Birding Indiana Dunes

I spent Friday morning at the Indiana Dunes State Park with local birder Brendan Grube. Grube gets up at 5 a.m. most mornings during bird migration to count the different species and numbers of birds migrating through the park. As the birds travel north they hit Lake Michigan and often turn around and work their way along the shoreline instead of traveling over the lake.

England

I just got back from a short trip to God's Country aka England to take my wife Eileen for the first time. I was born there and most of my family still lives there so it was great to take a little break,  hang out with them, and get a little sight seeing in along the way. I  mostly spend my time documenting other peoples lives and shooting corporate types. Looking through my images from the trip reminds me it's important to also document my own life and the people around me that I really care about.  

England Blog - Images by Chris Bergin

Sr. (Citizen) Prom

I recently photographed a Sr. (Citizen) Prom organized by the students at Franklin University for the Indianapolis Star.  It was great to see the folks dance into the wee hours of the evening.


Sr. Citizen Prom - Images by Chris Bergin

Religion: Jews and Black Christians reunite

Images I shot for a religion piece in the New York Times. An area near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana was once a vibrant area shared by black Christians and white Jews. In the 1960's the area started to decline and the people moved away. A local anthropology professor has found a way to bring the people back together once again... through the church.

Click HERE to view the article by Samuel Freedman


NYTimes_Religion - Images by Chris Bergin

Indiana Basketball

Here are a few images from a story I photographed for the New York Times that ran Sunday March 24. The story focused on the Anderson Indiana basketball team and the former arena the Wigwam. This was the first season in 50 years that Anderson High School did not play in the 9,000-seat Wigwam due to high maintenance costs and falling attendance. Many local residents are angry that the Wigwam has closed and are reluctantly going to the renovated high school gym to watch the games.

Click Here to read the article by Craig Fehrman


Anderson Basketball - Images by Chris Bergin

NCAA Women's Big Ten Championship

I spent the past few days shooting the NCAA Women's basketball tournament here in Indianapolis. The first couple of days were filled shooting pretty bad and boring basketball but the championship did not disappoint. Purdue won in an exciting double overtime game against Nebraska.


NCAA Women's Big Ten Championship - Images by Chris Bergin

Henryville, Indiana Tornado

As I set out to chase the predicted storms with my storm chase team (SWAT) yesterday we had no idea that we would see such damage from a storm. We got a late start on the day and just missed the storm that produced the Henryville Tornado. We heard about the damage there and we were very close so we took back roads into the town to see if we could help out and to document the damage (we had an EMT and medical kit with us). As we got into the town we could immediately see the impact of the storm. The high school and elementary school were completely destroyed, cars and school busses were flipped over everywhere you looked, homes were destroyed and countless trees and power lines littered the road. It was amazing that more people were not injured or killed in this town. Here are some images about an hour after the storm rolled through.


Henryville, Indiana Tornado - Images by Chris Bergin