Texas Level 10 Regional Gymnastics Meet
March 31, 2006 on 7:03 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

10 Regionals this year was hosted by Metroplex Gymnastics in Dallas. It really sucked ass that right after State - we had to drive BACK to the Dallas area. (I’ll always hate this area).



So instead of staying at my friend’s house, like we normally do - we decided to stay at a Hampton Inn - it was the same one that Aunt Jeane and Uncle Charlie stayed in when they visited us in Plano. We had the most awesome salad at TGI’s - pecan crusted chicken salad - it had all kinds of good things in it.

Pammy met up with us at the meet - and wanted to play with the d200 - so I was happy to turn over the photographing job to her and sit back and enjoy the meet. Which is what i do most of the time anyway - people have been known to prod me to let me know d’s going. So…when I got there, I went over and spoke to the people at Champions Images - who seemed really nice - they said they might be able to use another photographer at this very meet, since one of their didn’t show up. I said cool. We went about our business.

Then the wife of the owner (who was photographing from her “booth” area) came over to Pammy, who was on the floor - on HER side of the arena..and starts complaining to her - that she didn’t pay a booth fee to be there, and to stop photographing all the gymnasts. Now…between Pam and myself - we know TONS of these girls…like know them, know them. So she gets all huffy more than a few times. Finally Pam gave up and came and sat down - so i got up and went to talk to the bitchy woman. So the conversation goes like this:

Janet: hey - my friend is just using my camera - getting the feel for digital - it’s no big deal.
woman: well she sure handles it like a professional
janet: well - it’s a professional camera - anyone can look good using it.
woman: she’s photographing all the gymnasts - you didn’t pay a booth fee.
janet: well, they are all of our friends - we know almost everyone here. we did pay our entrance fee - and there are no restrictions on parental/friend use of cameras.
woman: well, if you guys are here during the next session - we are quitting! we are walking out!
janet: whatever - i’m leaving after this session - i have no desire to sit here and take pictures all day - as i told you - we are just photo-ing our friends - we aren’t selling them

so long story short - she was pissed…i was pissed..i’m going to put the pictures up one of these days and sell them anway - send the money to Pammy. What an ass she was.

DONT BUY IMAGES FROM CHAMPIONS IMAGES IN OKLAHOMA - THEIR PICTURES SUCK AND THEY ARE RUDE!

So - on to the meet details:
D had olympic rotation (i think) - first vault - eh…second vault - ok, but not stellar. on to bars - nice bar routine - same old form breaks - only did a double back dismount - trying to minimize deductions for the little kicky thing she was doing before the full-out dismount. Beam - well, beam has not been d’s best this year - she’s fallen at every meeet (unlike last year with no falls the whole season). It only makes me mad when it’s a dumb fall - and this was a dumb fall - (having a senior moment trying to remember). Floor - we all had a laugh moment…she almost lost it on that dang rudi-back tuck thing again - but you could hear the THUG as she like dug her feet in and saved it.

Surprise of all things - she won vault and floor - silvered on bars and silvered the aa! woohoo! she was not paying attention when they called her name - the girls were teasing her. it’s been so long since she actually got a first place on anything, she really wasn’t expecting it.

We had a good time - ate Mexican Food over at Park and 15th, took Alex home, took Pammy home, and went on our merry way back to Spring. D’s been driving part of the way these days - it’s a huge help compared to the old days.

Diane Senior Pics
March 19, 2006 on 7:02 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
My friend Scott and I - the photog person that i work with- grabbed the diane - and headed to downtown houston for a senior portrait trip.



We had some fun - diane didn’t like changing shirts in front of the bums - but..oh well…life in the city. i mean, we held a reflector up in front of her and found some bushes in a corner. what more do you need? really?

so we had some fun - walked around downtown, we got kicked out of the well’s fargo bank area. what idiots. We had chinese food at Dim Son’s (?) with Scott and Tracy, and then went home. To process RAW files: NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT SHOOT RAW!

There are also photos of d’s friend Kelley in there…enjoy
haha

Rodeo Texas - Brooks and Dunn!!! WooHoo!
March 18, 2006 on 6:38 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

Rodeo in Texas - can it get any better? 



Val got us ticket to the rodeo - and to tell you the truth - i really wasn’t sure exactly WHO Brooks and Dunn were, since my generation really doesn’t pay attention to music videos, but I knew I liked a few of their songs. 
Rodeo in Houston is big business. D and I had been at Panera having lunch a few weeks before and watched the trail ride coming down 249 headed for Reliant. What a long hard trip that must be. Every year.

So we drove to Val’s apt - picked her up - and then drove over to Scott’s apt - since he is like right across the street from Reliant. It was a cool - semi-rainy day - which was good - it can be very ugly in TX in Feb/Mar.
We had nosebleed tickets due to our chronic inability to make a decision on who we wanted to see…but that was ok. We watched some bull riding, toured the food court area (of course), wandered around the pigs, chickens, and goats for a little bit. The concert was awesome -

Now as I look back through these pictures - I have a few more comments - they had this lady drill team thing going on - all dressed in white, this went on FOREVER, and all they did was prance around in circles on their horsies sitting side saddle. It was probably the most boring thing I’ve seen yet.

My pictures are not great - I didn’t take the arsenal of lenses with me, just the tamron 28-70/2.8 and the camera. Couldn’t get close enough to rodeo action with it - and I also forgot to switch to spot metering until right at the end of the concert. The last few turned out ok. The fireworks shots were suprisingly good, since I was handholding the camera.

Brooks and Dunn sang all my favorites - which currently the one from them that i like the best is called “i believe”. It’s funny cause when me and D hear it on the radio - we raise our hands like the song - and we must look like religious fantatics praying as we go down the road - it really must look hysterical.
We porked on rodeo food, then took Val home..and went home to the doggies who were always..happy to see us.

Texas Level 10 State Gymnastics Meet
March 12, 2006 on 6:37 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comment