Older entries | Alex Farris Photo Blog

My memory might be failing me, but this might be the first time I have taken photos on assignment for six of seven days. There was the Brittney Hamm story (← over there) on Monday and Against Me! (←← over there) on Sunday, but over the last few days I shot the women's swim team victory in the Big Ten Championships, went into the trapeze stage with Bernadette Pace, walked though Bradford Woods for an environmental portrait of Erik Ludwig (while Kayleen Cohen interviewed him) and watched a 70-64 IU loss to Northwestern. Gallery of all that action up ↑ there →.

(Now that I think about it, this happened a few times when I was photo editor last semester. I just didn't have a blog then to record it.)

Indiana University senior Brittney Feldman performs her fifth dive in the three-meter springboard finals on the second day of the Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 18, 2011, at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind. Feldman finished fifth with a six-dive score of 391.20. The Hoosiers led the team standings at the end of competition Friday with 531 points, 136 points ahead of second-place Minnesota. (Alex Farris | Indiana Daily Student)

After the IDS' weekly Slash meeting (where we discuss what went and didn't go well in the past week's papers) on Friday, I was approached by features editor Elvia Malagon and writer Caitlin Keating for a photo assignment. Keating wanted me to go with her to the Monroe County jail on Monday, where she would meet with Brittney Hamm. Hamm and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, would visit Brittney's fiance of six months, Jere Brant Crouch, who has been in jail for seven months. (Yes, they first met when he was in jail.) Ideally, I would be able to take photos of the three talking to each other through the glass window of the booth. That didn't happen, though, as a change in the visitation system kept even Keating out of the conversation. We were still able to piece something together for Tuesday's paper, and it made for a nice post-Valentine's Day package.

Brittney Hamm closes the Front 1 door before talking to her fiance, Jere, on Feb. 14, 2011, in the Monroe County (Indiana) Correctional Facility. Jere was arrested seven months ago and charged with theft on the Indiana University-Bloomington campus. (Alex Farris | Indiana Daily Student)

I'll admit, I've never been to a punk rock concert. I knew the stereotype going in, but I thought I'd survive well enough while still protecting my two cameras and three lenses. Because I was shooting for the yearbook, an IDS photographer was at the concert at Rhino's All-Ages Club, too. Ten minutes before the start of the show, as the chants started, she texted me, "farris, get ready to protect your camera. the crowd's probably gonna get pretty rowdy".

Two sore thighs, an achy back and a sweaty hoodie later, this is what I got.

Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel yells into the microphone during his band's show at Rhino's All-Ages Club on Feb. 13, 2011, in Bloomington, Ind. (Alex Farris | Arbutus)