A Good Day, or the end of creative constipation

So I think I've mentioned a couple of time over the few weeks that I just haven't found anything, any stories that have really got my blood flowing.

I, like most artists, need a subject to be working on, a piece to be completing. Otherwise I just feel like I'm missing something, and something vital to me.

The advantage to journalism is that different subjects are put in front of me day after day. This means, if for no other reason than the sheer chance of numbers, that one of these assignments will eventually turn into something interesting, into something more than an assignment, and more about me creating something I want to create for my own reasons.

So I got lucky and got one and half of those in one day, and it was a damn long day.

The one, the main one, was covering Chicago's Chiditarod. It's a grocery cart race around Chicago's northwest side with bar hoping interwoven. Basically the competitors run from bar to bar, where they must wait, until they get to the end. The different teams all go with themes; secret service, bunnies, team zissou, etc, and the associated costumes. The grocery carts are usually decorated also.

Basically it's a reason for a bunch of people to act silly, dress silly, and drink. Good time for all. Not to mention very easy to get a fair number of decent photos out of.

For me it's a chance to work on something more interesting than "this week's business feature is..." It's a chance for me to have a story that makes me want to create something cool. A chance to make something longer and with at least a tad more depth. It's not the long-term story I'm still looking for, but it's a nice filler for a while, and I should be proud of it when I'm done.

I'm hoping to turn it into a audio slide show in the next day or two. Just got to do the computer work now.

That was my morning assignment. As soon as I got done with that I got packed and made a two hour drive down state to the girls high school state basketball championship.

Typically sports kind of bore me. They're a bit repetive and we rarely run anything too different photographically. State championships though can be more fun, if for no other reason than there is more energy and emotion.

So I spent the night shooting Fenwick winning state. I got a lot of jube (jubilation) shots out of the deal plus some good action shots. The tighter the game usually the better the action shots.

I've shot state championship many times before, and I've shot losing teams before, and I get good shots out of those, but they're just not as much fun as winning teams. Anything you photographic the emotions of the subject are going to effect your emtions. Does it really need to be said that over-whelming happiness beats saddness?

Now I need to turn all the basketball images into a slide show. The other thing about a good day, is that it tends to be followed by a few long days to get all the back end work done.

A good morning of shooting a fun subject and a night of shooting shooting good sports with good celebration.

A good day, all and all.