Picture Window photo blog : ... And modesty, humbleness ensued

The Yakima Valley from my car window

So this last Friday was quite a day. After making the 5-plus hour trip across to Yakima for the Washington Newspaper Publisher's annual convention Thursday night, Friday came like a hammer to the head.
As some of you may know, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the convention. I really wanted to talk about two very important things — making sure photos are held to a high standard at small papers and the emergence of multimedia production to our workload and how to do it well. Needless to say I was totally FREAKING OUT prior to my presentation. They had moved my session from a smaller room to the ballroom, as there was around 40 people signed up for it. I skipped out on the early afternoon workshop they were doing so I could put a little more polish on my presentation. The hour and a half flew by and I made it down just in time to set up.
Of course, technical difficulties had to pop up, having trouble with the projector and the speakers, taking up the first 15 mins or so of my time ( I only had 90 mins to start with). I tried to plow through it as I had a ton of knowledge to drop on these folks, but only was able to get through a little over half before our clock was up and it was time for the awards banquet. I didn't think I had done a very good job, but thankfully a lot of folks came up to me throughout the rest of the night and continued asking questions or talking about what I was doing, so that was cool. Before I left town we actually talked about maybe doing an intensive one-day workshop for producing MM stuff, which I was totally up for, so we'll see how that goes.
I got to meet a lot of really cool people there, including Jay Cline and his son, who are IT guys at the Sequim Gazette, and were nice enough to let me sit at their table. Sue Ellen Riesau and Mae Waldron were also a huge help in making sure things went well for me, so i totally appreciate that.

The awards banquet was VERY long, but really, in all honesty, VERY cool for me. I took home 13 total awards, including the two biggies, the Photographer's Portfolio Award, for best body of work for the year, and the Miles Turnbull Photography Award for best single picture. I was amazed, humbled, a little embarrassed, but very honored.
In the paper we just listed what things we won, so I thought it would be cool to show you what won, so that's what you'll find below. I can't say that I'm totally in love with all of them, and I was surprised that some won and some didn't, but all-in-all, what an amazing adventure!

This one didn't win an individual award, but was part of my portfolio entry, and is still one of my favorite pix from the last couple years. It is the Valley girls hoops team doing their pre-game ritual of singing the Three Dog NIght song "Never been to Spain," prior to the final game ever played at Tenoski Gym.

This one, from the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby this year, won first in color feature photo and the Miles Turnbull award.

From the first place entry in color photo essay, a story about the Burkhalter brothers.

First place color portrait. This is one of maybe only two or three I shot with flash all year. I had it on a synch cord that I held between my knees, angled up toward her face.

From the first place entry in B&W photo essay, a piece on Ilwaco High's Knowledge Bowl team. I just love the varied looks of thought and frustration on their faces.

First place B&W portrait, from the True to the Game photo column.

2nd place B&W feature photo, this was from the Inside Looking Out photo essay, about an inmate at the Naselle Youth Camp youth detention center.

First place color scenic/pictorial. This was at the first Rat Rod show they had in town.

Second place color portrait. This went with a story about local musician Larkin Stentz' new album, Stairway to Emptiness.

Second place color scenic. This one is far from perfect, but was a nice find one night when desperately searching out a feature pic for the next day.

After a late night on Friday, I was actually able to sleep in a little on Saturday morning (something that has been pretty far between since the new baby). A couple weeks before I was able to secure a field pass for the Central Washington University-S. Dakota football game for that Saturday in Ellensburg, so I was out of the hotel by noon and made the short drive north for the game. The two teams, both ranked in the Div. 1-AA poll, played a heck of a game, with CWU winning 45-40. You can see my pix from the game at my Sportsshooter page.