Funday

Rio Rancho event for the community. Sunday is Funday. Part festival, part picnic, lots of kiddies.

The Priest and his dog

This priest was the most interesting subject yet in New Mexico. His dog, Samson or Weasel (yes the dog had two names), use to attend mass until a parishioner complained. He restores old cars on the side. He special orders his cigars online.

High School... once again.

The first day of high school at Volcano Vista where only the freshmen are attending this year. Different teachers had different approaches to the first day of school, as can be seen below. The Biology teacher in the first photo had the kids participating in a name game and laughing the whole time. The PE teacher in the second photo gave the class the drill on how to line up in alphabetical order for roll call then filed the kids back to the classroom to wait for the bell to ring.

Duran Volunteer Fire Department

The town of Duran, NM, reported a population of 32 at the beginning of 2007. The fire department is literally aging as new recruits barely exist. Nice people, extremely small town and shrinking population.

Photo Essay - HS Sports Practice

Monday was the first day of high school sports practices and I was lucky enough to be assigned a photo essay on it for one high school. I LOVE doing this type of thing. Who doesn't right? I was challenged to cover 5 practices: football, cross-country, girls soccer, volleyball and boys soccer. It was a mad rush as most of the teams held practice at the same time, but somehow it got done. I'm pretty happy with the results of a 3 hour job for one essay. Below are the photos in color and some outtakes.

They only wanted one photo per sport so these were cut.

Bulldozer and the Mayor

I don't know which PR person's idea it was to have the mayor begin demolition on some condemned houses on Thursday but they should have at least showed him how to use the machine BEFORE the media got there. Instead we all got to see the 5 minute lesson. I was quick on my feet while he was demolishing the first house just in case he hit the wrong thingy-ma-bob up there.

First day

This time I was NOT mistaken for a high schooler. But all the same I blended in pretty easily I'll admit it. From what I saw high school hasn't changed much. There were a few students already pushing the dress code to see how much they could get away with. There were the late lost students and then the students who weren't lost but still late to class anyway. Some things don't change. Also it's a challenge to shoot the first day of school and "be sure not to show anyone's face prominently because they don't have their photo releases yet."

New High

The northwest side of Albuquerque is gaining a new high school. Volcano Vista is only accepting a freshmen class this year since about 60% of the campus is still under construction. Thursday night was registration and the first time the students got to visit their brand new school. The halls still smelled of fresh paint and all of the desks hadn't been assembled yet. And yet students really didn't care about that stuff, but instead about their locker location and those of their friends. Their mascot is the Hawks, but out of a newsroom vote we decided it looks more like a raven. I was also almost mistaken as one of the new students, only my camera set me apart and prompted one of the parents to check before assuming.

Go Hawks

Trying to figure out that locker combination

Parents and students were bused in because the school only has 50 parking spots

Already in the principal's office? No, schedule checks

Dude where's my locker?

In the Mood

If you know me, you know my other passion besides photo is dance. I could dance every day and never be tired of it. Since I've moved to Albuquerque I've picked up swing dancing again and have been going about 3 or 4 nights a week. Thursday night I brought along my camera since my back had been hurting from dancing a few nights before.
And here's what I captured...
(Hum a few bars of Peggy Lee's "Fever" or Ella Fitzgerald singing "Nice Work if You Can Get It" for the full effect)

Stainless Steel Glory

Pat Pruitt is a Laguna-Apache stainless steel jewelry/artist.
Awesome stuff all of it.
And a great photo shoot to boot.
His work will be part of this year's Indian Market in Santa Fe.
www.patpruitt.com