Spc. Adam Nicely, Wagoner, is greeted by his girlfriend Shae Bellis, 20, as members of the Oklahoma National Guard are welcomed by family and friends on their return from Afghanistan on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Steve Sisney covered the return of members of the Oklahoma National Guard from Afghanistan on Thursday.

Click here for a gallery with photos from this homecoming.

Richard Higgins greets his son Bryson, 4-months, as he and other members of the Oklahoma National Guard return from Afghanistan on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

Spc. Galen Scott is greeted by his six-month-old son Benjamin and his wife Jennifer at a ceremony where he and other members of the Oklahoma National Guard were welcomed by family and friends upon their return from Afghanistan on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

-Nate Billings…

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…

Pastor Eddie Gallegos prays with a member of the congregation at his church in south Oklahoma City. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

When he was 13, a friend put a tattoo of a spider web on Eddie Gallegos’s left hand. Back then, he was a member of Gran Barrio Central (GBC), and went by the name ‘Spider.’ Today, Pastor Eddie has a small, but devoted congregation in a borrowed sanctuary in south Oklahoma City. Eddie, who leads emotional, song-filled services, delivers his sermons in Spanish and English as paces at the front of the church. He’s the son of a preacher, a husband and a father who says that he accepted God’s plan for his life while sitting in prison.

Pastor Eddie Gallegos at his church in south Oklahoma City. Gallegos is a former member of the GBC and the son of a preacher. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Pastor Eddie Gallegos delivers an emotional sermon at La Roca Community Church at his church in south Oklahoma City. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

These are a few of my favorite pictures of Pastor Eddie and his church. I was slow to get these pictures into Merlin, which I regret, but I wanted to publish them before I leave The Oklahoman. After six years of taking pictures, making slideshows and videos and writing for Alternate Crop, I’m leaving the newspaper after today. I’ll continue to work in multimedia, just in a different place.

In six years I’ve put a modest 10,657 pictures into merlin. I’ve written about a few of my favorites before. So, I’ll sign off of Alternate Crop by reminding both of you that you can click on any image featured on this blog to see a larger view. You can always see photo galleries by clicking here or you can watch some of the slideshows by clicking here.

-John Clanton…

Ron Millican stands under an umbrella near the door of the maintenance barn at C.B. Speegle Stadium in Oklahoma City before the high school football game between Del City and U.S. Grant on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Here are a couple of pictures from Thursday night’s rain-soaked football games. In addition to high school football,  the Bronchos from the University of Central Oklahoma played Black Hills State at UCO in Edmond.
You can see more pictures from Thursday night’s game by clicking here.

UCO's Terrance Davis (1) is tackled by Black Hills' Joey Brown during the college game between the University of Central Oklahoma and Black Hills State at Wantland Stadium in Edmond, Okla., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman

-John Clanton

 …

Renee Haley hugs a life-sized statue of her deceased son, Austin Haley, as she holds her 6-month-old daughter, Mikayla Haley, after the statue was unveiled at the Haley family's home in Noble, Okla., Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. At left is Jack Haley, Renee Haley's husband and father of Austin Haley, Mikayla Haley and the couple's two other children. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

Five-year-old Austin Haley was killed by a Noble police officer’s stray bullet in August of 2007.  A statue created by a local artist was unveiled at the Haley family’s home in Noble on what would have been Austin’s tenth birthday, Oct. 24, 2011. Nate Billings photographed the ceremony and made a touching picture of the statue and Austin’s mother.

You can read the most recent story about Austin and watch a video about the statue by clicking here.

Also, if you haven’t lately, take a look at our photo gallery page, including the galleries from OU’s loss to Texas Tech and OSU’s win over Missouri in Columbia.

-John Clanton…

J.D. Sims (center) of Lawton, Gaylan Towle (right), of Edmond, and other fans watch Kevin Durant walk onto the court during the US Fleet Tracking Basketball Invitational at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Kevin Durant, a few of his Thunder teammates and other locked-out NBA players, put on an exhibition game at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday night. Here are a few of the pictures from the game that ended with Kevin Durant and the White Team ahead of Carmelo Anthony and the Blue team by a score of 176-171.

You can see more pictures from the game or read stories by Darnell Mayberry and John Rohde.

Russell Westbrook slams the ball during the US Fleet Tracking Basketball Invitational at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

Michael Beasley (right) puts up a shot in front of Kevin Durant during the US Fleet Tracking Basketball Invitational at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. The White Team defeated the Blue Team 176-171. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

-John Clanton…

Clarence "Bud" Stark, of Norman, wipes tears from his face as he walks away from the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Stark, a Marine during WWII, was on Iwo Jima when the flag was raised. Stark and other veterans from WWII visited memorials in Washington D.C. and Virginia during an Oklahoma Honor Flight on Wednesday. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

When we were kids, my brother and I looked forward to hearing war stories. They didn’t happen all that often, but when my grandfather would tell us something that happened in the South Pacific or my father would tell us a story about Vietnam, we both listened carefully. Most of the stories we heard weren’t really war-related. By that I mean that nobody talked about people killed or battles won and lost. My grandfather, Fred Cox, who operated cranes for most of his life, was a Sea Bee in the Navy. He told us about poker games on long nights at sea, or the time he got stranded for a few days on an island in the South Pacific. There were stories about friends he met, equipment he operated and he’d tell us the names of islands where he’d help build a base or a runway. Mostly, they were interesting stories that just happened to take place during a war.
One of the greatest stories we grew up hearing about, of course, is how Fred Cox married his war-time pen pal, Dorothy Curtis. They were married for 59 years, until she died in 2005.

Fred Cox looks around in the National WWII Memorial during an Honor Flight in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

My grandfather is one of the younger veterans of WWII. At 17, he got his father to sign a consent form, drove to California and joined the Navy in 1943. Last week, I joined him on an Honor flight that he’d been looking forward to since his daughter signed him up for it last year.

The Honor Flight staff called the trip ‘One last mission.’ Even though my grandfather and the other veterans on the Honor flight returned from their service more than 65 years ago, I looked at this trip as one last war story that we can share.

Seen from a tour bus window, Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington Virginia, was one of the sites during a tour of some of the memorials in the Washington D.C. area on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Veterans from Oklahoma visited the National WWII Memorial and other memorials during an Oklahoma Honor Flight to Virginia and Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

I was assigned to be a Guardian on the trip, which meant I was responsible for helping out my grandfather and a man named Charles Austin, an Army veteran who lives in Norman. I knew just a few minutes into the required Guardian Training class, that I was going to be busy helping the veterans get around during the hectic travel schedule.

As a photographer, I adjusted my approach to the Honor Flight as an assignment. I didn’t want special access that members of the media are sometimes granted. I didn’t take much equipment either, just two cameras, a 35mm lens and a 50 mm lens. I rode the bus with the veterans and walked through the memorials with them. It rained in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, so much of the trip was what they called a ‘windshield tour.’ I concentrated on photographing the …

A resident of Slapout, Oklahoma poses outside his home in the Oklahoma panhandle in August, 2007. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

I cleaned out my desk and 5 small lockers that I’ve used for storage over the last 6 years. It’s about time. I found printed assignment requests with names scrawled on them dating back to February of 2006, which is just four months after I started here. Those lockers held a random assortment of junk including $1.09 in loose change, a piece of a mini blind from the first house I bought in Oklahoma City and an old delayed baggage claim form.

Cleaning up a six-year stack of assignments, newspaper clippings and equipment brought back some memories too. It was fun to think about the pictures behind some of those assignments. For example, I found a couple of rolls of film that I used in my Holga camera and a picture that I shouldn’t have passed on four years ago (above). I took the Holga on a road trip to the panhandle with former staff writer Ron Jackson back in 2007. He wrote a story about the Northwest Passage, which runs from Oklahoma City to Boise City, Oklahoma.

To see more recent pictures from The Oklahoman’s photo staff, click here.

-John Clanton…

Chalk artist Bobby Marsee creates a work of art, as Rose State College hosts a cultural fair as part of the 23rd annual Global Oklahoma festival at the Rose State College campus in Midwest City, OK, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman

In addition to the OU game against Ball State, photographers at The Oklahoman also staffed the Head of the Oklahoma Regatta, the 23rd annual Global Oklahoma Festival, a Czech Festival in Yukon, and the Homecoming festivities at the University of Central Oklahoma.

You can see all our photo galleries by clicking here.

Oliver Salowna, of the Dallas Rowing Club, shows off his "live to row, row to live," tattoo during the 2011 Head of the Oklahoma Regatta at the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City on Sunday, October 2, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

A rower carries his boat toward the Devon Boathouse after the 2011 Head of the Oklahoma Regatta at the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City on Sunday, October 2, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman

-John Clanton…

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…