Kansas Weather

It had been storming pretty consistently this week in Manhattan. Here are some of my favorite shots from the heaviest part of the weather.


This was probably my favorite frame from this storm. Anyone who knows me knows I have a strong attraction to dead tree silhouettes against interesting skies. This living tree with dead branches kept my eye fascinated.


Just a cool frame showing how intense this storm was. It was very dark on campus.


While shooting the storm I ran into my friend Rick (see post below, three down).


While cutting through a building to keep my camera from getting too wet I saw this wet chain through this long skinny window. So I waited for someone to walk by to give it another interesting element. I actually had to wait a while.


This is one reason I love my campus grounds in the Summer time. Everything is so colorful and beautiful.


I came home and the sun came out, but it was STILL pouring rain! Made for an interesting frame.

Big 12 Vacancy

This is the final edit of my Big XII neon sign illustration. I went out in downtown Manhattan to find a brick wall that would look good for this package. I tweaked my original edit to have an illuminated X because at this time there are only officially two teams leaving the conference. I also reduced the illuminating features on the unlit part of the sign (thanks for the critique Jon). The paper didn't end up using this edit but I really wanted to see how it would have looked so I redesigned the front page with my illustration instead.

What the paper had...


What they could have had...


If you want to read more on this here is a link to the story:
http://www.kstatecollegian.com/news/texas-declines-pac-10-offer-league-remains-with-10-members-1.2274786

If you are interested in trying this tutorial here is a link to the one I followed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGDkai7RTC8

***Note: I tried to get the links as ACTUAL links but for some reason I couldn't get them to work, if I figure it out I will redo them.

Tree top tilt shot

While skating around campus I noticed these kids playing frisbe. There was a tree near by I had climbed the day before to take some self portraits so I thought it would be cool to grab my makeshift tilt-shift lens and climb up to see what I could get.

My name is Rick

This is Rick Violette. He is a retired power plant worker who hangs out on the K-State campus to pick up his paper. I first thought it was because he enjoyed campus but when I asked him he didn't respond how I expected him to. He basically said he came to campus because he knew a few people that worked there, so I assumed he came to visit with them, yet again I assumed wrong. Rick told me even though he knows them he doesn't come to visit them. He went on to say he didn't even know why he even stayed in town. After concluding he was just a grumpy old man who came to campus because he had nothing better to do we began chatting. Rick had plenty of stories to share with me about his life including his time in the marines, his childhood neighbors, his family, the secret to gambling on dog races, and of course baseball (the topic every old man has a story or two to tell). I soon lost track of time in my conversation with him and eventually realized we had been talking for an hour and a half. Having gotten to know Rick for that extra time I decided my conclusion was not accurate, but I still can't say for sure what his reasons for hanging out on campus were. I finally OFFICIALLY concluded I have no idea why but Rick Violette is an interesting person and I regret my initial opinion of him.