Lafayette | Alex Farris Photo Blog

In this year full of pre-med classes and the MCAT (which is exactly one month away!), I've managed to fit in two weddings, an engagement photo session, and a stealth gig of a proposal. They've been nice fiscal supplements to the Star assignments, but they've also been welcome changes of pace from getting names of strangers and editing on a tight deadline (and devising chemical reaction schemes!).

The first wedding I covered this summer was of an old high-school friend, Kateri Fites. She married Ben Gilliland-Sauer on June 7 at St. Thomas on the Purdue University campus, which meant I was taking photos in West Lafayette for the first time since my stint at the Journal & Courier. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and I got what may be my favorite pre-ceremony photo of a bride. The expression and the veil really make it.

Enjoy! I'll have two more entries up later this week.

This is my last weekly post of photos as a temporary staff photographer for the Journal & Courier. I had a lot of fun at the paper, I learned new things and I reinforced what I learned at the IDS. I'm still slotted to shoot two freelance assignments for the paper this week, so all isn't over with them, fortunately.

Enjoy the last week of photos. Be warned, though: If you aren't a fan of bugs, or you get easily grossed out, tread gingerly through photos two and four through six. Creepy-crawly things abound. If, however, you are entomologically inclined, then have fun!

Shelby Allen reacts as Gracie Russell puts a cricket in her mouth during the cricket spitting competition at Purdue University's Bug Bowl on Saturday, April 13, 2013, on the Purdue campus.

Now that the photo editor is back from his medical leave (but in a scaled-down, managing-the-desk-and-taking-some-photos role for now), I had less photos to take this week than I'm used to here. I still found time to get some good shots, of course. The first photo was taken last Friday for MJ Slaby's very good story on the Aging Brain Care program. We visited Don Grau, an Alzheimer's patient at IU Health Arnett who lives with his son and daughter-in-law. He gets home visits in the program, which helps make sure he gets a high standard of care and prevents unnecessary trips to the ER. It's a good program, and Don's a good guy, even with the wildly-shifting conversations.

Don Grau, who has Alzheimer's disease, picks up his drink and looks at Scrabble letters arranged on his placemat on Friday, March 29, 2013, at his daughter-in-law's home in West Lafayette. During visits from IU Health Arnett's Charmin Smith in the Aging Brain Care program, Grau spells words, identifies figures on cards, and talks with Smith and his caregiver, daughter-in-law Peggy Grau.