Day 12

A crop duster flies a few feet above a cornfield off of I-35 north of Des Moines on Saturday July 31, 2010.

Not the most exciting photo I have ever shot, but I guess every photo can’t be of a facial stabbing victim.  On a separate note, I don’t know why my blog has suddenly taken a turn towards corn, but I am going to blame it on Iowa.  It’s probably not a bad thing to shoot, lord knows there is enough of it.  I tried to flag the guy in the photo down to get his name, but he flew away… what a jerk.  Tomorrow, probably more corn and corn related photography.  Can the combines just come out already?

Day 11

During a break in the rain, Sierra Plager a junior in Ag Studies dumps a bag of sweet corn on the bed of a pickup truck at a produce stand on Friday July 30^th, 2010 at 13^th and Grand in Ames, IA.  Plager says “On a good day I’ll sell four to five hundred dozen ears, but the rain slows down sales.”  She added “A guy came in and dropped one-hundred dollars on corn, that’s a lot of corn.”  This is Plager’s 3^rd summer selling sweet corn.

I was driving back home to get ready for my trip to KC tonight, and I saw this chick who somewhat resembled a bright yellow clansman selling corn.  I figured I’d stop and see what I could get.

Update: Day 10

I dropped off my photo at the Ames paper this morning, but I guess they decided not to run it. On a side note, they couldn't read a CR2 file from my camera so I had to email them a TIF. Below is article related to my photo.

Woman stabbed at Deano’s; police search for Ames man

Police are searching for a man wanted for questioning in a stabbing incident that occurred Thursday night in downtown Ames.

James Rasmussen, 52, of Ames, is wanted for questioning in the incident, which left a 44-year-old Ames woman in critical condition.

Police said the case started at 7:04 p.m. at Deano’s, a bar at 119 Main St. A call came in about a fight in progress and a possible stabbing on the bar’s back stoop.

Check out the full article at:
http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2010/07/30/ames_tribune/news/doc4c52f5a28ec7b546880975.txt

Day 10

Ames EMS and Fire pull carry a woman out of Deano's 119 Main in Ames, IA.  An EMS tech was overheard saying, “She’s bleeding like crazy; we are going to need to carry her out,” and according to the pizza delivery guy, who was in Deano’s immediately after the incident, “People were going batshit and a woman was yelling ‘We need clean towels.’” 

I saw two police cars in my rearview mirror that happened to be turning down the alley towards Deano’s.  I was looking for parking anyway and decided to walk over and see what was happening.  I missed them actually going into the building, but somebody said he thought he saw one of them draw a gun.  I hung out until the carried out the woman.  Hopefully I’ll find out more information tomorrow.  I tried to go in the front of Deano’s, but some angry female officer told me to move along and then told me the bar was closed.  I am curious as to my legal standing to be on the sidewalk shooting photos.  Also, how do I find out more information on this? Can I call the police and just ask? Things to look into, Ames is getting pretty rough. 

Photo illustration by

Cover

Page 4 | News

The Daily's cover for today features my former roommate Tim Parks asleep on a couch on Lynn Ave in Ames.  The Daily also reran my photo of the cleanup from a couple weeks ago.  Not a bad way to make a Jackson.

Day 9

From Iowa north of Colo, the waning gibbous moon rises in the east over fields of corn speckled with wind turbines. The rain has made unobstructed views of the celestial sphere in Iowa a rarity this summer and although it will be a bumper crop, it hasn’t been a bumper year for star observation. Iowa is second only to Texas for most wind capacity installed, but first in friendly people, as I was stopped on the side of the road shooting this photo two cars stopped to ask me if I was having car trouble or if I needed any help. I shot this photo as part of a project for the Astronomy 120 class I am taking at Iowa State University. We start every day with the Astronomy Picture of the Day and a discussion of what’s happening in the picture.

I went out tonight to shoot star trails as part of an extra credit project for Astro 120, there were too many clouds, and I don’t have a good way to do extremely long exposures so this is what I got.  I’m pretty happy with it and if you look closely there are star trails.  I wonder how long of an exposure I need to get a polar spin.  On a side note, Iowa is too nice.  Two separate cars stopped to ask me if I was having car trouble when I was shooting on the side of the road.

Day 8

Tim Parks pretends to be temporarily homeless as part of a photo illustration about college temporary homeless.

Fuck humidity, fuck slaved flashes, fuck photography is fun.  Nothing ever works, and so I’m not super happy with this photo, but it I think it gets the point across.  I need a C.T. Sodium Vapor for my flash next time, crazy orange stuff going on.  This portrait photography/photo illustration is a whole new beast, but similar to lighting interviews.  I’m going to have to keep working at it.

Smart ladies

My photo ran in the Daily! I was actually hoping they would run one of my football photos, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Day 7

Ames Lab researcher doing something sciency. 

One week down.   I appreciate all the luck that people have been sending my way.  I don’t know if a week down is a significant mark at all, or if it means that I will actually get this year done, but I am 1/52nd done, and I am taking it as a reason to celebrate.  As for my photo today, typically I’m not super big on gear however I shot this with a D1X.  Also, a couple more of my photos got picked up on the Iowa State Daily’s site; we’ll see what they run in the paper.  Some of the photos are from me, and some are from a guy I work with, here is the link:

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/sports/collection_1e8b3ff8-97af-11df-b208-001cc4c03286.html

Andy

Day 6

Tom Carlson, my dad, cleans the sliding glass door that leads to the porch in Ankeny on Sunday, July 25, 2010.  The window cleaning is a yearly ritual that involves spraying the windows with the hose and touching up with Windex. 

I know it looks like a photoshop effect, but it is actually water on actual glass.  Stupid photoshop.  I think on Sundays I’m going to try to shoot around the house.  Also, from today on, I am going to put the photos below the title and explain them after that. 

Day 5

My photo of the day comes to you directly from the Iowa Shrine Bowl.  I was pretty stoked when I got this photo.  Great gear definitely didn’t hurt. Hopefully I can hit up some more sporting events in the fall.  By the way, red team beat the shit out of white team 21-0.

North Team's Taylor Zeutenhorst of Sheldon nails South Team's Jacob Gannon of Iowa City, West and knocks the ball out of his hands during the Shrine Bowl Saturday July 24, 2010 at Jack Trice Stadium. Photo: Andrew Carlson/Iowa State Daily

Day 4

So far this project has been a bit of a grind, but I think in a year I’ll look back and be happy I did it.  This afternoon I took a little trip to the Legion to have a couple bottles of inspiration, and saw these vets playing some shuffleboard.

Kim Gross sends a puck down the shuffleboard at his opponents grouping on July 23, 2010 at the Ames’ American Legion on Main Street in Ames.  Gross plays shuffleboard almost every Friday at the Legion and says when it comes to strategy, “trash talking is the most important,” but the key to winning is “a little luck.” 

Day 3

As I was walking to work today the lights were on in a lecture hall and the pattern of the desks seemed cool.

Julianna Kruse a junior in Animal Science/Pre Veterinarian, Chealsee Lynn a junior in Family Consumer Sciences, and Kera Coggins a freshman in Genetics take a quick break during their Chemistry 50 course in Gillman 1002 on July 22, 2010.  Although the class is held in a large lecture hall, these three make up the entire class.  Their instructor, Kathy Burke says they are “three smart ladies,” and as for small class size she says it’s “not bad being in a class of three.”

Benihana

The first photo I’ve ever been paid for. Fifteen whole dollars, before taxes.  Not really too much else to say about it.

Iowa State Daily, July 22, 2010, Volume 205, Page 2

Day 2

I really wasn’t feeling like anything was going to happen today, and arguably it didn’t.  I shot this photo because I hadn’t shot anything else all day. It seemed like decent potential for a feature style photo, but it just didn’t come together.  It probably doesn’t help that I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.  Hopefully something else happens tonight so this doesn’t have to be my Day 2 photo.

Breanna Fousek a junior in Kinesiology and Ellyn McGranahan a junior in Sociology enjoy some sun while dipping their feet in the Union Fountain on Iowa State’s campus on July 21, 2010.  Fousek says they were on campus, “It was really hot, and we decided to put our feet in.” 

So that wasn't quite good enough. I'm not super thrilled with the photos from tonight, but they are better than this afternoon.  I have to learn not to force photos.  Shoot, and shoot, but don't force it.  Is this better?

American Legion member Paul Madson pulls French fries out of the fryer during a pork loin dinner at the American Legion on July 21, 2010.  About cooking Madson says, “I enjoy it. I’ve done a lot of cooking in my years.”

My photos, but not my photo for the day

I was debating whether or not I should post this, but seeing as how you are reading this I bet you can figure out that I did.  This is the first edition of the Iowa State Daily, the school’s paper, since I started shooting for them about a week ago.  I was pretty stoked when I saw my photo on the cover and even happier when I saw the center spread.  Five photos down, I get paid for the next one.

Andy

The Cover

The spread (I didn't shoot the top two on the right)

Day 1

In an attempt to become a better photographer, maybe even a good photographer someday, I have set out with a goal: shoot every day.  I know it’s not life shattering, but I think it will be a good experiment to see if I can keep this project alive.

Barring gear breakdown, a year from now my blog should have 365 photos.  However there is a catch, I need your help. I need you too keep me honest, if I'm not posting and you know me call!  I also am enlisting you to tell me how to improve, and hopefully a year from now I’ll be cranking out some kick ass imagery.  Here it goes, day one:

Ames’s Kyle Morrison, age 18, grabs the tail of his skateboard and performs a benihana off the “big quarter” pipe at the Ames Skate Park on July 20, 2010.