Friends are Friends Forever!

Recently, one of my wife’s childhood best friends came to town with her husband and daughter.  They were in town for a softball tournament, and after the tournament they called us up and we went out to eat and then they visited with us for the afternoon.  Carla is a great photographer and has gotten my wife hooked again on scrap-booking.  My wife and Carla are two of the most talented and creative people that I know. . . . ahhh they were in the gifted program together in school.

Carla took some great shot and you can see them all on her blog.  I have grabbed one of the photos off of her blog, but feel free to check them out with some of her other work.  Can’t wait for them to come back to spend some time together.

Up, Up and Away!

Recently one of my clients asked that we go out and do some aerial shots of some property.  So I chartered a small plane and we were set up.   I decided that I would see if my 6 year old son wanted to go with us.  I admit, I really didn’t think about what we were going to be doing for about an hour when I asked him to go with me.  We were going to be banking and turning more than if we out for a pleasure flight.  Well I have to say that my little buddy handled it well.  The pilot provide a headset for him so that we could have communications with him in the back seat.  Now I expect to get a little queasy because I am looking through a view finder while we are banking, turning and hitting air pockets. These small planes usually don’t have air conditioning and this one was no exception so it was hot.  Every time that we checked on my son, he would respond that he was fine, but a few days latter, he told me that he almost threw up a couple of times. Well he can always look back and remember his first flight was a aerial photo shoot.  Here are a couple shots from his first plane ride.

  

     

SPAA Traveling Seminar in Dallas, Texas!

Wow what a great seminar!  SPAA stands for Sports Photographers Association of America.  I have tried to offer more to our clients by the way of products and some great photos, but after this seminar, I can’t wait for you to see what we have coming in the near future.  We have some new products that we will start producing and they are going to blow your socks off.  I was able to network with some photographers from all across the nation.  We exchanged ideas and it really was great to be around people that want to help each other and are not threatened by others in the market.  We are also going to be working on some new things that will come online the first of the year. 

What a nice change of pace!

I was out of town and receive a call one evening from a lady that was setting up a family photo shoot for a pastor and his family as a surprise for his wife.  Now, when you see someone that is doing something like this for his wife, you know that it is out of love and they have planned it for a while.  Well the lady that was coordinating this for the family was frantic because the photographer had been scheduled for a Friday and now they needed to have the shoot on Saturday and he couldn’t do it then.  The local photographer had recommended me and I had agreed to try to make it work out.  It was one of those last minutes things where I could only work it into my schedule mid day which were going to be the worst time for lighting, but I understood that they needed it done and I would work it out.  Upon arrival, I have to say that this was one of the nicest families that I have ever worked with.  They were full of life and willing to do what you asked them to do.  I have seen shoots where, it was absolutely the last place that some of them wanted to be, but if any member of this family felt this way, it didn’t show. What a great experience!

Photo shoot for When Big Boys Tri!

Well some of you may know that for the last few years I have competed in Triathlons.  As of the date I have completed more than 30 and less than 40…… sorry I lost count.  Any way with that I had written a book “When Big Boys Tri” and I have a website When Big Boys Tri.  CBS Evening News and the CBS Morning Show produced a story about me and sent a crew in with me for a couple of days a little over a year ago, and I have been in newspapers across the US and Canada.  I do on occasion get request for an interview for a publication.  Which leads me to this.  I received an email from Scientific America as they asked that I send them some photos for a possible story that they would be running in September.  What a great excuse to have some new publicity photos taken.  Well I called one of the photographers that works with us and asked that we do a shoot.  The photographer is Dwayne Simpson and we are proud to have him as an associate.  Take a look at his work below and we will let you know if we made the story in Scientific America.

 

No Men Allowed….Groovy Girls One

OK guys, don’t get your panties in a wad.  This is a great event just for the ladies.  There was some volunteers who help that were of the male gender, but that is a close as they could get for the competition.  This event is for the ladies and makes them feel a little more comfortable for their first triathlon.  To all the ladies we salute you for a job well done.

 

Wild Kidz Tri

Still catching the blog up!  Another great event in Central Louisiana.  I have to say that the kids are getting more and more opportunities to be exposed to the sport and that is what it is all about.  Some of the parents are just a little to up tight about what place their kid will be in, but I would like to remind them that it is about the kids having fun.  The kids did have fun and a lot of great effort was put in by them. Congratulations to all finishers.

      

Indian Creek Triathlon 2007

Special thanks to Brad and Gary for the work they have done to keep this event one of the best in the State of Louisiana.  This a absolutely one of the most scenic races in the South.  It was great to be a part of this race.  We are looking forward to next year as this race just gets better and better. 

S3 Training Kids Tri

Giving kids a place to get exposed to the sport of triathlon is great and that is just what we got to shoot.  This was one of the first Tri’s for the year that was just for kids.  If you look at the parents, you can see the anxiety on their faces as the kids get ready to do something that they aren’t prepared for and probably couldn’t do themselves.  Then you have the kids that have grown up around the sport and Holy Cow, just look out for them in a few years.

 Below are a few of the photos from the day.

       

Racing Rapides, These guys were flying!

Our company had never shot a cycling road race, but we can’t say that anymore.  We had the opportunity to shoot the Regions Bank  - S3 Training races.  If you haven’t seen a cycling race up close and personal, you need to go and watch.  Heck, I know you would like to go to the Tour DE France, but this is in your back yard and you don’t have to fight the crowds.

Jeff, Dwayne and myself shot this race on the first weekend in June and see my previous post for the reason for the delay, but it was a great event.  Special thanks to the sponsors and volunteers who set the event up and to John Smith for the great job he did as race director.  Here are a few of the shots from the weekend.