Recent Portrait Work

If someone had told me in journalism school — heck, even 12 months ago — that national newspapers would be calling me specifically to do portraits, I would have told you you were crazy. I can readily admit that I've always been incredibly mediocre at portraits. However, I've had lots of opportunities to improve and for that I am incredibly thankful. When you're uninspired, getting outside of your wheelhouse is always a good idea. I've been enjoying pushing myself to make new kinds of photos and while I've got a lot of growing to do, I'm pleased with where I'm headed.

Here are a few of my favorite portraits from various assigments over the last few months:

Caption info for those interested:
1: Former Kansas State University student, Crystal Stroup, in Hale Library. Stroup has only been on the KSU campus a handful of times since bringing a civil lawsuit against the university after being raped by a fellow student last year.
2: Katherine Kelly, the executive director and co-founder of Cultivate Kansas City, a small non-profit in Kansas City, Kan., stands in a greenhouse. Throughout her life, she has mostly worked in non-profits and has spent a great deal of her life uninsured. Kelly says, when ACA went into effect, "all of the sudden we had access to plans that were much better than anything we'd had before." With ACA, Cultivate KC is able to provide a stipend for employees that covers 80% of a silver healthcare plan through the marketplace. Should the new ACHA healthcare plan be implemented, a big worry for Kelly, who has been denied individual insurance due to a pre-existing condition, is that "all of us who all of the sudden had good health insurance went and dealt with problems that maybe we had been ignoring.. now you worry about them having access to that information and using it as as way to increase your costs." Being able to provide comprehensive, affordable coverage for her employees is a big goal for her and one that she fears may soon be unattainable.
3: (RIGHT) Katherine Kelly and (LEFT) Donnetta Raymond
4: Donetta Raymond, 63, in the union meeting room at SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001, in Wichita, Kan. Raymond was laid off from Spirit AeroSystems in mid-2013 and is part of a lawsuit against the company, alleging violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. She's had it rough since the layoff and is currently undergoing chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer.
5: Wichita Area Technical college student David St. Pierre with a Cessna CJ1 in Wichita, Kan. St. Pierre just completed an 18-month program at WATC to prepare him for a test to get a power plant license.
6: Sara Weckhorst, a junior social work major at Kansas State University, is filing a complaint that the university mishandled her rape cases in Manhattan, Kansas.
7: (RIGHT) Rep. James Todd in his nearly-emptied office at the State Capitol in Topeka, Kan. After a four-year tenure, Todd will be giving up his seat in January. (LEFT) Brett Parker, a teacher for Olathe public schools, at the Central Resource Library in Overland Park, Kan. Parker will fill Todd's seat in Kansas House District 29.
8 & 9: Peter Mallouk, founder of Creative Planning, one of fastest growing and largest wealth managers in the country, photographed in his office in Leawood, Kansas.

Bobby Bell for NYT

My late grandfather, Leonard Yanigan – after whom I was named (hence my middle name Len) – was born in 1916 in Staten Island, NY. He was a paper boy for The New York Times while growing up and later in life, carried that passion for journalism to Texas where he studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Poppa, as we affectionately called him, was my role model growing up. His intelligence and huge heart are something I strive to replicate in my personal and professional life. When I got a phone call earlier this week from an editor at NYT to photograph a freelance assignment for them, I nearly jumped out of my skin. He had been weighing on my heart heavily due to the Christmas season, and this felt like a Christmas present straight from him, as cheesy as that sounds.

It was a fun, stress-free assignment, as I drove out to east Kansas City to photograph former Chiefs player and NFL Hall-of-Famer, Bobby Bell. He's another inspirational man, who, after 52 years, went back and completed the necessary coursework to graduate from the University of Minnesota, having left school early for the NFL draft in 1963. In May, he will walk across the stage in Minneapolis and get his diploma.

Here are a couple photos I made of him and his wonderful wife, Pam.

Learning Tree for WSJ

Before I post photos from this assignment, I want to take a second to talk about how cool my network of friends is. People talk about the "Mizzou Mafia" all of the time, and I have to admit that as a student, I was skeptical of what the benefits of being an MU Journalism grad would be (besides my top-notch education, obviously). Let me tell ya – they have far exceeded what I imagined (granted, I would like to think that my friends are more talented and benevolent than your average grad). One of my good friends and mentors while I was in school, Timmy Huynh, is now a photo editor at the Wall Street Journal. Because he is a talented and benevolent dude, he called me up Tuesday and set me up with this assignment. Thanks Tech King Tim. You're a gem (;

Wednesday, I crossed the Missouri-Kansas border (a whopping 1.1 miles from my house) and drove down to Prairie Village, Kan. to check out The Learning Tree, an independently owned toy store. The owner, Jonny Girson, is the definition of cool. What started out as an educational toy store, now specializes in what Girson calls "good toys." They don't carry "hot items" or what's necessarily trendy, but rather toys that are meant to enhance, teach and be of substance. The customers I spoke with were all long-time patrons (10-12 years) and had nothing but praises to sing of how the store was run. Girson and his staff greet each person that walks through the door, ask about the child being shopped for and know the perfect toy(s) to suggest. I watched Girson spend almost an hour helping a customer find something for her husband with Parkinson's disease to play with to help with his coordination, which included a sponataneous game of cards. It's a cool place. Anyways, I'll stop rambling and let you see for yourself:

You can read the accompanying piece by Adam Janofsky here.
And here's a look at what ran on B5 yesterday (Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014):

Garrett Broshuis for WSJ

Last month I got called up to the big leagues and was hired to shoot my first portrait for the Wall Street Journal (s/o to Timmy Huynh and Tracy Armstead for the gig). I drove to St. Louis early on a Friday morning to meet former minor league pitcher Garrett Broshuis at the St. Louis University baseball field downtown. Broshuis is a Mizzou grad who played with one of my favorite current MLB players, Ian Kinsler, during his time as a Tiger. The conversation flowed easily as we talked about our memories in Columbia and our qualms with professional sports. It was a great first assignment.

Broshuis has since left the world of baseball and is a now a lawyer, representing minor league players in a suit against Major League Baseball for illegal working conditions. To read more about his story, check out a great article by Ashby Jones on the WSJ website:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/baseball-suit-calls-out-minor-league-pay-1411146392

Here are a couple of photos I made that day: