Center of the Universe: B&H Photo

I had to stop in and check out the gear at B&H Photo... the place where for the last 8 years I've mail-ordered (well... web-ordered) all of my equipment from. I really wanted to buy something small but meaningful while I was there... like buying a pair of socks at a high end store on 5th Avenue... just to say that I actually bought something there. Then I was learned about New York's outrageous sales tax rate and reconsidered... a photo keepsake would have to do...

Photo by Steve Grillo.

Delaware River drive

Took a scenic drive with Steve and his girlfriend today along the Delaware River towards Trenton, N.J. on stone-lined roads passing beautiful historic homes and bridges.

Somewhere near Kintnersville, Pa.

New York, New York

I've arrived in New York to visit my good friend Steve. Although we saw each other a couple years ago in our college years, it's been almost 5 years since I've traveled to see him.

The Manhattan skyline in the distance from the Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens.

Biz...

Business section assignments can be really challenging. They have the potential to be empty stores, static portraits and product shots. I can usually make something pretty decent out of them, though... I feel a lot of creative dissonance going into these situations, and that unbalanced, uneasy feeling somehow helps me get myself together...

Jacque Jadin, co-owner of Trikes to Bikes & More in New Franken, Wis., works on a repair job in the store's shop area, Wednesday afternoon, May 20, 2009.

This isn't a winner, I don't think. I like the lighting, the textures of the shop, tools, equipment (I really should have asked what the Aussie hairspray is for)... It's quiet and straightforward and serves its purpose of showing a business owner and her work. I just don't feel very engaged by it... but I do think it's more interesting than something posed would have been.

Double homicide in Gillett

Violent crime is, thankfully, rare here in northeast Wisconsin. But every once in a while when something does happen, it's hardly ever a run-of-the-mill homicide. Crandon, the border shootings near Marinette, a teenager strangling his father and putting him in a car's trunk... it's odd stuff.

Tuesday, I was called off of a softball game to go to the scene of a apparent double homicide in Oconto County. A 21-year-old man and his 32-year-old sister were found dead of gunshot wounds in their rented rural home. The woman's child was at school at the time of the murders. As of this writing there are no suspects.

Most of the local TV networks and I arrived on the scene very late in the afternoon (it's a trip), well after the bodies had been removed. So there was very little activity at the scene, and the authorities were not by any means overjoyed to have to deal with the media – so they kept their distance.

So the whole experience turned into what this job is a lot of times: trying to make something out of nothing. These photos didn't get published (we ran another photo showing some investigators approaching the house) but I'm happiest, visually, with these.

An investigator ducks under crime scene tape at a home where a 21-year-old man and his 32-year-old sister were found dead at 12000 Zastrow Road in the town of Gillett, Wis., Tuesday, May 19, 2009.

The crime scene photographer.

Waiting for the sheriff to show...

Sights and sounds of the marathon

The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon was today... I was up and at 'em at 4am to make it to work and get prepared for a day out on the route doing video...

All new at Nitschke

Nitschke Field, part of the Green Bay Packers' practice facility, is being moved closer to their indoor facility, and receiving new bleachers and sod.

Stippled reflected sunlight shines in the face of Dave Hockers of IEI General Contractors of De Pere, as he fastens a piece of decking of new bleachers at the Green Bay Packers' Ray Nitschke Field in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Thursday afternoon, May 14, 2009.

Workers from subcontractor Tuckahoe Turf Farms, Inc., of Hammonton, N.J., install new sod at Ray Nitschke Field.

Videopinions

(that we're calling videopinions) allowing people to record a 60-second video on a topic of their choosing and upload it to our designated Facebook page.

It's taking off a little slower than I thought/hoped... but it's also been challenging to promote and get the word out...

The bell...

Workers remove the bell over the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay, Wis., Friday evening, May 8, 2009.

Colors back in the trees...

Monique Van Stechelman, left, and running partner Sara Helgeson run down Locust Street during a training run in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday afternoon, May 7, 2009.

All Children Exercising Simultaneously

Payton Nedobec, 7, and his little brother Brice, 2, play while participating in Project ACES (All Children Exercising Simultaneously) at Providence Academy in Green Bay, Wis., Wednesday morning, May 6, 2009. Payton is a first grader at the school.

Reasons I like my job...

You never know what you're going to end up doing. Sometimes the surprises you get are... lackluster. Other times, it really brightens your day.

If you would have told me Tuesday that – all in one day – I would wear a bulletproof vest, witness a rehabilitated bald eagle being released into the wild, and meet really honest, humble and honorable bank executives (yes, they do exist!)... I probably wouldn't have believed you.

I've always been interested in law enforcement. Not necessarily to be an officer, but to understand the training and methodology that they use to do their jobs safely. First assignment I got to experience it really close up. So close, I had to wear a vest! Green Bay's police department invited three officers from our sister city in Mexico to train with them, and Tuesday they were doing close-encounter pistol training.

I really should have gotten a picture of myself...

Officer Julio Cesar Alvarez levels his pistol at his target while training with two other law enforcement officers (an assistant chief and a commander) from Green Bay's sister city of Irapuato, Guanajuato, as they trained with Green Bay police at the Multijurisdictional Outdoor Firearms Training Range in Hobart, Wis., Tuesday, May 5, 2009.

Juan Carlos Mina, an inter-agency narcotics commander, fires off a round.

It was a great experience to talk with the GBPD guys, and the Mexican guys. The disparity in training and equipment is astounding. Many Mexican police are required to supply their own equipment, weapons, etc. They cannot afford many of the latest in safety equipment (such as dual-action holsters)... which costs lives. The GBPD guys hoped that some of the training they gave would help save a life... Mexico is a dangerous place and these police officers are walking targets in their own communities.

Then it was off to the Oneida reservation where a special ceremony was being held before they helped release a rehabilitated bald eagle back into the wild. The ceremony consisted of tobacco-burning over a fire and a Native American blessing. We were not permitted to photograph either of those aspects of the event... but in hindsight, it really wasn't special photogenically... it was special just to experience it.

Mike Reed, curator from Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, walks with Oneida Nation Elementary School students, faculty, and guests, to the release spot after a special ceremony for the release of a bald eagle from the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary at the school in Oneida, Wis., Tuesday, May 5, 2009.

Reed releases the eagle in front of a couple hundred students, faculty, and community guests.

Its first stop as a free bird was in the trees near Oneida High School.

Cool cars

Went to Road America in Elkhart Lake, for a day. RA is permanent road course that has held races since the 1950s.

Lately they've done Wisconsin Electrathon and Supermileage competitions... basically hand-designed and hand-engineered cars that are completely battery powered or get incredible fuel economy.

They're just not all that fast, and not all that reliable...

Brothers golf

Kind of neat when two brothers are top golfers on the same high school team. But it's difficult getting them in the same candid photo.

Even though the little brother's not very prominent, I liked the composition of this shot, and the lighting, and the moment of his posture and the debris coming up off the ground.

Notre Dame senior Ricky Hearden and brother Tommy Hearden, bottom right, a junior, hit some balls at the driving range during practice at Thornberry Creek Golf Course in Oneida, Wis., Tuesday afternoon, April 28, 2009.

A's Restaurant

It sounds like a good place for foodies. A's Restaurant is in hip and happenin' downtown De Pere with semi-upscale fusion dishes.

That, and the executive chef likes watching Hell's Kitchen. I'm a fan already...

Multimedia: The Rosary Makers

Somebody has to make all of those inexpensive plastic rosaries used by missions in the third world and elementary schools here in the U.S. Those craftspeople happen to be here in Wisconsin. They're called the Rosary Makers of the Queen of the Rosary Club (can you say that in one breath?).

Earlier this month I spent a day with the group during one of their meetings. Watch the slideshow. Here is one of my favorite photos of the day.

Children play in the rural yard of the Ullmer residence during a meeting of the Rosary Makers of the Queen of the Rosary Club in Pulaski, Wis., Saturday, April 4, 2009.

Pie in the face

Seeing physics frozen never gets old for me.

St. Norbert associate dean of social sciences Jim Benton takes a pie in the face during halftime of a wheelchair football game at the Schuldes Sports Center at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Easter egg hunt...

I didn't want to shoot this like every other egg hunt I've ever shot. So I backed off, found the high ground and shot this with Braveheart in mind. Whether it was successful, I don't really know...

Children charge down a hill in a quest for Easter eggs during an Easter Egg Hunt at the West Side YMCA in Howard, Wis., Saturday afternoon, April 11, 2009.

More hockey...

Green Bay Gamblers' Anthony Hayes (17) gets roughed up late in the game by Des Moines Buccaneers' Austin Handley at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Sunday, April 5, 2009.

The Big Event...

...for Little Kids.

I'd be this psyched if I got to drive a school bus at that age.

Callista Boyd, 3, of Green Bay, enjoys her time in the driver's seat of a school bus on display at The Big Event for Little Kids at Shopko Hall in Ashwaubenon, Wis., Saturday afternoon, April 4, 2009.