No Boredom at Board Meeting

City Council, County and School "Board" meeting have the potential to be just that...boring. The photos usually lead to a individual seated behind a desk sitting talking into a microphone. The dialogue can be very enticing, but visually it leads itself to a unexciting image. Most of the time mugshots of the councilors work best.

Ever so often the press is treated with a gem of a photo opportunity. These opportunities don't come with great assurance in that those board meetings are the most controversial. They contain some big of decision that will lead to a group, big or small, unhappy with the outcome.

Music parent Colleen Kavanagh holds a sign during a Chico Unified School District meeting Wednesday. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

This strong visual with hardship story is the type that happened the other day. Wednesday the Chico Unified School District Board was faced with a tough decision on whether to face running out of funding in the fall semester or make disturbing cuts in layoff and programs to the district. Parents, teachers and other school and community representatives came out to show their support to keep the funding intact. The images show the controversy that followed.

I wasn't initially assigned to cover the school board meeting as for the aforementioned reason. The meeting was thought to be another insightful, yet visually dull meeting. I received a call from the reporter about the number of community members who came out to voice their opinion of the subject. After receiving the call, I talked with the editors and a conclusion was drawn that we had not allocated enough room in the print paper to give adequate coverage for the story. I told the reporter, "Not unless someone busts out a #2 pencils and starts stabbing people, are we going to have room for any art."


Parents, students and community members holds a sign during a Chico Unified School District meeting that discussed budget cuts Wednesday. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

This brings a huge part of what newspapers and journalism as a whole faces everyday with the decline of the economy (more on that later). My night was looking pretty open, and I decided to see what the commotion looked like for myself. The reporter had stressed the need for a photo request from the scene. I drove down to the City Council Chambers and found a packed room full of supporters of school funding. I began to take pictures of the children and parents who created signs for the occasion. This was the visual impact I was needing.

Brian Corbit, parent of a Chico High student, holds a sign during a Chico Unified School District meeting Wednesday.(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

During the meeting I was able to listen to the discussion of what the city was making their decisions on. The was a presentation by Assistant superintendent Jan Combes about the school budget, or should I say lack of budget. The district faced a deficit of $9.7 million unless the cuts were made. Those cuts only would shrink the budget deficit to about half down to $4.8 million. Thought not enough to gain a positive, pushing for the cuts would give the district help in obtaining a cash-flow loan to assist with funding the budget.

School Board member Andrea L. Thompson holds her hands to her mouth as she looks over the presentation on the cuts being addressed to the district during a Chico Unified School District meeting Wednesday. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

The community came out to say no to the cuts. But the controversy was the fact that the district without these cuts would allow the government to step in. With the government taking control of the district, all local decisions wouldn't be allowed to be heard. This would cause much hardship for the schools in the future.

Evan Goodson, 13, of Chico Junior High, addresses the Chico Unified School District board on why he loves music in school.(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

There were many photographic opportunities for me at the meeting with parents holding signs in opposition to the cuts. After returning from the meeting, I came back to the office were there were no news holes to place any artwork. Though I created a photo gallery and placed several photos with the story online, the news print suffered. The story was lost in the pages of the print. This is the effects the economy has had on the newspapers across the country. With our funding being hindered by other Internet sales and with decreased business support, the newspaper is unable to provide its readerships with...well, with the news. This huge story that effects the whole community isn't giving the proper coverage it needs in order to get the story out to the public. There are so many sides of the story that are being missed because we don't have the space.

I was glad to have the opportunity to take it upon myself to give this issue the coverage that it deserves. Hopefully someone will see the images and be impacted to do something to help. This is the bond the newspapers serve to the community and why we as journalist never are bored with our job, no matter how dim the outlook.

I'm Back from Writer's Block

Well it has been quite a while since my last post. I will admit, I have been distracted lately. Not because of the economy, or the journalism industry or even because of some new camera toy. On March 7th, 2009, I married my love. Her name was CassAndra Dutton. I have been dating her since college. And now we will share our lives together. I am very happy. I haven't talked much about her on this site because it was to mainly focus on my photography work. But now that I have pictures from the wedding, I can post them.

Almond blossoms were blooming outside the Neighborhood Church where Cassie and I married. (photo by Bill Husa)

The wedding was wonderful, but a lot of planning. I had to take time away from this blog to focus on getting the plans done for the wedding. And I am glad I did. The wedding went perfect according to all of our guests. I want to thank them all for making that day very special for the both of us.

There was a lot of planning from the flowers, to the ceremony site, to the drink and food, oh yeah, and what about the photographer? I couldn't possibly take my own wedding pictures? I had ran into an old wedding photographer friend Jacquie Van Tichelt who I asked if she could take our wedding pictures. She was wonderful in accepting my request. She did a really great job.

But I just can't go a day without taking pictures, can I? Yes, I did it. I took a photograph of our own wedding. But before you scold me, I did set the camera up on a remote timer that I started two hours before the wedding. This meant that I would not have to worry about the camera at all during the wedding. At first I thought about putting a pocketwizard in my pocket to fire a remote camera, but then realized Cassie might notice every time I put my hand in my pocket to take a picture. I didn't know how I was going to take pictures of my own wedding, but then I realized a way that I could take pictures without "taking pictures" during the ceremony. I decided to connect an intervalometer up to the camera and place it in a secured location. I set the timer to go off every five seconds taking a picture until the card ran out. I set the timer to go off 15 minutes before the ceremony started. And then like Ron Popeil, I"Set it and forget it". Wow, did I just quote an infomerical? Anyway, it worked. I forgot to expose for the center stage, so we a a little overexposed, but it wasn't something that I was going to worry about. I think overall the picture is something that can be used for memories. And besides, who can say they photographed their own wedding. Although I don't know who would gloat about photographing their own wedding either. I also was able to use the images for a photo sequence of the whole wedding.

A remote camera set up in the balcony captures the wedding ceremony. (Jason Halley/Pro Pixelographer)



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Cassie surrounded by her bridesmaids Caylan, Kim, Michelle, Alysha, and Toni. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

Jason the groom surrounded by his groomsmen Matt, Matt, Sean, Aveed, Steve, and ring bearer nephew Cameron. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

My beautiful bride, CassAndra. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

I also had a second shooter there. Bill Husa popped from the crowd to snap several pictures...well several isn't really the word. He snapped a ton of pictures, draining two batteries. These pictures combined with full coverage from an excellent videographer captured the whole night for us. And what a night it was.

I place the ring on her hand during the ceremony. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

We walk out of the church as the new Mr. and Mrs. Halley. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

Yeah, I am pretty lucky. (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

The wedding was great. When it started I was only focused on one thing, my bride, that I didn't even know who was watching the ceremony. It seemed to go real fast and before you know it, we were married. After the wedding we had to help clean up the church for services the next day. This causes us a little delay (about an hour) on getting to the reception. We thought that we would be bad hosts making everyone wait. To our surprise, everyone was very comfortable and in high spirits. Everyone continued to enjoy themselves and knew nothing of the delay. The night turned out to be very special. Our first dance was very memorable.

Dancing begins and continues well into the night. (photo by Bill Husa)

My groomsmen Matt and Sean acted as Timon and Pumba in our first dance that was choreographed to Lion King's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" . (photo by Bill Husa)

Showing those Lion teeth during our first dance. (photo by Bill Husa)

Yum, cutting the cake made by my brother. (photo by Bill Husa)

Cassie and I had wanted to do something very special for the first dance. We had many discussions about starting our song, then switching into a funny routine and musical number. But with our busy schedules and chaotic planning, the agenda didn't just quite match up. Until the night before when we decided to cut into our song with the Lion King's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". The night before I edited the music and created a video for it. I gave it to Cassie and the day of the wedding I was creating the costumes for the dance. It was very last minute but very great. Everyone loved it.

This is Cassie's favorite (she likes the tight grip on me). (photo by Jacquie Van Tichelt)

After a little more dancing and fun the night was ending and everything was great. Even the fact that Cassie and I left early to not clean up. With all this planning and enjoying the married life, this blog has been put on hold. I kept saying I need to start it up again, I should do it now. But as anything I need to make sure I have plenty of time to devote to it. So now as we begin our lives together, I continue to catalog my photographic journey. We will be having a honeymoon in Hawaii, so that should bring back some exciting pictures for the blog. But from now on, I should not have a writer's block anymore.

Snow in the Foothills

Today I got a chance to take a drive up to Paradise and Magalia to find some wild art of the weather. I was treated with a beautiful white snowfall that came into the foothills. It's not everyday that I get to take my 4-cylinder car up the Skyway into snow paths and flurries, but it is always something that I enjoy to do. With proper safety that is.

Snow fell near into the trees at the Magalia Reservoir Friday, February 13, 2009 in Magalia, CA. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

I do enjoy the mountains, but that doesn't mean I want to be stuck up there. I drove up the Skyway and after getting past mid Paradise I began to see snow on the side of the road. Further up the snow began to pack up and I stopped just above the Magalia Reservoir on Dogtown Rd. I got out to take some pictures as the snow began to fall. I looked up to Sawmill Peak, but it was covered in the thick clouds and snowfall. There was a good amount of powder coming down.

Heavy snow falls as a vehicle waits for a clearing to pull onto the Skyway from Dogtown Rd. Friday. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

A car drives along the Skyway above DeSabla Reservoir as a fresh blanket of snow fills the trees. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

I continued to drive past Paradise and into Magalia. The snow began to fall but the roads stayed relatively clear. I kept going all the way up to DeSabla Reservoir. I saw a family sliding down one of the slopes off the reservoir. I stopped and took pictures of them for a while. They were really nice. I had spent a good hour searching for snowy pictures and found quite a bit. My favorites were all the fresh powder that had been dumped.

Ty Brown, 13, of Magalia, (left) laughs with his mom Gina Brown (right) as they play in the fresh snow near the DeSabla Reservoir. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

It was nice to get out of Chico for the day. The weather in Chico was much more dreary and wet. I would have been cold and soaked with gray skies overhead. By heading up the hill I was met with a wintry wonderland. This was a nice change of pace. We need the snow pack to help with our drought that should be coming in Summer. I am sure to post more pictures of the lack of water soon. The trip was just right, snort and sweet.

Gas Smash!

I had just finished work when I received a call about a accident into a gas station. I raced to the scene to find the roads being closed down several feet away from the accident. An Oldsmobile 88 had collided into the Valero gas station pumping islands tearing it clear off from its foundation. The pumping station was through into pieces and the car was smashed up on a telephone pole. When I arrived the fire was already put out by firefighters.


An attempted traffic stop Thursday evening ended with this Oldsmobile crashing into a Valero Gas Station on Longfellow Avenue after it failed to negotiate a turn from East First Avenue. (Jason Halley/Staff Photo)

Even though the scene was a mess, it could have been a lot worse. All the safety mechanisms worked how they were suppose to. There are two concrete blocks on either side of the pumping station that are attached to sensors. They are strong enough to hold back "soft" bumps from cars pulling in to pump gas. They are also designed to break away and shut off the gas pumps when a car crashes into them.

The right side of the vehicle struck one of the pumping stations.(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

The remains of the pumping station that was torn off from its foundation.(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

I was told that safety crews don't get to test these shut off procedures often, well... because accidents like this don't happen often. The real unfortunate thing from this event is that the driver was originally going to stopped for a traffic violation and ended up causing a lot more damage and problems for him. It makes you think...what was he thinking?!

Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose...Kid

The other day I came across a grandmother walking with her two grandchildren in the park. They were feeding the ducks and geese off the lake nearby. I approached them from across the lake and took a couple shots from far away. The first images were very boring and didn't carry much weight in regards to interest. It worked for a simple photo, but the biggest problem was the green trash can in the background. I tried to walk around the bank but couldn't get the birds and the kids in the same photo.

Connie Higgins, Ethan Higgins, 6, and Derek Higgins, 3, (left to right) feeds the ducks and geese at the lake in California Park as people get outside to enjoy a break in the rain Friday, February 6, 2009 in Chico, CA. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

They stayed there awhile as I began to walk closer to them. At that time of day the sun was getting lower to the horizon. At my first position it was casting a nice yellow glow, but after moving I was staring directly into the sunlight. I really couldn't see anything but the glare off the water.

Ethan Higgins, 6, feeds the ducks and geese at the lake in California Park as people get outside to enjoy a break in the rain Friday, February 6, 2009 in Chico, CA. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Fortunately, this is exactly what I needed to spice the photo up. The bright reflection of the sunlight off the water made the subjects be silhouettes, creating a very simple image. It brought the focus onto the kid and the geese taking away all the distractions (i.e. a trash can). It was a simple event, but the extra searching turned it into a better image. It just goes to show that taking that extra few minutes can really pay off.

What a Zingger

The day after the riot in Downtown Chico, I got a chance to see the character of a University official shine. Chico State's President Paul Zingg is well known for he adoring character. He has expressed his passion for baseball and can be seen regularly at CSUC baseball games. But he also knows when to be a leader. He has continued to push the education of the campus to higher standards not giving in to the party image that the campus is known for.

This character truly makes him an appealing individual. There is always a particular detachment from school officials and thier students. The students are always looking to be cool and hip, while the officials are trying to be stearn and controlled. It is a stereotype for a reason. That is why I appreciate CSUC President Paul Zingg; he breaks the stereotype.

After the riot he called for a press conference with other university, city, county, and community officials to respond to the events. "This is not how we are going to be defined," Zingg said, not by "bonfires in the middle of the street ... that puts our city servants at risk." He took action to stand for something he felt needed to be addressed.

Paul Zingg, president of Chico State University, speaks to members of the press during a press conference Friday outside the City Council chambers to talk about Thursday's night riot at Sixth and Chestnut streets. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

What makes him more special than other administrators was his actions later that night at the Chico State men's basketball game. I saw Zingg enter the stands enjoying the school's activities. Later in the first half I saw Zingg leave the community side of the stands and head over to the students side of the stands. He took off his sports coat as he hopped up with the fans and cheered them on as any fan would do.

Chico State President Paul Zingg (center) cheers with the Rowdy Red group against San Francisco State in the first half Friday at Acker Gym. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Some people might look at this behavior as fueling the party image, but I do not. I appreciate a University President who can show leadership in the morning by denouncing hostile actions from partying, yet still show the community how to have a safe and fun good time with the activities the University provides. Good job Zingg, I applaud you and your fanatic personality. It tells students it is ok to have a good time. Do it safe, do it fun.

Corruption!

When a journalist calls "corruption" it can mean they stumbled on a huge break in a story that will launch their career. When a photojournalist calls "corruption" it can mean something entirely different. Unfortunately this last week I have been dealing with the latter.

This is what the corrupted images looked like on the back of the Canon EOS-1D LCD screen. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

This last week I took pictures of the CSUC women's basketball game Friday night and headed back to the office. I put my card in the reader and acquired through to our editing program like normal. I walked away from the computer to get a drink. I came back to the computer to see that the acquire hadn't acquired any pictures.

I was confused and opened the card on the desktop. The title of the card which normally reads "EOS_DIGITAL" read "EOS_DIGITAD". The name was renamed. The files were also corrupted. I attempted to drag the files from the desktop to a new folder and only a few (10 out of 180) were able to be copied. I was frustrated because I lost all the files from the game. I didn't know what happened. I saw the pictures at the game on the LCD. They were fine. Then they weren't.

The corrupted CF card had a folder structure with endless repetition of folders that contained the same content repeating itself with no end in site. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

My initial thought was sometime in the last couple frames of the night the battery might have popped loose cutting the file writing off in the middle of its process causing the card to go corrupt. My battery doesn't last long and isn't the most secure item. I was mad, but went back the men's game to get something for sports. Good thing we got those 10D's in.

I tried to see if anything was recoverable, but even the files that copied, some were blocked out and scrambled. The next day I figured things wouldn't happen again because I thought the problem was with the battery and I just would keep an eye on it. But it did happen again.

Contained in the corrupted CF card, there were little salvageable. Most were unreadable. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

I came back from an assignment and after putting the card in wouldn't acquire. The same problem of corrupted images occurred. The second time the corruption didn't look the same. I was able to recover about half of the images, but most of those were blotched or discolored. There were differences in the types of corruption that occurred, but the fact remained the corruption occurred again. This time I don't remember the battery slipping out and shutting the camera off.The problem is that I don't know where the problem is coming from. It could come from the memory card, card reader, camera hardware or computer software. After the second time I decided to test each item to see what the problem might originate. The problem with the test is that when I actually tested all the items, it WORKED! ARRGH! It isn't suppose to work. Well it is suppose to work, but not work when I want it to not work, but work when I want it to work, just not when I tell it not to work.

The corrupted images were only represented by scrambled colors and patterns, nothing of which contained an image that I had shot. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

This is why it is frustrating. This is the conclusions that I have come to from this failed weekend.

- I don't think it is the reader, because the pictures from the other camera (10D) loaded fine, no corruption.

- I don't think it is the card, because I used another card in the same problematic 1D camera that worked and loaded fine.

- I don't think it is the card reader since it has worked after the cards were corrupted fine.

- I don't think it is the software because it has loaded the cards fine since the incident first occurred.

- It might not be the battery because during the test I pulled the battery out when the images were writing to the both cards and that had no effect. But that seems like a valid answer because the battery keeps glitching.

- My guess is something with the camera because all my other cameras work, and this one is 7 years old. So what does this mean? Something is broken.

Thankfully this didn't happen during the riot, otherwise the tone of this email would have been very different, but it did happen. And it happened during assignments. I can't afford to loose a major shoot.