Toughman!

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

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?

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!!!!

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

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.

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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

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

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

Joe Alexander works his way into the hoop!

Big East Champs!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

More Festival Events

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

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!!

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

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

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

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!!!