This weekend I drove down to Denver with some friends from work to see a Grace Potter show. We headed down a few hours before the show ate at Sputnik’s (second photo) and walked around the area near the REI mothership (first photo).
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Wyoming Open
Four dead in Wheatland shooting
When I got out of bed Friday morning, I thought I’d be on a golf course all day photographing a tournament in Cheyenne. But when I got into the office – dressed like a golfer – I learned that I would be instead heading up to Wheatland, Wyo. to photograph the scene of a quadruple homicide. Slight change of plans. Wheatland is a town with a population of roughly 3,600 people located about an hour north of Cheyenne along Interstate 25. It’s got a real small-town feel. Reporter Lindsey Kroskob and I arrived at the scene around 10 a.m. just as a couple crime scene investigators (pictured below) where working inside the home. I shot a press conference at 11:30 a.m. followed by a very good calzone at Terra Grano Pizza as we waited for the suspect’s initial appearance in court later in the day. After the suspect’s court appearance, I was able to get a shot of him as he was lead across an alleyway from the courthouse to the county jail. This is the first time I’ve shot a big spot news assignment like this in a while. One of the striking things was how relaxed access was. For example, I was shocked I was able to get so close to the scene. The frame below is more or less the entire frame shot with a crop body camera, 300 mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter.
Patriotism
In my relatively short career, it seems I have photographed a lot of moments of patriotism. From funerals to football games to parades, patriotism is everywhere in the United States. We are a people extremely proud of our nation in good times and bad. Patriotism is the only thing that can bring a rambunctious crowd of 17,000 at a college basketball game to a dead silence. Patriotism is what compels young me to fight – and die – in foreign wars as volunteers. Patriotism is what binds us. Happy Independence Day, especially to those who serve.
National handball champion Lloyd Garcia
On Thursday I had the opportunity to photograph a portrait of Cheyenne native Lloyd Garcia, who recently won a handball national title in a 50-55 age group at the 61st annual U.S. Handball Association’s Four-Wall Championships in Fridley, Minn. The title was the one thing missing from Garcia’s trophy case that is filled with accolades from a career spanning more than 30 years. I decided to shoot the portrait on the roof at our downtown Cheyenne office. I was tempted to shoot in the studio, but I liked the cloud formations from an incoming storm. The lighting was extremely simple: one Canon 550EX shot through an orange gel and an umbrella at full power. I asked Garcia to get into his windup as though he were serving into the camera lens.
