I was recently featured in NPPA’s new blog, “The Visual Student,” talking about my experiences during my internship at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Thanks Kevin!

Some fun at an annual event where they light up six hot air balloons at dusk.

Mike Peiffer holds open a hot air balloon named The Tinker-Too to let the air in at the Balloon Glow held on the grounds of the Brucemore Mansion on Thursday, June 25, 2009. The event was part of the Freedom [...]

Three Dog Night came to the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival over the weekend. It’s always fun shooting bands with sweet concert lights, let alone old(er) rockers trying to be hip.

Danny Hutton (left) and Cory Wells (right), of the band Three Dog NIght, perform during the Classic Rock Concert Night at the Freedom Festival held at [...]

Last week, after two of my shoots had been rained out, I was assigned to shoot buildings in downtown Cedar Rapids to put into our new online banner. At first glance, this might seem like a typical “intern assignment.” But there was good light, so I strolled around and I had freedom to shoot basically [...]

Yesterday I shot a rubber duck race. I must admit, seeing over 14,000 rubber ducks bobbing up and down in the Cedar River was pretty adorable – and fun to shoot.

Rubber ducks are released off of the Third Avenue Bridge into the Cedar River during the Great Eastern Iowa Duck Race presented by the Cedar [...]

So I’ve been shooting a lot of sports lately. The other night I shot soccer, which I haven’t shot in years. I think I got a pretty cool image out of it.

Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Zach Brunscheen grabs the shirt of Iowa City West’s Alan Bedell as they both go after the ball in the second [...]

Brooklyn, IA

Drivers practice maneuvering through figure eights before the opening-day races at Brooklyn Raceway in Brooklyn, IA on Saturday, May 9, 2009. (Chris Mackler/The Gazette).

Kelly Ellis helps daughter Katie Goetzinger, 6, (both of Brooklyn) plant tomatoes in the family garden located off of Spring Street in Brooklyn, IA on Sunday, May 10, 2009. The family [...]

The Gazette has a monthly segment called “Coffeetown” where the paper profiles a randomly selected town within the circulation area with a couple of stories and photographs, and then invites the town to lunch with Gazette Employees. This month’s coffeetown was Brooklyn, IA. While shooting locals gardening, I saw people jumping out of planes. I [...]

If you didn’t already know, I’ve accepted an internship at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here are a few images from my first couple of weeks:
Tornado Clean Up

(From left) Dustin Lange (14), Ryan Recker (15) and Stefon Brandt (15), all students at Alburnett High School, help clean up a tornado’s aftermath in Alburnett on [...]

(thanks to WhattheDuck.net)