A lil bit 'a Cowboy

Travis Oakey, of Springville, is known for his custom leather work, including his hand-made saddles, and the western scenes he engraves in strips of leather.

Inversion

Crazy!

Sundancing

I had the chance to shoot the Sundance Film Festival as one of my first assignments at the Daily Herald. A lot of fun, a lot of craziness. Best part of the weekend though - seeing "Which Way is the Front Line From Here," Sebastian Junger's film on Tim Hetherington, and hearing Junger's thoughts during the Q&A. See the film!

Hello Utah!

                                                                Illinois------------------->Utah.
                                                             New home for the next 6 months!

Life in the Red Zone

Cassie Harris has spent her whole life in South Peoria. She grew up there, and raised 6 children there. She's struggled with drug and alcohol abuse throughout her life, and has been in a gang; she has spent time in prison. Harris' children were taken from her by DCFS; she has them back now. Harris is clean now, and living a quieter life, and has recently started the Red Zone Neighborhood Watch with the intention of decreasing gang and drug-related violence in the area around her home. Here're photos of her story. Read the article here.

A morning with Tiny

Gyneva, or Tiny as she's called by everyone who knows her, is raising her three kids alone after her long time boyfriend and father of her children went to jail for gang-related activity. His arrest was part of a city-wide crackdown in Peoria on gang violence. I only spent a short morning with Tiny - the story ended up falling through - but I had been interested in looking at those left in the wake of the crackdown. Here are a few photos from that morning.

Donk'e Punch

...A custom shoe artist. For the video I shot for the story, go here.