American Sunset

I love nature. But I really love it when I can take a image that captures the beauty. Cooler weather brought a spectacle of clouds in last night. The sun began to set and the colors saturated the sky in a vibrant orange. I drove out to see where I could go to capture the fast moving sunset. I was driving past a huge American flag that flies over a local car dealership. I have been wanting to take a picture of the sun behind the span of the flag for some time. This was my chance.

Cooler temperatures had clouds come in as the sun sets over Chico on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

The sun sets behind an American flag that flies above a local car dealership in Chico on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

The dark and colorful clouds hung over my head in the opposite direction of the sunset on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Helping out Humanity

With all the bad news that newspapers report on, it is always good to get a bit of good news squeezed in between the murders, thefts, and fires. This last week I was able to go to two events that featured volunteers helping out the community. The first was at the Torres Shelter where a group of people came out to help make a garden to beautify the shelter.

Craig Johnson (right) nails the roof together as young people who bicycled across country work on building a home for Habitat for Humanity at a site along E. 16th St Saturday, August 7, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Angela Chen (left) and Jess Crumpler (right) nail beams for the roof together as young people who bicycled across country work on building a home for Habitat for Humanity at a site along E. 16th St Saturday, August 7, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Tiffany Conley (left) and Karli Olsen (right) plants roses with volunteers from Matson and Isom that came out to help build a garden at the Torres Shelter Friday, August 6, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Breaking Bats

The Outlaws game last night had quite a bit of bats broken by players. While an occasional bat broken happens here and there, last nights game had a couple all in a few innings. Sports photography is all about timing. I was able to snap one of these bats breaking that night.

Chico Outlaws' #25 Mike Rose breaks his bat as he fouls the ball against Calgary Vipers in the bottom of the second inning during their baseball game at Nettleton Stadium Friday, August 6, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Making the Most Of A Press Conference

We photojournalist don't like our assignments to be set up. And nothing is more set up than press conferences. While the press conference provides a good occasion to gather reporters from varying news agencies together in one place, it doesn't give way to much interesting art. Public relations do their best to jazz up the scene. But all the glitter in the world doesn't break away from the fact that the scene is scripted. I always try to look for something more than the normal "person behind the microphone" shot. I take time to search out the real story of the event.

This is what I did when I went to a press conference announcing the new women's basketball coach for Chico State. Brian Fogel was the interim coach for the team the last couple of years, and the press conference announced his removal of "interim" from his title. I noticed some of the key players on the women's basketball team had shown up to congratulate their former, newly announced head coach. I stuck around after the press conference had ended to snap a nice emotional shot to convey the mood of the decision. I felt it was much better than a shot of Fogel talking to reporters.

Newly introduced women's basketball coach Brian Fogel (center) hugged players Natasha Smith (left) and Taylor Lydon (right) after taking questions from media during a press conference at CSUC Acker Gym Thursday, August 5, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

The new women's basketball coach Brian Fogel was introduced during a press conference at CSUC Acker Gym Thursday, August 5, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

When I had arrived back at the office with the photos I came to find out one of our sports reporters, Nick Wilson, who was laying out the sports page that night wanted to search for a file photo of Fogel coaching from last season. I help his search out the image in our archives and he ended up putting a nice package together for the story.

Screenshots of the Sports page C1 and C3 show the layout for the Chico Enterprise-Record story by Travis Souders on Chico State's newly announced women's basketball coach.

Marionette Madness

I headed to Oroville to cover a story about these two puppet masters putting on a show for kids at the local library. I was given the wrong time and arrived after the show ended and the kids were asking questions. I had to think fast about what to photographed now that the main event had finished. I stuck around for a while as the kids were treated to an up close view of the puppets. Even though I had missed the presentation, I was still able to capture a couple shots that showed the interaction between the puppets and kids.

Kevin Menegus (left) shows Rebecca Sutherland, 5 (right) the swan puppet from the classic storybook tale "The Ugly Duckling" as the Fratello Marionettes gave a "Carnival of the Animals" puppet show to kids and adults at the Butte County Library Wednesday, August 4, 2010 in Oroville, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Michael Gilbert, 3 (left) and Joseph Gilbert III, 5 (right) get a close up look at one of the pig puppets in the classic storybook tale "The Three Little Pigs" as the Fratello Marionettes gave a "Carnival of the Animals" puppet show to kids and adults at the Butte County Library Wednesday, August 4, 2010 in Oroville, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Fire Not Much For Firefighters

A small blaze sparked along the bike path between Caper Acres and Big Chico Creek. Firefighters were quick to respond to the blaze which burned only about a half acre. I was lucky enough to respond quickly in time to catch crews still hosing down hot spots. It is pretty rare to get this type of blaze so low in Lower Bidwell Park. But it does happen. Luckily no serious damage was done.

Chico FIrefighter Jim Lucanic hoses down the perimeter of a small fire just under an 1/2 acre in size along the bike path between Caper Acres and Big Chico Creek in Lower Bidwell Park on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

National Dance Day

Last Saturday was National Dance Day. A dance event was hosted by Studio 1 that offered a dance lesson before hours of dancing for the public. The group was quite impressive. It varied all kinds of people that all came together to dance.

Sydney Gillam (left) dances with Cameron Martinez (right) as people gathered to dance at Studio 1 for National Dance Day on Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Matt Cookson (outer) dances with Jessica Presley (inner) as people gathered to dance at Studio 1 for National Dance Day on Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Luke Scherba (left) and Kylee Zimmerman-Pearn (right) teach people some dance moves of those that gathered to dance at Studio 1 for National Dance Day on Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)

Brooks McDonald dances with people that gathered to dance at Studio 1 for National Dance Day on Saturday, July 31, 2010 in Chico, Calif.(Jason Halley/Chico Enterprise-Record)