Favorite photo from November 15, 2012

I am enjoying the break in between the fall and winter sports season. Last week was the start of team photo days for local high schools. I attend the photo days and take head shots all of the players, coaches and a team photograph.

This photo was taken after the portrait photographer took his test shot. I don't remember what was said, but I do love how most of the team is laughing. Usually when I photograph teams, I photograph them playing, not laughing.

Favorite photos from July 22, 2012

Gymnastics Olympic Trials

The women's gymnastics Olympic trials came to an end on Sunday. I didn't watch the trials live as I was already sleeping when it started. I watched the trials Monday afternoon.

Even though I know who won, it wanted to watch it. I gasped when Nastia Liukin fell from the uneven bars. I was sad for her when she finished her balance beam routine. Liukin received a standing ovation and with that her gymnastics career was over. The gymnastics career of Alicia Sacramone is most likely finished too.

Gabby Douglas had a wonderful final night to win the all-around title over World Champion Jordyn Wieber. The trials ran long and my DVR cut off. I didn't get to see the announcement of the team heading to London. The members of the Olympic team are Douglas, Wieber, Aly Raiman, Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney.

According to Bela Karolyi, "this is the deepest team in the world." Hope these young ladies can come back from London with some gold medals.


Photo Credits
Top: Gabby Douglas competes in the floor exercise during the final round of the women's Olympic gymnastics trials Sunday in San Jose, California. Douglas won the women's all-around title and qualified for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team. (Associated Press/Jae C. Hong)

Bottom: Jordyn Wieber leaps from the balance beam during the final round of the women's Olympic gymnastics trials Sunday. Wieber was named to the U.S. Olympic team. (Associated Press/Gregory Bull)

Nike Cross Nationals III

The Vampire Diaries

A couple of months ago, I added The Vampire Diaries to my Netflix queue. I had no idea what the show was about. I figured since I liked the Twilight series and True Blood, I would give The Vampire Diaries a whirl.

I received Disc 1 of The Vampire Diaries in the mail on Friday. I watched the first five episodes in two sittings. I was stuck on my couch for a good chunk of the weekend. I'm already watching Disc 3 episodes. This show is not the same as Twilight or True Blood, which is good. Two brothers who are vampires return to their hometown. The brothers, Stefan and Damon, are obsessed with the same girl, Elena, because she looks like a girl they both loved in the past, Katherine.

I'm already obsessed with this show. I've been watching the episodes non-stop and I bought The Vampire Diaries books by L.J. Smith. I'm sure I'll own the DVD series soon. The Vampire Diaries is a good show. Its not as hardcore as one of my other favorite shows, True Blood, but it is worth checking out.

Nike Cross Nationals II

Nike Cross Nationals I

Weekend plans

I have so many plans for the weekend that I'm excited about.

I have this evening off from work. My husband and I are going to have dinner together, get ice cream and then go grocery shopping. Grocery shopping may not be fun for some people. But I love it. I love walking up and down the aisles with my husband. It is time that we get to spend together. For the last couple of weeks, my husband had spent most of his free time fixing up his late grandfather's house. All of the work is to be completed today so the renters can move in.

On Saturday morning, I'm photographing the county cross country championships. I love this meet and have been photographing it for the last 5-6 years. This meet is to see who is the best in the county. It is the last big meet for most of the runners before they head to regionals in two weeks.

Later that afternoon, my husband and I will be driving up to Detroit. I'm running in the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon on Sunday morning. We need to check into the hotel and then head down to the expo. Besides picking up my bib at the expo, I want to do some shopping. I will purchase an official jacket and maybe a shirt. I'm really interested in buying thinner compression socks. I want to wear them Sunday morning to help keep my legs warm. If I don't find a pair that I like, that will be OK. I've run in cold weather before and I'll be fine. It is just something that would be helpful, but I won't die without them.

Random things

The last couple of days have been warm. I assume if you live in the Midwest and east coast, you are feeling the same heat. I've been spending most of my time indoors. I've had to work outside in the heat this week. I photographed a baseball game Tuesday and will again Thursday. I did stay out of the sun by standing in a shaded dugout. I really felt bad for the players wearing polyester and pants playing on an artificial surface. Tomorrow is supposed to be another warm day. Besides the warm temperatures, there is a chance for a thunderstorm. It will be good if it does rain, we need it. It wouldn't be good for the baseball players. The game I will be covering Thursday is part of a weekend tournament.

I volunteered this afternoon to help with the County Fair Queen's contest. I will be helping with the candidates photographs next week. I'm not sure if I will be using my camera or just helping with the posing. I will also be helping with the lunch that will be served on the afternoon of the candidates preliminary judging and interviewing. I'm really looking forward to helping.

Shutter Island

My husband and I saw Shutter Island over the weekend. It has been a while since we both sat in a movie theater together to see a movie. The last movie we saw together was Revolutionary Road back in January 2009. My husband didn't like the movie and fell asleep. No falling asleep during this movie. We both liked Shutter Island but my husband said a couple of parts dragged. I didn't think the movie dragged at all.

The only problem I had was not with the movie but a group of teenagers. They laughed and were in and out of the theater multiple times while on their cell phones. Annoying. That is the reason why I love Netflix and seeing movies in the afternoon while the children are still in school.

Official trailer of Shutter Island (2010):

Random things

I've been away from my blog for a couple of days. This is what I've been doing.

I photographed four different school's winter sports teams this week. This is something that nobody likes to do, but it must be done. Myself and other photographers gather the varsity players and have them write their names on a piece of paper. After they write their name, they hold the paper at their chest level while we take a photo of them. When I'm around the athletes, I try to say head shot. At work, we call them mug shots. Some of the kids will say that this feels like a jail mug shot. I smile at them even though I heard it thousands of times. In the past, we have used a couple of the athlete's head shots as a mug shot for a crime they committed.

The shortest session I had at a school was 40 minutes. The longest session at a school was 3 hours. If you count the drive time it was 4 hours. That didn't make me very happy. At the beginning of the session was varsity boys basketball. Following them was the wrestling team. I finished with them around 3:30/3:40 p.m. Next was the JV girls/boys and freshmen basketball teams. And I didn't need photos of any of them. The bowling was supposed to come next. They didn't. The team didn't show up. I never heard the reason for their absence. That left a huge gap in things. I didn't photograph the varsity girls basketball team until 5:45 p.m. I walked out of the school right after 6 p.m.

With the four photo shoots this week, I have managed to keep up with my running schedule. So far this week I have ran 27 miles. I ran the longest for the week on Wednesday, 12 miles. After that run I was very tired. On Thursday, I had another afternoon shoot. I was thinking about skipping my run. While I was in the gym waiting for athletes, I saw girls running on the indoor track. Just watching them run, inspired me to run when I got home. I ran 4 miles, but my legs were not feeling too great.

Starting my Christmas shopping for my husband tonight. After him, I still need to get something for my mom, my in-laws, a gift for brothers/sisters, my nephews and my niece. Too many people. I hope to be done with everything next week. Hopefully.

It is December and I haven't done anything with my Christmas cards. Since 2001, I have made my own Christmas cards. I haven't had the desire to even get out any of my inks or card stock. I haven't been in the Christmas card making mood. I don't think I will even get there this year. I made plenty of cards last year and have extras. I think I will be sending those out. Or I could just buy some at the store. Would people be disappointed if they didn't get a handmade card from me?

The calm before the storm

This week I have been busy at work. Myself and the other photographers I work with have been going to many media days at local high schools. Media day is team photo day. This is where the sports teams gets their photos taken by portrait photographers. I'm there to take the players head shots or as we call them mug shots. It is not fun work. I photograph the athletes two by two. I hand them a notebook and a marker and ask them to write their first and last name across the page. Many do not understand the request. I get so many questions. Will the paper be in the picture? When are these going in the paper? What is this for? After an hour or two all of the players and teams are photographed.

Usually when we start photographing media days. That means that the upcoming season is right around the corner. Saturday starts the fall sports season for me. In the morning I will be photographing the county cross country preview meet. I will see four races total, girls/boys freshman-sophomore race and girls/boys junior-senior race. It should be a nice morning for the kids to run. The race will be held on a brand new course as well. I'm excited to see how the returning runners will do.

Today is really my last day to relax before the upcoming sports seasons start. I know that I will not have another Friday off until football season is over. Which is November. Then the process starts all over again with the winter sports season.

Baseball talk

The other day I photographed a baseball game. Before the game started the umpire asked the head coach if he had any balls. Of course he meant baseballs. One of the players sitting on the bench said that he should already have two of them. His buddy sitting next to him said that he knew that joke was coming. The head coach then said, "Gentlemen, we have a lady here in the dugout. Let's act like adults and treat her with respect." I said it was alright. The assistant coach said that it wasn't alright. The boys needed to treat me with respect.

I really didn't mind the comment. I thought it was funny. I say worst then that when I'm not working. But it was nice to hear the coaches say that they should respect ladies. That is a good life lesson.

Weekend update

I drove 1.5 hours west to Battle Creek Friday. I went to Battle Creek to photograph a state semifinal baseball and softball game. I walked into the stadium where my first game of the day was going to take place with my camera around my neck and carrying a book. A young vendor stopped me and asked what book I was reading. I showed him the cover of my book, Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg. I've never seen someone so excited. He told me that he thought it was awesome that I brought a book to the game. As he is a reader as well. I told him that I usually bring books with me to read before shooting a game. He just thought that was the neatest thing.

It was a sunny day and I sat in the dugout during warm ups to read and to avoid a getting a sunburn. About 15 minutes before the game was to start, I was asked if I came here to read or work. I'm was just keeping myself busy. I read a few pages before the game started. The game lasted two hours and I did a good job of avoiding the sun. The team I was there covering won and advanced to the state championship.

In between games, I put my book back into the car and walked over to the softball diamonds. I got something to drink and waited for my second game of the day to start. During the softball game, there was no way to avoid the sun. The photographers had a media box on the field on the first base side. No shade anywhere near us. Before leaving home, I put on sunblock. During the softball game, I could feel myself burning. My face and arms got the most sun. This game didn't turn out like the baseball game. The team I was there for lost.

I photographed two games back to back. That meant standing for a long period of time. During the baseball game, I sat down a couple of times in between innings. But I stood on concrete. During the softball game, I never sat down and stood on dirt. My feet were hurting. My left heel was in pain. I stretched my feet a couple times during each game. It didn't help. Nothing seemed to help.

The plan was to finish work and eat dinner with my husband when he got done at 10 p.m. I received a phone call from my husband around 9:45 p.m. He asked if I was still working, the answer was yes. I asked him if he was being held over. He said yes. That meant no dinner together. I was disappointed. But at least we would have dinner together Saturday night. So I finished editing at my home. Burned the images onto a CD and took my contact sheets to the office. I stayed around longer to talk to co-workers and left around 11:30 p.m. I needed something to eat, I went to my usual Friday spot: Subway.

I went to bed around midnight and woke up around 6 a.m. Saturday morning. I got up and did some work on the computer. Once that was finished, I went into the office. I read the rest of the morning before waking up my husband. We ate lunch and he had to go to work. While he was at work, I took a nap, started the laundry and went to church. A couple people at church said that I got some sun and that I looked tired. The answer to both was yes. My face was a nice shade of red and I had bags under my eyes. Standing in the sun and not getting enough sleep made me tired. After church, I finished the laundry, read and waited for my phone call. Around 10 p.m. after dosing off a couple of times, I was expecting a call from my husband. It didn't come. I got a call from him at 10:45 p.m. He said that he was held over again and would be home at 11:30 p.m.

He pulled into the driveway and I got into his truck. He asked what I wanted for dinner. I really didn't know. We drove to a restaurant that I knew closed at midnight. He wanted to go in. I saw the time was 11:40 p.m. and I said that I didn't want to go in. No other cars were in the lot. I said that they probably had the kitchen all cleaned and they were waiting to go home. We drove by another restaurant that was open. It was the same thing. They closed at midnight and had a bunch of cars in the lot. I told him to just to go to Taco Bell. They were open until 4 a.m. We didn't go to a sit down restaurant, but we did have dinner together. Really late.

Disturbia - Onsted, MI

The Senior Elite Jazz Team from Encore Dance Studio was performing to the song "Disturbia" by Rihanna during rehearsals for the Onsted All Star Review on April 18, 2009.

Random things

This past weekend's 5K run at the cemetery went OK. The course was basically the same from last year, except for the new hill they threw in. The weather conditions were on the chilly side but that didn't stop the 100 plus runners. My time was OK. Nothing too spectacular, 33:50:92. By the way I was running, I thought my time would have been faster then it was. I guess the many rolling hills of the cemetery got me.

Sunday was the season finale of Mad Men. I can't believe we have already watched 13 episodes. I'm greedy and I want more. Words cannot explain how much I love this show. The show has been renewed by AMC, but the stars of the show haven't renegotiated their contracts. I hope they do. What is Mad Men without Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery)?

More TV news, Bravo is planning a copycat of Project Runway. I read that season 6 in Los Angeles just rapped up. I wonder how long it will take before we see it aired on a new station? Also, another Bravo favorite of mine, Top Chef returns November 12.

This coming Saturday is one of my favorite days of the year. It is the cross country state finals in Michigan held at Michigan International Speedway. It is the day where I get to see some of the finest runners in the state. Also, the media van that the photographers ride in gets up to 80 mph on the banks of the race track. It is necessary to drive on the track, we need to get to the finish quickly to catch the runners at the finish line. Awesome! The weather is going to be partly cloudy and 51 degrees. Should be a great day to watch some runners.

My last race of the year is Sunday. It has been a great 2008 season and I can't wait until 2009. I will be able to enter in more 5/10K races that I couldn't before due to photographing weddings and run the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon again.

A couple - Blissfield, MI

Toledo trip

Last Friday, my husband and I went to Toledo, Ohio to have some fun. We went to the zoo, Tony Packo's and a Mud Hens game. It was a nice end cap to a lovely week of vacation.

In December, we always go see the Lights Before Christmas at the zoo. During the lights some animals are still outside. Those animals are polar bears, penguins and a few others. This trip to the zoo, we got to see all of the animals. The only animal that I didn't see that I wanted to was the Siberian tiger. It wasn't in its cage.

The day was nice, in the 70s. We decided to go into the aquarium. As soon as we walked into the door we were hit with a disgusting odor. It smelled like horrible B.O. We suspected that people came inside to cool down and get out of the heat. The smell was so bad that I had my shirt covering my nose. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode, "The Smelly Car". I told my husband that I would rather smell hog crap then what we were smelling in the aquarium. I grew up on a hog farm so the smell never bothered me. After five minutes we couldn't tolerate the smell any longer. We left the aquarium. The smell didn't stay in our hair like it did on the Seinfeld episode.

At the baseball game, our seats were three rows behind the third base side wall. So we were pretty close to the field and right behind the bullpen. I think baseball is OK sport overall, but I do get bored. While watching it on TV, I like to read. When I'm photographing a game, I have to pay attention. Also, I can leave early. When I'm at a game with my husband in a different city, I can't leave early. I only knew a couple of the players, so the game didn't hold my attention.

During the game, a couple of tween's tried to get the wave going in our section. Every couple of innings they would stand up and say they were going to start the wave. The girls would count in unison and throw their hands in the air to start the wave. They didn't have any luck with it. The wave only lasted for two sections. In the eighth inning the wave was started on the first base side and it went all the way around the park. I wonder if the girls were disappointed that they tried to start the wave numerous times and it didn't work. By the way, we didn't participate in the wave.

Some entertainment for the evening was when a ball was hit foul in the section next to ours. A large man with a glove tried to get the ball. He had the ball in his glove and it popped out. He scrambled after the ball and leaned over his seat to get it. When he did that his shirt lifted up and he showed everyone his ass crack. My husband yelled out "Gross!" A little boy sitting in front of us thought that was funny, he turned around and laughed. I laughed too. After laughing I told my husband that was not nice.

The night ended with the Mud Hens winning 9-3 and a nice display of fireworks behind center field.

Weekend Update

Standing in a dugout with the sun beating down on you for two plus hours isn't good. Friday afternoon, I photographed an American Legion district tournament baseball game. I stood on the stairs and leaned against a support beam for a nine inning game. I thought the game was only going to be seven innings. After the sunny game, I noticed that my legs were sunburned from just above my kneecaps down to my socks and only on the left side. Stylish look.

At the 5K on Saturday, I was talking to a girl who I photographed running cross country and track in high school and now college. She was pinning her bib to the front of her shirt. On her bib, someone wrote "Happy 20th Birthday!" I asked her when her birthday was. She said it was today (July 26). I said that today was my birthday too. I thought it was great. What are the odds of having two runners with red hair sharing a birthday at the same 5K race? We were the only red heads in the entire field.

During the run, I was following a girl that was about 15 years old. She would be running, then just stop and walk. As soon as I would catch her, she would start running again. Around mile 2, she cut the course twice. I so wanted to yell "cheater" to her and tell the race officials. But I didn't.

After the race, I overheard some older ladies saying they cut the course as well. When I was finishing the race, I saw the older women on the course to my left. At that point, I knew that those ladies still had a half mile or less to go. I handed in my card and walked over to grab some Gatorade. I took a drink and turned around. Those two ladies that I passed were standing behind me. They were talking to a friend and said that last year they got lost and took a wrong turn. This year, they said they were following the arrows and cut the course. I have run and photographed cross country events on this course for years. It is not hard to follow. The course was properly marked. How can people not follow arrows?

My husband surprised me with a gift card to Aeropostale for my birthday. I spent that gift card in ten minutes. I picked up six polo's, two t-shirts and a pair of cargo shorts. All of the items were on sale. I love sales!

While driving home today I saw three friends on the sidewalk together. Two of the friends looked like they were waiting on the other person. I slowed my car down to see what was going on. The three person was throwing up all over the sidewalk. One of the friends turned their back while the other friend watched. There was plenty of grass around. Why throw up in a high foot traffic area? GROSS!

Random things

I haven't been able to get to update the last couple of days. My husband had a couple of days off from work and was glued to the computer. He was playing computer games. I was only able to get him to stop playing war games to check my email.

While photographing a baseball game yesterday I heard the most unusual conversation. Note, I was not standing in the dugout. Usually I do, but not yesterday. I was leaning on an outside wall. All of the guys knew I was there taking photos, but this was talked about anyway. Some of the guys were talking about how big their members were. I heard one player said that, "He had a huge c*ck." I believe the conversation stopped when game was called to a mercy rule. Later during dinner, I told my husband what I heard. He asked if it excited me. I said no. I told him 17-20 year old guys didn't excite me.

When walking into work this morning at 4:30 a.m., birds were chirping loud. It seemed like they were really happy to be up this early in the morning. Unlike me. I wanted to get back into my car, drive back home and crawl back into bed.

My husband and I are going to see Jerry Seinfeld tonight at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo, Ohio. Before the show we are going to go to the Westfield Franklin Park Mall and eat dinner afterwards. The dinner will probably be what I choose. Tonight, I'm thinking Outback Steakhouse. When we are at the mall, I foresee me shopping in Aeropostale or Hollister.

Sunday is my first 10K of the year. I hope it is a nice day in the low 70s and not too humid. Two years ago when I ran the 10K, it was over 80 degrees and very humid at 9 am. I hope it is different this year.

This story is unbelievable. Female high school students are not smart and shouldn't do what their friends are doing. When I was in high school, I would never agree to this pact. What is wrong with society?