Jeff Lautenberger

Kim Shaw looks at final results for the Associate Circuit Judge, Division 5 race as her mother, Jane Poore, stands by at her side during a watch party at D. Rowe's in Columbia. Shaw lost to incumbent Larry Bryson by only 243 votes.

Election days are crazy for a journalist. Even primary elections in August when only 24 percent of voters show up, most of whom not even halfway decently educated on the issues or candidates they’re voting for.

Over the last month at the Missourian, I’ve been on the elections beat doing research, interviewing candidates, writing profiles and going to candidate forums. All in the name of objectivity, and ultimately, voter education. That said, it was frustrating to hear voters at the polls tell me, “I really don’t know what Proposition C is about” or “I don’t know either of those candidates so I left my bubbles blank.”

Well, voters, all of that information is available to you. In multiple places. I know, because I helped write it online and read it in the dead tree edition too. It’s not my job to tell you who or what to vote for, but there is really no excuse to say you’re uninformed. Not in 2010. » Continue Reading…

Eight-year-old Jordan Wingate, of Columbia, glances away from the judging ring as her poodle Ginger naps during the Best in Show judging at the Columbia Kennel Club Dog Show on March 14 at the Boone County Fairgrounds. Jordan and Ginger did not compete in the show.

Went to the dog show with the intention of working on my color correction assignment for Advanced Techniques. I started out using flash and blending techniques, and got some usable stuff, which I might blog later. But, it was mostly just frustrating me, so I decided to just enjoy the puppies, put my strobe away, and shoot for fun.

Jordan here was pretty antsy and bored during the Best in Show judging, and spent most of the time wandering around the rings. Her grandmother (at right), eyes glued to the dogs in the ring, was ignoring her and even her poodle was beat from a long day. I caught this quick expression which I think summed up her mood pretty well.

After the show, I felt compelled to introduce Chris to Christopher Guest’s classic movie, Best in Show.

Missouri forwards Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers walk off the court following the Tigers' 63-53 loss to the Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., on Feb. 27.

I think a lot of people were hoping the rematch of Missouri and Kansas State wouldn’t turn out to be as ugly as the game in Columbia on Jan. 9. If you were one of those people, you were probably pulling your hair out last night. If you want to get technical, last night’s 43 fouls were less than the 56 whistled in Columbia, but does it honestly even matter at that point? K-State had nearly three times as many free-throw attempts (34) to the Tigers’ 13. Both teams’ shooting percentages were in the toilet at under 33% for the entire game – in fact, the Wildcats managed to open the game by making 2 of 22 field goal attempts and STILL managed to be tied at the half. » Continue Reading…

Great game tonight — everything that needed to happen did, with the exception of Justin Safford landing hard on his knee and barely being able to walk. Hope todays MRI isn’t as bad as the fall looked in person.

I’m still having some problems with my remote setup, and I finally figured out why. Looks like a broken pre-trigger cable, but thanks to the awesome customer service at Flash Zebra, I’ll have a replacement in just a couple days, well in advance of next Saturday’s HUGE season finale against Kansas.

Finally, it was probably the last time this year we’ll see Steve Moore, Tyler Stone, John Underwood, and Jarrett Sutton on the court at the same time. Definitely a feel-good highlight.

Missouri swimmer Jordan Hawley competes in the 50-meter freestyle preliminary on Saturday at the Missouri Grand Prix. Hawley did not qualify for a finals heat.

U.S. National Team member Eric Shanteau comes up for a breath in the 200-meter breaststroke. Shanteau won two gold medals Saturday, in the 200-meter breaststroke, and 200-meter individual medley.

Photographing swimming has a tendency to get a little repetitive and monotonous when you’re doing it for six hours a day. If you aren’t really aware of what you’re doing, every photo you take will pretty much look like a head bobbing in and out of water. With that in mind, I took my time today to try and get something different. Now, I’m sure both of these photos have been shot before, but they aren’t something you’ll get everyday.

Now that I’ve gotten clean stock photos of pretty much every major swimmer competing, I hope to spend my final day at the pool tomorrow looking more for features and even more unique compositions.

Missouri swimmer Rachel Ripley, right, waits on the pool deck behind Trojan Swim Club member Keri Hehn prior to the 100-meter breaststroke championship final of the Missouri Grand Prix. Ripley placed fourth, with a time of 1:11.5.

Back to sports…for a couple days. This weekend is the fourth-annual Missouri Grand Prix, and my third year shooting the competitive meet. For the second year in a row, Michael Phelps is absent from the pool at the MU Student Recreation Complex, this time due to a snowstorm which kept him in Baltimore. Despite some spectators turning around at the door upon finding out of Phelps’ situation, attendance this year (in my entirely unofficial estimation) seems generally higher so far than last, but nowhere near what it was in 2008 – being an Olympic year, almost the entire U.S. National Team was competing along with other international stars.

I didn’t get much of a chance to shoot today because of other obligations, but expect a full photo gallery sometime later this weekend!