Wrestling, Nelly, pampered kids, and basketball

Before going to Guatemala for the second time in the last week of February (photos by former IU journalism dean Jim Brown on the trip website), the Star sent me on four photo assignments. The first two, on the first Saturday of the month, could not be more different: a regional high school wrestling tournament in the early afternoon, and, stretching into the wee hours of Sunday morning, Nelly's concert at The Vogue. The latter photos, for some reason, never made it to the website, but they most certainly happened.

The following weekend, I covered a child's birthday party put on by a kids' spa treatment company. I never before had taken a photo of seven-year-olds with cucumbers and masks on their faces, so cross that off the bucket list. And the day after Guatemala, I was thrown back into the mix of American culture with the most Hoosier thing imaginable: a high school basketball game played in an overflowing gym. Southport played Evansville Reitz, previously undefeated, and pulled away in the final minute for an 88-80 victory. These are probably my best basketball photos since my time at the IDS, not least because of the enthusiasm of the players and fans (but also because I wasn't afraid to use 3200 ISO).

Also, photos I took in December were finally published. Local DJ Oreo Jones has a cooking show with all the trappings of a public access show a la "Wayne's World." It's called Let's Do Lunch, and it features local chefs and music acts. I covered the filming of an episode the night before my biochemistry final (don't worry, I got an A in the class), and the photos and story finally ran online on Feb. 4, and seven color photos made it into the next day's local section (four on the front!).

There. Now I'm all caught up.