Foto 1 Pro Photo Blog

Mountaineers WIN BIG over Clemson in Orange Bowl!

2012-01-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

WVU Quarterback Geno Smith could do no wrong and was named Orange Bowl 2012 MVP!

BEST Play of the game! Obie Orange the Orange Bowl mascot was tackled by Darwin Cook after a 99 yard fumble recovery touchdown run. Made the ESPN Top 10 Worst Plays.

Rock group Train entertained the crowd at halftime!

Ref is on the wrong side to see the face mask on WVU player Tavon Austin.

It’s cool to be part of the old school - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-09-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

It’s cool to be part of the old school - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

WVU Vs Maryland at College Park

2011-09-22T10:23:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of my favorites from last weeks trip to College Park, Maryland when the Mountaineers beat up on the Terrapins.

WVU Vs Marshall 2012 Season Opener

2011-09-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorites from Sunday's WVU Vs Marshall game.

I miss the old inflatable helmet intro but the new banner intro is nice.

Rumor has it that Tavon Austin will be running with his hands instead of feet just to give the other teams a chance this season.

I think we will be seeing alot of fans wearing the #13 jersey in the near future

Touchdown Mountaineers!

Some people call it the Friends of Coal Bowl but it will now be renamed the Lightning Delay Bowl.

School daze - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-08-13T21:04:00.000-05:00

School daze - TheInterMountain.com News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

Forest Festival 50 Race 2011

2011-08-08T16:45:00.000-05:00

I got a little side tracked and didn't get around to updating the blog for a while. Spring Seniors season turned into Baseball season that turned into Wedding season. I'll try to post some images from those as soon as time permits.

Here's what I shot this past weekend. One of my favorite things to photograph. The Forest Festival 50 GNCC Cross Country Motocross Races.

Get ready to grin and bear it - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-03-20T19:37:00.000-05:00

Get ready to grin and bear it - TheInterMountain.com News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

WVU Vs UConn Highlights

2011-03-03T00:20:00.000-05:00

Cute as a bug on a rug - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-02-26T20:45:00.002-05:00

Cute as a bug on a rug - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

Mountaineer Victory over Fighting Irish!

2011-02-20T00:02:00.002-05:00

Here are some highlights from today's Mountaineer victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish!

I know what you have been doing - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-02-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

I know what you have been doing - TheInterMountain.com News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

WVU vs Providence 2011

2011-01-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

This Danny Jennings dunk was the number two play of the day on ESPN last week.

The gift that keeps on getting - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2011-01-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

The gift that keeps on getting - TheInterMountain.com News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

Foto Flash - TheInterMountain.com | News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

2010-12-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to my Dec. 18th Foto Flash Column:

Foto Flash - TheInterMountain.com News, Sports, Jobs, WV, Community Information - The Inter-Mountain

Foto 1 Pro Photo Senior Portfolio

2010-12-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

Foto 1 Pro Photo Wedding Gallery

2010-12-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

WVU Vs Rutgers

2010-12-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorites from last weeks Steelers Vs New England game.

2010-11-21T23:47:00.000-05:00

Steelers Vs Raiders, Steelers one game slump is apparently over!

2010-11-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

Shot the Steelers versus Raiders game today. It was a very chippy game with tons of penalties. The Steelers played like they wanted to win. Much better than last week against New England.

The Junkyard Dawgs hang at the Junkyard

2010-11-04T21:51:00.000-05:00

Had lots of fun with this shoot a few weeks ago. I had some cool ideas to kick it up another notch but with this age group I was just happy nobody got hurt.

WVU Vs Syracuse Highlights

2010-10-23T22:37:00.000-05:00

Here are a few highlights from todays game. Too bad it didn't go our way but lots of season left!

Season Opener WVU Vs Coastal Carolina

2010-09-08T07:41:00.000-05:00

Here are some images from last weeks WVU Vs Coastal Carolina game shot with the Canon EOS 1DMKIV. This was the first football game I've shot with the MKIV and I am very impressed. The focus was extemely quick and almost all of the images were ready for publication right out of the camera.

The Mountaineer squad was looking fit and ready to play.

Geno Smith runs for daylight in his first official game as Mountaineer Quarterback.

Sophomore running back Tavon Austin is flat out fast, as he showed several times on Saturday.

Snowshoe WV Wedding of Kristyn and Brent

2010-08-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

We shot an awesome wedding yesterday on Snowshoe Mountain! I've known and photographed Kristyn and Brent since they were little. Kristyn made a beautiful bride! Here are a few of my favorite images from Kristyn's bridal shoot from a few weeks ago.

Forest Festival 50 2010 with Canon 1D Mark IV

2010-08-07T22:54:00.010-05:00

Sorry for the five month lapse of blogging but hey I've been busy! Not a bad thing!
Here are some of my favorites from today's Motorcycle and ATV races. Could have been a little more muddy but not a bad day. The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV performed flawlessly. Unbelievably fast and accurate focus. Any mistakes made were completely operator error. Shot 20 plus baseball games a few weeks ago over a five day period and again the Mark IV was superb.

WVU Vs Villanova

2010-02-11T17:50:00.002-05:00

Tough loss to Villanova......the good news is that I managed to get a clear series of images of the main WVU highlight of the game without a referee blocking my shot. Devin Ebanks dunk.

2009-11-26T23:12:00.002-05:00

Chad Ochocinco runs onto the field at the start of the Steelers Vs. Bengals game. Boring game and a big victory for the Bengals.

Forest Festival 2009 Day 1

2009-09-27T20:22:00.006-05:00

Its Forest Festival time again!

Here are some images from the Strongman competition and the Starship with Micky Thomas Concert

WVU Vs Liberty 1st Game of 2009

2009-09-07T21:41:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple images from the WVU Vs. Liberty Game.

Jarrett Brown dives in for a touchdown!

A Mountaineer player puts in some serious effort.

Forest Festival 50 Motorcycle and ATV Race

2009-08-02T21:59:00.006-05:00

Here are some highlights from this weekends Motorcycle and ATV races.

The mud made for some great racing!

Little League State Tournament

2009-07-18T22:23:00.006-05:00

Here are a few highlights of the 9-10 Year Old West Virginia Little League State Tournament.

Baseball Highlights

2009-06-29T22:35:00.004-05:00

Almost didn't make a post for June. We've been at one ball park or another almost everynight.

Here are a few highlights from tonights game.

Busy Busy

2009-05-10T21:48:00.005-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite images from my recent trip to NYC.

Lots going on in Times Square on a rainy evening.

A couple share a quiet romantic moment in a very loud place.

Jumped into Paparazzi mode as Actor/Rapper Ice T signed a few autographs as he came out of Rockefeller Center.

This looked like fun!

A tough week!

2009-04-11T22:44:00.003-05:00

Busy week with numerous seniors and dance girls and a little commercial work thrown in.

The dance girls were a blast! Alot of attitude in this shot.

Heading out to New Jersey in the morning to judge the Professional

Photographers of New Jersey photo competition and then on to

New York City for a few days.

An Entertaining Studio Session

2009-03-24T20:05:00.004-05:00

Had a blast with this studio session today. The Old Brick Players (http://www.theoldbrick.org/) are a very talented local theatrical group that I had the pleasure of shooting today. We always have fun when they come by and todays images are some of the best yet.

The first thing I noticed when they came in were the shoes they had on.

Check these out!

Girl Scouts Visited Today!

2009-02-25T20:22:00.003-05:00

Today we had 14 Girl Scouts come visit our studio to get basic
info that they will need to get merit badges.
What a fun group of girls! They had lots of great questions.
I had the hardest time trying to explain that weird stuff in
a can that we used to put our pictures on called "film". Film
was well on its way out when they were babies.

WVU Victory over Notre Dame

2009-02-20T22:30:00.002-05:00

Wellington Smith slams one in for the Mountaineers!

What a physical game! It looked a little like WWF at one point.

PPWV Spring Convention 2009

2009-02-15T20:09:00.003-05:00

"Can I Come In"

Busy Weekend! The PPWV Spring Convention held in Morgantown at Lakeview Resort was a big success. Lots of learning and lots of socializing. Tom Gilson put together a great lineup of speakers. It looks like I get the honor of putting together the 2010 convention. I've already started making plans and we should have a firm date and location soon. If you are interested in Speaking, Judging, exhibiting or helping let me know.

In the print competition I took home four blue ribbons along with the Phillips-Rittenhouse best news photo award and I took second place for Black & White portrait (see "Can I Come In" above") I made this image a while back for the Old Brick Playhouse here in Elkins. The model is Dub Campbell, super nice guy but this shot makes him look pretty menacing.

Christie was elected to the position of PPWV Secretary/Treasurer and I was elected to Vice-President at the General Membership meeting. Its going to be a busy year!

Imaging USA

2009-01-24T22:50:00.005-05:00

Just got back from Imaging USA in Phoenix last week and really learned alot. We learned from numerous great photographers that specialize in Wedding, Seniors and Sports.

Phoenix is an awesome place to be when its winter at home. This is the third year in a row we have been fortunate enough to spend a little bit of winter in Arizona. The city is very nice, the downtown area has just been renovated to include the new Phoenix Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel. They said it is one of the largest convention centers in the country and it is very nice. It is also right beside US Airways arena where the Phoenix Suns play and Chase Field where the Arizona Diamondbacks play. A new light rail system just opened up too that takes you from one side of Phoenix to the other.

The worst part of the trip was coming home to some real nasty weather.

I took along the new Canon G10 point and shoot for these images. I spent some quality time with the instruction manual on the flight and the camera is loaded with cool features.

Meinke Car Care Bowl Highlights

2008-12-31T21:52:00.007-05:00

Bradley Starks catches one of the many touchdown passes.
The first quarter reminded me of a run and gun basketball
game with each team charging down the field to score.

Former Heavy-Weight Boxing Champ George Foreman attended the game as the official spokesperson for Meinke Car Care Centers that sponsored the game.

Pat White flashes me one last smile in his final game as a Mountaineer. What a classy guy, putting his team and education before many other options that he could have taken.
I'm looking forward to getting more shots of him in an NFL uniform. Good Luck Pat!

What a busy and great 2008. I'm looking forward to 2009 to be just as busy.
We are heading off to Phoenix next week to attend Imaging USA. It looks like a great lineup of speakers and Arizona in January is always a good thing. This is the third year in a row I've been fortunate enough to spend a week or so of winter in Arizona and it really helps break up the long cold West Virginia winters.

Mountaineer Fans

2008-12-31T21:23:00.002-05:00

Ran into some friends at the Bowl game from Elkins.

Matt Fair formerly of Elkins and now lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida
shows that he is still a Mountaineer at heart.

The Kiess boys Trevor, Christopher and dad Jeff show real Mountaineer spirit.
Jeff you should really have done the wig thing too!

Steelers Vs Cowboys

2008-12-24T00:03:00.005-05:00

T.O. not a happy camper after the Steelers pull off a last minute victory on a very cold night.

Pac Man is back or is he? First game back from suspension, the former Mountaineer was doing real well until he got smashed, this time on the field. It happened about 10 yards in front of where I was. He was physically crushed into the bottom of the pile on a kick off return attempt. The whole Steeler defensive line was on top of him and all the sudden one of them pulled him out of the bottom like a limp rag doll. He came back in later in the game but I guarantee he was hurting worse than any hangover in the morning.

Steeler Deshea Townsend shows his true feelings after making the game winning play.

Heading down to Charlotte to shoot the Meinke Car Care Bowl, WVU Vs North Carolina.

It should be an event. Hopefully I will have victory photo's to post! Go Mountaineers!

Family Portraits

2008-11-23T19:53:00.010-05:00

I have been covered up lately shooting anything and everything. Families, Children, Seniors, Football, Basketball, Cheerleaders and of course Christmas portraits already.

Never a dull moment. I've recently been described as the ADD photographer since I don't really concentrate on a single subject.

Here are some WVU Football shots taken by myself and my family members.

This one was taken by my son Kris. It was his first WVU football game as a student and

he got to shoot it from the sidelines with me. Not a bad gig for a freshman! He did a real

nice job.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

The above image was taken by my son Greg who was setup in the end zone and I took the image below from the sidelines at exactly the same time.

The image below is one of the favorites I have taken this season.

The image below is the best Pat White photo I have ever seen and unfortunately I didn't take it. My wife Christie captured this one. Everything is perfect the stance, the light on the face, the logo on the football is perfectly placed and the black stuff coming up from the turf. I have literally hundreds of great Pat White shots after four seasons but this one is awesome. I printed it on metallic paper and framed it last week for my collection.

What a photographer does on his day off....

2008-10-25T23:16:00.004-05:00

After taking several thousand shots of the Forest Festival, what did I do on my first "day off"?

Took more pictures....The fall colors were so beautiful I couldn't stay inside. Here are a couple highlights.

Craig Morgan and Lady Antebellum

2008-10-19T19:00:00.006-05:00

Craig Morgan and Lady Antebellum performed at the Forest Festival Country Music show this year and here are a few of my favorite images from that show. Craig played alot of new tunes from his new album coming out this week.

I saw Lady A perform at the pregame show of the Steelers/Jags game last winter. It was freezing and the snow was blowing like crazy and they had to perform. I had never heard of them then but now they are all over the charts.

Forest Festival Begins Again

2008-09-27T22:21:00.006-05:00

Been real busy lately. Lots of Seniors, lots of football and soccer kids. Last weekend we attended the PPWV fall convention in Princeton, West Virginia. I was one of the judges in the print competition, we had a great turnout.

Wow, I don't know where the times goes but its time for the Forest Festival to get started. In just the last few days the leaves have been changing quickly and the air just feels like fall. It will be a hectic week as usual. My job is to pretty much go to every event and document with photographs what went on. Its a great job this week when all I get to do is shoot but next week we will pay by spending days organizing and preparing the photo's for the albums.

Here are some shots from tonights Eddie Money concert. The blonde singer is Eddie's daughter Jesse, very talented.

Steelers win regular season opener against Texans

2008-09-09T22:35:00.003-05:00

Its time to play football and the Steelers are starting out on the right foot.

Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger gives some advice to his new backup QB and former Marshall star Byron Leftwich.

Former Mountaineer Steve Slaton makes his regular season pro debut playing for the Houston Texans. Its weird to see him in number 20 after being number 10 for WVU for so long. He played alot for a rookie but the big guys in the pros didn't give him much of a chance to take off down the field like he did at WVU.

Trip to Maine

2008-09-05T22:18:00.003-05:00

Just got back from a mini-vacation to Acadia National Park in Maine. What a beautiful place, or as the locals would say "It's wicked gawjus".

Everywhere you look is another scene out of a travel guide. I really want to go back when I have more time to explore. I really wish I could have made the trip in about 30 more days to catch the foliage. The coast was still very green but on I-95 between Bangor and Augusta you can already see the change beginning.

Above is a shot of the Somesville Bridge, this is the WV equivalent of the Glade Creek Mill. All photographers are required by law to photograph it. I would love to shoot a bridal session on this bridge!

The Class of 2009

2008-08-26T20:30:00.006-05:00

Elkins Senior Moriah-Brought some really great outfits, I had a hard time picking a favorite image. Doesn't she look like Eliott on Scrubs?

Elkins Senior Courtney- I've photographed Courtney since she was in pre-school. Man, I am not that old!!!! What a great smile!

BUHS Senior Tanner-I've taken his photo since he was in Little League. Super nice guy, I don't think he was real excited about the whole picture taking thing but by the end he found out it didn't hurt a bit and it was more fun than he thought. We did some fishing shots and football and he's coming back soon with his truck.

Harman HS Senior-Travis-He really brought the stuff! Snowboard, Baseball, Golf! This guy does it all! We got some great snowboard shots....indoors in the middle of August.

Every Wedding is Different....

2008-07-06T20:33:00.005-05:00

Every wedding is different and this one sure was! A few weeks ago we shot the wedding of Elizabeth White who I've photographed for I don't remember how long and her new hubby Jason Ferguson. This wedding was not your average wedding. The colors were pink and orange which reminded me of sherbert ice cream. It doesn't sound great but it sure did look super! The bride and groom arrived at the reception in a little British car called a Moke followed by the rest of the bridal party in golf carts. The cake top was an acrylic statue made from a shot we setup at their engagement photo shoot. The brides parents made very realistic manequins of the couple using the costumes we used in the engagement session and made the faces from shots also from the session. The guests were invited to take photographs with the manequins and they certainly took advantage of that opportunity. The manequins even made it out to the dance floor by the end of the evening. The highlight of the wedding for me was the couples first dance. It was a show that the bride and groom had secretly choreographed together and it was a huge hit.

Talk about a Grand Entrance!

2008-05-27T23:06:00.003-05:00

Talk about a Grand Entrance! This past weekend Greg and I shot the wedding of former WVU Mountaineer Mascot Derek Fincham and his bride Hannah Swecker. As the newleyweds were announced Derek fired his musket and the couple ran into the reception in true Mountaineer fashion. The crowd went wild!

The wedding was held on the gorgeous family farm outside Beverly, West Virginia. You couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The highlight of the day was the presentation by the brides father of a beautifully restored John Deere tractor as a wedding present.

This is the second Mountaineer wedding we have done. Greg and I shot the wedding of Scott Moore and Jennifer Hedrick a couple years ago. You can always guarantee a good time at a Mountaineer wedding!

What I've been shooting lately.....

2008-05-21T21:30:00.006-05:00

The last month has gone by quickly! We've mostly been shooting big jobs lately baseball teams and individuals, prom, dance groups and last minute seniors but we have had a few other interesting studio shoots too.

Rachel Franks is the newest cast member of the American Mountain Theater. The Theater is a Branson-esque music theater that is taking our area by storm. Elkins is quickly becoming a major tourist area for West Virginia and the show is putting Elkins on the map.

Geno Austin is a very intersting and talented character. I shot him for the cover of his upcoming CD.

Alaynah is such a cutie and you might have guessed from the photo that she is six years old.

I also had a great bridal session with Ashley Clingerman who is getting married next month but I can't show the images until after the wedding. We don't want Marc to see her ahead of time.

Toughman!

2008-04-13T20:53:00.002-05:00

What a blood bath! Photographed Professional Boxer Kenny "Mr. Opportunity" George last night and what a fight! It was a real close match but Kenny pulled it off. Both guys looked like they had been hit by a truck at the end. Both fighters and even the referee were covered with blood and the ring looked like someone had been butchering hogs.

I've got to give local EMT Robbie Howell a big thanks! He saw I was having a hard time finding a good vantage point to shoot and gave me his spot ringside. What a nice thing to do and I really appreciate it!

Lets learn a lesson from this and watch for opportunities during the day to do something nice for someone. That really made my day and made me think I need to watch for opportunities like that every day.

Wedding Weekend

2008-04-06T20:52:00.005-05:00

Wow, It looks like I missed the blogging month of March!
March is usually not a hugely busy month but this one was. Maybe it was because Easter was early. We had some extra basketball leagues this year and the seniors have been coming out with the spring weather. Its been mostly guys lately that have been busy with sports all year.

This weekend was wedding weekend, Christie and I both had separate weddings. It was the girls against the guys. Christie and Casey (our newest employee and graphics designer) shot the wedding of Katrina Mullenex and Lee Groves in Elkins while my son Greg and I shot the wedding of Jasper Carpenter and Michelle Tippett in Buckhannon. I haven't seen Christies images yet but Greg and I got some great shots. Christie loves weddings and does the bulk of our wedding photography but this year everyone seems to be getting married on the same weekends so we are shooting in separate teams several times this year.

Here is a shot of Michelle and her sister/Maid of Honor. I won't tell anyone that her sister actually lost/misplaced the grooms ring. It was later found and presented to the groom in the receiving line. This is the kind of thing that makes a wedding special for the couple and they will be able to laugh about it together for year to come.

Whats been going on?

2008-02-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

Been pretty busy and got behind on my blog entries. I've been shooting WVU Basketball games and some local basketball and wrestling leagues and we made a last minute decision to go to PMA in Las Vegas to look at all the new goodies. (PMA is the biggest photography trade show in North America....all the new cameras and lab equipment are announced at this show.)
We were looking at the new lab equipment and picture framing stuff to expand our framing department.

While exploring Vegas I ran across the gallery of one of my favorite nature photographers, Peter Lik and they were doing a charity event with another artist that featured some fantastic boxing art work and 'Gentleman" Gerry Cooney and Ernie "The Black Destroyer" Shavers were making an appearance. In case you don't know they are heavyweight boxing icons from the past. I lucked out and had my picture taken with them. They are both really friendly guys and very big dudes and look like they could still kick some butt.

We took a little side trip out to Death Valley and got a few decents shots but I made a huge mistake by leaving early and not waiting long enough for the sunset and missed some spectacular evening light that would have made some great images. Oh well, next time I'll bring some snacks so I won't be tempted to leave early.

Whats next? I'm speaking at the Professional Photographers of West Virginia spring convention being held at Lakeview in Morgantown next week so I've been working on my program and I'm the print chairman this year and have alot of responsibility for the operation of the print competition. If you are a professional photographer you really should try to attend. We have several great speakers (not me) that will be in attendance. Check it out at www.ppwv.com.

Mountaineers WIN FIESTA BOWL!!!!

2008-01-05T16:58:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week! We started out arriving in Phoenix last Saturday. Not many Mountaineer fans to be found until about Tuesday before the game. Usually the Mountaineer bowl experience includes the chant of LET's GO .....Mountaineers everywhere you go but not this time. It was unusually quiet and Oklahoma fans were everywhere.

Media day was alot of fun, the team was very relaxed and the stadium was state of the art. They are putting everything in place for the Super Bowl coming up in a few weeks.

Kicker Pat McAfee interviews Coach Stewart and Pat White at Media Day.

Then came game day.......the pre game tailgates were nice but we seemed to be way out numbered by the Sooner fans.

Brady Campbell fires up the crowd of Mountaineer fans before the game.

The seats filled up with a respectable number of blue and gold fans , the team took the field

and when time ran out the Mountaineers were victorius by 20 points in what I'm sure will

be called one of the top football games in Mountaineer history and certainly the most exciting BCS Bowl game this season.

One of several sacks on Sooner Quarterback Sam Bradford.

Darius Reynaud scores with no Sooners in site.

Coach Stu gets a ride after the game.

Coach Stewart celebrate the victory with his son and a few thousand of his new Mountaineer fan best friends.

Pat White and Reed Williams show of some new hardware.

Keilen Dykes and Noel Devine are all smiles at the post game press conference.

Coach Stewart makes his point after the game.

We are now in Tampa and will be attending Imaging USA this week.
The class line up looks good with plenty of Photoshop classes. I'm
looking forward the most to hearing Sports Illustrated photographer
Peter Read Miller's program on Tuesday.

More Steelers Vs Jaguars

2007-12-26T22:22:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more images from the Steelers Vs Jaguars game.

Willie Parker makes a move down the field. Too bad Willie

broke his leg in the next game and is out for the season.

Tough day for Big Ben as he prepares to be sacked.

Santonio Holmes grabs one in double coverage.

We are headed off to shoot the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday and then on to Tampa for Imaging USA the next week. I really enjoy Phoenix and Tampa, so it should be a great time.

Jags over Steelers

2007-12-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

Jaguars quarterback David Garrard hands off the ball off to Fred Taylor for another Jacksonville first down.
Despite rough weather and tough field conditions the Jaguars broke the Steelers home game winning streak.

WVU Vs Pitt

2007-12-03T21:42:00.000-05:00

We won't talk about the game, I think we all want to forget that as soon as possible.

But it wasn't a total loss. Ty Pennington from Extreme Home Makeover was at the game filming a segment for the family in Fairmont that are getting a makeover this week. And General Chuck Yeager was honored by the band at half-time.

WVU President Garrison and Ty film the part where WVU provides the
kids in a family a free education.

Below Ty takes time out to pose with the WVU Cheerleading squad.

Below General Chuck Yeager poses with Governor Joe Manchin and WVU Mountaineer Mascot Brady Campbell.

WVU Vs Winthrop

2007-12-03T21:39:00.001-05:00

Joe Alexander works his way into the hoop!

Big East Champs!

2007-11-24T23:49:00.001-05:00

Coach Rod accepts congratulations from the fans after a huge victory over UConn.
On to the backyard brawl and just maybe the BCS Championship!

WVU Blowout!

2007-11-19T23:03:00.000-05:00

WVU Mens Basketball has begun and they completely blew out Prairie View in regular season game two. The team has really grown physically. The best part of the game was when Joe Alexander went into the stands to go after the ball. He actually hurdled the two rows of folding chairs that sit courtside including the people sitting in them and landed in the bleachers behind.

Nobody was hurt and I don't think he even moved the chairs!

Here he is going in for two under the hoop.

Pittsburgh Steelers Vs Cleveland Browns

2007-11-13T20:16:00.000-05:00

Had a chance on Sunday to photograph the Steelers / Browns game and did I ever pick a good game to shoot. Above Big Ben rumbles down the field for his record breaking touchdown!

Willie Parker carries the ball and a couple of Browns too!

Stuck in Phoenix

2007-10-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

Coming home from Cabo....Due to long lines in security and customs we missed our connecting flight back to Pittsburgh and are ....stuck overnight in Phoenix. I can think of alot worse places to be stuck.

I thought I would take a minute and post a couple photographs taken with the new Canon D9 point and shoot camera. I got it just in time for this trip and haven't even had time to go over the manual but I managed to get a few nice shots. This is Canon's top of the line point and shoot
and best of all it includes the RAW mode that has been missing from the PowerShot line for the last few years.

Another beautiful Mexican sunset.

The lobby of the Hotel California in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

2007-10-26T21:07:00.001-05:00

I'm on vacation this week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I am doing some work while I'm here, working on business plans for next year and taking lots of photographs. I guess a photographer can't really get away from his work if you want to call it that. This place is beautiful! I'll have to admit I am sitting around the pool and enjoying this while I'm here too because I know what the weather will be like in West Virginia in the near future.

Right now one of the biggest fishing tournaments in the world is happening here in Cabo and I happened to be at the check in point when this 300 lb Black Marlin was brought in. At that time it was in second place but first place was over 500 lbs.

The sunsets here are unbelievable too. Here is one I shot last night.

Darryl Worley and Emerson Drive Concert

2007-10-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

Country music stars Darryl Worley and Emerson Drive performed live in concert......very talented entertainers.

More Festival Events

2007-10-20T08:02:00.001-05:00

Governor Manchin anticipates the crowning of Catie Wilkes Queen Silvia the 71st.

Woodchopping compeition is always a ton of fun.

The Toronto Police Winged Wheels Precision Motorcycle Team......Not only are they great riders but a group of real nice guys!

Sunday Festival Events

2007-09-30T21:01:00.001-05:00

Great Weather!! Really makes or breaks festival week....
Today was the 10K Run /Walk, the Childrens Parade and tonight was a Beatles
look and sound alike band.

The kids sure had fun at the fun run!

Its Festival Week!!

2007-09-29T20:37:00.000-05:00

Its Forest Festival time again. For those that don't know the Forest Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the state and is non-stop events for nine days and I'm lucky enough to be the

Official Photographer for the past 13 years. Today was opening ceremony, the strong man contest and the gospel music show.

Here are a few images from the strong man contest.

Those guys are maniacs!!

I think I got a hernia just watching!!

Kansas Concert

2007-09-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Had a blast last night shooting the band Kansas in concert. The MKIII was flawless! The images shown are all straight shots at ISO 3200. Shot in RAW and converted in CS3 and thats it!

I also shot the meet and greet before the show. The band seemed like nice guys. The drummer had a thing about shaking hands which at first I thought was kind of rude but after some thought I realized was quite sensible. He makes a living with those hands and some he-man decides to shake real hard and he can't perform like he should. Just my observations....

This week we are shooting Team and individual football and soccer with some seniors sprinkled in. WVU Vs E. Carolina on Saturday and then off to Huntington for the Professional Photographers of WV fall convention. I'm going to be one of the speakers and its a little scary.

I'm used to speaking in front of customers but not in front of other professional photographers. Hopefully they won't fall asleep or throw things.....

Football Samples From the MKIII

2007-09-15T22:44:00.000-05:00

Lovin the MKIII.....I've shot a large wedding and two West Virginia football games so far and have no complaints. I really like the feel of the shutter and its very quiet too. No sign of the focus problem that people were noticing with the first ones shipped. Buttons are very intuitive and the larger display is quite nice.

Canon EOS 1D MK III

2007-08-16T22:04:00.000-05:00

Got my MKIII today and I'm spending some quality time with the manual for the next couple days. I'm going break it in at a large wedding we are shooting on Saturday. I'll let you know how it performs. First impression is great.....a good bit lighter than the MKII with a larger display. I doubt I will need the 10 frames per second at the wedding but Mountaineer Football is right around the corner!!!

Forest Festival 50 Motorcycle and ATV Race

2007-08-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

The Forest Festival 50 Motorcycle and ATV race held on Kelly Mountain outside Elkins was fun as usual on Saturday. Very hot and very dusty. Luckily the Canon 1DMKIIn is sealed to dust and water and is the perfect camera for these kind of racing conditions. Got the MKIII on order and will post images after I've tried it out a while.

Whats been happening?

2007-08-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad blogger for the last month or so and haven't posted for a while.

July was crazy with baseball and seniors and one week was spent in Daytona Beach, not at the beach but in a dark classroom learning the ins and outs of PPA print competition at the annual PPA judging class. It was a real eye opener to see how the prints are critiqued and the huge amount of effort they put into the integrity of the competition. Dennis Craft and Helen Yancy were the instructors and really covered all the bases of competition.

Speaking of the print competition it looks like I hung all four entered prints and got one in the loan collection! And SURPRISE it was a WVU basketball shot! I guess I'm going to be a sports photographer when I grow up.

Last Sunday Christie and I hosted the PPWV annual picnic. We had a great turnout and everyone seemed to have a good time on the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley train ride despite the torrential rains that came later in the afternoon. Thanks very much to the crew from Canon!

Jen, Timo and Morgan in Sacramento

2007-06-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

While in California I had the pleasure to photograph a cute young family on the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento.

Mono Lake and Yosemite

2007-06-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

Mono Lake was very cool. I've always wanted to see the Tufa formations and they were extremely cool. The big mistake I made on my trip planning was that I didn't allow near enough time to see everything. It would have been really nice to have more options of the time of day to photograph the lake.

Yosemite was a very peaceful place especially when you get away from the central part of the park. The absolute most impressive view I found was from the Glacier Point lookout but almost anywhere you look was a great photo op. Below is a last light shot of Half Dome.

I've heard lots of stories about the bears at Yosemite but never thought I would run across one. This hungry guy didn't seem to mind having his photo taken while he searched for his bug dinner.

Lake Tahoe, Nevada

2007-05-30T00:19:00.001-05:00

We are on a little vacation this week in California and it is fantastic here.

It is beautiful just like West Virginia is this time of year. It is like a much bigger version of home.

We stumbled across a mock disaster scene and I got a few decent shots.

The disaster was an explosion and oil spill containment drill. It was really

interesting stuff.

We are headed off to Yosemite for the next couple days. We plan on visiting Mono Lake on the way and stop by the Ansel Adams Gallery along with as many waterfalls as we can find.

Professional Boxing

2007-04-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I photographed Professional Boxer, Kenny George in action as he pretty much pummeled his opponent in a six round event. This is the third time I've photographed a match for Kenny since he began his professional career and he just gets more awesome every time.

Boxing is a real challenge to photograph, you generally have to deal with really bad lighting, very fast action and the ropes of the ring which are almost constantly in the way. A fast lens along with high ISO setting and some patience are the secret to success.

WVU Vs NC State

2007-03-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

Rob Summers and Frank "The Tank" Young salute the crowd

after winning their final game at the WVU Coliseum to propel them into the finals of the

NIT Tournament in New York.

What a game! A victory at the Coliseum for the Mountaineers to move on to the Garden to finish the job. The crowd really turned it on at the end of the game, sparked by what in my humble opinion were some questionable calls.

Alex Ruoff drives to the hoop.

WVU Basketball NIT Tournament

2007-03-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

Two games down, one to go in Morgantown. The Mountaineers are on a roll!!

The crowd at the UMass game was awesome. They made as much noise as a 12,000

plus crowd. I'll be shooting the WVU Vs NC State game on Tuesday, Go Mountaineers!

Mid East States Convention

2007-03-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the big city of Dayton, Ohio. My son Greg and I attended the Mid-East States convention and Regional Print Competition. He is starting to get interested in this photography thing. I hope he enjoys it as much as I do.

The print competition was a big success for me. I came out 10th in the top 10 MidEast photographers. That means of all the print cases entered from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan my case was the 10th highest of all!
Not bad for a sports photographer. My image Eat My Dust scored a 95 and I got 3 blue ribbons out of 4 prints. Needless to say I was very happy with the judging.

Arizona Vacation

2007-02-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a week exploring Arizona. We spent the first of the week in the Sedona, I did a little hiking and checking out the art galleries. The end of the week was spent in the Tucson area. Tuscon was a busy place with the huge match play golf tournament going on and the big annual rodeo. I didn't realize either was going on until we arrived and got into the traffic. I wish I had planned on attending both, I'm sure it would have been fun to photograph pro golf and rodeo.......maybe next year. We checked out some of the cactus forests and rode to Mt. Lemon the top of a 9,000 foot mountain that has unbelieveable views. The best part of the week was the south rim of the Grand Canyon, I don't know what I expected but it was nothing like I thought it would be. I stopped at as many overlooks as I could and everytime I thought that it just couldn't get anymore beautiful the next stop would be even more spectacular. It snowed and was very cold so not alot of people were out and around, but the bad weather made for some real nice shots. I'm definitely going to go back again when I can spend more time and do some hiking into the canyon.

PPWV Spring Convention

2007-02-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the Professional Photographers of West Virginia Convention in Oak Hill, West Virginia. We had a great crowd and got to mingle with many very talented photographers. Today the speakers were David Huntsman of Versailles, KY and Clayton Spangler of Charleston, West Virginia. Both are not only very gifted photographers but nice guys too. If you want to see some of the winners keep checking the PPWV Website at www.ppwv.org. The results should be posted in the next week or so.

The print competition was also lots of fun and we had many beautiful prints on display.

Personally, I took home four blue ribbons, second place in the commercial category and won the Phillips Rittenhouse Award for the best News Photograph for the 5th time in the last 8 years of competition.

Image Titled: Eat My Dust won the

Phillips-Rittenhouse News Photo Award

Image Titled: Gator Bowl Celebration

Won 2nd Place in the Commercial Category

Trip to San Antonio

2007-01-26T20:39:00.000-05:00

Wow! What a weird week! We arrived on Friday, short sleeved shirts, eating dinner outdoors on the balcony of a typical San Antonio Riverwalk restaurant. 24 hours later, coats and ice, roads closed down and ice everywhere! And that was the weather story for the rest of the week. I could have stayed home for weather like that... but it was still alot of fun. The usually bustling Riverwalk was very quiet and I did get a few nice shots of the ice that formed on almost everything.

The Imaging USA convention was quite educational. I was able to attend many seminars taught by some of the leading photographers in the world. Celebrity wedding photographers Denis Reggie and Joe Buisink both gave very informative programs. I sat in on a couple other classes on photographing seniors and children and I was also able to take in some Adobe Photoshop seminars. The tradeshow was good but I didn't find any new earth shattering products that I couldn't live without.

The highlight of the week for me was the awards ceremony where I was presented with my Master of Photography degree by my lovely wife Christie and PPA President Michael Taylor.

Since the weather was so bad and the airport was such a mess we stayed an extra day and took in a San Antonio Spurs game against the LA Lakers. Lakers won in the last seconds and Kobe had over 30 points.

Starting the New Year!

2007-01-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

One of my New Years resolutions was to improve my website and one way is to create a blog!
So here we go into 2007. Lets see how long I can keep this thing updated....

The year has started out on a great note!
The Mountaineers defeated Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl!
It was the third time to photograph the Gator Bowl in the last 4 years and the first win.
I still think last years Sugar Bowl victory was the most exciting. It was definitely a great day to be a Mountaineer.

We had a great time in Jacksonville and got some real nice shots of the game.

I may post a few as soon as I figure out how this works.

We mixed a little pleasure with business and took side trips to Savannah, Georgia and

St. Augustine, Florida. Both were filled with historical sites and I definitely need to go back and spend more quality time with my camera at both locations.