I don’t know about you guys, but when I was a kid I loved seeing the illusions of magicians. I was given a simple paper folding magic trick once and I eagerly would volunteer to make a dollar bill disappear then reappear for anyone willing to appease me. I loved the misdirection and the reactions I got from people. For years, like so many, I’ve seen big time magicians wow audiences on television and on tour and I always was interested in the idea that these individuals were still carving out a living in illusion in a time where people are being bombarded with new technology and entertainment of the 21st century. When I moved to Bozeman last year, it became known to me that Jay Owenhouse, a national name on the magic circuit, lived in Bozeman and that he used tigers for his performances. I had to meet this guy. Over weeks and weeks of trying to line up our schedules, I finally was able to hang out with Jay for a week leading up to his tour kick off performance at the Montana State University Brick Breeden Fieldhouse last Saturday. I was interested in his unique occupation and the fact that someone in this small little Montana town had two tigers as pets. I wanted to document his relationship with his big cats and try to show our readers what it was like to prepare for a magic show. Time was against me, as always. Between daily assignments and not enough hours in a day, these images are what I was able to come away with. It was really cool to watch the relationship/passion this guy has for his craft and with these beautiful animals. If you ever get a chance, it would be worth checking out his show. You always want more time or more access to work on stories but overall I was pleased with many of the images I made of him. Thanks for looking, -M
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I’ve been excited to post this project for a while now. Over the past six weeks, I documented the journey of a young couple who just had their second child here in Bozeman. I was looking for a long term photography project. Something that would challenge me to slow down and really tell an in depth story through pictures and sound. Upon meeting Rosie, the sister of Knikka (the mother) at the Bozeman Film Festival, I was able to introduce myself to the rest of the family and get the okay to start documenting their lives. It started sooner than expected. That night Knikka went into labor and I met her and Chris at The Birth Center in Bozeman, Montana at 1:30am to watch their new daughter Ryleigh be born. What an amazing thing to witness…the birth of a child. I began this project because overall I was drawn by the sense of family these guys all had. Rosie had just flown out from Connecticut to help her sister and her husband Chris become adjusted to life with a 3-year-old and a newborn. For the parents, Knikka and Chris, it was balancing the needs of their children while juggling their own relationship. Each are working on their degrees while attending college at the Montana State University. The running theme in my head was “It takes a village to raise a child.” I had many different facets to document and I put no limits on myself. I also had no agenda or a deadline. This was a different approach to storytelling that I am used to documenting. So much of what I do at the newspaper is rush around making deadlines. The growing trend of small editorial staffs, budget cuts and big workloads prevent us from doing more of these in depth documentaries. This was a intimate, personal story. One with no clear end or direction in sight. Having a family isn’t anything new. There weren’t any big news hooks to it. It was just their story and their life. A story I felt was worth telling. Through the countless hours I spent watching and documenting this family, I came to learn a lot about them and realized there path in life could easily have been a very different darker one. I focused my approach on telling the journey of the parents Chris and Knikka. I wanted to show how their unexpected journey into parenthood changed them, derailed their previous path of substance abuse and switched course to give their kids the best life they could give them. This multimedia video is the result. I hope you enjoy it. -M
-To read the story and see more photos you can view them on the Bozeman Daily Chronicle website.
Here are a couple photos that I made in the last week or so. Now that school is out things are really starting to slow down here assignment wise. This is pretty normal at small daily newspapers like mine. But these slower summer months offer good opportunities to start long term projects. Currently, I am in search of a good documentary topic to shoot. I’m always open to ideas and suggestions. My focus is turning to the end of this week when I will be headed home to Chicago for a week. Really looking forward to seeing some old friends and family. Thanks for stopping by. -M
These photographs are from a last minute story I shot of a local family who have come together to help raise their nephew who has Down syndrome. I had literally about 24 hours to get this story shot while holding down the photo department as the sole photographer while my fellow staffers were absent either on vacation or injured. Things were kind of rushed to say the least. But considering the time constraints, I was pleased with the results. The power of family never ceases to amaze me. You can read the captions under each photograph.
Mary Eble, left, and her sister Martha, right, play with their nephew Nicholas Eble by encouraging him to box. “We try to introduce him to new activities and keep him moving,” said Mary Eble. Nicholas requires a constantly present caregiver and that role is divided between his two aunts and his father.
Mary Eble struggles to convince her nephew Nicholas that changed plans for the evening mean that he must accompany his aunts to their boxing class instead of watching movies at home. “Routine is so important to him because their is so much in his life that he can’t control,” said Mary Eble, “It is a big comfort to him and when things don’t go to plan, often times we have to work to find a compromise.”
Nicholas Eble, 31, plays his Ghostbusters video game at his home in Fairfield. “Nicholas is in many ways pretty independant,” says his aunt Mary Eble, “His ability to entertain himself allows us opportunities to get other stuff done around the house.”
Meals on Wheels employee Gerald Madueno, left, accompanies Nicholas Eble as he delivers a meal to a Suisun City resident. “We want Nicholas to be intergrated like everyone else,” says his aunt Mary Eble, “Since being laid off from his previous job, Nicholas has been volunteering for the non profit once a week.”
Nicholas Eble works on his fist jab with with Jesse Lopez Jr., owner of J L Tepito Boxing Club Thursday evening during his aunts boxing class. Trying to keep Nicholas active can often be a challenge for his family and their work schedules so they push him to try activities they are involved in like boxing.
Excited over the news that he will spend Friday evening at his father’s house, Nicholas Eble, 31, gives his father Nick a hug before accompanying his aunts to their boxing class.
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