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.

MORE fish, an apartment fire and playing with studio lights

Monday I covered the soft opening of a new pier constructed between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores on Beach Blvd. After having covered the fishing rodeo Friday and Saturday you could say I'd had a full plate of fish for the past few days.













Tuesday (today) I covered a three story apartment fire that we heard over the scanners. I rushed over there but it was already out, it wasn't very large apparently.











Then John David, Glen and I went to eat. Somehow we ended up at an arcade in the mall. Then Ice Cream happened and finally we made our way back to the Press-Register.



Once back at the office we played with my new 2000 watt second Dynalite pack. We hooked up one of JD's lights that can handle 2000 watt seconds and used it to light the entire room. Its super bright as you can see. We were having a good time.

Here is my pack compared to the Press-Registers. Mine is way bigger and better!

Playin' with the Bears, Wranglin' Fishes and Drivin' Cars

As the title suggests, I've been very busy. This blog entry is going to have a LOT of pictures so settle in for the visuals.

Thursday, July 16.

Messed with strobes in the office with Glenn Andrews. Made this picture:


I shot the Bay Bears with John David. As usual my noggin was bursting with information by the end of the night. I did manage to make one decent picture from a new spot. I should've moved after I made this picture though.



JD took this one of me. I was obviously perplexed at the time.


Then I spent Friday and Saturday covering the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. It was everything you could expect from an event with a title like that. The following pictures are all from Friday:



















And the following are from Saturday:



































Sunday I went to Holt Florida for the Sport Compact Nationals. Turnout wasn't that great but there were some quick cars there.













If you made it all the way through this post, thanks for caring!