August 11, 2008

     I never did the rodeo thing as a kid; just never lived in an area where that was really a big deal.  And I have to admit, I'm thankful.

     Now don't get me wrong.  I have nothing against people who do enjoy the sport.  We are all wired differently.  But I think the reason I am glad I was never really exposed to this sport is because I might have been inclined to try this bull riding stuff.  After all, I did jump out of an airplane when I was 19. ( And I did have a parachute strapped to my back )

     I just returned from McAllester, OK where I spent this past weekend shooting the TJRA  2-day rodeo event.  It was a very long weekend sitting in that arena discovering once more how my body sweat serves as a great dust magnet.  I know I must have shot nearly 2000 pictures of kids from age 4 to 19 in various events like pole racing and barrel racing.  I saw young girls flying down the arena jumping off horses at full speed and then 'hog tying' goats.  I saw teenage boys test their strength by wrestling 500+ pound steers to the ground in an attempt to pin them on their backs.  Kids of all ages and gender slung lassos at anything that could be roped. 


     But it was the bull riding that intrigues me most.

     It really is a fascinating event to watch and especially trying to take pictures during the process.  I started  out down in the arena with my camera wanting the best angle but after being chased down by two bulls, it was quite obvious that I was getting to be too old and fat to be be dodging raging bulls.  I nearly pulled my shoulder out of joint hoisting myself up the fence to escape one enraged beast.

    Nonetheless, I was pleased with the shots I got.  Maybe some parents will order them and hang them up on a wall and ask themselves from time to time: "What were we thinking?"

    I'm glad to report that no one that I saw was carried out on a stretcher...or a body bag. 

    I still have tons of pictures to process at the time of this blog entry, but if you would like to see more of the shots from the weekend, just click on here. 


And 'Thanks'  Mom & Dad...for allowing me to try a lot of things as a kid while somehow keeping bull riding off the option list.



 

    

July 23, 2008          

   HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA CORSO  :-)

     So twenty six years ago today, our firstborn was ushered in to this world in San Antonio Texas.  Hard to believe it was that long ago.  So many of the details surrounding that day are still fresh in our memory banks.  You could not have found a prouder first-time dad anywhere on the planet.   Today, Lisa is doing well now taking up residence in Phoenix, Arizona where she works in the Marketing division  for Cole Properties.  She graduated 8 years ago from Prairiland High School, attended and graduated from UNT in Denton, Texas and then eventually made her way to live/work in Colorado Springs, CO after attending a musical school of worship at New Life Church there.  Opportunity knocked and she transplanted herself down to the 'Valley of the Sun' where she joined up with her current employer.

Then & Now--

               

     It's also hard to believe how quickly this summer is passing. I think I am done with my summer travels having just returned from my second visit to Chicago in the past 6 weeks.  Kathy and I flew up there to attend the wedding of an long time family friend of ours.  Mike and Lisa Fioritto saw their only daughter, Mia, married this past weekend to a fine young man who is a Divinity student at Yale.  Mia will be attending law school nearby.

     I had the privilege of being the photographer for the event and was actually up there last month to do her bridal shoot. The wedding was held in a beautiful building in downtown Chicago at the Covenant Presbyterian Church.  The building was built by Polish Catholics years ago and it was a magnificent setting even without air conditioning.

     It has been a long time, but I actually found time to hit the dance floor at the reception. 
It's a good thing none of my daughters were there; it might have been painful for them to witness.   ;-)

     We returned home Monday evening and so now I am gearing up to go shoot the Paris Rodeo which will start up a week from today. 
 I LOVE the variety of events I get to shoot with my cameras.      

I know that family/friends of the Fiorittos will be stopping by this site to view wedding proofs. Those can be viewed on my wedding proofs link.  Enjoy.

July 2, 2008    A 'Blast to my Past'

     So with some extra free time on my hands, I decided to try using my scanner and pulling up some old photographs I had buried away from years ago.  Back in the 'olden' days, we use to use this material called 'film' that we would insert in our cameras.  Once we had taken the pictures, we actually had to process this 'film' stuff  with chemicals and make actual prints on special photographic paper with it. :-)

Living in Europe, I often found the local markets a haven for picture taking.  I'm including a few of those scanned shots here.

Oh yeah...I found these two snap shots as well.  I used to enjoy doing a bit of acting on stage back in my high school days.  A former classmate and I had the lead roles in The Music Man which I did my senior year in high school.  If you are familiar with the play/movie, the lead female role is a librarian whose name is Marian.  The girl who played opposite of me was a year behind me in school and went on to do rather well for herself on stage and screen.  Back then, I knew her as Julie Smith.  Her 'famous' name is Julianne Moore  and has done a few shows and movies since then.   Here she is back when she was 17.

   

 

June 28, 2008

    This has been a great summer for traveling for me.  I was blessed to do the family reunion up in the Northwest two weeks ago on the Pacific beach as I previously posted.  Minda had flown up a few days after  us, and then stayed longer as well.  Kathy and I arrived back in Dallas on a Thursday and stayed the night at Minda's apartment so we would not have far to drive the next morning.  Kathy was leaving out with a group of nurses for a week long conference in Los Angeles.  After depositing her at the airport, I headed home for the weekend but then reloaded and flew off to Chicago the following Monday where I spent 4 days with some dear friends who we have known for a very long time.

     Their daughter, Mia, is getting married next month and I flew up to do a bridal shoot and spend a few days with Mike (her father) tinkering around with our cameras.  We go waaay back in our shared love of  photography so this trip was just really fun.  It occurred to me one morning when Minda was getting ready to fly home, that at that moment in time, she was in Seattle, WA, Kathy was in LA, Lisa was in Phoenix, Caralyn was in Dallas and I was in Chicago.   Pretty wild, really.

     I got to say that doing this bridal shot was really a blast.  We did a number of pictures on the top of their apartment building with the Chicago skyline as a backdrop.  The next day, we were able to set up my light gear in the church where she is going to be married next month.  Let me just say...that there is something special about being able to take wedding/bridal pictures in such a magnificent building as this one was.  I'm posting a shot of it as well.  They sure don't make church buildings like they used to!  :-)  (I'm bet there is a sermon in that statement as well!)                     
    

     There is no telling how many pictures I snapped this past week, but I even found some time to enjoy some great Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza on my last evening there.  I know...I  know...I live a hard life. :-)

     I returned from Chicago this past Thursday and actually had another shoot lined up to do on Friday.  Talk about an inspiring session.  Years ago, all three of our girls took swimming lessons from a college student, Becky White, who lived in Bogota, just down the road from us.   It was an annual ritual to cart the girls down there where all three learned how to swim under Becky's tutelage.   Becky was an aspiring pianist/music major and eventually graduated with a Masters, moved off to Waco, got married and started teaching music to elementary kids.

     About a month or so ago, I got an email from her 'out of the blue', as the saying goes.  She had come across an ad in the local paper where she saw the link to my web site here.  Seems that years ago, upon graduating with her masters, her parents blessed her with a 100+ year old Baldwin piano that is truly a work of art.  Apparently, she had been interested in getting some pictures done with her at the piano and contacted me to arrange a possible session.  It was truly one of the more inspiring shoots I can recall doing.  The reason being -  Becky played the piano the entire time.  She is truly a gifted artist and it just seemed to rub off on to me and we were both quite pleased with the end result on the pictures I took. 

     She opened up with the song 'Jessica's Theme', the tune from the movie "The Man from Snowy River". Played it like three times in a row.  I forgot what  great a melody that is.   Guess I'll sign off with this entry with just a couple of sample shots of this past weeks shoots-

 

   

    

June 19, 2008

    I think it was Harry Truman who was noted for the saying "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"
I guess after living in Texas for nearly 30 years, I've grown accustomed to the heat.  But I sure don't mind escaping it when the opportunity lends itself.  And as I type this entry, I'm on a Southwest Flight returning from a family reunion in northwest Washington where the daytime temps on the Pacific Beach hovered between the mid 40's and middle 50's.

     It was a great vacation that included watching my 'near-insane' nephews frolic in the icy waters of the Pacific ocean, a day of deep sea fishing which was a 'first' for me, and some sightseeing around the area in a rain forest and along the beach.  I also saw my first bald eagle in the wild one morning while out for an early stroll.  A dead seal had washed up on the beach and the eagle was investigating the carcass when I strolled up.  It didn't seem too bothered by my presence as I stopped and just gazed at the magnificent bird.  I didn't have my camera at the time, but came back later where I spotted his 'hang out spot' in a dead tree high up on the cliffs.  He was pretty far off so this picture was the best I could do from that distance.

     The fish I'm holding up here was one of the two Link Cod I caught (which was the limit on these type). I also bagged my limit on the sea bass which was 10.  Those were pretty fun bringing up too.  Our group brought back about 120+ pounds of filleted fish which Craig and Andrea will bring home to store in their freezers.  It was, without a doubt,  a mess of fish.  Despite the long day and late return home, we were bound and determined to fry up some of our fresh catch and found the cod to be much tastier than the bass.

     I posted a few new shots on my front /home page here from the trip.  They include a waterfall I saw in the rainforest, a sunset amidst the clouds over the Pacific ocean, and one of many seal gull shots I attempted while they continued to fly over the dunes where we stayed. 

     It's pretty amazing to think that last night, after a long day of deep-sea fishing with the 'guys', I sat out in back of one of the houses where we stayed with one of my brother-in-laws, Andrew. The rest of the gang were taking in a movie inside so we laid out in the recliners watching the sunset after a long but fun-filled day; and we huddled in our coats before the evening chill drove us back inside.  I kept telling myself, and Andrew, that this was June, and that within 24 hours, I would be getting off a plane back in near 100 degree Texas weather.  I just might have to crank my A/C down when I get in and huddle up on the sofa just to get acclimated again, while holding on to those chilling memories for just a few more hours. :-)

                              
          Click Picture to see an assortment of  vacation shots         

 

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