Scorching Weekend

This weekend was pretty short.

The Jewish wedding I shot last Saturday ran this Saturday and the free shoe giveaway I shot last Sunday ran this Sunday. Amazing how long papers hold stories for isn't it? Here's the wedding ARTICLE and photos (many more ran in print):



And here's the shoe giveaway ARTICLE and some photos:



This weekend I only had three assignments. First was to shoot a controlled-wire model plane flying group, which was pretty fun. Second was to photograph a church yard sale for an article on church fundraisers. And on Sunday I had to shoot something to illustrate hot weather so I went to KP Hole, which is a county park and only launching point to go tubing down Rainbow River. The only photos that have run so far are the KP Hole photos.

Work, work, work

The family reunion I shot 3 weeks ago finally ran this past Saturday. I haven't seen the page but I think A LOT of the photos ran. Is that good or should they have edited? I'll have to see the page. Here's my favorite, although I don't think it screams family reunion I really like it. The story was how family reunions often now include a church service together. ARTICLE


This weekend was the first weekend of tax free back to school shopping. I had a few difficulties getting into Kmart but finally got shoots from there. This one below was from my frantic try to find a fix when Kmart first said no. It was shot in the Dollar Tree, they were very media friendly. The manager was at the door and said 'sure come on in.' The Kmart stuff shouldn't run until Thursday.
ARTICLE


On Saturday because of breaking news another photographer missed an assignment and by the time I went to cover it, it was over. Thus the paper needed a centerpiece. I've been wanting to photograph 'The Park' a local skate park that I pass every weekend on 441, so Saturday I got my chance. Here are the two that ran as a centerpiece package on Local.



Sunday I photographed LeRoy Collins, Jr., who's running for U.S. Senate. He was suppose to give a town hall style meeting at The Villages and only 8 people, including 4 media people showed up. It was very short notice and raining, so that's probably why not many showed. ARTICLE


More photos from this weekend to come...

Weekend work

This weekend I had three assignments; it was a slow weekend. Saturday morning I photographed a memorial service for a WWII casualty. The soldier finally received a headstone and proper recognition. The service was literally in a cow pasture and far out in the middle of nowhere. But it was a nice moving service as about 20+ relatives, most that had never met the man gathered to say goodbye.
ARTICLE



Also on Saturday I was to photograph a pet-look-a-like contest at a craft fair fundraiser for the local humane society but the craft fair suffered from a lack of publicity and no one showed up except the vendors and one little old lady that wanted to dress up her Chichuachua as Superman. Here's the only photo out of that event.


On Sunday I got to find my own centerpiece package and since it was so hot I hit up the local public waterpark. Here's my favorite shot from that.


Last weekend I had to shoot a portrait of two teens that had recently returned from a mission trip to Ecuador. We showed up at their church but there was a wedding going on so shooting inside was out. It was time to test my flash and portrait skills... I guess this one turned out better than the last. I just wasn't happy however because I didn't know how to pose them best. How do you relate "missionary" into a portrait of teens in T-shirts? Didn't help that the reporter didn't tell them to bring anything. I'll keep thinking on how I could have posed them better and maybe I'll think of something. Here's the photo though...

Bubbalympics, Softball, Motorcycles

This weekend was busy once again. Having three assignments in a window from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm with two of those assignments over-lapping was quite a drain. And actually very disappointing because I couldn't spend more time at what I thought was the best assignment, Bubbalympics. I arrived at the event which was basically a competition about being the best Red-neck Bubba. It included spam eating, belly-flopping, hot dog eating, etc. And I arrived for the last two portions of the entire competition... couch potato quarterback and hot dog eating. I missed the best part because of the other assignment which I didn't even stay very long at. Grr...

Here's the photo gallery the Banner put up with all the photos, and down below is one of the photos that ran in print.
GALLERY



Next are photos of the Motorcycle Drill Team that was the assignment right before Bubbalympics.



And finally for now, photos from the day long softball girl's state championship games on Sunday. My assignment said 11am, I got there and was the second car in the parking field. An hour goes by, I see no one... and the was no one back in the office at this time. So I sat and waited until more families started pulling up and then found out that the first game didn't start until 2pm. Most prople would have gome home or somewhere during the time I waited, but no, since I live about an hour and 15 mins away it made no sense and since I wasn't that close to Ocala I waited it out. I shot a feature while I was waiting and then realized the paper wouldn't use it because I NEVER see features in the paper... remember I am weekend stringer help from out of town, I haven't even met all of the staff and I've been working there since November 2005. But on to the photos... It was fun stuff and after looking through my sent stuff from the past year I can really see an improvement in shooting sports. :)

Glimpse of Miss Florida Candidates

Last weekend I photographed the Miss Florida and the Miss Florida Teen finalists for Marion County, Silver Springs and Ocala during their send-off party. It was basically their last dry run through of the competition which will be held this week and end this Saturday in Miami. It was a showcase for the contestants family and friends to see what they would be competing in and to see what they've been working on for the pageant since most wouldn't be making it down to Miami to watch them first hand. The area is sending four contestants, two for each competition. During the showcase each girl presented her outfit for each catagory and also performed her talent piece. They even answered practice questions on stage. Something the girls were not too happy about. They ran back and forth from the dressing room as each girl had atleast five outfits or more to change into. I haven't found the link to the article that ran with these pictures but I'll keep looking. Luckily they ran my favorite, but they also ran a very similar one that I wouldn't have run with my favorite because of the similar angle and blue mat background. Oh well, I should have editted a little more tightly I suppose. The others are okay, but once again I don't think some of the better photos ran. Here are the five that made the copy desk edit.