Spirit 2012 Home Opener

The local OHL team had their home opener last night, which means I'll be shooting a lot more hockey in the future. I know, all of you are shocked that I'd want to do such a thing.

One of the reasons I'm excited to shoot this team (other than there is no NHL right now) is it's made up of a bunch of kids, ages 15-20, who are being groomed to be drafted into the NHL. The Spirit currently has four kids already drafted to teams, including a 19-year-old goal tender selected this past June by the Detroit Red Wings. In Michigan, that's kind of a big deal. Hopefully one day he can make the squad.

A lot of last night was getting back into the groove of following the game at ice level. There's still a lot of rust to get off, but getting the expected pictures out of my system will (hopefully) lead to better and more interesting shots. Thanks for looking! 

House Fire

Right after my shift ended tonight I got a two texts from the emergency alert system about house fires. One was right in my neighborhood so I flew over there to check it out. Luckily, even though the house was almost fully engulfed in flames, there was no one living in the house. Despite the fact vacant houses go up all the time and there isn't much news value in it anymore, I decided to stick around for a bit and shoot.

Al Sharpton in Saginaw

Back on July 1st, a homeless man named Milton Hall got in a confrontation with a store clerk in downtown Saginaw. Police were called, and after a standoff in which Hall was brandishing a knife, six officers fired over 40 shots and killed him. 

The result has left the town debating and pointing fingers on who was in the right and who was in the wrong, citing race issues and police corruption, Hall's mental instability and the fact he had a weapon all as talking points. With the investigation still ongoing, civil rights leaders from Detroit came to Saginaw a few weeks ago demanding justice, or else the would make it a national issue. And it's starting to pick up. Jesse Jackson came to town last week, and Al Sharpton and the National Action Network this week.

I haven't had to cover any high profile people before, but as those of you that have know, it's [quack] stressful! A speech, a visit to the site of the shooting and in about 30 minutes he was off to private meetings, though he promised in his speech he would be back.

Football Update

Handfull of football pictures from the past few weeks. Gorgeous light is, of course, harder and harder to come by as the season goes on. Pretty soon it's going to be nothing but poorly lit fields and camera noise. I've been trying to look for more quiet moments and such that go beyond the action on the field. Hopefully more of those will be in the next update. Comments and criticism always appreciated.