We have had quite the heat wave here recently! Oppressive humidity and highs flirting with triple digit temperatures make going outside feel like walking through pudding. Thank goodness for A/C!

The heat makes anything outside more challenging, whether is be working in the yard, washing the car, outdoor dining, playing sports or whatever; it’s just plain uncomfortable. How about this: let’s get dressed up and stand around in this heat… and get married? That’s exactly what one couple did last weekend. It’s always exciting to see a couple start their lives together. I would have of course preferred something indoors in A/C but no one asked me. So I along with my friends Richard and Cindy put on on our best moisture-wicking clothes and covered the event with our lenses. THANKFULLY, a rainstorm late in the day cooled things down a bit and heavy cloud cover shielded us from the sun. Despite the latter, we were all still soaked to the bone within the first hour of a long evening. It didn’t matter though, we were all having a good time. That’s the important thing - working and still having fun. You just can’t complain with that combo.

I’m sure the bride’s dress was steaming hot but you woudn’t know it from her smile!

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A Cessna 172 to be exact. After a week or two of trying to figure out what would work best for me to shoot aerial photos out of, the Cessna won out. The other options were a helicopter or a Cirrus SR22. The helicopter would have been the best option, but things didn’t come together to make that happen. The Cirrus - although the sexiest of the bunch by FAR, was too fast and also had the additional handicap of the low wing. Shooting out of that aircraft would require a steep bank for me to be able to see the ground clearly without the wing in the way. The Cessna was a high-wing craft which only had a small, thin strut underneath it’s high wing that was easy to shoot around. It’s low stall speed of 59 knots increased the chances of getting some sharply focused shots. There was some haze in the air that I was hoping to reduce with my polarizer but the light angles weren’t really coming in at a direction where it would have been much benefit. After an uneventful flight (the best kind) and getting the photos I needed, I was offered control of the plane. Back in the day, I used to play around with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. As funny as that sounds, it really helped. As a matter of fact, this particular Cessna model I was in was one of the first ones replicated in the simulator. Aside from the navigation (which I never really thought too much about in the sim), the mechanics of flight were pretty straightforward. After adjusting the trim via a wheel in the center of the dash, pushing the wheel forward made you go down while pulling back made you climb. Turning the wheel banked you left and right. The pilot kept control of the rudder so I wouldn’t have too much to do and think about all at once. After about 10 minutes of turning and going to different altitudes, it was time to land. The pilot took back over and got us back on the ground smoothly. A few years ago, I had toyed with the idea of taking flying lessons. It might be time to put that on the front burner.

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I have the pleasure of shooting weddings with my good friends Rick and Cindy of Grainger Portrait Studios over in Madison from time to time. Richard and I go WAY back to our days in retail… many eons ago. If you’ve ever met Rick, you’ll know that when you mix our senses of humor together - someone’s gonna be blowin snot out their nose before too long from laughing too hard (usually Rick).

Two weekends ago, I joined them for a wedding at a catholic church over in Huntsville followed by a reception at the Monte Sano Lodge. The church was surprisingly well-lit, with many windows all around letting in the sunlight. That’s in stark contrast to a lot of churches that are lit like caves. When you can’t use your flash (or don’t want to), lighting is typically a challenge. With the 3 of us shooting, we were able to get some good images despite being restricted from moving around during the ceremony. To be honest, I did ninja around in the pew I was “assigned” to when no one was looking to get a better vantage point. As soon as the ceremony concluded, I zipped off to the reception location which was about a 30 minute drive away. Located atop a mountain (or a hill for those used to REAL mountains), it made for a nice setting for outdoor photos. Here are a couple of my shots.

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By all accounts, this weekend had been predicted by the local meteorologists to be a total washout. With that in mind, I went ahead and mowed my lawn Thursday night. It’s Sunday night now and all we’ve gotten is a sprinkling so far. So much for that.

LOST got cranked up again this week with a new episode and BOY was it a doozy! It was an action-packed one to say the least. For me it was one jaw-dropping event after another. Any of you guys LOST fans?

Since the rain held off, I finally went to battle against the holly bush hedges in front of my porch. Those beasties get a little out of hand if left alone too long. Luckily, I think it was last year I picked up an electric hedge trimmer that made the job of manicuring them less of an ordeal than with hand clippers. I got done with one set but need to turn my attention to the shrubs beside my house before I can check that off my list as “done”.

I took a short break in the afternoon before going to dinner with Megan, Livvie, Jessica and Mark. We met up at Macaroni Grill and had a delicious dinner. I tried a different wine this go around as they no longer carried the Kendall-Jackson chardonnay that I’m so fond of. Instead, they had the brand “Toasted Head” that turned out to be pretty good so I really had no complaints. After dinner, we headed to a local bowling alley for a game. That was a nice way to end the evening.

Today was Mario Kart for the Wii day! I picked up my copy after church as well as 2 extra steering wheels (for total of 3). For some reason I thought I had 3 Wii-motes. I went back and got a third when I discovered my mistake. Played that most of the afternoon. In my downtime, I watched the F1 race - they were in Spain this weekend. Ferrari is starting to look pretty strong after a bumpy start to the season. BMW is looking good too.

That wraps up the last few days… Oh, I mentioned I shot a wedding a week or so ago. Here’s one shot from that event:

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Last Saturday, I took Megan and Livvie down to Barber Motorsports Park with me to attend the AMA Superbike race. It’s such a great facility - it’s like a country club but instead of a golf course, there’s a road course. I had been there a few years earlier for a Rolex Porsche Cup event and knew what to expect. Normally I don’t follow motorcycle events but I wanted to try my hand at photographing one for fun. I used my Canon 5D although in retrospect, my 20D may have been a better choice with it’s higher frame rate and cropped sensor. Despite the camera choice, I made the best of the situation. The high pixel count of the 5D made extreme enlargements possible though so that could outweigh the speed advantage of the other camera.

I recognized a few of the front runner’s names but don’t follow this sport enough to know who is who on the track without a list of racer numbers in hand. Matt Mladin, Miguel Duhamel, Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden were the ones I knew of. The others I’d have to read up on. I didn’t know who rode for which team or who their sponsors were so I was just a noobie with a camera in the crowd - LOL!

I’ll post more pics from Saturday as soon as I get some time to sort through them. I got several keepers but PLENTY of discards. I also ran into my friend Nicole there. She was there with Honda doing grid-girl duties.

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The wedding shoot last night went off without a hitch… except for when the bride and groom kissed at the altar, neither I nor Richard had a clear view to get the photo - a plant was in the way on BOTH sides. It was an important shot but despite the obstacles, a solution was found that worked for everyone.

On the way home, I met up with some friends at The Brick to hang out for a short time but ended staying out longer than I had intended. I’m not sure of the name of the band that was playing but the were really good. The drummer was also very good. I enjoyed that a lot.

Sunday morning came especially early with the start of daylight savings. After getting all my stuff set up, I downed a Monster energy drink. BIG MISTAKE. Now I was “too” awake. So much so that I noticed my hand shaking when I went for a second one. I thought better of that decision and stuck to water to hopefully get back to normal Mt. Dew levels of caffeine. When everything got cranked up, the music was rockin. Amber belted out the Martina McBride song and we pulled off the new “Rise” song without a glitch. We were definitely “on” today. Dave did a great job wrapping up the series on the book of Ruth and got everyone prepared for the next series on the schedule.

Spent the rest of the day with friends talking about drums and audio and then the evening with Megan. She was using me for my internet connection…

Oh, heres a sample from last evening. Congratulations to the new couple!

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It’s very rare that we get anything remotely resembling “snow”. When I lived in Knoxville, every once in awhile we would get a few inches of snow - sometimes even several inches. Down here in Alabama, some some of the frozen stuff may stick to the grass and shrubs but nothing to get excited about. That’s probably a benefit to living down here though. You want snow, move north.

I’ve got a wedding to shoot tonight with my friends Richard and Cindy. As such, my battery chargers are working overtime topping off the charges on my camera and flash batteries. At some point, I’ll check my cameras for dust on their sensors and clean them off as necessary. Usually a puff from one of my Rocket blowers is all that’s needed but for the tougher stuff, I do have Eclipse fluid and Pec-pads to accomplish a wet cleaning. All told, I’ll have five sets of 4-AA batteries, 2 batteries in each camera’s battery grip, and one spare camera battery. Both cameras actually operate on one battery but for extended life and a vertical portrait grip, the battery grips I have for each camera hold two batteries. I can easily click off more than a thousand shots before needing to change their batteries.

I’m all set on memory cards. I think I have 12-2gb cards and 2-4gb cards. It’s been a few years since I’ve every ran out of storage space thank goodness.

Other than the shoot tonight, I just have some laundry to do and then a run to the grocery store for some supplies. If I have time, I may clean my cymbals. That’s quite a messy and physical operation so the likelihood of me getting to do that are slim.

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Here’s a shot I took at the top of Collier falls Saturday. I was only a few feet away from the edge of the dropoff into the fall’s basin below so I had to be extremely cautious where I was stepping to avoid any mishaps. I would have liked to have gotten a shot from below, but from where I was, I couldn’t see a good way down that wouldn’t have taken all morning. Next time, one of the things I plan on bringing is some rope. Might not be a bad idea to bring along a climbing harness too to better get in and out of spots (with help from others of course). Anyway, there were two old brick columns standing in the water just below the falls. I’m guessing they used to be part of a mill before? Or maybe a bridge? I’m not certain. I don’t know if they appear in any of my shots but I’ll look around.

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Here’s one of my shots from Saturday’s hiking extravaganza. It’s of Shangri-La falls in Bankhead forest. I like this shot except for the dang hotspot on the rocks to the left of the falls. I wish I would have caught that. I’ll be more careful next time. And yes TC, this is what winter in Alabama looks like.

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While I was at the gym last Friday, I thought I would check my body fat level again to see how I was progressing since starting my exercise routine. About a month ago, I was at 16.4 percent. I found out that number wasn’t too shabby for someone that didn’t exercise much or have a special diet. Friday, after measuring three times to be certain - I’m down to 11.3! That’s over a five percent reduction. It’s exciting to see results so I’m encouraged that I’m heading in a good direction to take better care of myself. Lesa also joined the gym I go to so now I’ve got all sorts of workout partners to meet up with making it all the more enjoyable.

I spent Saturday hiking around Bankhead Forest with some friends trying to locate a few waterfalls. I’ve only been out there once or twice before and only saw the easy stuff - things near a road and just a short stroll away. I was in for a nasty surprise as the hike turned into something quite physically challenging. It was tougher than I was expecting even if I hadn’t been carrying a pack with my camera gear in it so you can imagine how much tougher it is with one that also has a tripod sticking out the top catching every vine and low-hanging branch. There were no trails here, just GPS coordinates and THICK underbrush. Because of the winter, most of it was dry - I can only imagine what it would be like in the summer when everything is lush with vegetation. Thorns and briers were everywhere. My hands are all scratched up. I’ll tell you what, I’m glad I dressed correctly or this could have been much worse. Thick pants, good socks and waterproof hiking boots coupled with a waterproof jacket helped keep me warm and dry even when stepping on slippery rocks crossing streams. A walking stick proved an invaluable tool and helped tremendously when footing was a little unsure - which happened a LOT. It’s hell on your knees and ankles. Your ankles take a beating when you’re walking across, not UP, a steep incline. My boots helped out there and I never came close to twisting anything but I would have without their support. Next time I go out there, I’m changing up what I’m bringing with me though to save weight. I *have* to get a lighter tripod for when I have to carry it a long way. The one I have, a Manfrotto 3021B-PRO is aluminum and has a small ball head on it but it still is quite heavy - not a bad thing since you want it to be stable. What I would want for next time is probably going to be a carbon fiber model. The CF will be nice too in the fact that it doesn’t get as hot or cold as the metal tripods do. To save more weight, I have a better idea of what I need to being along camera-wise. Typically, I like to have things in case I need them, but in this situation, lighter is better for sure.

I have to bring more water though. I drank one bottle on the way to the forest then drank both bottles I carried with me. Luckily, Owen had an extra bottle of Propel that he gave me and that got me through the last leg of our hike.

I ended up getting a few shots that might turn out well. I haven’t had a chance to really take a good look at them yet. I did take some snapshots with my pocket camera though. I’ve got a couple below.

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