Emcee Glenn Thayer for Colorado Meetings + Events Magazine

Back in December I photographed Glenn at the Colorado Convention center and forgot to share it until now. I made a couple of different images in about 15 minutes to give my editor options and while this was my favorite, they used another frame for the magazine.

Queen Underwood for The New York Times

This morning I woke up to an intense text message from a friend and a photo soon followed that explained his enthusiasm. The emotional story of olympic hopeful boxer Queen Underwood was on the front of the Sports Sunday section.

In a day and age where the digital medium dominates, it's cool to see photos in print that big.

In what seems to be a very consistent theme of all the Olympic hopefuls that I've photographed in the last month, Queen was gracious, humble and very helpful in allowing me to work how I needed.

In her hour long workout she barely stopped moving. I did my best to work the white walls, busy backgrounds and florescent lighting in that time.

Afterwards I had a few minutes to make a portrait that communicated, visually, what her story was all about. At first glance, it was stumping me. I continued to rack my brain throughout her workout and when all was said and done, despite bringing the entire kitchen sink of lighting gear with me, I ended up using a single speedlight to make my images.

I also liked this frame but I agree that the eye contact really works.

Sometimes simple really sings and apparently my editors agreed.

Missy Franklin for The New York Times

"Regis Jesuit junior Missy Franklin, right, cheers on a teammate during the Continental League Swimming and Diving Championships at Heritage High School in Littleton, Colo., on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. Franklin, an Olympic hopeful for London 2012, passed up seven figure endorsement deals to compete in high school and college, where she is expected to be one of the most heavily recruited swimmers of all time."

"Missy Franklin, center, shares a moment with teammates, left, Jamie Monk, Jessie Weed and Kendall Higgins."

"Franklin competes in the 200-yard individual medley and went on to win the event with an All-American qualifying time of 2:00.93."

"Franklin, center, shares a moment with teammates Taylor Wilson, left, and Briana Labrie before competing in the 100-yard freestyle."

"Franklin, left, huddles with teammates before competing in the 200-yard freestyle relay before the Raiders went on to win the event with a state qualifying time of 1:39.99."

"Missy Franklin collects her thoughts before competing in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Raiders went on to win the event with a state qualifying time of 3:38.09."

"Franklin, right, gets a good luck kiss from teammate Briana Labrie before competing in the 400-yard freestyle relay."

"Missy Franklin shares a laugh with a competitor before taking the blocks in the 400-yard freestyle."

Last Saturday, while other world class swimmers were probably training with one another, Missy Franklin, who happens to own the world record in the 200-meter backstroke, giggled with teammates and text messaged friends between events just like you would expect every other teenage girl would do.

In most all aspects of life, she's just your typical high school junior. Then you consider that she's touted to have the potential to put up a Michael Phelps type performance this summer at the London Olympics and you start to wonder what that's like. How does someone balance being that good and still being, well, a kid?

Karen Crouse gives you a glimpse of her life in her story, "Before the Olympic Trials, There's This Big High School Meet."

In my short time with Missy I was throughly impressed. Most notably, she's incredibly humble. She signs an autograph or takes a picture with anyone who asks, many of whom are her fellow high school competitors.

For me it was great to get to shoot more of a story as compared to action that eats up a ton of my schedule. I actually like working these kinds of assignments more, than say, a Broncos game where I'm just taking pictures of what happens on the field in front of me as opposed to making pictures. Considering the rather busy scene at a high school swim meet, I'm really happy with the moments I was able to come away with.

Anya handled the "girls only" spaghetti/shaving party and I'm happy she did. It's great to team up with one of my good friends on such a great story. Check out some of her images here.