Monday - April 21, 2008
OK OK OK
The masses have spoken. Or at least, like, four people.
I am going to continue the blog, but I have to make a couple changes in order to do so. So, I am going to migrate over to Flickr.com to keep on sharing pictures with you all. This will let me upload them much easier, and from any location, plus it will let me keep them private.
The only catch is, if you want to see them you will have to join Flickr and then add me as a contact. Don't worry, it's free and easy:
Sign up at Flickr.com, and create a new account.
Go to my new blog address, http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeja/ and add me as a contact. After I confirm you, you've got access to my pictures.
The good news here is, I will be able to update the blog much more frequently. So everyone wins.
Thursday - April 17, 2008
Es Fin
Dear Loyal Readers,
I have been keeping this blog going for more than 4 years now. It started out as a way to keep friends and family in the loop with the work I was doing on my temporary job in Boise, ID. Well that job turned permanent, and this summer I will celebrate 5 years at the Statesman.
I am finding my motivation to continue with it is just about shot. It's been a great run, but I think it's time to call it a day. New projects and adventures await.
So, I am going to close up shop here. Thanks to everyone who has browsed through these past four years, posted comments, etc. It's been a great venue to keep in touch with people I care about from around the country and even the world.
In the future there may be something else in this space, and if that comes to fruition I will let as many of you know as possible. But until then, let me just say, thank you for looking. It's been fun!
Like I said, the blog was started years ago to keep people abreast of My New Adventures in Idaho. Which has become, My Life in Idaho. So I will leave you with a picture of me and how I feel here, after almost 5 years and so many adventures later. (Photo by the lovely and talented Andrea Jackson)
Monday - March 24, 2008
Brains!
Ever been on a zombie walk? It's part performance art, part theater, part gross. This past weekend I joined some Boise zombie enthusiasts for a stroll through downtown groaning and limping and seeking out people's brains. They stay in character throughout, even through the questions of "What's this for?" and "Who are you guys."
The various reactions we got were pretty interesting. From freaked out to curious to laughing to disbelief. Some people, like this guy on a bike, just tried to get away from the dozen-or-so zombies as fast as he could.
Saturday - March 15, 2008
Typical
In the past I have written a lot about some of the extraordinary parts of my job. But a lot of what I do is typical daily newspaper stuff, that is neither glamorous or exciting.
Today, for instance. We are doing a story about the "slow food" concept, and people in Boise who are embracing a diet of nearly-all locally produced foods. It's an interesting concept, and they had a lunch / workshop today which I photographed. It was pretty yummy.
Then I went to an Irish dance performance to take photographs to run in the paper on St. Patrick's Day. Again, nothing splashy or exciting, but mildly interesting. People are always so glad you are there at these kinds of events, their excited that they or their kids might be in the paper. So it's nice to be wanted, because that isn't always the case.
Wednesday - March 12, 2008
And, we're back.
Wow. Now that was one hecuva hiatus. If some of you gave up on me, I don't blame you. For those of you who stuck around, I won't disappoint. We'll get rolling on this blog again. I won't bore you with the details, but I had a MAJOR computer meltdown about a month ago, and am just now getting things back again. I still don't know how much data I have or is lost, but life goes on.
So, on with it. I was asked to shoot a photo for the sports section cover previewing Boise State's chances in the Western Athletic conference tourney. BSU hoops beat writing Nick J. mentioned that they had a "Fab Four" lineup of starting seniors. Extrapolating from this, I came up with the idea to re-create the famous beetles album cover with the "Fab Four" crossing the street.
The idea went through several revisions, but I ended up finding a photo of the empty Abbey Road crosswalk on-line and then purchased the rights to the image. With Nick's help, I set up studio lights in he practice gym and photographed each senior after practice one day on various positions of walking. The players were pretty in to it, it was fun. I then cut out the images of the players and dropped them in to the crosswalk photo. Susanna, our image tech, made the final tonal adjustments and added the shadows. Overall I think it came out pretty nice, and I got lots of comments on it the next day. Several callers into the local sports talk radio show mentioned it too. It's fun when a project gets people talking.
I will probably be tweaking the blog a bit in the near future, as I am using a new blogging program.
