Race for Da’ Ribs!

What kind of race is this.  Well it is put on by Dan Aherns of Eddie’s BBQ.  For the second weekend in a row I ended up at the Kincaid Recreation area and enjoyed every minute of it.  Jeff and Steph, were out with me on this event and I think that they had a good time also.  As I have said in my previous post, these are some of the greatest trails in Louisiana.  Hikers, bikers, walkers, photographers and campers love this area because of it scenic beauty.  Throw in a trail run on the opening day of squirrel season, and LSU playing the same day, what more could you ask for.  It was a hot humid morning for a trail run, but all of the participants did an outstanding job of hanging in there finishing a beautiful, but very challenging course. Below you will find a video slide show.

  

2007 Fat Tire Festival

Wow what a great weekend!  I guess you take for granted the things that surround you and think there are always things better somewhere else.  After hearing some out of area mountain bike riders talk about what a great trails we have in Central Louisiana, I can’t take them for granted anymore.  I went out and shot the event by myself and it was fun both days.  The short track race is much like a road bike crit and the long track race is more like a road bike race.  If you ever have a chance to watch one of these races in person, you will enjoy seeing some of the techical skills the riders have.  It was fun and I will be willing to be the event will be much large with participants next year.  Below yo will find a couple of photos and a video slide show of the weekend.

       

2007 Meat Pie Tri - Natchitoches

Swim caps, bikes, running shoes, meat pies, and Groovy Girls…we saw it all at the Meat Pie Tri in Natchitoches this weekend.  The sun was just beginning to peak over the trees as we arrived to set up our display tent and start loading up batteries and memory cards. 

Already, there were dozens of triathletes setting up transition areas, running half-mile “warm-ups,” and basically battling nervous jitters.  This was Big Shot’s second year to shoot the Meat Pie Tri.  It’s a great event and the Cassanos do an awesome job of planning and making things happen. We even met a couple of elderly ladies at the swim exit who had lots of questions about triathlons.  Turned out they were from Beaumont, Texas, and were visiting Natchitoches as a vacation.  They had met some competitors at the restaurant the night before and had gotten up early just to come and watch.  As usual, our logo shirts make people think that we are “in the know” and they started firing questions away about triathlons.  It was so much fun talking to them.  One even said she might start training for next year because she was certain that her water aerobics would help her in the swim!  They were a hoot! 

All five of our photographers had a great time and took some fantastic shots.   We can’t wait for next year!

 

    

 

The Slide Shot Meat Pie 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rouge Runners at Howell Park

We had a great time traveling to Baton Rouge to shoot the first race of the season.  Rouge Runners is the Baton Rouge version of Rapides Junior Runners.  The staff of the “Y’ and Trippe and friends put on an excellent race.  The photo of the day is funny to me any way.  I take it that the two boys in the photo are brothers and it was typical big brother playing with the little brother.  Just take a look at the expression on little brothers face.

 

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.