fulfillment ?

its been too long since ive used photography for myself. my desire to document the last couple of months has been limited to professional obligation and thats sad. this state, more commonly referred to as a rut, sucks. the present opaques the future. motivation is at a low. i feel like a machine. ahhhh!

blues in schools

Blues n' jazz man Gene Walker spent a week at schools in the Lima area lecturing at music classes and performing for kids. I got to sit in on one of his stints for a stand alone.

[this little chica reminded me of morgan ]

welder

timmy has the market cornered on welding photos. i tried my hand at it while feature huntin'

rock the boat

DeAnthony Walker, 6, holds on to the base of a basketball hoop while playing with his cousins Daneille, 8, and Mary Lowe, 6, at DeAnthony's house in Lima. The kids were using the hoop as a ship with DeAnthony as the captain at the mast and Daneille and Mary rocking the backboard to simulate the ocean. "We come here to play a lot," Daneille said. "It's like out hidden little place."

stepping back

i'm making concious attempts at trying to look at stuff from a few feet back even when kids are begging me to get in their faces.

new year's babies

lots of cooing over lima's first newborns in 2008. putting these up now and realizing that january is almost over kind of blows my mind.

family fun day at the y

not going to lie -- this was an easy one.

national guard mobilization

the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team stands in the gym at St. Mary's High School following the mobilization ceremony on Saturday morning. The team, a company special troops battalion with the National Guard, was deployed to Kuwait to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was the first army-related assignment I've had before. "We are a nation at war," one of the speakers said. I lost the notepad with the guy's name in it, but its a statement I've heard before that hadn't really resonated within me like it did that day.

kissing a thug; shots of bourbon

new year's at shonda's

brr.

shear experience

more backstage

i had to feature hunt on a freezing sunday morning, half-asleep. next thing i know, i stumbled backstage at a choral concert at elida high school. i stuck around mostly because of the pink vests.

tuna christmas

backstage at the encore community theatre during a dress rehearsal for "a tuna christmas"