I don’t do weddings part II

I enjoy taking sporting event photos!  As I have mentioned in previous posts, I really have no desire to do wedding photography.  Even though I would probably make more money, I just don’t know if I would have as much fun as I do with sporting events. 

Well, my mother got re-married this last weekend, and as much as I want her to be happy, it is just tough to deal with. My dad passed away about 4 years ago from a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and I know that he would want her to be happy, but I really don’t have any idea what happy is for her.  I am glad that the day has finally come and gone and maybe people will leave me alone.  For the last few months, people have been giving me their opinion of what my mom should do and, gosh dang it, I didn’t need that!  I was trying to get used to the whole idea of my mom not living at the home that I grew up in.  I had just unknowingly spent my last Christmas in the home that I grew up in and for Pete’s sake, she had kissed a man that wasn’t my dad!!!!!!  In the words of my favorite uncle, “She’s a big girl and there is nothing that you can do about it.”  Oh, just shut up!   I know he’s right, but this is not his mother! 

So should I be emotional at the wedding?  I don’t know, but being her official photographer gave me no time for any emotions.  On top of that, I needed to take pictures while everybody I hadn’t seen in a long time wants to visit.  Hey, I need to take the photos!  The wedding was fine and the reception was fine and off the the newlyweds went on a two-week escapade across half of the US in an RV pulling my mom’s car.   Well, the honeymoon was shortlived as less than 24 hours into their marriage, they rolled the RV in Texas.  Thank God, they are still alive.  As of me writing this blog, they are back home and the worst injury was to my mom who received 24 staples in her head. 

It’s Hammer Time!

I had the fortune of shooting the first hammer time bike trial last Thursday, and I just haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it.  Run Wild put it on and it was the first time trial that I had ever been to.  It started raining and then I had to deal with some low light conditions but overall, I did OK.  Below are a couple of pics and a slide show for you entertainment.

 

I don’t do Weddings?

This is what many in the photo world know me for!  I have shot video of quite a few weddings and don’t really dislike it, but I just have to many talented friends that do a great job shooting weddings and I don’t want to compete with them.  With that being said, I shot a wedding this last weekend and will shoot another one this weekend.  OK, I guess that you are confused now.  Last weekend I shot my brother-in-law’s wedding and this weekend I will shoot my Mother’s wedding.  The wedding this last weekend was a small affair at his home, and he has a very nice home, but it has darker walls and high ceilings.  So I fought and battled with lighting.  My wife is helping process the photos, but it seems like weddings can create a little pressure on you.  Talk about pressure,  I’M SHOOTING MY MOTHER’S WEDDING!

Twin Cities Triahtlon

For those of your who follow the sport of Triathlon, you know there is always some hesitation when there is a new race on the schedule and not to mention with a first time race director.  Well,  I would imagine that there want be any hesitation on the part of anyone next year as this turned out to be a great race.  First time race director Bruce Fairbanks did an excellent job.  I heard several people say that this was one of the best races that they had been to in a long time and would come back next year.  This was a great race for the first timers and was still challenging for the veterans.  The volunteers were great and be sure to look for registration next year as this is a race that is sure to grow. 

Below is a short video of the day for you to enjoy!  And thanks for letting us be a part of your event!

 

City Of Alexandria Swim Team Meet

  I had the privilege of going and shooting the City of Alexandria Swim Team’s 8 year old and under swim meet.  From what I understand this is a meet that is but on for the purpose of getting some of the kids acclimated to the competitive environment and could have been the first meet that they would compete in.  I love shooting kids events!  I have learned something with my son, and that is kids have fun with what they do.  We as parents often are the ones that are really competitive at this age, but there was something different about swimming at this age.  It was about doing your best and not giving up.  I know that some people will disagree with me, but if we don’t prepare are kids with the right fundamentals and give them confidence at this age, they want be around for the competitive stage.  To all the coaches and parents I watched yesterday, I just say thanks for conducting yourself in a honorable manner.  To the kids, you were great. 

Well that being said, it was a tough day shooting.  You would think that the lighting would have been great with the huge mercury vapor lights and the indirect lighting coming from a glass wall on one side of the room.  The lights provided a challenge because they are mounted on the walls and are aimed down at the water which will cause a good amount of glare.  I was mentally exhausted after shooting for basically two hours non-stop.  Because I moved around most of the time and conditions changed throughout the room, I shot on auto white balance.  Even doing this, the white balance was going crazy and I knew that I would have to go through the photos and adjust them.  I got through doing this about midnight and set them to upload to the server.  When I woke up, early on mothers day I fully expected to find that the upload would be finish, but it hadn’t.  Until time to go to church, I worked on the problem and then when I got home I worked on the problem with no positive results.  What I did find was that  I could upload them through my wife’s name and everything would work fine so that is what we did.  We still haven’t figured out the problem, but continue to work on it.

Below is a short video for you to enjoy!

Giving the video thing a try!

I have been thinking about making a short video of some of our events and thought I would give it a try.  I am still working on compression and trying to get the best quality, but it’s a start.  Enjoy my first short video!

From Pancakes to Crawfish!

Well two races in one day can be a challenge to cover.  I have the privilege of having several people that work for me help me to provide great race coverage.  This race was no exception in that I had Jeff and Stephanie Hutchison with me.  Jeff manly works with me doing marketing and sales and some photography. Stephanie is are steady photographer who has a passion for making sure she gets the good shots.  It is great when you have two people that understand the vision of your company, but also see it from the side of parents of kids who are involved in sports.  It is always fun to work and share time with them.

Well this race was a fundraiser that was but on by Dan Ahrens of Eddies BBQ to benefit Alexandria Country Day School.  It consisted of a 5K and a 1 mile run and the finale was a crawfish boil.  It was really hot for the 5k and 1 mile run and the shade under the pavilion was just what the doctor ordered for the crawfish boil.  I did see several runners from the Rapides Junior Runners and a lot of S3 training jerseys at the race.

Congrats to all the participants and congratulations to Dan for putting on a great event!

      

The Run Wild 4 mile Run or Dash for the Pancakes?

Well there are some races that have catchy names, and the Run Wild 4 mile race wouldn’t be one of them.  But after being at the race and seeing the post race meal of pancakes and bacon it could be the called the Dash for the Pancakes.  It was a fun time, but it was really humid.  It was one of those days that I road all of the way to the race with my windows down so that I wouldn’t  have a problem with my lens fogging up and they still did.  Actually, Indian Creek has got to be one of the most scenic parks in Louisiana.  I know that there have been many great shots taken in the area and it is really just a peaceful atmosphere.  This event is still a young event and was so large that I needed help covering the event, so it was up to me to position my self at multiple points on the course and stay ahead of everybody and still get back to cover the finish line.  Well I had fun shooting the event and got to see and speak to some folks that I haven’t spoken to in a while.  Thanks to Jay Lemoine, Grant Parish District Attorney and Dr. Claire Coco for feeding the racers and all the other volunteers who helped to put on the event.  Jay has develped the art of tossing hot pancakes from the griddle to plate at long distances.  See you at the next race.

     

We are blessed!

Last night at about 6:30 pm my wife decided that she wanted to go and take some photos of our daughter at a secret location in town. She really felt she had to go before someone decided to mow down the wild flowers that were growing in a field.  Many of you know my wife and know that she is a teacher, but she has also had a successful design business on the side for years called Distinctive Designs. She has been working with me at Big Shot Event Photo for the last year.  Because she has a good eye for graphic design she is great a blocking shots and that helps out tremendously.  So anyway she grabs her camera and our daughter and takes off to the secret location.  Just a little background, our daughter was an accident!  We had tried for years to have children and when we were blessed with a little boy, well we were more than satisfied and figured that he was it, but 3 years later we had another bouncing baby girl.  She is a little red headed firecracker.  Anyway you never can tell what will happen when you are shooting kids and especially your own, so I decided that it would probably be a toss up on whether our daughter would be cooperative or not.  Well, when I started looking at the photos that my wife had taken, I was impressed with what she had captured.  I have mentioned before the she is a part of the scrapbooking underworld and the comments that she has gotten on the photos have been pretty impressive.  I am proud of the fact that she has gotten so confident in her skills and continues to strive for excellence.  So below I will share those photos with you.