I'm a WPJA weeener!

The Winter 2006 WPJA winners were announced last night and two of my images turned up winners!! There are many amazing photographers in the organization, and hence, amazing photographs in the collection of winners! I'm so honored to be among so many photographers that I admire and to have my imagery considered alongside theirs. I also know that there are a lot of amazing images out there that had to get cut, because there's only room for so many, so I simply feel lucky to be among those that were included! ;-)

Here are my WPJA winning images:

CATEGORY: ACTION

JUDGES COMMENTS: Whoever he is, he's lucky! All the girls are grabbing for him and he is very cool through it all. Great composition, use of flash to highlight the main subjects. A wonderful moment and a great storytelling image.

CATEGORY: CAKE CUTTING

JUDGES COMMENTS: Scary but fun!

Staying Awake on Long Drives

As I get ready to make a 3:30 am departure for my 6 am flight from Indy to DC, I'm reminded of someone asking me, "how do you stay awake on those long drives?" Well, the answer for me is listening to audio books and singing. The book has to engage my mind or imagination in order for it to work, but it's better than needing to change the radio station every 150 miles (obviously I don't have satallite radio!) I've found that singing works really well because it requires me to think and to be physically engaged. If I find a good classical station with opera or a great symphony, that usually forces me to stay awake as well. Sometimes talk radio works if it's really entertaining - like the old radio shows, which are now limited to pretty much just the Prarie Home Companion. I do love Ira Glass and This American Life on NPR - he picks some of the most obscure and interesting stories. If all else fails, I leave the radio on my favorite station: "SCAN" - 3 seconds of each song is enough for me to recognize it and move on. ;-)

Just for you (and please don't judge me based on my song choice) here's a little of what I do to keep myself awake in the car...





My college voice teacher would probably kill me if she ever found these!!! She trains opera singers, not cheesy pop and spiritual singers!!!

March Desktop Images

Every month I change my desktop image to a photograph I've recently taken and I thought it would be fun to share these images in my blog so that you can download them for your desktop as well! Every month I'll try to post a new image that is suitable for displaying at desktop size and resolution. Click on an image to download a copy for your desktop.



I love weird images. The image above was shot for the band, Stampead, who is currently touring across the country. Unfortunately this shot probably won't be used in any of their promotional materials, and will most likely not make the cut for any other purposes, but I love it for the pure novelty of it. ;-) I'll write more about them later- but you should definitely check to see if they'll be in a city near you. These guys have a great Indie Folk Rock sound not to be ignored.



I was going to post another one of my favorite weird images, but I think I'll save it for April... just to keep things fresh. ;-)