Student Government Association

Today was the last day for students to vote for Student Government Association (SGA) and also the day results were announced. I ended up hanging out with the team that ultimately lost. I got to their "headquarters" around 6:00 and everybody was really friendly with me -- joking around and the like. An hour later when it was announced that they lost, it was a whole other story. It was kind of awkward because people were turning away, trying to hide their tears, but I made a few photos.

The first photo is the "phone call" telling them they had lost.

Twelve hour dance-a-thon

I shot a twelve hour dance-a-thon that was being put on last night to help raise money for Riley Children Hospital in Indianapolis. It looked like everybody was having a great time. Anyway, here's the one photo that I really liked.

Ball State wins the MAC West

Shot the Ball State womens basketball team's last home game today against Eastern Michigan. It was one of the best basketball games I've seen in quite some time. Ball State was ahead by two points for much of the second half and with a little under a minute left on the clock, Eastern Michigan sunk a 3 pointer. With 3.8 seconds remaining, Ball State gained the lead to win the Mid-American Conference West Division championship.

On top of that, there was record-breaking number of fans that showed up to watch the game. All in all, a great game.

College snow day...? Great!

Today was a great day for two reasons. There was so much snow today that classes were cancelled which meant that I had the entire day to spend outside in the snow making photos. It was like shooting spot news and features the entire day, which makes for a great deal of fun.

I started shooting at 12 and stopped at 5. In that time, I shot people playing snow football, having snowball fights, sledding, and trying to make their way through 1-4 foot snow drifts. Along the way, I trudged through snow that came up past my knees and walked nearly a mile into the 30mph wind that was blowing both snow and freezing rain in my face (that really stung by the way).

All in all, it was a great day!

Coaches prove to be more fun than game

I shot one of the longest basketball games of my life tonight. There were so many turnovers and fouls, it was unbelievable. Fortunately, when teams play really poorly, the coaches tend to get upset when the smallest thing happens. Tonight was no different. Here are some of my shots from the game.

None of these ran in the paper unfortunately. It's always upsetting when your photos don't run, but in this case, it doesn't bother me much. My photos didn't run because the two other photographers at the game shot better photos (this kind of competition is what drives us to shoot better!). There better photos should run. It's only really upsetting when your photos get turned over for shit. That really bites.

My Most Difficult Assignment to Date

Last Wednesday, I had the hardest assignment I've ever had. I was asked to photograph the funeral of 19 year-old Travis Smith. Smith was a freshman who had died in a car accident a few nights before.

The family had given us (reporter and I) permission to be there and also wanted us there so that we could tell Travis' story, celebrate his life, and show that many people loved him. Since that was the case, I didn't feel guily taking the photos, but it's still extremely difficult to photograph the grieving of friends and family who have lost someone at such a young age.

Here are some of my photos from Smith's funeral. 1000 people filled the church to standing room only during the service.


Smith was a member of the Ball State Men's Golf team, and at the service, the team circled around the casket and presented Smith's parents with a letter jacket.