Wow! I Can’t believe it’s already been a year, but it has, and the stock show is here again.

Have shot the opening parade, and several features throughout the years,

as well as many cool kids from Wise County.

As with most event photography, I think the creativity comes from exercising the mind through the abstract of the eye, kind of like looking for the proverbial money egg. By the time it ends, I’m usually ready for it to be over, but right now I’m jazzed about getting started.

A great thing about my job is it puts me in a lot of different places with a camera in my hands, something that might not happen if I wasn’t in the field every day!

The bad thing is you don’t always get to pick or choose your weather, time of day, you’re just there with a camera.  But in the words of the Masters, “F8 and being there” might be all that is needed!

This comes from a shoot, on the way to an other shoot!  I had a few extra minutes to kill, it was rainy and great lighting, so…. decided to play!  Never quite get over rainy day light, the way the light flows through the water.  I could shoot it 1 million times, and it would be different every time.

So, from the creative aspect, this totally made the whole shoot I was headed to. “To play is to create”.

Cody Duty get his first front page at the Wise County Messenger!

Now moving on to the Dallas Morning News for the spring internship, and the Austin American-Statesman for the summer internship. Then it’s back to WKU, for final year. Time flies. rock on  Cody!

Actually a lot of it!

With the exception of getting run over by the bull shortly after this shot was taken, it remains one of my favorite rodeo action shots!  This was in the day when I thought I was faster and smarter than the bull and shot on the arena floor.

Did a feature on a local, competeing in the hotter than hell race held annually in Witchita Falls couple of years ago, so began the bicycle abstractions.

Brad Ough is a truly inspirational guy in wich I enjoyed working with very much, he was up for anything,

and outside of one scare of setting the county on fire we had a great time.

This was another of my favorites from the same feature that didn’t run, but felt it showed the amount of time these guys spend on the bike in a day, not only in the race but in the months of trainig that built up to race day.

This week’s in the moment shot, comes from Bridgeport’s Butterfield stage days rodeo.

This may be a first, the first time a queen has been crowned, and the  horse fed at the same time!

Having fun with the jolly old souls!

Somewhere amidst the photo shoot always get one for me, these guys  were so much fun,  I couldn’t resist  playing around a little.

Of course the trip to the North Pole wasn’t bad either!

Just as each season holds its own beauty, so does each gym in Wise County. Each one having their own characteristics, I try to capitalize on each one in their individuality.

The Chico gym is the only one that I can create this effect in, since it’s the only one that has a wall right next to the court. This is far from my usual way of shooting, I tend to like really tight shots, and fill the frame with action, in order to use the negative space of the wall to create a 3-D effect, I decided to wider remote flashes set up along the opposite wall to camera right makes the shot in this particular case.

Nikon D3, 80-200,250@2.8, ISO 1250,- 50, ISO 1250, SB 800s set at 1/4 power.

As fall leaves, and winter begins, a whole new set of images, thoughts, and feelings await me!

It’s beautifully clear and cold,  the trees have lost their leaves, and the cold has burn away the yellow of the moon.

Old man winter has set in, as much as it does so in Texas.  Christmas shoppers in Wise County got a little taste of the bitterness this week when the Prada Shops fountain absorbed the cold! Each season holds its own beauty.

Have a lot of friends on the fire department and EMS squad. Have shot them for a number of years, and built many relationships. The great thing about working with these guys is they joke around and have a good time but when it comes time to work and roll these guys put on their game face and take care of business. I find myself in a lot of the same places they are at the same time .They always treat me with the utmost respect, and keep me out of harms way.

“Hey Joe get out of the traffic”!!

“Get over here now or I’m calling the sheriff Joe”

Ok so don’t listen to me, get run over again!

Sorry Cliff, knew these wouldn’t make the paper, but I still wanted you to buy the ice cream. Does it count if they’re on the web?