Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everybody from D.C. I went down to the national mall the other night to see the national Christmas tree nad other decorations. It was very packed and interesting to see. D.C. at night is also pretty cool along the mall area. All the monuments look entirely different at night.

Sweat, Blood and Boxing

I got to shoot my first boxing match this past weekend. It is pretty fun to shoot and watch. It is also pretty difficult to shoot. You got the referee in the way, those damn ropes and they move around way too much. But, it was fun. These are a couople of pics to show what I got, nothing great, but not too bad either. I do hope to get another shot at photographing boxing to get better.

It's XMas Time!

Have been really busy lately, particulary with Christmas related assignments. You would be amazed at how many places at once, that Santa can be at. He is really is amazing. Even though this picture isn't of Santa, I did like this moment.

Basketball time, Yay!

Now that football is over, my life will revolve around high school basketball. Yippee. Now I finally have something to do with my Tuesday and Thursday nights, instead of chilling out at home relaxing. Who needs that. Yes the photo is grainy, but for some reason, here at most of the schools in Virginia, I am not allowed to use strobes, even during a scrimmage and expecially during games. This comes from the coaches and administrators. Makes my job more interesting.

Here is one of many practice and scrimmage photos I have taken recently. It is also, as many of you know, Christmas season time and I have been busy at work with covering holiday events also and will soon update with a few of my favorites. Later

Election Night

As you all know, the election was yesterday and meant for a long day for journalists around the country, myself included. And, I actually had fun. Sure, I have covered hundreds of these events, but this was my first one in the D.C. area and that by itself adds a little something to it. It was packed full of media and supporters. But, I had fun. The race for senate in Virginia isn't over yet! It is one of 2 races in the country that will go to an automatic recount and could either win control for the Democrats, lose it for them or split it in half. Anyways, the pics.



These people wre great. I got a good jube and dejection shot from the same couple. Yay!

I really wish I could of just shot the crowd, but for some reason, editors always want to see the candidates also. These 2 are of the democratic supporters at the rally.




And this is one of the required candidate shots.



I am soooo happy that election season is over, at least for now.

Election Time

My name is Robbie Hammer and I approved this blog.

It seems that all the political ads that you see on T.V. now all have this same message at the end. Both parties also seem to all have the same theme to their ads. The Republicans basically say if you vote for the Democrats, America will get attcked again, because they are wimps. The Democrats basically say that all Republicans are close and support Bush, so therefore they are evil and have horns.

All I hear though is; Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, vote for me, blah, blah, blah, my opponent bad, blah and evil, blah, blah, blah.

Anyways, I was on the metro the other evening after hanging out with some friends on Halloween. I hope to take more picture on the metro, there are a lot of interesting things to see there. As long as I don't get arrested. Later.

Pretty Colors

I saw this reflection of some balloons on the sidewalk while at an assignment the other day and thought that it made a nice mix of colors and patterns. Me being artsy, fartsy, imagine that..The second is just of a skateborder losing his board. Ooops.

Things are going well so far at my new life. I have been pretty busy and will get even busier once I learn the ropes. I shoot pretty much only photo packages and that is fine with me, though some assignments aren't easy to get a package out of, but I manage.

The only thing I don't like around here is the traffic. And I thought that I540 was bad. HA! But saying that, I really do like it around here. There is plenty to do, see and experience without ever getting bored. Plus, when I get some time off, whenever that might be, plenty of good roadtrips around here. Ciao.

High Heel Drag Race

You haven't lived yet until you've seen the annual HIgh Heel Drag Race in D.C. in DUpont Circle. Basically its a b unch of drag queens dressed in their best garb running a quick foot race. Actually, its pretty hillarious. Britney Spears, or atlewast the drag version, amde an appearance.

Exciting Stuff

These are just 2 pics I shot over the weekend. One was at friday night high school football and the other a shot of lunch from a colonial market fair. Exciting stuff huh. I am very happy to be back in the world of photography though. Ciao

Updates, Finally!

I am sorry for the lack of updates, but I have been swamped since I have started my new job here in Virginia. I have included these 4 pics from the slew of assignments I have shot. Since I started 1 week ago, I have shot 7 photo packages. Everything I have shot, minus one assignment, has been for a photo package. The coverage area is pretty spread out also, not too mention the traffic. Hopefully, I will update more often and with probably just one or two pics. Later.

In D.C.

Ladies Arm Wrestling Night at the Palace of Wonders. That was my first night in D.C. I did not have my camera for those of you thinking where are the pictures, but don't worry, I will next time. I am staying with a friend of mine until I can move into my new home in Bethesda, Maryland. I lucked into this place. I met this guy who needed a roommate to finish off the lease for $495 a month. Wow. Around here that's hell of a deal. A nice place also, even nicer than house I lived in Fayetteville. I start work on Tuesday, can't wait to get back to the daily grind that is the world of photojournalism. I will update with pictures when I get around to actually taking some. Later.

On The Move Again

Once again, I am on the move again. This time to the Washington D.C. area. I have accepted a job as a photographer with a group of weekly newspapers in the eastern Virginia area. I will start on oct. 16. I am excited about this move. I have been anxious to be out shooting full-time for a while. And it's in D.C. Lots to do and close to a lot of coll places. Sounds like this job will keep me very busy, but I like that. I hate boredom. I do not know where I will live yet, but it will probably be in Virginia. Hopefully once I start the job, I will update this blog more often with pictures. Later.

Never Forget

As the anniversary of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina along the gulf coast nears, I started to remember about some of the peaople that I met and the stories they told, when I was down there volunteering with the Crisis Corps shortly after the two hurricanes. To hear the stories and read the news about the progress down there, especially in New Orleans is sad. There seems to be little progress, though there has been some, but not enough. It's been a year and much of the population still remains elsewhere or homeless. It saddens me to see that something like this could happen in the United States. Not the hurricane, cause there's nothing we can do to stop them, but I'm sad at the the aftermath and the loss of life. The disorganization of our government at every level. They all blame each other for the problems of New Orleans and the rest of the gulf, when everybody involved should be blamed for different reasons.

It angers me when we say we are the leaders of the world and other countries want to be like the United States or people want to come here to live, but we can't take care of our own citizens in a time of crisis and cannot fix our own problems. We send our troops and money to other countries to help fix their problems and keep the peace, but can't do the same here. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't help other countries, cause we should if they want it, but we need to do the same on our own land also.

Sorry about the rant, but sometimes we all gotta. Hope all is well with everyone and peace.

Just Thinking

I have finally gotten my webpage up. Go visit and tell me what you think. I will probably make changes in the future, but I just wanted to get something out there. It was meant as a place for people, hopefully ones who will give me a job, to look at some of my stuff, but also for a place friends and family could go and see some of my photos also. These two pictures I have put here are some of my favorite pictures I have shot recently in morocco. Just simple and interesting, at least to me. Later.

Time To Begin

I started this blog 3-years ago when I was in the Peace Corps in Albania, but for some reason, never actually posted to it. So I have decided to start posting now. Of course, I'm not doing much of anything very interesting anymore or living any where interesting, but I still wanted to start this. So, in the coming weeks, I will post, hopefully on a semi-regular basis. Thoughts, stories and even photos. Thanks for stopping bye and hope you all enjoy my blog.