A few good pictures
Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs, Gen. (Ret) Rita Aragon stands on a chair and applauds while a song is played during a "Salute the Troops" event at First Southern Baptist Church in Del City on Monday, September 26, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Staff photographers at The Oklahoman are getting ready to start another weekend of photographing high school and college football. Before that, though, here are a couple of pictures from the last few weeks that I think deserve another look. You can see all of our photo galleries by clicking here.
The sun sets behind Bethany High School freshman David Noriega as he plays with the high school band before Bethany and Washington played their high school football game in Bethany, Okla., on Friday, September 16, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Freshman Angela Vargas gets a hug from student Kasra Kaidan (left) and Challenge Day staff member Romeo Marquez after Angela spoke to students during Challenge Day at Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. Challenge Day is a group building exercise to end bullying and other discipline issues. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Faerie Sightings
Last Saturday, Sept. 24, seems like everywhere I went I saw “Faeries”. Around noon I was in Edmond for the Krazy Kids Dog Show and there were lots of “Faerie Dogs”. Then in the evening I went to The Paseo for the Faerie Ball put on by StarDanceSwan Studio.
Daisy, a Cocker mix, belonging to Pam Lanman, rests after competing in the Look Alike category with Katie Thornton, 5, Pam's granddaughter during the Krazy Kids Dog Show at Shannon Miller Park in Edmond Saturday, September 24, 2011. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman.
Riley Cranford, 2 1/2, plays with her wand during the Faerie Ball in the Paseo Saturday, September 24, 2011. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
Amanda Lane watches her daughter play during the Faerie Ball in the Paseo Saturday, September 24, 2011. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
Faerie dancer performs during the Fairy Ball in the Paseo Saturday, September 24, 2011. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
To see a photo gallery from the Krazy Kids Dog show click here.
To see a photo gallery from the Faerie Ball in Paseo click here.
In all, it was a magical day taking photos.
-Doug Hoke
Matt Allen’s fight with cancer
Volunteer coach Matt Allen stands on the field before a Bishop McGuinness softball game in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2011. Allen was diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago and continues his volunteer coaching duties with the softball team. Win-Win Week is a statewide effort by Oklahoma high schools to support cancer awareness. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Bryan Terry created an audio slideshow for a story by Jenni Carlson about Matt Allen, a Bishop McGuinness volunteer softball coach, and his fight with cancer. If you missed the story in The Oklahoman or the slideshow on NewsOK.com, both are worth checking out.
You can see the slideshow and read the story here.
Volunteer coach Matt Allen hugs Nicole Frazier as his wife Kelley watches following a Bishop McGuinness softball game in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2011. Allen was diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago and continues his volunteer coaching duties with the softball team. Win-Win Week is a statewide effort by Oklahoma high schools to support cancer awareness.
-Nate Billings
So long, Aggies
On Saturday, Oklahoman photographer Nate Billings and I traveled to College Station to document what could be Oklahoma State’s last contest against Texas A&M. I produced an audio slide show from our photos and audio I collected during the game.
Texas A&M Corps of Cadets salute in the first half during a college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Corps of Cadets cheer in the first half during a college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Here’s a note from Nate Billings about his final trip to Texas A&M for Big 12 football coverage:
It’s a little sad for me to think that I will probably not cover another game at College Station because the Aggies are headed to the SEC. Texas A&M is where I covered my first college football game outside of Oklahoma, 13 years ago, and it is where I have covered the most road games since. I’ve always enjoyed the atmosphere and people in Aggieland. This trip was Sarah’s first time there. I’m glad she had a chance to experience a game at Kyle Field before the Aggies leave the Big 12.
Watch the slide show by clicking here
See photos from game by clicking here
— Sarah Phipps
Another random group of pictures
Oklahoma's Tom Wort (21) reacts after hitting Florida's Clint Trickett (9) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Florida State (FSU) at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
I learned more than I thought possible about blimps and zeppelins during an assignment earlier this week with Staff Writer Matt Dinger. We got a close look at the Farmers Airship as it visited Oklahoma City as part of history’s longest zeppelin tour. You can read Matt’s story by clicking here.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen some of the other photo galleries we’ve publish in the last week, follow some of these links. Bryan Terry turned in some nice pictures from the OU Sooners’ game against Florida State. We’ve been out to the Oklahoma State Fair a few times and if you still haven’t seen pictures from Oklahoma State’s game against Tulsa then click here.
A crew member walks toward The Farmers Airship after it landed at Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City on Monday, September 19, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
OSU's Justin Blackmon (81) is stopped after a catch by Alan Dock (11) and Marco Nelson (20) of TU in the first quarter during a college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane (TU) at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., Sunday morning, Sept. 18, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Nita Haynie, a client at the Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled, laughs as she is wheeled under a limbo stick by Joy Woods during a Luau for clients and their parents or care-givers at the Oklahoma Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
The Coalgate band marches during band day at the 2011 Oklahoma State Fair at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City, OK, Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Waiting at OSU vs. Tulsa
Lightning streaks across the sky during a weather delay before a college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane (TU) at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Chris Landsberger, Sarah Phipps and I have been shooting weather pictures in Tulsa for the last three hours while waiting for the skies to clear so that Oklahoma State can play a football game against Tulsa. The scheduled 9pm start was already the latest college football game kickoff that I’d been a part of. If we get this going, it’ll be after midnight. More as it develops…
Fans clear the stands as a storm delays the start of the college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane (TU) at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
A fan waits out a rain delay before a college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane (TU) at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
Alien inflatables and plenty of pictures
Rides light up the Midway at the Oklahoma State Fair at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City on Thursday, September 15, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
There are plenty of pictures and stories to catch up on if you haven’t been to our photo galleries page lately. The Oklahoma State Fair is underway at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City. We have photo galleries of Leon Russell’s concert and pictures from the fair on Friday. High school and college football continues as well. You can see images from Thursday night’s high school games or Friday night’s games in the metro.
Earlier this week I photographed the Goodwill Games at The Children’s Center in Bethany. Staff Writer Scott Wright wrote a story about some of the residents and patients at the Children’s Center and the obstacle course competition between Washington High School and Bethany High School. You can read Scott’s story by clicking here.
Chris Schatz reacts as he is pushed onto the field by nurse Sydney Stell (right) and music therapist Rachel Nowels at halftime of the high school football game between Bethany and Washington in Bethany, Okla., on Friday, September 16, 2011. Residents of The Children's Center played drums with the high school bands from Washington and Bethany. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Ada's Dillon Holder (28) breaks away from a Grant defender during a high school football game between Ada and U.S. Grant at C.B. Speegle Stadium in Oklahoma City, Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Violent images from a nearby war
A soldier guards next to packages of marijuana that are being incinerated in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010. On a conjoined operation with the army, local and state police seized 134 tons of U.S.-bound marijuana Monday, by far the biggest drug bust in the country in recent years. Eleven suspects were detained.(AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
Photographers like Guillermo Arias and Bernandino Hernandez are getting violent, disturbing images that will rarely be used in American newspapers. They are covering the Mexico Drug War. Looking at pictures from war isn’t easy, nor should it be. Arias and Hernandez are putting us just a few feet from people who have been killed for territory, drugs or maybe for no reason at all, in our neighboring country.
These pictures are important and more people should see them. Photographs transcend language and borders. Pictures like these convey desperation, merciless violence and sorrow. Photographs can show the best in people, but they can also show us, and future generations, the atrocities that we’re capable of.
There are more graphic images from the Mexico Drug War that you can see by clicking here.
Tijuana's Mayor Jorge Ramos comforts Celia Urdelia Medina wife of slain assistant municipal police chief Abel Salazar during his funeral in Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, May 18, 2009. Salazar was fatally shot Saturday when he was driving to his job at a police substation in Tijuana.(AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
The body of a young man who was shot to death lies on the ground at the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico, Tuesday Aug. 23, 2011. The city of Acapulco has been hit by violence as drug gangs continue to battle for control of the region. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)
A gold plated pistol and jewelry, allegedly seized from Manuel Alquisires Garcia, alias "El Meme," sit on display during his presentation to the press of in Mexico City, Monday Sept. 12, 2011. According to the Navy, Alquisires Garcia escaped from prison in 2002, was detained in possession of several weapons on Sept. 10 and is a accused of belonging to the Gulf drug cartel. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
The bodies of two men shot dead next to the Caleta beach, background, lie, one of them covered, in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico, Tuesday Aug. 16, 2011. The city of Acapulco has been hit by violence as drug gangs continue to battle for control of the region. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)
The body of a young man who was shot to death is covered by a forensic officer at the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico, Tuesday Aug. 23, 2011. The city of Acapulco has been hit by violence as drug gangs continue to battle for control of the region. In background, an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)
-John Clanton
Another random collection (not counting football)
Noah Shemely, 11, dives into the pool at Pelican Bay Aquatic Center in Edmond, Okla., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Before we get too far away from summer, there are a couple of pictures that deserve another look. These pictures are an abbreviated look at some of the topics that we photographed over the summer months, but for one reason or another, they haven’t been used on Alternate Crop.
You can see more pictures from The Oklahoman’s photo department by clicking here.
Dennis Portis, front, plays a game of horse shoes with Dianne McDaniel during a Neighbors Night Out event for the John F. Kennedy neighborhood in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Sept. 10. 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
The damage left behind on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011, in Oklahoma City, Okla. after the wildfires that cut a path through northeast Oklahoma City last week. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Phoebe, a Chihuahua, is lowered into the water by her owner Leslie Kilgore, of Norman during the annual Pooch Pool Party at Westwood Waterpark in Norman on Sunday, September 4, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Macro photography-A better version
Perched on a window screen, a robber fly eats a small moth in Oklahoma City. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
As both of you know, I’ve been trying to get good macro pictures in my spare time by reversing a 50mm lens. I’ve written a couple of blog posts about it. Staff Writer Ken Raymond recently wrote a story about a student at OU who puts my macro pictures to shame.
Thomas Shahan’s pictures have been published in magazines around the world and even sold to M.I.T. to be used in scientific textbooks. It was by looking at his macro pictures that I found out that the insect doing the eating in the picture above is called a Robber Fly.
You can see more pictures by staff photographers at The Oklahoman by clicking here. You can always click on photographs featured on Alternate Crop for a closer view.
-John Clanton
