in a new location!

Bounce Flash:

Mayoral candidate Bob McDavid answers a question at the forum held Wednesday evening on the University of Missouri’s campus. Audience members provided the questions for the candidates at the event jointly sponsored by the Missouri Students Association and the Associated Students of the University of Missouri. Renters rights and downtown security cameras were hot topics for discussion.

Direct Flash:

Missouri freshman J. J. Bowles, an ambassador of the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, created cards to signal to the candidate speaking that their time was running out for the question at hand. The mayoral forum held in conjunction with the Missouri Students Association on Wednesday featured five of the six candidates running for election in April.

***

In full disclosure, the bounce flash photo above ran on the Missourian’s website today as part of the full story on the forum. I’m covering the mayor’s race for an independent study, and although I didn’t want to do it, I photographed the forum for both class and the Missourian. After much deliberation on which images to hand in for class, I ended up selecting the bounce flash photo above, even though it had already been selected for the online package. It really was one of the best-lit photos with a real, journalistic moment.

This assignment was a rollercoaster of emotions towards my flash (don’t laugh), but I definitely have much more respect for it now. I’ll tame this beast . . . someday.

I could really use one of these signs for my life this semester. It’s been non-stop since day one with emails and classes and meetings and photo shoots and editing . . . phew. Just thinking about all the things I’ve done so far makes me exhausted.

The funny thing? I’m loving every moment. I know it’ll be over so fast and I’ll look back and say, “Look what I did!”

Until then, I’ll be sure to catch up on my zzzz’s whenever possible.

Way too many days have passed since I’ve last updated. Hopefully I won’t let that happen again. There are so many awesome things going on, and lots of pictures to go along with them.

There’s also a ton of emails. My phone just buzzed again – it’s 11:43pm on a Friday night. Such is the semester.

Somehow, I’ve managed to take on work that is almost equivalent to taking three photo classes at once. Advanced Techniques is my official photo class, where we’ll be learning all about lighting and making technically better photos. (I’m SO super excited about this class, and I’m not just saying it because this blog will occasionally be taken over by class assignments.)

But then I’m working on an independent study surrounding the mayor’s race, which entails working as a photographer for the Missourian. Granted, it’s not full time like the staff class, but it’s still going to be a lot of work. After a particularly stressful day on Wednesday, I went to cover the first mayor candidate forum and remembered just why I’m here and why I love this job. Moments like this happen more and more often. I love each and every one.

Finally, I’m the Vox magazine photo editor for my assistantship this semester. So while I’m working in Advanced on lighting and photographing for the election coverage with the newspaper, I’m also up at the photo desk managing photo requests and editing shoots for the magazine. And fielding emails. Lots and lots of emails. And attending meetings. Lots and lots of meetings.

And while I’m sitting here astounded that the past week was only a week … I look back at all the work I’ve done so far and wouldn’t change a thing at all. Working long hours is so much more rewarding when I love what I do!

Let’s hope this feeling lasts the entire semester. I’m going to need it.

***Edit: All has been restored. Only one post lost, but recovered. One comment gone with the wind. It could have been worse.***

FYI. My website was hacked, all my files deleted. Thanks to my webhost, I’ve got most of it back. I’ll be adding back whatever posts are missing after January 9th. (I think there was only one.)

Note to self and others: KEEP BACKUPS OF YOUR WEBSITES!

I’ll be making a monthly archive of my site, at the least. Can’t believe it happened only two months into hosting on my own. Won’t let it happen again.

It’s been cold here.

Actually, cold is an understatement. The jet stream has gone haywire and arctic air that usually stays way up north is blasting the country with some abnormally frigid weather. My grandmother in Florida said that planes were delayed at Sarasota International Airport due to ice on the wings. The airport does not have de-icing equipment (it IS Florida, after all), so they had to wait until the sun melted the ice for the planes to fly.

Yikes.

Here in Columbia, it’s been in the low teens for almost a week. I’ve never lived through such cold weather before. Naturally, I do not have appropriate clothing for spending more than a few minutes outside. So when my editor, Matt, at the Missourian told me on Wednesday that we would be heading out at 6am the next morning to find people shoveling and cleaning off their cars from the snowstorm just beginning to hit us, my first thought was “CRAP. It’s cold.”

Earlier in the day, I had been covering the Missouri General Assembly at the state capitol and came straight from there to the newsroom still dressed in my faux-suit (black pants and a not-quite-the-same-black blazer). The snow had started on the drive and showed no signs of letting up anytime soon, so I knew time was of the essence. I made my way across town to a sporting goods store to find the item that would get me through the next day’s assignment – SNOWPANTS.

So there I am, standing in the Dick’s Sporting Goods store in the middle of a snowstorm, in a faux-suit, looking at snowpants. I must have been a sight! However, I lucked out and found a pair that fit perfect that were on clearance sale.

The morning’s assignment went quite well. Not many people out, but I managed to find a few good ones. The photo gallery is online here. (not sure where my best picture went – it was the lead image on the page. Will inquire within.)

Later in the day, I decided to go check out some sledding at Stephens Lake Park. Remember – it’s still barely in the teens, and now the wind is picking up. So it was COLD. I expected only a few people to be there. Instead, I was greeted with at least 30 kids and adults braving the temperatures to take in some fantastic sledding. The pictures did not run in the paper, as Matt got there and back to the newsroom first, but I figured I’d post them here. I would not have gotten these photos without my new snowpants. I hate the cold, but I love those pants.

Clayton Howard, 21, his sister Audry Reno, 11, and Morgan Bischel, 20, get ready to go down the snowy hill at Stephens Lake Park on Thursday afternoon. Howard says of his sister and hiking back up the hill, “She says ‘Oh, it’s not bad,’ while we’re up here winded. I gotta take a breather.”

Kids of all ages formed lines at the sledding hill in Stephens Lake Park on Thursday to allow everyone to safely have a turn. Samuel Smith, center with an orange disc sled, said to his father, Michael, “There’s thousands of people here!” “I know, the most ever,” said Michael in response.

Sledder Brock Mauller, 10, goes airborn on a snow jump at Stephens Lake Park on Thursday afternoon. Despite the bitter cold, many people came out to enjoy the freshly fallen snow.

Young sledders and their parents find warmth in a fire pit at the edge of the sledding hill at Stephens Lake Park on Thursday afternoon. The temperature remained in the low-teens for much of the afternoon.