The Hills are Alive!

Crystal Huau sings as 'Maria' during a dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music" as performed by the Athens Creative Theater at the Morton Theater on Monday, September 22, 2008.

Little known fact. In high school i professed myself to be an actor. (Thankfully most of those photos are buried away and hidden, lest they show up on FailBlog.) I'm every much as good an actor as i am a brain surgeon. Lets put it this way, if my acting fell out of a boat, it couldn't hit water.



Crystal Huau sings with The von Trapp children during a dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music" as performed by the Athens Creative Theater at the Morton Theater on Monday, September 22, 2008.

Anyways, i got the chance to photograph Athens Creative Theater's dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music." These are the same people i worked with when i photographed the "Peter Pan" flying shots back in February. They are a blast to work with and work around. Excellent for community theater and those dinner party guests certainly did a better job then I did.



Megan Boyd, center, and Crystal Huau dance during a dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music" as performed by the Athens Creative Theater at the Morton Theater on Monday, September 22, 2008.



Crystal Huau waits to go on stage as 'Maria' during a dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music" as performed by the Athens Creative Theater at the Morton Theater on Monday, September 22, 2008.

I wanted to stay for the whole show. Anyone who knows me knows I love Family Guy's irreverent take on the Nuns stealing the distributor cables at the end of the play. However the rehearsal stopped for about a half hour while set pieces were brought into the building.



Isabelle Germain, right, waits offstage during a dress rehearsal for "The Sound of Music" as performed by the Athens Creative Theater at the Morton Theater on Monday, September 22, 2008.

Maybe it wasn't THAT bad.....

Quarterback Matthew Stafford scrambles in the fourth quarter as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide upsets the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 41-30 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.

I just spent the past hour and a half looking at the detritus raw files from my Georgia-Alabama game. They weren't as bad as i had thought. Lots of 'almost' photos and bad luck, i.e. the ball was dropped on the wrong side of the body. Lots of pictures of Stafford running for his life.

Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson is hit by Georgia defenders DeAngelo Tyson, left, and Jarius Wynn, right, as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide upsets the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 41-30 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.




Better than last year but still nothing that makes me go 'WOW'. Granted, I've done a total of EIGHT college football games (5 last year, 2 this year and one during an internship) in my life but they're where i want them to be.




Wide Receiver Mohamed Massaquoi drops back to pass during a trick play in the third quarter as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide upsets the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 41-30 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008. The intended pass for quarterback Matthew Stafford fell incomplete.


Wide receiver A.J. Green stifarms Alabama defender Marquis Johnson in the third quarter as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide upsets the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 41-30 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.


(Hey Kids! Guess which photo was the D2x. The rest were all D700)

Blackout? Blackout! Black-out.

Former UGA player Jason Johnson is surrounded by the runinng backs during a pregame dance before the #3 Georgia Bulldogs take on the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.

(Shot that with a Pole cam and the Live View function. Usually they surround Knowshon but not this time)

#3 Georgia. #8 Alabama. Biggest College Game I've shot. Sidelines packed full of people, lots whom didn't need to be there. And to Sports Comm's credit, those that clearly didn't need to be there mysteriously disappeared after halftime. Coincidently, Georgia didn't show up until after halftime either.




Alabama lineman Antoine Caldwell celebrates a touchdown with Roy Upchurch as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide lead the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 31-0 at halftime at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.

It was a game of two halves. Alabama dominated the first half, going up an unthinkable 31-0. Georgia came back and scored 30 in the second half, including 1 punt return for a TD, 1 blocked punt and a successful onside kick. Did i get a good picture of any of these? Of course not.

The first half had lots of Alabama Jube. The second half had lots of Georgia passes and dropped passes. Shooting wise, it got a little predictable. Everyone has their own style of how they shoot football. Me, i just try to do what the defensive backs do: read the quarterback and follow where he's looking when his arm comes back to throw.




Alabama linebacker Don ta Hightower comes up with an interception as the #3 Georgia Bulldogs take on the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.



Alabama running back Roy Upchurch watches as the ball squirts loose after he was ruled down as the #9 Alabama Crimson Tide upsets the #3 Georgia Bulldogs 41-30 at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Saturday, September 27, 2008.

All in all, the game was OKAY. I had pictures of two fumbles that weren't therefore utterly useless. I liked my one handed interception and some of the 'BAMA jube. Never made a really good Georgia picture that i liked. Just wasn't there.

Circus, Circus!

Well, I haven't been to the circus since i was 8(!?!?) and i got the opportunity to shoot the Cole Bros. one on Wednesday. Sure beat cruising for a feature for A1 - this worked perfectly. Besides, the elephants looked cute.

Only not-so-bright-spot was motion blur in the human cannonball shot. Nailed the moment dead where i wanted it, just should have opened the ISO up a stop so i could have an even faster, more ridiculous shutter speed.

From the Sidelines

Jefferson High School cheerleaders are sillouetted against the sky before the Jefferson Dragons beat the Commerce Tigers 35-14 in Commerce on Friday, August 30, 2008.


I'm trying to make more photos that really show what encompasses high school football, or at least the passions that go into it.

I get to see things every Friday night that the hundreds (or thousands) of people who attend really don't get to see. Three games in, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with some of the stuff I'm getting.



The Jefferson Dragon taunts the Commerce Tiger before the game as the Jefferson Dragons beat the Commerce Tigers 35-14 in Commerce on Friday, August 30, 2008.



Commerce sousaphone player Chris Lewis plays before the Jefferson Dragons beat the Commerce Tigers 35-14 in Commerce on Friday, August 30, 2008.



Commerce running back Javon Womack plays the drums as part of Commerce High School marching band's halftime show as the Jefferson Dragons beat the Commerce Tigers 35-14 in Commerce on Friday, August 30, 2008.



The Apalachee Wildcats warm up in Bethlehem on Friday, September 5, 2008.



Apalachee cheerleaders dance as the Apalachee Wildcats beat Cedar Shoals 7-0 in Bethlehem on Friday, September 5, 2008.



Saxophonist Macie Biehl yells pregame before the Apalachee Wildcats beat Cedar Shoals 7-0 in Bethlehem on Friday, September 5, 2008.



Apalachee student Davaughn Kilgrew celebrates at halftime as the Apalachee Wildcats beat Cedar Shoals 7-0 in Bethlehem on Friday, September 5, 2008.

Friday Night Lights - Jefferson Edition

Jefferson High School. Arguably the worst lit stadium I've ever seen, and that includes South Sumter High School in Florida.

Enter the Nikon D700. 1/500 @ f/2.8 @ ISO 8000 (center) or ISO 10000 (end zones)

Just amazing on the image quality.

Anyways, Jefferson went on to beat Fannin County 41-7. Fannin county is the defending region champ and Jefferson just moved up to their region.




Quarterback Darius Minor, left, is congratulated by running back Jay Fowler, right, following a Minor touchdown run as the Jefferson Dragons lead the Fannin County Rebels 27-0 at halftime on Friday, September 12, 2008.



Running back Lucas Reed pulls two defenders into the end zone as he scores a touchdown as the Jefferson Dragons lead the Fannin County Rebels 27-0 at halftime on Friday, September 12, 2008.



Linebacker Jay Fowler, center, celebrates after coming up with the ball following a Fannin County fumble in the second quarter as the Jefferson Dragons lead the Fannin County Rebels 27-0 at halftime on Friday, September 12, 2008.



Running back Virgil Appleby runs in the second quarter as the Jefferson Dragons lead the Fannin County Rebels 27-0 at halftime on Friday, September 12, 2008.

Weekend Update Pt 2 - Sportraits

Our paper loves sportraits.... and i love just using one or two speedlights and using the environment near the football field.



Athens Christian quarterback Tyson Beacham on Monday, September 8, 2008. Beacham had 3 touchdowns in the Eagle's 26-6 victory over Pace Academy.



Jefferson Dragons running back Virgil Appleby.



Athens Academy lineman Will Jenkins on Thursday, September 11, 2008.

Weekend Update Pt 1 - Spot News

As usual, I've been a tad tardy with my updates around here. Its been a busy week, lots of things i've shot have been advance and they just get forgot by the wayside in posting. That and I've shot my fair share (and then some) of video in the past week....

So I've been living and dying by the scanner of late. Caught two spot news happenings.



Athens-Clarke County firefighter Brian Coggins, left, is covered by water mixed with insulation while overhauling an apartment fire Hillside Condominiums at 125 Berlin Ct in Athens on Thursday, September 4, 2008.

Coggins and his partner on Rescue 4 knocked that down fast. When i stepped out of the car, there was billowing black smoke. By the time i got the camera up, the fire was out.




Athens Clarke County firefighters use axes to overhaul the roof of an apartment fire in Hillside Condominiums at 125 Berlin Ct in Athens on Thursday, September 4, 2008.



Cindy Schnavley, center, cradles the head of a pedestrian who struck by a pickup truck at the corner of East Campus Road and Hooper Street on Friday, September 5, 2008.

The pedestrian was okay. Looked worse then it was. Of course I was nearly nailed in a crosswalk the other day.