K-State Football vs. Kansas, October 22, 2011

Last weekend I headed to Lawrence with the sports reporters to cover the in state rivalry between the Wildcats and the Jayhawks. It was perfect football weather! The Wildcats ended up beating the Jayhawks pretty handily, 59-21. Here are some selects from the game. These are just the ones I turned into the paper for a photo page that ran on Sunday. Stay tuned for a few more selects that didn't make the final cut into the paper!

And the best part about the game.... My dad came over to cover the game for KMBC-TV, so we got to work together on the sideline for the first time ever!!

Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet

Yesterday I got to shoot probably the most exciting assignment I've had yet: Eric Stonestreet. He is a K-State alum and apparently comes back quite often to speak to theatre classes on campus as well as attend sporting events. He was very funny in person, and had great stories and advice to tell the students. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Stonestreet decked out in K-State gear at the beginning of his talk to students in Nichols Theatre on K-State's campus Mon., Oct. 17, 2011. 

Stonestreet smiles up at a high school student who admitted how shy and scared she was to ask him a question. 

After another student was struck speechless when she ended up with the microphone, Stonestreet wandered up the stairs to sit by her, which only seemed to shell-shock her more. 

Stonestreet's Emmy award held by a faculty member of K-State's theatre department.

Stonestreet laughs as he makes a joke about not carting the Emmy with him everywhere he goes as he wanders around the stage. Stonestreet gave the Emmy to his parents as a "thank you" for their support of him early in his career. His parents live in KC, so it was an easy stop for him to get it on the way to Manhattan. 

Looking Back: Occupy MHK October 15, 2011

I'm sure by now you all have at least heard of the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place in New York. Since they began almost a month ago, several solidarity protests have popped up around the country, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, according to a NYT Topic page about the movement.

This past Saturday, Manhattan, Kan., joined the movement with a solidarity protest called "Occupy MHK." (For those who didn't know, like me, "MHK" is the airport code for Manhattan, Kan.) The event was held in Triangle Park, which is located on the edge of Aggieville, the downtown restaurant and shopping area in Manhattan, and also across the street from the K-State campus. Protesters lined up along Anderson Road, a main East-West street in town, displaying signs and showing their support for the 99%. All ages turned out, from children to seniors, with about 100 people in total. Considering how many other events were happening at the same time in Manhattan and a K-State football game on TV, I was impressed with the number of people who came.

Here are some selects I took of people preparing for the protest and the protest itself. It was a fairly straightforward assignment, so I tried to play around with light a little more than I usually do. Hope you like it!

This picture was from early in the protest. By the time I left the amount of people had doubled. 

The man in the orange shirt in the middle of this photo is Davey Rogner, one of the co-founders of a group called Pick Up America. They came through Manhattan and I photographed them picking up trash along highway 24 earlier in the week. His story is very interesting and he is a strong believer in grassroots movements and the ability of people to create change. For this reason, he came back to Manhattan to be part of the protest even though he and his group had already made it about 45 miles down the road to Clay Center, Kan. 

Looking Back: Ultimate Frisbee Tournament Oct. 16, 2011

On Sunday I went to my first ever Ultimate Frisbee tournament on K-State's campus to grab a feature shot for today's paper. I was shocked to find out how intense the game was! I had heard of Ultimate Frisbee, but never seen it in action.

I ran into a subject from another story I had shot on Friday while I was there, and he gave me the play-by-play, which turned out to be extremely helpful in learning the game. If you don't know much about Ultimate, here is a link the coach gave me to read up on: http://www.usaultimate.org/about/ultimate/default.aspx

The team I quickly became interested in  was the K-State Alumni team. This was a group of guys who have all graduated from K-State, where they played Ultimate at different times, and have formed a cohesive group. They played well together and were just some interesting characters to watch. The game I was able to stay for these guys who were 30+ were absolutely killing the team of college kids from Colorado. I guess it goes to show that you can be good at Ultimate at any age. I found myself cheering them on more than I was taking pictures.

I hope you all enjoy! Here are a few of my favorites!

Loooong Overdue

Well I'm finally getting settled in at my new job at the Manhattan Mercury here in Manhattan, Kan. I think I finally might have some time for a few blog posts. I feel the need to catch everyone up on what I have been up to for the past month or so.

Check back daily (hopefully) for updates and a few looks back at my time here so far!