"Fly In"



Welcome back! Hope you all had a great weekend! As always it went by too quickly. I had a lot going on - two of my friends got married on Treasure Island and the wedding and ensuing party were top notch! I managed to take a few photos but that post will be saved for another day. Also this weekend I had my first copyright infringer! Not a very positive feeling, especially considering the type of article that my photo was illegally used for, but thanks to all I have learned in law school and from the Photo Attorney I have a feeling that the situation will be taken care of swiftly. For now I will take the high road and will not give any additional details but there may be a time when I elaborate a bit more. Really reinforces those big ugly watermarks that I slap on most of my work - they may not look good but it can be your saving grace so watermark and register your work! I'll keep you posted as the situation unfolds/resolves itself!

On to the post! I may have mentioned this earlier in my Fly In post that there was also a different kind of fly in going on as the USAF Thunderbirds were flying overhead. As the formation flew past I looked up to see "Blue", the neighborhood's "pet" Great Blue Herron flying right at me. I managed to adjust and focus quick enough to get a few good shots.







The lake that Clipper and Terri live on is full of great bird life and I will definitely be bringing the camera along every time we stop by for a visit. It was a real treat! Here are a few other shots of the action on the lake that day:











If you'd like to see the rest of the shots from the set click here.

Finally before I wrap up today I want to bring your attention to the right side of my blog as I have a new widget that I am really excited about. Just under the "About Me" area there is a subscribe section. In the future, there may be a day or two that I won't have time to make a post on time. So instead of all of my loyal readers checking in and being let down if there is no new content, you can get an email from me every time I add new content to the blog! I won't email you for any other reason so don't be hesitant to sign up, and if you do sign up and the new content emails are annoying or you just don't want them feel free to unsubscribe. I think this will be a great way for you all to keep up with my content updates and a great way for me to keep up with all of my followers so please sign up!

Thanks for checking in today and be sure to check back in, but most importantly, subscribe and you'll get some email next time I update! See you all soon!

First Rounder:



What a great day! Today I had the experience of a lifetime. I always love watching the NFL draft. It is always filled with tension, strategy, and hopes for the future regardless of what your team did last year. Tonight I had the unique experience of not only going to a draft party, but going to a draft party where someone there was slated to be drafted in the first round! You don't get to do that every day so I jumped at the opportunity to shoot this for Gator Country. I had the opportunity to photograph this amazing athlete last season and it was great to see his professional career start right before my eyes (and lens).

Former Florida Gator Center Maurkice Pouncey was the NFL hopeful we were all there to see but based on all of the projections and work outs this was more of a celebration than a tension filled hope fest. It did get a bit tense and quiet when it was about that time for the call to finally come in. Then it happened.

Getting to watch (and hear) Maurkice's life change was really awesome as he was drafted in the first round as the 18th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Thank you for the opportunity Gator Country and thank you Maurkice and the rest of the Pouncey family for allowing me to peek in on such a great day in your family's life! See you next year for Mike's draft party?

Here are a few more shots from tonight:















If you'd like to see the rest of the photos from this amazing night click here Thanks for stopping by!

Flying By:



This week is sure flying by and it's almost Thursday! As I said yesterday I would get through the rest of my photos from the Thunderbirds air show on Saturday at the annual Sun N Fun Fly In. So here are some more of my favorites from the show:















If you'd like to see the rest of the set be sure to click here. Thanks for stopping by today and please check in tomorrow for some shots of a different kind of fly in. See you tomorrow!

Rain & Thunder:



Welcome back! Once again I have missed a Monday post and I'm making my Tuesday post right before the buzzer. Time isn't as easy to find these days! Had a great weekend filled with lots of visiting family and fun.

One of the cooler things about living in Lakeland this time of year is the Sun N Fun fly in. It's a full week of planes flying into and landing in Lakeland with special events and air shows all week. You can look up almost any time of the day and get your own personal air show if you are anywhere in Lakeland. I love it. One of the main events of this year's fly in was the USAF Thunderbirds that were to perform on Saturday and Sunday. We headed over to Britt's dad's condo which has an amazing view and you can see most of the show. As showtime got closer and closer the rain also got closer and closer and it finally opened up. We were in the dark for quite a while as to whether they would even perform and then we heard the amazing roar of their engines and rushed outside. I brought along my camera and 300 and went to work. I took a ton of pictures and have yet to finish editing all of them but wanted to share some tonight in a post. I will post some more of my top choices in a post tomorrow along with a link to the full gallery.








Even though the weather cooperated for us to get a great show, it definitely wasn't the best for taking pictures with where the sun was and how it was lighting up the sky. Also, I'm sure I could have done a better job as well. Anyway, I'm not putting these off as any type of photographic masterpiece but I did manage to get some decent shots considering the light situation. Can't wait to share some more!

Also, on a different note, as I posted in a twitter and facebook update today while I was editing these shots I realized how much fun I had shooting for myself for the first time in a long time. Sometimes we can lose sight of how much we really enjoy the things we do and why we enjoy them.

Finally, I got a lot of really cool photo news today so stay tuned and I promise to share when I'm able to. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check in again tomorrow for the rest of the photos from the air show. See you then!

GREAT Grandmother:



Happy Hump Day! Half way to the weekend folks and we're back for a Wednesday night post. As I said I've got quite a backlog of photos that I have been editing my way through over the last few days and today I'll share a few more with you all. During our first full day home we had a very special guest and Riley got to meet his great grandmother for the first time. I cherish all of the photos of my grandmother meeting and holding me for the first time and I know Riley will cherish all of these photos as well. What a special experience to have so many generations of Darby in one house. It was so nice to be able to share him with my Nanaw and I know they'll see each other often!



After everyone left the dogs spent a little more time getting used to their new "little brother."









Finally, when Britt had the camera for a bit she managed to capture one of my all time favorite shots of me and Riley so far. Great catch Britt!



What a great day!

Hope to see you all back here tomorrow and like I said a few weeks ago I promise not to overload you with all baby all the time tomorrow's post will be something completely different so be sure to check in!

Homecoming:



Wow Monday was a rough one! Sorry I couldn't get a post out in time but it was just one of those days. The good news is I'm back today and I was in an editing mood tonight so I managed to get through some of the backlog of photos I have. This Saturday I headed up to Gainesville with Dad and shot the Florida Football Orange & Blue game. I have really missed shooting sports over the past few months and it was great to make it back on the field with some old friends. I almost forgot how challenging and strenuous it can be but it only took a few minutes out in the sun trying to shoot the game to remind me. What a great day!

Tonight I'm posting shots that I took when we brought Riley home from the hospital. We were definitely glad to be home and the dogs were excited to have us back but with a new addition! We really weren't sure how they would react but we weren't that worried either. We have really people friendly pets so we were really just interested to see how everything would shake out. Otis did what he always does and was just so excited to meet Riley he just couldn't stay away, or keep his tongue off of him.





Ugh not a huge fan of the direct hit. We didn't encourage this behavior but Otis is pretty quick on the trigger. Kohana's reaction was definitely the most interesting of the two and she acted as if we had just brought HER baby home from the hospital. She immediately took to sniffing him and watching over him. She even growled and bit at Otis when she felt he was getting too close to Riley. To this day she will still sit next to him and watch him sleep and do other "motherly" things. It's really cool and touching to watch.







We were also greeted with some special balloons and gifts when we got home and mix that with family and a great dinner and we really couldn't have planned a better first night home as a new family.





Thanks for stopping by today and if you're interested in seeing a few more shots from Riley's homecoming be sure to click here! Be sure to check in again tomorrow!

Coming Home:



Welcome back! Another busy day filled with all sorts of stuff! I decided when I got home tonight and went through some shots that I should go back and pick up where I left off in my editing and post photos and sets as I go. I figure if I don't do this and continue to take shots of him and everything else I may never get back to some of the very first shots of Riley. With that in mind I'm going back a little bit with the set tonight and a lot of these shots are from our second night in the hospital and then the next day when we were getting him ready to finally head home. Some great (and nervous) memories of packing Riley up in the car seat for the first time and bringing him home.











If you'd like to see the rest of the set click here. Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to check back tomorrow for the second half of Riley's trip home!