Hero for the Day!

I appreciate my experience at Camp Quality more and more every day.
I miss these kids, and I pray for their strength and wellness.

Love & Devotion Part II

The Grand Jeté

Behind the Catwalk

OUCH.

Love & Devotion

DJ Jones, 21, is a single father of one son, but is raising and supporting two children.

His son's mother, Shaniqua, lives with him with her new daughter, Aniyah. Since she doesn't know who the father is,

DJ has taken the role. Although Shaniqua and DJ are no longer together,

she stays in the apartment so DJ can take care of the children, according to DJ.

“I wasn’t ready to be a father,” DJ said. “But once Trey was born, my life completely changed.

I wouldn’t be who I am today without him.”

Fighting Back

Mount Pleasant resident Tommy Chamberlain, 23, turned to Faith Fighting, 1319 S. Mission St.,

in Mount Pleasant after he ran into trouble with his life.

"I was drinking and partying too much," he said. "So I came here."

Alma Fire

(Above) April Carll turns to the crowd while witnessing a historic building in downtown Alma burn on Tuesday morning.

Fire fighters arrived on the scene around 2:30 a.m. and worked throughout the afternoon.

"Stuff like this doesn't happen in Alma," Carll said.

Last Sunday, I spent some time with a family celebrating their parent's 60th wedding anniversary

at St. Joseph's in Detroit. We only had an hour for photographs, so with about thirty family members,

we were rushing to get all the portraits done. I barely had time to breathe, let alone try to look

for the natural moments I truly wanted. I turned around once when they were changing family members

and was able to capture this. I wish I had more time... the old cathedral was absolutely beautiful.

A Boy's First Love

Sam Neyer is already confident in his career choice at age 12. In fact, the family farming business

harnessed Sam’s interest when he was only a toddler. "I want to be a farmer when I grow up," Sam said.

"I want to take my dad's job and expand the farm like he did."

Neyer Dairy Farms Inc. is now a third generation farm with all three locations active in work. The Neyers own

roughly 1,200 cattle and milk 400 and 600 respectively on each farm. Sam's main job is to feed the baby cattle and

clean each stall. Although he spends every day at the farm during the summer, as a 7th grader at Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant,

he is only able to work on weekends.

Although his maturity and life is different from many other 12 year olds, Sam is still a normal kid.

He plays video games, watches television and occasionally fights with his brother. What makes him different,

however, is that he already started his career and found his first love.

Welcome to the World, Baby!

I spent two weeks with the Neyer family developing the story in the post above. Although my final edit did not

focus on Jerry, I spent a lot of my time with him. One Tuesday afternoon, I received the phone call I had been hoping for.

"I have a birth coming," he said. "The water broke. It should be within the half hour."

My boyfriend had my truck, so I grabbed his keys and prayed he had enough gas to get me to the farm.

(He did. Barely. I ended up getting stranded afterwards, but that's beside the point.)

I ran to the back of the Neyer Dairy Farm Inc. and found the barn and the pregnant mother.

Jerry came around in his truck and prepared all the equipment. He made sure she was ready and induced labor.

Jerry comforted the mom as he pulled the chains attached to the calf.

She gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

I left the farm that day with a new appreciation for something. I'm not exactly sure I can describe it.

It was the first birth I have ever witnessed, after all. It was just as I expected in many ways- messy and painful looking.

But the love the new mother and Jerry had for the calf was beautiful.

Tiny Cheerleader

Shaniya Simcox, 3, cheers along with Alma High School's cheerleading squad,

including her aunt, on Saturday, Sept. 17 during the school's varsity football game.

Night at the Speedway

I spent the evening last Friday job shadowing Nick King of the Midland Daily News.

He was working on a photo story about a third generation race car driver.

I learned an important lesson from Nick about building rapport with subjects.

It inspired me to begin my own projects in JRN 422 and capture the stories of others.

(I also took the opportunity while at the Mount Pleasant Speedway to explore the pits. I loved it.)

Engine Swap

Matthew and I were driving back to the apartment one evening before school started.

He pointed to the parking lot in front of the towers and said, "Look, that's freaking sweet."

This poor kid (Ohio sophomore Andrew Coutts) was swapping engines after his original motor blew.

Luckily, he said cars were second nature to him.

Thank you to Matt for catching the scene and pulling over so I could shoot it.

Hello, Fall Sports!

Lots of sports so far this semester. I am more than happy about that.

Old 27 Tour

Matthew had a freelance assignment a few weeks ago in the charming little town of St. Louis, Mich.

Hundreds of classic (& beautiful) cars rolled into town for the annual Old 27 Tour.

There were interesting people everywhere, including the couple above who were singing to "Leroy Brown."

I could have spent all day there.

Camp Quality: Day Five

What an incredible, indescribable experience.

All the people at Camp Quality touched my life beyond what I could have imagined.

It was so hard to leave at the end of the week.

Camp Quality: Day Four

Camp Quality: Day Three

[Well, everything I shot yesterday afternoon and evening completely corrupted

on my card. I couldn't recover much, but I did manage to salvage this one.]

This is Justin.

I hate to choose favorites, but I have really grown attached to him this week.

He is extremely shy and soft spoken; however, when he smiles, his entire face lights up.

Yesterday, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I have a surprise for you...

but I'll only give it to you if you sit by me at dinner."

He made me a beaded necklace with my name on it. It was one of the sweetest

& most thoughtful gifts I've ever been given.

It absolutely kills me to think about all he has gone through. He is so gentle and fragile.

I wish I could give him his childhood back,

and I wish I could protect him from cancer.

Camp Quality: Day Two

The kids had a blast this afternoon during "Marshmallow Madness."

Who knew that throwing wet marshmallows at each other could be so much fun?

Welcome to Camp Quality =]

Camp Quality is a weeklong camp for children who have experienced or who have cancer.

I am glad to be shooting it, considering all my mother is currently going through.

The kids are all inspiring and wonderful, and they really deserve this opportunity to be carefree for a few days.

Putt Putt with Becky

Becky is Farmington's little piece of sunshine. I took her putt-putting at the old, run-down

course at the edge of town today. Of course she chose a pink putter and ball,

and she used it to score TWO hole in ones.

"This is the happiest day of my entire life," she said.