B-I-N-O-C-U-L-A-R-S

I'm exhausted. After steadily shooting with a 300mm padded in mufflers at the State Spelling Bee for 3 hours and then editing photos and audio for the slide show, I'm ready to close up this laptop for the next week which means I should post this now. Luckily for me, these kids tell the story. The faces, expressions and reactions are priceless and it's what gets me in gear to shoot this annual event. Some of these guys surprised me as they sat quietly and stoically (I needed spell check for that one) all night until one little tweak of the eyebrow clued me in that there was going to be a major upset. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. And also, take 2 minutes out of your day to watch the multimedia piece I spent oh so much time producing. The alphabet is swirling in my head and singing me to sleep....good night. Spell check. Done.

The Spelling Bee Slideshow!

shooting the pipe.

I had a pretty awesome week. I was busy but on some fun assignments outside and in some of the most beautiful places in Vermont. I started my week shooting the Vermont High School Alpine Ski Championships (photos to come!) up at Stowe Mountain Resort. The girls were competing in the GS Giant Slalom on a very windy, cold and blustery day. But, I donned by snowpants, thermals and base layers and found a sweet spot by the final gate with the 300mm to capture some dramatic images. On Wednesday I was off to shoot at Stowe again, but this time I was hiking up their Lower Standard trail in search of the mountain's rail park and halfpipe. The Vermont High School Halfpipe Championship was going on and it was a beautiful day. The sunshine left me with a few freckles on my nose. I wasn't sure what sort of skill level I would find at the high school level and knew that the pipe would prove a difficult shooting scenario. Where would they pop out? There were no Shaun Whites in the crowd as few of the riders managed to get out of the pipe. A bit disappointing, but the ones that did find some air managed to give me some great images. This first guy completely caught me off guard as I have taken a break to warm my numb fingertips but I heard loud cheers coming up topside so I knew this kid's run had to be promising. I shot this as I fell backwards since I was a bit too close to the edge, thank god for quick focus. I was happy with my takes especially being my first time shooting halfpipe. Enjoy!

Town Meeting Day

A year has passed since I came on staff at the Burlington Free Press. I started last year on Town Meeting Day which is one of our biggest coverage days of the year. Last year I covered Brookfield and kept my head above water, but this year I covered Franklin county and racked up some miles on the car between Montgomery, Bakersfield and Sheldon. In Vermont, Town Meeting Day is a special reminder of how small town politics still thrive. On this day, even the tiniest of towns will gather all together at the town hall or village school or local grange to discuss the annual budget, vote on elected officials and then crowd together to share a potluck meal perhaps in the nearby historical society hall. Wooden benches, tattered American flags, little kids bundled up nestled in their parents arms, 89-year-old voting officials, Girl Scouts hawking their cookies, and the smell of cow manure are all things that greeted me when I entered the quaint and quintessential Bakersfield Town Hall on Tuesday. The hair styles are dated. The eyeglasses much too large. The rubber boots tall. And, the trucker hats worn proudly and without a single notion of who Ashton Kutcher is. This is Vermont, preserved, quiet and friendly. We're old fashioned in many ways, but isn't that makes us great?

The various towns each had their own way of voting whether it was through Australian ballot, vocal voting by "ay" or "nay", paper ballot, or a raise of hands. The hot button issues: salting and grating the dirt roadways and finding the capital to buy that new truck the maintenance crews so desperately need. Practical concerns for practical needs. The budget amounts were reasonable and not inflated...it was refreshing.

The most challenging part of Town Meeting Day (besides not having cell or internet service for miles) is capturing an image, or images, that stands above the rest. How do you find a moment that is different than all of the years preceding it? We're talking about people sitting in chairs or benches voting. I found the details most interesting and focused on those since if you look at the big picture you're really just looking at a bunch of seated people looking very plain. These are my favorite takes. I shot hundreds of photos that day, as did the rest of the photo staff and our freelancers. Three huge online galleries later, the photo staff swept Vermont for a massive blanket coverage of Town Meeting Day and our hard work showed.