There was Jello in the fingerprints...

I've Moved!

2009-10-07T22:00:00.001-05:00

As of October 7, 2009, I've moved my blogging operations over to http://patricktraylor.com/blog

Please come and visit!

-Pat

High School Sports Streak

2009-10-06T20:56:00.003-05:00

Seems like I've been shooting lots and lots of high school sports lately... here are a few from the past couple weeks.

Best,
Pat

Butterfly Kids

2009-09-30T16:19:00.003-05:00

Melissa Tharp takes care of her sons Marcos, 9, and Carlos, 10, who both suffer from a form of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic disorder in which the microscopic collagen fibers holding together layers of skin together don't work properly. For the boys, who will eventually die from the condition, the slightest touch or movement causes open sores and blisters. Children with their condition are often referred to as butterfly kids because their skin is as fragile as a butterfly's wing. I had the pleasure of visiting the family's home in Hutchinson earlier this month and the story was just published over the weekend, hence the delay. Read the story here.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Kansas City Getaway

2009-09-28T21:42:00.002-05:00

On a personal note, I met my girlfriend Emalie in Kansas City, our halfway point between St. Louis and Hutchinson, for a relaxing Sunday/Monday. Although it's not pictured we did have some delicious bbq as well. Back to work tomorrow...

Cheers,
Pat

Greensburg

2009-09-28T21:10:00.005-05:00

The gutted basement of a house remains exposed as the city of Greensburg rebuilds around it.

Workers continue construction on the new city hall.

A solar panel outside a new residence.

A decaying basketball hoop still stands on a vacant property.

Sam Lofgren with Hardinger Construction works on Gary Goodman's antique shop on Main St.

Greensburg High School head football coach Clint Young throws passes to his players during a drill at football practice in Greensburg on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 22. In the background are some of the temporary trailers being used to conduct classes until the new high school is completed.

I had the chance to visit Greensburg, Kansas last week to do an update on the rebuilding process there. The town was virtually wiped off of the map by a tornado in May of 2007, but instead of abandoning the town, residents have been rebuilding ever since. All kinds of new building projects are going up around town, most of which include sustainable, energy efficient features. It was a really interesting experience to walk around this place and see brand new construction on one side of the street and then abandoned remains on the other side. Again, I wish I could have had more time, but hopefully I'll get to come back at some point before the end of the year.

Bardo the Clown

2009-09-24T21:22:00.003-05:00

Here are a few images of J.B. Holdren, better known as Bardo the Clown, in his store and workshop on Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Kansas State Fair. In addition to doing his own carvings, Bardo paints all the signs, backdrops, and props for the fair every year. He lives year-round in a trailer on the fairgrounds and has been a part of the Kansas State Fair for 65 consecutive years. Although he sometimes claims to be as old as 118, he keeps his actual age a closely guarded secret.

I wish I would have had more time to spend with him at the fair, but due to a pretty tight schedule, I only fit in basically one morning. It was a lot of fun hanging out with him during the time I had though.

-Pat

The low sun behind me

2009-09-23T21:35:00.002-05:00

Driving back to Hutchinson from western Kansas last night.

MacBook Pro

2009-09-23T20:57:00.004-05:00

Last Monday my 5-year-old 12-inch Apple Powerbook G4 finally died- about a month before I'd spilled water on it. I immediately turned it off and then let it dry out for a week after encasing it in rice to absorb any excess moisture. When I turned it on again the screen was dead but when I hooked it up to another monitor, I found that the computer worked. So I'd been using my laptop basically as a desktop until last Monday when, after restarting during a software update, everything went blank.

Yadda, yadda, yadda... I got my new 13-inch MacBook Pro this Monday. I was able to pretty much seamlessly transfer everything from my old computer to my new one via Firewire cable. Apparently my old hard drive was not dead and all my programs, music, browser bookmarks, photos and documents were transferred over- even my desktop background- when my new computer booted up after set-up. I don't mean for this post to be an Apple ad, but I was thoroughly impressed by how easily everything transferred over. It was brilliant. Anyway, hopefully in the next few days I'll get caught up on posting images from the last few days of the Kansas State Fair and a few other things I've been up to since being sent temporarily into the dark ages.

Cheers,
Pat

Friday State Fair

2009-09-19T15:41:00.003-05:00

Kaden Littrell, 13, is silhouetted while leading his horse T.J. Miss Royal Lady through one of the rear doors to the Expo Arena before the 4H Horse Show at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, Kan. on Friday morning, Sept. 18.

Tired

2009-09-18T15:06:00.002-05:00

A runner from Buhler High School rests with his head against a wall after running a cross country race at Prairie Hills Middle School outside Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 17.

A little break from the fair yesterday.

Wednesday State Fair

2009-09-16T20:38:00.006-05:00

After being off for two days, I was back at the fair today. Good times as always.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Sunday State Fair

2009-09-13T21:24:00.007-05:00

Top two are my favorite outtakes from the day, bottom photo is yet another relaxin' with livestock photo. I really like to cruise through the livestock barns at least once every day to make a photo. It's nice to find these quiet moments in the midst of all the hubbub.

Also see my sports shooter page for a series on the Kansas Arm Wrestling Championships, which took place today at the fair.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Saturday State Fair Outtakes

2009-09-12T17:23:00.006-05:00

These are my favorite outtakes from today at the Kansas State Fair.

Pre-Fair Acrobatics

2009-09-10T23:12:00.002-05:00

Hopefully the first of many Kansas State Fair posts. The fair officially begins tomorrow.

A worker swings into a new position while working on setting up North American Midway Entertainment's Ferris wheel on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon, September 10.

A Hutchinson Cabbie

2009-09-08T12:53:00.007-05:00

On Thursday night I spent a couple hours with Taxi driver Jeffrey Berry, of Roadrunner Taxis, which is one of only 2 cab companies in town listed in the Yellow Pages. It was a pretty slow night and we didn't pick up any fares, but I got some shots of him cruising around and waiting outside bars. It was a good time and especially fun to play with only the artificial light available from the street and the car.

A Leap of Faith

2009-09-08T12:32:00.017-05:00

Robert Pennington calls to his dog, Sweet Pea, from inside his tent behind a vacant property on E Ave. D in Hutchinson on Wednesday afternoon, August 26. Pennington moved to Hutchinson from Ellinwood in search of a job and decided to camp, with permission of the property owner, in order to save money.

Robert Pennington collects a load of laundry from the dryer at the home of his friend Albert Wise, at 524 E Ave. D, across the street from his camp site on Wednesday afternoon, August 26. Since moving to Hutchinson, Pennington has received help from both friends and strangers. “It restores my faith in humanity,” said Pennington.

Robert Pennington.

Robert Pennington locks clothes in a locker at the YMCA in Hutchinson on Wednesday afternoon, August 26. After buying a single day pass earlier in the month, Pennington was given a free week's membership.

Robert Pennington eats dinner at his campsite on Wednesday night, August 26.

Sweet Pea walks around Pennington's campsite.

Lightning flashes in the distance as Robert Pennington spreads a bed sheet over a pair of couch cushions in his tent behind a vacant property on E Ave. D in Hutchinson on Wednesday night, August 26. "This ain't so bad," said Pennington.

Robert Pennington sits in his tent before bed on Wednesday night, August 26.

Robert Pennington sits in a folding chair in his tent behind a vacant property on E Ave. D in Hutchinson on Wednesday night, August 26. “I felt like I took a big leap of faith when I come up here,” said Pennington. “I really couldn’t afford to rent a place and really I hadn’t looked too much I didn’t have a job yet. People look at me like I’m nuts but- it’s not a bad tent.”

Robert Pennington tosses a baseball in the air while moving some of his belongings into the cab of his new company truck outside the home of his friend Albert Wise on E. Ave. D on Saturday afternoon, August 29. "Always have to have a baseball with you, 'cause you just never know," said Pennington with a laugh.

Robert Pennington hugs Winnowna Lanam of Hutchinson, who stopped by while he moved into his new company truck on Saturday afternoon, August 29. "I’m smitten," said Pennington. "There’s just something about her." The two met at the Christian Soup Ministry, a soup kitchen on Third and Maple in Hutchinson.

These are some of the photos from a story I finally completed about Robert Pennington, a new Hutchinson resident who was living in a tent to save money while looking for a job. I wrote the story to go with the photos and made an audio slideshow for the web. It ran as center package on Sunday- I'll post a pdf of the page(s) as soon as I get one. As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Before the Friday Lights

2009-08-30T16:00:00.002-05:00

High School football season is almost upon us. I've been shooting lots of team photos and practice stuff lately for a big football preview special section coming out this week. This photo is an outtake from some random shooting with a team in Marion, KS before shooting the actual assignment- a portrait of their coach for the football tab cover. In order to keep myself on my toes for the high school football season, I'm going to try to make at least one feature photo during every game or high school football related event that I shoot throughout the season, hopefully revealing different aspects of the sport than just the game action we usually print. At the end I hope to make a nice photo essay for an Ad Astra photo page out of it reviewing what it's like for the athletes off of the field during their season of hard work. So I'll try to post a few outtakes after every Friday night, but save the best photos for the end package. That's my plan. We'll see how it all pans out.

Cheers,
Pat

Kansas Sunset

2009-08-30T15:34:00.006-05:00

A few pictures thanks to the gorgeous Kansas sky from the other day driving back from an assignment.

OMG Dogs!

2009-08-24T20:28:00.002-05:00

This weekend the big public swimming pool in Hutchinson, Salt City Splash, closed for the summer. To celebrate the end, however, they opened again today only for dogs. People came from all around the area to play with their dogs in the water park. It was a really fun time shooting everyone having a good time, although a few dogs were reluctant swimmers. According to one of the staff members I talked to, they expect about 100 dogs visit the pool on the dog day, in addition to about 300 people. Not the most hard hitting of news stories, but definitely one of the most purely enjoyable. Anyway, you know you've had a good day when you come back to the office barefoot.

-Pat

Finding the Crescent Moon

2009-08-24T11:13:00.004-05:00

Last night I went out just after sunset to shoot some photos of the crescent moon that appears for a short time for the few days following the new moon, which first appeared just after sunset on the 20th. This new moon kicked off the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. I'm thinking this might make an interesting photo within a story about Islam in Hutchinson... if I can find anyone... Either way, it was fun chasing the moon around trying to shoot it in frame with some contextual pieces of Hutch.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Locked Up

2009-08-08T23:31:00.007-05:00

These are a few photos from my Tuesday visit to the new Law Enforcement Center in Scott City, Kansas. The new building houses the Scott City Police, Sheriffs Department, Emergency Management and the jail. Apparently the old facility was in much need of replacement- it started out as a Sheriff's house, which had a jail built on and was added onto ever and over. The new building is outfitted with state of the art technology and we did a story detailing the features of this new facility. The most interesting part for me was the jail. It was divided into different pods containing separate cells for prisoners as well as a small recreation yard and interconnecting hallways. Everything is compartmentalized with locking doors and glass everywhere. When a prisoner is walking in a hallway, the next door is never opened until the last one is locked. Prisoners buzz a button to open doors and move about their space, everything being controlled by one jailer watching over it all. It seemed to be a pretty nice place, complete with lots of Healthy Choice frozen dinners. Still, it's not a place I'd really like to spend too much time.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

A night with a rodeo clown

2009-08-03T16:58:00.010-05:00

Last week I followed around rodeo clown Barry "Boom Boom" Johnson during one night of the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo in Dodge City, Kan. for this week's Sunday Ad Astra photo page. A broader slideshow from the night can be seen here. Luckily for Barry, but sadly for my camera, the bulls never got near Barry's barrel. It was a great time and I was happy to get the chance to cover another rodeo.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Visit Sunny Hutchinson, Kansas!

2009-08-03T13:54:00.002-05:00

Friday and Saturday were pretty slow news days so I was sent to shoot some general file photos of local landmarks and the two main tourist attractions of Hutchinson. Some could view this as a lame assignment, but I had a good time exploring and was challenged to make interesting pictures. Here are a few of the photos put together in a slide show, which may inspire you to come visit me.

-Pat

My Apartment: Before and After

2009-08-02T16:45:00.008-05:00

I've been meaning to post some photos of my place for a while, but finally got to a little cleaning today. Here are some diptychs I put together of what my little place here in Hutchinson looks like before and after I moved in.

-Pat

Cowboy Monkey

2009-07-30T12:48:00.006-05:00

No, I'm not talking about the popular downtown Champaign watering hole and music venue, but instead Whiplash the Border collie riding, sheep herding, cowboy monkey! I viewed in awe this amazing spectacle last night at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo in Dodge City, Kansas, where I was following rodeo clown Barry "Boom Boom" Johnson for this Sunday's Ad Astra photo page (Post to come following Sunday's publication). Anyway, it was cool to shoot a rodeo again, this time with the monkey who the announcer once referred to as "the most famous cowboy in professional rodeo."

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Jr. Jedi

2009-07-29T12:11:00.001-05:00

An outtake from shooting some wild art yesterday in Hutchinson. Wonderful.

Rubber on Dirt

2009-07-28T16:43:00.008-05:00

Some photos from the 53rd Hutchinson Grand Nationals at the Kansas State Fairgrounds on Saturday night.
This place was LOUD.

Recycling Behind Bars

2009-07-27T21:29:00.006-05:00

Some photos from a story on the recycling program at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. I was only allowed to shoot one of the guys working and he was happy to let me shoot away and go about his business. Surprisingly, at least outwardly, everyone seemed extremely nice. Definitely an interesting experience going inside a state prison.

-Pat

41 Years in Office

2009-07-27T21:06:00.002-05:00

Elected in 1967, Darrell Pope of Hutchinson, is the longest serving NAACP branch president in the country. He was recently honored for his service at the 100th anniversary convention of the NAACP in New York where he met President Barack Obama.

I had the pleasure of making a portrait of Mr. Pope the other day for a front page centerpiece on his accomplishments for the Saturday, July 25th edition of the Hutch News. The page designer Lucas and I talked beforehand about the photo and everything came together for a really great front page lead-in for an awesome story. I've done plenty of studio photography before, but this was the first time I'd tried using a snoot to light only part of a subjects face to give some really dramatic light. Usually I'm out in nature or some poorly lit room trying to never use flash so it was cool to be able to be in control of everything in the studio for a change.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Irish Dancing in Kansas

2009-07-27T20:45:00.003-05:00

Aideen Hagan (right) and Rachel Hamill, both 15 and of Portadown, Northern Ireland, perform traditional Irish dancing during a rehearsal for the Ulster Project talent show at the Flag Theater in Hutchinson on Thursday afternoon, July 23.

This is one photo of many I took while following around this big group of Irish and American teenagers to several different events over about a two or three week period, during the Irish group's visit to Hutchinson. The Ulster Project is a program that brings together Protestant and Catholic teens from Northern Ireland and the United States in order to foster better understanding and friendship between the two groups in Northern Ireland. A group of Irish teens and support faculty was paired with teens and faculty in Hutchinson and the Hutch News did a big story following the group's activities. This was my favorite picture from the story.

Rodeo Part 3: Where Cowboys and Bulls Meet

2009-07-25T09:57:00.010-05:00

This is the third of three posts from last weekend's Pretty Prairie Rodeo. Finally, what the rodeo is all about, watching man and beast compete. Disclaimer: the fourth photo is technically a steer and not yet a mature bull (Actually, thanks to "Rodeoshooter" correcting me- see comments below- steers are castrated, so I guess this little guy never will become a bull). Hopefully, there will be another rodeo around these parts before my time here is up. It was definitely an awesome event to cover.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Rodeo Part 2: Bulls

2009-07-23T21:23:00.007-05:00

This is the second part of a three part series from last weekend's Pretty Prairie Rodeo. My favorite event from the rodeo was definitely bull riding- each night they had 2 rounds of it, at the very beginning and the very end, which made for two very different lighting conditions in the same event each night. The bulls don't seem too happy about being there, but I'm sure they get pretty excited when they buck off a human attempting to ride them.

Stay tuned for the next post to see what happens when the cowboys and bulls meet in the ring.

-Pat

Rodeo Part 1: Cowboys

2009-07-22T17:54:00.007-05:00

This is the first part of a 3 part series from the 2009 Pretty Prairie Rodeo - "Kansas Largest Night Rodeo." I covered action and put together slideshows for 3/4 of the days of the 4-day event, Wednesday-Saturday last week. It was the first rodeo I'd ever been to so everything was definitely exciting for me.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed making them,
Pat

Recent Outtakes

2009-07-18T16:21:00.004-05:00

To keep the blog from going stale, here are some outtakes from one of my recent assignments. I'm on my last day of covering the 4-day Pretty Prairie Rodeo so I'll have a big post from that coming up soon.

-Pat

A Day at the Downs

2009-07-13T11:50:00.010-05:00

On Friday I shot my first Ad Astra Sunday photo page for the Hutch News. I went back down to Anthony, Kansas to Anthony Downs to shoot the horse and dog races. It was a really fun time shooting and the officials were very cool about giving me all the access I wanted. The jockeys and track staff also were incredibly accommodating and had no problem with me clicking away while they went about their business. After shooting for the entire evening, I have a new respect for jockeys- they get pretty beat up out there. I saw multiple riders get thrown from horses and even one guy get stepped on afterwords by the horse. But there's something about it they have to love, which keeps them coming back- some of the guys I talked to had been jockeys for 30 years or so. They ride because they want to and for little pay and usually little glory, which as a photojournalist is something that I have to respect.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Six of a Kind

2009-07-12T21:45:00.007-05:00

Last week I got the chance to head down to Norwich, about an hour or so south of Hutchinson, and hang out with the Headrick family for the evening. In 2002, Sondra and Eldon Headrick increased the size of their family from 3 to 9, giving then three year-old daughter Aubrianna six new siblings. The Hutch News has been keeping up with the family since the sextuplets birth, and today we published the latest installment of their story. Danielle, Ethan, Grant, Jaycie, Melissa and Sean Headrick are now 7-years-old and will be going into second grade when school starts again in the fall. It was an interesting experience making photos of the kids since they've grown up with periodic visits from people with cameras and for the most part ignored my ever-clicking camera shutter. Anyway, it was a fun night with a very nice family, who let me hang around for dinner and tag along to a pool party. I may try to catch up with them a few more times during my time in Kansas. We'll see.

Thanks for lending your eyes,
Pat

Desolation Drive-In

2009-07-11T20:30:00.009-05:00

On my way to Anthony, Kansas the other day to shoot horse and dog racing at Anthony Downs (post soon to come), I stopped by an awesome deserted drive-in movie theater that I'd noticed on my way back from the fire coverage the day before. I love making pictures of decaying Americana, and I didn't let a 102 degree high stop me from exploring a little. Coincidentally, another Hutch News intern discovered the very same scene a scant 4 months earlier.

Anthony Burning

2009-07-11T19:35:00.005-05:00

A few days ago I headed down south about an hour and a half to the town of Anthony, Kansas, almost to the Oklahoma border, to cover the aftermath of a devastating fire there. The previous day there had been a large fire that damaged at least six of it's downtown main street buildings. Somehow, under the weight of a truck, part of the alley collapsed behind the buildings, which triggered a gas line rupture. Investigation is still underway as officials access damage and look for the source of the gas line ignition. The source of the gas line ignition is still unknown. High winds also briefly reignited the smoldering ashes in one of the buildings. It's always hard to cover disasters, but luckily no one was killed, and hopefully the rebuilding process will begin soon.

Feature Hunting

2009-07-09T23:42:00.006-05:00

One of the best ways to get to know a new town is by aimlessly cruising the streets and shooting photos. Luckily I get paid to do this. I was sent out to find a feature photo to fill space in the paper the other day and ended up at an old candy factory that a family is living in and restoring as well as tending a glorious garden in front of the imposing structure.

The Wilson's are a really interesting family and were extremely nice about allowing me to follow them around the yard and shoot photos. This summer is the first year that the garden has produced food and they all seemed excited at the prospect of their first "harvest." Eventually they hope to renovate the top floor of the building as a loft living space, create and rent out several apartments, set aside a woodworking shop and weaving space, and open a gallery space for their creative pursuits. Sounds like a great plan to me and in the mean time, their gardening project made for some nice feature photos for the paper.

And then, entirely unrelated, there was this truck I thought was cool.

More wanderings soon to come.
-Pat

Fireworks

2009-07-06T13:54:00.004-05:00

A few nights ago I went out exploring to find some people lighting off fireworks. One of the other photographers pretty much had the fireworks Ad Astra photo page already covered so these didn't end up running, but here were my favorite 3 from the night.

-Pat

Dust, Sweat and Wheat

2009-07-03T22:15:00.008-05:00

On Thursday I went out to cover the last of the wheat harvest in this part of Kansas. Basically my editor gave me the keys to a car and said to drive west until I found some combines cutting wheat. Since it had rained the night before we figured I'd have to drive fairly far to find something, however, within just a few miles of leaving the city limit, I came upon a group of guys cutting wheat and loading trucks. They were extremely nice about letting me shoot- they were all for me taking a ride in one of the combines and climbing up onto a semi as the grain cart deposited its load. Then I hung around until they were finished and shot the guys cleaning off the combines. It was an excellent day and I definitely increased my tan at the same time. Since I've been here it's been nothing but sunny with highs in the 90s and 100s.

More to come soon,
Pat

My First Day with the Hutchinson News

2009-07-03T21:07:00.012-05:00

I moved into my apartment in Hutchinson on Monday, of which I'll post photos soon. Then on Tuesday I came in for my first day as the photo intern for The Hutchinson News, where current chief white house photographer Pete Souza once shot. Amidst filling out paperwork and attempting to learn photo processing routines, I ran out on a somewhat spot news assignment. A Great Horned Owl had gotten himself stuck in a barbed wire fence out in the country north of town. A man had noticed it while driving to work and called his wife, who called just about everywhere in town to try to get the bird some help. When I got there he was all alone and not looking very happy. Luckily after about ten minutes Ken Lockwood from the Eagle Valley Raptor Center in Cheney, Kan. showed up and cut the owl free. As far as I know, the owl is doing well- here is a link to the story and today's follow-up in case you'd like to know more about his condition. I was very relieved that the owl got some help and hopefully he'll fully recover and fly again. Anyway, it was a great first day and I'm definitely looking forward to shooting more assignments and exploring Hutchinson and "the better part of Kansas."

Farewell Weekend Part 3: Edwardsville & St. Louis

2009-07-03T20:46:00.007-05:00

After leaving Champaign-Urbana, Emalie and I headed back to her place in Edwardsville. We went into St. Louis (about a 15 min drive) for the evening and she begrudgingly let me make some photos of her. The last photo is looking back at Illinois from the west side of the Mississippi. Although I cross this river a lot, sometimes multiple times daily, I generally return to the east side to sleep... along with 2/3 of the United States. But for the next 6 months I'll be residing many-a-mile west of her banks- in Kansas, which coincidentally is the state of my birth. Anyway, it was a great weekend hanging out with friends and family and a great sendoff for my internship.

Hasta luego Illinois, hola Kansas...
-Pat

Farewell Weekend Part 2: Champaign-Urbana

2009-07-03T20:11:00.013-05:00

The second stop on my journey out to Kansas was my old college home of Champaign-Urbana. Brad and I drove down and we met up with my brother Garrett, who is living in Champaign for the summer, my girlfriend Emalie, who drove in from the QC to enjoy the weekend with us, and my good friend Maria, who managed to keep livin' the college dream by getting jobs in this great town. We all went over to Maria's on Thursday night for some sushi makin', berry pickin' and archery. Then we went out to Murphy's Pub to relive some typical Thursday night college revelry. On Friday we went to a few stories downtown Champaign and then had an excellent evening with bread, hummus, and wine. Brad left Saturday morning via train back to Chicago, but Emalie and I stuck around and chilled out with Garrett for another night. On Sunday my parents came down to visit Garrett and we all went out to lunch before Emalie and I left in our seprate cars to her place in Edwardsville...

Farewell Weekend Part 1: DeKalb

2009-07-02T12:08:00.005-05:00

So, I'm all moved to Kansas now and beginning my third day of work at The Hutchinson News. I don't have internet at my apartment yet- hopefully it'll be hooked up on Monday. Also, I'm still going through and editing photos from my travels before getting all the way out to Kansas. This weekend I hope to get caught up on editing and I'll put up my first Kansas posts early next week and then I'll be up to date on the blog. For now, here's the first installment of my farewell to Illinois tour, which included DeKalb, Champaign-Urbana, and Edwardsville.

Last Wednesday I headed east (the opposite direction of Kansas from Rock Island) to DeKalb and hung out with good buddies and fellow former Daily Illini shooters Brad Vest and Beck Diefenbach for some beers and photo banter. Good times for sure.

On Thursday Brad and I headed down to Chambana... the photos from which I will post as soon as possible.

Cheers for now,
Pat

Miss Iowa

2009-06-10T21:11:00.002-05:00

This week I've been working for the 2009 Miss Iowa Pageant, which is being held in Davenport, Iowa at the Capitol Theater. I shot a golf outing fund raiser and a visit by the contestants to the University of Iowa Childrens Hospital. Mainly I'm coordinating between a principal still photographer and two videographers and helping produce a video documenting what the contestants go through during their pageant week. This is a shot from a rehearsal at the Capitol Theater a couple days ago.

Cruisin' Along The Illinois River

2009-05-24T11:56:00.006-05:00

Coming home from visiting my girlfriend in Edwardsville, IL just outside St. Louis, we stopped at her roomate's graduation party in Lacon, IL, which is north of Peoria on the Illinois River. To get home back to Rock Island, I cut up along the river until I hit I-80. Cruisin' north on almost deserted highway through little towns during sunset was a very welcome change to all the interstate driving I'm used to. Hopefully these photos express some of the beauty I found in my drive.

What is he doing down there?

2009-05-19T14:41:00.003-05:00

Garrett Traylor: Poet, Sweden Enthusiast, Eccentric, Brother...

Hangin' Out in Hutch

2009-05-12T14:06:00.013-05:00

Some more photos from Hutchinson rollin' around the countryside with Brad.

First Impressions

2009-05-06T00:33:00.013-05:00

I've been hanging out with Brad in Hutchinson, KS for the last few days. I'll put up more photos soon, but here are a few of my first impressions of the place. It really struck me how everything is so open under the huge Kansas sky and so these are a few shots trying to capture that feeling.

Grilled Cheese and Boca Hash

2009-04-28T13:13:00.003-05:00

In order to keep the blog fresh, I decided to post a food photo, a la Brad Vest. Here's my lunch for today- grilled cheese on 9 grain bread with Boca hash (pan-fried shredded Boca Burger and potatoes O'Brien with spices). If none of my friends and I can find jobs, we should just start a public access digital photography/cooking show.

Cheers,
Pat

Rock The Dock

2009-04-27T01:14:00.014-05:00

Silent Sirens rock the dock.

Owen Pye rocks the dock.

Concert goers take a self portrait during the show.

The drummer from Surtsey rocks the dock.

Surtsey rocks the dock.

Mark Rose, formerly of Spitalfield, rocks the dock.

My girlfriend Emalie, concert queen of Edwardsville and cutest girl in town, rocks the dock.

This weekend I headed down to SIUE to visit my girlfriend Emalie and shot Rock The Dock, an annual live music event on campus. She was in charge of booking all the bands for the show and spent a lot of time putting it together so I helped her out shooting it in exchange for a few beers. Although the event is called, "Rock the Dock," you might notice that the bands are, in fact, performing on a basketball court and not a dock. There is a little pond with a dock on it sort of between where the bands were playing and the residence hall next to it, hence the name. Regardless of whether the rocking was going on specifically on the dock or not, it was a fun time with some good music of all different styles. These are a few of my favorite shots from the evening.

Steven and Joey

2009-04-11T12:56:00.008-05:00

Steven and Joey play football on the sidewalk in front of their house in Rock Island after school on Wednesday afternoon, April 8, 2009.

Steven pauses while playing video games with Joey, who had gotten upset about how the game was going.

Steven stands in his mom's new orthopedic shoes.

A few more images from my ongoing follow-up story on Steven Rench and his family (see original story here). Lately I've been hanging out with Steven and his little brother Joey having fun in the warming weather.

IPPA/WNPA

2009-03-23T14:08:00.003-05:00

This weekend was the combined Illinois Press Photographer Association/Wisconsin News Photographer Association annual convention in Madison, WI. It was an awesome time with good friends I hadn't seen in a long while as well as an inspiring experience seeing all the great work of the past year by students and professionals in both states... and even more inspirational were the awesome lineup of speakers- especially Dai Sugano and his awesome multimedia wizardry.

Anyway, it was a great weekend with great people, photos, and beer...

2009-03-19T11:45:00.005-05:00

I shot my first freelance assignment the other day for the Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus- went up to DeKalb to shoot Rock Island High School playing in a Super Sectional game. They lost by 1 point in overtime. It was an extremely close game and really intense to cover. It's good to be somewhat back in the groove.

Back in the USA with new wheels!

2009-03-16T16:30:00.006-05:00

It's been almost a week now since I've been home. It's definitely nice to just chill out and not always be on the move. I'm sure I'll get busy again soon. Traded in the 1990 Toyota Corolla today for a 2005 Toyota Matrix. Goodbye crazy squealing noise, hello larger cargo capacity, smoother driving and lots of airbags. Thanks a lot Dad!

Into the Jungle

2009-03-09T23:53:00.009-05:00

Our final group for walking to El Mirador consisted of me, Stephanie and Daniel, a Swedish couple- Christian and Mikaela, and Simon from England. We left at 6am from Flores to a little town in the jungle called Carmileta. There we had breakfast at the house of the family of our guide, while the family packed all our bags and supplies onto 5 or 6 mules. Then we set off into the jungle with our guide, cook, mules and another guy to manage the mules. All I had to carry was a water bottle, with custom string shoulder strap, and of course my camera. I brought along my D70 with the 18-55mm kit lens since I knew I'd mostly be shooting in the daylight and it's the lightest configuration I had.

All of our nights we tented at archeological camps near Mayan ruins sites. Disturbingly, the guy that booked our tour forgot to include tent poles, so our guide Eric went into the woods at each of the campsites and cut perfect tent poles for us out of a certain type of tree branch. We spent the second and third nights camped at El Mirador, which has the largest Mayan temple ever built- La Danta. Originally it's thought to have been around 80 meters tall, but with degradation it's now about 72 meters tall. La Danta as well as pretty much all of the other pyramids and temples we visited were still covered in jungle. After 2000 years of lying dormant, the jungle has reclaimed all of these great cities. Hopefully 2000 years from now Chicago, LA, and New York won't be covered in forest. Good thing we're smart and aren't overpopulating, stressing our food supply and destroying our environment like those foolish societies of the past...

The last two photos are from the last camp we stayed at, which was currently serving as a camp for men cutting chate, a type of plant found in the Guatemalan jungle, which is used to make the green dye for United States Dollars. These guys spend weeks and months at a time living in these camps looking for this plant. The bundle our guide Eric is holding in the second to last picture sells for 3 Quetzales, which is like a little under 50 cents. If I ever return to Guatemala I'm going to do a photo story about some of these guys and live with them for a week or so in a camp while they work and live... all so we can have green money.

Anyway, it was a great trip- sunsets from the tops of pyramids, sleeping in cold uncomfortable tents, talking with good people... what more is there.

And that's it from Guatemala.

Cheers,
Pat

Tikal and Flores

2009-03-09T23:17:00.009-05:00

I left San Juan on February 27th- took a boat across the lake from San Pedro to Panajachel where I'd booked busses to take me to Flores in the northern jungle reigon of Guatemala called the Peten. After like 10 or so hours of riding on a bus, I arrived in Flores at 6am on Feb. 28th. I had some breakfast and then went to Los Amigos hostel to look for tour recommendations for a trip to El Mirador, a 6 day walk in the jungle to and from the largest Mayan pyramid ever built. At Los Amigos the guy that recommends tours hooked me up with Stephanie and Daniel, a couple from Germany who wanted to do the tour as well. I went to Tikal for the day with Stephanie and Daniel and explored the ruins with them and an Australian chap named Luke. Tikal is the biggest tourist attraction in Guatemala- definitely the best restored and most accessible Mayan ruins in the country, and a city of as much importance as any in Mexico. After we got back from our day tour we checked out some sort of festival going on in Flores. Good stuff.

Centro Maya

2009-03-09T23:09:00.003-05:00

I left San Juan 2 Fridays ago. Here's a group shot of everyone at the center. It was sad to leave everyone- the kids, the family I was living with, and the other volunteers who became good friends. It was definitely an awesome experience and I hope to return someday. Possibly next winter if I'm again jobless and want to flee the cold. Vamos a ver.

Food Distribution 2

2009-03-09T21:11:00.004-05:00

I went to another food distribution for the families in Bob and Jeanne's food assistance program a few weeks ago. It was good to see all the families again. By now I pretty much know all of them and a lot of their kids who go to Centro Maya or have siblings that do.

Watching the world light up

2009-02-26T17:23:00.009-06:00

I hiked up La Nariz again on Sunday. This time I left my house with a few friends around 4am and got to the top around 6:30am just in time to watch the sun rise. It was definitely epic watching the world light up starting with beautiful Lake Atitlan. After the lights were on we hiked a little further along the ridgeline and then down another camino back to San Juan. I probably won´t be posting anymore for a while. I´m leaving San Juan tomorrow on a week long trip to the northern jungle region of Guatemala called the Peten. I´m visiting two Mayan ruins sites, one with a lot of tourist services where I´ll stay at a hotel and one that I have to walk 2 days through the jungle to reach, which is still being excavated. Should be a crazy cool time. Hopefully my anti-malarial pills do their job.

Cheers,
Pat

San Juan Coffee Cooperative

2009-02-25T18:54:00.010-06:00

More stuff from last week. On Friday I went on a Coffee Tour of the San Juan Coffe Cooperative, which is right by Centro Maya, where I volunteer. They have like 120 people that jointly own the coffee grown there, collectively operate it, and share in the profits. Everything is done organically and they export exclusively to California. Our friend Benedicto, who operates a Spanish school in San Juan had some extra spots for a tour for some of his students so I got to go for free. It was good to already know about the coffee making process because I wouldn´t have understood everything the guy said as well if I didn´t already have some prior knowledge. It was really cool and I had a very good cup of coffee after the tour. I stayed around and made photos of some of the guys working and they were all cool about me hanging out and shooting. Seeing everything that goes into making coffee and going through the process myself has definitely made me appreciate coffee more. When I get back home, I´m definitely going to make an effort to buy coffee from places that I know the local people benefit from the sale. It´d definitely possible with these locally owned organic cooperatives. During the tour there was a documentary film crew following our group for a promotional video about Guatemala´s Coffee industry. The San Juan cooperative was one of only two featured in the video as a model for the country.

As always, more photos to come soon. Cheers,
Pat

La Finca

2009-02-23T19:56:00.008-06:00

The other day I went to a pretty remote beach with Joel and Sara, which was pretty sweet. From San Pedro we walked out on La Finca road, which then turns into a path that goes to this beach called La Finca. Good times.

Feliz Cumpleños

2009-02-23T19:36:00.007-06:00

The birthday boy, Miguelito and his mom.

Miguelito and his grandmother... and great-grandmother on the right.

An entertaining and very weird performance that some of the staff at the center put together.

Romeo hits the piñata.

Everyone grabs for the candy.

(From left) Delfina and Victoria cut the birthday cake.

I'm not entirely sure how the family is connected to the center, but on Friday we had a big birthday celebration for Miguelito´s first birthday (little Miguel). The family brought in lots of food, pop, candy, and cake for everyone and it was a lot of fun. That´s correct, two big parties in the same week. The photos from the parties and probably some others I´ve taken will be used in a little newsletter the staff is trying to start telling the parents about what´s going at the center. So if they actually get that going, my photos will grace the page(s) for this month.

Celebrating Valentines Day

2009-02-23T18:54:00.006-06:00

Romeo goes down the slide after much convincing.

(From bottom) Fransisco, Ishmucanay (horribly misspelled), and Victoria

Victoria (mother of the family I live with) dancing with Romeo, framed between Maria and Lucas.

The clown.

Rosalia dances with a little assistance.

I´m a little backlogged on posting so I´m starting with last week and working my way back. Since Valentine´s Day was on a weekend, we celebrated last Wednesday with everyone from the center at a park near the lake in San Juan. It was a great time and all the kids really enjoyed it. There was music, a clown/interesting skit that I didn´t understand, games, and food.

Wandering

2009-02-17T19:12:00.005-06:00

Coffee

2009-02-17T18:39:00.007-06:00

I´m currently in the process of making my own coffee. Here, they use the verb cortar (to cut) when describing picking the coffee so when we usually talk about it in English, we generally say cutting coffee rather than picking coffee. Anyway, I cut coffee with Jenna once during the week and then again with Joel on Saturday both times in the coffee trees at Bob and Jeanne´s house. These photos somewhat show the process. Jenna and I did a small batch of coffee for her (maybe an eighth or quarter pound), which she took with her when she headed back home yesterday, and now I´m currently drying a batch for me- probably about a half pound.

There are many different ways to do this and pretty much everyone I ask tells me they do it a different way. I´m going to describe the process that Bob says is the best, or has heard from legit coffee people that its the best way. So after picking the coffee you need to take off the fruit surrounding the bean (demonstrated in photos 2, 3, and 6). Sometimes its easier to do in water after they´ve been soaking a bit. In photos 2 and 3 Jenna is doing it by hand and in photo 6, Joel is doing it with a very handy contraption owned by the family that we live with. Then you let the beans ferment in their own juices for 36 hours, or until you see bubbles, in an open plastic bag. After that you wash the beans until the water you´re washing the beans with becomes clear. Then you let the beans dry in the sun for 3-4 days. After the beans are dry you then take off one more layer, a little shell surrounding the coffee bean, which should be green after you take off the white casing. Then you roast the beans. My current batch is drying and should be ready tomorrow or the next day. Then I´m going to take them to a place in San Pedro that roasts coffee and I´ll take it home to enjoy in a few weeks.

I need to make more photos

2009-02-10T16:37:00.005-06:00

The weekend went by pretty quickly and now I´m back into my weekend routine volunteering in the mornings and hanging out, doing random stuff in the afternoons and evenings. Friday night a bunch volunteers and some other friends had a bonfire, which was pretty sweet. Bob played guitar and we sang along with the songs we knew and conversed in the several different languages that were represented there. Another volunteer, Joel, from England moved back into the house I´m staying in after a month-long trip to Mexico. He got in on Saturday and since then we´ve been hanging out with Jasmina and Fry, two of the kids at the house, and playing a lot of games.

Lately I´ve gotten into a really relaxing slow pace of life- hanging out with people, going to the market, cooking, sitting in the hammock and reading, etc. It´s really great but I haven´t been making as many photos as I´d like to. So this week and from now on I´m resolving to shoot a lot everyday. So, by my next post the success or failure of that idea will be apparent. Until then, these are a few photos from hanging out with Joel and the kids at mi casa and a couple from volunteering.

Cheers,
Pat

Another Week

2009-02-05T16:23:00.008-06:00

Gaspar, left, is one of the kids at Centro Maya that now goes to the regular school in San Pablo. He has a skin condition that causes blisters to form all over his body, which makes daily life harder for him.

Bob and Jeanne have a series of gardens for some of the families in San Juan and San Pablo next to their house in San Juan. Here, Domingo´s mom tends to her patch.

This is another family I visited with Jeanne before she flew back to the US. They´re digging a hole for a bathroom, which has to be about 10 meters deep. One of the kids is in the hole digging and then they haul the dirt up with a pulley system.

Other family members watch the work.

Jenna does some physical therapy with Rosalia, one of the kids at the center. Usually I help feed her at snack time.

The single muelle (dock) for San Pablo.

The week isn´t quite over, but I thought it a good time to post anyway. The photos are all from this week, but it´s definitely a hodgepodge of different things this time. This week has gone by pretty fast. I visited a few more families with Jeanne and will probably go back to shoot more with one of them this weekend. Other than that I´ve mostly been cooking for myself, reading, and hanging out with people. Not too much else to say. More to come soon.

Adios,
Pat

Hiking La Nariz and the rest of the Weekend

2009-02-02T17:29:00.008-06:00

On Saturday I hiked up La Nariz (the nose), which is one of the highest peaks on the lake. Sitting about 2,200 meters tall, it´s definitely not the highest point on the lake, but it is one of the only high points that isn´t a volcano. I´ll definitely have to hit some of the volcanoes soon as well. This peak is called La Nariz because the part of the mountains there look like a Mayan face, with the tallest point being the nose. I went with Jenna and her friend Luis, who was her Spanish teacher in San Pedro and now she lives with him and his family in San Juan. In addition to being a Spanish teacher he also happens to be a mountain guide. He told us that when he was a kid he would hike this same route to go to the market in Santa Clara on the other side of the mountains on Saturdays with his family, carrying goods to sell. It was a really beautiful hike and the higher we climbed the views of the lake got better and better. After we checked out the summit, we continued on the trail to Santa Clara and I got some onions and peppers at the mercado. We also stopped for more water and bought some chicken salad tostadas from a street vendor, which were real good.
After we got back I took a nap and then later Jenna and Luis came over to my pad and I cooked up some beans, corn, onions, and peppers, which we ate with rice, cheese, and tortillas. Twas delicious, especially after a tiring day. On Sunday I went with Jenna to San Pedro and watched the super bowl in a sports bar there. It was definitely an interesting environment to watch it in, since most of the people who would be in San Pedro don´t strike me as the types that would be into sports anyway. We hung out with a group of people from the same hostel that had their faces painted red and white for Arizona. None of them were from Arizona. It was a pretty fun time drinking beer out of glasses from big one liter glass bottles that I would buy from a tienda downstairs because they were cheaper than at the bar.

Best,
Pat

El Primero Semana con los Niños

2009-02-02T16:41:00.005-06:00

The first week with the kids... Last week the kids finally started at Centro Maya and I´ve now gotten into somewhat of a routine living here. I´ve been going every week day at 8am to the center, which is about a 10 minute walk from the house where I´m living. I meet some other people there and then we go in either a mini bus or a pickup truck to San Pablo, another one of the villages on the lake (about 4 or 5 km away) and pick up kids there that attend the center. Right now there are a lot of smaller children that come for physical therapy so the women teachers and assistants handle them while I generally help get Domingo, a 14 year old that uses a wheelchair, in and out of the bus or truck. Then once we get all the kids from San Pablo to the center, classes and therapy starts around 9am. I do random tasks and help whoever needs some help at the time.
Lately I´ve been doing some muscle and balance exercises with one of the kids that one of the physical therapists showed me how to do. So that´s been pretty cool. Otherwise I help feed the kids at snack time and then help with brushing teeth after snacks. Then around noon I go back to San Pablo in the bus or pickup and take the kids back to their houses. We had cake on one of the afternoons to celebrate being back in school. It was pretty delicious- lots of fresh fruits on it.
Domingo, pictured in the last two photos above, just started going to school in the afternoons at the public school in San Pablo after his morning activities at the center. Guatemala just passed a law that says all public schools have to allow children with handicaps attend. Thats definitely a good thing, but they really don´t have much in the way of infrastructure to make that happen. Since there are no ramps at the public shool in San Pablo someone has to carry Domingo up the stairs and someone else has to carry the wheelchair. It´s definitely not an easy process getting him started there and getting the routine down to get him there but hopefully it´ll get easier every day.
So when I get back from San Pablo around 1pm or so, I pretty much have the rest of the afternoon free. Generally I cook myself lunch, do dishes, laundry, read, lay in my hammock or hang out with some of the other volunteers. It´s definitely a pretty relaxing lifestyle and a huge change of pace from the go go go pace of life at home. I always have something to do here, but theres never too much.

Weekend Travels

2009-01-26T14:22:00.018-06:00

The sunrise over Lago Atitlan taken from the 6am lancha across the lake to Santiago La Laguna.

A fisherman on Lago Atitlan at sunrise.

Another fisherman on the lake as mist comes off the water close to Santiago La Laguna.

Santiago in the early morning light.

One of the chicken busses gets a gas refill on our journey to the coast.

My traveling partner Jenna, another Centro Maya volunteer, walks on the beach in Monterico on Guatemala´s Pacific coast.

My feets touch the Pacific again- on a beach of black sand.

A baby sea turtle crawls its way into the ocean. Tour guides from a local conservation park release the turtles with groups that pay to send off each turtle.

Tourists watch the baby sea turtles race to the water.

The sun sets over the Pacific.

One of the lanchas docks in Santiago on the return trip.

Part of the dock in Santiago.

So this weekend I took a trip down from the mountains to the Pacific coast to hang out on the beach for three days. The kids at Centro Maya weren´t scheduled to start again until Monday (today), and they actually didn´t even show up yet today either. If Guatemala has a catch phrase, it is definitely, ¨Mañana.¨

So Jenna and I left on Thursday morning at 5:30am and walked the 1km to San Pedro to catch the 6am lancha to Santiago on the other side of the lake. Then we took a series of chicken busses (although there weren´t actually chickens or any other animals aboard any of them that I was on) to Monterico on the Pacific coast. It took probably between 4-5 hours of traveling total due to all the connections, mountain roads, and stopping to pick up passengers all the time. It went real smoothly though- after getting off of a bus we never waited over a minute for the next one to come. All it took was knowing the name of the town next on the road in the direction we wanted to travel and we were able to successfully arrive in Monterico in the early afternoon.

Monterico isn´t very big. Aside from the local residential areas, it´s pretty much just one street lined with restaurants and tiendas (little stores selling grocery items) that intersects the beach which is lined with hotels and bars. I didn´t really make too many photos since my primary occupation of my three days on the beach was sitting in a hammock watching the ocean, sleeping, or reading ¨On the Road.¨ At night I hung out with fellow international travelers and went to a bar down the beach on Friday night with a pretty decent group of people including myself, Jenna, a local tour guide, girls from Iceland, Sweden, Estonia, and England, an American guy, and three Irish dudes.

It was a fantastic time. I got back to the lake, again via chicken busses, on Sunday afternoon and have now moved into a new place. It´s a property owned by a Norwegian woman who doesn´t live there most of the year. A guatemalan family lives there to house sit the place year round and rent out the other rooms. So I have my own room, which is a lot bigger than my last one, a kitchen, and a bathroom with a hot shower... all for 20Q a night- roughly just under $3. Today I´ve been running around doing errands and now I´m heading to get some groceries so I can make myself some food.

Adios and cheers...

Food Distribution

2009-01-26T14:04:00.009-06:00

Last Thursday was the food distribution day for the families on food assistance with Centro Maya. All the families meet at Super Quic, the largest grocery store in San Juan, and food is distribted to each family. It ran very smoothly and most of the families already knew me so it was very easy to blend in and just shoot.

Visiting More Families

2009-01-26T13:53:00.009-06:00

Last week I visited a few more families with Jeanne that have kids in the Centro Maya program. In addition to having disabled children that go to school or get extra help in the center, most of these families are in the food assistance program. People from the United States have sponsored most of these families for $35 a week, which doesn´t sound like a lot, but really goes far here.

Zapatos

2009-01-20T17:56:00.009-06:00

This is a few days old now but I haven't had a chance to post this until now. I tried to post this yesterday' but it was going to slow and I had to be back at my house in time for dinner. On Sunday I went with Jeanne and Bob to give out shoes that were donated by students from North Scott (Scott County, Iowa) elementary schools. We visited two families on Sunday and later some other families came to Jeanne and Bob´s house... but these photos are from just one of the families we visited.

It was pretty cool to see how excited all the kids got about getting new shoes. When we got there the kids were either wearing no shoes or really ratty ones. I've been visiting a lot of families that have kids in the Centro Maya program with Jeanne and hopefully I´ll be coming back to most of the families to photograph them living their daily lives. It's hard enough to convince people that speak your language that you don't want them to pose but it's next to impossible trying to convey that in Spanish, which I speak horribly, to people that speak Spanish as their second language to their tribal Mayan languages.

Always interesting.

-Pat

San Pedro

2009-01-19T18:08:00.009-06:00

On Saturday I took a pickup truck for 2 quetzales (about a quarter) to San Pedro and wandered around. It´s a lot different than San Juan in that there are way more foreigners walking around and foreigner owned businesses. Lots of stuff for the backpacker crowd. I´ll definitely be exploring more there in the future.

While in San Pedro, Jeanne and I also visited a family that sends their daughter to the Centro Maya program. The conditions in some of the houses here are pretty poor and it´s no surprise why they are apart of the food assistance program Centro Maya offers to some of the families. Despite everything they´re lacking, everyone seems very happy.

The last two pictures are of some weavers in a cooperative in San Juan that I came across with Jeanne. She was able to translate and explain to them what I wanted to do and they eventually got comfortable with me snapping photos. I think Jeanne usually takes some of the material and woven objects back to the US to sell for them and my photos will likely be used to show where the cloth came from.

San Juan La Laguna

2009-01-17T10:25:00.012-06:00

Una tortilla.

Mi cuarto (my room).

More of my room.

Angelica feeding some of the pollitos (baby chickens) in the yard. After they got their food I helped her wrangle them all back into the basket that they live in, which was a surprisingly not so easy task.

Me relaxing outside my room reading Emalie´s high school Spanish/English dictionary. Yo mucho necessito.

Cristobal, one of my housemates. He wants to learn English and I want to learn Spanish so hopefully we´ll be helping each other towards those goals.

A sign at the San Juan muelle greeting visitors.

The dock (muelle) in San Juan where you can take a lancha to some of the other towns and villages on the lake.

Today is my second day waking up in San Juan. I´m actually updating from an internet cafe in San Pedro, the slightly larger more touristy town about 1km from San Juan. Jeanne and I took a pick-up truck here this morning for 2 quetzales (about 25 cents) I´m staying with a family that my friends Bob and Jeanne from home know through the Centro Maya program. Angelica is the mother and three of her children live there as well, who are all in their 20s or late teens, along with the two children of the eldest daughter. Angelica cooks for me everyday, the cost of which is part of my rent. The food is delicious- always homemade tortillas with any combination of rice, beans, potatoes, avocado, tomato salsa, and eggs. It´s a bit awkward since my Spanish is muy terrible, but I´m hacking my way through and I think I´m getting slightly better everyday.

Yesterday I was shown around San Juan by Bob and Jeanne. I went to one of the Spanish language schools that one of their friends runs, down to the muelle, and to see their house that they recently built. I went to the first volunteer meeting for Centro Maya. Although I didn´t really understand anything that was said it was interesting to meet some of the other people that I´ll be working with. Although I´ve taken many snapshots, I haven´t really made any strides toward starting photo projects as of yet. I´m still trying to get settled, figure out my way around the area, and get adjusted to speaking a language that I barely have a grasp of. Definitely good times though.

The Centro Maya school doesn´t start officially until next week but we have plenty of things to do there starting on Monday. Until then I guess I´ll be just hanging out, walking around, and trying to get my Spanish to a more acceptable level.

Adios,
Pat

More Antigua Streets

2009-01-14T23:09:00.004-06:00

Two more from the Antigua streets earlier today. They're just too colorful to stop making photos of.

The first day in Guatemala

2009-01-14T19:07:00.011-06:00

A man selling flowers on the street in Guatemala City, shot through the window of my shuttle from the airport to Antigua.

Graffiti on a wall in Antigua.

A woman begs on a street in Antigua.

The courtyard of La Fonda de la Calle Real in Antigua, a restaurant featuring traditional Guatemalan dishes that my guidebook recommended.

A woman walking on the street in Antigua.

A long exposure taken from the rooftop terrace of my hotel, Hotel Posada La Merced.

Another long exposure as I watched the sunset from the roof of my hotel.

So thus begins another travel adventure. My internship at the Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus has come to an end and I'm on to something entirely different.

Today was an incredibly long day... since it was really two days. On Tuesday I said goodbye to my family and after a quick visit with friends in DeKalb I got dropped off at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago by my dear brother Garrett and his friend Issac. I took off from a frozen Chicago at 5:30 a.m. today and after a transfer in Houston I arrived in Guatemala City around 12:30 p.m. It was sun and cloud cover on and off and at least in the 70s. Winter pwned. I walked out of the airport and went with the first guy offering an airport endorsed shuttle to Antigua Guatemala (better known just as Antigua). I ended up sharing the shuttle with the lady I sat next to on the plane and her group who were all going to a 10 day yoga retreat on the other side of the lake I'll be living on (Lago Atitlan). The shuttle cost $10 and dropped me right at my hotel. It couldn't have worked out better.

Once I locked my things up in my hotel room I went out wandering the streets to convert some money into Quetzales ($1 US = 7.6 Quetzales). It took a crazy long time to find an ATM since all the streets looked relatively the same to me and weren't exactly well marked with street names. It's really different here than it is at home. Everything is built so close together and although most of the buildings in Antigua are relatively architecturally interesting, there are of spots where I can see buildings just sort of thrown together with scrap metal. Antigua is a weird mix of people- indigenous Mayan peoples still dressing in traditional clothing, more western dressing Guatemalans, and tourists- both the hippie backpacker crowd and well off looking older people. Although all the streets look similar they're all endlessly different and I didn't even come close to wandering them all today. I'm definitely going to spend a few days here before flying back home in March- which will also hopefully include a hike up one of the volcanoes accessible from Antigua.

My Spanish is pretty rough but it's getting me by. I was able to put together enough words to ask a few different people directions, including asking a waiter "Donde esta el norte?" Once I knew which direction was north it was a bit easier to navigate the map in my guidebook. So after I ate dinner I just headed back to the hotel, bought some post cards, and watched the sunset from the roof of the hotel.

Since then I have been lounging around recovering from my lack of sleep. I'm meeting Jeanne, my link from home to this whole adventure at the hotel tonight and tomorrow we're traveling to San Juan La Laguna where I'll find out where exactly I'm living and start getting into the volunteer work. It's definitely been an interesting day but I really haven't even begun to touch the surface. Not sure when then next blog post will come since I won't likely have internet access where I'll be living, but I'll get to an internet cafe as soon as I can once I'm a few days into my living situation.

So for now, adios. It has begun.

The pages

2008-12-31T13:43:00.005-06:00

Here's how the layout worked in Sunday's paper for my story about Steven. I was really happy with how much real estate we were able to get. It's definitely the first time I've seen a 6 column photo appear in the Dispatch/Argus since I've been here. Getting to work on this story was a beautiful way to cap off my internship and was certainly the largest and most compelling story I've produced thus far in my career. I'm looking forward to working on a follow-up in a few months.

Today was the last day of the internship. It's definitely been an awesome experience working with some great photographers, reporters, and editors; really an invaluable learning experience. Although I'm very excited to move on with my next plans, I'll definitely miss coming into the office and seeing all the great people at the Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus.

Fighting for life

2008-12-28T11:11:00.009-06:00

After hooking himself up to his dialysis machine, Steven reaches across his bed to turn on a lamp so he can read before going to sleep on Thursday night, December 4. The dialysis machine works in stages during the night, filling and draining specific amounts of fluid; the first stage pictured here is a drain cycle that requires Steven to remain relatively still and limits his movement for about 15 minutes until the first fill cycle begins.

Barb Rench gives her son Steven a kiss on the cheek while they make a batch of Christmas cookies at home on Monday evening, December 6. Steven and his mom make cookies together every year as a holiday tradition.

Steven washes his hands before hooking himself up to his dialysis machine on Monday night, Dec. 8. He washes his hands for a full three minutes while wearing a mask to prevent contamination when connecting the tubing with his peritoneal dialysis catheter attached to his stomach.

Steven reads one of his books about cars before going to bed on Monday evening, Dec. 22.

Barb Rench rests her head on Steven's shoulder while sitting in the waiting room of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Iowa City on Friday morning, Dec. 5.

Steven Rench lines up with his classmates before gym class first period at Washington Jr. High School in Rock Island on Tuesday morning, Dec. 16. Steven hadn't yet told his friends or teachers about his condition, saying, "They'll ask too many questions."

I just finished up the biggest project of my internship. Dawn Neuses, one of the reporters at the Dispatch/Argus, and I have been following Steven Rench, 13, of Rock Island and his struggle with end stage renal disease. Every night Steven hooks himself up to a bedside dialysis machine that filters through his body, cleaning his blood during the night, and disconnects in the morning before going to school or taking a weekend trip with his family. Although the dialysis is bridging his life, Steven will die if he does not have a kidney transplant, an operation he will likely undergo in early 2009.

It has been an amazing experience being able to document this family's life for the last month. I probably saw the Rench's just as much as my own family while I was working on this story and even though I've only known them for a short time, it feels like much longer. It's looking like I'll be able to do a follow-up story later in the spring when Steven is further along in the transplant process, which I'm looking forward to very much. I am so grateful to the Rench family for allowing me to get such an intimate glimpse into their lives. Hopefully our words and images do justice to their amazing story. Thanks again.

Slide Show

Video Interview with Steven

Story

-Thanks for looking

All images copyright Patrick Traylor/The Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus

Holiday People

2008-12-18T22:15:00.003-06:00

This neighborhood in East Moline has a tradition of dressing up in these awesome hand made costumes every year and waving at the busses of senior citizens on the Christmas lights tours that the Rock Island Police Department puts on. These are a few outtakes that ended up looking pretty eerie.

Backstage at The Nutcracker

2008-12-14T00:16:00.002-06:00

I had a great time today shooting backstage during a performance of The Nutcracker at the Adler Theatre in Davenport. See the audio slide show here.

Remembering Travis Hearn

2008-12-12T15:47:00.004-06:00

Reshanda Johnson watches people stream into the Rock Island High School Fiend House for the funeral of Travis Hearn on Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 10. Family, friends and members of the community attended the service to honor the former Rock Island football player who suffered a severe spinal cord injury during a game on Sept. 22, 2006, and was paralyzed from the neck down. Hearn passed away on Thursday, Dec. 4.

This was a huge event for Rock Island and really all of the Quad-Cities. Travis Hearn was the focus of media attention for over two years while battling his injury and it was pretty amazing how all different parts of the community came together to support him and his family. This shot is a quieter moment from the service before everything got started.

Another staff photographer, Paul Colletti, and I covered the events leading up to the funeral and the service. See the audio slide show here.

Online Ninja Lessons

2008-12-08T15:28:00.002-06:00

An outtake from yesterday.

Ken Gullette conducts a weapons lesson with student Colin Frye of Milan, Ill. while his wife, Nancy Gullette, films the lesson for his online martial arts instructional site, www.internalfightingarts.com, in the basement of his Silvis, Ill. home on Sunday afternoon. Gullette has studied martial arts for 35 years and recently began running his instructional Web site full time after moving back to the Quad-Cities after being laid off from a job in Tampa, Fla.

Preparing for Our Lady of Guadalupe

2008-12-02T22:06:00.007-06:00

Today I made pictures of dancers preparing for the Mexican celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This group practices in a vacant store building on 4th Ave. in Moline. They ran extension cords from a neighboring building to power a small space heater and two light bulbs. It's amazing how people can turn a building with no heat or electricity into a culturally-rich space filled with music and dance. These are a few outtakes, but I'll be building an audio slide show in the next few days and I'll definitely update when that's done.

It's assignments like this that make all the product shots for the ad department and cheesy parades worth getting through. Here's the slide show I did for the paper. I took audio too but sadly didn't have enough time to get that in.

Basketball Portrait

2008-12-01T21:54:00.007-06:00

An interesting portrait from today of one of Rock Island's top basketball players. I wish there was some more emotion in the face but since he could only hold the balls out like that for a few seconds at a time, I think it turned out pretty well.

Juletumtes and the search for the Julbock

2008-11-30T20:07:00.006-06:00

Today I went to Bishop Hill, Ill. to make some photos of Julmarknad, a traditional Swedish Christmas market that they have every year. Amid my search for things to take photos of, I was assaulted with volleys of snowballs by a group of often mischievous characters from Swedish folklore, the Jultumte (pronounced Yule-tumpty). It turned out they were just children wearing costumes, but it was exciting none the less. Also, reporter Brian Krans and I searched for and eventually found the Julbock (Yule-bock), another Swedish folk character of Christmastime. But too bad for the Julbock, it too had an encounter with the snowball toting Jultumtes.

Festival of Trees

2008-11-23T19:12:00.002-06:00

I've been shooting the annual Quad-Cities holiday event, the Festival of Trees, quite a bit lately. There are lots of different events stretching across a few weeks. Mostly I've been shooting stock kids doing holiday stuff, but through this mirror the standard merriment looks a little weird.

More River Trail Holga

2008-11-20T18:56:00.011-06:00

I got another Holga roll developed and scanned, this time at a place I found in Rock Island. The scan quality isn't as good and they're a little bit cropped so I might have them rescanned at some point. But they turned out well enough, especially at less than 1/3 of the price to send them to Chicago. These shots were all made on November 4th on the portion of the trail between Sunset Marina and the Casino riverboat in Rock Island.

Basketball

2008-11-19T15:25:00.002-06:00

Here's an outtake from shooting a girls basketball preview at United Township High School in East Moline the other day.

The Pelican Left Behind

2008-11-17T14:55:00.007-06:00

Some excitement today. This American white pelican was left behind a few weeks ago when the rest of the flock migrated south for the winter. Animal activists and volunteer firefighters captured the bird today and took it to an animal hospital for examination. Watch the multimedia piece here.

Season's End

2008-11-15T21:19:00.007-06:00

I traveled to the Chicagoland area today to shoot Rock Island High School's IHSA Class 6A Quarterfinal game. They got trounced 38-0, which was really tough on all the players. They end the season with a record of 11-1 and two wins short of the state champtionship; it was a great team to cover. See the game slide show here.

Fog

2008-11-13T16:20:00.003-06:00

The foggy country road I drove down coming to and from an assignment yesterday near Reynolds, Ill.

Leaves and a Head

2008-11-10T17:39:00.006-06:00

It was a slow day today so between my single assignment and a false report of someone about to jump off a bridge, I took pictures of the remaining bright patches of fall leaves around Moline and Rock Island. Again, thanks to Andy Wicklund and Dragon Fire Parade, I used one of their great tracks over the photos and made a pretty feature for our website. See it here.

Also I found this awesome dummy head in an alley.

More Election Night

2008-11-06T13:44:00.003-06:00

Here is some more stuff from election night. Before I went to the election coverage party was covering a voting location in the west end of Rock Island and at Four Brothers Clothing in Rock Island where they were grilling and selling Obama shirts. We didn't end up having room in the paper for any of this stuff.

Election Night

2008-11-05T00:51:00.006-06:00

I spent election night with a very fun, energetic crowd at Rexie's Gourmet in Rock Island. It was excellent.

See the audio slide show here.

Alpaca

2008-11-03T19:18:00.006-06:00

I got to go to an Alpaca farm near Alpha, Ill. today for Radish Magazine, a monthly healthy living and environmental magazine that we publish. These are some outtakes. A very fun assignment.

Along the Great River Trail

2008-11-02T23:24:00.007-06:00

This is the first collection of images from my holga on the bike path adventures. This is an ongoing project so I'll be adding and replacing images as I shoot them and get the film developed.

Rocky Football

2008-11-01T20:51:00.005-05:00

It had been far too long since I shot a football game in the daylight.

Here's an audio slide show from the game.