Appreciating the patriots

Memorial Day 2011, Ilwaco, Wa.












-DKM

Three out of four ain't bad

Yesterday I drove up to Dupont for the final round of the 1A state golf tournament to photograph the IHS boys team win their second-straight title, and third in the last four years. That, my friends, is what you call a dynasty in the world of high school sports.

Here's Ryan Kukula hitting out of a bunker on the back nine. You'll notice the umbrella to the right. The rain came down pretty steadily throughout the 18 holes, and then as if on schedule, stopped almost immediately after the tournament had ended.

Patrick Whealdon had a really nice final round and had some rally nice shots.

One of the spectators asked me about the rain and I said I liked the visual of all the umbrellas but I did not however like the wet. I ended up fastening a small-ish umbrella of my own to the monopod for my big lens, which helped some but was a pain to manage while walking the course.

Clark Wilson had a very nice tournament, finishing sixth overall.

Here's Ryan reacting to one of the best shots I've ever seen in high school golf. A 215-yard out approach shot with a 4 iron, landing soft on the green and rolling to within maybe a foot of the hole. Such a great shot, I totally thought it was going to go in. Ryan ended up finishing tied for second.

Ryan's younger brother Ross didn't have as good of a day as he'd like. He had some really nice shots ended up just short on some puts or landed in some trouble spots on the fly. But he'll be back next year and I bet will be right back in the mix.

Patrick ended his high school career with a really nice final round, good enough to tie for fourth after being back like eight shots after the first day.

Congrats guys, well played!

-DKM

Entr'acte

Some of the von Trapp girls chilling between acts Sunday. They are really quite good and a joy to watch on stage. If you can make it you should check out the show, which continues over the next three weekends.

-DKM

HCB in English

Of all the videos, and interviews I have seen of Henri Cartier-Bresson, I can't say I have ever heard him speaking in English before. Then along comes this little video made in the 1970s with him telling the stories of some of his best pictures in English. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog knows I love this guy, and this is a pretty cool find. Enjoy,

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON - Decisive Moment, The from bt465 on Vimeo.

-DKM

Alan is Awesome & Cool x 4

Last night in Seattle was the annual Washington chapter of Society of Professional Journalists awards. I didn't go this time, though I kinda wish I had as the event was held at Safeco Field where the M's play, and one of my all-time photo heroes, Alan Berner of the Seattle Times, was given a career achievement award. I have long admired his work and have had the chance to meet and talk with him a handful of times, though I'm pretty sure he wouldn't remember. His stuff is always great and he's a really laid back dude who's cool to talk with. He was actually the one who turned me onto The Americans by Robert Frank, one of my all-time favorite photo books.
The Times had a nice article about Alan in the paper today, along with a link to a career-spanning gallery of his work. There is also a gallery on Facebook HERE from the event, including Alan's speech. And yeah, dude carries his camera everywhere with him, something else I learned a long time ago.



As for me, I won the Photo Portfolio award in the non-daily category, for the fourth year in a row, so that was pretty cool. Once again I entered a 10-image portfolio, all in B&W, which you can see below if you like.  I also took a third for the sports photo that is the last image in the gallery.

-DKM

Ups and downs at district track

Last night was up in Rainier, near Olympia, for the District IV 1A track and field meet. The sun was out and the kids did great. Had a lot of fun, so much in fact I stayed till the end, which was not my original plan, since it is a 2 1/2 hour drive back, so pretty tired today, but it was worth it. In fact, I wouldn't have gotten the pic above of Josh Berteaux making one of his final vaults under the stadium lights. He reached a career best 13-feet-3 and placed second.


Here we have Andy Schott, Amanda Bell and Raven Rogers cheering on the boys 4x400 relay team as they come down the final stretch. The boys finished just .6 seconds out of making it to state.


Leticia Cervantes was unable to reach the minimum height in the pole vault and was an early out in the event. But she came back strong later on. (more on that in a minute). I saw some girls from other schools crying with mascara running all over their face after similar situations last night.


Josh Schenk placed fifth in the boys long jump to make state, with a leap of 19-feet-3.


Bell made the finals of the girls discus. And while she threw a career best distance, it wasn't enough to advance to state. I really liked the cages they had for this event, surrounded by netting and a fence.


Kenzi Wirkkala was a double qualifier, placing third in the shot put and second in the javelin. She will be joined at state by Cervantes, who came back from the disappointment of her showing in the pole vault to place third in the javelin.


And finally, speaking of disappointment, here's the boys 4x400 team who just got eeked out by the Onalaska team, to the left above. The boys 4x100 relay team, which features most of the same group, made state however, and in some cases individual events too. All in all a pretty cool night.

-DKM

Snapping up the week

"For life-like snaps" — tag line for Elliott Erwitt's website

Here's a few snaps from this weeks stuff.
When you go to take pix of structural work being done at a lighthouse and there is no work going on that, you better hope there's a guy there with a top hat.


Here's a portrait of Israel Batista, one of the high school seniors we are profiling at the end of this school year. I don't take a lot of these tight portraits, but I like this one quite a bit.


Last night I was up in South Bend for the Pacific League Sub-District track and field meet, where ROb Baker leaped 6-feet for the gold, and nearly cleared 6-foot-2.




And finally, this morning I was at a dress rehearsal for The Sound of Music, which opens a four week run starting this Friday.


The kids playing the von Trapp children are pretty awesome. I'm particularly fond of the one on the front right.


-DKM

Ready and waiting

Surf Rescue team annual drill, Seaview Beach Approach last night

-DKM

To remember and to celebrate — Loyalty Days 2011

Last weekend was the big one around here, Loyalty Days. Two days of events including blessings for the commercial fishing fleet, prayers for fallen sailors at the memorial at the Port of Chinook, fun at the kids parade in Ilwaco and the Loyalty Day parade in downtown Long Beach. Here's a smattering of things I saw.


















If you wanna see more (in color) here's the LINK to the gallery

- DKM

Slip N' Slide softball

On Thursday I was at IHS to shoot a track meet. I was kinda milling around waiting for it to start when I happened to look across to the practice field behind the track and saw someone slide head first into a giant puddle. Then another. Needless to say I hot footed it over to check it out. Seems the JV softball team was having a little fun some baserunning/sliding drills. And since the track meet was a little slow to get underway I spent some time snapping pix and laughing my ass off.


Above, and below at the right is our babysitter Maia, who had no fear in hitting the base, and the completely saturated ground, head first.



The next day I was at a real game in Naselle and tried shooting short from behind home base and got something different.


-DKM