Rain, Football and Nurses

Before I get to the rain, football and nurses, I'll start with this picture, taken Sunday August 2nd outside a friend's house in Pensacola. I think an ancient proverb states "Wherever there are five Subarus gathered, a good time is sure to be had."


August marks the beginning of football practices all across the Mobile area and also marks a solid month of rain. What do you do when it rains so much that the streets are flooded? If you're smart you will stay inside. If you are James Durbin or John David Mercer you wade around in the street and make pictures. Monday August 3.



Now, on to football. High school football was in full swing. Monday August 3.







Another rainstorm feature. I was trying to catch some lighting but the storm moved out too quick. Tuesday August 4.



And more football, this time peewee league. Tuesday August 4.











And finally, the nurses. These nurses recently traveled to Nicaragua to lend aid. This picture taken today, Wednesday August 5.


Images are property of Mobile Press-Register.

People and cars, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp and kids playing ball

I was very lazy with my blogging this week. I have been working hard and playing hard and that doesn't leave time for much else. I'll make up for a week of blogging with this post.
Sunday, July 26. Uncle Larry arrived with a project car on a trailer.









Monday, July 27. I went with John David to make some pictures of a mentally handicapped deaf man who had been involved in an unfortunate altercation with the Mobile Police Dept. Long story short, he was pepper sprayed and tasered ("tased?") while in the bathroom of a Dollar General. Click here to read the full story John David used strobe and wide glass so I just hung out to the side and shot tight. The woman in the picture is the guy's mother.



That night, John David and Glen and I did a photoshoot on Monika and her car. It was a lot of fun. I think John David and Glen had a good time as well because I don't think they have taken their lighting gear out for fun in a long time, only for work. It is good to do something on your own from time to time and they taught me a lot that night.



















Here is a behind the scenes type shot that shows a bit of the lighting setup and John David.



Wednesday, July 29. I went to Pascagoula Mississippi and shot youth baseball practice.









Thursday, July 30. Rode with Monika to a Subaru meet in Fort Walton Beach and I took a rolling shot of Anthony's car.





Friday, July 31. Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan concert. I left before Dylan came on stage in order to make deadline.

Monster trucks, James eats yogurt and I go racing!

Well I got a new softbox that attaches to my flash and its pretty awesome. John David told me about it several weeks ago but I waited until I had other stuff to order at the same time to save on shipping but its so awesome that I probably should've got it the day he told me about it. Here is one of the first pictures I took with it:



Then Friday I covered Monster Jam at the Mobile Civic Center. It was pretty sweet, I love Monster Trucks. Monika made fun of me just a little bit because I was jumping up and down yelling "Monster Trucks! Monster Trucks!" when I found out I was going to be able to cover it.













I had Saturday off! I went over to Grand Bay, AL, right on the AL/MISS border and went Autocrossing with the Gulf Coast SCCA Region. They were great guys (and girls) and I had a blast. The course layout was very technical and looped back on itself twice. I was spoiled by the St. Louis Region's large open parking lot so this really forced me to think and work on my "short game." Getting the car set up for corner entry was very important. I had a blast and got lots of seat time (20 runs on the track! Thats unheard of back home!) I got up super early and experienced the phenomena known as a "sun-rise," something I don't see very often.



Me, on the way to the AutoX:


My car, race-ready:


A few of the cars that were there:

Another day in paradise.

I used this phrase jokingly with Mary Hattler, one of the staff photographers, yesterday, Thursday, after the full day I had that day. But first I'll start with Wednesday.

John David told me about a small park off a country road near Fairhope that had a creek and rope swings where kids would swing from trees into the water. I decided that I would find it and make some pictures there. So I did.







It was a pretty uneventful day after that though.

Thursday, however was full of activity, as I already said. It started out with me going back to the pier from my previous blog post for the official opening (the previous post was only the "soft opening"). There were a lot of big wigs there, including the Gov and the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Mayors. New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews was there to participate in the opening ribbon cutting ceremony and he gave me an autographed copy of his book.

















Some helicopters flew by while I was on the pier:


After the pier opening, I rode the ferry over to Dauphin Island, then up to Mobile. Monika came with me to Mobile as I was only expecting to file images quickly and then be done. Little did I know that someone would decide to rob a bank, engage the Mobile PD in a police chase across the county and wind up getting shot. That tied up my day a little bit in an unexpected way. But I'll get to that in just a minute. First, a ferry picture.



Once in the newsroom I filed my pictures and was getting ready to walk out when the scanners exploded with what sounded like a commercial for the next Grand Theft Auto video game. MPD was chasing a bank robbery suspect. They used spike strips to blow the tires and then the guy wrecked in a church parking lot. By the time I got there the car was riddled with bullets and the suspect was confirmed dead.

Here you can clearly see all the bullet holes. The building in the background is a child daycare center, which had its bathroom window shot out by a stray bullet.






The dead suspect is still in the vehicle while the police processed the scene.


Anyway, another day on the job.