Balloons are released to officially open the 2010 Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island on Friday. Emily McCafferty, right, from Atlanta, Ga., enjoys the swings ride at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island on Friday. Emily was in Nebraska visiting her grandparents.

A member of the US Army Parachute Jump Team parachutes toward the fair grounds at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island on Friday

Emily McCafferty, right, from Atlanta, Ga., enjoys the swings ride at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island on Friday. Emily was in Nebraska visiting her grandparents. (The Independent/Crystal LoGiudice)

James Marcum, from Oklahoma, helps put a large tent up near several rides at the State Fair grounds at Fonner Park in Grand Island on Wednesday.

I have been out to the State Fair grounds almost every day the past week shooting various preparations. With the fair starting on Friday, here are some of the published images and outtakes from the past week.

Stephanie Steele walks her llama on Thursday inside the State Fair swine barn. Steele and her llama will be competing on Sunday in the llama show and will also take part in the opening ceremonies of the State Fair on Friday.

Katie Priess, right, lies on a table cloth covered in shaving cream at Cathedral Daycare's "Messy Night" which was a family fun night with food and activities for the kids.

I was leaving the paper for dinner on Wednesday when I noticed there were several kids across the street from the paper covered head to toe in white. It looked as if several of them had been involved in a shaving cream war. So, I just had to stop and take pictures.

As a newspaper photographer there are many times where we have to “feature hunt” or basically look for something interesting to photograph around town. Well, this was definitely the perfect combination for a good feature photo.

Hayden Pfeiffer, 5, wipes his face after playing in shaving cream at Cathedral Daycare's "Messy Night" which was a family fun night with food and activities for the kids.

Emma Saathoff, 6, of Trumbull, reacts to water falling on her head at the new splash pad at Cole Park in Aurora on Monday.

 I am the newest staff photographer at The Independent and even though I am from South Louisiana, it was a hot day by anyone’s standards on Monday. My first assignment of the day was to shoot pictures of kids enjoying the new splash pad in Aurora. Seeing how much all the kids were enjoying the jets of water shooting from the ground made me want to jump in there with them. But unfortuantely my cameras are not waterproof so that would have been a bad idea. 

Later in the day, I photographed football practice at Northwest High School. Since it was a hot day, I tried to capture that in the photos.

A Northwest High School football player cools off during a water break during practice.

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall made a long stop in Grand Island over the holiday weekend.  While it’s only a 3/5 replica of the one in Washington it proved to be a very moving experience for many. I’d always thought of the memorial as just that: a place to pay honor and respect to those who died in the Vietnam War.  Marlin Seeman put it in a different light for me.  One I think veterans relate to more so than another: “My name would have been right there,” Seeman said. “If I hadn’t turned my head, if I had raised my head, that bullet might have killed me.”

I’ve been wanting to blog about this image for quite some time, but couldn’t until it was published. Dalton Sealey was named The Independent’s Boys Athlete of the Year. During his senior year he hoisted state championship trophies for St. Cecilia in football, basketball and track. It was the third straight time for the basketball trophy, by the way. Heck of an athlete and a really nice guy.

I didn’t quite know how to photograph Dalton.  Traditionally we try to incorporate all the sports in which the athlete of the year participates. We want to try and show how talented they are overall, not just one side of them.  A basketball and football were easy props for those sports, but what about track? Shoes around the neck? Been there, done that. It was then that I started thinking about the starting position for sprints and how similar it was to the three-point stance in football. I had my pose.

The lighting was a different story.  I wanted the background to go dark, so that meant controlling the spill.  I also had to light the basketball which would be far away from the main light (which was on the ground on the left pointing up). An umbrella pointing down worked for that.  Then for good measure I tossed in a small flash on the left to help light that side from a different angle and fill in some shadows. I tossed a reflector on the right, but I don’t think it added a whole lot.

Dalton was great to work with. He bought into the idea and got in and out of the pose several times while we tweaked it all.  In ten minutes or so we were done shooting and had captured an image that merged who Dalton is, with the vision I had for the image.

Late last week we were working on an advance about a program today at the local water park to encourage kids to stay active and safe throughout the summer.  It was late in the afternoon and I was in jeans.  I was going to stop by shoot a bit and then head home.  That was before I saw Entisar Gebraeil and her sister playing in the shallow end.  There’s something contagious about children’s exuberance and utter joy at simple things.  I photographed them for quite a while hoping I adaquetly captured what I saw.

Read the story about the “Catch the Wave” event.

I shot a wedding this weekend for the paper.  It wasn’t the ceremony, just a few last minute preparations shots for a story we did about June weddings.  It was a bit funny since the photos ran on my first anniversary.  Weddings represent a lot of things, and the main theme is change. 

While my final day hasn’t been set, I’ll be leaving Grand Island.  My wife and I are going to be moving to Albuquerque.  She’ll begin as a full time therapist at Desert Hills, a residential treatment center, and I … well I’m still looking for something.  I have a feeling that I’ll be working on digging up some freelance work and quite possibly shooting a few weddings.  The other thing I’ll be doing is preparing to begin taking classes in PHP and SQL programming and other web based systems and languages.

The change will be awesome and we’re both looking forward to all of the possibilities while not getting too terrified of the uncertainties. Grand Island over the past 10+ years has been wonderful to me and allowed me to grow as a person and in my profession. I’ll definitely miss it here.

There’s an old adage that luck is the combination of preparation and opportunity.  That may be true, but there are still intangibles working in a “Hail Mary.”  In photography, a “Hail Mary” is when a photographer holds a camera over their head to shoot down on scene.  They are shooting blind since they can’t see through the viewfinder.  You’ll see this primarily after football games as the photographers in the second, third, fourth and fifth rows of the scrum try to get the all important shot of coaches shaking hands.

It’s an attempt of last resort, like the football variation, and (for me at least) results in a good shot 5 percent of the time or less.  It’s a technique not to be relied on.  But… When it works, it works.

Like this shot from Grand Island Central Catholic’s graduation on Sunday.  I joined the melee in the lobby of the gym as the graduates left the ceremony and began celebrating their accomplishment.  These two hugged right in front of me.  Then in almost slow motion they both leaned their heads back in joy.  I raised the camera over my head and let the motor drive fly.

When it works, it works.