Florida's Fallen



I absolutely love being a photographer. It can be interesting at times because just like in the Seinfeld episode where George pitches all of his "great" TV show ideas to Corbin Bernsen while back stage, everyone has an idea for what you should be taking photos of. This is actually helpful because it always brings attention to things going on around me that I may not have noticed. Not being a full time photo journalist or sports photographer, photo opportunities and great things like this can certainly slip through the cracks as I stay busy with my other profession all while learning to be a new father. Lots of the ideas are tough to properly photograph but I listen to them all, especially when my Mom is the one with the suggestion. I listen more to her not just because she is my mother but because she has an outstanding eye.

Last week she mentioned an exhibit in the lawn of a local church and suggested I go take a look. I really had no idea what I was getting into and the only information I had was that there were quite a few white crosses and it was some type of memorial. I didn't know much but I knew that I wanted to see this and hopefully photograph it at night. I'm not sure if Mom had other things in mind when she made her suggestion but either way it was beautiful and I was thankful for the subject and the important reminder about the sacrifices that our service men and women make every day.





The exhibit titled "Florida's Fallen" was created by Jim Vanderbleek from St. Petersburg, Florida who travels all over the state using his display to encourage us to remember those from our state who cannot fight for us any more. "Florida's Fallen" was displayed in conjunction with the 2010 Warrior Walk organized by Melissa Sanchez who is the wife of a veteran. The event was held this past Saturday at Lake Hollingsworth. The display and the walk worked perfectly with each other and raised awareness in the community while honoring those from Florida, and even our home town, who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

For more information on the event check out the Lakeland Ledger's article about Florida's Fallen and the 2010 Warrior Walk





Since I decided I wanted to shoot this at night my wife and son were along for the ride after dinner, and off we went. The memorial was set up beautifully. The church is situated on a lake that many in our area frequent to exercise and socialize so the stillness and somberness of the exhibit was surrounded by passing cars and joggers reminding everyone not only that life goes on, but can also be cut far to short. Most importantly however, it stands as a very visible reminder to us that those who have been lost must be honored and remembered.





I definitely did not expect the names, ages, home towns and sometimes photographs of the fallen to be right there in your face but this made the memorial even more powerful. I would see some ages and faces frozen in a military portrait and remember back to what I was doing when I was 20 or 23. Then I would think about these brave soldiers, still young men and women, who were facing the brutal realities of war at that very same young age. These are real people, with families, spouses, children, and dreams that have risked and given it all to serve our country.

While I was shooting I would occasionally look over my shoulder as my wife and 4 month old son looked on and was reminded how lucky I was to have both there with me and how lucky I was to have these people who I had never met willing to give everything to protect the freedoms my family enjoys. Enjoying this quiet moment with my family is a luxury that these brave men and women no longer have. Words cannot describe that kind of sacrifice.

My photographs do not even scratch the surface of the emotion and loss that this kind of memorial can produce. I am so very thankful for the experience and for all that our service men and women do for us every day.

Regardless of your political views, I urge everyone to remember those who are currently serving, and those we have lost to protect the freedoms we enjoy every day.

A Fiery Fourth:



As promised (but still almost late) is my "explosive" post and a short recap of our 4th of July. My celebration started a little earlier than some since I turned 28 on the 1st of July. I always love this time of year since I get to celebrate my birthday and then enjoy a great weekend with family, friends, and even some fireworks! I had a great birthday dinner and celebration and I can't tell you how special it was to get to share it with my son for the first time. He's already the best gift I could have ever asked for so the rest is literally just the icing on the cake.

Unfortunately if you were in central Florida you had to deal with the constant rain all weekend like we did. Even with the constant rain on Sunday we were not going to be deterred and headed out to the Lakeland Flying Tigers baseball game. As always it was great fun and they won 14-0 (wow!). Here are a few shots of Riley and Britt in the stands during the game:







After the game the rain really got going fortunately our seats were just barely under the cover so none of us (and none of my camera gear) got wet. We were definitely concerned that the concert and fireworks would be canceled but the show went on and we were not disappointed! Here are a few of my favorite fireworks shots from the celebration of our country's independence:















If you'd like to see the rest click here to see the full set of photos on Flickr. Not that I claim to be an expert at shooting fireworks but my way of doing things definitely gets some good results so I plan on posting a "How to" blog about shooting fireworks sometime soon so stay tuned if you'd like to know my method.

Hope everyone has a great week and thanks for stopping in & hope to see you back here 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!

Photo of the Day - Garage Owl:



Today I went back into the archives to some more photos that I should have edited and posted a long time ago. I was in an editing mood last night so I went through a few sets of shots that needed my attention. If I keep this up I'm going to eventually run out of old shots and have to get out and shoot some new material. Actually that is my aim in this little project.

The above photo was taken of an Eastern Screech Owl that was in my Uncle Mike & Aunt Kathy's garage. This isn't a typical wildlife photo shoot since it was in an enclosure and I really didn't have to go and seek out the shot - I just got a call from my Uncle Mike. Gotta love the easy ones (or so I thought)! Owls are really interesting birds and this little guy was no exception. He's much smaller than the photos may indicate and this species has a max weight of only 8 lbs and no taller than a football. Be sure to click on the link above or here to learn more about this really cool animal.

This little guy had decided to take shelter in this carport. It was summer and sweltering and bright out so I imagine he was taking shelter from the sun and heat. Unfortunately in the ceiling of a garage doesn't provide the best light for photography. Couple that with the fact he was partially obstructed and it didn't turn out as easy as I had initially thought. I worked as closely as I could and used my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens to give the owl some space while also being able to shoot at 2.8 since it was so dark in there. I couldn't use the flash because I didn't think the light would have been able to get to the subject evenly and with a sensitive subject like an owl in a dark area the first shot with a flash would probably have been my last. After the initial shots I knew that I could work with the available light. I'm really glad Mike gave me a call and I found the time to go over for a visit because this was the first and last time this owl perched in the garage. Hopefully that didn't have anything to do with my numerous and likely annoying shutter bursts. :-) Below are a few more shots from the day of this beautiful creature:







If you'd like to see a few more be sure to check out myEastern Screech Owl set on Flickr. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Great to see you here back again today and be sure to stay tuned since there are some changes in the works including some guest blogs coming in the near future from some very talented people! Hope to see you back here again tomorrow - have a great day!

Photo of the Day - Sis:



Keeping with the theme so far this week I figured I would continue with the portraits and this time around showcase our Shiba Inu Kohana. With Otis's outgoing personality and eagerness to be the center of attention it's easy to end up with more photos of him. Kohana is literally the Yin to Otis's Yang. Shiba Inus are an amazing breed but terriers they are not. If you haven't heard of the breed you're not alone so check out the wiki page. They do look very unique and we get a lot of comments that she "looks like a fox" and even more questions as to what she is. She never barks and is very calm but still very loving in her own way. She is absolutely the perfect fit in our "animal family" since she absolutely loves our cat Milo and does a great job calming and keeping our Rat Terrier Otis in check. She's definitely daddy's girl but loves all of us.

When we got her we had no idea on a name. We did know that we wanted to aim for a Japanese name to keep some of her Japanese heritage here in central Florida and once we knew her mother's name we had it! Her mom's name is Hana which means flower in Japanese. Kohana means little flower and just like that our little flower had her name.

This shot was actually taken in an outdoor portrait session in the yard of our rental house in Jacksonville. She loves to be outside so she has no problem just sitting in the yard taking in all of the sights and smells. She really made it easy for me and I ended up with the above shot.

Thanks for stopping by today for Tuesday's photo of the day. Hope to see you back here tomorrow for Wednesday's photo of the day!

Photo of the Day - Along Came A Spider:



A Spiny Backed Orb Weaver to be specific but I'll get to him (or her) in a minute. Man yesterday was a busy but awesome day! It was capped off with us going to the Florida Southern vs. University of Tampa basketball game which Florida Southern won in overtime after being down over 20 points with under 10:00 left to play in the game. WOW. If you appreciate basketball in any way you would have absolutely loved this game! This is always a huge rivalry game so regardless of the records of the teams it is always hard fought and close. Last night was no exception. I couldn't be happier for our guys - they battled and really pulled it off when it mattered most! So proud!

The above photo has, well, nothing to do with that. :-) This is actually one of the last shots I took while touring Mom's Camellias last week. I've always been a bit shaky shooting spiders after a rough experience I had a few years ago when a very large banana spider fell down the back of my shirt while I was shooting another one in front of me. I guess I was too caught up in the moment and bumped his web and down my shirt he went. Fortunately we were both so shocked about the whole experience that no one was bitten or stomped in the experience. Needless to say I pay a little more attention to what is behind me while I'm doing macro work now. I found this little guy and decided to give some more hand held macro photography a shot. If you think hand held macro of flowers is tough give it a shot with a spider no bigger than a dime on a web blowing in the wind. I took way more shots than I published but these four really worked out. This is a Spiny Backed Orb Weaver that managed to get it's web between two of the Camellia bushes. These guys are great pest control and aren't much of a pest so enjoy them! Anyway here are some more shots of the weaver in action:







Thanks so much for stopping by today and hopefully the spiders (or the one of dropping straight down the back of my shirt) didn't creep you out too much and you'll be back here tomorrow! Have a great day!

Photo of the Day - White Out:



Day 2 of posting the POTD early and so far so good! Yesterday was a pretty good day at work for a Monday but being at work on a holiday makes it pretty difficult to get much done if all of the people you are trying to contact aren't working. I expect a ton of returned calls and messages today so hopefully I can keep up!

We had a routine check up on the baby yesterday and everything went pretty well. We have been making our rounds of doctors at the office in case Britt goes into labor and our chosen doctor isn't available and someone else is on call. Our doctor at this visit noticed that Britt's belly measurement was a bit low and hadn't changed much since our last visit. Apparently you are supposed to be +/- 2 from how many weeks into the pregnancy you are. Britt is 34 weeks along but only measured 32 - this is still within the acceptable range but the doctor ordered an ultrasound today to check on everything. He said it could also be because the baby has already begun to drop. He did not seem terribly concerned but obviously in our position it isn't as easy to not be concerned. Hopefully everything looks good this afternoon and we are able to turn our concern into just one last pre-natal photo shoot before the big day. All I know is it's not in our hands and we've just got to have faith.

So after the blast of reds, pinks, and purples yesterday I figured I would white things out a bit and show another flower that I took shots of on Friday. Like I said yesterday my mom has quite a diverse group of Camellia bushes and the above shot is of another type. After I shot the pink and purple Camellia (sorry don't know the exact type but if any experts on horticulture out then please chime in) we took a walk around the yard to see if there were any flowers still on the bush that were ready for their close up. Sure enough there were a few. This was a bit more of a challenge since I was taking macro shots hand held in the wind and shade. Shooting something that close up hand held can be difficult with even the slightest camera shake let alone less than stellar light and wind but I managed to get a few that I'm proud of. Click here to see the rest of the set.

Before you go back to work or whatever you are up to this morning be sure to check out my updated Flora section on my web page. You may recognize some of the updates but some of the other shots may be new to you. I also think they look great in that gallery with the black background really putting the focus on the image so be sure to check it out! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you back here again tomorrow!

Photo of the Day - Festival of Treats:



Today was a short work day and the rest was filled with some last minute shopping. I'm happy to say hat I am really close to being done and that is a relief. If you received our holiday card this year the above photo will look familiar, but if not, this will be the first of a set of three shots of our "kids" that made the holiday card that we shared with some friends and family. I have always been a huge William Wegmanfan even before I was seriously into photography. A few years ago when my wife and I decided to do holiday cards for the first time I decided to force our Rat Terrier and cat to be the subject of a few frames. Over the years the tradition has been created and has evolved by adding one more dog and tons of props (not to mention the number of treats we go through). I certainly haven't created Wegman like masterpieces but I think I can pass as a "poor man's Wegman." :-) It's always a challenge to think of the background, props, and getting (and keeping) the dogs in position but in the end (and after a few drinks) it always ends up being a lot of fun. This year we decided to broaden our horizons a bit and the above shot is the first of 3 shots that made the cut for the calendar. Hope you like it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope to see you tomorrow for the Christmas Eve edition of the photo of the day!

Photo of the Day - Halo Moon:



Another Wednesday/hump day is behind us and I can't believe that we will already be leaving tomorrow evening to head up to Atlanta for the SEC Championship!

Sometimes it just pays to look up! Late on Monday night when I was taking the trash out to the end of our driveway. Most nights I do this to see what the night sky has in store and I'm rarely disappointed but on Monday night, it forced me to get out the camera even in the cool weather. At the time I had no idea what was going on but just knew it looked really interesting and that I wanted to get a shot of it before the clouds covered it up. I managed to get a few decent shots before the clouds took it away and headed back inside. After doing some quick google research I found out that this "Lunar Halo" is "caused by by refracted moonlight from ice crystals in cirrus clouds in the earth’s upper atmosphere the shape of the crystals causes the moonlight to be refracted into a ring around the moon and apparently sometimes signal the arrival of unsettled weather. Special thanks to Derek Beasley and the Local 15 Weather Authority's Facebook fan page for enlightening me! The rest of the photo set can be viewed here.

It was a 3 for 1 - saw a really cool event in the sky, got to take some pics of it, and then learned all about it! Can't beat that!

Thanks for checking out my photo of the day today! Be sure to come by again tomorrow for Thursday's edition which will have to be posted early since we're leaving for Atlanta tomorrow evening! See you tomorrow!