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Rick Perry spoke at the top floor of the prestigious Columbia Club in Indianapolis today, the fourth G.O.P. candidate to visit here this year at the invitation of the Indiana Republican Party. I wasn't with any media outlet today, but I RSVP'd for the event because I figured it would be a good opportunity for some photos. Since I don't really mingle with political people, I knew hardly anyone in the crowd. I wasn't lonely, though, since AP photographer Michael Conroy and IDS reporter Charlie Scudder were there with their respective outlets.

As a side note, while trying to set up my camera on a remote, a woman asked me what media outlet I'm with. When I said I was just there for my photo blog, she asked if I was keeping a conservative blog. "No," I said, "it's decidedly apolitical." She didn't talk to me much after that. I wish I had a better way to say what this good photographer said.

Rick Perry speaks to Indiana Republican Party supporters Oct. 12, 2011, at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis.

I received my second stringing assignment for The Indianapolis Star on Friday, this time more journalistic and more touching. It was a benefit for Brad Humphrey, who was in the first row of the Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair that ended before it began when the stage collapsed. Concertgoers helped him get out, but he ended up paralyzed from the middle of his chest on down. People gathered together in the aftermath to support the victims and their families, as Midwesterners are wont to do in most community tragedies. In Brad's case, a doctor, a kids' performer, children with artistic ability & a giving spirit, and others built a network that resulted in over $5,000 collected to benefit Brad and his family. Despite the circumstances, I was glad to see the show of support; just like the response from Bloomington residents to the disappearance of Lauren Spierer, the feeling of community built from tragedy made me feel good about people.

For the full gallery of photos on the IndyStar website, follow the link here.

Brad Humphrey (front) talks with event organizers while surrounded by his mother, Sue (left), his cousin Lindsay Reynolds and organizer Cari Hahn during the Benefit for Brad fundraiser at the Carmel Civic Square, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. Organizers put on the event, which featured a concert, art sale, games, prizes and a silent auction, to raise money for Brad, who was paralyzed in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. Alex Farris | For The Star

I don't have a paid photo internship or a job with a newspaper, so I find myself with a lot of spare time. In between being a substitute teacher at my old elementary and high schools, an annual eye appointment today and a possible stringing assignment from The Indianapolis Star, I find things to take photos of, because otherwise I feel like I'll lose some of what I learned at IU and the IDS. I haven't done a photo-a-day project like people do with Instagram (largely because I only have a dumbphone), but I look for opportunities wherever I go.

Sometimes, though, you can't just look. You have to see the row of corn in the daytime, stay up until 1 a.m., grab a Maglite out of the cabinet and hook up the new remote trigger you bought the previous week. Put all of those together, and you get this:

Click on the image for the full-size version.