I bumped into my former intern Tim Martin at the photojournalism club at Northern Arizona University and almost walked right past him. He was a little hard to recognize as he had no hair or eyebrows. When I asked him what happened he sheepishly said that he had lost a bet with an old friend about who would graduate from College first. The loser had to shave.
I had gone to the meeting to give the students a challenge to photograph one fun subject a month. Tim seemed like a perfect candidate. I got him in the studio a few days later after a shopping trip to buy some eggs and an old straight razor.
I love this shot of Tim. It's very dark and moody which is the opposite of his personality. The next week I returned to the group meeting to share the photos. By now Tim is off in South East Asia on a photo safari. Hopefully the hair is coming back in. It's one thing to be bald but having no eyebrows is going to raise a few Thai eyebrows at passport control.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Dangerous Wager
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Out of the blue
I got another reminder of just how stinkin' cool my job is today. Yes I get to spend plenty of time pointing a camera at people standing behind podiums but every once in a while I get a reminder of why I do what I do. My assignment today was to go down to the IRS office and photograph procrastinators filing their taxes. I pulled up at the social security office next door and noticed a lady pulling up in her car. Since it's against the law to photograph inside the office I approached her to see if I could photograph her sittinging her car. When I introduced myself she gave me a million watt smile and said that I had just won the lottery. She said that she was Frank Sinatra's daughter! Yep Old Blue eyes himself. Apparently the Chairman of the Board had an affair with her mother who told her just before she died that Sinatra was her father. As I leaned on the window sill of her car photographing her she told me of her trials trying to prove to the Sinatra family that she was indeed his daughter. Her name is Julie Sinatra. http://www.spike.com/video/daughter-of-frank/2804229 Her story is a sad one. She said that she is iving on $400 a month social security check and is about to become homeless. She was at the social security office to see if she could get her payments increased.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Snow at last
It started snowing Monday night and by Tuesday morning there was a thick blanket of the white stuff over our mountain town. I got to spend the morning driving around town looking for people playing in the snow. Helen and Makynzie, both 9, were working on this fabulous snow fort complete with balconies and a tunnel leading from the front garden to the street.
I was driving through the Cheshire neighborhood when I caught sight of Wyatt doing the James Dean walking down the street with his cherry-red snow shovel. Just 11-years -old he was a little buddy on a mission. He was charging $10 to clear the snow plow berm in front of homes or $20 to clear the entire driveway. By 9:30 a.m. Wyatt had already cleared three drives. One day we will all work for Wyatt.
After Cheshire I drove out to the Nordic Center to see if anyone was cross-country skiing. The staff were moving snow like crazy to get ready to open on Wednesday morning.
On the way back to the newspaper I drove past Robin midway through her snow-shoe commute to work. I couldn't pass up stopping to shoot a few frames of her walking through the knee deep snow.
Not bad for a mornings drive around town. By the time I got back to the newspaper the Associated Press bureau in Phoenix was on the phone asking for snow photos. I love my job!!!!!!!
