Right place, right time.

So far this week I’ve had the great fortune of being in the right place at the right time.

Sunday Kamille and I had gone to the horse fair out at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. She had brought her Nikon D50 and I had brought my Nikon D700 and an HD video camera from the office, that’s all I had.

About an hour or so after being there the tornado sirens go off and we are all moved into a shelter on the fair grounds. An hour after we’re out of the shelter my editor calls and asks if I can cover some storm damage on the north west side of the city. I told him what equipment I had and he told me just to focus on video.

Kam and I drive down North Grand Avenue and it looks like a tornado came through on its far west side. We hop out and a lady tells us about a blown over trailer down the street. We run back to the car, I buckled Kam back into her car seat and we’re off to the trailer park.

Again we’re out and I start shooting video as the trailer frame drops back down on to its tires. We climb down the hill towards the trailer and continue shooting. I knew there was a lot of damage in the surrounding area but I felt like this scene was too strong to leave so I stayed. I only had the one lens, my 17-35mm f/2.8, so I needed to get close I needed stills for the paper.

This image made it into USA Today. It ran small but it’s still kind of cool to say I made it into USA Today.


Jerika Graham, 12, surveys the damage to her home in Park Ridge Mobile Home Park after devastating winds blew through the area Sunday, March 8, 2009.



I was running late to a basketball game in Jacksonville, Ill. because I had to turn back halfway there and look for a feature in Springfield, but then another photographer found something so I headed back to Jacksonville. Long story short after all the craziness I managed to roll by these kids on my way to the high school and got a couple of quick frames that worked perfect for the feature we needed.


It’s not spring yet, but the warm weather and a rain puddle proved too inviting for friends Aaron Morris, left and Tristen Leblanc. The two were playing at the corner of Grove and South Fayette Street in Jacksonville Tuesday, March 10, 2009.


Tristen Leblanc tackles Aaron Morris in a deep puddle at the corner of Grove Street and South Fayette Street in Jacksonville, Ill., Thursday, March 9, 2009.