The April issue of Country Living is out now with a portrait I shot of Texas Tavern owner, Matt Bullington at his downtown Roanoke, Virginia diner. Matt was kind and very generous with his time. The back page layout is fantastic. Get your copy now!

It is a rare occurrence for me to have an assignment that is only a 5 minute drive away from my home, so when I started to read the description briefing me on the story I couldn’t hide my excitement. The assignment was to cover a Roanoke County Board of Supervisors vote on renewing the county’s membership to the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), an international association of local governments and regional local government organizations that is committed to fostering sustainable development. Area Tea Party groups had decided to attend this meeting to take a public stand against ICLEI and it’s link to Agenda 21, an action plan of the United Nations related to sustainable development. The Tea Party view this as a socialist movement.

I’ve lived in Roanoke for almost 5 years and I’ve never had the opportunity to cover a board of supervisors meeting. If there was ever a night to cover one of these meetings this was the night to do it. Almost all of the public seating was taken up by Tea Party members and a small group of citizens that were pro ICLEI. During the public statements section of the meeting, those wishing to speak were given three minutes to state their thoughts and opinions to the board. Some of these talks were filled with passion and made for interesting reaction photographs. However, I spent the majority of the meeting looking for telling moments on the periphery. The in between moment, the situation outside the margin, the stare or the body language that evokes what it feels like to be at this meeting- that’s what I was in search of during the almost four hour meeting.

And for those keeping score, the board decided to keep their membership with ICLEI much to the chagrin of the Tea Party.

To read Leslie Kaufman’s story click here.

Last month I met Don Bright of Midlothian, Virginia while on assignment for AARP Bulletin. Bright, 69, lost his job of 30 years as a maintenance engineer for the Independent Container Line, an international shipping company in Richmond, Va., when his division moved to North Carolina in 2009. He collected unemployment for six months and e was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a year off from his job search for chemotherapy and recovery.

To read Judi Hasson’s story that appears in this month’s AARP Bulletin please click here.

Last Thursday I was talking about plans for a trip to New York City next month with a friend. After exchanging goodbyes, I decided to turn my attention to the mountain of grant applications and contest entry deadlines that are scattered over my desk. Just as I was settling into a working rhythm, my phone started buzzing- it was a New York area code. If you’re a working photographer a call from an NYC area code typically means a commission or an assignment is coming your way.

I picked up the phone and immediately said I was available. The editor told me that they needed me to get to Blacksburg, Virginia because two people had been shot on the campus of Virginia Tech and the suspect had not been identified or apprehended yet. My heart sunk, this was the first that I had heard of this situation and I hoped that this would not be a copycat of 2007. With instructions from the editor I headed to Blacksburg.

When I arrived, the entire campus was on lockdown. Tactical units from neighboring counties and cities patrolled the sidewalks and buildings where students would normally be milling around. It was eerie to be walking around the sprawling campus alone. Media outlets from across the state began to trickle in as minutes passed. Later it would be reported that Deriek Crouse, 39, a Virginia Tech police officer, was killed during a traffic stop on the Virginia Tech campus by a Radford University student, Ross Truett Ashley, 22, who soon after killed himself.

Please follow the coverage of my former co-workers at The Roanoke Times by clicking here.

To see more of my coverage for Getty Images please click here.

This fall I decided to put together a direct mail promotional piece with the goal of building a working relationship with specific editors and art directors. I wanted to do something beyond a 5×7 postcard but at the same time I didn’t build a piece around novelty items that would distract from my photography. After a few preliminary sketches and countless hours of on Google researching materials, I decided to put something together that convey authenticity and honesty- two ideals that I value in photography. With that I kept it simple. The promo piece would house a few recent frames from the Martinsville project along with text to give to provide context.

For a few weeks in the summer I was a regular at all three hardware stores in the area. I now know which of them will cut Plexiglas and which has the best deal on spray paint. Though measuring and cutting prints was at times frustrating and mind numbing, it did feel good to spend two weeks away from the computer working on something with my hands.

Many thanks to David Wright for making time to print these photos and to Michael Sink who helped with the stickers.

Last month I was given the opportunity by The Washington Post to spend part of a day exploring East Ambler Johnston Hall, a newly renovated dormitory on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The university’s idea with regard to the renovations was to building a community within the six floors of the hall. Students have the choice of living in the dorm for all four years. Along with residence hall staples such as communal lounges and suite rooms, East Ambler houses a movie theater, fitness center, game room, library and a full kitchen on the sixth floor. Additionally, two professors and their dog live among the students as well.

My time at East Ambler was split between an open house event and documenting daily dorm life. The open house consisted of a tour for alumni and university employees. After weaving through halls and rooms with a student guide, I left the group tour in search of moments. Here are a few outtakes and favorites from the assignment.

To read Jenna Johnson’s story please click here and to see the photo gallery that accompanied the report please click here.

Last month I was dispatched to Blacksburg, Virginia by an editor from the Style section for a story about parenthood featuring Erika Meitner, Steven Trost and their son Oz Trost. I spent part of an afternoon with the family making portraits and watching them play together. Meitner and Trost both teach at Virginia Tech, Erika as an assistant professor of English, and her husband as an instructor and the principles of economics coordinator. The story centered around their four year-old son Oz and how the couple balances their careers with parenthood.

Additionally, I decided to use this assignment as an opportunity to test out my new 6×6 camera. I was pleased to see that the Style section editor went with one of the 6×6 frames instead of the digital.

Here’s how the photo appeared. Please read Jane Gordon’s story by clicking here.

Earlier this summer I received a call from an editor at The Washington Post to spend a day in Independence, Virginia with Laura George, who is in the middle of a religious discrimination lawsuit filed against Grayson County. George, a retired lawyer from Northern Virginia, is proposing to build an interfaith retreat center on her rural property adjacent to the New River but county officials are blocking the construction. Also, George is a founder of the Oracle Institute, a spiritual group that cites many different religions as influences. Close to 150 churches are located in Grayson County, many of them Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal.

I spent most of my time in Independence photographing an Oracle Institute board meeting conducted by George at her home. Before the meeting Laura was kind and patient with me when I was making a portrait of her at the site of the proposed center. Once the meeting concluded she gave me a tour of Grayson County.

Please read Susan Kinzie’s story that appeared in The Washington Post last weekend by clicking here. You can also see a gallery that The Post put together by clicking here.

Last month I got the opportunity to spend part of a day with Val Coluni and his family at their home in Blacksburg, Virginia. Coluni was part of a successful AARP lobbying effort to repeal a Virginia state law that cut unemployment payments to those receiving social security. To read the story click here.

Call it funny or ironic but when I was working at the newspaper I always hated having to drive to Martinsville. The drive was at least an hour down a curvy US 220 South and the city is just big enough that you can easily get lost if you don’t have a good sense of direction. But, I would always leave Martinsville happy after my newspaper assignments because I would always get the chance to meet people who were warm and also quite open about having their stories told.

Last fall/winter I was making at least a trip or two a week to Martinsville to visit a few people and to listen to their stories. The drive is still long but I’m anxious to return back to Virginia to continue this project and to catch up with M. Shadus, Leonard, Brandon, Jay, and Tony along with their families.