Cody Tupper, 11, St. Onge, climbs the fence behind the chutes to get a better view of the Newell Labor Day Rodeo on Monday afternoon Sept. 7, 2009. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)

The Newell Labor Day parade and rodeo is definitely something that I look forward to. I loved photographing it last year. And I did this year too. And I had a completely different experience. Last year the weather was crummy. It was overcast and cold. Which made for great even light. But this year it was bright and sunny and warm. Hot even. My cheeks are bright pink. Just that change in weather made for a different atmosphere. Everyone was really chatty and smiley. I felt like I came away with a lot different photos than last year. Or maybe it’s because I finally don’t feel like such an outcast in South Dakota and I was more relaxed and approached more people. It’s nice to walk around the streets of a small town, a ways away from home, and see familiar faces. I like that. It’s a good feeling.

And check out the slideshow here

By Seth A. McConnell

I’m not sure what it is but I love photographing bugs. More specifically I love photographing bugs with a macro lens. There is something about taking something so small and making it larger than life.
Before I left the newsroom yesterday to go feature hunt, I grabbed the macro lens knowing that I wanted to shoot a grasshopper. I knew it would be an easy fall back had I not been able to find anyone doing anything and also because I knew we would have an upcoming grasshopper story. Little did I know they were already planning a grasshopper story for today’s paper and my instincts were spot on for potentially needing this photo.
I actually made this image in my front yard. The grasshoppers love the bushes in front of my house and there are literally dozens of them at any given point just hanging out. This particular hopper was on a leaf that was set back in the bush allowing the bush itself to filter the light and soften it up a bit while dropping the background to near black. I shot the image in RAW using a 100mm Macro, f/4 and 1/500th of a second.

Charles Szakacs and his wife Marion Grant are darn good gardeners. Their yard is teeming with flowers and plants. The whole place is just bursting to life. In a very seemingly organic way. It’s not super manicured. And it’s not super planned out like a lot of landscaping can be. It’s just a beautiful garden. Anyways, Jomay and I headed out there to check out Charles’ giant cabbages. And I was excited. Wouldn’t you be? I mean, how many times do you get to meet a guy and his 18 pound cabbage? That doesn’t really come across the desk too often. There’s a few things I would have done differently with this portrait. But it did capture some of what I was trying to convey. I loved their overalls. And had some nice light that I tried to balance out with a mini softbox that I held out with my left hand. It’s just kind of fun. And quirky. And it made my day to get to spend some time with these folks on Monday evening.

Kristina Barker/Journal staff Marion Grant and her husband Charles Szakacs are both avid gardeners. Szakacs grew a cabbage this season that weighs in at a little over eighteen pounds. His garden in on a quarter acre of his family’s land near Caputa. Szakacs has taken to making sauerkraut with his abundance of cabbage.