Clovis News-Journal: Little Cowgirl: part 2

I asked Tristyn when I first saw her that day if she was going to ride. She responded, "yes sir," then continued showing off her bruised side to her friends.


All she needed was pigtails. "I ride better with pigtails," she said.


She completed the ride and scored a 66 out of 100. (see chris' rodeo slideshow for an explanation of the scoring)

Clovis News-Journal: Little Cowgirl: part 1

7 year old Tristyn McDaniel has been riding horses since she could walk. She exudes a confidence I haven't seen in many 7 year olds.


She competes in almost all the junior rodeo events including calf riding.


On her ride that night, Tristyn was thrown from her calf and stepped on as it bucked. She was taken to the emergency room but was not seriously injured. Tristyn told her mom in the emergency room, "I'm going to ride again."

Clovis News-Journal: Day 48: Junior Rodeo part 4

This is the last time I had to shoot rodeo. When I went out, I felt completely burned out on it, but I still got stuff I liked. I'm glad I don't have to do it again for a while.

Clovis News-Journal: Day 46: Junior Rodeo part 3

These photos are from the 3rd and 4th times I shot the junior rodeo in the past 3 days. Basically they have the same kids doing the same events each time. This morning I decided to take the 300 out and shoot with it. It was something different that I hadn't tried yet.

Clovis News-Journal: Day 45: Junior Rodeo part 2

More junior rodeo. I will be shooting this all week. Plus I'm doing a photo page for sunday.

Clovis News-Journal: Day 44: Junior Rodeo Part 1

Today started the junior rodeo finals. The girl in the second photo is competing in the the 8 and under calf riding competition. No these calves didn't buck like full grown bulls, but I would be hesitant to get on one. So what I'm saying is that this 8 year old girl is tougher than I am. Is it really that big of a surprise?

Clovis News-Journal: Day 44 part 1

I had another first today. The son of a family living in town was killed during combat in Afghanistan. I was sent to get some photos of the family. When I got there, I left my camera in the car and wanted to just talk to the family and get their permission before I started taking photos.
I showed up and introduced myself to the father. He told me a little bit about what happened and things they had been dealing with since they found out. After a while I asked the mother if it would be ok if I took some photos. She consented and I got my camera.
The family was very open and actually thanked me for coming when I left. Several times I got somewhat emotional watching what they were going though. When I left, I almost broke down. Not because watching the emotions flow with the family. They let me into their lives at an extremely sensitive time.
I feel honored that they let me tell their story. This was the most emotional assignment I've ever been on. It was also the most rewarding and caused me to see why I'm doing this. I always thought it was because I loved taking pictures and I wanted to tell some stories too.
This was totally about them and their story, their son's story and I was privileged enough to be there to help tell it.

This was a truly special day.

I also shot little league baseball. Thankfully, the last game of the season.

Clovis News-Journal: Day 39

The day before I went out to Florida, I had a very fun assignment, a Hat Parade. It wasn't a busy day so I got to spend as much time as I wanted hanging out there. Since Tony is working more in the Clovis office, it's happening more often. I also put together a short slideshow for the event.

Clovis News-Journal Day XX: I have no idea how long I've been working here

After 3 days in Florida this is the only photo I liked. Kind of disappointing..

Inspiration

Clovis News-Journal Day 38

Today started off slow, I went with one of the ultra cool writers (that was for you Tonya) to interview and get some photos of a guy at the cowboy store. I ended up not getting anything I liked and I didn't have anything else on my plate, so I went back and spent about 45 minutes hanging out with him. That's when I started to work things and beat some good photos from my camera.
The rest of the day got busy and I didn't get much interesting. I did get one of my best baseball action shots ever. But it's baseball and it's sports action so that's three strikes against it for blog material. (baseball counts as 2)

Clovis News-Journal Day 37

Had a pretty slack day. Basically it was all fireworks related. I didn't get anything as cool as the Albuquerque Tribune, but I got decent fireworks shots. I've really got to up my game. It is inspiring checking out their photos everyday. They have some amazing photographers over there.

Clovis News-Journal: July 4th

Something for the July 4th ediition. This is more along the lines of how I wanted it run. They actually ran wide shots of each thing.

Clovis News-Journal Day 34: The afterparty

My plan was to leave work by 6pm. About 5, I wsa heading back to the office when I get a call that I need to shot another assignment. An hour later I'm back at the office. There goes that idea, though I can't complain bbecause the assigment was fun. It just caused me to miss the good light at the race track.
So yeah, that's how sick I am. I get off work, after a full day, and head over to the race track to shoot some more.
I even created a slide show.

Clovis News-Journal Day 35

I was at a media event out at the base, where the head of afsoc (air force special ops) came out to talk about the new mission for the base then head to the Civic Center for the big celebration.

Andy in Front of Military Hardware essay

There were planes and I got to take pictures of them.

Clovis News-Journal Day 34: Feature hunting and Celebration prep

Today was basically "hang out at the Civic Center all day" day. People were preparing for the big party the following day, celebrating the new mission for the base.
I also got a tip about a feature so I took a break from all the excitment and went to shoot it.