Recent Portrait Work

If someone had told me in journalism school — heck, even 12 months ago — that national newspapers would be calling me specifically to do portraits, I would have told you you were crazy. I can readily admit that I've always been incredibly mediocre at portraits. However, I've had lots of opportunities to improve and for that I am incredibly thankful. When you're uninspired, getting outside of your wheelhouse is always a good idea. I've been enjoying pushing myself to make new kinds of photos and while I've got a lot of growing to do, I'm pleased with where I'm headed.

Here are a few of my favorite portraits from various assigments over the last few months:

Caption info for those interested:
1: Former Kansas State University student, Crystal Stroup, in Hale Library. Stroup has only been on the KSU campus a handful of times since bringing a civil lawsuit against the university after being raped by a fellow student last year.
2: Katherine Kelly, the executive director and co-founder of Cultivate Kansas City, a small non-profit in Kansas City, Kan., stands in a greenhouse. Throughout her life, she has mostly worked in non-profits and has spent a great deal of her life uninsured. Kelly says, when ACA went into effect, "all of the sudden we had access to plans that were much better than anything we'd had before." With ACA, Cultivate KC is able to provide a stipend for employees that covers 80% of a silver healthcare plan through the marketplace. Should the new ACHA healthcare plan be implemented, a big worry for Kelly, who has been denied individual insurance due to a pre-existing condition, is that "all of us who all of the sudden had good health insurance went and dealt with problems that maybe we had been ignoring.. now you worry about them having access to that information and using it as as way to increase your costs." Being able to provide comprehensive, affordable coverage for her employees is a big goal for her and one that she fears may soon be unattainable.
3: (RIGHT) Katherine Kelly and (LEFT) Donnetta Raymond
4: Donetta Raymond, 63, in the union meeting room at SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001, in Wichita, Kan. Raymond was laid off from Spirit AeroSystems in mid-2013 and is part of a lawsuit against the company, alleging violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. She's had it rough since the layoff and is currently undergoing chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer.
5: Wichita Area Technical college student David St. Pierre with a Cessna CJ1 in Wichita, Kan. St. Pierre just completed an 18-month program at WATC to prepare him for a test to get a power plant license.
6: Sara Weckhorst, a junior social work major at Kansas State University, is filing a complaint that the university mishandled her rape cases in Manhattan, Kansas.
7: (RIGHT) Rep. James Todd in his nearly-emptied office at the State Capitol in Topeka, Kan. After a four-year tenure, Todd will be giving up his seat in January. (LEFT) Brett Parker, a teacher for Olathe public schools, at the Central Resource Library in Overland Park, Kan. Parker will fill Todd's seat in Kansas House District 29.
8 & 9: Peter Mallouk, founder of Creative Planning, one of fastest growing and largest wealth managers in the country, photographed in his office in Leawood, Kansas.

Wichita Aerospace for WSJ

Last week I woke up before the sun rose and drove down Interstate 35 to Wichita, Kansas to photograph the changing and rebounding aerospace industry there. I visited the beautiful new Innovation Campus at Wichita State University, watched 737s be assembled at the Spirit Aerosystems facility, and observed a few classes at the Wichita Area Technical College. Big thanks to my editor Parker Eshelman for such a riveting assignment!

You can read the full story on the Wall Street Journal website, HERE.

Hostess for WSJ

I've seemingly become the Midwest factory photographer for the Wall Street Journal, which is the coolest. A couple weeks ago I ventured to Emporia, Kansas where one of the four Hostess factories operates. I got to see Twinkies injected with icing, Cupcakes get their signature "squiggle," and came home smelling like powdered sugar. It was amazing. Here are a couple of my favorite shots. Thanks for such a delicious assignement, Parker Eshelman.

You can read the full story and view the entire gallery from the factory HERE.

Baylor Tennis for WSJ

Despite being in Dallas for all of my medical treatments, I got a call from the Wall Street Journal last Friday to cover a Baylor Men's Tennis match against the University of Oklahoma in Waco, Texas. Waco is only about an hour and a half south of where my parents live and where I am currently setting up shop, so I gladly took the assignment. I had been itching to work, having been sidelined for a few weeks while doing testing.

A new Big XII Conference tennis decorum policy was instated that allows fans to cheer during points, to make the atmosphere "similar to basketball and football." Cheering is now allowed while players are serving, tossing the ball, and about to make contact as long as the yelling is not profane, vulgar or abusive to the opponent. Having never been to a college tennis match (Mizzou doesn't currently have a men's tennis team) I had no idea what to expect. I was in for a treat. The stadium was full of students and Bears sports fans. The BU athletic marketing department did a fantastic job of getting fans there with free t-shirts, pizza, face painting and other activites. There was a LOT of cheering, yelling and heckling, making it a really fun assignment to cover.

You can read the great article by Tom Perrotta and watch the video put together from my footage by the WSJ production team, HERE.

Learning Tree for WSJ

Before I post photos from this assignment, I want to take a second to talk about how cool my network of friends is. People talk about the "Mizzou Mafia" all of the time, and I have to admit that as a student, I was skeptical of what the benefits of being an MU Journalism grad would be (besides my top-notch education, obviously). Let me tell ya – they have far exceeded what I imagined (granted, I would like to think that my friends are more talented and benevolent than your average grad). One of my good friends and mentors while I was in school, Timmy Huynh, is now a photo editor at the Wall Street Journal. Because he is a talented and benevolent dude, he called me up Tuesday and set me up with this assignment. Thanks Tech King Tim. You're a gem (;

Wednesday, I crossed the Missouri-Kansas border (a whopping 1.1 miles from my house) and drove down to Prairie Village, Kan. to check out The Learning Tree, an independently owned toy store. The owner, Jonny Girson, is the definition of cool. What started out as an educational toy store, now specializes in what Girson calls "good toys." They don't carry "hot items" or what's necessarily trendy, but rather toys that are meant to enhance, teach and be of substance. The customers I spoke with were all long-time patrons (10-12 years) and had nothing but praises to sing of how the store was run. Girson and his staff greet each person that walks through the door, ask about the child being shopped for and know the perfect toy(s) to suggest. I watched Girson spend almost an hour helping a customer find something for her husband with Parkinson's disease to play with to help with his coordination, which included a sponataneous game of cards. It's a cool place. Anyways, I'll stop rambling and let you see for yourself:

You can read the accompanying piece by Adam Janofsky here.
And here's a look at what ran on B5 yesterday (Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014):