Black Hills Ice Fishing

Found this fisherman while roaming the Black Hills last weekend.

Matt Berry, 28, grew up in Rapid City, SD and has been ice fishing Pactola
Reservoir in the Black Hills since he was a teenager. "The ice starts to
freeze over in mid-December and when it's about 6 inches thick we're safe to
start fishing," said Berry, while reading a book and waiting for a school of
freshwater trout to pass below. "It's peaceful out here, keeps me coming out
whenever I can."

For The Love of Wood...

Spent some time last week hanging out with people at the annual Furniture Refinishing Workshop for a story that ran in the Living section of the Gillette News-Record. The workshop has been going on for approximately 30 years with people of all different skill levels working on different wooden furniture, big and small.

The amount of work everyone puts in on the projects was inspiring. It's quite the labor of love, much like photography can be.

Here's a link to the article, written by Nathan Payne...who coincidentally is also a pretty kick ass photo editor.
READ IT HERE

Postcard Photographer

Until those personal tablet things "change" photojournalism for the rest of history, I'm going to be a postcard photographer. Not really. Was really nice to visit Mt. Rushmore National Monument this weekend though.

More to come from my life in Northeast Wyoming in the near future.

Thanks for looking.

Devils Tower Nat'l Monument

It's official. I'm now living in Northeast Wyoming. More to come soon.

Goodbye for now, San Francisco...

Off to the Wild West.

Santa Claus: The Dude Behind the Beard

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I spent some time during my last couple of weeks with the Standard-Examiner doing a story about Mike Reddish, a man who has been Santa Claus in Northern Utah for about 15 years now.

This is my first Christmas away from family, but somehow in hanging out with Santa Claus over the past few weeks I was able to keep my Christmas spirit alive. Living and working in Ogden, UT has been a great experience, I've learned so much about myself both as a photographer and a person during my time here.

I am leaving this newspaper and spending time in California until January 18, when I will be starting another six-month internship with The Gillette News-Record in Northeast Wyoming.

May everyone have a safe an prosperous New Year!

Read the Article here.

44 Hours in the Land of Peaches

SLC International Airport

Downtown Atlanta

Downtown ATL Construction

Rural Road in Stockbridge, GA

Burned Down to a Mobile Home

'Stella'

I left early on Sunday morning from Salt Lake City, UT to hop a flight to Atlanta, GA and visit family while celebrating my grandfather's 90th birthday. Managed to get out and wander just a little bit in the short time I was there.

Can't wait to visit again, hopefully a lot longer next time.

The Varsity makes a good fried peach pie, but Chik-fil-a no doubt makes it better.

Thanks for looking.


Mark McKnight Silhouette

Sports Feature Photograph of the Year: 2009 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar

Last Friday I heard from a friend that one of my rodeo images was selected as the Sports Feature photograph of the year by the judges at the 2009 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar in Atlanta, GA.

The seminar was founded in 1973 by a group of photojournalists representing newspapers, magazines, and wire services, in an effort to promote the highest standards of photojournalism through an annual conference and contest judged by working photographers.


"Flat-out funny. I just laughed out loud.", "An unusual photo", "Nice moment...good eye," said Sports Illustrated staff photographer and 2009 APS judge, Bill Frakes.

There has been some amazing work this year, I feel very lucky that others enjoyed my 'Two Cowboys' photograph as much as I did.

Congratulations to Alex Welsh, a fellow 2009 graduate from San Francisco State University, who was honored in multiple categories for his groundbreaking documentary work in the Hunter's Point neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. John Adkisson, another colleague who hails from UNC Chapel Hill was honored with both a 1st and 3rd place award for his exquisite multimedia work over the last year.

If you're interested in seeing some great rodeo photography, Salt Lake City based Deseret-News staff photographer Mike Terry has been working on a photo essay about rodeo culture in the American West. There are some wonderful, romanticizing images he has made of the rodeo which are definitely worth a look!

Soul Searching Antelope Island / Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program Hunting

It has been epic cold here in Northern Utah over the past week or so. Even people that have lived here for years have been heard commenting on the sometimes subzero temperatures. It has been a little slow at the paper this week, so I used the opportunity to keep working on a series of photos. After driving to the point on Antelope Island where you can see the Great Salt Lake, I stumbled upon the sun--it had been a few days since it warmed me up a bit.

If you have time, see more photos from this series on my redesigned website...under 'Soul Searching the American West'. If you're interested in purchasing a print, simply click on 'Prices' and follow the check-out process.

When I was leaving, I heard shotgun fire off in the distance.

So I tracked it down, and found that John Neill, an avian biologist with Utah's Department of Natural Resources and Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, was hunting Northern Shoveler and Cinnamon Teal birds within Antelope Island's wildlife reserve. He and others were out hunting the birds in an effort to ensure the birds are not consuming hazardous levels of mercury in the water, and they have teamed with the a doctoral student at University of Utah for the study.

Sort of ironic, right? Killing birds to save them.

It's too bad I won't be around to work on the story, would have been quite interesting! But I was able to spend about fifteen minutes hanging out with them before transmitting on deadline.

Tommy "Rooster" Jerome Sikes, 66

I was sitting at a stop light and fumbled for the camera when Tommy "Rooster" Jerome Sikes drifted through the cross walk. The wheels quickly turned to Washington Boulevard from 25th Street in Ogden, UT to learn more about this Vietnam war veteran.

Rooster was born in Chatanooga, Tenn. on June 13, 1943. According to him he was "ready for rodeo" the day he was born. He states that he served his country in the United States Army from '61-'68, when he moved to Salt Lake City, UT to pursue a life in rodeo.

Such an interesting person.

I'm trying to learn more about him, hopefully I will see him again before I leave the Beehive State.