Bol Bol for NYT

The world is a small place, and on Tuesday I felt that first-hand. I was asked by picture editor Becky Lebowitz at the New York Times to photograph a story at Bishop Miege High School - the same high school my boyfriend, Evan, graduated from in 2005. It felt strange knowing I was walking through the halls he grew up in, but I was doing it while working for a national news outlet. Funny how life is sometimes.

Anyways, the story was on Bol Bol - an 6'10" high school freshman, and the son of the late, great Manute Bol. He plays for the junior varsity basketball team at Miege. Not only is he tall (a head and shoulders above most all of the other players on the court, and me) but shy, smart and talented. It was cool to witness a young talent, knowing someday I could have the privilege of seeing him on an NBA starting roster.

You can read the great feature on the Times website by Corban Goble HERE.

Emporia State Women's Basketball for NYT

The New York Knicks are bad this season. Like, really bad. So bad in fact, that the New York Times sent their Knicks beat reporter, Scott Cacciola, out on a month-long road trip across the country to explore crowd-sourced stories of "good" basketball.

His first stop: St. Joseph, Missouri.

I had a blast covering the Missouri Western State University women's basketball team host Emporia State University at the MWSU Fieldhouse Thursday night. You can read Scott's great piece HERE, and follow along with his "Not The Knicks" column HERE.

As for my photos, these are a few that made the article, as well as a couple of outtakes that I liked from the game:

Bobby Bell for NYT

My late grandfather, Leonard Yanigan – after whom I was named (hence my middle name Len) – was born in 1916 in Staten Island, NY. He was a paper boy for The New York Times while growing up and later in life, carried that passion for journalism to Texas where he studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Poppa, as we affectionately called him, was my role model growing up. His intelligence and huge heart are something I strive to replicate in my personal and professional life. When I got a phone call earlier this week from an editor at NYT to photograph a freelance assignment for them, I nearly jumped out of my skin. He had been weighing on my heart heavily due to the Christmas season, and this felt like a Christmas present straight from him, as cheesy as that sounds.

It was a fun, stress-free assignment, as I drove out to east Kansas City to photograph former Chiefs player and NFL Hall-of-Famer, Bobby Bell. He's another inspirational man, who, after 52 years, went back and completed the necessary coursework to graduate from the University of Minnesota, having left school early for the NFL draft in 1963. In May, he will walk across the stage in Minneapolis and get his diploma.

Here are a couple photos I made of him and his wonderful wife, Pam.

NCAA Volleyball Early Rounds

University of Arkansas - Little Rock traveled to Topeka, Kan. to take on No. 16 seeded Kansas. They upset the Jayhawks in five sets and moved on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The next night, they fought hard against Oregon State, but ultimately fell to the Beavers after five long sets.

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):