend, Michigan Center sophomore Hunter Boyce, 16, Sunday afternoon at Avenue Billiards. Anna has been playing Scotch Doubles, which involves the pairing of a parent and a child to face off against other family duos, for three years now with her parents Two years ago, Anna held first place in the league for six weeks, she said. "Well, I'm bored," Anna said, waiting impatiently for her turn to shoot.

Michigan Center sophomore Hunter Boyce, 16, leans on a table at Avenue Billiards Sunday afternoon while hanging out with his friend, Jackson High freshman Anna Corrigall, as she played pool with her parents.

Vandercook Lake freshman Haley Brockwell, 14, of Jackson, sits on her mother Shawna Brockwell's lap Sunday afternoon at Avenue Billiards. Haley and Shawna have been playing Scotch Doubles league pool for about two years now.

championship basketball

Concord junior Ali Shepherd claps slowly, watching Class C District champions accept their title with her teammates, having just lost the championship 30-42 Friday night at Michigan Center.

ink sketches by a korean war vet

Mac Bater, of Jackson, concentrates on outlining the penciled sketch in front of him Saturday morning at his home. Bater, 78, is working on a sketch of a large home on Stonewall Road. He has been drawing his whole life, but began drawing local buildings around the county about seven years ago after losing his son, Rod Bater, and wife of 49 years, Joann Bater. Bater has never had formal art training, but took a drafting class in junior high school. His creative process involves shooting a roll of film on location with a 35mm film camera, piecing together the pictures for a complete visual, sketching the scene with a drafting pencil with the use of a ruler, and finally tracing the pencil with a ballpoint ink pen. "Everything I draw, I draw twice," Bater said. "My drawings are exact, precise." In addition to his ink work, Bater is a poet and has contributed to several books.

Mac Bater, of Jackson, leans back in his chair, taking a breather from ink point drawing Saturday morning his basement office at home. "(Today) they do (drafting) on a computer," Bater said ruefully. "This is a lost art."

2010 to 2011: the shift

It’s been a week now and I'm still pinching myself.

Last week I was named 2010 Michigan College Photographer of the Year, and my two best friends, Jake May and Sean Proctor, took runner-up CPOY and honorable mention. Congratulations to Ashley Miller for third place CPOY, too! I was blessed to place second in Portrait/Personality and get a Feature Picture Story honorable mention.

Grateful to’ve been honored this way...there are so people to thank, from my constantly supportive parents to incredible friends and mentors to the individuals who’ve allowed me into their lives with a lens. These are the people who might actually read to the end of this blog post...

And I'm really humbled. All the extraordinary work at MPPA inspired and shamed me. It’s already the third month of 2011, and I've made some frames I like, but not many I love - I want my work in this first internship to really resonate. This is the time! I'm finally doing it - photojournalism, full time. Yet I struggle to balance daily and story work. My question to myself now is, well, what are you gonna do about it?

I think blogging about it might hold me more accountable to my answer. I want and am committed to the following things this year:

- being a better listener. How much of photojournalism is more about listening than it necessarily is about seeing? Listen more, talk less..

- being more tenacious in ferreting out stories. Story hunting is a marathon, not a sprint. Investigate for stories that are relevant to the community, and something I can get passionate about.

- shooting sports games like a story, and carving the time to always get a sports feature or two

- developing a stronger style, with journalistic integrity and consistent aesthetic quality

- make better, more conceptual, and prettier portraits.

2010 was a pretty amazing chapter. I’m thankful for people I’ve met, pictures I’ve been allowed to make, and people who’ve been there through the whole shebang. Here’s to pressin’ on towards that ever-climbing bar in 2011.

Thank you very much to Mr. Gillette, who graciously provides the CPOY recipients with a scholarship in memory of his son, Kristoffer, a U of M student and photojournalist, and to Nikon, who awards CPOY with a camera.

And thank you to way too many people to name in my personal and professional life.

kitchen color

...from an assignment today.