Weird Lights

I shot a regional girls basketball tournament game down in Teutopolis, Ill., Wednesday night. The light was great... nice and bright, which is a relative term when talking about a gym. For the photo nerds, I was shooting ISO 2500, 1/500 @ f/2.8 for game action.

Nothing …

Valentines for Journalists

10,000 Words, one of my favorite journalism blogs, has a nice collection of valentines made specifically for journalists. I think it's safe to say these made my day.

This is my personal favorite, but there are some other good ones at the site.

If you are in the news …

Blagojevich Impeachment

I was in Springfield yesterday to cover the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. I showed up around 8:15 to get my stuff situated and get my credentials for the Senate gallery. For anyone who doesn't know, the gallery is the second floor balcony... not a bad view, but …

Back-seat shooter

I usually don't turn my camera off when I'm done shooting... just in case something would happen in front of me I like being able to just start working and not fumble with the power switch. The startup time, which is admittedly still pretty fast, takes longer than …

First Time

Well, this is new.

I have had my name misspelled a few different ways in newspapers (yes, even my own). The usual Steven instead of Stephen, Hass instead of Haas, Steve and a few other variations. There have been photos of mine that run with somebody else's name …

Busted Stuff

Wednesday was one of those days... nothing seemed to be going right. I was scheduled to shoot an assignment in Arcola in the morning. I hadn't planned on the roads being as gross as they were so I pulled into town just as the event was happening. By the time I got …

Year in Pictures

MSNBC just published their annual Year in Pictures package... They have categories for news and sports, but I think they should have added a special category for the election. There were so many stellar images from the primaries and general campaign and -- in my …

Casey-Westfield 17 -- Immaculate Conception 36

I got to shoot the IHSA Class 2A state final game at Memorial Stadium last weekend. I used to enjoy shooting state football... I actually used to shoot all eight games over the two-day event for the Associated Press before they stopped paying freelancers to cover …

Clemson 76 -- Illinois 74

I got to shoot the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge at the Assembly Hall Tuesday night. What a game... good shooting, good defense and then no final shot. Apparently Illinois lost track of the game clock and didn't get a last chance in to tie or take the win at the …

Changing Plans

I made the Mal & Steve page almost two years ago as a place to tell people about our wedding and had plans to use it to update people about us, our house, pets, etc... Well, I kind of forgot it was there, so it hadn't been touched since right after the wedding.

This …

MacArthur 6 -- Cahokia 31

I got to drive down to Cahokia (just outside of St. Louis) for a high school quarterfinal playoff game between MacArthur and Cahokia Saturday. The drive felt like it took forever, but it wasn't as bad as standing in the freezing wind for a few hours.

MacArthur lost …

Arthur-Lovington 32 -- Meridian 33

I got to shoot the area's first high school basketball game of the year last night. Luckily I made it in time. Apparently one of the teams didn't have enough girls for a JV team so they started the varsity game early. I show up at 7:25 for my 7:30 assignment and there …

Dresser

This dresser was nailed to the workbench supports in our garage when we bought the house over the summer. I had kind of written it off and thought about getting rid of it last week but then we decided to try to fix it up and use it in the guest room. It's not the …

Wedding Ring

So... I had a little accident Saturday afternoon while shooting a high school football playoff game.

I dropped my wedding ring down a porta-potty. I had been standing outside in the cold for a couple of hours and took my glove off to use the restroom and my ring flew …

Chuck Norris

When Chuck Norris isn't selling the Total Gym exercise machine he writes commentary for World Net Daily... today's column was an open letter to President-elect Obama.

Now that Democrats have a virtual monopoly over our land, with control of the White House, both houses …

Foreshadowing

From the Change of Subject blog on the Chicago Tribune site...

Speaking to the Illinois delegation breakfast, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D.-Evanston) recalled a meeting she and other lawmakers had with President Bush in the White House in February.

As they were leaving, …

The show is over

The empty stage after John McCain's election night rally at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.

Danny Wilcox Frazier / Redux for TIME

• White House Photo of the Day - TIME

Front Pages

I wanted to post this update a couple days ago, but I've been trying to figure out a way to do it tactfully. I don't like to complain about my own paper -- especially since they are the ones that give me a paycheck. But, I think I just have to say it and get it off my …

McCain on SNL

Killing a few minutes before election-night mayhem starts in the newsroom... McCain's opening on SNL was pretty freaking hilarious. Thought I'd post it since it might be the last time we see him smile on TV for a while.

80 Points

I don't think I've seen an 80-point font size on Web site in a long time... maybe ever. I'm not counting MySpace pages for that person who thinks they are a web designer because they can make their giant scrolling text blink with lots of flashy animated clip-art …