State of the State Address

To the surprise of no one, Scott Walker’s State of the State address tonight was contentious and high strung. Through “Recall Walker” and “Shame” chants echoing outside the chamber doors, Walker delivered his speech to a starkly divided legislature. A handful of protestors also made their way into the public viewing gallery and briefly interrupted […]

Red Pandas at the Vilas Zoo

A small dream of mine came true today: see a red panda in person. Except, I got to do even more than that — I got to be up close and personal with the two red pandas at the Henry Vilas Zoo as they chomped away on bamboo and bits of banana. I love my […]

Scott Walker Interview

I’ve had the opportunity to photograph both Governor Walker and former Governor Doyle on a number of occasions, but they were always in a cramped space in the Capitol with four TV cameras and a boring podium blocking the majority of the governor’s body. Today I got to photograph Scott Walker in his “home,” the […]

Surfing in Sheboygan

Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest, at least for surfing. The day of the cover shoot for Curb Magazine, Sheboygan weather was the antithesis of Malibu. Cold, 45mph winds gusted off of Lake Michigan and the water temperature sat just around 40 degrees. The sky was a cloudy bluish gray and sand-sized rain droplets […]

UW Madhatters Winter Concert 2011

Annual Madhatters Winter Concert at the Orpheum. To my appreciative surprise, the Orpheum reconstructed its main stage to be a more photography-friendly 5 feet off the ground, instead of basically 20 feet high on shaky rafters. Also the different orientation of the stage allowed me get some different angles backstage. Here are a few shots […]

Pet Your Thanksgiving Meal

I find it fitting that my last assignment on my last day at the Gazette was to take photos on a turkey farm. Considering I got to spend a lot of time on farms photographing all sorts of things during my six month internship, ending on a farm just felt right. The reason I was […]

Wisconsin School for the Deaf Football – Part 2

Here’s the full edit from the 5 or so times I photographed the Wisconsin School for the Deaf football team. Each time I photographed them I struggled with same problem I brought up in my earlier post: how to convey silence in a photograph. I still don’t think I absolutely achieved it, although I think […]

Airshows: For those of us with bad hearing

Went to my first airshow today. Here’s a few things I took away from it: Grown men love planes. Especially pictures of planes. Protective ear equipment is a great accessory. Don’t ask enthusiasts, “What type of airplane was that?” Even if you’re just trying to get caption info. SWAIRFEST is a hilarious name/acronym for an airshow […]

The Sound of Silence

When you think of football, you probably don’t think of a quiet, soft breeze carrying subdued cracks of shoulder pads and a sporadic yet muffled clap from the bleachers. No, you think of fat, sweaty men dressed as female-pig hybrids screaming their tonsils red. Or a bald man painted black and silver with spikes coming out of […]

Football Nostalgia

Football practice officially started yesterday at high schools around Wisconsin. The nostalgia I felt all day covering Janesville’s football teams is making me I wonder if I’m going to end up like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, throwing footballs in a vast open field and pretending to relive the days of yore. There’s just something about the […]