 Sheep shearing puts the physical in physical labor. The men that do this job stand bent over for hours. They’ll shear hundreds of sheep in a day. Just thinking about it makes my back hurt.
- Ryan
Tony Troendle, left, of Belle Fourche, and Loren Opstedahl, of Piedmont, shear sheep at Gary Remington’s ranch on Saturday. Opstedahl, who runs the shearing crew, has been shearing sheep for 18 yeas. Photo by Ryan Soderlin/Journal staff
You may have had a snow day, but most of us here at the Journal still had a regular day of work. All of our photographers trekked out around Rapid City and some surrounding area to see how residents were dealing with all the snow and wind. Click on the photo below to check out some video from Tuesday morning around the Rapid City area.
A front-end loader clears snow along Wood Avenue near its intersection with Doolittle Street on Tuesday morning, March 24, 2009, in Rapid City, S.D. Winds as high as 80 mph whipped about a foot of snow into drifts around the Rapid City Area. (Photo by Ryan Soderlin/ Journal staff)
by Kristina Barker
By Seth A. McConnell
As noted in earlier blogs I stated that I was working on a year end project for the Rush. Much to my dismay the season ended Saturday night so I guess its time to present my project. I worked hard on trying to shoot the game from a multitude of perspectives, looking for any interesting way the game might be viewed. I wanted to show the game not only from the perspective the fan always sees but also the angles the fans don’t often get to see. Whether its in the tunnel moments before the team takes the ice, from high in the rafters or from the bench as was the case on Friday night.
Unfortunately Coach Ferras didn’t flip out and start throwing hockey sticks and water bottles on to the ice Friday night like he did Saturday night (or maybe it was a fortunate thing, who knows where my camera would have ended up) but it was a very interesting experience none the less. The game is loud from the stands and is just down right electric from the ice. It didn’t hurt that the barn was packed both nights and the loudest its been all season. I had to rush (no pun intended) to finish up this project, the picture package was supposed to go tomorrow (Tuesday) but mother nature had other plans so it will be going later on this week. So here are a few pixels with a little audio.
-S
I busted out my lightstalking skills tonight at the Civic Center while I was on assignment to photograph the parking mayhem that was bound to ensue with the mass of people all converging on one place. But alas, no mayhem. I’m sure later tonight will be pretty chaotic when everyone tries to leave at the same time. Anyways, there was some great light that made for fun shooting, and I came back with some images that I wasn’t expecting to find. Warm, buttery light can make any assignment a lot more enjoyable.
Pedestrians cross Mount Rushmore Road in front of Central High School on Friday evening March 20, 2009. The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center hosted several events on Friday night, including the State A Boys Basketball Tournament, a Rapid City Rush hockey game, and the State Pool Tournament. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)
(from left to right) Nick Strasburg, Michelle Strasburg, Logan Strasburg, and Lindsay Deen ride the free shuttle from the Central High School parking lot to the entrance of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center to attend the Sioux Valley Cossacks basketball game on Friday evening March 20, 2009. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)
by Kristina Barker
Here’s a feature from the McLaughlin v. Madison game. It’s always fun to photograph fans that go all out with their outfits on game day.
Eric Sam, 10, watches the McLaughlin Midgets boys take on the Madison Bulldogs during Thursday’s game at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on March 19, 2009. The game finished with an 81-59 win for the Madison Bulldogs. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)
by Kristina Barker
This little girl was just too cute to pass up.
Jillian Lucas, 2, listens to a book on CD at the Rapid City Public Library. Libraries are being urged by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to take books printed before 1986 off of their shelves due to the possibility of unsafe levels of lead. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)
by Kristina Barker
On Saturday, the city of Deadwood holds an early St. Patrick’s Day parade. I made this photo of a green-wigged man. I made a few frames of him. A couple of the frames were exposed for the highlights. They’re too dark for newsprint, but they’ll work for the web. I just thought it was fun. Glasses and a green wig, you can’t lose.
- Ryan
By Seth A. McConnell
Sometimes you get the most honest answers from the simplest questions.
I just got back from covering an acoustic duo called the Travelers performing traditional Irish songs at the Morningstar Assisted living center. After the performance reporter Mary Garrigan and IÂ approached Bernie Scheidt. Mary asked Bernie her name and she simply replied “Someone told me I was 87.” I couldn’t help but smile when she said it.
-S
By Seth A. McConnell
I had two assignments tonight on the polar ends of the spectrum.
I started at 5 at Dakota Middle School for the Miss Rapid City pagent. I showed up early to make behind the scenes photos, which are a little more unique than just photos of the pagent.
made a couple of decent photos and charged down the street to the Rush game against Oklahoma.
(I’m probably going to get a phone call or an email about pictures of hockey players fighting, sorry its part of the game folks)
Opposite ends of the spectrum in less than 2 hours. Thats why I love this job, you never know whats going to pop up and it keeps you on your toes. Suddenly having to change gears from shooting images based on light and subtle moments to shooting a fast paced sport based on stopping action at a key moment is what makes the job challenging but it sure is fun. 
Plus who doesn’t like a good hockey fight? (Before anyone else says it… the NHL GM’s…)
By Seth A. McConnell
One of the most rewarding parts of this job is the ability to work on long term projects.
I’ve spent the last 6 weeks following Rana Holland and her two boys Isaac and Ethan. Rana’s husband Gregg was deployed with the South Dakota Army National Guard. He spent the last year in Kosovo while Rana held down the house by herself. Rana was gracious enough to allow myself and staff writer Emilie Rusch into her home and gave us an amazing amount of access to her daily life. Working long term projects does have its challenges though. How do you edit 6 weeks worth of images down to 10? How do you take 6 weeks worth of images and several hours of audio and edit it into 2 minutes and 23 seconds? Thats been the biggest challenge of the last 2 days. Both Emilie and I assumed we had another week as we were planning on running the package on March 15th prior to when we thought Gregg was going to be home but we didn’t get that opportunity as we received a call on Friday morning that Gregg would be home Saturday night at approximately 6:23.
So I found out quickly how you get it edited down. Teamwork. Both Ryan and Kristina helped me cut the nearly 1,500+ images down to 9 for print and down to 25 for the slideshow. Kristina helped me establish a voice on the piece by listening to rough cuts on the phone as I held my cellphone to the speaker. Emilie helped me cut the audio together allowing me to add details to the story that she couldn’t get in on the print side adding another voice to the piece. I honestly feel humbled to have been allowed to work on this project and to have such great coworkers, including the editors and copy editors who worked with us on layout and helped edit the entire thing together in just a matter of 2 days.
-S