iowa city

Freedom Birds

in

While I did a little wildlife photography when I was in Africa I hardly consider myself a wildlife photographer, let alone a bird photographer. Yet, one of the great advantages to living in Iowa City is that the Iowa River is a not insignificant winter hunting ground for Bald Eagles and one can easily see a couple dozen on a good day hunting for shad in a 2-3 block stretch of the river—with a convenient bike path adjacent to allow for photos.

Even being that close to the action, 400mm barely cuts it as these things really don’t like people being so close (odd since they’re hunting in a decently populated urban area) but as long as you’re willing to walk up and down the river and chase the action, there are good photos to be had.

Snowblind

The photo coach at my newspaper turned me on to the work of Todd Hido before the holiday season and I spent a few days laying on the couch and going through his work. While it was a mild December here in Iowa City, January has made winter great again and so I’ve had a couple of opportunities to stumble around in the snow and practice trying to integrate flash into my urban landscapes. Still a work in progress, but I’ve been pleased by some of the results.

Game Day: Iowa v. University of Northern Iowa

Little bit different of a game day entry today—rather than covering tailgate, actually managed to find my way to the field. The UNI game is the first of two that I’ll be covering from the sidelines this year, which will make it four in total for my collegiate (er, law school) career. Probably would have liked to have done more but then again, getting a chance to shoot four Division I college football games while going to law school is still pretty cool. And, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I really need to be shooting more than two games a year anyway. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s also somewhat repetitive. Yes, you do get better at it the more you do it, but the range of potentially interesting photos is also far smaller. If I’m being honest, I’ve found that I enjoy shooting tailgate more than the actual game. Anyway, this post is a week late, so on to the photos:

Game day: Iowa—Iowa State

Well, the biggest day on the football calendar did not disappoint. Not the game, mind you—there’s a reason why that game has been called ¡El Assico! after all. No, I’m talking about a day of tailgating, partying, and general debauchery. Game day in Iowa City is always photogenic in its own way but the students and tailgaters (but mostly the students) make sure that the Iowa—ISU game is like nothing else. On to the photos:

Game Day: vs. University of Northern Illinois

Well, sports fans, another year of college football is upon us and, likely, the last one that I'll be covering in Iowa. To get things started off, I spent the day—a particularly hot and humid one—walking around and documenting tailgating in a Big Ten College town. 

While the photography was okay, something about the day just felt "off." Depending on who you spoke to, it was: the weather, the fact it was a holiday weekend, that the frats/sororities were still in their "dry" period and so there was less partying/general mayhem to document or some combination of all three. People were certainly out and the rain held off but there was a distinct lack of energy throughout the day.

On to the photos:

Strange Weather We're Having

Crazy day of weather yesterday in Iowa City—hot, humid, and intermittent showers throughout the day culminating with a torrential downpour in the early evening. I got out of my night class a little early and still happened to have my gear with me from a portrait shoot earlier in the day. And, as luck would have it, I also had my tripod in the back of my truck (because, er, I'd been too lazy to bring it upstairs after another shoot on Monday). Once again, laziness paid off. It was a simple matter to drive to the other end of the law school parking lot (which is on a hill with a view of the Johnson County Courthouse) and to set up and wait for something interesting. I missed a few lightning strikes getting set up but the lightning was so heavy this evening, you actually had the time to trip the shutter after a strike began. 

Strange weather indeed.