Very last Gainesville Sun assignment. :(

My last day has come and gone now.
I am going to miss the staff at the Sun more than they know.
Over two years ago I began as the photo lab tech hoping that every once in a while I would get to shoot something, anything.
I lived in the back of the photo room watching and listening to everything that happened around me, the whole time I should have been taking notes for a book. It's interesting what you observe from the back of the room.
Oh my last day I cried just a bit, I'll admit it.
It's a good thing Trish walked out with me when I finally did leave, I needed her there.

But don't get me wrong I am REALLY excited to be starting in Albuquerque on Monday!!

So my very last assignment was to photograph Ryan Lochte, a fellow Spruce Creek High alumni, who is at UF and training for the Olympics.
It's funny and ironic that my last assignment had a connection to my high school where I began with photography. High school seems so long ago now; it's amazing how time flies.

Softball Weekend

Gator softball girls win NCAA Regional Title
and move onto Super Regionals

I had softball duty this weekend, three days of games.

But it was worth it in the end. The girls walked away with the tournament title.

Salt Lake City Day 2

The Gators advanced today to the final six competition which will be held tomorrow.
Salt Lake is still Salt Lake though and the speed limits average around 30 mph.
I had to "join a club" tonight to have a drink.
The people of Utah are very nice and friendly thus far.
Shooting gymnastics is going better than anticipated and tomorrow I hope to focus on doing some close-ups with the 300mm.
Although I lugged it all the way here I haven't yet used it. But tomorrow I will force myself to do so to add some variety to the photos.

Salt Lake City!

Well I made it.
I'm safely tucked into my hotel room and enjoyed some room service dinner after a long day of plane rides leading up to a quick switch over to photo mode as soon as I touched down in Utah.
A 12:30pm landing gave me not much time to make it to the scheduled practice today but I made it just in time to catch a tail end of uneven bars and all of the beam.
1pm Mountain time tomorrow is competition.
That's 3pm back home.

Prom Rugby 2007

FINALLY got to shoot this, it only took me 4 years...

GATORS: 3 TIMES NATIONAL CHAMPS

It's great to be a Florida Gator!

Bye-bye UCLA

Gator filled day

Last Thursday Gator basketball boys headed off to Atlanta and of course they returned today with their second National Championship title.

Lee Humphrey took a seat in the pilot's chair as the team boarded.

Later in the day Shelley Meyer was interviewed by a Sun columnist and there I was, locked in the room with them for an hour.

Gators make it to the Final Four

During the game.
Welcoming the team home at the airport.

Gator Gymnastics

Perfect 10 for Melanie Sinclair

She kicked butt once again on the uneven bars.

Gymnastics is getting easier and easier to shoot.
The hardest thing to conquer is the timing, but I've adapted to it much faster than other sports because of it's similarity to dance. The one thing I have figured out though is that in mid-flip the muscles sometimes look really distorted so even though it might be the perfect moment if their muscles look all weird I'll try to find another.

Gator Women Basketball

from their last home game...

Flipping

Competition time for UF Gymnastics.

So this stuff is fun.
Hope I get to shoot it again.
And they are another Gator team ranked #1!

UF v Alabama Basketball

JUMP!Scary game... we were down at half-time but the Gators brought it back for a win in the second half.

Gator Hoops

UF v Tennessee

Gators 94 - Volunteers 78

And an out-take:
Al Horford looking a bit holy.

Basketball and returning Champions

After only about 3.5 hours of sleep on Tuesday, I played hostess to friends that made the trek to Gainesville for the game night excitement. Then later I got to shoot the Gator Men's Basketball game where the returning football team made a special appearance during half-time.

GATORS ARE THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!!

Monday was full of anticipation as the hours leading to kick-off of the National Championship game ticked by. Four Sun staffers were in Arizona, leaving one staffer, an intern, and about 6 stringers left behind to cover the madness in Gainesville in case they won. I was one of them. I volunteered to do a soundslides piece if we won. At 8 am the next morning when I was leaving the office I kinda of regretted that decision. My body was literally numb and I couldn't stand listening to "It's great to be a FLORIDA GATOR..." one more time. But the Soundslides got done in the end. I recorded most of the audio on it, only one interview and the music playing behind that interview were done by the Gainesville Sun intern Alex Cohn, who also did video. The plan was for him to get back and edit his video and I would edit his sound, my sound, piece together the track, then do the Soundslides.
University Avenue here in Gainesville was mayhem once again. The GPD however greased the light poles this time so people couldn't climb them, or atleast not easily. So people would try and just slip right down, it was pretty humorous. What was not really funny however was the bonfire someone started and the people who climbed so high in the trees that we were afraid to stand under them because the branches looked like they were going to break any second.

MULTIMEDIA - Night of Champions