Des Moines Arts Festival

This is a photograph I took at the Des Moines Arts Festival this past weekend in Des Moines, Iowa. This a community art project done by anyone who wanted to paint a square. My mom has a tile on there somewhere. I love seeing other artists and their creative thoughts, it really makes you better at what you do. Inspiration is what drives my art. I feed off of it.

Frisbee Golf

Discovered a new and interesting activity, frisbee golf, from my friend Casey who is pictured above. It was tough carrying my camera and playing; this is the best picture I got. I played tonight and got 6 under par, I was happy with it. I suggest finding your nearest frisbee golf course.. free to play and cheap to buy the discs. Great activity to pass the time and be outside.

Cedar Rapids Flooding: The Aftermath

Once again this is a photo taken by my good friend Marcus Soukup in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is a flood clean up crew cleaning the horrible mess left behind. Go to his Flickr page to see all of his very good photos. I am liking his portraits the most lately. Great stuff.

Skate or Die: Maraca Style

This is a photo of a maraca I made in 8th grade of my skateboard character I created in Tony Hawk the video game. Oh to be young again, and where did all of my creativity go?

Exciting Life in Perry

This is a candid photo of my friend Alex as we were eating a pizza buffet. This is about as exciting as it gets living in Perry. I need some culture.

Poker Night

My friends and I had a poker night and this is a photo of me going all in and well, losing. Luckily I don't really like gambling and only had a dollar in the game haha.

Light Writing

Hello, to all who read my blog! This photo is a result of being bored at one in the morning. I thought I'd take a picture of my backyard at night so no one can see how bad it looks. Only kidding, but this is lightwriting. A photo technique using a source of light. It is pretty fun. Google it!

A Little China on the Prairie

This a photo of an extremely small Buddha in my friends restaurant in Perry, Iowa. I've always enjoyed his dad's Chinese cooking. I feel lucky every day that I get to live in such a diverse community.

The title of this post is a reference to a documentary done about Perry called "A Little Salsa on the Prairie."

Oh and the restaurant is called the Mandarin by the way. Check it out if you're ever in Perry!

More Cedar Rapids Flooding

I thought I would stick with what is on everyone's mind in Iowa; flooding. My friend Marcus Soukup took this photo in Cedar Rapids of a tow trucker driver helping with flooding. To me this photo says all of his emotions by looking at his face. It is a great shot with a side event behind it. I hope that Cedar Rapids can recover from this and become even better.

Click on the photo to see all of Marcus's pictures of the flooding in Cedar Rapids. He has some great shots.

Cedar Rapids Flooding

This photo was taken by my close friend and roommate Marcus Soukup as he was trying to get home near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This was taken in the downtown area of Cedar Rapids. Water levels in Iowa are increasing every day. I can't imagine my house being flooded like these; I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

I am going around Des Moines tomorrow and taking some flood pictures and this weekend I am hopefully heading to the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, so stay tuned for those pictures. Oh, and send me a telephoto lens while you're at it.

Flooding, Flooding, and More Flooding

I haven't posted in the past 2 days and that is a bad thing. I started a new job this week and I finally took a break last night to go around my hometown of Perry, Iowa to view the flooding. A lot of the pictures I took have a strange peacefulness to them; there is something about the power of nature being able to do what it wants. There is also a subtle sadness at the loss of valuable hard work put in by farmers in these rural areas.

Photo HDR

I was introduced to HDR photography this year and this a photography I took for a class at Loras in Dubuque. This is a typical alley way in downtown Dubuque. It is like stepping into a city on the east coast. That is the great thing about Dubuque; you're in Iowa but you feel like you are somewhere else.

Where have the sunsets gone?

With all of this rain the sun has been lost for a few weeks. I wanted to remind everyone how beautiful it can be right here in Iowa. This is a photo I took when I was a senior in high school and had no clue about anything relating to photography, but I knew what made me feel good, and for me that is photography is all about; capturing a single moment for an eternity.

This photograph was taken with a point and shoot Nikon at the De Soto National Wildlife Refuge near Council Bluffs on the backwaters of the Missouri River.

NCAA Track and Field Championships

This is a photograph I took while I was in high school of the Drake Relays in Des Moines. The NCAA track and field championships will be held here next weekend. Nothing in this picture still exists in Drake Stadium but the memories of all of the world class athletes who have competed here have. Every time I see this sign I get a visual of one of my heroes, Steve Prefontaine, flying by it on his way to an NCAA championship. If this round of college athletes are anything near who Pre was this event should be one to remember.

Thank you Drake for bringing a love for track and field to Iowa.

Voting: An Iowa Way of Life

Today were primary elections across the state of Iowa. I decided to vote today because I feel a sense of pride in voting; especially because I am from Iowa. Politics in Iowa is a unique experience, from the caucuses to the steak fries, politics in Iowa has always interested me.

I'm Feelin' BBQ

It's finally feeling like summer now that the weather has warmed up, and summer to means one thing: BBQ! This photo was taken at the Rib America Festival in Des Moines last summer and the event is returning this year: click here.

Hootie and the Blowfish and Jonny Lang headline the event. Good food and good music; what more could you want?