Sorry I’ve been gone

It’s been a mostly good first half of the year, and certainly a busy one. I hope you’re excited to be reading a promotional blog post that’s written by a real person and not AI. This will be mostly photos though, even moreso than usual because it’ll just be a single photo from each significant event/ assignment. I intend to write a fuller post for several of these but if you’re very curious about any of them I would be happy to link you to the associated story or send you more photos.

First and most important, I’m engaged! After years of courtship and cohabitation Megan and I are in the process of making it official in the eyes of the state. Photo by Reed Mattison

Second most important, my uncle Stan passed away. He was a poet and therapist and a constant force for good in the world. This was the last photo I took of him earlier this year.

Now for the work! Mizkan, the company that produces Ragu and rice vinegar along with other things, hired me to photograph the ground breaking of an expansion to their facility in Owensboro. Here’s a photo of their executives tasting the spicy pasta sauces made in collaboration with Hot Ones, the celebrity torture show staring Sean Evans.

Historic flooding shook the region throughout the spring, with two especially catastrophic occasions. Thankfully the loss of life wasn’t nearly as bad as the 2022 Eastern Kentucky floods, but still tragic.

An EF 3 tornado struck the town of London, Ky. Here’s Governor Andy Beshear talking with a family in front of the remnants of their home. Kentucky’s had a lot of natural disasters recently, hopefully we’re done for the rest of the year at least.

One of my favorite projects, Liam at the Lantern brought me along for his 4 part story about rural homelessness and housing insecurity in Muhlenberg County. I think this is one of the developing issues of our time. These rural communities don’t have the infrastructure or political will to address this, and it’s a lot harder to migrate to a city than it used to be.

The New York Times sent me to the hills of western Virginia for a story about what to do with abandoned coal mines, and maybe more importantly who gets to make those decisions.

Photographed the ol’ Music City 150 again, had a rainout and thankfully the second day they raced in the daylight.

Went to Oklahoma to follow up on a story about Stacy and the daughter he had after his wife passed from cancer using her frozen eggs and a friend of hers as a surrogate.

And we took a quick trip to Brazil! Thanks for reading folks, I’ll write again soon about one of these events I promise.