... and a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all the warm fuzzies that go with it ... from our hearts to yours.

big boy bed

mom reads jack a bedtime story in his new bed. unfortunately the new bed did not solve the getting out of bed problem we've been having ... sigh. i suggested duct-taping him in bed, lynne vetoed that idea. i think it would work tho.

more about the big three

Nation doesn't owe Michigan a dime - or does it?

a column written by Charles Slat about the reluctance of The U.S. Senate or The U.S. Congress to lend a hand to Detroit mentions some interesting facts about income taxes. I was unaware Michigan has been such a cash cow for Washington, so why are we getting the cold shoulder?

the big three

i have mixed feelings about our taxes supporting detroit's auto manufacturers. they have built and sustained a quality of life in michigan that is immeasurable. i'm sure in some way i have benefitted from their succes, HOWEVER, this frontline documentary asks some pretty tough questions and makes me have less mixed feelings and more angry feelings.

love my job today

it was a pretty typical news assignment for me. a local school making christmas cards for soldiers. we do this every year and its hard to photograph anything original ... but i find any assignment with children fun. adults can be too shy or concerned about themselves and children seem to lack the self-consciousness. the kids do like having the newspaper in the classroom and its usually a lot of fun. today was one of those assignments and as i was leaving one of the little boys i had photographed gave me this note. i love my job today.

santa comes early

santa came early to nana and papa's house (lynne's parents) and look what he brought us ...

snippets from work

first is a portrait of a married couple that just moved to the area and are victims of a recent home burglary. their dog, roxy, was shot twice during the break-in (the couple was not home at the time). home invasion is on the rise in our community ... 5 suspects were arrested and it's believed they are part of a larger city-based crime ring preying on rural homes. the second is a frame i like from veteran's day.

the choice ...

everyone get out there an vote tomorrow.

fast and furious

two days of fast and furious shooting. seems like every thing i had to shoot this week had to be cut short so i could either get back to tone pictures for the paper or pick up the kids ... top one is from a story about repossession ... the second is an out-take from a school assembly. i love those eyes - they're so mesmerizing.

the choice

i often hear the same phrase over and over, "i don't like either of them," during discussions about the two major candidates for the next president. frontline's documentary the choice 2008 helped me learn more about john macain and barak obama. i highly recommend it.

mother and son

jenna takes a lot of mommy's time, but jack gets a dose of 'fun mommy' now and then.

mrs. bosch

recently i've converted lynne to a mac user ... i'm so proud ... sigh.

bitsy bisty cider

tell it hank!

"You can do anything you wanna do, but uh-uh, don't step on my cowboy boots."

- Hank Williams Jr.

jenna is home

jenna came home today with mommy. everyone doing well ... getting rest.

baby girl

jenna marie bosch was born 16sept2008 at 4:20pm. mommy did it natural, which she says now she doesn't recommend (ouch) we're very happy, very proud and very tired. thanks for all the well wishes everyone.

labor of love

personal projects are the most frustrating, yet most satisfying stories to tell. frustrating because you never feel that you get enough time to work on them and you don't want to finish the story because you always want it to be better. satisfying because you become deeply involved in someone's life or situation and it becomes more meaningful than the typical one hour you spend with subjects for newspaper assignments. i just published a 3 part series and audio slideshow about nancy, who made new years resolution to lose weight - her determination inspired me to keep coming back.

the pose

i originally stopped because she was twirling in front of the fountain and i needed a feature, but whenever a photographer stops to take a picture the scene always changes. her name is Lindsay, she's 3. her uncle joe was giving her coins to throw into the fountain. she never twirled again after i started taking pictures, but she did pause and throw me this marilyn monroe style pose - i made other pictures of her throwing in money, but my kept coming back to this one. she looks so adult, such attitude for such an innocent girl. i like it.

a day at the beach

friday after work jack said he wanted to go to the beach ... how could i say no? he like picking things up ... like rocks and shells, but wouldn't go in the water - even after begging.

learning colors

jack is just starting to learn to recognize his colors ... obviously we need to work a little harder.

papa and jack

papa bennett and jack walk back to the house after a ride on the ranger ... jack loves taking rides on all the farm stuff, except for the big tractors and the combine. "too big" jack says.

over the ocean blue

went sailing with dave and sue grassley of Monroe - it was unbelievable. the crew was very nice, even though i must have been in their way ... very cool people and they've invited me back to "work" on the boat ... are you kidding me! we'll see - anyway i had a fantastic time - he's a self portrait from the boat and one of the grassley's.

mr buckingham's flag

he doesn't remember where or when he got the flag, but kenneth buckingham speculates he must have taken it off a dead japanese soldier while fighting with the 41st army infantry in the south pacific. he explained enemy soldiers carried flags on them and that they contained names of loved ones and possibly religious text that helped them into eternity ... if it came to that. mr. buckingham had a saber once too, but said he'd given it to a friend in the service, "those navy boys bought everything," he said regarding the value of such items. one story he told gave me goose bumps. once in the mountains on a philippine island his patrol stumbled on a village. they searched for japanese soldiers, but found none, nor any villagers which made them nervous. mr. buckingham searched one of the huts and discovered a saber in the corner of the room with beautiful jewels on its handle. knowing it was rare and valuable he thought of taking it, but second guessed his instincts ... it might be booby trapped he said to himself ... so he passed it up. later, as the patrol retraced theirs steps back to the safety of their own camp they came upon the village, still empty. maybe i'll get that saber after all he thought and went into the same hut, but the saber was gone. he asked every man on the patrol and none had taken it, plus only he had searched that hut and anyone lying would have a hard time disguising what they had taken. mr. buckingham has thought about that day many times since. "i remember searching the room, but i never looked up." he concludes someone was in that room. "if i would have went over and picked that up ... my rear end would have had it,' he said.

i love my zoo

jack lynne and i went to the toledo zoo today with college friend pam, her husband bob sons evan, braden and daughter ava. it was a perfect day, a little on the warm side, but i won't complain. jack was very excited to see the aquariums ... the fish, otters, seals, ducks and polar bears. my photos aren't that great because he just would not sit still. "oh, that's a big one," he said looking at the seals ... it was so fun to watch and in hindsight would have made a better video. he also enjoyed the train ride and hotdog for lunch - could it get any better jack?

father rooney

i photographed father rooney today ... he's leaving monroe for another parish in temperance. we talked more than we worked on making a picture and i mentioned i was from west michigan. "ah you're a calvin" he stated confidently, must be there are a lot of Calvinists in west michigan or something ... i told him i was methodist (which was a white lie because i don't belong to a church, but like methodist the best) lying in church ... to a reverend ... i better pray tonight before bed. he told me he's from belfast ireland (he has a gorgeous accent) and preceded to give a wonderful history lesson in religion there and how the methodists kind of acted like neutral Switzerland for both the Protestant and Catholic churches there. i've been pushing myself to take better portraits, i'm happy with this one.

blinded by the light ...

worked last night catching up on some freelance ... i was walking across the empty newsroom when i was suddenly blinded by sunlight - i'm okay, i survived the ordeal and walked away with a picture too.

X

supposedly there is a killer bbq place at the top of this building in monroe, have to try it sometime. i love how old this town feels, especially on a drizzly day.

memorial day

happy memorial day all ... a frame from a memorial day service sunday night in monroe.

tired

haven't blogged in a long time ... i won't bore you with everything taking up my time lately, but life kind of goes in cycles doesn't it? right now the "cycle" of my life includes very little time on the computer, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. here is a frame from a recent wedding. i relate to his expression - it sums up the tired, beat-down, draggin-ass way i've felt lately. looking forward to memorial day weekend - time to recharge my batteries before summer.

ultrasound

It's a girl! this is lynne's 20 week ultra sound picture (above) and a rough video (below) Yay, its a girl.

big shoes to fill

jack loves to wear mine and lynne's shoes ... maybe all kids do, dunno, but jack sure does. he gets so frustrated sometimes, i assume because it looks really hard for him to walk in them, but despite falling ... often ... it is still one of his favorite things to do.

feeling much better

we're feeling much better ... jack stayed home today (monday) just in case ... but he's back to his old self. over the weekend he didn't play much, spent most of his time laying down and watching lots of Bob the Builder. But today we had oatmeal - or oatman as jack pronounces it - and he's been on his feet all day. he's wearing ME out today.

sick day

jack isn't feeling well, actually he feels terrible. he woke very early friday morning with a stomach flu or something ... he hasn't kept any food down since and he's too little to understand why mommy and daddy won't give him any crackers or toast (he asks for them repeatedly) it just crushes me. we tried toast last night, but it didn't stay down. he holds down fluids tho ... so we're giving him small amounts of juice, water, and pedialite popsicles every 15-20 minutes. poor dude, going to be a long weekend, hope the little guy can get over this soon. he's asleep now in the chair and hasn't thrown up yet today ...

snowman

well, why not build a snowman if its going to snow the first week of spring? i tried this earlier in the year with jack, but he couldn't have cared less then, this time he was more into it. we've watched the snowman ... named "snowman," slowly disintegrate as the weather warmed to more seasonable temperatures ... but he was cool while he lasted. when mommy came home from work jack was very excited to show her the snowman he and daddy made. "snowman cold," he declared.

spring snow

i felt the same way about the recent snow storm as the little brown bear statue in monroe appeared to feel ... ugh.

wanna be like you

jack imitates just about anything his cousin reese will do. its funny to watch them, reese is pretty good about it ... i wasn't so keen on the idea when my sister followed me around everywhere like a shadow on the wall (sorry kristen i owe you big time) but these guys manage pretty good. i still remember walking downtown grand haven with the bosch clan ... jack was only six months old ... we were at an intersection waiting for the crosswalk light and out of the blue reese blurts out "green means 'go' red means 'stop' jackson." what a good teacher.

play rehersal

i never tried out for the school play. too chicken shit i guess. i'm terrible with remembering lines - even when i play guitar i have to have the lyrics in front of me or i fall apart ... so i admire these kids for getting out there and putting on a show. practice is hard work, and its tiring and i guess that's what i like about this frame. i was tired too, long day.

jack turns 2

happy birthday to my home boy jack. he's 2! can't believe it. for his birthday we told him he was going to be a big brother ... that's right - mrs. bosch and i are having another baby due in september. jack didn't understand the whole new baby thing. i guess he'll figure it out when he hears all the crying.

purdy pitchur

funny. i call myself a photographer. my job title is "chief photographer." when i call to set up appointments for the staffers i say "my name is bryan bosch, one of the 'photographers' at the evening news." yet i take so very few pictures. i manage the department, which isn't as glamorous, and too complicated to explain every time i introduce myself ... so i just say "i'm a photographer." i wouldn't change my job, its important, nor do i mean to complain. having the job i do means i enjoy weekends off. i enjoy being home with my family in the evenings. i enjoy looking at the great work that surrounds me. when i DO get the change to go out and shoot an assignment i usually try to find something personally rewarding ... even if its a just a pretty snow scene on the drive back from the assignment.

high and dry

thanks for all the words of encouragement regarding the flooding and all. i'm happy to say all is well. new pump kicking butt, broken underground line temporarily mended, so we're high and dry for the moment. as i write this our five inches of snow is about 75% melted after the inch of rain (that's right more rain) we received this morning. i was very concerned after watching last night's weather report - and was prepared for a day-long fight to keep dry, but the new pump is keeping up with the snow melt ... phew. this crazy winter weather ... yesterday the high was 20, today its 47, tomorrow its forecasted to be low 30 with a chance of snow - what is going on with the weather? could this be evidence of global warming?

bob and melanie

bob and melaine, lynne's parents, renewed their wedding vows along with about 20 other couples yesterday at their church in ionia ... i debated bringing out the big gear for the ceremony, thought it might look a little over the top shoot a big 70-200 with motor drive cranking full balst, but i'm glad i did, i like this moment. they've been married 39 years and are good role models for what being married is all about. no, i didn't say they were perfect, but they sure make it look easy. congratulations, again, mr. and mrs. bennett.

why do you hate me?

i don't know what unseen force is out to get me, but i have to ask whomever or whatever has a beef with little ole me "why do you hate me?"
after spending the entire day battling flooding, broken pumps, rain ... then sleet ... then snow i finally could rest knowing i'd fixed the pumps and they were keeping up with all the water (see previous post). THEN today i come home from work to this scene. the underground line running from the new pump to the ditch had ruptured and water was gushing to the surface ... the water flooded and eventually draining back to the yard tile, back to the pit and then out the broken line again onto the yard then back the the drain tile - recycling the water instead of pumping it out - so i'll ask again ... why do you hate me?

water worries

mother nature is a tough cookie. for two nights we've had hard rain ... on top of 4 inches of snow - so my entire yard is a soupy mess. why is that a big deal? well my yard drains to the same pit my crawl space drains to, so if the pumps don't keep up, the water from the yard will fill up the pit and back-up into the crawl space ... not a good thing. during the second night one my sump pumps went out. it takes two to keep up with the amount of water we've had. so for 7 hours today i battled mother nature. i was under the gun because there is another inch of rain beginning to fall with a forecast for sleet turning to snow with a possibility of 1-4 inches. so i had to get both pumps working before we got hit again for the third time. long story short it took 4 hours for the water you see in these photos to drain and another 3 for me to finish adjusting the pump - which required me rigging up this bucket with holes in it....without the bucket the pump kept clogging with debris from the bottom of the pit - a problem i noticed last year it flooded in mid winter ... ugh! well, since i added the bucket both pumps are running full blast. phew, just in time. i won't say i "beat" mother nature, i'll just say i'm a step ahead ... for now.

old mill

so tonight i was assigned to shoot the grand opening of a new exhibit at the old mill museum in dundee ... well no one came to the opening, i mean NO ONE, unless you count me and the reporter. on the way to the ribbon cutting ceremony, which btw ribbon cuttings are a joke to photojournalists - they're fake and therefore a taboo - hence the "journalism" portion of "photojournalism." anyway back on point ... i was on my way to the ribbon cutting ceremony and i saw this composition. i like the mix of warm and cool light. it ended up being the best frame from the night, so i pitched for the front page, but i'm a little nervous about this being the dominant photo. it doesn't really tell a story, but it will get attention - i'm such a risk taker ... that's sarcasm in case you missed it.