Little Tokyo

I haven't ever eaten sushi... but after photographing some at Little Tokyo in Green Bay, I'm willing to give it a try.

Prepared by Little Tokyo, a restaurant in downtown Green Bay, Wis., and shown Wednesday, March 3, 2010, maki (rolls) surround sashimi. Clockwise from top are Amy's Special (soft shell crab, crab, lettuce, cucumber, teriyaki sauce), Volcano maki, and New York (tuna, tobiko, avocado, and salmon).

A new emergency room

Bellin Health gave us a special tour of their new emergency department that will open towards the end of March. Beautiful natural light in one of the hallways made my job easy, although it would have been nice to have a perspective control lens to straighten out the vertical lines. But hey, maybe I have a promising career ahead shooting annual reports someday...

A view of the new Emergency Department at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday, March 3, 2010.

Rascal Flatts plays the Resch Center

Little did I know that Rascal Flatts was from Columbus, Ohio, where I grew up. I didn't really have a say in the matter, but I had the opportunity to cover their Green Bay tour stop at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon. I enjoy shooting concerts but hardly ever get the chance to. It's a challenge because the promotions company in charge of the tour usually only gives media access for 1-2 songs... get in there, choose your exposure and get to work...

St. Norbert men and women win conference tournaments

St. Norbert College's Steve Papke (14) and Carroll University's Kyle Jones (15) scrap for a rebound in the first half of the Midwest Conference Tournament Championship at Schuldes Sports Center in De Pere, Wis., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010.

St. Norbert College's Jake Dietz (43) gets fouled by Carroll University's Taylor Jannsen (4) in the second half.

St. Norbert College head coach Gary Grzesk celebrates with Dietz (43), a senior forward, and the rest of the Green Knights after defeating Carroll University to secure the conference tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

St. Norbert College head coach Connie Tilley and her staff react to made basket and drawn shooting foul in the second half against Ripon College in the Championship Game of the Women's Basketball Midwest Conference Tournament at Schuldes Sports Center in De Pere, Wis., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010.

Coming out of the game, St. Norbert College senior guard Denise Heuser (22) is welcomed to the bench in the final seconds of the Green Knights' victory over Ripon College.

Taking the Plunge

Waiting in line, Cory Motto, center, and Bob Sandoval, right, of the WEL Companies fundraising team prepare to brave the frigid waters of the 10th Annual Green Bay Polar Plunge at The Watering Hole in Howard, Wis., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. Also waiting with the team is Tom Uher, left.

Members of the Kwik Trip team jump into the icy waters during the 10th Annual Green Bay Polar Plunge at The Watering Hole.

Nick Zerillo and daughter Sophia with team "What Was I Thinking?" make a beeline for the escape ladder after jumping in.

A Green Bay Packers fan grabs his cheesehead hat for flotation. Only in Wisconsin...

An Adam Lambert Fan at 89

An assignment that really brought a smile to my face and brightened my day...

Isabel Paquette, 89, poses for a portrait in her Marinette, Wis., apartment home, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010. Thanks to Internet donations, Paquette, a self-proclaimed fan of American Idol's Adam Lambert, will be able to see the singer at his Fantasy Springs Resort Casino concert in California on Feb. 27.

Pictures of singer Adam Lambert adorn every room of Paquette's apartment home.

Norman Rockwell

Sometimes I like to think about Norman Rockwell. Looking back on his numerous covers for the Saturday Evening Post you can't deny that he's one of the masters of making the ordinary timeless. Almost all of the scenes he depicts are regular moments of human interaction in daily life... they aren't peak action, they aren't dynamic, they aren't unusual circumstances in the least... they are simply quiet moments.

It makes me wonder about the "quiet moments" (read: the mundane things) that newspaper photographers capture all the time. I often think that a photograph I consider so-so today might be viewed very differently 50 years from now. We often call ourselves documentarians, writers of history; often taking that to mean that we cover the definitive events that define our future. Rarely do we recognize and accept that we also cover the definitive moments that define our humanness.

Dr. Michael McHenry examines the ears of Allen Warburton, 4, at the Bellin Health Family Medical & Wellness Center in Bellevue, Wis., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010. Warburton's father, Mark, left, watches.

Confessional

Covered an Ash Wednesday service at the local diocesan chapel. Getting there early I did a little bit of visual exploring and saw this crucifix in a windowsill through the screen of one of the confessionals.

Lives on hold

With pictures of his grandchildren hanging behind him, Bill Verdonik is shown during an interview at home in Suamico, Wis., Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 10, 2010. Verdonik is on a waiting list for a heart transplant.

Tanya Conrad works at Hart Design in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. Conrad is on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.

"That's really, to me, what life is right now," says Tanya Conrad of the quote hanging over her desk, given to her by a coworker, shown at Hart Design in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010.

Judge Alex

Frank Summers watches television in his room at Anna John Nursing Home in Oneida, Wis., Thursday afternoon, Feb. 11, 2010.

The Tasteful Cake

Melissa Mydlo, owner of The Tasteful Cake, prepares Valentine's Day spirited cupcakes in De Pere, Wis., Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010.

Mydlo applies decorations to a fake cake at her store in De Pere, Wis., Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, in preparation for an upcoming bridal show.

Snow rollovers

Authorities tend to an occupant of a single vehicle rollover in the median of Wisconsin 29 near Brown County U in Hobart, Wis., Tuesday morning, Feb. 9, 2010.

Remembering Andy, Pt. II

A video tribute from Andy Nelesen's friends and colleagues at the Press-Gazette. Produced by Corey Wilson and myself.

Valentine's Day florists

Annette Smits, a floral designer at Parmentier's 9th Street Floral in Green Bay, Wis., arranges a dozen roses for a customer, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010.

A rose at Parmentier's 9th Street Floral in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010.

Red Clover

From left, Pat Hibbard, Maggie McGinn and Chris Dame and their new country band Red Clover will open Saturday for James Otto at Tom, Dick & Harry's.

Biodigester

Construction work progresses on a biodigester that will make energy in Denmark, Wis., shown Thursday morning, Jan. 21, 2010.

Remembering Andy

FILE: Green Bay Press-Gazette Reporter Andy Nelesen, left, attends a press conference at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation regional office in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Tuesday morning, Jan. 5, 2010. Nelesen fell ill in the Press-Gazette newsroom Monday evening, Jan. 25, 2010, and was transported to St. Vincent Hospital's intensive care unit where he died Thursday.

Just in the past 6 months, I've been turning the camera on my colleagues while working on assignment. I'm glad I did because otherwise, I wouldn't have had a picture of Andy at all.

Check out how my colleagues and I remembered Andy: Press-Gazette photographers remember Nelesen

Also:

Column by Press-Gazette Executive Editor John Dye

Photo gallery of images by Nelesen

CaringBridge page for Nelesen

Juan's Restaurant and Cantina

Juan's Mexican Restaurant Cantina in Howard, Wis., Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010.

A soft taco.

uEdit: Adopted Haitian girl finds home near Green Bay

Patrick and Jaime Richard of nearby Suamico returned from Haiti with their adopted baby girl, Shae, to Austin Straubel International Airport in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Monday afternoon, Jan. 25, 2010. The whole adoption process, which had been stalled for a very long time, was sped up by local politicians putting pressure on the situation after the massive earthquake a few weeks ago.

It was a quick situation at the airport, a "homecoming" with no family members present, and an impromptu press conference in the airport concourse. Every picture kind of looked the same, and because I had to shoot video at the same I was shooting stills, I couldn't work the situation for stills as much I normally would... video needed more shot options and brought up the ultimate multimedia dilemma: when you're capturing video (or audio) you're potentially missing moments for stills.

So, it brought up an editing dilemma. What picture says it all? Fellow photographer Evan Siegle and I bounced thoughts off of each other for about 10 minutes and came up with three favorites (below) weighing the merits and drawbacks of each.


We felt (and I say "we," but it was only "we" after Evan made the case) that the vertical of mom and baby took you truthfully into the moment: mom's happiness to have the prolonged process complete, and the little girl's weariness from the weeks of post-earthquake stress and long journey to the U.S. We also liked the bear. :-)

The other pictures were decent but not quite doing enough. The third picture offers a bit more of a sense of place (something I initially thought was important, but it's not about the place... it's about the people.) The second picture certainly focuses on the little girl, but really doesn't capture the relief and happiness of the parents to have her.

At bottom is Tuesday's A1. Do you agree with our choice? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Uncle Kracker

Musician Uncle Kracker appeared in Green Bay for a semi-private concert Tuesday at a local radio station. Seems like a nice enough guy. Wish I could spell his name correctly without looking it up every time... variations have included Uncle Cracker and Unckle Kraker... lovely...

Musician Uncle Kracker performed a private concert at Midwest Communications/WIXX in Bellevue, Wis., Tuesday morning, Jan. 19, 2010.

Local angle on Haiti disaster

There's not much we can do in Green Bay, Wis., but for a local angle on the devastating earthquake Haiti we connected with a family who adopted two young Haitian boys last year and spoke with them about what they are hearing from their friends and contacts in Haiti.

Sarah Cruz sits for a picture with adopted sons Miles, 5, left, and Keenan, 5, right, at home in Allouez, Wis., Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. Cruz and her husband adopted the two boys from Haiti in 2009.

Packers lose a heartbreaker

A deflated Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) sits alone reading a team communication as he and other players cleaned out their lockers at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., Monday morning, Jan. 11, 2009, the day after losing to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Wildcard playoff game, 51-45. Rogers said in an interview with members of the media, "The tough part is that we have a lot of guys with uncertain futures. Guys you care about and guys you have worked with for a number of years. You never know what the next season is going to look like."

Marines return home

Gotta love the news biz... second time in a week I got called off my scheduled work into a breaking news situation. We got word well after 5pm on Friday (a terrible time to send any media organization a press release, by the way) that a large group of Marines would be returning to Green Bay after several months in Iraq.

They all went out together and all came back together. That, sadly, doesn't always happen.

The photos I got were so-so. I would have liked a better frame of Xander and his father, below, but the kid was so conscious of the camera. And when you're shooting pictures on deadline, and the pictures kind of had to be in 10 minutes ago... you can't be a beggar...

Cpl. Ryan Blake of Manistique, Mich., leads the group of 14 Marines from the Detachment Bulk Fuel Company Bravo 6th Engineering Support Battalion of Green Bay into the concourse of Austin Straubel International Airport in Ashwaubenon, Wis., as they returned home from Iraq, Friday evening, Jan. 8, 2009.

Xander Caron, 3, hangs onto his father, Cpl. Jimmy Caron of West Bend, Wis., as he and 13 other Marines from the Detachment Bulk Fuel Company Bravo 6th Engineering Support Battalion returned home.

Which do you pick?

A lot of times, especially from sports assignments, I'll have a series of photos from a burst of frames that makes editing hard. Choosing one frame over another can be like splitting hairs. Last night I had these two frames and chose the latter because I liked the hand jammed in the face... even though the top photo is cleaner and more true to the moment (a body contact shooting foul on the Wright State player).

Which would you have picked?

Wright State University's LaShawna Thomas (3) gets a hand in the face while fouling University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's Celeste Hoewisch (4) in the first half of a game at the Kress Events Center in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday evening, Jan. 7, 2010.

Seven kids in a minivan

Got called off a basketball game to cover a head-on crash on the other side of town. Non-life-threatening injuries, but interesting circumstances. The driver of the minivan with seven children in it is allegedly a jail escapee who was being followed by law enforcement following a shoplifting incident (allegedly involving her and her children) at Woodman's Food Market.

People never cease to amaze me.

Emergency personnel attend to a victim of a two-vehicle crash on Shawano Avenue near South Platten Street in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.

A Green Bay Police Officer takes a photo of a van involved in the two-vehicle crash.