A Mild Case of Wanderlust

Big Waves in Chicago

robinhoecker — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:55:11 +0000

The police closed the lakefront bike path to prevent people from getting swept out into the lake. Gale force winds created waves up to 15 feet tall! Click on the photo to see a Chicago Sun-Times Slideshow about the strange weather. I am featured in the slideshow in a green windbreaker. My second appearance in a Chicago newspaper!

Iceland: Land of Geological Oddities

robinhoecker — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:25:46 +0000

Click on the photo to see the interactive map and photo gallery.

Chicago — City of the Big Shoulders

robinhoecker — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:23:39 +0000

Lake Shore Drive

Looking South

Lake Michigan

Looking West

Water Tower Place (Michigan & Chicago Ave.)

Looking South again

Medal of Honor Day 2010

robinhoecker — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:46:16 +0000

George T. Joe Sakato signs a copy of the book Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Behond the Call of Duty during a Medal of Honor Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Sakato received the medal for his actions on October 29, 1944, when he made a one-man rush into enemy fire that encouraged his platoon to charge the enemy strongpoint.

Four Medal of Honor recipients place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery to comemorate Medal of Honor Day.

First attempt at baby portraits

robinhoecker — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:39:52 +0000

This was my first attempt at shooting baby portraits. It was fun, but most definitely challenging to get the little guy to cooperate (and stay awake). I liked this shot the best because it looks like he's smiling and flashing the peace sign. His name is Grant Bennett Fleschert, the month-old son of a friend of mine from grad school.

Women Air Force Service Pilots of World War II receive Congressional Gold Medal

robinhoecker — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:35:00 +0000

When the women were dismissed from service in 1944, their records were classified and sealed — denying them recognition for their accomplishments — in what many thought was an effort to obliterate them from history. Contract employees, they didn't receive any veterans benefits until 1977. This reminded me of the movie A League of Their Own, but these women were pilots instead of professional baseball players. (Click on image to read story, see photo gallery.)

Snowmageddon

robinhoecker — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:25:53 +0000

“

During the series of snowstorms now known as Snowmageddon, I was stuck in the Stripes central office for six days. There were no buses running near my house, and none of my other web colleagues could get to work. Stripes reserved hotel rooms for us so we could continue to put out the paper and update the website. This was one of the worst snowstorms I've ever seen, up there with the Blizzard of 1996 and the President's Day Snowstorm of 2003. (Click on image to see photo gallery. Note: not all the photos are mine.)

Stars and Stripes Haiti coverage (Webpage)

robinhoecker — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:19:21 +0000

I created a special asp page for our Stripes coverage from Haiti. It included an embedded google map, a feed for all our Haiti stories, and a Flash slideshow at the top of the page that loads external dynamic content. That allowed my colleagues to change the photos and captions without ever having to open Flash. The page is already down, though, because we pulled our last reporter out of Haiti.

Snowpocalypse 2009 shuts down Washington, D.C. (Photos)

robinhoecker — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:16:46 +0000

Pedestrians brace against snow and wind as they pass in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Click on image to see photo gallery.)

Well-versed warriors use poetry to heal war wounds (Flash)

robinhoecker — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:13:24 +0000

Spc. Victoria Montenegro, of the 563rd Military Police Company, is one of a growing number of veterans who write poetry in order to cope with their war experiences. (Click on image to see interactive audio slideshow.)