Change is good

Recently I sold off two pieces of equipment that had been with me for a very long time. My decision was due to the change in the market. No not the stock market but photography. If it's one thing that I've read over and over on being a successful business it's to recognize shifts in the market and adapt to those changes. Well I've recognized the change for a while but didn't want to change until now. My mentor Gary has been telling me for years to get away from shooting sports and other things that didn't generate the same level of revenue as the other aspects of my business (namely weddings and portraits). I would answer back, "yeah, yeah I know."

So in the last few weeks I've been really feeling the effects of the Great Recession and looked at where I needed to take my business. This is a necessity with any business and especially in these times.

Then a few weeks ago I made the decision to sell my 400mm lens. Yes the one that I use for most of my sports assignments. There are a couple of reason why I decided to sell it. For one it's so old that even Canon Pro Services won't touch it. I had to have a new lens mount put on it a couple of years ago and it cost me an arm and a leg to have a third party repair shop fix it because finding the right part is hard to do.

Secondly, I just don't shoot enough sports assignments that pay me a day rate. That is a client that will pay me to go and cover a college or NFL football game. That's where the industry is heading. More and more "weekend warriors" who have good paying day jobs are buying into shooting sports by buying pro gear and letting the camera do the rest. And they'll do it for free because what the really want is to be the guy on the sideline. Autofocus has ruined sports photography.

Lastly, with the cameras that have come out in the last 18 months you don't need the fast aperture of f/2.8 anymore. I would rather carry around a lens that weighs 2.5 lbs. instead of one weighing 15 lbs. for three plus hours. The newer Nikons and Canons make some great looking pictures at ISOs that were unthinkable just 3 years ago thereby allowing the photographer the option of shooting at f/4 instead of f/2.8.

So I sold the lens I bought 11 years ago and made some great images with in order to move on with my photography.

The other thing I did was to sell my Canon EOS-1D Mark II. This was my main sports camera and it was 5 1/2 years old. Now for some that's not a big deal but the odometer read 261,000 images had been snapped with this camera. That's a lot of picture taking.

My rationale for this move was that Canon was about to announce (and as of this morning they did announce) the new flagship pro camera the EOS-1D Mark IV. Yeah I missed a couple of updates to mine but it was a sound camera and made great images. I just needed to sell it and recoup as much of my investment as I could before it depreciated any more with the release of the Mark IV.

So with the sale of both pieces of gear I was ready to set out on a different direction. I redesigned the wedding website, had business cards printed for my wedding business and now I'm in the process of meeting with wedding coordinators and bridal shops in the hopes of attracting new clients.

My old editorial business is still there it's just that I want my business to grow and I can do that better by focusing more of my resources towards weddings and portraits than shooting on spec at a game.

There are some interesting things happening in the world of photography. Almost every digital SLR being manufactured today has the ability to shoot HD video. Combine this with the breakthroughs in low light photography and it seems to be one of those points where you can either change with it or be left behind. I for one want to be on the front side of this wave.

Sometimes Bigger Isn't Always Better

I don't know if it was me or just the section we were sitting in but I felt a little unfulfilled as we left Raymond James Stadium following last night's U2 concert in Tampa. Don't get me wrong. I'm totally biased as a fan and still loved the concert but I didn't grab the same vibe that I did from the previous two arena tours.

For the lesser U2 fan, the U2 360° Tour's main draw after the band is the stage which has been called "The Claw" and was inspired by LAX. The reason for The Claw was that the band wanted to play in the round at football stadiums but needed a way to rig sound and lighting. Hence The Claw.

I gotta tell you I've read the reviews and the most talk about how The Claw doesn't take away from the band and that it almost blends in to the darkness at times during the show. Well let me tell you when you're in the top deck of a stadium it's all you CAN look at. The band was so freaking small I felt like The Claw was performing the songs.

(As a side note to future concert reviewers. Try sitting in the third deck for part of the show. It'll give you another perspective to include.)

I've seen the boys play concerts at stadiums before. In fact I've seen 5 of my 9 U2 concerts at stadiums but this made them seem too small. That could also be because we were closer to the stage than the 737s landing over at Tampa International at the other stadium shows.

As for the setlist, they seemed to stay with more of their songs from this century than older material. Not bad but come on I've heard those songs before. Dig in to your catalogue and pull out some more gems. I did like that they played Unforgettable Fire which was the first time I'd heard it live. I just would've also like to have heard songs from the Boy or War albums that maybe they haven't played recently. In the end like Cathy said after the show, "They've got so many hits it's hard to choose which ones to play for a 2 1/2 show."

Now let me get down to the heart of what bothered me. Section 342 was filled with casual fans. I was the only idiot who didn't sit the entire concert. Usually at U2 shows everyone around us stands and sings every song. But then I'm usually closer to the stage where I'm surrounded by other U2 freaks such as myself.

Around us were lots of families who brought their tweens or 8-year-olds with them. The row in front of me must've been sponsored by Geritol. And the jerk behind me was just there for the beer apparently as he slurred his threats for me to sit down.

I do have to brag for a second. Because I had done my research on the concert I knew that the song Moment of Surrender would be the conclusion to the concert. And when the closing cords played I grabbed Cathy and said, "let's go."

We made our way to the exit tunnel, hit the john before the long car ride home, and made our way to the secret exit. It was a side stairwell away from the pedestrian ramps that everyone else was heading.

A lone security lady started yelling at us to go the ramp. I just continued down the stairs while Cathy paused. I looked up and yelled, "Come on. What's she going to do throw us out?"

We got out of the stadium and down Woodlawn Avenue where we had paid a private lot to let us nose our car facing out. My iPhone's Maps helped me navigate the small residential roads leading away from Ray Jay and get me out ahead of the traffic. In fact, as we turned onto MLK Boulevard I could see the traffic behind us. We made it home in an hour and 25 minutes which is the normal time when there aren't 72,000 people (btw it broke the stadium record for the most people to attend an event at Ray Jay which was set at this past January's Superbowl) clogging up the roads.

It was great to see the band again and hear the songs but I think next time I'll try and get general admission tickets and stand on the floor with the rest of the U2 crazies.

Back in the Burgh

EDITOR'S NOTE: This entry was supposed to be written earlier this week but with Cathy out of town my time was limited.

Last week Benjamin and I joined Cathy on the road as she taught a group of bankers in Pittsburgh. It gave us a chance to see the city we loved and lived in as well as reconnect with old friends.

It was hard for us to believe that it's been almost a decade since we resided in the City of Bridges. As we exited the Fort Pitt tunnels we saw downtown and were reminded why we will always have a fondness for this town. It's neighborhoods give it a small town appeal but still feels like a big city.

Our first stop was lunch in Oakland at one of our old spots Fuel & Fuddle. Located one block from the law school we grabbed a bite before the students piled in for lunch and walked around Pitt. Benjamin really loved the lawn and hills around Pitt's Cathedral of Learning. He ran up and down them for a while.

While Cathy taught her seminars Benjamin and I took excursions to various places around Western PA. The first morning of Cathy's classes I took Benjamin up to Rochester, PA to visit the graves of his great grandfather and great, great grandparents on both my mother's sides.

It was a cold, wet morning at the Sylvania Hills Cemetary but Benjamin didn't seem to mind he just wanted to run around like the boy he is. The cutest thing was whenever we would leave one of my relatives' grave sites Benjamin would turn around and say, "Bye bye."

On our second adventure I took the Mino to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to look at dinosaurs. He was pretty impressed by their size. We looked at some of the museums other exhibits like their mineral and gems collection and the plasters of old cathedral doors but the highlight took place in the basement of the Carnegie.

The museum has a discovery room where children can touch and learn about many things on natural history. This one particular exhibit allowed children to pick up and touch furs, skulls and petrified woods. It was the plaster replica of a small dinosaur skull that caused us problems. Benjamin grabbed it and slammed it on the floor. Now I think it was broken beforehand and the fact that it was a replica and not an actual artifact didn't give me concern. We just quietly put it back on the shelf and walked away.

The last night of our trip we had dinner with the Pritchards. We haven't seen Matt and Korey since we left and they now have two beautiful boys who could pass as Benjamin's older cousins.

The whole week Cathy and I talked about how much we missed Pittsburgh and the city's character. I got tingles as we drove past the old apartment building and saw our coffee shop. The city has changed a lot since we moved away but still felt like it was ours. As much as we would love to live there it's hard for us to be that far away from our family.

So to all of our friends still in the Burgh we'll be back again to see yinz.

Achieving my Goal

It's now official. In the last 28 months I have lost 60 pounds and now weigh in at a svelte 165 lbs. I went from a 38-inch waist to 31-32" (depending on which brand). I don't think I ever thought I would get to that goal weight but I have and am proud of it. I look very different and feel very different.

When I first made the decision to take control of my health we were expecting our first child. Since that time a lot has happened and yet I was able to "stay on target." (Star Wars reference for the geeks in the crowd.) I remember during the first few weeks talking with Cathy and both of us thinking that 185 lbs. would be a good goal weight for me. "Anything less and I would look unhealthy," I can remember justifying. Plus that would've been 40 lbs. of weight loss. That would be good, right? Wrong!

At this point I kind of forget when I hit various stages. I believe I was at 185 around Christmas of last year. Not bad but Cathy would say to me, "Honey I think you could lose another ten pounds and look better. Then at 175 she said, "Maybe another 7 pounds would be your ideal weight?"

Well I decided that if I was going to go from 175 lbs. to 168 lbs. I might as well just hit the 60 pounds of weight loss mark. And I have.

In the beginning I did research and found that a man of my height would be considered overweight if he were 168 lbs. or more. Cathy and I both laughed this off as extreme and out of date. Now looking at it I guess it wasn't too out of line.

I know in the past I've rattled on about my progress and how good I feel but I honestly do. Being able to go out and think nothing of running 9 miles or biking 37 miles gives me great confidence that I can complete a difficult task no matter what. Also the fact that I've lost 60 lbs. shows me that the mind is an amazing thing when you harness it.

Alright now where are the Dunkin' Donuts? I'm starving!!

It's Becoming an Addiction

It felt better the second time. My hobby of triathlons is becoming an addiction I think and Saturday's race in downtown Orlando solidified it for me. The race itself was slightly longer than my first one back in June and my training for it was even longer.

The OUC Downtown Orlando Triathlon consisted of a .25-mile swim in Lake Underhill, then 11.5-mile bike ride and finished with a 3.7-mile run from the Lake Underhill to Wall Street plaza in the heart of downtown. I smashed my goal time by five minutes to 1:15:22.

The swim segment is still my strongest of the three disciplines (shocking I know) but this swim was much different than the first race. The main reason was that it was an open water start as opposed to a sprint from the beach. I kept getting kicked and hit for the first half of the swim but when I got away from the pack I really kicked it into high gear. I was the 8th person in my grouping to get out of the water which I thought was really good.

The best way to cut your time in a triathlon is to tighten up your transitions which I did very well. I cut my transition times by 2 1/2 minutes this time around. The biggest reason for my time improvement from the first race was knowing iPods are prohibited. I din't have to waste time putting it on and then taking it off.

The bike course was more tactical compared to Clermont's scenic ride around the lake. This was city biking with 90-degree turns along the way. I did have to yell at one participant as she didn't know the meaning of pass on the left. She just kept peddling her little beach comber while I screamed, "LEFT!!!!"

It was during the run that I started to feel the temperature. The wind that was in my face during the bike was absent as I turned on to Robinson Street for the long run to downtown.

Looking back, the only thing I would've changed would have been to increase the pace of my run earlier. During the home stretch I had way too much left in the tank. I had a kick that felt like I was at the NFL Combine timing my 40.

In the end I placed 11th out of 42 for my age division and 121 out of 505 overall. I felt great after the race and now want to find another to enter. I am making a goal to enter and finish a half Ironman next year. I already have done the swim and run distances of 1.25 & 13.1 miles respectively. All I need to do now is see how I would do with those and a 56-mile bike thrown in. Who's with me?

Back to School

As you may remember I joined up with Panasonic a few years ago to be one of their instructors for a program they called Digital Photo Academy. I taught a class in Tampa and really liked the whole experience.

Since then we've tried to find a similar venue here in Orlando for me to teach. Then this past summer we came up with the idea of holding the classes in the community room of my subdivision's clubhouse.

So now, once a month, I will be teaching Beginner, Intermediate and Understanding Composition classes. Panasonic has other classes through the DPA program but I prefer these three as I can teach all of them in one day.

This past Saturday I had a group of three attend the Intermediate class. The course description says that the class is four hours long but the last few times I've taught it I only needed three. The class is not too technical but it helped explain to students how to use their cameras to capture the picture they wanted by using the aperture, shutter speed as well as other features found on most of today's digital slr cameras.

It was nice to be back in a classroom environment and showing others how photography can be an outlet for them. If you're interested in finding a DPA class near you click on www.digitalphotoacademy.com to sign up.

Circle of Life

It's official. Summer is now over and my weekly schedule has returned to somewhat normal. This morning I dropped off Benjamin at his new school and headed back to an empty house. How nice.

So I have to tell you about another one of those moments of parental realization for me that happen last week.

I took Benjamin to school to meet his new teachers and talk with them about how he is as an active boy. For the most part it went well. He seemed like he would do fine when school started and he gave his teachers a warning shot of his active nature.

While Benjamin was busy playing with the new toys he found in his classroom the teacher asked me to fill out the emergency contact info and other last minute forms. I didn't think much about it and took the forms to one of the tables in the classroom and squatted into one of the miniature chairs to fill out the information. Then it hit me. Wait a minute. The teacher got me into a midget chair.

At this point my mother is laughing loudly while reading this entry. There is a story that she likes to tell about how I got her into a midget chair when I was in second grade.
Back in the day, I was known as the class clown. I know shocker. Well apparently I considered music class my chance to dazzle my classmates with my stand-up routines instead of learning my do, re, fa, so la, ti do.

So when it came time for parent/teacher conference day all of my teachers lined up for an inquisition of my mother. To this day she still talks about how when she walked into the room there were three big chairs and one midget chair. That's when she was hit with a barrage of attacks on how I wasn't taking the lessons seriously. She said she felt so belittled just by the simple fact that she had to sit in a midget and take the attack I caused.

Fast forward 27 years. As I was writing down my cell phone number a wave of memories hit me. And the feeling of being a parent settled in. I was now sitting in a midget chair in my son's classroom. Thankfully he hadn't been there long enough for me to endure what my mother endured with Mrs. Boone, Mrs. Gonzales and Mr. Campbell.

Counting My Blessings

The last few days have been self-reflecting. You see a very good friend of Cathy and I's is showing true Grace through a very difficult time. I for one have hugged Benjamin more often because of what Sylvie is enduring and have felt blessed for having a child as I do.

Sylvie is one of those people who is such a beacon in this world. You probably know the type. She is one of the most optimistic persons you know. Sylvie is a sorority sister of Cathy's and I shot her wedding a few years ago.

When she told us that she was pregnant last Fall we were so happy for her as we knew she would be a great mother. She was so looking forward to seeing her baby girl.

When Sydney was born March 14th she was 7 lbs. 7 oz., 20.5" long. The doctors at first didn't know what was wrong with her right lung and how it was effecting her heart. Eventually they found out that she suffered from Scimitar Syndrome which effects these organs.

I'm by no means smart enough in this area to break it down into laymen's terms but to put it simply Sydney had a lot of obstacles from the start. The doctors said that she faced some serious corrective procedures. Some surgeries would take place in the first months of her life and continue well into her childhood.

Cathy and I have kept up with Sydney's progress be reading Sylvie's journal on Caring Bridge. It seemed that with every step forward there were two steps back. Then came Saturday's entry.

In Sylvie's entry she informed us, "On Monday, the doctors indicated that Sydney is having multiple organ/system failures. It breaks my heart to tell you all that she will not ultimately survive. There is nothing the medical team can do for her except offer comfort, dignity and loving care. Yesterday we had a care conference with her doctors and nurses where we decided the goal of her care is to keep her comfortable."

After reading this I wanted to hold my son in my arms and thank God for the blessings he has given me. Sylvie deserves nothing more than to care for her child like most of us do everyday. She wants to provide for Sydney. To change those diapers and rock her little girl to sleep in the middle of the night.

Cathy and I have talked several time over the last couple of days about this. Words can't describe what we feel for Sylvie nor can they come close to what our dear friend is enduring. As Cathy said to me, "for her to come home and see the nursery that Syndey will never see must be heart-wrenching."

I don't know how I would react if I were in Sylvie's position but I admire her for her strength. As she puts it, "I don't know how much time there is left. My goal is to be with her as much as possible. Family and friends can pray for our family, pray for her comfort. Hope is still around us. It's only changed form. I appreciate all of you going through this journey with Sydney, and I offer my love and compassion for your feelings of sadness and loss. She is a light in all of our lives. No one will forget this precious little girl. Our lives are better because of her. She did have purpose. I will never know how many people prayed for her. How many became closer to God because of her. How many held their own children a few minutes longer each day because of her."

Mad Men Season 3 promo shoot

For those who are addicted to the AMC series Mad Men you already know that the new season premieres this Sunday. You may have also seen the promo poster for season three where the lead character Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, is sitting in his office surrounded by water.

When I first saw the ad I thought that the water was photoshopped in like most imaging in today's ads but it wasn't they actually had Hamm in a water tank for the shoot.

Anyways I thought it was a pretty cool behind the scenes video to watch how an ad is created.

Twittering Myself

Yeah that's right. I broke down and created a Twitter account. For the uninitiated Twitter is a way to post quick thoughts, pictures or links for the world to read or see. It's essentially the same as Facebook status updates just through a different source.

Some friends of mine sync their Twitter and Facebook accounts so that if it goes out to one it goes to both. I haven't done that as I want to try using Twitter for something a little different. I guess I post more thoughts to Twitter than I do for Facebook for now. Some of my Facebook friends have complained about the frequency of my status updates.

One of the things that has surprised me about Twitter since joining are the random people who have added or "followed" my feed. I get an email every so often saying @JoeSchmo is now a follower of yours. Who the heck is Joe Schmo and why did he decide to read my tweets? Who cares join my bandwagon.

In the process of getting more acquainted with Twitter I've found the page called Trending to be insightful especially on Fridays when new movies come out. Last week I wanted to see the thoughts of those who went to see the new G.I. Joe movie. I had low expectations of the movie but a lot of people on Twitter were giving it favorable reviews.

Then this past week the wife of Twitter CEO tweeted during the birth of their first child. It started with this tweet:
"Dear Twitter, My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City. Now, timing contractions on an iPhone app." When the contractions became too strong she handed the phone over to her husband Evan Williams to update followers on the baby's progress.

Kind of cool how some of this technology is changing the way in which we communicate. Like I said this is just something I'm dipping my toes in to for now. I'll see if there comes a time in which I'll take the dive. If you would like to follow my Twitter feed you can see it at http://twitter.com/livingstonphoto

Kayaking- Behind the Scenes

As you may remember I shot a story a while back on Kayaking in the Florida Keys for the New York Times travel section. I spent three days paddling around different parts of the lower and middle keys with my good friend and travel writing partner Christopher Collier. We got to go to some pretty interesting sites such as paddling through a forest of mangrove trees as well as uninhabited areas off the main keys that many don't know about.

Originally I wanted to have more video footage but considering I was doing this as extra I'm still happy with the footage I got.

For those who look for continuity errors or other oddities in movies (i.e. the "ghost" behind the curtain in Three Men and a Baby), if you look closely in the opening scene you can see the digital audio recorder I'm trying to hide in my hands. I had to record a separate audio track for that shot because the handycam was about 20 yards and prevented me from getting clean audio from it's internal microphone.

And if you wish to see this at a better resolution you can watch it at YouTube.

In-touch at 34,000 Ft.

This past weekend I flew up to Milwaukee with Benjamin to see my grandmother on Orlando-based Airtran. I had never flown Airtran before and was unfamiliar with their new program of offering wireless internet on board their flights.

Traveling with Benjamin on a 2:40 flight was different this time than it was when we flew last summer considering he runs around now. I didn't think having WiFi during the flight would be anything great. I mean who has time to watch silly YouTube clips at a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet when Mr. Crankypants wants to run up to first class to see what all the fuss is about.

Well count me a fan of airborne WiFi. That is because I realized how valuable it was on the way back. The flight up was a bit painful for my mom and I because I didn't correctly transfer Benjamin's TV shows over to my iPhone and he needed some entertainment.

While we were flying back I gladly accepted the $6.95 charge to use the WiFi just to access YouTube and fire up some clips of the Backyardigans. Since I always keep my phone fully stocked with media I had no room left to purchase and download shows directly from my iPhone before boarding the flight so YouTube was my only option. And it worked.

Yeah yeah I know electronic babysitter but have you ever enjoyed being on a plane with a screaming baby?

Well I wasn't playing the Backyardigans for the entire flight as Benjamin kept turning around to play peek-a-boo with the little boy seated behind us. During those times I was able to try out the rest of the internet including talking with Cathy via a Facebook chat session. She was driving back from a babyshower in Tampa and was able to check in on how Benjamin was doing during the flight which I think made her feel better.

I was also able to send out some email which I couldn't do earlier on the ground as I was running around with Benjamin at our gate.

I did try using Skype to make a call but the sound was horrible. I first tried calling my friend Robert who was online but it went to his voicemail. I then called Skype's test call number to hear how my voice sounded to someone on the other end. While I was able to clearly hear the British woman's voice recording informing me to speak after the beep to check for clarity I could only hear burps and bleeps of my voice on playback. So fear not travelers who don't want phones to be used on flights. It's still not there.

Overall the WiFi feature onboard Airtran is nice for those who would like to be able to conduct a little business. The good news is that you aren't completely accessible to the world. So business travelers who want to be productive but undisturbed for a couple of hours can now do so.

Now can we just get a children's play area with sound proof walls on all flights?

Out of Commision

Well for the last 10 days I have been nursing some injuries. You see the morning of Independence Day I went for a workout and had an accident during the bike portion. I'm getting better now but the three stitches are still in and the road rash is still visible.

Needless to say it kept me from entering my second triathlon last weekend as well as limited my exercise.

To answer the question of what happened it's simple. I should have pulled off on the side of the trail and not try to clear out someone's text messages while riding. In the quickest of moments I had veered into the side rail of the wooden bridge I was crossing and was thrown off the bicycle. I never hit my head (which thankfully was protected with my helmet) but suffered a deep wound in my left elbow. Yes the same elbow I needed stitches in two years ago when crossing the street.

The ER visit only took 3 hours and Cathy took care of me the next three days. Since then I have found new ways of coping with everyday life using my right hand a majority of the time.

I'm scheduled to have the stitches removed in the next few days and hopefully will be back to training. Since the accident I have gone on a 20-mile bike ride and didn't seem to suffer any flashbacks when crossing the bridge.

So there's the reason why saran wrap has been at the top of my blog for way too long.

That's a Wrap

Tonight was an unexpected passing of a friend who has seen us through a lot. It went off to law school with Cathy, returned to Central Florida three years later, moved in to our first apartment with us a newlyweds and helped us with Benjamin's meals. Yes I'm getting sentimental over our restaurant-sized roll of Reynold's saran wrap.

It was originally purchased by Cathy's folks along with a lot of other apartment supplies in August 1997 when she left for Pitt. It has been moved all over with us and finished it's last job tonight wrapping some thawed chicken to be cooked later this week.

If you are reading this and thinking to yourself, "Why is Chris wasting a blog entry on saran wrap?" Well then you aren't one in on the running joke.

Cathy and I had our doubts if we'd ever finish the roll. It just kept giving and giving platic goodness to out leftovers. We wrapped Thanksgiving turkey, bowls of salads, and even some rice cereal when Benjamin was just learning to eat solids. For the Pitt crew as well as our folks they know what we're talking about. It got to be like a member of the family because it was always at our house in good times and bad. Holidays, weekends it didn't matter Reynolds was always there.

So tonight I say thank you for your 12 years of service. And I wonder, "My god how much leftovers does a restaurant have to need this type of roll?"

Something Different for Father's Day

First of all Happy Father's Day to all. This being my second Father's Day I wanted to make this year as memorable as my first. So I decided to enter a triathlon. I know weird.

Yesterday I competed in a spring triathlon that consisted of a 1/4-mile swim, 8-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run. I've been training for the last six weeks varying my distances to help my endurance as well as time of day to factor in the heat.

Standing on the beach at Clermont's waterfront park I could feel the adrenaline pumping as I looked out at the buoys in Lake Minneola. I was in the mountain bike division which meant I was the last group that started because those type of bikes are slower than racing bikes.

I decided that I wouldn't run full steam into the water but instead jog and try to make it as far out as I could before diving into my swim. The water was extremely warm which slows me down. It was also very brackish making it difficult to see any swimmers ahead me.

I knew I was doing well as I only saw one neon green swim cap in front of me (different divisions had different cap colors). As I rounded the second buoy I aimed for the exit chute and navigated through a sea of slower swimmers from the division that started before mine.

Going into the first transition I felt pretty good. My breathing was down and I was able to get out on the bike quickly.

The bike route took us around the lake to places that I used to patrol looking for feature photos when I worked at the paper. The only time I was ever passed during the entire triathlon was at mile two of the bike segment.

My second transition time was quicker due to the the fact that I already was dressed. All I had to due was rack the bike and head out to the run.

Going in to the race I knew my strengths would be swimming and biking thanks to my years on the high school swim team and my Poister thighs cranking the bike along.

The run was the grueling part for me. It had more to do with the heat and lack of breeze more than the physicalness of it. Last week I purposely trained later in the morning to get acclimated to the heat and humidity. It was a good thing because it helped.

The last mile I really felt the heat. I kept my pace slightly slower than I normally would have just to give myself a kick at the end.

With .2 mile left I picked up to a full sprint for the finish line and crossed it with a time of 1:08:07 which was good enough for third place in my division.

I'm very proud of the fact that I made the decision to enter a triathlon but more proud that I did well enough to place. It was great to see Benjamin along the route cheer me on. Behind my sunglasses my eyes welled up seeing my son point at me and yell whenever I ran by him.

It was because of Benjamin that I started swimming, biking and running which led me to race yesterday. In the process I hope that I showed him by example that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish any goal you set for yourself.

Happy Father's Day!

Covering the Finals

So here's a video I produced during Game 5 of the NBA Finals this past Sunday with the help of Cathy. I've been thinking about shooting this video for a few months but never had an opportunity to have an extra person for scenes that would require someone to follow me around.

This video gives some insight as to what I do when shooting a basketball game. It shows that I don't just show up an hour before tip-off and sit on the court to take pictures. It's usually a 10-hour day and rigging remote cameras. The remote camera help me hedge my bets that I don't get blocked during the key play.

After editing the video I've developed a drinking game for it. Man I say the word "so" often during the video. I may also have to upload the blooper reel. The opening was shot over several takes as Cathy kept cracking up every time. Eventually I had to make her go down to the court until I was done.

Anyways, hope you enjoy.

Capturing a Champion

What a game. To document the Lakers' 15th NBA Championship was simply amazing. And shooting pictures of Kobe doing what Kobe does was astonishing. There were some shots he would take that I was certain there would be no way he'd make it and he did.

Watching the Lakers celebrate on the Magic's home court was disheartening to me as a fan but great to capture as a photographer. Photographing basketball history in the making was special. Getting images of Phil Jackson holding the Larry O'Brien trophy for the tenth time and surpassing Red Auerbach is something I know I'll always look back on say, "Yeah I was there."

I also documented Magic center Dwight Howard sitting on the bench and watching the Lakers' pump their fists and celebrate their title. That had to be rough for a player who wanted to carry his team to the stage and hoist the O'Brien trophy himself.

Covering The Finals was a great moment for me professionally but those three games were exhausting. I'm glad to say that the basketball season is over and I was able to work the final game. Hey doesn't NFL training camps open in four weeks?

Putting the Wife to Work

After the Magic beat the Cavaliers and advanced to the NBA Finals, I got an email from my editor at EPA asking me if I could find someone to help run digital cards from the shooting positions back to the editing room during the games in Orlando. Wow talk about a tough find. It's not like I had everyone and their brother calling or emailing me after Game 6 asking if I needed an assistant.

I knew I better call and offer it first to Cathy before calling my buddies up. I told her that two of the three games in Orlando didn't start until 9pm and that we probably wouldn't be going to bed until 2 am. Didn't matter she was in.

We made some logistical arrangements for Benjamin as well as for us to stay with my mother during Games 3 and 4 so we could get as much sleep as possible following the game.

Cathy's responsibility was to retrieve the cards from our two photographers on the floor who were shooting while I had a separate runner for my position in the stands. She said following the game that she developed a series of signals with John and Larry to communicate if they needed a card picked up or not from her position just off the court. So she was able to watch most of Game 3 from an area that people were paying close to a $1000 to do the same thing.

It was funny listening to her after the game talk about the celebs that she saw and literally ran into during the game. (Apparently Charles Barkley collided with her coming out of the bathroom. Don't worry he survived.)

I have to say that it was nice that I was able to get Cathy into the Finals. I know that most of the games I cover she could care less about attending but this is special. I mean The Finals only comes around to Orlando every 14 years.

photo taken by Phelan Ebenhack

FINALly

Last night the Magic were able to do what previously they couldn't. Win an NBA Finals game. Yeah I know it's not winning a Championship but for this town last night's win was huge. The frustration of the previous six losses was apparent.

So here I am still shooting basketball and it's June! It feels a bit strange but I enjoy it. In the last seven months I've shot my first World Series and now my first NBA Finals. Not bad but it's still just shooting a game.

I will remark that shooting last night's game was a little different. For starters I'm shooting from what is commonly referred to as the "up" position and not the floor as EPA's staffers who are shooting all the games are in the floor spots. I am in the upper bowl of Amway Arena which is kind of nice because I don't get blocked by players, refs or ABC cameramen as they scramble onto the court during a timeout. Nor do I have to worry about the guy sitting behind my spilling his beer on me and my gear when Rashard Lewis hits a three-pointer.

The game in general seemed to fly by for me. I don't know if it was the play of the game or because I was running down to drop off my digital cards to the runner. I think it was also because when covering the Finals you are always looking to make images no matter what's happening. there is no down time especially during the game because the game changer could happen at any moment.

It was a very long day and didn't end until early this morning. With just a few hours of sleep I'm back at Daddy Daycare and in a couple hours I'll be off to another shoot.

Now that I have my first game of the Finals under my belt I think I'll be able to enjoy shooting game 4 more tomorrow night. Go Magic!

Where was this 20 years ago?

So I stumbled upon this video on the WIRED RSS feed and thought it was pretty cool how far video gaming has come. I mean I thought The Legend of Zelda was cutting edge when I was growing up but this is mind blowing.

I've been a fan of Tony Hawk for almost 25 years. As a teen I skated all around Temple Terrace with my friends. We would buy the Powell & Peralta videos whenever they'd come out (I still have my VHS tapes including The Search for Animal Chin.) and watch them endlessly.

Watching Tony transform himself from professional skateboarder into a household name was interesting. He really hit it big when he started designing and producing skateboarding video games and the latest is incredible.

In the video Tony shows how gamers will be able to use a special deck to perform tricks in the new game and accumulate points. It's kind of like Tony Hawk on the Wii.

If only I'd had this 20 years ago I could've probably saved myself the pain of a lot of scraped knees and elbows.