Always enjoy covering the elections,small or large,it’s about people trying to keep their job,or get a new one, and the people that support their candidates or oppose.

Either way, it’s all about the emotions and faces for me, and there will usually be quite a bit of that, on different levels for sure. This years  was no exception. It’s kinda like shooting a sporting event with a little more consistent energy, the outcome being the same though, some gotta win, some gotta lose. therein lies the shot.

Latest in Simply People series, Wise County Bulldogger.

On a recent venture to Galleria Mall in Dallas (wife’s Idea} took a late evening stroll past the ice rink from the third floor, all I could think about was what a SB-900, placed at ground level would have done for the skate marks in the ice. Got three frames off before the mall cop shut me down.
The security in this place is tougher than a Mav’s game.

Wise County style.

This years choice for the Home and lawn show cover shot came in the form of Nina and Delbert White of Decatur, Texas.

Not quite sure if these guys knew quite what to think about the whole thing.  They had agreed to a few days prior to the shoot and for some reason they kept looking at me kinda funny when I was laying in the middle of the street.  As it turned out it was a great day for the shoot, slightly overcast, and other than the icicles hanging off my lens, I couldn’t have ordered a better ambient day.

These guys were such great sports, to freeze for about twenty minutes while maintaing total composure, and a candidness while keeping us all rolling, you can’t help giving a 110% for people like this.

…..Believe, Track is here already. Seems like it was just getting ready for two-a-day football  yesterday.

That being said, it’s  my favorite time of year and my favorite sport. Being outside,  wide range of shots available, the action, the faces, the sunshine, it doesn’t get much better.

Not a huge fan off silhouettes,  but early in the year not much of a choice,  due to early darkness, so I continue to try to impress myself with a abstract lack of light shot!

As for the money shot, it generally comes  pretty quick in the form of a long jump shot, or shot-put with a great face. Then, everything else is a bonus!

The first track meet of the year is generally a warm-up for the eye, and trying to get in sync with the rythm  of the athletes and the different events, a photographic scrimmage if you will.

Add light? Only if you have to in Track. Never really like using flash in track,but sometimes a little goes a long ways.

Years ago, having just started my Mr. Mom phase when the wife decided that she was going back to the money making mode, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. This lasted about eighteen months, maybe the most memorable time of my life. I was suppose to be teaching the kids, found them teaching me more than I was them.

Had not had a camera in my hand for ten years due to the little things that get in the way, like making money, paying bills, and creating businesses. Starting in the grown-up world at a very young age, there wasn’t a whole lot of time for play, but the boys taught me many things in that era, one of witch was how to be a kid, something we all need to revisit from time to time.

My love affair with the camera begin all over in this period, I mean you couldn’t ask for much better moment shots than four boys at a young age embracing the world, and they were all boy for sure. Found out pretty quick to keep camera on, keep your settings ready for whatever light you were in, and that was in days of manual focus, so keep a good focus preset for the distance you were covering, nothing fancy, just capture the moment! Yes, I can say the schooling the boys gave me was the most valuable teaching I could get.

One of the things that came out of the whole deal was recording the different stages of these boys lives, the first of which was the top photo. As the years went by, would try to set up a similar shoot  when I could get all of them in one place.

This became a ritual that they finally come to accept over the years after having a camera shoved in their face for twenty years.The last of which was in 2006.  Now the boys are scattered all over the US, and haven’t had much of a chance to get together.  All I can say is thanks for all the lessons guys, I consider myself very lucky.

Kay Bailey1, originally uploaded by joeduty.

Please tell me I won!
Was blessed to have Kay visit Decatur,Texas on recent campaign trip, set up by DA Sharpe {big smile in background} Great words, we’ll see tomorrow if change is here.

Sidenote, love these guys who can’t figure which is more important, sound or little photos!

boyd__boys_playoffs4, originally uploaded by joeduty.

Some of the best stuff comes from behind the scenes at High School sports level, well any level for that matter. Basketball playoffs are no exception.
Not quite sure what the ref was trying to say, but got a good idea what the Boyd boys coach was thinking.

Being a long-time shooter of stills, still love the motion and excitement in an image. Competing with the video world is not always easy, especially when it comes to motion.

Constantly looking for ways to enhance, and bring to life a photo in a single glimpse, found a pretty incredible tool for doing so. The lensbaby, doess a great job of enhancing the active energy of this shot. Although I’ve used it quite a few times in the past, never really thought about applying it to motion.

D3s, lensbaby set at 5.6,focus set to right side.

If you’ve never visited the Wise County Swap meet, you haven’t. Page above is just a few of the Iconic images I gathered this year, for a page in new redesign of All-around Wise. The real-deal is the people, all doing the exact same thing, trying to find a deal on someone else’s junk/treasure.

This year did a little something different on the vendors that come from all over the US, by profiling seven different individuals,with only one ? why. MTK

Iconic wise though, I thought I had seen it all, wrong!

This guy who sells license plates, decided to cover his 1986 suburban with old license plate stickers. When asked why, ” well it needed a paint job anyway, this was cheaper.”