This past weekend we had a vigil here in Greeley on the anniversary of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the local meet packing plant. I was not working in Greeley at the time, but I heard about the raids. When I started here at the Tribune the ripples were still being felt six months later.
Families were torn apart as hundreds were arrested. Some were deported or jailed and others are still waiting for their day in court. The vigil was held in front of the Al Frente de la Lucha (At the Front of the Fight) community center in north Greeley.
Thanks for looking,
e
The annual First Assembly of God Day Before Thanksgiving Feast serves thousands in the community who need a warm meal, a jacket, care package or just companionship. This was the first time that I have shot the event and was amazed at how many people showed up for the meal and donations. Diners ran the range of emotions from proud to embarrassed to grateful and everywhere in between. I hope to cover this event again next year, it was a very moving experience.
I shot state volleyball on Saturday in Denver. I had a lot of fun shooting the highs and lows of the two teams I was covering. Especially Savannah Garcia #1 of Valley High School. Having covered her team earlier in the year and knew that she really gets into it. She plays with so much heart, every point is so important. It was sad to see her team lose in the finals. I could have just done a blog on her alone but I threw in a few others from the day. Enjoy.
I had driven by Paul Ansley many times. The first couple times he was just some guy picking up cans on the side of the road. Around the third or fourth time I saw him in yet another spot collecting metal I knew there had to be a story there:
You may have seen him as you went flying by on U.S. 85 or U.S. 34: An elderly man in a bright orange hat and yellow reflective vest walking along the side of the road or bent at the waist in the median.
Five or six days a week, 85-year-old Paul Ansley of Kersey makes a small living picking up aluminum cans and other bits and pieces of metal. He can make anywhere from $2 to $40 a day filling buckets with metal.
As a young man during the Great Depression, Ansley drove cattle for 50 cents a day. He couldn’t afford lunch, but a neighbor of the ranch he worked at would let him pull peaches and plums from the trees along the road.
Ansley’s father taught him the value of hard work, telling him, “Don’t ask for nothing.” He’s retired from ranching, but Ansley still heads out for a workweek of cleaning up metal from the roadside.
Looking at a pile of garbage dumped beside the highway, Ansley says, “If I knew who did this I’d pack it up and take it to them.” He says that it would be better if more people went and picked up trash along the roadways. “Our country would be a prettier place.”
Caption: After receiving her tickets to meet Toby Keith Mary Kimmel, 8, sits in her wheel chair in front of her family’s home north east of Nunn. Mary has Rett syndrome a neurodevelopment disorder that strikes only girls and can lead to an early death.
Mary Kimmel was born with Rett Syndrome. The neurodevelopment disorder prevents her from maturing like a normal child her age. She can walk with help but spends most of her time in a wheel chair or her own miniature recliner. The disease means Mary will need care and assistance for the rest of her life, which can last any where from 18-50 years.
I shoot a ton of pictures in a week and frankly a lot of the people I meet don’t make an indelible impression on me. Mary and her family on the other hand will stay with me for ever. Being a new father I think the story had more impact on me as I imagined how well I would do if my daughter had Rett Syndrome.
Her family is amazing. They take Mary to school everyday, take her on camping and fishing trips and interact with her like any other member of the family. I know that is how it is supposed to be, but imagine having an eight-year-old that behaves like an infant. I find an infant who behaves like an infant challenging enough.
Please enjoy the photos and let me know what you think…
So I’ve fallen behind a bit on my posts. The problem is that I have been shooting a lot lately and working on getting the photos to my clients. I guess that isn’t really a problem.
So a few weeks ago I shot some photos for Winter Park Resort. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we did not get the sunset we were hoping for. So we put some warming gels on the lights and did our best to duplicate a mountain sunset. Weather problems aside I had a great time and I look forward to seeing them in use.
Thanks for looking!
Rushing to get their Portuguese water dogs ready for the Greeley Kennel Club Dog Show are from left, Colton Johnson, Heather Johnson, Katie Mazurowski, Carrie Johnson, and Candace Mallette all of Colorado Springs on Saturday at at Island Grove Regional Park. Showing and breading dogs is the family business for the Johnsons, they also run two kennels in Colorado Springs.
I had a rare opportunity to spend the better part of my day at a dog show two weeks ago. These days it is rare that I get more than an hour to shoot an assignment. This time I shot for over five hours and I think my best photos came towards the end of the day. At some point I stopped the scramble for graphic or colorful photos and really started watching the people and the dogs. That is when I started making my best photos of the day. Possibly the most fun I have had shooting in several months.
Thanks for looking!
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- Abby Chrysler, 10, of Fairplay waits to show Sharaz her great Pyrenees at the Greeley Kennel Club Dog Show on Saturday afternoon at Island Grove Regional Park.
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- Noah, a wire haired dachshund from Warrenton, Va. sits patiently as Angela Lloyd brushes him before showing in the hound group at the Greeley Kennel Club Dog Show on Saturday afternoon at Island Grove Regional Park.
I photographed 11-year-old twin sisters Morgan, left, and Madison, who were born with autoimune disease and have serious medical issues to this day. In fact Madison had to have half of her swelling thyroid removed so she could breath. This and other procedures and treatments have put the family over five figures in debt. Both their parents work hard to pay for all the treatments but it just is not enough.
The sisters who raise pigs to show at the Weld County Fair want to be veterinarians one day.
I had a really cool assignment today. There was lawn mower racing in a small town north of Greeley and I was going to have 4 hours to shoot it.Unfortunately after I shot just a couple races they announced the championship race. So here are the photos I shot in the last few minutes of the event.
Just warming up the blog with some work I did in early July. Jakob Rodgers, a reporter at the Greeley Tribune, and I did a multimedia show on a carnival worker (“carny” is considered derogatory by carnival workers). Kentucky let me follow him from ride to ride as he relieved his fellow employees for lunch, and connected with his fiancee who works for the carnival as well. Fun day and an interesting guy. Here is the link to the full slideshow: http://tinyurl.com/mp9vg6
