the great flaming pumpkin

Halloween has come and gone but not without snapping some of my flaming pumpkin series. Like last year, our friend and neighbor, Joe, rigged these pumpkins for a fiery display. I'll give myself credit for the carving, but let's face it, Joe "Bill Nye" Bartlett takes the cake getting these gourds good to go. I'm including a slide show on the right where you can see all of the photos, but these are my favorite. Fire photographs so well I couldn't pick just one. I missed so much of my favorite fall activities this year: hikes, apple picking, pie baking, Halloween decorating, costumes, etc. with all the wedding planning that's been going on, but I'm siked I managed to check this one off the list.

Enjoy.

time for trey

A couple weekends ago I shot the live Trey Anastasio show with Classic TAB at Higher Ground in South Burlington. The show was most definitely sold out as Trey always draws a crowd, even on a solo tour, but especially since PHISH has announced their reunion tour people are going nuts. Luckily I had a front row spot squatting at the foot of the stage, so despite my legs falling asleep and the occasional beer trickling down my neck, I had a pretty awesome location worked out. As most shows work, there is a three song limit to keep us press people from getting too giddy with our cameras snapping away. But, I knew the song limit wouldn't be a problem since Trey's songs are each9-15 minutes long so gave me plenty of time to collect what I needed.

I wanted to make sure I shot enough to make an audio slideshow since after the show, Trey's people were hooking me up with an exclusive live track. So make sure you check out the audio slideshow to get your Vermont-grown jam band fever on.

LIVE: Trey Anastasio at Higher Ground 10/19/08

heads up

We've been busy over at the Free Press shooting soccer semi-finals for divisions I-III, the big championship match-ups are on Saturday. So, since I haven't posted in so long I thought I'd post some soccer shots and you'll notice a theme: headers. People make the greatest faces when heading the ball so I made it a fun little task of mine to snap some photos since shooting an entire two-hour game, usually entering multiple overtimes. I've got to keep my numb fingers, frozen face and shivering legs focused on something. Oh yeah, we got our first snowfall this week and I'm cold.

Live! It's Saturday Night!

Hey y'all - little ol' Burlington, VT made Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update on Thursday 10/16. I was drifting off into a cold-medicine induced sleep when my mom called to tell me one of my photos from the Great Pumpkin Regatta was used in a Weekend Update clip with Seth Myers and Amy Poehler. AWESOME! I tuned into their webcast this morning and sure enough, there's the photo of grown men maneuvering Lake Champlain in a giant, hollowed out pumpkin. However, I've had some great fortune lately but this wasn't a part of it. Even though I shot the event, my fellow photographer Andy Duback was there shooting for AP and I have a feeling they used his photo off the wire service. Oh well, I'm still proud of my little city. Today SNL, tomorrow the world.

award winner!

I was pleasantly surprised at work the other day when a coworker of mine congratulated me on my recent win in a National Press Photographers Association multimedia contest. I entered my Fair Flipbook into the national multimedia contest about a month ago and I figured if I had won that they would notify me - well, they didn't! Luckily my coworker, Mark, was surfing the NPPA website and noticed that I had taken third place! I was shocked! I haven't entered any contests since Nikon's Best of College Photography contest back in, you can guess it, back in college. I was a finalist in that contest, but I hadn't thought much of entering my work into anything else. More than anything I keep missing entry deadlines and I lose track of my favorite photos...but this time around I got organized. My Fair Flipbook was well received at work so I figured maybe somebody else out there would like it, too. Plus, we're always trying to boost online readership and page views so anything I can do to share my work with the public and fellow shooters is beneficial.

The contest works like this:

Any member of NPPA can enter his/her multimedia project following the month of publication. The topics vary from devastating fires to drug addiction to silly neighborhood characters to light-hearted days at the fair! The contest is peer-judged which means other professional photojournalists are checking out the work and placing their vote for their favorite. And then, the big bang, this contest runs nationally which means placing stronger than shooters at the LA Times, NY Times, etc. REALLY puts a smile on my face.

If you haven't watched the audio slideshow, please do so. As always, keep your speakers turned up and have fun! And, keep your fingers crossed for me because I'll be entering my OXYCONTIN: Sarah, 19 multimedia project in next month's contest.

Woohoo!

bear's road trip

Bear loves riding in the car....


Bear Bear likes the foliage from Emily Nelson on Vimeo.

pow-pow-power wheel

I was typing out an email the other day and heard the buzz that only a plastic-bodied, gerbil-powered vehicle could produce: a PowerWheel. Awesome, I can live in the 80's again. This little kid was struggling to tank around his well-groomed backyard in his PowerWheel wearing the only truly appropriate attire: Footy Pajamas. He was moving so fast my little point and shoot camera could barely keep up but luckily he tweaked one of his monster plastic wheels on a gum wrapper. Too bad kid.

alexis, 23

Alexis, 23 is the second installment of a possible four-part audio slideshow series I'm running with reporter Sam Hemingway on OxyContin addiction in St. Albans, Vermont. The OxyContin problem is a growing issue and has already gotten a hold of the youth population in that area. If you haven't visited the posting below, please do as "Sarah, 19" is the first and most compelling segment of the series.

Please take the two minutes to visit these sites. And keep those speakers turned up! Thanks!

sarah, 19

I started working on this project in June. Free Press reporter Sam Hemingway wanted to explore the OxyContin problem in Franklin County, specifically St. Albans, Vermont. I was asked to shoot this story and I had been craving a long-term, in-depth photo story and this absolutely fit the bill. Sam's interviews were fantastic, he made his subjects feel comfortable delving back into terrible memories of their battles with drug addiction. The sessions were emotional and raw.

I was in charge of photography and audio collection. After sorting through hours of interviews and hundreds of photos, I've edited it down to this audio slideshow:

Sarah, 19

Please take two minutes out of your day to absorb this story as it truly is a nationwide problem and it's happening in all of our neighborhoods.

the milk bowl

I went to Thunder Road's Milk Bowl on Sunday for the Free Press, but honestly, I could've gone off the clock too since it's always good to get back to those good ol' Vermont roots. Since I don't feel like typing about it, just watch the slideshow by clicking the link below. You'll get the idea.

The Milk Bowl!