Day in the Life ....

Remember when I talked about former K-Stater Pete Souza being Obama's chief photographer?

Well, of course they'd do something awesome like have a photostream from Flikr. To check it out, HERE.

K-Stater (back) in the White House!

Lately, former K-State photographer Pete Souza has been making headlines.

A week and a half ago, Souza was named as the official White House Photographer for President Elect Barack Obama.

This morning, Pete was interviewed on NPR about his new post. (There's also a story about it in today's Wichita Eagle

When Obama was elected President, the fleeting thought of Pete returning to the White House certainly crossed my mind. Pete lived and worked in the Washington bureau of the Chicago Tribune for several years ... which was when he photographed Obama's first year as a senator. Of course, the gallery link goes beyond that.

In the gallery, scroll down to the 6th photo of Barak w/ Malia at the Library of Congress. It just melts my heart ....

These images are compiled in a book, "The Rise of Barack Obama" and it can be purchased at Amazon.

Pete also was a White House photographer for President Regan, which is why several of us Tri-X photogs suspected he might end up back in the White House. When the former president died, Souza was asked by the family to return and document his funeral activities for the family. What a true honor.

I remember at a gathering of photographers who worked at newspapers in the Harris Newspaper Group. There were some awesome, awesome photographers there, and among them was Souza (he'd worked at Chanute early in his career). At that time, he showed his documentary work from Regan's funeral. I was weeping ... WEEPING when we were done looking at the photos. They're so beautiful ... timeless ... classic ... poignant.

Back to the K-State connection.


Often, alumni photographers would come back and work with us on projects, mentor us, critique our photos ... Pete certainly had the reputation of being hard as nails and giving "no holds barred" critiques of portfolios. Crying was common (I was told). But every comment he gave us only served to better our work, and to help thicken our skin. :-)

Next week, I'll be in D.C. for the March for Life. It's just a few short days after Obama's inaguration. I'd love to think I could just "stop in" and say "hi" to Pete, but I suspect things will be a *little* crazy. But I'm just such a nosy nellie, I'd love to see Pete's domain.

On a complete side note, I didn't realize Obama is a leftie. I know, I know. I'm such a dork. It's just one of those things I notice. Especially since my dad is left handed. :-)

Other awesome lefties: Bishop Paul Coakley, Babe Ruth, Julia Roberts, Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Oprah Winfrey. Yeah, there are DOZENS out there, but this is my short list (and "the Babe" is on there for Erik, so he doesn't feel emasculated by having this random chick list on our blog). ;-)

Gustav

Ok, time to talk about spot news.

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving around Wichita, running errands like a maniac, I heard a piece on NPR about Hurricane Gustav and its effects on a small town in Lousiana called Houma. "So what?" you might ask. So, one of my college colleagues, Matt Stamey, lives down there and works as a photographer for the Houma Courier.



(photo by Matt Stamey)

Matt is chronicling the events via the Stormtracker Photo Blog, but he also has some brief updates on his personal blog as well.

An excerpt from Day 1 of the Stormtracker Photo Blog:

"Wow, that was intense.
Being from Kansas, I had never seen anything like I saw today as Gustav made its way through Terrebonne Parish.
As the wind and rain increased, I wanted to see first hand what a Hurricane felt like. It didn't take long to realize that standing in the middle of town during a hurricane wasn't for me. "

And this is an excerpt from day 2:

"I felt whole again, I was finally out shooting. For a while, I forgot that a hurricane had just passed. We were talking with a couple of guys on their street and it felt like any other day. We were out there getting photos and stories of the people who live in our community.
If it's a story of a kid at a science fair, or story about a man and his batman collection or a story about someone who just lost their home, the concept of gathering the images and story remains the same."

What I just love, love, love about Matt is how genuine he is. He moved down to Houma a few years ago and just dove into the community. He truly became a part of the community, and whenever he talks about it, it is SO evident. I wish I could have become part of the community at my first newspaper .... and truly called it home. Stamey has done that, and I have to tip my hat to him for that.

Let's rewind a bit to 2005 and Hurricane Katrina. Matt was beginning to call Houma home, and was also in the biggest national news event of the year.

Having the heart of gold that he does, Matt wanted to help. And thus "Faces of Katrina" was born.

He explained to the K-State photographers: "my main goal with this project is to get families back together. It kills me when a little boy comes to me and asks if I've seen his dad. Any little bit I can do to help, I will."

So he went to a few shelters and photographed the refugees, posted it on the Courier's Web site, and hoped families would be able to find their loved ones.



(photos by Matt Stamey)

You can view the project HERE and HERE.

Matt is so awesome that he put together a year-anniversary project, too. You can check it out HERE.

I also think he put together a DVD about the project ... where he spoke about the project, his thought behind it and the results of it. He presented it to us at our annual K-State photo gathering .... and I just wept when I saw it. It was so truly beautiful, and you could tell it was so heartfelt (I'm all tearing up as I'm typing this now!). I'm not sure where you can get it, but if I find out, I'll add it to this post.

So ... be sure to go leave some encouragement for those in Houma at the Stormtracker Photo Blog!

Robin in the Collegian

***We interrupt the Easter posts to bring you news from my sister***

This morning, my sister Robin sent me a text saying her photo was in the K-State Collegian.

Yay! Since I worked for Spub for years, it wasn't really likely she would be featured in an interview or photo. BUT today, they did a story on Women in Aviation at K-State Salina. (that's the direct link, they'll change the front page tomorrow and you'll have to dig for it).

The photo was from Robin competing in the Air Race Classic.

Way to go sis!