Weathering the Political Storm in Siouxland, Sioux City

A pedestrian makes his way on a city street donwtown as winter weather envelopes Sioux City and other parts of Iowa. The weather prevented former U.S. Sen. and vice president and 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden from campaigning in Sioux City and Council Bluffs, Iowa on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, today ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Winter can be unpredictable when it comes to weather in Siouxland, or any place in the Midwest. Sioux City has been spared a lot of winter type weather so far this season, but that came to an end recently as a major storm passed through dumping 6-7 inches on its way east to spread more joy and happiness to other “lucky” residents.

An Iowa DOT snow plow clears a lane for traffic on a state roadway as winter weather envelopes Sioux City and other parts of Iowa. The weather prevented former U.S. Sen. and vice president and 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden from campaigning in Sioux City and Council Bluffs, Iowa on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, today ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Because of the presidential election year coming up and the state of Iowa being the first in the nation with a presidential caucus vote, many candidates have been making last ditch efforts to visit and engage potential supporters and energize the base they already have. But Mother Nature can forestall any hopes such as a visit by former vice president Joe Biden to Sioux City. An event here and south in Council Bluffs were cancelled because of weather.  Last year NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio visited the Sioux City area campaigning as the one to lead the Democratic party for the 2020 presidential election. A winter storm was blowing in carrying mostly rain and sleet, and reporters from the eastern city covering their mayor decided to camp out rather than risk driving at night. The Mayor’s team decided to push ahead after the event in town ended and headed out, but for only 30 minutes. The roads became too icy an dangerous to safely drive, and rather than staying where they had been with a choice of accommodations they ended up in a smaller community with one motel choice and at least a Subway sandwich shop to quench their hunger.

Nature doesn’t care about politicians and the schedules they feel the need to keep. Locals will hunker down and only go out if necessary, job depending, but politicians have to “make hay while the sun shines” as the saying goes. And with caucus only a couple of weeks away, to use another cliche, “time is of the essence”.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa

Traffic almost disappears on a state road that leads out of town as winter weather envelopes Sioux City and other parts of Iowa. The weather prevented former U.S. Sen. and vice president and 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden from campaigning in Sioux City and Council Bluffs, Iowa on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, today ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus. (Photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

 

A U.S. Postal Service employee makes his rounds delivering mail downtown as winter weather envelopes Sioux City and other parts of Iowa. The weather prevented former U.S. Sen. and vice president and 2020 Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden from campaigning in Sioux City and Council Bluffs, Iowa on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, today ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Siouxland and Iowa’s Presidential countdown, Des Moines

Recently I attended an event in Des Moines, Iowa, that basically kicks off the 2016 Presidential countdown for the upcoming election. It seems that there was just an election, the mid-terms, and already political activists and other heavy weights are gearing up. I so some photography for Zuma Press, a photo agency. I photographed the Iowa Freedom Summit jointly sponsored by Iowa’s 4th District Congressman Steve King and Citizens United. It was an event for those very conservative and active members of Iowa’s Republican Party and Tea Party.

It was also an opportunity for me as a photographer to try out a mirrorless camera system, Fujifilm X series of which I have a Fuji X-T1 and a X-E1. The company makes some very nice prime lenses and recently came out with an equivalent 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. The system is smaller than the Canon’s I shoot with and much lighter. And as much as I like these cameras when I am traveling about doing scenics, I wanted to see how they performed in a real-life working situation. Naturally the stage where the speakers were talking from were lit, but still, I was shooting at 1600 ISO and mostly shooting f/2.8. These cameras are not as quick as my Canon’s and work differently in setting them up to shoot with, but I was very pleased. The images themselves turned out very well, not a lot of noise at 1600, and the lenses were accurate and sharp. Shooting in a fast moving news situation these cameras would not function as well as my Canon’s. But one reason I like about them is that they make me become more methodical about my shooting and choosing moments over motor driving for my images. The X-T1 does have a motor drive option, 11 frames per second I believe, and works well. But I hate having to edit 100’s or 1000’s of images that I fire off than fewer when I choose to make the exposure.

Not everyone will agree with me about these cameras, and there are others that are small and nice to work with as well. One local photographer I know bought into the Olympus 4/3’s system, and another I am aware of loves Sony’s A6000. I like the Fuji cameras simply because they remind me of the old F’s I used when younger and shooting B&W without a motor drive. Some days then, my thumb only worked so fast.

With the Presidential contest kicked off in grand style by the conservative Iowa Republicans, I am guessing I will have plenty of opportunity to use these cameras down the road in many more situations and news events.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa

Siouxland, first in the nation Iowa caucus, Sioux City

Iowa political parties, mainly Democrats and Republicans, exercised their first in the nation status this past week by holding caucuses to prepare for upcoming elections, Congressional as well as statehouse. I attended the Woodbury County Democratic caucus held at a local middle school. Roughly 70 plus die-hard party members attended to began planning for the upcoming 2014 elections. I read online that local media said roughly twice as many Republicans attended their caucuses for Woodbury County. Attending these caucuses can sometimes be insightful, but mostly whether ‘blue” or “red”, the people participating are passionate about their politics. You sometimes wished they would keep their vitriolic temperaments to themselves and work at trying to better themselves and their fellow citizens. Beyond the partisanship, this is grassroots politics at its best. The one thing noticeable about the Democratic caucus, and probably the Republican as well in Iowa, is that attending minorities are in short supply. But then again, it was a bitterly cold January Tuesday evening, and most  other people were snug in their homes, watching television.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa