Where in Reedsburg?

Part of the Where in Reedsburg? series in the Reedsburg Independent.

Hey Reedsburgers, can you guess what this is? This photo inspired a short-lived series in the Indy where Jeff and I would take photos and have readers call in and guess what the item was. There wasn't a prize, just the glory of knowing you got the right answer. We had fun with it, at least.

Give up? These are stacked egg crates at the egg factory down the street from Grede Foundaries. When I was a kid, I didn't even know we had an egg factory in town until a boiler at the factory across the street blew up. I remember reading in the paper that even though the egg factory is directly across the street, not one egg was broken when it happened.

One of These Things...

is not like the other one. My hamster, Pancakes, playing possum in my parents' backyard.

Life is simply not complete without a hamster. Moose is rolling around the apartment right now in his ball, three cats trailing close behind. They have their own agendas, waking up late in the night to run in their wheels toward an unknown destination, only to fall asleep for 18 more hours, wake up and do it all over again. They eat, sleep, and exercise, and that's about it. Moose also has an impressive nest where he hoards all manner of things. And both he and Pancakes are extremely tame. Moose is even trained so that I can hand feed him treats. What a life, right?

Pancakes was extremely photogenic, almost posing for photos as in the picture above taken during one of his backyard adventures. Moose has never been outside, and he has all black fur, making it harder to get a good shot. One of these days.  :)

Peony

From my parents' garden this summer.

Sometimes I feel like taking macro shots of flowers is like shooting fish in a barrel. It's almost way too easy to capture something that looks gorgeous, like it could be on a calendar or something. But I'd like to think I can take some of the credit.

I love the sharp, random edges of the petals in the foreground, how the focus slowly fades as your eye travels to the upper left of the photo. And the stark white on the all black background. Not sure how I achieved that. :)

My parents and their neighbor have always had random peonies growing in their yards  Someone must have planted them there a long time ago and they come back year after year on their own because they don't hardly do anything to encourage them. They're in all different colors - this white, light pink, dark pink. And they're usually horribly covered in ants. I took a chance this summer and shook them out as best as I could before bringing a few dozen back to Madison. They smelled gorgeous.  :)

Self.

Taken in my apartment parking lot at 7:30 this morning with the plain old front facing camera on the iPhone4.

A good self portrait is hard to find. There are few I've taken that I've ever been happy with. The photo above is unedited except for some creative cropping to get rid of an unfortunately placed light post. I think the early morning light was hitting me just right, casting a golden glow and making cool shadows. Everyone looks beautiful in the right light.

The sun has been rising later and later here in Wisconsin. It's depressing. I love the fall weather but I can't take the decreased daylight, waking up on Mondays when it's still dark out to head to the Indy. And it's like fall came without warning this year - all of a sudden its been chilly and dark and all the leaves are turning. I'm not complaining about sweater and scarf weather one bit, just everything else that comes with it.

Time to bust out the crock pot for our constant winter mulled apple cider and rum.

Pure Attitude

Nikki MadCat, taken on my lunchbreak today.

This picture of Nikki says pure attitude to me. I took it on my lunchbreak, doing more snap snapping than sitting, as I should have been. Camera in one hand, Hot Pocket in the other. So worth it.

Lucy wasn't so cooperative today, focused more on munching the last of the summer grass before the frost tonight. Sometimes she does a great job posing, other times she's face down in the grass, or else rubbing on me and getting right in my camera.

Nikki has never been so comfortable with me. She always strikes a great pose when I'm too far away, and then she runs when I get too close. I was glad to get this shot this afternoon. It expresses her personality perfectly.

We've been thinking lately at the store that the cat hierarchy has changed - Morty used to be on top, but he hasn't anymore. We're not sure of the cause, whether it was a fight between he and Nikki or what have you. But I think this picture is physical proof of exactly how Nikki thinks of herself. It very much says, Oh yeah. I'm the boss. I make the rules. And don't you forget it.

All the Fixins

Chicago dog with all the fixins, prepared by the masters at Jimmy's To-Go, Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

A Chicago Dog has specific condiments in a specific order. We're not just talking ketchup and mustard here. No ketchup at all, in fact. An all beef Vienna dog on a poppy seed bun with mustard, tomato, onion, neon green relish, pickle, sport peppers and celery salt.

And my parents make em better than anyone around.

Looking Down

Fiona looks down from the top of her cat scratcher. Inspired by another picture I took of Tabby, Em's cat.

I didn't start off knowing what I was doing taking pet pictures, and I still don't. But I've learned a few things shooting various cats - my own, Emily's, the MadCats. Lesson one - cats (and pets in general) always look better in natural light, hands down. No flash, no worries about weird looking fur or glowing eyes.

Lesson two - always take photos at eye level. Well, almost always. This pose of Fiona's was too good to resist. It's like the classic cat pose - infinitely curious about humans yet always looking down on them.

My cats are not afraid of my camera anymore, nor the shutter noise it makes when snap snapping away. But I always forget that they are conditioned to that sound until I take pictures of other cats.  Dottie got used to it the other day, though it made her nervous at first. And sometimes they don't like a big lens shoved in their faces.

With every "photo shoot" I do, I learn more and more. Techniques, what works, what doesn't, and how to make my subjects more comfortable. But I hope I'm getting better.  :)

Seussian

Taken at the Allen Centennial Gardens, University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, May 2010. I don't know what kind of flower it is, but it reminds me of Dr. Seuss.

I went to a local camera store today. Those places always make me so nervous because even though I've been taking Indy pics for over two years now and I enjoy what I'm doing, I have no clue really what I'm doing, technically speaking, and I feel like everyone else is so much smarter than me at it. I can never get over that inferiority complex with anything I do - writing, taking pictures, selling cat food. But I digress.

Anyway, I was shopping around for a fitted case to put around my camera so I could toss it into my purse and not worry about my purse destroying it (happens more often than you'd think). The case I have is nice but cumbersome - too many straps and too bulky, too many pockets for things to fall out of. A super nice and knowledgeable guy helped me pick one out but when I handed my camera to him (he's only the fourth person I've let hold it), he pointed out that it was covered in makeup and dirt (and probably tears - my right eye always waters when I take pictures). Filthy. I've only had it since the end of May, but it's something I use for work a lot, so it goes everywhere with me. I was pretty embarrassed, but he was nice enough to clean it for me and recommend some cleaning things I should be doing.

I probably gave the poor guy a heart attack, talking about how I just want to throw my expensive camera into my purse, how I got foundation all over the LED screen. I promise I'll take better care of my baby in the future. :)

Grilled Cheese is Serious Business

Taken at Cows on the Concourse 2010.

I think one of the best days of the year as a Madisonian is the Cows on the Concourse celebration on the Capitol Square. Not only does Madison go all old school with an actual petting zoo next to the state capitol, grilled cheese sandwiches are made by the hundreds with real Wisconsin cheese and butter and sold at the bargain price of a buck fifty a pop. There are few things better than rolling out of bed early on a Saturday morning, heading up to the square, munching on greasy grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast, then taking an afternoon nap.

I love Wisconsin.

Taking Off

Taken at Plenke's Pond, Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Published in the Reedsburg Independent.

I caught these cranes by chance, although they had been frequenting the Reedsburg area for awhile. I saw them by Plenke's as I was driving back to the office, and I immediately pulled over, switched to the telephoto lens, slid down an hill, and snapped a few nice shots before they took off. Although I think cranes are pretty ugly creatures, this shot of the whole wingspan turned out nice.

Hey, Down Here!

Taken at Viking Village Foods, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, during the annual Reedikulus Day celebration. Published in the Reedsburg Independent, August 2008.

There are so many things I love about this picture. These kids were waiting for a plane to "drop" buckets of bouncy balls (really they're thrown off the roof of the store as the plan flies by). After the kids scramble to catch them, the balls are traded in for toys. It's Reedsburg's infamous ball drop, and I was a part of it as a kid, as hundreds of kids before me and hundreds of kids since.

Needless to say, there is a frenetic energy at every ball drop, with kids frantic, looking for the plane and waiting for the balls and at the same time not exactly sure what to do. This picture captures them perfectly, almost in a slow motion freeze frame, right before the plane swoops over. And my favorite part is the little girl in pink in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

This photo was put on the front page of the Indy, the first time I ever put the paper together by myself while the editor was on vacation.

Boom & Bust

Taken at the corner of South Webb and Main Streets, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, June 2008. Published in the Reedsburg Independent.

So far I've been revisiting a number of pictures I took in the aftermath of the flood of 2008 - several Granite Avenue pictures, and then this one, which I have always felt was one of the best I've ever taken. In the background is a mural in downtown Reedsburg celebrating its history in the hops industry. In the foreground are beer kegs and brewing equipment pulled up from the basement of the Corner Pub, which had sustained significant flood damage and much had to be replaced.

I'd only been working at the Indy for a month when the flood hit, and the aftermath taught me a lot about what it means to be a journalist, and what kind of responsibility it carries with it, and what it means to stay disconnected from a tragedy, and how to be respectful. My first day on the job at the Indy is the first time I ever held a dSLR camera, and a month later, I snapped this picture. I think it was the first time I ever saw something, did a double take, and took a picture. I didn't know what it meant to have an "eye" before this, but I think this picture demonstrates that whatever that means, I have it.

I have pride in myself now in seeing things a certain way, noticing things that someone else might notice, and having my camera on hand to capture it.

Best Cat Toy Ever

Oscar enjoys my Nitty Gritty birthday balloon.

Corny as it may be, the Nitty Gritty came up with an awesome concept. The birthday boy or girl gets to drink for free, complete with a free birthday mug and a free balloon.

The best part - walking home from the bar with your free balloon and everyone en route wishing you a happy birthday.

The cats also enjoyed the balloon the next morning when most of its helium had worn off and it hovered just above the ground, dragging its tempting tail along with it. Oscar would yank the ribbon and the balloon would come down and hit him in the butt.

And while the photo above isn't the best composure-wise, it's still a great candid of my kitten.

MadCats

Taken behind MadCat this afternoon on my lunchbreak.

I spent my lunchbreak this afternoon lying on the bit of grass behind MadCat, munching on tortilla chips while Lucy munched on the grass. Morty headed out too and rolled his little heart out on his favorite manhole a safe distance from us.

The store cats have the run of the place, doors open, able to come and go as they please. But they really only want to go outside if someone is out there with them. Lucy stuck close by me during the entire half hour, and it was hard to snap her gorgeous photo while she kept nudging me for pets and attention.

And it was a nice September day, warm and humid but not uncomfortable, a nice breeze. I like sitting on the landing behind MadCat - it's like a little peaceful greenspace in the middle of parking lots and one of the busier areas of Madison. I'm not a nature person in the least - nature annoys me - but I like to find and appreciate secret urban oases.

Too Short

Taken at the Reedsburg Butterfest, June 2010. Published in the Reedsburg Independent, June 24, 2010.

The Butter Festival... sigh. Reedsburg's annual event, complete with a week's worth of activities including a Miss Reedsburg Pageant, parade, and obligatory overpriced carnival. It's almost always muddy as hell, and the rides are the same every year. But it does provide opportunities for cliched carnival shots and some good ones.

I love the above picture because I feel like the hand gestures and facial expressions tell the entire story. :)

Oscar

He's becoming so photogenic.

Oscar came into our lives shortly after we moved in July. Not gonna lie, I had a hankering for a kitten. Oscar just happened to be in the right place at the right time when I started asking around our HappyCat friends if they had any kittens for me. Sweet yet rambunctious, he has more than enough energy for his bossy older sister Cleo, and the partners in crime play together while sister Fiona watches from afar.

At first, he was afraid of my camera and the noises it made. With a typical kitten curiosity, he was always wanting to get right up in the lens. Now he's more used to it and posing better than ever.  :)

Abandoned

Taken on Granite Avenue, Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

For nearly two years, Granite Avenue in Reedsburg was suspended in a strange time, everything left exactly as it had been when the water finally pulled back after the June 2008 flood. As a reporter and photographer, I knew it was my job to constantly and almost obsessively stay on top of what happened on the street, with so many people forced into condemnation after the damage to their homes was too much. But for two years, it was the lack of what was happening that was the story. It's a cruel reality how our government moves at a snail's pace when getting around to helping those in need, but when The Man says, "jump," we're expected to say, "how high?" Anyway.

I hated it and was strangely drawn it it, for everything it was and for everything those houses stood for. I always felt like I was walking in a graveyard; everything felt quiet and still but with a strange energy bubbling through the service, like something was happening or about to happen. Maybe it was a mental anxiety, something in me screaming that something should be done.

Eventually it was. Eighteen houses and two commercial properties in the city of Reedsburg were condemned and torn down after the June 2008 flooding, displacing dozens of people, some who never came back.

This photo was one of hundreds I took for the Reedsburg Independent but this one in particular was never published.

Pancakes' Story

Pancakes, summer 2008.

Pancakes was the hamster I was never supposed to have, contraband in my apartment my senior year. Amelia and I were dead set on getting him. We visited two pet stores before finding him. There he was, slightly sleepy in the middle of the day. The clerk didn't want to take him out, afraid that he would bite me. When I first held that little golden hamster, I think Amelia and I both knew he was the one. His right ear was ripped in half, the casualty of a fight with a brother or sister, the clerk said. That rip was the reason we immediately decided to take him home; we agreed that he was a tough hamster "from the wrong side of the tracks" and needed someone to love him and take care of him. Ten dollars and one pretty pink princess castle later - it wasn't until much later that we realized he was a boy - and Pancakes was on his way home with us.

I didn't know anything about hamsters when I brought him home. I didn't even know they were nocturnal. Pancakes bit me for the first and only time when I took him out of the box the pet store gave me. After we set up his princess castle and it was about time for me to go to sleep, I eyed him suspiciously, wondering if I had made yet another impulsive decision, wondering if he was going to become a chore, wondering if he was going to be a mean hamster forever. It turns out that I was all wrong.

Pancakes was only with me for just over a year and a half, but he meant so much to me and everyone he met. My roommates and I loved playing with him late at night, chasing him around the coffee table in the living room, sitting on Amelia's bed passing him back and forth, feeding him treats and spoiling him like crazy. He graduated eventually from his princess castle to the OVO Suite that kind of looks like a space station. His favorite thing was to run in his wheel; Pancakes' normal routine was to wake up very late, check out the food and treats situation, spend about an hour taking a very complicated hamster bath, and spend the next seven or so hours running like mad in his wheel. We used to say that Pancakes was always on a mission - to where, we didn't know, but he always seemed determined to get there.

I think the best time of Pancakes' life was in that apartment. He knew the layout and used to wing around the corners like a Nascar driver or something, crashing into our kitchen cabinets, stopping in front of JoAnna's door to take a hamster bath. I have so many pictures of him with Amelia, with Sarah, with Bryan. I think the picture with Bryan is one of my favorites because Bryan is so big and Pancakes is so little, and Bryan is laughing and looks so joyful. Pancakes definitely brought joy to everyone he met.

Pancakes was the most mild-mannered hamster I or any one else had ever met. He didn’t mind being held, petted, or picked up at all. He never bit anyone and was never mean. Pancakes was curious about the world around him, and above all, he was very very smart.

Out of everyone, he of course meant the most to me. He was the first real pet that I had, that was completely mine, that depended solely on me to take care of him and make sure that he was safe and had everything he needed. He helped me through some really hard times my senior year; just being able to pet him and focus on him helped. I set up Pancakes' "Tiki Vacation Home" on my desk so he would have somewhere to play late at night while I did homework. It consisted of a coconut hut, a plastic palm tree, a paper drink umbrella, and a background made of pictures cut from travel magazines.

Pancakes was spoiled so much throughout his lifetime, getting presents and treats from all of my friends and even my parents and brother. I fed him fresh fruits and veggies once in while; his favorite was definitely the alfalfa sprouts Amelia used to buy to put in sandwiches. He’d sit there and gobble them up like spaghetti. I also used to feed him walnuts; I wanted all those Omega-3s to make him smarter and his coat shinier, which I think they did.

When I graduated, we moved to my parents’ house in Reedsburg, and Pancakes had many strange and new experiences. For the first time, he lived in a house that had other animals (birds and a dog) that I’m sure he could constantly hear and smell. He got ants in his house for the first (and only) time. And Pancakes also had his first taste of the outside world. I don’t think he liked it very much but the photos I was able to take of him in the grass are my favorites and will be some of my best memories of him.

Pancakes and I moved last August to an apartment of our very own which I shared with a roommate. By this time, he was sleeping more and getting up later, so he didn’t really get a chance to explore this one as much as he did the last one. We also got a kitty, Fiona, who was curious about his every move and didn’t really understand that he was too small to play. She’d occasionally bat his ball and every time the wheel squeaked or the cage opened, she was right there. Fiona couldn’t reach the hamster cage but she certainly spent a lot of her time staring at it.

Pancakes passed away in May of 2008, but I still think of him often. Although he only lived for a short while, he will have a place in my heart forever.  The pictures I took of him the summer before he passed away were the first time I ever really photographed a pet or animal in an artistic way, and looking back now, that experience was a real game changer for me - the idea that I could capture moments and maybe be good at it too.

In Order to Maintain the Integrity of the Berlin Wall

Taken at the Newseum, Washington D.C.

I, as a rule, hate museums. Doesn't really matter what kind of museum - art museum, history museum, spy museum, science museum, you see the pattern. It's just a building that houses stuff, and you go there to look at the stuff. I disagree with this concept, and I also have a very short attention span, so generally, I don't like museums because it's hard for me, philosophically speaking, to appreciate all of this stuff.

However, I loved the Newseum, and not just for its catchy name. I mean, how can you not love a museum that has the First Amendment printed six stories tall on the outside? The First Amendment worshiping is repeated throughout the building.

Anyway, journalism is something I fell into. I never intended to be a reporter, to work for a newspaper. And here I am, two and a half years later. Until the Newseum, I'd always seen it as a job, a digestion and regurgitation of facts.

At the Newseum, I felt a kinship with journalism, and the significance of what I had considered a routine job finally dawned on me while I was there. Everything about it started to have meaning after that; I felt connected to history, and I felt the true responsibility and gravity of what it means to be a journalist.

Anyway, I took the above picture when we first got there. I thought the signage was pretty funny.  :)

My Brood Shares Breakfast

From left, Cleo, Oscar, and Fiona having a meal together.

It's a rare moment when I can catch all three of my cats in a photo together. Cleo and Oscar are like two partners in crime, but they often brawl with the much more timid Fiona. It's nice, though, when they share breakfast together.

Oscar usually starts licking my face as soon as the alarm goes off, like, "hey Mom, it's time to get up!" I try to make a point of not rolling out of bed and feeding them immediately, otherwise I'd be getting woken up earlier and earlier every day. Fiona and Cleo are smart enough to jump up onto the counter right away (a habit from when Fiona lived with a species-confused bunny), but Oscar is convinced he can't jump that far and cries until I pick him up and put him on the counter for food.

It's a delicate dance every morning, this breakfast routine, but we get it done.  :)

Area 51

A scooter with a sidecar at Area 51 Vintage Interiors, off Johnson Street in Madison.

John and I happened here after we moved, looking for some unique pieces of furniture. The owner was still trying to move and organize everything from their old location by the Beltline on Badger Road, so there wasn't much out for us to look at. It was dark, the kind of place you expect to have an inch of dust on everything, but it didn't. The proprietor planned to have more out in the coming months - the last place was stacked floor to ceiling in every room with retro furniture. This gem was parked in the back. Love those windows.

Lucy MadCat

One of my favorite subjects, Lucy MadCat, resident cat at MadCat Pet Supplies on Mineral Point Road.

I've been closing the store on weekends, and Lucy always wants to follow me out the back to munch grass for a few minutes. With the great sunset lighting and the crazed look in her eyes, I'm usually more than happy to oblige, as long as she doesn't mind modeling while we spend quality time together.

Forevertron Warrior

One of the metal sculptures surrounding Dr. Evermor's Forevertron in Sauk City, Wisconsin.

Site of the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world (made by a single person), the Forevertron and its surrounding sculptures are like a strange, secret metal garden in an otherwise ordinary Driftless Region landscape. Nestled in the rolling, glacial Baraboo bluffs, the Art Park itself is hidden from the road behind overgrown brambles and tall-ish trees. If you weren't looking closely, you'd never this amazing feat of man was there.

Stay tuned for more photos of Dr. Evermor's. I just picked up an autographed copy of this book and I'm mildly obsessed.

Hi. I'm Meagan. I take pictures.

Title: Obscured by Sign.

Observatory Drive in Madtown.

One of my favorite drives and walks in Madison, Observatory Drive runs along Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin Campus. This windy, narrow road has been under construction for the last year-ish, so to get here from the campus side, we hiked up a steep, wooded hill and trespassed through some roadwork on a Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned for more of my photos as I practice, build my portfolio, and jump into that whole Flickr thing. :)