I went back up to the Beebe Bridge Wednesday, hoping to photograph the removal of the truck from the Columbia River. When I arrived, the DOT was very helpful getting me on the bridge to document the damage done when the truck-trailer rig hit the side. I was ready to move to the shore where the tow truck driver was wading around the river bank getting ready for the pull when I noticed three civilians (they weren’t wearing orange vests and hard hats) approaching the bridge with flowers and a balloon.

I crossed the highway to meet them and found out that one was the son of the victim and the other two were friends, one the girlfriend of the son.

I’m always apprehensive when approaching victims, never knowing what their reaction will be to a reporter/photographer being interested in their circumstance. But James Walker, Tori Benger and Kim Clark were most gracious in allowing me to follow them as they got permission to go onto the bridge deck and spend time remembering their loved ones.

Later, when the truck was being pulled out of the river, James and I talked about his interest in photography and how the sudden accident of his mother and step-father made him take an idea he has had of making photography into a career more seriously.

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Looking for something interesting to photograph this morning – slow news day – and came upon a couple interesting moments.

First, I ended up seeing this in front of a home on Ashland Avenue in East Wenatchee as Brandyn Perez was sleeping on the back of his couch in the sunshine.

I think I’ll call it “Taking a cat nap.”

It’s Barndyn’s favorite place to hang out in the mornings.

Then, I was driving out of Walla Walla Point Park and noticed Rick Stucky and Michael Hunt headed inside with three radio control planes. Found out they were practicing for the Wenatchee Wild hockey season when they will once again fly the planes around before the games and at intermissions.

Funny moment here was when Hunt was leaving the ice, Stucky decided to hover his new plane over Hunt’s body either to annoy him (I think he succeeded) or to show his ability (I think he succeeded).

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So I headed to the set up for the NCW fair in Waterville last Wednesday looking for something interesting to photograph as a still image and then to find for a video story. I was just walking past all of the barns when I noticed one of the steers not cooperating with his handlers about getting into a chute for tagging and weighing. I was completely out of position so hustled around the exhibit barns in time to find the owner’s father beginning the struggle taking the beast from the chute to its place in the barn.

This is about the time I began looking for a safe haven while switching to my camera with a wide angle lens (this is why I carry two cameras). I thought about climbing a fence but it didn’t look sturdy enough so I headed for the side of the horse trailer the animal came in on, hoping it would miss me.

It’s a good thing that I didn’t rely on the fence as it came down when “Scooby” leaped over and through it.

Needless to say, it took a while for my hands to steady enough to take my notes.

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Had a great time off with my oldest daughter getting married, five days of playing on a beach at Lake Roosevelt and three days of golfing with buddies in Spokane. Now it is back to work!

But I’m back with some sadness in my heart as the newspaper had to let go a fantastic photographer, Kelly Gillin.

Kelly started working at the World as Mike and I did,  in the darkroom under the teaching of another wonderful photographer/darkroom technician, John Barta. Kelly worked into a full-time position as photographer in the early 1980s and continued until Aug. 13. Besides being a great person, he did some really fine work and I remember some of his photographs very clearly.

I remember one day he came back from a fire saying, “I’ve got the best picture I’ve ever taken!” Firefighters had saved a child from a burning house and he was there when they brought the child out. Kelly was very nervous about processing his film and wanted me to help. His picture was truly outstanding and won him a national award.

All of us at the paper wish him all the best.

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I went to Rocky Reach Dam yesterday to photograph one of the Summer Science Program sessions that the Chelan County PUD puts on for children. We shoot these pretty much every year and when that situation comes up,  I try to find a different approach or angle.

Bob Bauer, the teacher and organizer, is extremely excited about his subjects and that helps get the children excited too – even about solar energy!

Even I was excited when I saw him burning coal with a large magnifying glass and I spotted the image of the children in the glass.

I like this image but was worried that it had to play very big in the paper for people to spot those small images in the glass.

What the kids really were waiting for was to drive the small solar car that was waiting in the parking lot. Here, Bob shows them the solar panel. I moved back to get the sun in the image.

Then I staked out a location where I would be able to see their first reactions as they would put on the “gas” in the first straight-away section of the course. I was a little disappointed that none of the kids had any big reactions.

But I kept noticing Bob as he stopped the children after their second lap and switched the driver. I liked the image I was seeing of one driver squeezing out of the small cart and the other squeezing into it. This is what we published in Thursday’s paper.

I think it is something a little different from earlier years.

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I arrived late to the fire at St. Joseph’s school gymnasium as fortunately the fire department had knocked the flames down and extinguished it very quickly. So my chances at an exciting image were pretty much gone and I was left to try to get pictures of the aftermath of the tragedy.

Firefighters standing around.

Leaving the entrance next to statues.

Father Tom Kuykendall watching from the entrance.

But I left knowing I hadn’t come away with anything very interesting. I hoped and planned to gain access the next morning and photograph the inside, showing the damage of the fire.

When I showed up, the firefighters were very helpful getting me into the gym and I came away with better images using a tripod, slow shutter speeds and more depth of field.

And was fortunate to talk with the custodians about how these doors are normally open but had been closed when one of them left for the day, preventing the fire from spreading.

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I headed to Lake Wenatchee with my son yesterday to photograph some visitor guide scenes as well as look for photo features. We arrived at the state park beach just in time to photograph Paul Cook of Edmonds and Jeff Rodriguez of Seattle getting their gear ready to kiteboard, starting off from the beach of the swim area.

I didn’t know much about the sport but thought it could produce some really cool images. Cook mentioned the jumps would be pretty cool to photograph but I had no idea that he was talking about getting in the air 30 feet or so.

Here they are setting up their kites and launching.

Cook is going back and forth along the beach trying to get momentum to get out into the lake further.

Here’s the first jump my son and I witnessed. We were amazed, thinking they would just get up a foot or two like my son does on a wake board behind our boat.

Rodriguez was having trouble getting airborne and tried a larger kite.

But while Cook was out in the lake catching 30 feet of air, Rodriguez suffered in the surf.

What a blessing to happen upon this story.

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Pretty slow day for photography in Wenatchee yesterday as Kelly Gillin and I went searching for something interesting to give you, our readers, on Tuesday.

Kelly struck first, finding construction of a new water tower above the cemetery. I was coming up empty until after lunch I stopped by Methow Park and visited with the parks employees there and waited for the wading pool to fill.

While hanging out with the kids, this little tyke showed me what he had captured earlier in the day.

And then I noticed one of the employees with a broom in the pool. I was late on the trigger and didn’t get a very good image of her sweeping the water but after I found out that they do this every hour to stir the chlorine they add to the pool, I waited around and was able to get her on the second round of “sweeping.”

Kind of an interesting and unusual photograph – something to grace today’s front page.

Now what about tomorrow’s newspaper???

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I was torn as to shooting the fireworks from Walla Walla Point Park as I did last year or from the east side of the Columbia River. I chose the river view for a couple of reasons. As I mentioned, I had done the park photographs last year, but more importantly, I didn’t want to be tied into the parking fiasco in the event of a major fire.

So my son, Aaron, and I headed to the river, specifically Porter’s Pond, where my brother, Sid, used to hang out in the summer with his buddies a long time ago.

I had set up my camera on a tripod with a friendly family we met in the foreground. I made a test image to be ready and waited for the show.

I thought it would be a nicely framed image with fireworks going off between the two trees. I also took some time and photographed Dalton Miller by the river at sunset.

But after the lights of the park turned off and the first shell went into the sky, I knew I had a huge problem. The fireworks were not blowing up where I thought they would be. Instead, they were way off the the right of my frame, about where the tree was located.

Aaron and I quickly grabbed my gear and walked closer to the water and off to the left, thankfully for a clear view.

It’s a nice image but I really miss not having people in the foreground for some perspective.

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I had the greatest time at the demolition derby in Waterville last Friday night. I busted my gut laughing as the dust settled from the first race inside the rodeo arena. Here’s the first race, or what you can see of it.

Here’s where I sat.

And what my brand new bag looked like.

So after blowing and knocking off some of the dirt, mainly from the front of my lens, I was feeling really good about having professional cameras that have gaskets to keep water and dust like this out of the insides.

The other funny memory I will cherish is being knocked down in front of the crowd while photographing the race of pigs in wheelbarrows. I was having flash problems while photographing the leader of the race and turned my back on the rest of the competitors when “wham” I was knocked to the ground, equipment flying, by the second place competitors. I’m sure it is awesome video if someone was fortunate enough to capture it.

I was able to take pictures of the next races and made the picture I was originally trying for.

If you get a chance, attend next year’s race – you’ll never forget it.

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