Miss Kentucky, The Subie Crowd in Pensacola and a Benefit Concert

Kentucky's Junior Miss won Junior Miss 2009. It was an opportunity to make a portfolio image and I don't think I did. I need to stop shooting and start thinking. On the upside, I was able to cover the entire event while processing images and within 20 minutes of the event ending I had transmitted images and cutlines back to the Press-Register. Nobody had to wait on me and I was very proud of that.















My AJM friend, Tennessee's Junior Miss. She might have ADD worse than I do, which is saying something.



After Junior Miss finals me and my cousin (also named James - my family is not very original when it comes to naming babies) went to Pensacola to meet up with my Subaru friends. I wont bore you with too many photos of cars but I will post Monika's right hand drive Japanese STI. It was actually imported from Japan, the steering wheel is on the "wrong side." Its the real deal. I would give a lot to own one like it. Mine is the blue one parked next to hers.





Then below is a quick rolling shot of a friend's STI on the way out of town. It was super dark, this isn't up to my usual quality of rolling shots but it was still fun.



Then I went to bed.

Sunday I had to cover a benefit concert at an American Legion post in Fairhope AL. I really like the town of Fairhope, so far it is my favorite place in the state. Its a historic bayside town close to Mobile. Nothing much came out of this, it was more difficult to cover than I thought it would be. Maybe I was having an off day.

Junior Misses Second Preliminary

Another late post, I know. I just finished watching a movie with my cousin and I don't want to get behind in the blog.

I put to use what JD Mercer told me yesterday and made some pictures at the 2nd Prelim tonight. Then came back to the newsroom and tried to file images quickly and efficiently. Glen told me yesterday something to the tune that you can be a great shooter but it doesn't mean much if you can't file images quickly for a tight deadline.

I made sure to shoot WAY less images and do some editing on the camera. My 1D Mk2 allows me to tag images and make voice recordings of the subjects in the photo so I used that to quickly select "keepers" and record caption info directly onto the image.

Tomorrow night is the final ceremony where the winner will be announced. I think it will be a fantastic opportunity to make pictures.









As always, click on an image to make it bigger and remember that the images are the property of the Mobile Press-Register.

'Gators and Girls

I mentioned in my blog post on Monday that there was more I had done that day besides covering the Junior Misses eating oysters. Later that day I had an assignment at a play theatre in Fairhope. I left early for the assignment and dropped by a causeway off I-10 that I had been told was frequented by alligators. Sure enough, within 5 minutes I found this creature:





I shot the gator with flash after my little lesson from JD Mercer and Bill Starling, but it was bright enough outside that I'm not sure it made much difference. I think it did bring out the eyes of the gator a little bit and maybe its skin. Regardless, I was trying to put into action what I had learned that day.

I got another opportunity to use flash at the assignment at the theatre. It is for the Arts section and it showcases an upcoming play. I took some photos during dress rehearsal and then I had all the cast and crew get together on the set for a portrait. I used flash for the portrait, manually setting the flash power based on the distance scale, like JD showed me.







I feel like I am beginning to get a handle on this lighting stuff, maybe. But I need a ton more experience with it.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off. I was lazy and did nothing for the most part.

Thursday I was back on Junior Miss duty. They had their preliminary show at the Civic Center. Me and JD shot it together then came back to the newsroom in a rush to get the images in on deadline. JD went through my take and gave me some critique. I am anxious to improve tomorrow.











Yes mother, I know what time it is. I know I should be in bed.

Junior Misses + Oysters. Lots of Oysters.

Junior Misses ate oysters today and lived to tell the tale.









Back in the newsroom I got a MAJOR critique from John David and Bill Starling, going over a lot of my images from the internship so far. It was really helpful even though at the end of it I felt like a sixth grade girl with her first point and shoot camera.

Every once in a while I need somebody to point out my mistakes and this helped me a lot. If I can put to use what he told me there will be a visible improvement in my photos, especially those involving flash.

Bill pointed out a phrase; "available light means using ALL the light that is available to you." I only have one flash available to me now due to one of them going for a swim in the Gulf (see yesterday's blog post) but that will be worked out.

Anyway, stay tuned for more. There is more, thats not all I did today. I'm just tired. I'm off tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday as well. Then back to covering the Misses!

Hot air balloons, a 50 year old cold case mystery, my new friend Monika and a day at the beach

All of the things in the subject title above happened this weekend. Its been a busy few days!

First I got up at dark o'clock Saturday morning to photograph the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon festival.










Then I went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. Got up around noon (still Saturday), went into work and worked on some online galleries. Then back to Baldwin county to cover a gathering of family and friends who are looking for a man who disappeared as a little boy 50 years ago. They believe he is still out there and they gathered at the spot that the disappearance took place for a candlelight vigil.









I transmitted those images from a hotel in Pensacola, then went to a place called "the bayfront" where car enthusiasts gather on the weekends. It was awesome! It felt good to get back into a local car scene. I met a girl I had talked to online before, she drives a car similar to mine. Here she is with my car (her's is broke at the moment).



I was able to sleep in Sunday morning. I had to cover the Junior Misses on beach day over at Dauphin Island which is located south of Mobile, on the other side of Mobile Bay from where I live. I travelled over to Dauphin Island by ferryboat, had a great time and met some cool people on the ferry.



At Dauphin Island I photographed the Junior Misses swimming and building sand sculptures for a contest. The whole time I was wanting to swim and I guess one of my Speedlights felt the same way because it jumped off my camera and plunged into the Gulf. I guess it will be getting a rebuild by Canon now. I decided to put my gear away at the end and went for a swim as well. Suddenly the Junior Misses were interested in taking pictures of me, I'm not sure exactly how that happened.

Junior Misses Tour College & I find a Lemonade Stand

I was up early today. I went over to the University of South Alabama, where the Junior Misses had a breakfast and then went on a tour of the campus. U.S.A. is offering full ride scholarships to Junior Misses with an ACT score of 30 or above. I think most are already accepted to their college of choice though.

Wisconsin's 2007 Junior Miss spoke to the 2009 Junior Miss scholarship contestants about her experiences at U.S.A.


Then the girls went on a tour of the campus and were given some literature on the school.



I'm still at work, we'll see what the rest of the day brings. There's already been a large fire. No police chases or bank robberies. Yet.

UPDATE:
Found a Lemonade Stand.




Tomorrow morning I am getting up around 4:30 or 5am to shoot some hot air balloons in early morning light.

As always, all images (and my body) are the property of the Mobile Press-Register newspaper.