Fair fan: Carly Marsh

I made this short turn-around piece about a contestant in the Fair Queen pageant. The goal was to tell the story of the Westmoreland Fair through the eyes of someone who absolutely loves it. Feedback welcome.

Sunshine Superman

Kara Shafron, 8, from Ligonier, holds her Bantum breed baby chicken, Superman, at the Westmoreland County Fair in Greensburg, Pa., on August 22, 2009. Shafron is in the Sunshine 4-H group. Superman is a Quail Antwerp Belgium chicken, and also Kara's first chicken with a beard. He attracted a lot of attention, which Shafron explained was "'cause he's so cute!"
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

Kara's affection for Superman illustrated beautifully the love and care that these kids put into the animals they show at the Westmoreland County Fair.

Also of note: when I returned to the fair the following day to photograph Kara's 11-year-old sister, Leah, who won this year's apple pie baking contest, I was delighted to see that someone had cut out my photo of Kara from the Trib and taped it to the door of the chicken tent. This is better than refrigerator journalism!

Pooch swing

You can't make this stuff up.



Rachel Knopf, 17, of Irwin, gives her Jack Russell Terrior, Pixie, a push on a swing at Irwin Park during Irwin Heritage Days on August 9, 2009, with some help from her boyfriend Joseph Donofry, 17, also of Irwin.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

Story time

Mandy was a great storyteller. The kids were so enthralled with her tale, they didn't even notice a photographer hovering inches away from the storybook pictures.



Mandy Mangan, of Jeannette, reads to a kindergarteners and first-graders during story time at the YMCA Greensburg summer day camp in St. Clair Park on August 4, 2009. Mangan, who is studying elementary education at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, is working her second summer as a YMCA camp counselor.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

In the interest of saving time

I wish I would have had time to clean up the background and change lenses, but they literally finished the job like clockwork, exactly as I arrived from another assignment (at 2:58, as shown). I wanted to share this photo because it shows Greensburg so well. The courthouse clock, a focal point of downtown, had read 1:10 ever since I started working here. As of yesterday it keeps correct time and chimes summer songs three times a day. My grandpa would have loved this.



Greg Barsoum, Facilities Engineer with the Westmoreland Cultural Trust, inspects repairs on the clock in front of the courthouse in downtown Greensburg on August 14, 2009. Funding to repair the clock, which had read 1:10 for the past four or five months, came from the county commissioners. The project was a collaboration between the city, the county, and the Westmoreland Cultural Trust, Barsoum said. It was repaired on Friday to keep correct time and to chime at 8am, noon, and 4pm daily. It will play a variety of seasonal music, starting with summer songs.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

A stoop artist and a biker dude

Kassidy Zacur, 5, makes art with sidewalk chalk to decorate her front porch in Latrobe on August 10, 2009, while she waits for her friend to come over. Zacur is excited to start kindergarten at the end of the month. Her mom said usually their porch is packed with kids running up and down the sidewalk, but Monday's high temperatures must have kept them inside or at the pool.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)


Dominic Alcott, 5, gives his new bike a blue paint job in his front yard in Trafford, Pa., on August 5, 2009.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

Not buyin' it.

I took a brief jaunt to Cincinnati last weekend to celebrate my grandfather's birthday with my family (this one without him, unfortunately). On Friday, I sat in the passenger seat as my grandma darted around town, showing me tons of cool artsy places. This piece in Funke Fired Arts, a warehouse-turned-pottery gallery was named after some kind of fish, but Grandma Millie didn't see anything fishy about it.

A lumberjack and a fisherman

Two of last week's features. Kids work hard around here.



Alex Vickers, 7, from Jeannette, helps his mother's boyfriend, Harry Kunkle (not pictured) do a favor for an elderly woman, cutting a tree in her yard that fell during Tuesday evening's storms in Jeannette, Pa., on July 24, 2009. Here, he reacts to his mother saying he can't lift that branch because it's too heavy. It wasn't.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)



Eli Underwood, 1, from Blairsville, Pa., concentrates on catching a fish with his magnetic fishing pole in hopes of winning a prize during the St. Simon and Jude Church Bazaar on the church grounds in Blairsville, Pa., on July 26, 2009.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)

What it felt like

Last week I photographed Clelian Camp, a day of fun put on voluntarily by the PA State Troopers for kids at Clelian Heights, a facility for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Read Libby Cunningham's heartwarming article on the event for more details.

As I was editing my take with Guy Wathen, a Trib photographer whose work and ethic I've come to greatly admire, we came across this image. He was touched by it, and I told him I loved it too. I wasn't sure if I should send it because I was scared it left out too much-- the troopers had stations set up to show the kids fingerprinting, let them explore inside state police vehicles, and try on camouflage costumes. This just showed a student with his PCA, and not even the drug dog he was supposed to be learning about. Guy said I should keep it. Sure, it might have left out what the workshops looked like, he said, but it shows what Clelian Camp felt like for the kids.

I believe he is right. Two months into my internship, and I am learning every day.



Jerrett Burkland, 7, a student at The Clelian School from Hopwood, Pa., laughs with his Personal Care Assistant, Sarah Butler, from Greensburg, Pa., during a presentation by the central K-9 unit at his school in Greensburg, Pa, on July 29, 2009. PA State Police led children with developmental disabilities in fun and educational programming at Camp Clelian.
(Sarah Beth Glicksteen/Tribune-Review)