Oklahoma earthquakes
Tina Hackbarth hugs her daughter, Mercedes Oslin, 17, when Oslin began crying as she walked through the damage in her grandparents' dining room. An eathquake late Saturday night caused extensive damage to the two-story ranch-style home of Joseph and Mary Reneau near the community of Sparks in Lincoln County. Many of their belongings were damaged earlier Saturday when another earthquake struck the same area. Hackbarth is the Reneaus' daughter. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Most of you have probably heard about the recent earthquakes in Oklahoma (or just felt them). We don’t have much experience covering earthquakes in this state, especially since most of the ones we have had caused very little damage that is visual. Jim Beckel’s search for visuals on Saturday to illustrate an early-morning earthquake led him to a couple who would suffer damage from earthquakes twice in two days.
While trying to get a visual angle after the tremor early Saturday morning, Beckel found some researchers with the OU School of Geology and Geophysics placing instruments in the ground in Lincoln County near the epicenter. The researchers led him to Mary and Joseph Reneau, who had some of their china and keepsakes broken in Saturday morning’s earthquake of 4.7 magnitude. Jim didn’t expect to be back at the Reneau’s home the next day, but that’s what happened after a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred Saturday night. This time there was extensive damage to the Reneau’s home.
To see more photos from the Reneau’s home and other damage in the state , click here.
Homeowner Joseph Reneau, third from left, shows friends the damage caused to his home's family room after the chimney toppled onto the roof. An earthquake late Saturday night caused extensive damage to the two-story ranch-style home of Joseph and Mary Reneau near the community of Sparks in Lincoln County. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Graduate student Gabriel Mattei digs beneath a box held up by Katie Keranen, an assistant professor at the OU School of Geology and Geophysics, as the two place a seismometer and this recording device into the ground on the property of Joseph and Mary Reneau Saturday afternoon, Nov. 5. , 2011. The pair are accompanied by Austin Holland, left, a research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. They are placing the devices on the Reneau property after an earthquake rattled the area in the area in the early morning hours Saturday. The Reneaus were awakened around 2:15 a.m. when their house shook and items began falling off the walls and from shelves and cabinets inside their two-story brick ranch-style home in rural Lincoln County, about six miles northwest of Prague. Holland placed the quake's epicenter within two to three miles of the Reneau home. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
Covering wildfires in Oklahoma City
A concerned resident watches as the fire burns through a field near 63rd and Sooner Road on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Staff photographers at The Oklahoman have been busy in the last 24 hours covering wildfires in northeast Oklahoma City. Here are a few of the images that you may not have seen in the newspaper. You can see more wildfire images in this photo gallery, or click here to see more pictures by The Oklahoman’s photo staff.
Grave markers stand in the center of the charred Wright's Cemetery after Tuesdays wildfires swept through the area in Oklahoma City , Wednesday, August 31, 2011. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Marvin Coleman uses a shovel to spread smoldering ashes on the property of his friend on NE 66, east of Sooner Road, after wildfires ravaged land and property that stretched from NE 50 on the south to Hefner Road on the north. The fire extended from Sooner Road to Midwest Blvd. Coleman does not live on the property but he keeps two of his horses there. Coleman's friend's house was spared in the fire. Photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Cattle move to avoid the flames of a large grass fire in a farm off of Air Depot between 63rd and Wilshire in Oklahoma City, OK, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Clara Luper 1923-2011
Clara Luper, civil rights leader and educator, in a Nov. 20, 1988 photograph by staff photographer Jim Argo.
Since Clara Luper’s death on Wednesday, June 8, the photographers at The Oklahoman have been remembering her through our archive photos and making new pictures to document the mourning of her death and celebration of her life by our community. Below are more pictures of the civil rights leader and links to galleries and slideshows we have made the last week or so.
Click here for a gallery of photos from Clara Luper’s life
Here are photos from Clara Luper in repose at the state Capitol
This gallery features Clara Luper’s memorial service
Finally, an audio slideshow about memories of Clara Luper
Mrs. Clara Luper of Oklahoma City and other demonstrators outside the privately-owned Doe Doe Amusement Park in Lawton, Okla. Demonstrators protested a segregation policy barring blacks from the park's swimming pool. Staff photo taken June 11, 1966. Twenty-two demonstrators, including Mrs. Luper and 10 children, were arrested for blocking the entrance to the amusement park.
Civil rights pioneer Clara Luper reacts to the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Luper was watching TV with Councilman Ronald "Skip" Kelly, her daughter Marilyn Hildreth and 9-year-old Alexia Grant at the Freedom Center at NE 26th and Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City , Okla. January 20, 2009. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Gov. Dewey Bartlett, center, looks on as NAACP youth council adviser Clara Luper accepts a donation from an unidentified woman. Funds were raised for the NAACP' s Freedom Center as hundreds marched to the state Capitol in memory of the slain Martin Luther King on April 6, 1968. Photo by Robert Taylor, The Daily Oklahoman
Oklahoma civil rights leader Clara Luper was honored by the state as her body lay in repose on the first floor of the state Capitol, Thursday, June 16, 2011. Her dark wood casket remained closed as a pair of Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers stood silently on either side of the casket. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Family members laugh and applaud a speaker during the memorial service for Clara Luper. At left is son Calvin Luper. Next to him is daughter Marilyn Hildreth. . About 2,500 people celebrated the life and legacy of Oklahoma City civil rights pioneer Clara Mae Shepard Luper during a lively service in the Cox Convention Center that lasted more than three hours, Friday, June 17, 2011. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
From left, Sasha Wilson, 8, granddaughter of Clara Luper, Chelle Luper Wilson, daughter of Clara Luper, and Oneita Brown, sister of Clara Luper, sit together during the graveside memorial service for civil rights activist Clara Luper at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens cemetery in Spencer, Okla., Friday, June 17, 2011. Luper was 88 years old when she died on June 8, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Rev. A. Byron Coleman, middle, speaks next to Colin Boldien, a Luper family friend, during the graveside memorial service for civil rights activist Clara Luper at the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens cemetery in Spencer, Okla., Friday, June 17, 2011. Luper was 88 years old when she died on June 8, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Be sure to check out our audio slideshow of memories of Clara Luper.
-Nate Billings
Storm coverage in Oklahoma
Miranda Lewis makes the best of a bad situation as she models a dress that was undamaged by Tuesday's tornado that destroyed her family's home west of El Reno, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Staff Photographers at The Oklahoman went out Tuesday night to photograph the severe thunderstorms east of the metro area. Early Wednesday morning, the same photographers went back out to the areas most affected by the tornadoes hoping to meet people and help tell their stories.
We made a photo gallery with 73 pictures that were sent in on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. You can see photographs from Wednesday, or look at any of our photo galleries by clicking here.
A family photo is stuck through the wall in the home of Robert Todd west of El Reno, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
A half-mile-wide tornado moves north in Canadian County having just crossed SH 3, the Northwest Expressway, west of SH 4 moving towards Piedmont Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Photo by Paul B. Southerland, The Oklahoman
Sonny Hale comforts his mother Debra Lee after a tornado swept through the area, tearing the roof off of their house on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, in Newcastle, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Branches of a tree are snagged in the wires of this bent utility pole on SH 74 near Cashion, Oklahoma after a tornado touched down in the area on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Unpublished pictures and catching up
Five-year-old Kendall Hoorman runs down a sidewalk in search of eggs during the LIVE on the Plaza Easter egg hunt in Oklahoma City, Friday, April 8, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
In the last 10 days or so, Staff Photographers at The Oklahoman have turned in some nice pictures, not all of which have gotten published in the newspaper. Here’s a few pictures that deserve a second look.
We’ve turned in plenty of photo galleries, that you can see by clicking here, including galleries from the start of the NBA playoffs in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State’s win during the Bedlam baseball series and the Southwest Street Rod Nationals. We’ve also put up a few slideshows recently, including one about sidewalk chalk and one about singers auditioning to sing the National Anthem for the RedHawks.
Paul Cates rides "Tilley" in an exercise arena at State Fair Park, Thursday, April 14, 2011, during the Oklahoma Centennial Horse Show. Cates is from Paul Cates Stables in Round Rock. Texas. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (35) is greeted by fans as he walks off the court after the 107-103 win over Denver during the first round NBA basketball playoff game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, April 17, 2011, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Wildfires in Oklahoma
A firefighter extinguishes a blaze just feet from an automobile on Western Avenue as a large grass fire rages on Friday, March 11, 2011, in Goldsby, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
News Photographers from The Oklahoman photographed fires last week in Goldsby and Harrah, Oklahoma. You can see more images from the grass fires by clicking here or read more about the damage caused during the fires by clicking here.
Darrell David (right) and jason Pitts survey damage to their grandfather Gene McPherson's hay barn on Saturday, March 12, 2011, in Goldsby, Okla. in the aftermath of Friday's grass fire. Hay in the barn caught fire and deformed the structure. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Smoldering remains of a home on Dobbs Road south of NE 23 Street destroyed in the fire Friday, March 11, 2011. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
State of the State
A portrait of Mrs. Perle Skirvin Mesta hangs in the lobby outside the House of Representatives Chamber at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin delivered her first State of the State address at the Oklahoma State Capitol today in Oklahoma City. I got to the Capitol too early and decided to look for pictures that readers couldn’t have seen if they haven’t been to the Capitol. There’s a portrait (above) at the entrance to the House Chamber. It hangs in a room that is carefully guarded while the House is in session. I photographed State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre’s office and her Barack Obama items. Below is a look from the house floor at the media and family members looking out over the House Chamber. To see more news-related images from the Capitol and Gov. Fallin’s speech today, click here.
A cardboard cutout and other images of President Barack Obama peek out of the office of State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre's office at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Members of Congress wait to be called to order before Governor Mary Fallin delivers her first State of the State address at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Best of 2010-The rest of the months
John Pfeiffer, of Pfeiffer Angus Farms, walks across a dried up part of one of his ponds on his ranch near Orlando, Wednesday, December 15, 2010. Photo by David McDaniel, The Oklahoman
I’ve strung this out too long. I think that by Jan. 12, 2011, we should be looking at pictures from this year and not looking backwards. So this is it. A colossal blog post featuring some of our best pictures from the last four months of 2010. Click on all the links to past posts, galleries and slideshows and you’ll be all caught up on 2010.
Roderick Norwood Jr., 2, trick-or-treats, Saturday Oct. 30, 2010, in the Mesta Park Neighborhood in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
We’re always busy in the fall with high school and college football, RedHawks baseball, feature stories and the usual newspaper assignments. We produced slideshows about Route 66 Bowl, Moore High School football Head Coach Scott Myers, and Kody Turner, a high school football player who died after football practice in September. Sarah Phipps worked on a story about Oklahoma City Firefighter Kent Collins, that was published in October, and there’s a nice slideshow about the 2010 Bedlam football game.
OSU's Justin Blackmon (81) catches a pass for a touchdown in front of Aaron Williams (4) of Texas in the second quarter during the college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Texas Longhorns (UT) at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, Saturday, November 13, 2010. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
James Bowman gets a hug from one of his caregivers, Sherry Spangler, at a home he shares with roommates in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, August 25, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Our interns, Miranda Grubbs and Mitch Alcala left us at the end of July. We wrote about their pictures, and we had some other interesting posts toward the end of 2010. Some of our memorable pictures and posts include Welcome to the South Pole, OSU and OU pictures just days before Bedlam, 5 years at The Oklahoman, Happy Halloween, the State Fair, black mud and minnows, the most photographed rainbow of the year, Bryan Terry’s pictures, and Of Light and Shade.
Visitors to the Oklahoma State Fair ride the tram on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
School principal JoAnn Simpson-Miller talks with a distraught Jorge Gonzales, 5, as he sits on the floor outside his kindergarten classroom at Sunset Elementary School on the first day of classes in Edmond Thursday, August 19, 2010. Photo by Paul B. Southerland, The Oklahoman
A member of the Oklahoma State marching band keeps playing while walking through praying members of the Oklahoma football team during the Bedlam college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
If you haven’t already, click here to see our best news and feature pictures of the year or click here to see our best sports photos of the year. We publish new photo galleries everyday at this site and this page holds an archive of our slideshows going back to Feb. 1, 2008.
I looked through thousands of pictures from 2010 to write about them for Alternate Crop. If we had a Photographer of the Year Award at The Oklahoman, I would nominate for Bryan Terry. His name is the only one that made the final edit during every month of the Best of 2010 series. He routinely brings back compelling pictures from a wide variety of assignments. In 2010 he he got nice images everything from Division 1 college football and NBA basketball to junior rodeos, candlelight vigils and neighborhood picnics. If such an award actually existed, Bryan would likely received a refurbished soccer trophy from 1984 during a banquet that would be held on my back porch.
So, that’s it for 2010. We’ll get back to concentrating on our newest pictures and multimedia projects.
-John Clanton
Inauguration Day
Tim Francis, of FrameMaster Gallery in Edmond, unrolls a portrait of Governor Mary Fallin as he replaces the portrait of former Governor Brad Henry in the House of Representatives Chamber at the Oklahoma State Capitol before the Inauguration of Mary Fallin in Oklahoma City on Monday, Jan. 10, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Mary Fallin was sworn in as Oklahoma’s 27th governor, and the first female governor, during a ceremony today outside the State Capitol in Oklahoma City. Staff Photographers Jim Beckel and Chris Landsberger photographed the ceremony outside, while I stayed inside to watch a much quicker ceremony. One with considerably less fanfare and no Toby Keith. Tim Francis, who owns FrameMaster Gallery in Edmond, Oklahoma, was hired to switch out the portrait of Brad Henry that hangs in the House of Representatives Chamber, with a portrait of Oklahoma’s newest Governor, Mary Fallin.
Gov. Mary Fallin enters the ballroom with her husband Wade Christensen during Fallin's inaugural ball at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Monday, January 10, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Maybe it’s because I’m a photographer, but the process of switching out an official portrait in the House of Representatives Chamber seemed intriguing to me. I thought of it months ago when I was on assignment in the House Chamber. Brad Henry’s portrait had been in pretty much the same place for eight years, for awhile next to George W. Bush, and then next to Barack Obama. I was reminded at the Capitol today, though, that the portraits did get moved around once or twice-unofficially. So, Mary Fallin’s portrait is locked into place for at least four years until it is moved to a more remote corner of the House Chamber, next to Brad Henry.
You can watch a slideshow of our images here, or take a look at the photo gallery that includes all the pictures we took from today’s ceremony.
Mary Fallin with husband Wade Christensen by her side is sworn in as governor by Chief Justice Steven Taylor during the 2011 inauguration of Mary Copeland Fallin as the 27th Governor of the State of Oklahoma at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Best of 2010-Part 7 of 12
Tyke Kipp of Lordsburg, N.M., takes cover after falling off his horse in the saddle bronc event during the International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, Okla., Friday, July 16, 2010. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
We’ve made it up to July. At this rate we’ll get through last year’s highlights by next week. One of my favorite fourth of July pictures was taken by Sarah Phipps this month. We also had more flooding, International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee and the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Edmond. There were a couple of slideshows worth looking at, one about watermelon seed spitting, the other one is about catfish noodling. Remember, you can take a look at all of our photo galleries or you can click on these images to see larger versions.
People leave in a haze of smoke following the LibertyFest fireworks show at the University of Central Oklahoma, Sunday, July 4, 2010, in Edmond, Okla. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City Fire Department Chaplain Ted Wilson comforts the mother of drowning victim after he told her the body of her son had been found in the Oklahoma River. Oklahoma City firefighters and nearby residents searched the receding waters of Lightning Creek in south Oklahoma City Tuesday morning, July 7, 2010. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Veteran Paul Jones, of Guthrie, hugs his daughter Allison Robinson, after he looks up names on the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Reaves Park in Norman on Sunday, July 4, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
USA's Kari Miller (10) and Nichole Millage celebrates a point during the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships Women's gold medal match between USA and China, Sunday, July 18, 2010, at the University of Central Oklahoma, in Edmond, Okla. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Ryan Hammer, the father of Chasity Hammer, pauses in front of the casket during the funeral for Katrina Griffin and her children, Christian Griffin, 8, and Chasity Hammer, 6, at First Baptist Church in Blanchard, Oklahoma, Friday, July 30, 2010. The bodies of Griffin and her two children were found burned in their home near Dibble, Oklahoma, on July 23, 2010. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
