I got the chance to go to the U of I football practice at “Camp Rantoul” earlier this week. The heat was bad… but the restrictions were even worse. I had a very limited amount of time and a very limited amount of access to shoot. Oh well… you have to work with what you’re given.

I still made a few photos that I liked.

More after the jump »

Max knows a good lens when he finds one… I almost died laughing when I walked into the living room and saw him cuddling with one of my cameras on the couch.

I wish he was this cute all the time, not meowing at the top of his lungs at 4:30 in the morning.

I don’t talk much about politics here… you can find much better information almost anywhere than my thoughts on domestic policies and international relations.

You may have seen or heard about one of John McCain’s recent campaign ads that compared Barack Obama to Hollywood celebrities like Paris Hilton.

This makes me not hate her for a few days…

Of course, it took the Funny or Die guys to make me laugh at the political humor and not just at her stupidity.

I knew I liked Barack Obama… he shoots Canon!

Barack Obama snaps a photo of TIME’s photographer, Callie Shell. (Photo by Callie Shell / Aurora for TIME)

I bet John McCain still has the Flinstones-era camera with the bird inside etching the picture into stone.

• White House Photo of the Day (TIME Magazine)

I got to shoot a few days of the USTA/Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic in Decatur last week. The courts at Fairview Park were great to shoot at… clean backgrounds (minus the ugly blue banners they hung up for the bigger matches later in the week), great access and friendly staff.

Shooting pro sports is always different than the high school and college athletes I am used to. There are bigger egos, bigger tempers and more emotion everywhere you look. Earlier in the week I watched as several of the players would throw their racquets, yell obscenities and question calls made by officials. There were also a bunch of really nice, respectful, friendly athletes as well.

One player, who was from Illinois, blew me away. He was friendly to photographers, friendly to fans in the clubhouse, friendly to ballboys… it made me want to root for him a little during his match.

He lost in the semifinals… but did it without being a sore loser like so many of the other players I saw.

Anyway — here are some of my favorites from the week.

More after the jump »

I got bored and made a map of states I have been to using the map generator at TravelBlog.org last week.

I still have a good chunk of the Louisisana Purchase states to visit and a trip to New England and the Pacific Northwest will seal the deal on the lower 48.

Unfortunately, with the cost of gas, traveling to those states will cost almost as much as the $23 million price tag to originally buy the land from France.

I ended up having Sunday off after all, so Mal and I were able to drive to Westville for the Green-Mack reunion to meet up with my mom’s side of the family. I am neither a Green or a Mack… but if I understand right, we’re on the Green side? I suppose that makes sense… there weren’t any Mack’s there.

Oh well.

I snapped a few pictures of Grandpa and some other family members. I’d take more pictures of my immediate family, but it seems like everytime I get a camera out they always pull the “Eww, I hate having my picture taken” act with the arms in front of their faces. I’ll probably have to start doing some reconnaissance-style photos from a few hundred feet away to get anything of Mom, Dad, Kayla and sometimes Mal.

There was also a tiny little praying mantis that was walking around on our picnic table that I took a few shots of.

I don’t know what side of the family the mantis is from.

More after the jump »

Scott Strazzante’s 14-year project on a family farm that was turned into a suburban subdivision came out as a multimedia piece this week. I am blown away at how much access he was given and how much time he has put in covering the two families.

As soon as you have 7 minutes and 21 seconds to spare (or 14 minutes and 42 seconds to watch it twice) click on the link and take a look. I suggest viewing the enlarged version…

• Common Ground by Scott Strazzante (MediaStorm)

So apparently my portfolio page hasn’t been working for quite a while… have no fear. I fixed it last night.

99% of you (which equals probably three people) won’t care what was wrong. But for my computer nerd friends (Josh) all I can say is I am an idiot. I had a PHP include in the wrong place and that screwed everything up.

Web sites are a lot like women… you have to communicate in weird languages (HTML, CSS, PHP, AJAX or the rarely-documented language of emotions and feelings). They take a lot of attention if things go wrong. And all it takes is one bad line of code or one sentence said at the absolute wrong time to wreak havoc on your mental state.

Anyway… if you get bored and want to see some of my favorite work my portfolio is back in business.

I went to an assignment in northwest Decatur Friday afternoon where I was greeted by this vicious, scary attack dog.

She barked at our reporter and came right up to me like I was an old family friend.

I had never seen a long-haired dachshund before… especially one smart enough to bark at reporters.