Western Christian’s Kevin Fopma and East’s Dane Larson collide while reaching for the ball during basketball action at East High Friday, November 30, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click here for more photos.

Sometimes I forget to have fun when I’m shooting. Tonight I was driving back from an assignment and I got to thinking about my college roommate James Phelps. James majored in architecture and he also worked as a photographer for the Iowa State Daily, and he always knew how to have fun.

I had an assignment for a color photography class to photograph light. James suggested I hang out a car window as he drove at night and shoot photos with a long exposure to create light streaks. It seemed a bit silly, but the teacher liked it and gave me an “A.”

James always had fun and creative ideas. He would challenge me to a shoot-off where we would both cover a football game using only a wide-angle lens and see who could come back with the best photo.

Once he taped photos from a Playboy magazine to the inside of my lens caps, forcing me to try to keep a straight face when I discovered them while shooting an assignment.

But my favorite idea that James had was how to cover an Iowa State baseball game. James wanted us to take four cameras with remotes or cable releases and four tripods to the game. We would have a camera pre-focused on each base and one at home plate. Then we could sit back in lawn chairs with a cooler full of beer and hit the release for the right camera whenever a play happened at one of the bases.

Of course I would never do that nowadays. I only have one tripod.

I’m glad we have spam filters set up for these blogs. And I’m amazed at how persistent some companies are at trying to post spam. Some days there may only be a few spam messages caught by the filter, and other days there may be a couple hundred, often times the same company trying over and over to post the same message.

How effective is spam? Does anyone actually read all those spam emails and respond to them? I’ve never purchased anything from a spam email, and I don’t know anyone who has. And even if it looked like a good offer, I’d be too scared that it was some sort of scam. But I suppose somebody must be falling for the spam messages, otherwise there wouldn’t be any reason for the companies to keep trying.

Sioux City’s Matt Crandell, right, tangles with Green Bay’s Taylor McReynolds during Musketeers hockey action at the Tyson Events Center Saturday, November 24, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click Here for more photos.

Today was one of those busy days where the closest thing I got to a dinner break was grabbing a bite to eat at the concession stands at the hockey game. Hamburger and a small pop: $8.00 (and that does not include fries.) I should have gone for the pizza at the Heelan basketball game.

Mary Worden-Fiedler, Sioux City, listens as Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop at the Boys Club in Sioux City Saturday, November 24, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click here for more photos

If you read my blog on a regular basis, you already know how much I enjoy photographing politicians. Today I got to photograph Hillary Clinton for the third time this political season when she stopped by the Boys Club in Sioux City.

I am impressed with some of the members of the national media. There are a few of them who follow the same candidate throughout the entire campaign. I just can’t imagine following the same person for several months, listening to the same speech over and over and over, and having to come up with a new story every day. I know a lot of people love that stuff, but I have more fun covering a high school ball game.

Heelan’s Millie Niggeling towers over Cherokee’s Erica Nicholson as she passses the ball during action at the Bishop Heelan Girls’ Basketball Tip-Off Classic Saturday, November 24, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

Looking at the weather it feels like it should still be football season. But basketball is officially underway. Check out the photos from the Bishop Heelan Girls’ Basketball Tip-off Classic. The gallery has photos of Heelan, Cherokee, Lawton-Bronson and Sioux City North.

Fireworks explode in the sky during Downtown for the Holidays in Sioux City Monday, November 19, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click here for more photos.

I shot the Downtown for the Holidays celebration several times, and I think this was the first time I ever shot it and could still feel my fingers when I got back to the office. Maybe there is something to this whole global warming thing.

As much as I enjoyed the mild weather tonight, it just didn’t feel right. As much as I whine about the snow and cold (trust me, I whine a lot about it) there should be a little snow when Santa arrives.

Ohio’s Greg Pateryn and Sioux City’s Donnie Hallmark battle for the puck during Musketeers hockey action at the Tyson Events Center Sunday, November 18, 1007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click here for more photos

Sammy Hagar performs at the Tyson Events Center Saturday, November 17, 1007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal) Click here for photo gallery

I was talking to a gal this afternoon and mentioned that I was going to be photographing Sammy Hagar tonight. She commented about the nice perks of the job.

I do have a fun job, but shooting concerts isn’t as fun as it would seem. Usually, most promoters will only allow us to shoot the first 1 to 3 songs (if they let us shoot at all) and only from a designated spot. Sometimes it’s a great spot, sometimes it’s bad. During the time the artist is on stage I am concentrating on things like focus, exposure, white balance, and hopefully getting good expressions. When I’m done shooting I usually couldn’t tell you what song they just played, even when it’s one of my favorite bands. Then as soon as I have my shots I have to rush back to the office and crank out the photos for deadline.

I learned long ago that if I really want to see the concert I need to buy tickets. That way I can go with a friend, have a beer or two, kick back and have fun.

I would like to say thank you to Sammy Hagar’s promoter. I was told by our Living Editor that there was a photo pass waiting for me at will call. When I got there they said they had received no requests for photos, but the promoter said I could go ahead and shoot the first three songs. I’ve been to other concerts where we were told ahead of time that we could shoot photos, but then was told to take a hike when I got there. So I thought that was way cool on their part tonight.

Alejandro Guiterrez skateboards at the Sioux City Skate Park on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon November 13, 2007. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

As I’m driving into work today I get a text message from my boss saying “need stand-alone photo.” That’s not a good sign. It means it’s a slow day and they are desperate for art. I did have three photo assignments, but none of them were for the next days paper.

So I hop in my car and drive, looking for something, anything. If the weather was worse, then the weather could make for a good photo. But it’s just a gray, icky day. Just ugly enough that no one is out doing anything. After an hour and a half of driving desperation sets in. Time for the old stand-by… the Sioux City Skate Park.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. Skateboarding can make for a fun and easy feature photo. But shoot it too often and it can easily be overdone. And since there is almost always someone at the Skate Park it tends to be our fall-back position when all else fails.

So I get my feature photo, shoot one of my other assignments and head back to the office to crank out my photos. A bit later fellow-photographer Jerry Mennenga returns from his feature photo quest. What did he shoot? Kids at the Skate Park.