Winter in the Water

With all this cold around here, the last thing most people think about is having a little fun in the pool. Well, these girls have spent most of their winter with their face in the water. Pushing each other in when it's just too cold, countless miles of lap after lap, mile after mile of driving to the pool, trading swim meets for time hanging out with their friends, pasta parties, etc... It's all just a glimpse of this brand new Logan-Rogersville Swim program. And it's quite a story. Just one year ago, we didn't even know if there would be an organized team. Last weekend, they took to the starting blocks at the STATE High School Swim meet in St.Peter's, MO! TWO of our swimmer's qualified in individual events, and the relay team qualified in 2 relay's! Not bad for the first year of even having a team. I could go on and on - I am a proud parent, ya know. (My girl was on the relay team) However, I cannot close without a huge, gigantic SHOUT OUT to all of our supporters. This community came together and raised over $30,000 in 5 short months to make this happen!!! With all the budget cuts, there was no way for our school system to fund a new swim team. Hopefully, in the future, the success of the teams will encourage school funding for swimming to be permanent, and this opportunity can be there for all the little girls and boys just now learning to put their face in the water.

NOW ABOUT THESE PICS:

I had to beg, plead, and offer my right arm to go through approval of getting a media pass for MSHSAA winter sports. This allowed me to be right down with the action, on deck to capture all the Springfield and area swim teams. Me being a parent was an automatic kickout. However, I took all these images for a publication called OZARK PREPS ILLUSTRATED. That made it legit for me to be down there, and after the "you are MEDIA not a PARENT" speech from the coordinator, I got my pink tag! YEAH! Sports photography is always such a rush for me! And no, I did not jump up and down when my own daughter dove in the pool. The KC Star, and St. Louis Post Dispatch personnel would've looked at me funny.

THE LENS. WOW> THAT LENS WAS AWESOME. I used a Canon EF L 70-200 f/2.8 zoom lens which weighed more than my car. I think it's totally worth it!

Just Another Day at the Office

Oh, the mundane, everyday, stuff of life. It's all just work, work, work. So here I go again, another photo shoot...

It's a tough job, being a photographer. Especially when it entails running down to the lake on the day after Labor Day when everyone else is back to laboring and all. I believe it was 4MPH winds that day, about 82 degrees, and perfectly overcast (that's actually a very good thing for photo shoots). This incredible skier is Phyllis, and she also makes a pretty good turkey and mustard sandwich. Her husband, Wade, was the master boat driver, and all I had to do was hang out and take pictures. Hey, I even got to jump in and go for a spin around the cove a bit. I just need to use 2 skiis, and I don't exactly get that pretty wall of water. Yeah, I think I like my job. It may be tough on days like these, but I'll hang in there.

Tournament of Champions!

 

Just wanted to take a minute a show off one of my favorite shots from last night. That was serious fun for me. Having played basketball and loved it, I just got a jolt of memories... good calls, bad calls, blood and sweat, yelling coaches, intensity of the game, the stall, the confusion of "who has who?"... love it. Being right there on the sideline and under the basket - truly the BEST seat in the house!!

So, this bottom photo is obviously not from a "session," but I love it - well, I love THEM. We have been blessed here in the Ozarks to have 2 BEAUTIFUL Saturdays in a row, so we better take advantage of it and go outside!
The next day, I took pictures of a barrel race in Marshfield, which was also great fun. I met a lot of wonderful people who are very good at something I am not... horses. I actually own 2 myself. But I do not do what they do... they ride their horses. A LOT. And to train them to work around the barrel course in about 15 seconds? Pretty cool. I'll just stick to snapping the shutter. Which, by the way, this was probably the most challenging shoot so far for me. LOW LIGHT - FAST ACTION - DUST - LOTS of brown dirt... All part of the job, and I did my best. But next time, I may bring that $4,000 lens along with me. Oh yeah, I don't have it yet... :-)

Barrel Race!

Meet Abby and her horse! This girl can flat out ride! Check out the concentration on her face... Love it.

So, as a photographer, you get to do a lot of different kinds of things and meet lots of people. And though I have NEVER been to a barrel race, this was right down my alley. I will get to be the photographer for another race coming up in October - a very busy month - so I went to this event in Ozark to get some experience. The 2 things I learned:

1. Wearing boots is a MUST

2. Watch where you step...