White Wedding

As a follow up to my last post, here are some shots from John and Sara's wedding day. I was the best man, so I didn't get to take a lot of pictures of the bride and groom, but I did sneak a few shots in the limo ride after the ceremony.





And for good measure ... their last hug goodbye the night before their wedding.

Stefanie

Walking With Memphis

There's something about the adventurous spirit of a young child that makes you wish you were that age again, able to marvel at the world around you as you explore life from a completely fresh perspective. Oh, to be that curious again—so easily amused by the simple things most of us now take for granted. Like our reflection in a mirror or the view from a second-floor window. I followed around Memphis at my friend's wedding rehearsal last summer hoping to catch some candid moments. Here's some of what I witnessed.

Mischief

This is Mischief, a friendly 4-year-old pooch who belongs to my friend Avram Golden in Bay City, Mich. This picture was taken on a Wednesday night in the back of Golden's photo gallery and custom framing shop after I drove up from Ann Arbor to hand-deliver a much anticipated falafel sandwich. Mischief is probably a mix between a Black Lab, Chow and Border Collie. His owner describes him as "laid back with moments of craziness." Chasing animals is a favorite pastime, but apparently not catching them. "He sheds hair rather well, " says Golden, "and if all combined fallen hair were weaved together, could potentially provide sweaters for a small village."

Film Noir

Walking down Liberty Street after lunch on Tuesday, I came across this scene. Literally, it's going to be a scene in a short film being shot by these students from the University of Michigan. I took a few minutes to take shots of them shooting what appeared to be a dramatic encounter between two guys who looked like agents from "The Matrix." It was kind of one of those "hunter becomes the hunted" moments. I bet they didn't expect to run into some guy on the street heavily armed with a Nikon D700.

More Sights From Mittenfest 2010

Kate

They Do It With Lasers

So, there we were—shivering outside the closed doors of the at-capacity Elbow Room in downtown Ypsilanti, Mich., amid the near-zero temperatures of the first Friday night of the new year. Once inside, we warmed our hands, checked our coats, and took in the colorful sounds of Mittenfest 2010, a four-day benefit concert for 826 Michigan. The music was good. The crowd was joyful. The beers were going down smoothly. And then these guys took the stage ....

Ladies and gentlemen ... I give you ... Champions of Breakfast.






And then there were these guys ... Great Lakes Myth Society

All Dressed Up And No Place To Go

Meet Stella, a 3-year-old Jack Russel-Chihuahua mix from Ohio. She was abandoned at a shelter in Elyria, Ohio, and narrowly escaped being euthanized there when a wealthy woman from Toledo came to rescue her and seven of her roommates. The woman posted Stella's picture on Pet Finder and she quickly found a home with Natalie Finn of Royal Oak, Mich., and started her life as a princess. According to Finn, Stella's favorite color is pink, she loves to run, jump, play, and chase the boy dogs at the park. She eats only organic food and soon will begin practicing Doga, a.k.a. yoga for dogs. This was her outfit on New Year's Eve.

Jonah And Company

Bartender, Please

I rang in the New Year in style this year with friends at the BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon in downtown Royal Oak, Mich. Somewhere between drinking IPAs and hitching a ride home in the back seat of a complete stranger's car, I took lots of pictures to document the night, including this one of the bartender pouring some brew for a thirsty patron.

Fluorescence

A Very Camera Christmas

It turns out those shiny gold Nikon gear boxes make great fake presents under your Christmas tree after you've spent thousands of dollars on camera equipment and have no money left to buy actual gifts for anyone. These are a few of the many purchases I made this year to help get a leg up in my career as a photojournalist: A Nikon D700 Digital SLR Camera, a Nikon 14-24mm wide-angle lens and Nikon 70-200mm VR II zoom lens. Boxes for my 50mm and 85mm prime lenses are not shown, but they're just as shiny.

Passing Time At Pacific Rim

I met up with my friend Stefanie and a few other people for drinks the other night after an Ann Arbor Environmental Commission meeting. It was my first time patronizing Pacific Rim By Kana, a delightful Asian-themed bar and restaurant at 114 W. Liberty St. in downtown Ann Arbor. The shots you see below are of Stefanie tragically texting until her phone died, the martini she had to drink, and the Hitachino Nest White Ale that I did not try because I had already drank two pale ales before discovering this Japanese treat.

According to Pacific Rim's Web site, the business started out as Kana, a small, family-owned Korean restaurant that opened near the University of Michigan Hospital in 1982. After 12 years of success, Mr. and Mrs. Ko outgrew that location and in 1995 moved their restaurant to its current spot just off of Main Street in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor.

City Council Retreat

I bunkered down in a small conference room with the Ann Arbor City Council for eight hours on Saturday and listened to City Administrator Roger Fraser offer a grim financial outlook for the city, which must trim its budget by 30 percent over three years – starting immediately – to confront falling property tax revenues and declines in state revenue sharing in Michigan. The words "reduced" and "impact" projected onto the city administrator's head in this first photo are indicative of what's ahead. The guys in the middle photo are firefighters who watched on as Fraser talked about the need to immediately lay off 14 firefighters. The last photo says it all.

Welcome To Bay City

Dancing Queens