☞ TRAVIS ★ LONG ☜ » News http://www.travislongphoto.com multimedia photojournalist Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:32:11 +0000 en hourly 1 No Ordinary Day http://www.travislongphoto.com/2007/08/07/no-ordinary-day-4/ http://www.travislongphoto.com/2007/08/07/no-ordinary-day-4/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 10:09:15 +0000 admin http://www.travislongphoto.com/?p=1546 “No Ordinary Day” is a visual diary of the events, both large and small, that serve as milestones in people’s lives. The black and white photo column was published weekly in The News & Observer from 2003 to 2007 and was shared by colleague Takaaki Iwabu and myself. It was a celebration of the struggles, triumphs and tears we experience as we travel from birth to death. Our goal was to document moments in time that might otherwise have been missed; sometimes it’s the tiniest incident in one’s life that has the most profound effect.

Eight-year-old Tynia Barnes dances during a Mardi Gras party last weekend at Hollenden Place apartments in North Raleigh. Tynia's family is among eight New Orleans families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who now live at Hollenden. 'It's difficult,' said former New Orleans Gentilly neighborhood resident Denise Mitchell, after urging a half-dozen youngsters to start dancing. 'The kids are used to seeing floats and bands. Even though we didn't have the floats we are still enjoying ourselves.' Miriam Tuovila, 80, of Yorktown, Va., emerges from the water as she completes the first leg of the Triangle Triathlon at Lake Crabtree County Park in Morrisville. The race consisted of a 750-meter swim, a 15-mile bike ride and a 5-kilometer run. Tuovila completed the event in less than 2 hours and 15 minutes. (The best time was 1 hour and 29 seconds, and the best women's time was 1 hour, 10 minutes.) 'I'm just trying to show that old women can do it, too,' said Tuovila, who started competing in triathlons at 63. 'It's like oiling a machine; if you don't exercise, it gets rusty.' Hikers Larry and Donna Duckworth and Amy Campbell, from left, grasp hands with Darryl Campbell and Emily Barnes, not pictured, to see if they could link arms around the base of a massive poplar more than 100 feet tall on the Poplar Cove Loop hiking trail in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest near Robbinsville. The 3,800-acre tract is home to trees more than 400 years old and is one of the few Western North Carolina forests that have been spared from logging. After changing hands among several logging companies, the forest was purchased and preserved by the federal government in the early 1930s. It is said that loggers saved the cove for last because they so admired the forest's giant timber. 'We were here once before and couldn't reach,' said Larry Duckworth, who was visiting the trail from Eastern Tennessee. 'This time we brought Emily. Since we had five, we were able to reach all the way around.' Pi Kappa Alpha members, alumni and friends party in what is thought to be the world's largest Hatteras-style hammock at the fraternity's house at N.C. State University. They gathered for the eighth annual Brian Cardini Volleyball Tournament in memory of a fraternity brother who died in a car wreck in 1996. The rope hammock, which measures 38 foot long by 12 feet wide and is load tested to hold 8,000 pounds, was donated to the fraternity by a hammock company to replace a smaller hammock that was stolen a year ago. 'When our son went here to school here the hammock was a big deal' said Cardini's mother, Jane Cardini. 'We have a lot of pictures of Brian and his friends where this hammock is.' Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Brian Cardini scholarship fund. Frank Rawls, 56, of Raleigh, who has Type 2 diabetes, participates in his first water fitness class at the YMCA on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Rawls, who retired Jan. 1 after more than 35 years working for the National Center for Health Statistics of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Research Triangle Park, decided to spend some of his newfound free time getting in shape. 'This is part of my New Year's resolution weight loss program.' Rawls said. 'I have a magic number I want to reach by next Jan. 1. I decided I'm not going to try one of those fad diets this time.' Professional actor Lucas Terrell Penick of Cary prepares himself seconds before his name is called to audition for a part in the N.C. Theatre production of 'The King and I' starring Lou Diamond Phillips. 'I was going through in my head exactly what I was going to do, while concentrating on getting my heart rate down. It's like interviewing for a job,' Penick said. 'Acting is all about focus and being in the moment. Everything you have to offer inside you comes out, and then they still might reject you. You have to have a thick skin.' Jose Rios, 25, right, does push-ups to prime his muscles while he and fellow aspiring model Mike Simmons, 24, wait for a light rain to subside before finishing a fashion shoot to establish a portfolio. The two were at work Saturday on Person Street in Raleigh. 'A lot of people tell me I look good in pictures,' said Rios, a sergeant in the Army. 'Maybe if I get seen, someone will want to put me in a movie or print magazine for my look,' Rios said. Jim Madison, 25, a high school English teacher from Queens, N.Y., receives a Reiki treatment from Sarah Shapero of Charleston, S.C., during The Really Really Free Market rally Saturday in downtown Raleigh. Reiki is a form of 'energy healing,' according to the Web site, reiki.7gen.com. 'I didn't have any expectations,' Madison said. 'I felt detached from my body. I heard noises and experienced things I'd never experienced before. I have a stressful job and I feel very relaxed.' At the defunct Milliken & Co. textile mill in Robbins -- hometow Cornelia Kip Lee, top, and Stephen Clapp perform an improvisational interpretive duet as Felix Vallotton's 'The Lie' (1898) is projected on stage during 'Out of Bounds: Limitation as a Doorway to Invention' from Lee's Dancing with Limitations performance series at the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh. Lee, whose left leg is underdeveloped because of polio, started dancing professionally more than 3 1/2 years ago. 'As a child, I thought of myself as a cripple,' Lee said. 'It wasn't until I accepted my limitations that I was able to transcend them." Joy Anandi of Durham grooms her shaded silver Persian kitten, Joyvyn Carolina Sun, during the Triangle Cat Fanciers Paws for Thanks cat show at the State Fairgrounds. It was the first time the 6-month-old kitten had been entered in a show. 'She's a talking cat. She has a little voice when she wants something,' Anandi said. 'She has the sweetest temper of all my cats. She's my little baby.' Russell Henderson, 30, poses in his homemade stormtrooper costume with a cardboard cutout of Humphrey Bogart during a Raleighwood Cinema Grill's annual Academy Awards Gala. Henderson and members of the 501st Legion's Carolina Garrison, a 'Star Wars'-themed costuming group, were stationed in the lobby to greet guests as they arrived. 'I'm a big fan of the movie,' said Henderson, who was 4 when he first saw 'The Empire Strikes Back.' 'I decided one year to be a stormtrooper for Halloween and in doing some research came across these guys [the Carolina Garrison].' Henderson said he joined the group to take part in the many charitable events the garrison does for seriously ill children. By day he is an officer with the Burlington Police Department. Lidis Owens of Delco, left, and Lloyd Webb, a friend from church, wait late into the night for Owens' son, Sgt. Lidis Owens Jr., as Shirley Turrentine waits for her son, Spc. Charles Turrentine Jr., of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Separate Brigade to arrive for a homecoming in Lee Field House at Fort Bragg. The National Guard unit had been serving in Iraq since since February 2004. 'We embraced one another, and he said to me, "You're just the one I want to see," ' said the elder Owens of their father and son reunion. 'I just kept thanking God. After 10 months, I finally got to see him.' Veterinary student Morgan Farrell, right, sutures a leg rupture in Hobbs, as his owner, 7-year-old Jacob Chabra, helps hold the teddy steady. Second-year veterinary students took shifts stitching up dozens of toys during a teddy bear suture clinic, one of the most popular attractions at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine's 20th anniversary open house. 'For a little kid, a stuffed animal is their companion," said Farrell, 32, who left a career as a legal assistant and a tax escrow analyst to pursue veterinary medicine. "It's very important to them. It can be the same as a pet or best friend." Kristi Mitchell, 24, tries to keep her wedding gown out of a puddle as her husband, David, not pictured, washes their SUV at the Family Car Wash in Raleigh, after their wedding reception. As a joke, friends covered the truck in shaving cream during the reception. 'Everyone knows how he is about his car,' Kristi says. 'They were all taking bets to see how long it would be before he washed it off.' The Mitchells were high school sweethearts who met at Rocky Mount High School. Chase Foster, 23, of Raleigh, who dubbed himself 'Embryoed,' competes in a deviled egg eating contest at The Borough bar in Raleigh, where he is a regular. 'I don't especially like deviled eggs,' Foster says. 'My technique was to stuff as much in my mouth as fast as I could. Most of the eggs ended up on the floor, but I think cheating was encouraged.' Foster estimates he came in second place behind Will Reynolds, aka Bad Egg, who ate 20 eggs in about a minute. Proceeds from the contest benefited the Humane Society. Moped enthusiasts Joshua Heald, 26, left, and Matt Surratt, 26, take a break at the highest point of the Blue Ridge Parkway during a 'scooter tour' from Cherokee to Asheville and back. Neither Heald nor Surratt, who is visually impaired, has a driver's license. The scooters, which have less than 50 cubic centimeters of piston displacement (a measure of the engine's power), can be operated without a license on North Carolina roads by riders age 16 or older. The tour took the friends four days to complete and used between four and five gallons of gasoline, all while traveling less than 30 mph. 'It's all about the challenge of getting there,' Heald said. J.R. Rogers, 19, and his girlfriend Felicia Hillard, 19, embrace for several minutes at Raleigh-Durham International Airport before Rogers boarded a plane bound for California. Rogers was leaving Raleigh to attend Bakersfield College, where he will play football. 'It's just sad,' Hillard said. 'We've been around each other since we were 11 years old. I'm happy he's going to college. I'm just sad to see him go so far.' Rogers and Hillard have a 3-year-old son, Daekwon Rogers. Al Mann, 75, of Pittsburgh, center, waits backstage before competing in the men's 60 and older division of the Organization of Competitive Bodybuilders Organizational Championships at Garner Historic Auditorium in Garner. 'In the past 10 years or so, I have begun to compete in natural bodybuilding shows because I felt challenged to keep improving and this provides a goal to work for,' writes Mann, who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. Mann has been lifting weights since his teens and says he is dedicated to personal spiritual discipline that includes daily prayer and meditation. 'I intend to continue along these lines for the years ahead.' Chapel Hill High harrier Jack Bolas raises his arm as he wins the 4A boys cross country state championship at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons. Bolas, 18, won the 3-mile race with a time of 15:33.10 to help Chapel Hill High take the team title. 'I couldn't get my mind off the pain. Sandy [Broughton High's Sandy Roberts] put me in a lot of pain early on. It was easily the most difficult race of the season,' Bolas said. After winning the race, Bolas returned to the home stretch to cheer on his teammates. 'The individual title was on top of everything else. But the team title was most important,' he said. Sometimes paying off a bet is a real drag. WRAL chief meteorologist Greg Fishel towels off in the WRAL Weather Center after soaking himself in near-freezing water in the Raleigh station's fountain during the 6 p.m. broadcast Feb. 28. Fishel promised to jump into the fountain to back up his on-air prediction that measurable snow or ice would occur at the RDU airport by 6 p.m. Feb. 28. 'I've never made a prediction based on a pattern,' Fishel said. 'It's always been based on a system that was already on the map.' The soggy weatherman said, 'My wife gave me one of these home weather stations for Christmas. ... When I went to bed last night I think it said 34.1. And the alarm went off at 4:30 this morning and it said 34.7. I knew without even looking out the window that I was dead.' Mike Grace, 21, cuts the wedding cake as his mate, Leanne Simon, 28, kisses her 'boyfriend' Brian Highfill, 22, during Grace and Simon's nuptial celebration at Ringside nightclub in Durham. 'We are both committed to each other as well as complete freedom,' Simon says. 'We're both capable of loving each other and different people at the same time and to various degrees. ... That shouldn't stop people who care for each other from having a healthy relationship and not letting petty emotions like jealousy or possessiveness get in the way.' The couple met at the club and have been dating for more than a year. The party featured vows, a spanking of the bride rather than a traditional kiss, a DJ who played gothic and industrial dance music, and sushi served on the abdomen of a female partygoer. Grace and Simon plan to have an official wedding ceremony with a justice of the peace. Dressed in a polar bear costume, David Serxner, 41, emerges from the 40-degree waters of Lake Raleigh during the second annual Polar Plunge on Saturday. About 70 participants took part in the event, which raised more than $14,000 for the N.C. Special Olympics. 'I don't think; I just jump in,' Serxner said. 'I get really heavy. That thing [the costume] takes on water. That's why I have the floatie.' Serxner said, 'It's all for a good cause and it's the one day of the year I get to take the polar bear out of the closet.' Nine-year-old Joey Moore of Youngsville shows off his makeshift knight costume while attending, the Camelot Christmas Holiday Event, his first medieval-themed outing, at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. 'He likes all sorts of knights, shinning armor and stuff,' said Joey's mother, Alesia Moore. 'He has a huge wardrobe of costumes he puts together. ... Bless his heart, he has an adult sized head. So we took a bucket and painted it silver.' Joey's father, Albert, fashioned Joey's chain mail from a mesh laundry bag procured from the Dollar Store. Joey plans to make the event a Moore family tradition. ]]> http://www.travislongphoto.com/2007/08/07/no-ordinary-day-4/feed/ 0