Bremen Says Bye to Bowen

Former Indiana Governor Otis Bowen passed away over the weekend at the age of 95. Bowen is from the small town of Bremen, about half an hour southwest of Goshen. Bowen is a legend in these parts, his career as a politician, physician and philanthropist is well-documented. In addition to being the governor, Bowen served as the Health and Human Services secretary in the Ronald Reagan administration. When he was laid to rest today, a who’s-who of Indiana politicians came out; Gov. Mike Pence, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, Senator Dan Coats, Representative Jackie Walorski and former Rep. Joe Donnelly.

The best moment of the horse-drawn funeral procession was when they stopped Bowen’s casket outside his former home in downtown Bremen on the way to the cemetery. Bowen’s impact on the community was easily seen by the turnout on the streets just to watch his procession. Most of the town took a longer lunch hour just to watch and say goodbye to a man who left quite a mark on more than just this small Indiana town.

Tower Teardown

Last Friday and Saturday the “skyline” in Goshen lost a familiar sight. The old water tower, built in 1896, was demolished. The decision to tear down the tower was made last year after it was found that it would be cheaper to tear it down than to repaint it. A crew from Michigan came in, cut it down in pieces and sold the scrap to metal recyclers. It was an interesting thing to watch and made for great pictures.

Hurdling Forward into Spring

Last weekend was the 71st running of the Goshen Relays and I was on hand to cover a good portion of it. While it was cold, windy and mostly cloudy, it was still late April and we’re well into spring. I have fun shooting track because there is so much going on and it’s fun to look around and try different ways of shooting the events. Here are some highlights.

Burn, Splash, Bang

I actually prefer doing one-assignment-themed type posts to doing a post of a bunch of recent assignment work but I never seem to have time to get all my stuff together until much later. As it has been far, far too long since I last posted, I will do an eclectic post of recent work. The first two photos come from a controlled burn of prairie areas at Goshen College. Next you’ll see the result of a drunk driver who found himself submerged in the millrace canal in Goshen. He was fine, but the officer and the tow truck driver were only slightly amused. Then it’s a picture of a vacant building that collapsed in a wind storm and then I’ll close with a happier picture of a kid reaching for candy dropped from a fire truck during an Easter Egg Hunt and “candy drop” at a local church on Easter Sunday.

Bait Shop Retirement

Last week I had the pleasure of spending part of my afternoon with Ernie and LaVerda Borntrager. The couple has been married for almost 50 years and has owned a local bait shop for the last 34 years together.

After over three decades of serving area fisherman, hunters and outdoorsmen they have decided to retire. They closed up shop late last month, on Ernie’s 72nd birthday. They are liquidating their remaining stock at an auction at the end of the month.

I talked with them and shot some photos of them as they packed up their store and told me what it was like to work with each other and serve their loyal customers. I made an audio slideshow to go with the story which can be found here.

Phoneography

Since I bought my iPhone back in November, I have had a slight obsession with Instagram. When I’m not taking photos of my cat, I like to mess around and try and make artsy, cool shots when I’m out working or where ever else. This month at Goshen’s month First Friday event I decided to try and shoot some street photography shots. These are my favorite results.

Playing Catch-Up

It has been far too long since I updated here. Late last year I felt like I had entered kind of a photo “funk” and I wasn’t getting photos that were really dynamic. Since the new year though I have been working hard to correct that and I think I have been emerging from the funk. Here are some photos from this month so far.

11-0

I had the pleasure of shooting Notre Dame’s final home game of the 2012 season yesterday, a 38-0 win over Wake Forest. It was an intense game that the Fighting Irish were revved up to win. There was an added storyline to the game because it was Senior Night and team captains like linebacker Manti Te’o were making their final appearance in front of the home fans, so when they were substituted out with about 10 minutes left in the game, the crowd was really into it.

After losses by both Kansas State and Oregon last night, Notre Dame is in a good position to play for a national title, provided they beat USC next week. So as Te’o and the team walked off the field, the student section chanted “BEAT S-C!!”

Band Champions

A couple of weeks ago I made the trip down to Indianapolis for the ISSMA State Band Finals. The Goshen News had five local bands playing. It was a long, tiring day but at the end our hometown band, the Goshen Marching Crimson placed second in Class B competition, the best of any of our local bands. Annual front runner Concord finished a disappointing fifth after what many thought was the best performance of the day. Northridge placed sixth in Class B and in Class C NorthWood placed sixth and Fairfield placed seventh.

Football Season

As we roll into October, football season continues to ramble on and I just keep on shooting it. I haven’t made it out to any other Notre Dame games yet, although I am planning on hitting one more in November. However, I have seen plenty of high school action and even spent a Saturday morning doing some Junior Football League action. So enjoy some pictures from those games.