Girl scouts...

Every year, the local Girl Scout council hosts a cook-off at the mall, involving local restaurants making upscale desserts and somehow incorporating one or more Girl Scout cookie types into the recipe.

The contest is judged and then samples are given to the public. And you know what that means! Because it was available to the public, it was available to me! For once I got to eat what I shot!

And you know what? I ate so much sugar and butter-creme frosting I could have puked. I'll pack my lunch next year.

The Machine Shed executive chef Rick Hoerth places some finishing touches on his brownie mint delights before the 2008 Girl Scout Cookie Cook-off in the Macy's wing of the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wis., Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008.

Danielle Eaglin, 6, a Brownie Girl Scout from Neenah, is proud to partake in the Peanut Butter Pat-A-Cake offered by Waupaca's Green Fountain Inn chef and baker Jackie Griffin.

Guess what...

...more basketball and wrestling! Loving it...

Appleton East's Jessica Litsheim (20) drives on Appleton West's Marklie Munroe (15) in the second period of a game at Appleton East in Appleton, Wis., Friday evening, Jan. 11, 2008.

After recovering a loose ball, Appleton East's Kayla Burkman (44) lands on Appleton West's Courtney Buth (35) while passing off to teammate Heidi Baerenwald (42) in the second period.

Appleton West's Courtney Buth (35) and Appleton East's Brittany Weiner (22) fight on the floor for a rebound in the third period.

Iowa Grant's Justin Washburn inflicts some pain on Wrightstown's Ben Vanden Wymelenberg in a 135-pound match at Kaukauna High School during the Cheesehead Invitational in Kaukauna, Wis., Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008.

When you have the time, try something different...

I've been shooting so much wrestling and basketball recently my head is starting to spin. Part of the disillusionment is that it's at least 2-3 times a week and always on deadline.

I recently shot a wrestling meet that started earlier than normal, allowing me to spend some time. I came out with two photos I'm genuinely pleased with... they go a little beyond the norm...

Appleton North's Tremayne Williams takes control of Oshkosh North's Cody Morgan in a 189-pound match as Menasha High School hosted wrestling-duals in Menasha, Wis., Thursday evening, Jan. 10, 2008.

Appleton West sophomore Kyle Fellinger crashes under the Menasha High School bleachers after losing to Neenah's Tyler Nation in a 135-pound match during wrestling-duals in Menasha, Wis., Thursday evening, Jan. 10, 2008.

Prep sports keep going and going...

Nothing outstanding here, I just love seeing a guy pull apart his fellow man like a chicken-wing:



I was pretty happy with this photo, but shocked that it held up for a 65 pica tab-cover image after a 50% crop. It looked nice the next day...


This was another frame from that game taken during warm-ups. I've always loved the look for shallow depth wide-angle.

Beer Wars

Sometimes, photographers have to come up with ideas to illustrate a story, particularly in our features sections like Living Well or Weekend.

Our beer critic (yes, we really have one) and a staff writer dueled on the subject of sophisticated beer vs. beer that does the job. I translated this as "toughness vs. pretension" (knowing darn well that I fit into the pretentious side of the spectrum in my own tastes for the foamy stuff).

I took my idea and ran with it, using some of the same lighting schemes I've used for prep-athlete-of-the-year portraits.

Admittedly, the second photo appears a little more amicable. I had to make us sophisticated drinkers look good in one of the photos!

Preparing for New Year's Eve...

James Taylor, left, and brother, Michael, test the bulbs and electrical work on the giant ball that will drop in Menasha, Wis., on New Years Eve. Photo taken on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007 at James Taylor's home in Menasha. (published 12/31/07)

Winter farmers' market... from above...

Jim Heinz of Salzman's Market in Fall River, Wis., sells produce to a rare rush of customers at the Winter Farm Market in City Center Plaza in Appleton, Wis., Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007. (published 12/30/07)

Appleton has an extensive farmer's market in the "pleasant" seasons. It's so large the city shuts-down downtown every Sunday morning. It the winter months, the market is moved indoors at City Center and doesn't see much traffic. City Center has three levels, so I used that to my advantage to get this perspective on the fruit. Like I said, shoppers were far and few between. I waited about 35-40 minutes for a group to attack the fruit vendor.

In the next booth over, however, things were not as busy. I'm not heartless... I couldn't bring myself to turn this in for publication, even though I thought it was a more truthful representation of the situation:

Specialty stores...

... I have a soft spot for them...

I really have a tremendous amount of respect for the ones that do manage to survive especially in smallish communities.

Places like The Olive Cellar (which mainly sells varieties of imported olive oils, some flavored, by the bottle), to me, shows that the Fox Cities aren't "small-town" anymore, and there's a discriminating, sophisticated market in our area... (published 12/28/07)

Kids at play...

Maybe I'm just out of touch with the parenting generation, but I had no clue there were places that you could take your kids, and pay other people to play games with them to keep them occupied.

From a story on what to do with those pesky little brats during the holidays (published 1/1/08)...

Basketball season... cont'd

(published 12/22/07) Neenah High School is probably the darkest high school gym in our coverage area. For the photographers out there, 1/400 @2.8 ISO3200 still results in images that are significantly thin exposure-wise.

It's also one of the largest and tallest, making it extremely difficult – perhaps not worth the time to even try – to light with remote strobes.

That said, I was happy to get these under the available light which I really prefer...

Basketball season... cont'd

(published 12/21)

Not my best crack at basketball, but these made do...

Using light...

Published 12/27/07: I finally successfully employed a down-and-dirty lighting technique I learned in college from my then-VICO222 teacher Randy Piland, once a photographer/photo-editor at The Tennessean, now faculty at Elon College.


Randy taught us that as a general rule, food looks most appetizing back-lit. He also told us that a neat way to make it look juicier is to bounce your light into a piece of crumpled aluminum foil, turning it into hundreds of mini-directional flashes. It results in highlights that are just a little more specular.

I'm finding it also really worked well for another food shoot I had recently. George's Steakhouse is rather famous as a favorite eatery for firefighters who are in town to purchase new fire-trucks from nearby Pierce. They're not fancy... they're self-proclaimed meat and potatoes. While that might mean good food, it sometimes mean less than elaborate presentation. The same lighting trick turned a hunk of cow, into slightly tantalizing juiciness (published 1/10).

Hailey Meltz still fighting

One of little Hailey Meltz’s doctors thinks the volume of her inoperable brain tumor has decreased by 20 percent. Hailey has also gained some much-needed weight. Her parents, Brian and Shannon Meltz of Appleton, share a guarded optimism.

Why all these SoundSlides now?

The truth is, I just found out there's this nice way to embed the projects right on my blog without having to link. So why not?

The fall colors are long gone, but a SoundSlides is forever?

Burgundy. Gold. Brown. Pale green. Fiery orange. Deep purple.


We see these colors in the autumn leaves. Yet, all too often, that beauty is just a quick blur in our hectic daily lives. How often do we slow down to take a closer look at everything that surrounds us?


How often do we literally stop?

Santa Claus at the Fox River Mall

It's a little late to be posting Christmas stuff, but this is a past project that I had some fun doing.

"For countless years, Santa has kept up with his timeless tradition of welcoming children to sit on his knee at the Fox River Mall. Those encounters have left lasting impressions on the children and parents, as well as on Santa himself.


"The expressions of the children as they approach me — it's priceless," Santa says.

Ka... ka... ka... Cold!

It's really cool when you're paid to take pictures while you go on a carriage ride through the woods. But you just have to remember to dress warmly.

Liz Herms of Random Lake, Wis., and Chris Stinski of Appleton enjoy a carriage ride with friends at Cavanaugh's Carriages in Neenah, Wis., Saturday afternoon, Dec. 8, 2007.

Hmong New Year

The Fox Cities Hmong community held its annual Hmong New Year celebration Saturday at Appleton East High School.

Organizers said about 500 people attended the celebration, which is the most important holiday for the Hmong community.

Crystal Vue, 15, of Appleton, dances with her group Gao Hmong Asia during a talent portion of the Hmong New Year celebration.

Christina Thor, 15, of Appleton, dressed in traditional Hmong-Chinese clothing talks with her family.

The traditional clothing for men and women features special chiming coins, which culturally represent and display beauty.

Family portraits are commonly taken during the day. Families often travel to reunite for this holiday.

The Hannah Montana craze

The Fox Cities were no exception to the Hannah Montana craze that's sweeping the nation. Tickets are selling out all over in less than five minutes. There's a little happiness and a lot of disappointment.

I wish I could say that skill played a part in the photo below, but I feel it was more a matter of good karma, or divine intervention.

I missed another moment a few minutes before this photo because a TV cameraman was in my way, blocking my shot. He was the kind that had no awareness of how his actions were affecting others.

On a hunch, I asked the Macy's TicketMaster representatives if I could come behind the counter with them for a different angle. Sure enough, one minute later, the ticket winner's girlfriends show up and start jumping up and down and hugging each other. I had the perfect angle for the moment of the day, and the TV guys missed the whole thing. That's karma baby...

Erika Conn, 16, of Neenah, Wis., left, hugs her friends Kari Zwirchitz, 16, center, and Angela Bacon, 17, right, both of Neenah, after Conn became first in line for Hannah Montana concert tickets thanks to a lottery system, shortly before noon at the Ticketmaster outlet in Macy's at the Fox River Mall in Grand Chute, Wis., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. Hoping for a ticket behind them is Hannah Olson, 5, of Oshkosh, Wis. Tickets for the Jan. 13 concert at Milwaukee's Bradley Center sold out in just four minutes.

Boys' Basketball: Hortonville shocks New London...

Nobody expected the Polar Bears to knock off the Bulldogs... but I guess in nature, a polar bear could totally rip anything to shreds...

More wrestling...

Put a little more effort into wrestling last night. I had some time and the opportunity to setup a strobe in the corner of the small gymnasium used for a wrestling match. Why would I do such a thing? It looks better, I can shoot with a lower "film speed" by a factor of 3, and I can shoot with a slightly smaller aperture to ensure focus and sharpness.

These are two of my better photos from the night...

Menasha's Braeden Harris tries to pull away from Neenah's Ryan Robillaro in a 119 pound match in Menasha, Wis., Thursday evening, Dec. 13, 2007.

Neenah's Josh Gallagher gets a close-up view of the mat courtesy of Menasha's Tyler Bordeau in a 160 pound match.

The Ice Maker

It's a simple process, really... you go to a park, plow away some snow in the shape of an oval, spray down water with a fire-hose and let it freeze. But it takes a week to turn a park into an ice rink. We went to Menasha's Hart Park in the middle of the process to see what everything looks like half-way through. The spikes sticking up are blades of grass coated with overspray.

Valley ballet...

Juanita Makaroff, right, is stepping briefly out of a 49-year retirement at age 73 to dance the role of Grandmother in Makaroff Youth Ballet's full-length production of the holiday classic "The Nutcracker."

Makaroff, who founded the oldest ballet school in the Fox Valley, left the professional performance stage at age 24 to teach classical ballet. She's returning to the stage at the invitation of daughter Jeanette Makaroff, left, the nonprofit youth ballet company's artistic director and the choreographer of "The Nutcracker" performances Saturday and Sunday at Lawrence University's Stansbury Theatre in downtown Appleton.

If I had to shoot this portrait again, I'd take the suggestion of my colleague Dan to put a slight hair-light/kicker behind them to separate them from the darkness. But I'm still happy with this. Those are all handmade tutus surrounding them, by the way...

Hockey... room for improvement

I like hockey, but I'm awful at shooting it. We all need something to improve at, though. Here's a couple photos from last night's girls' game between Waupun and Appleton.

The beginning of a long basketball season...

Football was one day a week... basketball (seems) like fifty times a week.

FVL seniors Andrew Aronson and Joel Vanden Busch, right, cheer on the girls' basketball team to victory over Appleton Xavier High School at Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, Wis., Thursday evening, Dec. 6, 2007.

Appleton Xavier High School's Ashley Barwick (21), left, gets her her arm wrapped around Fox Valley Lutheran High School's Alysa McGovern (22) in the second period.

Wrestling... and then came the storm...

Even though wrestling just looks "wrong" sometimes, I enjoy shooting it. It's a challenge to get something good, something different. Late in the season it gets especially competitive and emotional. It's one of the only sports I know of where kids starve themselves during the week to meet their weight class. Here are two of my favorites from yesterday's tournament.


And then our first big snowstorm came. These photos aren't that awesome but they show you what it was like here. We got about 6-7 inches in about six hours.

Vinny's Pizza

Business assignments are usually really challenging. While local businesses really do make the world go round and keep the local economy afloat, they're usually no hotbed of activity worthy of camera attention. Anytime we're able to get something remotely cool, we're pretty happy.

This assignment was a little like the soccer portrait I shot a few weeks ago. I was really intent on shooting wide-angle up close... nothing looked right. Even though it was 15º outside, I went out in the parking lot and shot telephoto. It's a completely different view from what you'd see inside. I wonder how many people actually look in this way after they park their cars?

My overall style, I think, is simplicity. You have pizza boxes, workers, and dough. It's a quick read but should hold your attention for a little while.

The opening of a can of worms...

In what will no doubt be a national, convoluted, disturbing, and long trial:

Manishkumar Patel, 34, is accused of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for allegedly spiking his pregnant girlfriend's drink with RU-486 on Sept. 17 in Appleton — two weeks before she miscarried.

Although she did not ingest that drink, authorities suspect he may have caused that miscarriage and another one she had about 10 months earlier.

Patel is being prosecuted under the state's fetal homicide law that has been in effect since 1998. That law classified unborn children as potential crime victims.

The two photos are from Patel's initial court appearance. They, among others I sent, were carried on the AP wire and also used by CNN in their on-air legal analysis of the case. Not a huge deal but fun to see the photos used on a national level.