I love to shoot features that we call Road Trips With Rick. They are pretty open ended features about small towns in North Central Washington.

What I love about them is that I have pretty much unlimited artistic discretion as to what I photograph. But the photographs must say something about the town or the people that live there.

So I headed to Okanogan last Tuesday with an open mind and drove/walked around town looking for things to photograph that would convey a general sense of what it is like to live there.

First stop was to Frank’s Barber Shop where I noticed through the store window, Frank and two friends chatting.

I also loved his daily schedule tacked to the wall. There was one appointment written down for that afternoon.

I stopped off at the local escrow office next to the town clock and set up a time later in the morning to shoot it when a room overlooking the clock would be empty.

Then I found a couple examples of wildlife in and around town.

These show how close the town is to the country and its animals.

Back to the office for the clock and blessed to get a photograph of a man in a cowboy hat and a truck in the image.

While headed to lunch, I found these vacuum cleaners out on the sidewalk. Says something like, “I’m gonna clean up this town!”

And finally, I found Art Lucas who was raking up leaves at J.C. Park in Okanogan for compost for his garden. “They tell me my compost is ‘Black Gold,’” he told me.

It was a quick trip and I wish I could have spent more time there. I hope I was able to convey at least a part of what it is like to live in the town of Okanogan - at least for part of one day.

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Very slow day yesterday with lots of government type stories on the budget for Thursday but nothing that makes a good photograph.

So the search was on for interesting pictures that say something about our community.

I drove by Lucy’s Salon and spotted these mannequins.

Then made it home for dinner where my wife suggested photographs of youth (children’s)  basketball. She hadn’t seen anything about the subject in the paper.

So I headed to some elementary schools with no luck and then to Sterling Middle School where I found a couple of teams - young girl’s teams - practicing. Ends up that this is the first week of practice for them.

Here’s what is on today’s front page.

I like how the mother and daughter are looking both ways and the balls are framing them during a dribbling drill.

I like this photograph too. But the picture needs to include the basketball if it is to run by itself and I missed the ball coming off her hand.

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Word is that organizers are changing the route of the Ridge to River Relay Race to take out the downhill sections of the course where participants run and bike. So racers would do the two ski legs, drive down to the Town Toyota Center and resume the race there.

No more photos of runners with legs of jello as they head uphill at the end of their section after running downhill for miles. And no more photographs of bike riders going  fast down Squilchuck Road.

They could always switch the course to the one the children use. I’d love to see adults on the obstacle course.

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I have noticed how birds in local parks fly over parking lots and drop nuts to the pavement, hoping to crack them so they can get to the meat of the matter. And I haven’t been able to figure out a way to show this with a still image. Maybe I’ll use video next year to show the process but for now, I captured a couple of interesting photographs of a crow with a nut and then guarding it from other birds.

It was a slow day Monday when I shot these photographs and I wasn’t too happy with what I was getting but I was pleasantly surprised when I returned to the office and downloaded the images.

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I’ve wanted to do a photo story on the George Sellar Bridge for many years. A story that will appear in the Nov. 26 paper about the bridge as a landmark named for a local person prompted me to fulfill my wish. But with new technology, I was able to use video instead of still photography.

I met Alma Sellar, the widow of Sen. George Sellar, at her home and we went for a hike to a vantage point below the bridge where I captured this still image of the sweet lady.

It was right at sunset by the time we got to the spot so the lighting was pretty dramatic. We went back to her home for an interview with the video camera.

The next day, I went to the bridge with my video camera and spent some time there capturing details of the bridge.

Here’s what I was able to put together if you click on this: Sen. George Sellar Bridge Video.

It was an honor to meet Alma and hear her memories.

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We got a call from the principal of Cascade Christian Academy letting us know some of his students would be out raking leaves at a person’s home to help them do some yard work they were unable to do.

Normal call but with the wind blowing hard and the rain coming down in sheets, it was an unusual time to be doing yard work.

I drove to the location and sure enough, a group of high school kids were out in the weather trying their best to pick up the leaves littering the yard.

The leaves were actually so wet that they weren’t blowing around as much as I had thought but that still didn’t keep me from getting a picture that described the miserable conditions.

And another that shows the weather pretty well.

To get these kind of shots, I have a towel around the camera and lens and wipe the front filter covering the lens often.

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Here’s a blast from the past.

I went to Mission View Elementary School to photograph Maria Lopez teaching students how to make paper flowers. Checked into the office and noticed two photographs in the trophy case next to the office window.

Two photographs that jumped out at me are group pictures I took about six years ago that included both my daughters in the local children’s Mariachi dance group. Maria was the leader of that group and it was great to see her again.

I remember the fun practices and performances and the great feasts of authentic Mexican food at pot lucks we would have.

Here’s a picture that didn’t run in the paper of Mrs. Lopez teaching the children how to make the flowers.

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Tuesday’s playoff soccer game in Cashmere was a wonderful game to photograph. Great light, a physical game, a close game, and truly (I’m no homer here) the best team won.

I came back with what I think is one of my best set of photographs from any soccer game. Click here to see the gallery:  Cashmere Soccer photos.

Here’s the best series I came back with showing Cashmere’s star fouling the goalie while trying to knock the ball away.

The one we used where her head is grabbed like it was the ball.

And here is the one that might run in a feature tomorrow. I told you it was a physical game!

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Photographing funerals can be very stressful. But when families invite you to be at the ceremony and make an effort to make you feel comfortable, they can make for richly emotional photography. Such was the case when reporter Marco Martinez and I went to Mexico to cover the funeral of Chelan County Deputy Saúl Gallegos in the hometown village of El Colecio in 2003.

And Monday when the Asimakoupoulos family let me come close while photographing Ed Asimakoupoulos’ funeral service.

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I had to laugh when I saw this while photographing the Ninth Street Trailer Court property.

What was going through the minds of the people installing the fence?

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