Busy Weekend – Triathlon, NASCAR, Engagement, oh my! (July 14-15, 2012)

It was another scorcher of a weekend in New England (with no signs of it letting up).  For the second consecutive Saturday, I pulled double duty, shooting a triathlon for NuVision Action Image in Amesbury, Mass. in the morning and a busy NASCAR Saturday afternoon/evening at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for my shift at the newspaper.

Amesbury, Mass. was the site of the DAM Triathlon Saturday morning.  I was stationed out on the course to pick up shots of the competitors on their bikes and then running through the same spot.  I tried to pick a somewhat scenic spot and there was slim pickings along the route where they overlapped.  As usual, the athletes weren’t shy in hamming it up for the camera.  With temperatures forecast in the mid 90′s, I was relieved that the sky remained overcast with a nice breeze in the morning, keeping it nice and comfortable for me, AND of course the competitors.

Following this event, I trekked up to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.  I got into the track shortly after 1PM.  By that time, the sun had broke through, and the air temperatures had broken 90 with pretty gross humidity.  Unfortunately, on Saturday, we have to park pretty far away from the infield, and it’s hit or miss whether or not you can snag a ride to the infield.  On top of that, shorts are not allowed while working near the pits (though there were plenty of people who didn’t follow this guideline).  The Lenox 301 on Sunday was the main event of the weekend, but Saturday featured the Town Fair Tire 100 Whelen Modified series race, which was won by Rhode Island Native Mike Stefanik by .003 second.

Following the Whelen race, the Nationwide Series ran their F.W. Webb 200.  I was asked to get shots of X-Games star Travis Pastrana, Danica Patrick and local driver Matt Frahm, of Salem, NH.  Patrick and Pastrana’s cars were next to each other in pit row, and Frahm’s was not far behind, and following introductions, it was easy to get some good feature shots.

During the race, Pastrana (99) wrecked early on and Brad Keselowski, who led for much of the race, took the checkered flag.  Additionally, Austin Dillon and his sweet cowboy hat won a $100,000 Nationwide dash for the cash prize.

The highlight of the day came at night, and unfortunately, I couldn’t stick around for longer, but they ran a Global Rally Cross race on one quarter of the track that involved a dirt section, a few small jumps, a big jump, and plenty of action.

After a relatively easy exit from Loudon, I got home after 9 in time to prepare for Sunday morning and hit the hay.

Sunday morning brought a new challenge.  I met with an old friend from UNH, Anthony, and his wonderful bride-to-be, Chloe, at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye.  Odiorne Point is one of my favorite places in the state for many reasons.  We had scheduled an engagement shoot and a meeting to discuss their wedding in May, 2013, which we will be shooting.  These two were awesome to work with.  It was getting really hot really fast, and the sun was pretty high in the sky.  I set up a monolight and a softbox and went to work.  We moved from the seawall to the rocks to a nice gazebo and finally a path with funky trees along the beach.  I am happy with how the shots came out, and I hope they are as well!  I look forward to working with them in the Spring (and I imagine it will be a few degrees cooler!)

Happy 90th Birthday, Rita and Mary! – Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday, May 19, I had the honor to capture a very special day.  My good friends Erinn and Nick Raimondi hired me to photograph a surprise birthday party for their grandmothers, each of which turned 90 at some point in May.  It was an awesome party, and the emotions on their face

Friends and family gathered at the Cumberland, RI church function room at noon, and prepared for the guests of honor to arrive.  The hook to get them to arrive was that Erinn and Nick’s 4 month old daughter was performing in a play.  The funniest moment of the day might have been when Nick’s parents and Rita (his grandma) and Mary (Erinn’s grandma) arrived, and Emily ran into the hallway yelling “there’s no play, there’s no play!”.  It was hilarious, and so sweet.

After a wonderful dinner catered from a local Italian restaurant, Rita, and Mary, along with Emily, gathered to blow out their 90 candles, and open a gift.  A bound copy of the New York times from the day they were born.  An outstanding gift.

Following the cake and gifts, we took some family photos with Rita and Mary.  It was a beautiful day, and a wonderful tribute to them.  Thank you, Erinn and Nick, for asking me to shoot this event!

Hoppin’ Mad Mud Run – Sunday, May 20, 2012

This morning, I headed out to Woodsom Farm in Amesbury, Mass. to shoot the Hoppin’ Mad Mud Run for NuVision Action Image.  This was thrown together kind of last minute, as they just got the contract for the race earlier in the week.  We didn’t have much for details, and there were only three of us for the 10k/15 obstacle race, but I’m sure we rocked it.  I was stationed at the Cargo Net climb which was great for the first 1/2 until they decided to switch sides on me!  Here are a few of my favorite shots upon skimming through my take:

Day’s Work – Friday, May 18, 2012

Squeezed 4 assignments in to a short 6 hour shift Friday night at the paper.  The first stop was at Executive Health and Sports Center at the Manchester Airport to grab a shot or two for a fitness story for the Sunday news.

Next stop was Memorial High School to grab a few shots of the Manchester City Track and Field Championships featuring Manchester’s big four schools, Memorial, Central, West and trinity.


After a brief stop in the newsroom to file, it was back on the road.  I had about 20 minutes to get a few shots of the Goffstown Prom at the Radisson, file them, and then head to the Fisher Cats.  I decided to try to edit and transmit both of the assignments via the iPad, and it worked out pretty well.  The only downside, thusfar, is that I can’t send more than one image, edited and renamed, in a single email, so there were a lot of emails with one image each sent in.  Anyway, here are a couple from the prom:

And one from the Fisher Cats game against Trenton.

Long Day’s Work – Saturday, May 12, 2012

The day started early, leaving for Alton at 5:45 to cover the Big Lake Half-Marathon for NuVision Action Image, with a great crew of photog’s.  This is the second consecutive year I’ve shot this race, and with it being 13.1 miles long, I was assigned a spot early in the race, and another one late in the race.  The first spot was along the main road between mile 3 and 4

After the final runners passed, I walked right up the road to where the runners were returnning back towards the finish and grabbed a spot between miles 10 and 11.  I originally had a nice spot lined up where I hoped to frame as many runners as I could against an American flag on the side of a red house.  It worked nicely for a bit but as runners started to come in at a fast pace and as the shadows moved, it wasn’t as useful.

From Alton, I made my way down to Manchester for my newspaper shift (1-8:30), and after grabbing lunch, headed to St. Anselm College for a Northeast-10 Conference tournament game between in-state rivals St. Anselm and Franklin Pierce.

From there, I had to hit up the Fisher Cats game against the Binghamton Mets.

On top of the typical game coverage shots, I was asked to try to snag one of Roger Clemens who was in town to watch his son, Koby, play for the ‘Cats.  Apparently, that morning he threw batting practice.  We couldn’t find him, and it wasn’t until I was leaving the parking lot that I got a text from our writer that he was in the section behind home plate.  We had missed him previously (no telling if he had been there the whole time).  I turned around, hurried back into the stadium and took one image:

and as I was relocating to get a better angle (I’m not a paparazzi, I don’t know how this stuff works!), he and his wife had gotten up and left.

After a couple of hours in the newsroom, I finished up the shift by shooting the beginning of the Bedford High School Prom at the Radisson.

On Assignment – Saturday, May 5, 2012

Today’s assignments for the newspaper included a High School Track Meet in Salem, an Aerospace Fest in Concord, and a High School girl’s lacrosse game between undefeated Division I powerhouse teams Londonderry and Concord in Londonderry.

Often, Saturdays when the schedule is packed, we’re asked to cover an event that’s several hours long that we will have an hour or so to get an image of an athlete that is being featured by the writer, along with a handful of other images during the competition.  Unfortunately, the athlete being featured by writer Mark Quirk had already competed, so we were left to pose a portrait type shot.  Souhegan’s Ben DeForest had just set a new record in the 55 meter hurdles, and when I asked him to hold up his shoes (I didn’t really have anything in mind), he jokingly held them up like this:

in the remaining 45 minutes, I snagged a few shots of hurdlers and long jumpers and made my way to Concord for a quick pass through AerospaceFest 2012 at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

Astronaut and Portsmouth High School graduate Rick Searfoss spoke during the hour I was there, so I grabbed a few shots of him and headed outside to find kids playing with stuff and the helicopter that zoomed a few feet over my head.

Following the hour or so at the AeroSpace Fest, I returned south to Londonderry High School to shoot the second half of a girl’s lacrosse game between Londonderry, who hadn’t lost a league game in over 3 years, and Concord, who came into the game also undefeated this season.  Concord ended up winning 14-12 ending the Lancer’s 59 game NHIAA winning streak.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new easier to update blog.  I plan to update with every assignment and, if appropriate a weekly update as well.  I hope you find it worth your time to check out, and look forward to feedback, comments and discussion.

have a groovy day!