The Dean in Town

Howard Dean, the man who could of, until he freaked out a little, beaten Bush four-years ago, came to town to talk about the how the Democrat party is going to win. We'll see about that. Also a photo from a high school band practice, now that the start of school is just around the corner.

Obama on the campaign trail

Today, Barack Obama made one of his campaign stops in our little neck of the woods in Fairfax County, Virginia. At first, I wasn't really excited or interested in the guy, but after today, maybe I'm leaning a little more towards voting for him. Maybe. Here are a couple of pics from the town hall meeting.

Golf and Swimming

Over this past weekend, I had the chance to shoot the 2nd Tiger Woods AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. It was started last year and was a huge hit. There were thousands of people everyday and it was virtually impossible to move around due to the crowds, especially anywhere near Tiger. This year, well, let's say wasn't the same. There were very little crowds and, oh yea, no Tiger. Due to his knee operation, he did not attend his signature event. There was still interest, just no where near the same as last year. Here are a few pics from the tournament and also a few from a swim meet.

Graduation Fever

If I haven't mentioned it before, I have a pretty big coverage area with a lot of high schools that we cover. So when it comes to graduation season, I am pretty busy. In the last two weeks, I have covered 17 high school graduations. Pretty much all the same, with speakers saying the same things and all not very exciting. Though, by now, I could probably give a pretty good graduation speech myself, I've heard enough of them. But, I managed to get some pretty good stuff. It gets tough trying to find ways of shooting each graduation differently from the other.

State Championship Weekend

Eleven games, two days, 90+ degree weather and the high school sports season is finally over. I shot soccer, lacrosse, baseball and tennis state championship games. We had 8 teams vying for state championships in 6 games.

One day celebrating...

the next, not.

State Champs!

Not a good day for one team.

Keep your eye on the prize.

A dominant, record-breaking day.

Celebrating third-straight state championship.

A perfect ending to a great season.

Back-to-back.

Winner of ten straight state championships at the high school level.

Rolling Thunder

I know this is a week late, but here it is anyways.
Every year on Memorial Day, Washington D.C. plays host to the Rolling Thunder. Over 300,000 bikers converge into D.C. to pay their respects and to participate in different events. On the day before they rode from Arlington Cemetery and did a loop around the mall. Pretty impressive to watch a several-hour long parade with 300,000+ motorcycles.

Lacrosse Rocks

Ever since I moved here to Northern Virginia, I have had the opportunity to shoot several sports I had never shot in Arkansas, since they did not exist there. Wrestling, field hocker and lacrosse. Though, I understand wrestling has made a presence now. Lacrosse is big and is taken very seriously in this part of the state and is actually fun to shoot, boys lacrosse at least. Boys and girls lacrosse have a few different rules, but other than one big difference are very similar. Physicality. Boys lacrosse is very physical with tackling and big hitting and girls lacrosse is not very physical and hitting is a major penalty in the girls game. So, when I got this shot the other night at a girls game, I was happy, cause you hardly ever see this.

Great weather

Finally the Spring is here after weeks and weeks of trying. Which makes me want to be outside even more and I try harder to find things to shoot when it's nicer. Spent several hours on the Potomac the other day shooting kayaking. So, here's a shot of a kayaker and one from a track meet also.

Been a while since I updated last. So here's a baseball pic and a portrait of a high school artist at an art show. Been busy, but haven't shot anything really exciting or good lately. Lots of baseball. Ughh. Soccer and boy's lacrosse are probably my two favorite sports to shoot in the spring, so let's hope I have more of those in weeks to come.

Open Mic

I got to cover an open mic night at a pretty popular local music venue. Probably the most fun I've had at an assignment in a while. Of course the lighting was dark and made it difficult to shoot, but I like a challenge. Also since I really hate use flash, especially in a dark room, it was fun to come out with nice stuff.

4-Hour Traffic Assignment

So, I had the pleasure of a 4-hour, 4-mile trip yesterday. I was on my way to an assignment when I got stuck in traffic after only about 2-miles. I was there for almost 4-hours. The exits on the on-ramps to the interstate were closed due to ice and several accidents. So, that meant, no moving. When I finally got off, I just turned around and went home, the other 2-miles. Being bored, I got my camera out and took picture of some of my fellow commuters and other things I saw that I thought were interesting since I missed my two assignments.

Finally, an update

Wow, it's almost the end of January and I have not updated this year yet. Well, here a couple. Been busy and have just been ignoring my blog, but no more. The first one is from a one-act play festival of an actress rehearsing before going on stage and the second is of a recent short-lived snowstorm in the area.

The CIA

Some of the places I go to for an assignment in this area can sometimes be interesting, or intimidating. In this case, intimidating. I had the rare opportunity to shoot inside the CIA headquarters. Of course, it was only one corner in one directions. We weren't allowed to shoot to the left or behind us, only in front and towards the right. I didn't get tosee too much inside, but did get to drive around the massive, college-like campus.

The infamous floor logo


Each of the stars on the wall behind the marine represent a CIA employee killed in the line of duty.




Marines posing with picture with a teddy bear given to the by the director of the CIA.

Six Days, Six Photos

A photo each day from the last week. It's been a busy and interesting week.

Friday, Model Train Show


Saturday, Visit with Santa


Sunday, The Lonely Road


Monday, Basketball


Tuesday, Symphony Practice


Wednesday, Delegate Swearing in Ceremony