Crazy Week Ensues...

This is Stress Week! I just wrapped a product shoot of seafood at Shores & Ruark. With 5-year old Willem in tow, I had to give him a spare camera to keep him occupied. 4 hours is rough when you are on a pier with your son in the winter. Thanks to Rick for keeping an eye on the boy, and Karen (of Shores & Ruark) the food designer, who put up with Willem's photo shoot of product preparation.

But that was the easy part! This weekend is the 2nd Annual Trail Travail. An underground Trail run with a field of 30 runners, several volunteers, and anyone else who catches wind and shows up. I designed T-Shirts for this year's event, and that has made a serious dent in the Backlight bank account. But they look great - thanks in no small part to 360 Graphics right here in Richmond.

In addition to fatherly duties, I am purchasing supplies, arranging volunteers, and marking the course for Saturday's run. It's a 25K* - not quite 15 miles, but it's off-road so we can't be sure...

Mission Accomplished...Almost

I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

I managed to slog my way through the Swinging Bridge 35K yesterday morning. That's right - 35K. I know I signed up for the 50K, but I didn't make the cut-off to continue on. I blame the volunteers for not letting me go on. Just kidding. I shuffled in to the start/finish at a whopping 5:43. Last year I managed a 4:03.

I had a hunch I wouldn't be able to go on physically before the race started. With a month and a half of ankle injury, I haven't been able to train more than once or twice a week. This was my longest continuous run (I managed 35K roughly during Mark Junkermann's 24 Hours of Momentum, but that was broken up with dinner and sleeping) since last year's Bel Monte 50K - with or without my gear. Anyway, the ankle was sore from the first step onto the trail and stayed that way through 21 miles of mud, 30 degree creek crossings and leaf-covered roots. Not to mention numerous fallen log crossings as difficult as an Army Basic Training Obstacle Course. But that's why it's a fun race.

It was definitely a good race to photograph. Although there aren't any stunning landscape photo ops, the out-and-back format allows for plenty of participant photos. Of course you could set up at the creek crossings and more visually interesting places and wait, but then you wouldn't be me. In fact, even if you didn't want to join the race and still wanted to get to these good sites, you would probably have to put in 2 or 3 miles. I did luck out however, and got two of the faster guys coming across together. I wish I had camera in hand when the group of 4 took off their shoes to cross the deepest creek. In fact, they did this both out and back. They looked like they were stopping for a relaxing picnic. Testament to my sluggish running speed, the first four runners were on me before I could unpack the camera. I figured I had another mile before I saw anyone. Sorry guys; slow down next time! Check out the photo slideshow.

My only disappointment was that it was supposed to snow and I saw nary a flake. One of these days...

Rights Violation Issues

Terry called and asked me to check out a photo in last week's WEEKEND section put out by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I usually skim through the whole paper to look at the pictures and see if any headlines seem worth reading, but I hadn't gotten to that section yet.

I was surprised to see a photo of Sloth Loves Chunk with a short blurb about the band and their upcoming performance. What surprised me was that the photo was one I had taken of the band and its obvious lack of a photo credit. So I just chalked it up to the band having given out the photo and not concerning themselves with all the pro-bono work I have done for them in the past by ignoring this little detail. On further investigation, however, I discovered that no one in the band had any idea of the photo or article being published until told about it by friends.

I immediately emailed the RTD news department - since they have no email to the WEEKEND editor. The gist of the email was that I would like to know how they came to use the photo without my or the band's permission.

The next morning I received an apologetic call from the WEEKEND editor explaining how the freelance writer of the blurb had not gone through the necessary protocol in this case, and that they had indeed used the photo without permission.

I took the high road (again) and explained my concern about not getting recognition and offered my services to the paper in a freelance capacity. Obviously they feel my work is worthy of printing; this was at least the 3rd photo they have printed (the others being with permission). I was told that they would keep my name in mind for future work. This was probably more a 'CYA' response than a promise for employment, so I don't expect anything to come of it.

So, be forewarned and make it a point to check out local papers and magazines frequently! You never know who is getting famous from your hard work...

Finally!

All my photos are now loaded, backed up, and imported into Lightroom. The grand total as of today is 50,532. That includes personal photos dating back to '03 and work photos since '05. The breakdown is something like 13,000ish and 37,000ish, respectively. Now I can kick back and add metadata when I get bored. But most of all, future photography will be a breeze to keep track of. I highly recommend Scott Kelby's digital photographer series of books (Lightrooom & Photoshop CS2 particularly). Of all the how-to books I've read in my lifetime - there have been quite a few - Kelby is hands-down the best author. I learned in 20 minutes how to remove all the power lines from behind the 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign (I bet you never knew they were there if you've never seen it). And best of all - even I can't tell they were there. The only 'Photoshopping' I do is to personal photos, but it's a great knowledge to have.

I'd like to mention an accolade; Metro Sports online magazine (Washington D.C. based) picked a photo of mine for the 'Year in Sports' photo submissions. The photo was one of 10 (not #1, apparently) picked to represent the Virginia-D.C. area's best sports captures of the year. The photo was one I took for the Richmond Sportsbackers. It was of Catriana Morrison (1st Place Female, from Great Britain) at the finish line of the 2007 Long-Course Duathlon World Championships, held for the first time ever in the United States. It was quite an event, and I'd like to thank the Sportsbackers for giving me the opportunity to photograph such a once-in-a-lifetime event. I'd also like to thank Rick Barlow for assisting me by covering the running photography. I also did the course map graphics and video on the Du World's site.