Sleeping thru spring training

A nice find on my way back from an assignment that didn't work out as planned. While her dad and sister were busy with lil league practice, Gabi Bell decided to take a snooze on the bench — I wouldn't recommend this during a game

-DKM

Lil' shaver

Been out of commision the last 4+ days with one hell of a viral bug, but I shot this last weekend before my walking dead experience. I found Wyse trying to shave using some of his moms make up and his toy harmonica... too precious

I did make it out to the overwhelmingly wet track meet at NHS yesterday for a little while (shooting from the elevated PA box above the field). I'll be posting some from that later as I'm back to work for real today.
-DKM

A Grand Ol' Party

Other Saturday night, another political party par-tay.
Just like last Saturday night, tonight I was once again at the community center in South Bend, this time for the county GOP's annual shindig. Unlike last week when there were many recognizable faces including the governor, senators, congressmen, etc., this time around there were a whole lot of candidates I had never seen nor heard of before (probably because they are all from outside our county).

Going into this I had some ideas of the kinds of pictures I thought I'd take and of course that all went out the window. I mostly hung out by the doors again, getting people as the came in and started mingling (partly because that was a center of the action and also because the light was way better than inside). This pic above reminds a lot of one I got last year at the Demos dinner, when I got a pic of a life-size cardboard Obama with a sign around its neck for pictures.
Teresa Gannaway apparently has been sporting the Palin look for longer than the former governor has, but on this night she was really playing the part, posing for pix with people — including US Senate candidate Paul Akers — and wearing a name tag that said "Sarah."
Here are a couple more would-be candidates Craig Williams and David Castillo having a litle powwow. Both were pretty busy glad handing around the room all night, but thats what candidates do right? Unfortunately there were no babies to kiss...
I caught Akers a little earlier in the evening chatting with folks and thought this would have been the pic of him we would use, until the whole Palin/Gannaway entrance.
Here's yet another candidate, Chris Boyd, who's running for Baird's soon-to-be vacated seat, greeting folks as they came in. There are so many people on both sides running for Brian's seat I think it will be interesting to see who makes it out of the primaries.
I've taken so many pix over the years of Nan Malin that I thought it was time to get one of her husband Brett.
I just this this was kinda funny how they had these big piles of fliers setting between the utensils, like a meal of fibrous sloganeering. I love shooting political stuff, it's always interesting what you see.

BTW, I should have mentioned this last week too, but the folks at both of these events the last two weeks were particularly welcoming to me while I worked, and I certainly appreciate that!

-DKM

PO Boxing

One of the coolest things about my job? Essentially getting paid to hang out with cool and interesting people, though often they are "everyday people" that a lot of folks overlook sometimes.
Next week we are doing a piece about the possible future changes for local post offices — the long and the short is that some of the smaller post offices could potentially be closed do to federal cuts — so I spent the afternoon at the Nahcotta and Oysterville post offices.
First up is Eric at Nahcotta. Both of these small north end PO's also act as social meeting places for locals, kind of an "everybody knows your name" kinda situation, and something I've always liked about this area.
While my goal in getting an interaction pic was met in the first pic, I liked this one as a nice port.
Over in Oysterville Jean was equally nice and fun to hang out with. She and her husband own the small store that is connected to the tiny PO and people regularly stop in to both, pick up there mail, pick up a soda, and chat a while. At one point a lady brought Jean a magazine that she had gotten in the mail a week before, having read it. Jean said "where else do you see people bringing the mailman some mail?"
I also got off a few clicks of some interesting old PO stuff, like these original PO boxes with combination locks on them, and these rubber stamps that rarely get used anymore.

-DKM

Hit the road Tristan

This afternoon Kenz did an AWESOME performance of Hit the Road Jack with her friend Tristan for the school talent show. Their costumes and routine was cute, but she sang fantastically. And its not just my very biased opinion either as I got several compliments from friends I saw at the baseball game this afternoon. She is a superstar.

-DKM

outtake/intake/my take

Back by no demand ....

Last week was fairly slow going for the most part, kind of transitioning. On Saturday night I was in South Bend for the annual county democrats crab feed which featured a bevy of the state's political stars, including the governor. But the best moment probably came while during the governors speech she asked the audience to give state trooper Scott Johnson a standing O — this was Johnson's first time out in public since he was shot in the back of the head about a month ago. 

I think this was the best picture, but it has some obvious exposure problems, so we went with a different one on the front page this week.

As for a few that did make it in: candidates and their crews vying for the soon to be vacated house seat of Brian Baird took to the top step of the community building to hand out stuff like stickers and buttons, while Baird himself, below, was receiving copious well-wishes from supporters like Bette Snider, wife of former state senator Sid Snider.

As winter sports finally wound down I was out on the muddy fields at NHS to get pix for preview articles last week, including the softball team which is trying to take a more fun approach to their season this year.

The baseball team seemingly needs no reason to have fun...

Finally, I took these on the way back from Yakima as I was coming down White Pass. I love the little break in this frozen lake, which was just beautiful.
I've also been meaning for a long time to stop and get a picture at this alder grove park they have as you're leaving Chehalis, and on the way back that day I finally did.
And here is something I hardly ever do, try and take an attempt at a self portrait at previously-mentioned frozen lake. The light was just not working for me...
-DKM

New Super Duo — Strawberry Boy & Karate Kid

The other day Ness brought home these giant strawberries, which Wyse discovered in the fridge the other morning. While walking thru with some laundry I found him lounging on the couch devouring them (he ate them all...). Luckily I had cameras nearby.
For the last few weeks Kenz has been taking part in a Tae Kwon Do class each week at B&G Club. She's the only girl in the class, but she has really taken to it, earning a stripe on her white belt. Its kinda funny too that they practice in the same classroom she had in first grade.

-DKM

Eastbound and down 2 - Yakima day 2

Back from Yak ...ima and posting a bit late. I'm sure some of you already saw the gallery I posted last night on the CO site from the game Ilwaco's second and final game at the state tourney, if not, you can see it HERE
So while it seemed that the Fishermen played better in some ways over game 1, it still wasn't enough to hang with another team from the Bellingham area, Nooksack Valley. The emotions of the players as the game ended were somewhat staid. For the second day in a row, young mr. Kukula was the winner of most telling expression award.


Unlike game one, where I spent a majority of my time shooting the game, for game two I concentrated more on the pep band, the fans and parents who traveled to watch. 



After the cheer squad performed at halftime I got them checking out one of their moms pix of the performance.
I like this one quite a bit cuz there's a lot going on in it and it's a mix of players and their friends prior to the game.
And yes, while some are giving galleries full of armpit and elbow shots, here we have the one and only action pic I liked from game 2 as an Ilwaco breakaway is broken up by a defender in transition. 
So that's about it for hoops this year. Sounds like Ilwaco may try and play a summer season, if so I'll likely be there for a few perhaps. But looking outside right now as the sun goes down casting beautiful light on Ilwaco's baseball and softball fields across the street and definitely ready to shoot sports outdoors again.

-DKM

Eastbound and down 1 - Yakima day 1

So When I shot the outstanding celebration following Ilwaco's amazing win in the District third place game last week I packed up thinking that I'd shot my last hoops game of the year, but to my surprise, here I am in Yakima for the state tournament. The Ilwaco boys came out strong to start the game but couldn't keep up with the team from Meridian, losing the game 41-59.
To me, this is probably the most telling pic of the game as Ryan Kukula returns to the bench in the fourth quarter. Below is a portraity pic of him prior to the game as he and the team wait to take the court.
I left the Peninsula at 8 this morning and arrived in Yakima at a quarter after 12, plenty early for a 2 pm start time. In fact I got there right as the team was going to their dressing room to start getting ready for the game. As always I like getting this kind of stuff to go along with the action from the game. I personally think its a shame when some photogs travel a long distance to go to these tournaments and only come back with a bunch of action pix, which you could get from any game throughout the regular season.

Part of my mission while here is to also document the other people from the school and the Peninsula who made the trip to support the team, including the band. I really like this one quite a bit. I will likely be spending a majority of my time shooting around the edges of game 2 tomorrow morning to help round out the package.
Yep, action, but I thought it was a pretty cool backdrop. Definitely not what I usually have to work with.
And while the score may have said the game was over long before this, it seemed the final nail came when senior Justin Short fouled out of the game in the early fourth. To his credit, he actually picked up his third foul half way through the second quarter, so I think he worked hard to stay in the game as long as he did. 

So its do or die tomorrow morning when the boys face Nooksack Valley at 10:30, a team that also lost in the first round today. 
If you wanna see a few more pix from this game, you can check out the gallery HERE

-DKM