Suns Dancer Tryouts

The Phoenix Suns dancer tryouts were held at the US Airways Center in August and was choreographed by Ashley Roberts of the Pussycat Dolls.

One of the toughest assignments I've had to shoot yet...

Kaity's Law

Bobbi Sudberry is the step mother of Kaity Sudberry, after whom the law was named.

Kaity's death at the hands of an ex-boyfriend spurred the recent creation of "Kaity's Law," a bill designed to extend protection to domestic violence victims, including unmarried couples who had previously been unprotected by Arizona laws.

Ms. Sudberry asked me to somehow get the painting on the wall in the photo because it is one of her favorites of Kaity's watercolors.

First Friday

First Fridays in downtown Phoenix are always a good go-to event for the College Times... Art, music, dancing? You can't go wrong.

Urban Chicken Farming

Myron Mykyta is a local expert on raising chickens in the city. He was kind enough to invite me to his home in Mesa....

For some reason August was all about chickens and dogs... For this same story I took a picture of another young man in Tempe who owns two chickens in his back yard... My previous two posts cover the dogs...

Find My Dog A Date

Michael D'Elena created the website www.FindMyDogADate.com as a way for dog owners to find playmates for their pets.

I got a standard dog and owner portrait to start out, but wanted more of a natural reaction from Michael and asked him to let his dog Mika lick his face... He was very cooperative and we ended up using the second photo...

Arizona Animal Welfare League

The Arizona Animal Welfare League has a kennel in Phoenix where people can adopt pets. The picture that ran in the College Times was of one of the volunteers spending time with a dog that had had surgery to repair its injured hind legs, but I really liked this photo...

Who doesn't love puppies?

ASU Algae Research

I get to see some really interesting and fascinating things through my job at times... I found this assignment to be one of those times.

At ASU's Polytechnic campus students and scientists are finding that they can create a completely renewable diesel fuel source from algae... Aside from biodiesel, this program is also concentrating on creating jet fuel from the algae.

This scientist is holding up a small sample of refined diesel fuel derived from algae.

While this guy extracts algae samples for testing.

Mindy Dupont College Times Cover

The decision was made over the summer that instead of using models for the covers of the College Times we would start putting our featured subjects on the cover.

We profiled a young woman named Mindy Duponte whose older sister and bandmate had died inhaling Dust Off. Mindy prevailed and continued her music despite the tragic loss of her sister.

Gospel Claws on the Lightrail

The website www.thetraintracks.com in partnership with Valley Metro has been bringing bands onto the lightrail trains to perform live acoustic music for passengers while they film the performances for the website. The dates and times aren't consistent so it's sort of the luck of the draw for passengers as to which specific train will host and at what time...

I tagged along with Gospel Claws for this particular performance. Pretty good stuff.

Devastation

Devastation was a video game competition in July at the Phoenix Convention Center downtown. It was kind of challenging to get good people shots when all anybody was doing was sitting around staring at TV screens.



I liked that the guy in the back isn't plugged in, but was playing along anyways... I remember him saying out loud to himself that he totally nailed every note. He's my new hero.

4th of July College Times Cover

Years ago when my now wife Stephanie and I were first dating we came across a large American flag mural on the side of a building in a commercial district in Mesa where I took some film photos of her just for kicks...

After my art director and I began kicking around ideas a few months ago for the 4th of July cover this year he asked me if I knew any place where there was a giant picture of an American flag and I immediately remembered the mural. I set up this photo shoot on the 20th of June and was very pleased with the end result.

I'll have to dig up the original photos for you that I took of Stephanie at this location... Remind me some time.

Pretty Things Peep Show

The Trunk Space, as the name suggests, is a tiny venue. What this place lacks in size it makes up for in character and usually presents some pretty interesting shows.

The Pretty Things Peep Show was part freak show, part strip tease, part magic act all rolled into one interesting evening.

Pool Party

The Lofts at Rio Salado apartment complex put on a number of pool parties over the summer. I shot a couple of them, but there wasn't much action because the water was probably about 90 degrees and people figured the less they did in the heat the better.
I like this photo because of the colors... It has nothing to do with the fact that there are three bikini-clad girls in the photo. I swear. No, really.

Tattoo Festival

This event took place in May this year.

Every year at the Mesa Convention Center this tattoo festival brings thousands of tattooers and their canvases together in one giant room.

Roller Derby

I shot this assignment in May at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the State Fair grounds in Phoenix.

Roller Derby is always an entertaining time. Who doesn't like to watch a pack of attractive tattooed women on roller skates beating eachother up?

Greek Festival

Shot in May of this year...

During the Greek Festival at Tempe Beach Park every year you'll see saganaki (flaming cheese), traditional dancing, and lamb on a spit.