Storm pix get exposure

In this week's Coast Weekend my friend David Plechl (read his blog) wrote a piece about Daily Astorian photographer Alex Pajunas, who has had some of his pix from the Dec. 3 storm showing around town. He also interviewed me about my experiences shooting during and after the storm for the article.

from the article:
Just across the river in Washington, photojournalist Damian Mulinix found himself in his own perfect storm, battling fierce winds and driving rain while trying to bring images of the storm to the readers of the Chinook Observer.
"The power went off here the night before," says Mulinix. "I knew I was going to have to go out the next morning and work."

"This is going to be a storm that people will look back on 50 years from now and what will they see?" says Mulinix. "Hopefully they'll see good pictures. Hopefully they'll see what happened, and how people were affected."

You can read the whole piece HERE

Here is a bigger version of the pic they used, a slightly different version than the one we ran in the paper. After re-editing again during my end-of-year-contest edit I liked this one a lot better.


-DKM

It's all over now for the boys in blue

It was their defensive energy that got them the lead, but when that energy ran out so did the Comets season Friday night in a 65-54 loss in a District IV elimination game with Napavine at Centralia High School. The Pacific League champion Comets ended their season with a 15-8 record.
After a slow start, the Comets went to an aggressive, and in turn successful half-court-trapping defense at the start of the second quarter, leading to a 32-31 halftime lead. That quickly vanished in the third quarterthough, as the Tigers took a 44-42 lead into the fourth, where they stretched their lead to 10 and didn't look back.
Kyle Burkhalter, the Comets only senior, finished his high school career by leading the team in scoring with 15 points. Hunter Smith and Nathan Sultemeier each had 12 points, while Austin Burkhalter scored 9.

After months it felt weird last night as I was breaking down my lights after the game to think that this was the last basketball game I'm gonna shoot this year, as this was the last team to be eliminated. It's kinda funny how, for me at least, it seems like it takes almost the whole season before I feel comfortable shooting a sport, and then poof, it's done and its on to something else. But hey, I think spring sports practices begin in 7-10 days .... and all of those are outside, which is great.

Here's what I got at the game Friday night:











-DKM

See you on the dark side of the moon

Last night the Earth, Moon and Sun decided to get together in honor of my 31st B-day in the form of a total lunar eclipse. I thought I had researched it well enough in advance, but I was off by an hour — good thing I went out to my car a little after 6 right as the moon was first making it's appearance over the horizon in Ilwaco. I shot the phases of the eclipse for the following 2 hours and made a composite photograph from 11 of the pix I took. Click the pic to see it in more detail.

I used a Nikon D2X and 300mm f2.8 lens, coupled with a 2X teleconverter, mounted on my biggest tripod. Most of the shots as the eclipse were taking place had an exposure somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/40th of a second at F8. However, when the full eclipse was happening it went down to around 1/2 of a second at F5.6.
The neighborhood was pretty active with folks and their kids coming out to check it out. Most folks returning every 20 minutes or so to snap a few pix and then head back inside, as it was pretty chilly last night. This was the first time I had ever watched an eclipse, let a lone photograph one. Your next chance to take one in won't be until 2010.

-DKM

Another night, another raucous playoff game

The postseason basketball continued for me Saturday night as I traveled to Chehalis for a second round District IV game between Ilwaco and Winlock. And as I mentioned in my last post, the game was once again a rough and tumble affair. By the end, Ilwaco's center had fouled out by the fourth quarter and their shooting guard and head coach were tossed from the game by way of technical fouls. Even the crowds were rowdy.
Ilwaco lost the game 61-46, despite some late threes and free throws, as they were trailing by more early on in the fourth.
Ilwaco still has a chance to make the state tournament, but only if they win their next two games. They will play next on Thursday, Feb. 21 in a 6:30 p.m. game at Centralia. If they win that game they will play in the third place game on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Kelso. A win in that game sends them to the state tournament. A loss in either two would send them home.

Here's some of what I got from an interesting game:











It was a tough way to end, especially with the Cardinal fans chanting "On to state" as the players started to celebrate. But the Fishermen still have time left to accomplish what they set out for this year.


-DKM

Tumble in the rough

Wednesday night I went out to the first round district girls playoff game between Naselle and Wahkiakum. As if the intensity of a playoff game wasn't enough, the Mules are probably Naselle's second greatest rival (and probably would be first if they still played in the same league).

I've noticed in the last few weeks at most of the games I've gone to that a more rough and tumble style has taken hold in this area, where both defenses are really all over each other throughout the game. Such was the case this night as well. The Comets were able to pull away for a double digit win at the end though after the Mules whittled it down to the three point differnce with a few to play in the fourth. Here's some of what I saw tonight:





Like I was saying, a rough and tumble game...

-DKM

Primary Colors (in B&W)

Saturday was a big day in Washington for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, winning the state delegates by a sizable margin over Hilary Clinton. The closeness of the race made the turnout in the state a near record high for Saturday's caucuses, including the one on the Peninsula. The Democratic caucus in Ilwaco drew a record-high 350 people into the cafeteria at Ilwaco High school, which made for a packed and exciting event. Here's some pix from what I saw:







All eyes on Ness

My wife Vinessa made her argument for Obama a convincing one and was picked as a delegate. She loves this stuff and is particularly passionate about it. Check out her t-shirt she wore to the caucus...

-DKM

The house that art built

I've been meaning to get on here for DAYS, but things just kept coming up. I really wanted to post some pix from this small theater thing I shot the other night. A group of eight actors from Western Washington University brought their traveling series of short plays to the Sou'Wester Lodge.
For those of you who don't know, the Sou'Wester is an eclectic little place in Seaview that regularly hosts what they call "Erratic Cultural Happenings," that include small performances by artists, actors and musicians in the fireside room at the hotel. Last Saturday saw 30 people pack the tiny room — actually not leaving much room for the performers. The group is doing this tour in order to raise money for a trip to England this spring. It was a unique art experience and is the lead in this weeks paper. Here are some pix I liked from the evening.

My favorite part of the evening was prior to the performance the actors all huddled in a small bedroom upstairs and warmed up by doing impromptu raps and improv exercises.





Backstage (umm, there is no backstage)






College sox


— DKM