Redlights and Redeyes

Medieval fairs never cease to amaze and frustrate me.  Prime example:  Sunday afternoon at the 2008 Sarasota Medieval Fair.  Nearly all of the people there are super approachable and all adorned with elaborate medieval garb making photos rather simple.  What isn’t simple is getting names.  It’s not that people won’t give them to you, but trying to convince Emma the Ale Wife or Lady Visa Queen of the Card to break character and give you their real name is by far the hardest thing ever.  I’ve easier times getting names of drug dealers.  Sincerely.

My favorite of the day:  “Bjorn the Shorn.”

I started my shift at 5am at the polls yesterday freelancing for The New York Times, ended it at 2am for my staff gig at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.  Needless to say I’m completely drained, but thinking about today, we all got to share in a piece of history.

No matter how amazing or amazingly crappy the photos I made were, it’s just that.

History.

I just feel so blessed I got to be out experiencing it in my own community.

I just got home from a volleyball match at Sarasota High School tonight, when on my way to the car I heard the girls from Lakeland warming up for the next match.  I’ve made pictures of this outdoor locker room at night before, but never actually got a human to wander through the frame.

Most of my shooting involves mentally willing something to come into my frame at some random location with cool light and lines.  More often than not, I’m stuck with a picture of a blank wall, but this one worked out alright.

John McCain rolled his Straight Talk Express into Sarasota Thursday to Robarts Arena, which holds about 4,000.  Thousands more were turned away.

Not to be outdone, Barack Obama is riding his Change Train (made that up) into town exactly one week later on Thursday and will be filling Ed Smith baseball stadium, which is less than a mile away.

Tuesday night should be interesting.

Found this kid, Chet, at Charlotte High School tonight before a football game…made his picture, then found out he spent seven hours of his day preparing this getup of yellow and blue paint.  The haircut alone took two hours, he said.  Why?  Because he used Elmer’s Glue to make it stay.

It didn’t really work, because his team got trampled by Venice High School 56-26.

On a side note, there is way too much information about the Smurfs on Wikipedia.  I found the description of Reporter Smurf on there:

“Reporter Smurf is the reporter of the village. He likes to write sensational articles for his own newspaper, and has a tendency to look for controversial news, which eventually cause him problems.”

I know a few Smurfs like this.

Apparently there’s this sport they play in the sand where incredibly good looking women and men whack a ball around in the hottest part of the day in the smallest amount of clothing possible on a public beach.

The above are from last week’s $5,000 AVPNext/Wilson National Volleyball Championships on Siesta Key Public Beach in Sarasota.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the phrase “sweat glistens” in an editorial caption before…until now.

Every Friday night is getting harder.  Every game I come earlier.  The sun dips beneath the horizon almost 10 minutes early every week, causing a slight panic as I chase light across the field until - poof - it’s gone.  This was shot literally in the northwestern most part of the endzone in the only pocket of light left.

He could have been sitting there picking his nose and it still would have looked neat.

Kevin German pretty much summed up everything that excited me about joining Luceo Images in a recent post to his blog. The photographers and creative-types who fill the roster of this budding photo-collective also happen to be some of the most energetic, passionate, and creative people I have to pleasure of calling friends. Please go visit the site, visit the blog, and spread the word to any editors who happen to be in charge of large suitcases filled with unmarked, non-sequential bills.

I’m getting some chances to go up to cover the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg for ESPN the Magazine…fun, fun times.  My shoots tend to be drive-bys - one game here, one game there - so I try to make the most of it while I’m there.  The following are from the first game of the Tampa Bay Rays series against the Chicago White Sox in the MLB ALDS 2008.

The Rays have a real chance of going the World Series in their first ever playoff berth in team history.  They have always struggled to fill seats, mainly because of being absolutely terrible, but the team is cultivating a fierce fanbase that is growing rapidly at the sign of a few W’s.  My hope for the city is that it is not too late, because they are at risk of losing the team at the height of their popularity…

When I say “I miss the seasons,” it’s not really an obscure Rushmore quote.  Florida doesn’t get all four seasons the rest of the country gets.  We get “hot” and “not so hot.”  We’re still in the former, which is weird being assigned to cover seasonal events like pumpkin festivals and such.  It’s just jarring and not what I’m used to, although seven years down here has made me fearful of anything less than 70 degrees.