Daddy-daughter dance

Last night, I shot my first daddy-daughter dance, which was at a local elementary school. It was a lot of fun to watch, and I can only hope that I have a daughter one day and that I can take her to one of these. The principal at the school told me they are trying to get more fathers involved in their children's lives and this dance, which is in its second year, has been really popular. The light inside the school was just spectacular. It was is in the evening and the sun was screaming through windows near the ceiling. It was a challenge to try to capture the right moment in the light, but I finally got it.

New website galleries

In another sad example of how much time I spend in front of my computer, I've put up several more photo galleries on my website. This section, cleverly called "more galleries," includes photos that I just want to share. Some just have pretty colors, and others have my pretty girlfriend (I better get some points for that one). Just click on the above screenshot to go there.

My class

Believe it or not, I actually taught a class this week through the Continuing Education Department at the University of Georgia's Griffin Campus. I only had 5 students, but hey, it's a start.

Cotton

I shot this in Bostwick, Ga. (my hometown) last December just before the annual Cotton Gin Festival. Since I never did anything with it, I figured I would at least put it up here to share.

Too much time on my hands

Playing around with long exposures.

Elementary school fire

Here's a few frames from a fire today at Orrs Elementary in Griffin. An air-conditioning unit caught fire around noon, forcing the entire school to evacuate. No one was hurt, but the school was flooded with water from sprinklers. Firefighters and maintenance workers were busy this afternoon trying to dry the water with fans and were sweeping it outside. Only two photos are running in the paper, but I wanted to share several others that won't otherwise see the light of day. The first photo might be hard to make out, since it's so small and the air is filled with smoke, but it is of the room that caught fire. I wanted to use a flash for that one, but the light would've bounced off the reflective tape on the firefighter suits. The second photo Griffin Fire Rescue Capt. Mark Gilreath, as he removes water from a boys restroom; the third is of damaged books; and the last photo is of a school worker (who didn't giver her name) as she sweeps water out the door.

Last day of NASCAR

I didn't mean for this to be a Juan Pablo Montoya post, it just so happens that my two favorite images from Sunday are him and his tires. I really do like this guy though, and he's definitely an emerging NASCAR superstar. The media loves him.

NASCAR day two

I would've posted these yesterday, but I didn't have time. Anyways, here's two from Saturday's Busch race, which Jeff Burton won in his Holiday Inn car. Kinda funny that a green car won on St. Patrick's Day. I'll post more from today's Nextel Cup race later today.

First day of NASCAR

I'm at the Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend for NASCAR. These pictures were taken Friday. Two are from qualifying and one is from the infield, where RVs are packed in like sardines. Mark Martin (pictured inside car) was celebrating after momentarily taking the pole position. He was later beat by Ryan Newman in his Alltel ride. The two guys on the RV are from Savannah and they're securing a satellite so they can watch the race via widescreen. I'll be posting more later this weekend.

Feature hunting

I found this scene recently while out hunting for features for the paper. I wish the frame could've been a little cleaner, but I just love that red wall. I should some cool stuff to post this weekend, since I'm shooting NASCAR at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Walking through the rubble

I didn't shoot anything Monday, so I thought I would post something from the past. While working for The Hartwell Sun in 2004, I covered this fire that destroyed a car garage and part of a house. This picture stayed in my portfolio for a while, but was ultimately cut. It was shot on film, which seems like such a distant memory.

Horse show

This frame is from the Spalding County 4-H Fun Show (horse show) today at the Kiwanis Fairgrounds. Horses always make for nice images. I know silhouettes are cliche, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

Admiration

I have to admit, I've been having a lot of fun shooting sports lately. I shot this frame today while covering the Spalding/Mundy's Mill game. Garrett Deason, center, had just hit a home run, and his team met him at home plate to congratulate him. The kid on the right, Tye Waller, 10, was in the middle of the pack. He just had that look of admiration for Deason as he walked back to the dugout. I hope the photo translates that.

Ol' Glory

I'm not sure if this picture is misleading, but this flag is about as big as my hand. It was lying on the ground at the cemetery today. I had to go there to take photographs for a story about pauper burials. It seems the number of those burials has increased drastically this year in Spalding County. Tattered flags are more meaningful to me than new ones — they've been through more have a story. I like stories. Oh yeah, this was shot digitally, I just used a fancy script in Photoshop to give it this funky border.

America's game

Here's a shot from tonight's Griffin/Stockbridge game here in Griffin. I've shot at this field for three years now, but I've never gotten this shot. Baseball is such a beautiful game to me and reminds a lot of my childhood. I sucked at it, but I like shooting it, being in the dugout and being a part of it. Anyways, hope you enjoy.

On to the Elite 8

I went down to Mercer University tonight (Thursday) to shoot the Griffin Bears play Statesboro during the Sweet 16 state playoff game. Griffin won, and will play again on Saturday, also at Mercer. It was so nice to be able to shoot basketball in available light, instead of having to use my flash.