Row, row, row your boat

As Bryan Saylers uses a board to surf behind the boat, Ryan Valadez drives, while upfront Kelly Vanglabbeek and Erin Saylers watch Saylers two-year-old daughter.

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Spent part of today out on Erin and Bryan Saylers' boat in the nearby Mississinewa Reservoir for a Howard County Living magazine story on boating fun. Today this job was all fun in the sun. And the sun did appear later, contrary to what this photo looks like.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

In the right department

11-year-old Curtis Brown's three-month-old goat is apparently
in the right place at the Miami County fairgrounds.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Okay, one more goat picture. Last one I promise. Unless I get another one in two weeks when the Howard County fair starts. Sigh.

For some reason I found this funny. I'm not sure where the shoe department is. Cow department is two barns over.

Signs make it easier

A goat at the Miami County (In.) 4-H Fair.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

I saw this on the wooden gate of the goat's pen, and thought well.... if it says to, I will.

So, I clicked. Its my job.

There are those days where it would be easier if there were signs at assignments spelling out exactly what I should do.

Blur....

Turn around....

Ignore....

Light....


Oh well, I'll just have to continue figuring it out on my own.


This photo illustrates a good point that took me a long time to learn, helped in part by the book Photosynthesis by Bryan Moss.

"Put the camera to your eye and take a picture of the moment in front of you."

I walked around the fair, and didn't find anything that inspired me for a feature. I saw this and thought it was kind of funny; stopped and took a picture. Little while later I was inspired by something else, which will be a future post. That second photo led me to a feature photo, while not a pulitzer, had some different stuff going for it that I liked.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

So many questions....

A Kokomo Fire Department ambulance outside the Little Daddy's
adult entertainment showclub.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

....And so few answers.

Was it an "employee" injury?

Did a patron have a cardiovascular attack during a vigorous personal performance?

I guess sometimes the fewer answers there are, the better off everyone is.

It's images like this that are the reason this blog has the name it does.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.



Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

The future is so bright it's blinding me

Beneficence, or Benny, as she is more affectionately known as at Ball State.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

This weekend I went over to Ball State University (my alma mater) for a journalism alumni reunion. And I have to be honest, seeing the changes that have been made in the 11 years since I graduated almost brought me to tears.

Not that I'm some sentimental sap, that's for wimps.

No, I was on the verge of tears seeing all the things the school has improved or implemented since I graduated.

When I was in school in Muncie, I enjoyed myself very much. I would say it was a pretty typical college experience. A decent size campus, with a lot of nice architecture, plenty of green spaces to relax when not in class. Muncie isn't Chicago or New York, but there are worse places to spend four years.

There were the stupid roommates I had to endure, one of whom I am sure there is a special place in hell for. That is if Lucifer isn't too afraid this guy will take over.

But I had a good time, made it out with just some minor mental scars, some good stories to tell and reflect on.

How things change in 11 years. The first thing the alumni did was a tour given by some of the university faculty. Many of the alums were from the 1960's and 70's, some from the 80's, with just a few from the 90's and 00's. One of the most recent I think was a 2004 grad, Sam Keyes, that I talked to some.

I would say all of us had similar college experiences for the most part. We all had stories to tell about lousy dorms; cinder block walls, lame dorm room furniture, sharing a bathroom with 40 other people on the floor. Professors that pushed you to your breaking point and buildings that weren't always designed well for learning.

We walked through a dorm that was built last year and I don't think there was one person who wasn't ready to move in that afternoon, if only because it looked better than some of our first (or current) apartments.

This dorm looked like a four star hotel. The carpeting and wallpaper in the hallways matched. There were no fluorescent lights buzzing in the hallways, instead there were nice wall sconces. The common room, with the gas fireplace the students can rent by the hour.

The rooms, while not the height of luxury were a tenfold improvement over the ones cemented in our memory. Enough room for two people. Walk-in closets, large enough that we were pretty sure you could rent out, making a pretty penny. And bathrooms were shared between 6 or 8 people, not 40.

Then they took us downstairs to the basement where the workout room was with all the equipment you could ask for, along with 32" lcd tv's and dvd players.

That was before we saw the suites. Rooms for one student, they included a stove, fridge, microwave, bathroom (which included a walk in shower made with corian material I've only seen in show homes.)

They showed us the computer lab with the latest 22" Imac computers, in the building. Who needs to trek halfway across campus to use a computer? Ppshaw! And music room with an upright piano and electronic keyboard. And game room with foosball, ping pong and pool. And multi-purpose room that would seat 150, including an Epson lcd projector, a screen that descends from the ceiling... and shades that lower to cover the windows. You know just in case it's too bright to see that Powerpoint presentation.

At this point even the youngest of alums was starting to sound like an old fogy.

"Back in my day.... we had to walk across campus to use a computer. We had to bring our own fridge. If we wanted a bunk bed/loft we had to build it ourselves."

The biggest complaint of the student tour guide who showed us the dorm... the fonts on the dorm computers aren't always the same as the ones in a computer across campus. The suffering, I can't imagine it.

Is it hype... or reality?
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

After the dorm tour we saw the new buildings housing the College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM). When I was on campus, journalism, art, and telecommunications were separate colleges. Now the departments are all part of the same college in the university. (College being used by BSU as a way to describe the different disciplines that make up the larger university.)

Along with those departments in CCIM, last year the Dave Letterman Center for Communication and Media was opened. With a generous donation from the tv show host, it was built as a home for several of the radio stations on campus, research areas and some more video/audio production facilities not housed in the telecommunications building.

Clockwise, from top left:
The Dave Letterman Center for Communication and Media,
an audio production room in the Letterman Center,
the area where the Daily News do their podcasts from,
and a news production room in the Ball telecommunications Building.
Images copyright Erik Markov 2008

This is the portion of the tour where I was really sad not to still be at Ball State. To see the facilities for journalism, video and new methods of communicating not thought of yet was simply amazing. I imagine there might be some facilities comparable at other schools, but this is the middle of Indiana. And I haven't heard of anyone else doing some of the stuff the faculty talked about.

There are several blogs about multimedia I read. Colin Mulvany and Michael Rosenblum both have some interesting viewpoints about where the internet is going and ways of getting information to consumers. I've been reading them and others for the past few months, trying to get a handle on where journalism is heading.

To learn much of this stuff though in a hands on way one has to: spend the money on equipment oneself, hope one's company does it, or pay to go to a class or workshop. And here in front of me were three buildings dedicated to this. To spend four years getting to play with all this equipment and tap into the knowledge of instructors and fellow students would be simply amazing. Granted, it's not cheap. But it would certainly be easier to do it with people who are interested in it like those at Ball State are. Ahhh, to win the big lotto.

The following are excerpts from a letter I sent to Michael Rosenblum highlighting my experience.


As we were going through the telecommunications building, the dean explained that the mini-dv cameras and light kits that they have for students to use on projects are available to all students for a 24 hour rental period. Not just the few hundred t-com students, not just the couple thousand students in the combined programs of journalism, t-com and communication studies. All 20,000 students on campus who are paying tuition, whether they are taking a class in video or not. If a history student is working on a project about local civil war genealogists, I suppose as part of a final class project he or she might check out a camera several times over a semester to tape the researchers as they go about their work looking for lost graves. Or a poetry student might do a project about people who participate in poetry slams, why they do it and how they get inspired. And it doesn't seem to be important whether or not your a techie, what they're encouraging is the sharing of knowledge.

And they're encouraging journalism, t-com and communications to all work together on projects, something I didn't see when I was there studying. If a journalism major has a web idea, its not a big deal for them to go to the t-com department, and together with the computer science majors figure out a way to implement some new way of presenting information. Each department seems to be ok with bringing their experiences to bear in a collaborative way to develop something that benefits them all. It sounds like the walls between the fiefdoms have been torn down, or at least lowered enough so that everyone is allowed to see what is on the other side, finding a way to work together.

To see the future; be inspired by it, scared by it and know these kids are the ones I'll be competing with for jobs is a bit frightening and energizing, all at the same time. Even as I write this, thinking about it sends a chill up my spine.

And to be honest, I'm a little jealous. In the 11 years I've been working, I've changed quite a bit, thankfully. I've gotten more creative tenfold, if someone doesn't like my work that's ok because I realize some people just aren't able to see what I see because of the blinders they have on.


They have one thing that is going to make it easier to embrace this supposed new world: a soft place to land. Four years of learning, playing and paying their dues. And not being expected to get it right every time. They're students, who can expect them to get up to speed on this in 2 months?



Visiting my old stomping grounds was an interesting experience to say the least.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.