A Tale of Two Bars

Over the last two weeks I was assigned two stories about local watering holes here in Solano County. The first was a story on the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, a non for profit group who help raise money for the community. The group is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and I spent the better part of an afternoon watching them socialize over discounted beer at their meeting hall at the Marina Center in Suisun City. They are a great group of people. The second bar I documented was the historical Bird's Landing Tavern out in the middle of nowhere. It's a pretty incredible place. The owner Shirley Paolini, well into her 80's, continues to run the place since the passing of her husband Mel a few years back. The place has been around since the 1930's and was used by Clint Eastwood to film his 1982 film "Honky Tonk Man" movie. Nowadays it acts more as a museum than a working bar. Locals still come in for an occasional beer but the highlights of the place lie in the antiques and old historical photos of Bird's Landing and Collinsville that line the walls of her bar while peanut shells pile up on the floor. It is a quiet and peaceful which is just how Paolini likes it. During out conversation during my visit she would often look up at the photos on the wall and when I asked her about them she said, "I always feel like I am around good friends when I look at them." She's a pretty cool lady. I love these old gems of places off the beaten path. This both of these places were a lot of fun to shoot. -M

The Cusp of July

I find it hard to believe that summer is already half way over. But alas, mid July is here. Things have been pretty calm around the newspaper for most of June and into July. I've been doing a lot of cruising for feature photos aka "slices of life" around town. We've been quite fortunate to have a pretty cool summer this fall with the minimum amount of 100 degree days and people have been taking advantage of the opportunity. I took the opportunity to head home to Chicago for a long overdue week vacation. I just returned home early this morning. Got to see some live blues, watch some friends get married, build a chicken coop for my mom, clean a garage for my dad, visit with old friends and even meet with ace Chicago Tribune senior photographer Alex Garcia. All in all it was a great little trip home.

Faith in Hip Hop

A couple weeks ago I did this story on a couple guys here in town who were making a Christian based hip hop album. Their group is called Immortal Ministries. It was pretty cool to watch how they piece together their rhymes and sound effects into music. It is a lot like mixing a multimedia piece for the newspaper. I'm not a religious person. But regardless of whether or not you believe in their message, it was cool to see them following their passion for hip hop and create upbeat songs. You can check them out here

Welcome Summer

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

Looking out for Nicholas

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.

Sunburns and Summer Fairgrounds

I spent the better part of this week covering all of the happenings of the Solano County Fair festivities. Not the busiest fair I've attended in my career. I'd imagine that the organizers were frustrated about it too especially when they are competing against a Six Flags roller coaster park across the street. For my money the Ferris wheel just can't deliver. Still, for the few kids that did attend you could tell they were enjoying themselves. Like most fairs around this country, we had the 4-H livestock competitions. I was never in these events as a kid but watching them now it is pretty fun to watch the kids and their reactions during the events. You can tell that each has put in a lot of work to get here and they all take it quite seriously. Separate from the 4-H events, I stumbled upon a new event of pig racing. They were pure comedy. An uplifting end to what has been a very long and hot week here in California.

Solo June

June has, so far, proven to be a crazy month for me at my newspaper. For much of the time, I have been working solo due from a mixture of co worker's injuries, vacations, and departure from the photo staff. Between attending meetings and running around non stop shooting all of the assignments, I've had little time for much else. Oh wait I also shot my first wedding of the year. You can check out my images from it here. I knew there were more reasons why I've been busy. Now that school is out in Solano County things have started to cool down. It has been a month of big transitions for everybody around here. Me with my crash course into becoming a temporary one man band photo department and departure of a co worker. My photo editor Brad Zweerink and I said goodbye to a good friend and fellow shooter Chris Jordan after his decision to work freelance and shoot weddings got the best of him. I must say I was sorry to see him go. A great guy and and a solid photographer. I learned a lot from him. I wish him all the best. I still have half a month to go but here are some of my favorite images that I've made so far. Cheers. -M