Planning for a new Air Show Season

Just as the Holiday season winds down, I begin to focus on the coming year and where I would like to go during the coming year. Without fail I have to plan a few trips to catch a good Air Show or two. There is something to be said about spending a day or weekend with the smell of aviation fuel, artery clogging concessions, and thousand of aviation fans to get the adrenaline rushing. Spending that day with friends and or family makes the experience all the better as well and is a great way to share time with one another. Of course, it does not hurt that I love the feeling of a good swift kick in the chest from the afterburners of a military demo.

This year is a little different in that it does not appear that any main military demo teams are visiting the TN area. So it looks like it will be a few weekend jaunts down to GA and TX at the moment. The Thunderbirds are scheduled for May at Warner Robins AFB and the Blue Angels at the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show.

It is not often, now a days, that an average person can shoot Aircraft and not get harassed by the local authorities. Working with the camera during the shows has a great side benefit. I can practice my panning skills for most of the day without worry. Although, I still have to watch out for the excited children trying to vie for the front line position that I had staked out. All this will trying to protect my gear at the same time. A minor inconvenience for sure, but seeing the smiles on the faces of the kids makes the frustration vanish in short order. In the end is is not the smiles that are the true reward and make life all the better for the day? I would not have it any other way.

Some early Halloween fun

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine and nothing beats celebrating Halloween down in Disney. For the past few years I have been going down to Orlando, FL to relax and have some Halloween fun. Disney hosts it Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Universal has it’s Halloween Horror Nights. Of course, there is also the Food and Wine Festival over at Epcot that always is a great time as well.

From Trick or Treating at Diseny World or sampling the great food and beverages at Epcot, there is no better way to relax for a few days or better yet at least a week. This years trip was no exception and I decided to make the trip a bit of a photo outing as I was traveling solo and was only going to be in Orlando for 3 nights.

iShine Live Concert Murfreesboro, TN 2008

iShine Live Concert
12 Oct 2008
World Outreach Church

Murfreesboro, TN Hosted by Luke Benward, star of How to Eat Fried Worms and Disney’s Minutemen, iShine LIVE features Robert Pierre, The Rubyz and speaker, Paige Armstrong.

I recently was invited by the Rubyz and a friend at work to photograph the iShine Live concert. It has been a while since I had done any concert photos and I was looking for a good excuse to do so. So I headed down to Murfreesboro on Sunday night and meet up with everyone.

Immediately, I was impressed by the facilities, at the World Outreach Church, as I was expecting something not quite as professional as what the Church had built out. Unfortunately, the lighting was probably the least lacking of the night. Shadows were harsh to overpowering on the performers and the smoke machine did not help either with focus. However, the performers put on a great show for the crowd and there were few that noticed the same issue that I did. With that said the music was for the most part non-stop, upbeat, fun to listen to and in the end I think I got some good pictures.

Thanks again to the Rubyz, Loren and the crew of iShine for allowing me to photograph their event.