Diane’s Graduation from Klein Oak High School
May 27, 2006 on 7:50 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments
Story coming - Gallery to be added

Diane’s Prom Pics
May 13, 2006 on 7:49 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

Oklahoma City Tour

We had some time to tool around OKC while we were there - talk about a really depressed and dumpy area of the country.



There were a few nice spots we found - just south of downtown, an older historic district. The OKC Bombing Memorial was really VERY sad…just look at this photo. I hope the guys that did this ROT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY!
There was an art festival going on right next to the Cox Arena - this is where most of the pictures are from. 
It was really a crappy place for our last USAG meet - considering we had gone to Dallas twice earlier this year. It wasn’t very pretty, and just no variety. Course, USAG has never been known for making any kind of sense whatsoever.
We had to drive there, since we weren’t sure if Diane would even compete - we saw a wicked wreck just after the state line in OK…otherwise an INCREDIBLY boring drive -
See the Competition for more on that…

Level 10 Gymnastics - National Meet
April 29, 2006 on 7:48 pm | In just photoggin... | No Comments

Texas School - Photography at A&M



Wow, what a deal I fell into. My friend Scott - that I work events with, has a friend in WV, Gary. Gary and Scott are good friends and usually attend the TPS every year. Well, his friend Gary had some issues come up and wasn’t able to go. He called me and asked if I wanted his ticket - I think it’s usually something like $500 for this.
I knew it was going to be a hectic week, we were leaving for Oklahoma on Thursday for JO Nats. I also had no time to do a hotel room or get someone to watch dogs..and I figured…Val drove this for 6 months, 2 times a week..i could do it for a few days. ugh! it’s like 65 miles from here to a&m - the only trouble i had was once I got there, finding my way around the campus. it’s huge!

I wasn’t overly impressed with the instructor - he did give some good advice on posing, and some really bad advice on posing. He had some good lighting instructions. I could give a shit about the marketing advice he had. All marketing is sleazy to me it seems. We photographed a couple of models, a bride and groom, and a cadet (nice looking!). He really kinda sleazed me out at the end..when he was talking about how much money he makes per month - like 100k with 4 studios - and then in the next breath - talked about being on food stamps for the first time in his life during Hurricane Katrina….hmmm, something doesn’t sound right does it?

Annual Bluebonnet Photos with the Family



Bluebonnets were NOT in abundance this year. We’ve had a pretty dry spring for this area - I heard somewhere it’s the “la nina” effect..
Val came home for the day - and we packed up my new (04) camry - and off we went towards A&M - out hwy 105 like we did the last time. We didn’t feel like hauling all 3 dogs with us, so we left them at home. We actually took the first set of pictures in a ditch! It seems the bluebonnets were growing mostly in lower areas that may have gotten water at one point. The girls have been into “posing” lately….strange.
We took several detours trying to find great bluebonnets..we never did find them though. GB as usual, wouldn’t look at the map i had provided…someone on the Texas Photo Forum had kinda mapped out the good bb areas. We did find a really cool back road - we stopped and took some pics where a horse farm was - then stopped again at the VFW Hall on 105 and took a few more.
Haha, the one of D coming out from behind the tree while Val was trying to be all serious - is hysterical!
Then home again…

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.