Marge Schott Stadium on the Campus of the University of Cincinnati

Just over a week ago I shot my first game of the season at Marge Schott Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since I am a free agent this spring I have decided to try and shoot as many places as I can. I like the idea of having new teams and new backgrounds in my portfolio. This season started out during a trip to Cincinnati for the Music Now Festival, but I did manage to work in a shoot at this stadium. I think that the name first intrigued me, and some photos that I saw that were made there made me appreciate it even more. I love the backgrounds that you have here due to the fact the stadium is built into the ground a bit. Over the course of the next three weeks or so I will have added a couple more stadiums to my list this season. I will be shooting at Victory Field for Notre Dame, and at IU’s stadium for Cincinnati. Coming up I will also have shoots at Parkview Field for the Tincaps and a little action for the South Bend Cubs. This promises to be a great baseball season, but the teams just have to start coming North for that to happen. 

More From Cincinnati

I have posted a few photos from the game at Cincinnati up on the blog here. I also have a small gallery up on my website here. It was a lot of fun shooting in this new park. It really is unique for a college stadium. It was also nice to see my work being used again on a schools website.

Finding the Details in a Large City

While in Cincinnati a couple of weekends ago I found myself in the aptly named Fountain Square a couple of times. The centerpiece of Fountain Square is of course a fountain. Both times I was there something big was happening in the vicinity. On Saturday the St. Patrick’s Day parade was going on, and on Sunday a mini-marathon was happening just a block away. The square was always crowded so my normal angle of getting the entire fountain in would not work so well. I did make a couple of photos of the entire fountain, but I liked this small detail a little better.

The Boy With the Fish

The small spot that I chose to focus on was this out portion that depicts a boy with a fish. All around the fountain they show the many things that make water great. I like the idea of a boy fishing in downtown Cincinnati. I didn’t have much time to make photos while in Cincinnati. It really is a great city that deserves more than I gave it on this trip. That just means that I will have to visit it again sometime.

Opening Day 2015

Today is a great day. It is opening day. The day where every team still thinks that the World Series is a possibility. The coming harsh summer days will take those teams down to the select few who will play in the post season. Today though is about coming out of hibernation to see the green grass of the ball field, and hear the beautiful sounds of baseball. This is the day that we have been waiting months for, and it is finally here. Baseball is a beautiful game, and I am glad to see meaningful games starting to be played. The White Sox start the season in Kansas City, but they play at home Friday. Ten years ago I witnessed a great run by my South Siders, and with the optimism of Opening Day I hope to see a similar run this season.

Progressive Field on Opening Day

I made this picture on Opening Day in 2011 as I watched my White Sox win against Cleveland on Opening Day. That was a great time on a day that was much warmer than any day yet that year. I chose this photo because it was in 2011 when things started to change for me a bit. I started taking this photography thing a little more serious. At this point I did not have the gear to make a proper stadium shot, so I relied on a panoramic to help me do that. This season instead of watching from the stands I will be photographing professional baseball up close and personal. That is a very cool thing that I would not have dreamed of in 2011. This week I plan on shooting a little baseball both for pay as well as see a game as a fan. I think that I could see baseball everyday and not be bored by it. The beauty of the game is that it is never the same.

My Top 15 College Baseball Photos of 2015

When Mitch Roman squeezed a pop up in his might to record the final out against Notre Dame it also meant the end of my college baseball season as well. I really love college baseball. I did not photograph as much of it as I would have liked this season, but I did have a diverse year. Last year I shot all of it basically in one ballpark. This year I had a bit more freedom, and I shot in many different parks. It was interesting to see different teams and figure out what looks best for each of them. I was going to just do a top ten here, but I was having trouble culling that list down. Even when I decided to go up to 15 I still had some trouble. Some photos are not the most technically challenging, but they have a story that told part of my season. Here are the fifteen photos that I liked from this past season.

15. The list starts off with Illinois State catcher Paul De Jong. Paul was one of several very good catchers that I was able to watch this season. He was on the Golden Spikes watch list at the time, and just happened to be playing at Purdue. I wanted to make a photo of him, but things were not working for me. It was then that he hit a double in some very good light. I liked his pose here at second base, and I knew that I had my photo. He was drafted by the Pirates last year only to come back to play at Illinois State. It will be fun to see where he ends up in the draft this year.

14. Ian Happ was another very good player that I was able to watch this season. Ian is a Golden Spikes finalist, and one of my photos of Ian was used on his bio on the Golden Spikes website. Ian really keeps his head down while he bats which makes it very hard to get a good image of him. I would run into that at the Regionals with Cavan Biggio. Here you see just enough of Ian’s face to make the photo work. I had my photo of Ian. It doesn’t hurt for the countdown that Ian is wearing a uniform that looks like the famous White Sox uniforms that I grew up watching them play in.

13. Here is a shot that was made by chance. I say that for many reasons. The first is that I did not shoot a game for the University this season. The year before I shot nearly all of them for the school, but things had changed. I made the decision though that I would shoot baseball for someone. I love to shoot the sport, and I would shoot it no matter what. That decision led to many of the unique photos that appear on this countdown. I could have dwelled on the negative, but instead I decided to find some positives. For this picture I was lucky in my location on the field as well as the gesture by the player. I also love the glint of sun off of the glasses.

12. Late in the season I made a few Purdue games just to shoot for fun. I like watching the team play, and I wanted to photograph some of the seniors one last time. While doing that I was rewarded with some interesting situations to make some images. Here I got Kyle Johnson as he was going all out to catch a fly ball.

11. The highlight of the regular season for me was photographing Notre Dame at Victory Field. They were playing in front of a big crowd in a beautiful stadium. This shot of Kyle Richardson was one where I was trying to convey some of the scene as well as the action. I could shoot tight shots at their stadium all I wanted. I wanted to try and loosen it up a little to show the location a bit.

10. This is one of the shots that I call best available. While shooting for one team sometimes you capture a moment for the other team. As this shot was being made Notre Dame was realizing that their season was over. I went with this happy image of Mitch Roman celebrating Wright State’s second elimination game win of the day.

9. Ryan Bull had a good set of games in Champaign, Illinois during the Regionals of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. I believe that he was even on the all tournament team. I have some shots of his home run, but I like the anticipation of this shot. It is the split second before he is hit with a pitch.

8. I was never a pitcher anywhere but in my own backyard. I love the different pitching motions though, and I used to try and imitate the different styles. I used to love to try and actually throw a strike as Dan Quisenberry. As I made my transition to photography I continued to study the pitching motion. You want to find the things that make it unique and interesting for a split second. Here Jack Anderson of Penn State displays his unique motion. I was way too excited to photograph Jack, and I was able to capture a nice moment in his motion.

7. I don’t think that most times this photo would make this countdown. The beautiful light as the sun went down though makes this photo. I also love the way that his cross is swinging out. This is Mason Snyder sliding into third base late in a  game against Purdue this season. I think that mother nature did most of the work for me here. I just had to capture the moment in the light.

6. On Saturday in Champaign for the NCAA Baseball Regionals they only played two innings. I captured this moment during the first inning of the game between Wright State and Ohio. This is the second time in this countdown that Mitch Roman makes the countdown. I loved his gesture as he jumped over Ohio first baseman Jake Madsen.

5. As I placed this photo this high on the list I kept questioning if it should be here. I like the photo. I like it perhaps too much. If I had made the photo earlier in the season would I be sick of it by now? I don’t know. It was one of those moments when I wanted a photo of a player, and I was lucky enough to capture a moment. Time will tell if Torii Hunter Jr will be as good as his father. That is a tough bar to place on a player. He does look the part of a ballplayer though, and I think that next year we will get to see more of Torii.

4. I had made a few images of Notre Dame pitcher Ryan Smoyer during his day pitching against Illinois. I had everything I needed of him as far as coverage went. That was when I decided to try a few things. This might be my favorite multi-exposure yet. A slight pan gave me the separation that I needed between the frames.

3. This year I had planned on seeing Purdue play Valpo twice. The first game at Alexander Field I was away in Louisville covering the NCAA Tournament. The game at Bauer Field though I had open so I decided to head back up north. When I used to live near Valpo I attended many Valpo baseball games. Making the trip was rewarding though because of this frame of Brandon Krieg that I made. I loved watching Brandon play, and this slide into second base embodies his style of play. He was a down and dirty player that would always have a dirty jersey.

2. Here is a photo from the NCAA Tournament that captured a moment. This was the inning that sealed the deal for Wright State against Notre Dame. A tag that was just a little late allowed the run to score. I love how the rubber pellets from the turf fly up to meet the rain coming down. This is a cool photo all around I think. It has action along with a little of mother nature thrown in.

1. I like this photo a lot. It will be a while before it is moved off of my portfolio if ever. Notre Dame third baseman Kyle Fiala is shown sliding into third base safely after hitting a triple. I love the slide, the dirt, and the reflection of the third baseman in his helmet. This photo has a lot going for it. When I made it in April I knew that I had a high bar set for the rest of the season to make a better photo than this one. As I transition from college baseball to other leagues this summer I still have a high bar set to try and top.

Shooting For One Year With the Canon 7D Mark II

It doesn’t seem like that long ago when I picked the Canon 7D Mark II for the first time. This was billed as the camera that will change everything. To some degree it really has changed a lot for me. Looking back on the last year you can see that many of my best photos were made with this camera. From the day that I purchased the camera it became my workhorse camera. The camera did not always lend itself to the photo that I was used to making so I found lenses that would help me make a similar photo. Instead of using a 24-70mm lens for basketball I would used a 17-40mm lens on this crop sensor body. I really leaned heavily on this camera in the past year. It has helped me win awards, and push my photography to the next level.

What I Like About the Canon 7D Mark II

This could really be a long paragraph. I think that I might just resort to bullet points to make things a little easier to read.

• 20MP sensor
• Canon LP-E6N battery that is compatible with my Canon 5D Mark III
• 10 Frames Per Second
• Great autofocus system
• Great price compared to the Canon 1DX

What I Don’t Like About the Canon 7D Mark II

This section really boils down to one major point. This camera gets noisy very quickly. This past October I was shooting volleyball in a dark gym, and I ended up putting the camera back in the bag fairly quickly on the night. It really was not giving me what I needed in a dark gym. With that being said this is a crop frame body so you should not expect a full frame sensor’s ability to gather light. Now that I have the Canon 1DX I find that the 7DII only comes out of the bag when the light is very good. The other downfall of this camera is the dynamic range. Of course Canon is behind here with all of their cameras so it is not a problem with just the one camera. In the end there are a lot more positives with this camera than negatives.

More Photos With the Canon 7D Mark II

Below I have included some photos from 2015 that I made with the Canon 7D Mark II. As I said above the camera changed the way that I shoot sports. I tried to include a wide variety to show that it really can do it all when the light is right. Below you can find photos from baseball, football, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and auto racing to name a few. You can also see some vacation and wildlife photos that I made with the camera. I also have used it for concert photography when I am back a little further than I want to be, and I need the extra reach. I have enjoyed using the camera, and I think it shows in the photos below.

My 15 Favorite Concert Photos of 2015

One goal that I had in 2015 was to make more concert photos. I love music and photography so why not combine them both? One thing I did not count on was the barrier to entry seems higher than it was for sports photography. Even the local theaters have a camera policy that would prohibit my learning. I was able to make some interesting images during an open mic night, and that may be where I start in 2016. I love a good challenge, and shooting in the low light of a concert is a challenge for sure. It is one that I would like to do a bit more this year. For now though lets look back at some of my favorite concert photos of 2015.

15. Of course I will start this countdown off with a photo that combines two of my loves, sports and music. During the Jimmy Buffett concert in the Chicago suburbs Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane brought out the Stanley Cup. The roar from the crowd was one of the loudest I have ever heard. I love the way that this photo worked for me. The little Canon G16 point and shoot camera is a real champ that can provide you with a quality RAW file to work with.

14. The most fun I had shooting a concert this year was the open mic night at the Lafayette Theater. They really have a great light setup there that they have going in full effect during the course of the night. The problem with shooting an open mic night is that you really have to pay attention or you will miss out on who the act was. This gentleman above was very talented, but I missed his name so I still do not know who he was. That is too bad. I guess I am used to shooting sports where I have a scoreboard to tell me who just made the big play.

13. One band that I did find out the name of was June IND. They put on a brilliant acoustic set that I wish someone had recorded.  Here I captured their lead singer letting it all out covering Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell. When I heard the intro to the song I was very skeptical that they would pull it off. By the end of the song I wanted to hear it again.

12. Here is another photo that shows the power of the Canon G16. I am zoomed in in low light at a concert with a point and shoot camera. It really delivers a fabulous photo. I liked this little scene from a Jimmy Buffett show that I attended this past summer. 

11. The event of the year was the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was an event that combined the Cincinnati Symphony with modern rock music in a great way. On the second night of the show I wanted to show a little scale of the event. This probably would have been higher had I actually shot it during the show. I was in my seat though enjoying the show.

10. Here the band the National performs during the Music Now Festival. Their music was really meant for something like this. The blend was beautiful. I really loved the show so much that I did not make many photos of the show. Here is one that I made early on.

9. I think this photo cracks the top ten because of the colors. I love the way that they look here during the Jimmy Buffett show. The colors work well together, and the crowd on the screen behind the band just adds to the photo. Once again this is shot with the Canon G16 from my seat far from the stage. The little camera is amazing.

8. It seems like once a year I have a Canon G16 love fest when I talk about concert photography. Since I cannot bring my big gear into the show I take the Canon G16. It really does do a great job of capturing the moment. Here I love this little moment during a Father John Misty show at White River State Park in Indianapolis. That combined with the No Photography sign above the stage really makes the photo for me.

7. On night one of the Music Now Festival we were treated to The National as the headliners of a great night. For night two The National guitarist Bryce Dessner brought out friends Sufjan Stevens and Nico Muhly to perform some selections from Planetarium with the full symphony backing them. I did not know what to expect at first, but I was amazed at how Sufjan Stevens used his voice as another instrument in the symphony. It was a great show.

6. Here is another unnamed artist from an open mic night at the Lafayette Theater. She too gave a great performance that I would like to hear again. Maybe if I make it to another open mic night she will be back and I can catch her name. I love the pose and composition here. The great lights of the Lafayette Theater add to the photo as well.

5. This photo was made at my daughters first concert. She really digs the Alabama Shakes so we took her to White River State park to see them perform. One advantage to taking a two year old to a concert is the fact that security does not check a diaper bag very well. I was able to get my Canon 7D Mark II along with my 70-200mm lens into the show. With that combination I was able to make this photo of Brittany pouring it all out as she does during the show.

4. Here we have Drew from June IND playing his bass and singing during the open mic night at the Lafayette Theater. The lights give you a chance to play around a bit. The front light is nice, but it does add a bit of a shadow on the face of the singer. You have to be patient to capture the moment when it does not, or it is obscured a bit.

3. This is the second time this young lady is shown on the countdown. As I said above I was waiting for the moments when the singer moved away from the microphone so the shadow from it would not be on them. He I was given a bonus with a nice gesture as well. From a technical standpoint this is my favorite photo of the year.

2. Here is another photo of Father John Misty performing at White River State Park this past summer. For some reason I have always liked this photo. He is eating the mic, but everything else really seems to work here. The light was amazing, but of course it did not reach the stage. It did add a dreamy effect to the backdrop though that I really liked. Once again the sign adds a bit to the photo as well. Of course I bought a No Photography shirt at the show.

1. This may not be the best photo I made this year or the best technically. It was a moment that I loved though. This is a shot of The National performing Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks at the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is absolutely one of my favorite songs, and to hear it live with the symphony backing them was amazing. I did not photograph much during the show, but I did make this image of Matt Berninger really letting it all out during the chorus. This year the Symphony Hall is putting the Music Now Festival on again, and if you have the time I highly recommend that you attend.

What do you think of the countdown? Which photo was your favorite. As the year went on I placed the concert photos that I liked in this album here on my website. Is there a photo that I missed that could have made the list. Let me know in the comments below.

My Favorite 15 Cityscapes of 2015

Over the course of the past year it seems as if I have spent more time in cities than out photographing the landscapes. In fact I decided not to even do a “best of” post for my landscapes this year as I was not happy with what I was able to capture. It seems like my travels have taken me into cities this year where I made some very interesting photos. One thing that is really missing is my own town. There are many interesting things in Lafayette/West Lafayette to photograph. When it is right in front of you it is easy to put off going out to make the shot. This year I need to go out and make the shot a little more often locally. As it is though I made some photos that I am very happy to share with you from the past year. Here are my fifteen favorite cityscapes from the past year.

15. I like this photo for all of the reasons that I originally state in the original blog post. It is a little slice of my hometown. The building this is in front of was one that I used to spend quite a bit of time inside. I once thought that I would be the mayor of LaPorte. Now I think that I can make it as a sports photographer. I think it is easier to become a mayor.

14. This is the outside of Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was an amazing building that we were inside for two nights of great music last year. I cannot wait to see who they have playing this year for the Music Now Festival. More photos from the two concerts can be found on my concert countdown from a couple of days ago.

13. Here is another shot of my hometown of LaPorte, Indiana. You would be hard pressed to find two more iconic symbols of the city than the courthouse and the indian sculpture. They used to be separated, but now they have been placed together.

12. I absolutely loved Michael Jordan as a kid. I once thought that I could grow up to be like him (the song wasn’t far off). Of course now I am attempting something even more daunting, and that is to become a sports photographer. This was part of an exhibit showing some of the iconic work of Walter Iooss Jr. in front of the Field Museum. I thought that this photo showed Jordan and the city that he helped to six world championships. 

11. This is my one plug for the Canon G16 in this countdown. If you read my blog about the top concert photos you will see that it pretty much is a running ad for the Canon G16. I don’t get paid by Canon, and I bought the camera for myself. It is a great little camera that is easy to carry around, and still gives you a great RAW file to work with. Here I used it while boating to make an interesting photo of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The little town combined with the paddle boarders was a great reminder of a cool trip up north this past summer.

10. I don’t think that any structure on the campus of Purdue is any more iconic to the college then the clock tower. Here I like how it plays along nicely with the title to the school song. This is a relatively new installation on campus that was fun to play with one fall day.

9. It is a photo like the one above that makes me title the post my favorite photos of the year. It is far from technically being in my top 15 of the year, but I just have good memories of the town and the day. The little town of Paxton, Illinois really goes all out for Christmas, and I was happy to capture a portion of that. I like this photo of a little town in the middle of nowhere.

8. When I walked into the lobby of the Palmer House Hilton I let out an expletive. I don’t normally walk around in public swearing, but the beauty of the hotel was amazing to me. I woke up early one morning to make some photos of this great Chicago landmark. The photo that I liked the best was this view of the lobby from a small balcony on the second floor. I thought that the balcony drew you into the photo so I purposely placed it in the photo. This was a fun trip for many reasons, but the hotel was not too bad either.

7. Each year I try and think of a good way to make an interesting image of fireworks. In 2014 I made some great firework images, but when they are just by themselves in the sky they kind of fall flat. When I heard that the fireworks were going to be on the campus of Purdue this past summer I decided to try something. With a little scouting and the help of Google Earth I was able to find a location that would give me the fireworks and the Purdue Engineering Fountain. Only two bursts were high enough to photograph so I was lucky that the fountain and the firework colors worked together here.

6. While on a photowalk of Chicago with Trey Ratcliff this past summer I finally made it to the Buckingham Fountain for a photo. When I was just beginning this journey as a photographer I always thought that it would make a great photo. The light was just never right when I was there. We arrived at about the perfect time to make a great blue hour image of the fountain and the skyline of Chicago. This was one of my favorite photos of the photowalk.

5. On a separate trip to Chicago I was out early on the same morning that I made the Palmer House interior photo to try and capture Chicago as the sun came up. I thought that the pastel colors played nicely with the bus that came streaking by. A little patience in waiting on the bus paid off for me here.

4. As it turns out Chicago scenes will make up the final six photos on this countdown. This photo was made inside of the Intercontinental Hotel on the Magnificent Mile. This great walkway leads you right to some fine wines I am sure. I loved the colors so I set up the tripod to make something interesting. I also love how the lines of the photo lead you to the wine.

3. On the same trip as the photo above I made this photo of part of the Chicago skyline at sunset. The night was a beautiful one so I excused myself from dinner at Navy Pier to make a couple of photos. I made a couple that I liked, but this was by far my favorite photo of the night. The light was just right, and the moon just adds to the photo.

2. While on the Trey Ratcliff photowalk I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a little. I normally shoot sports where I want everything crisp. Here I set up my tripod, and purposely blurred the photo walkers as they walked around me. This photo has really grown on my as the year has gone on. When I made it I don’t think that it would have even been in the top fifteen. As it is though it moved all the way up to number two. I think it was the conversion to black and white that changed my mind about the photo, and made me grow to like it.

1. Speaking of a black and white photo, this scene was just made for black and white. This is the historic pool of the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. Of course the day that we were there to see it they also had a public tour that meant that we wouldn’t have the place all to ourselves. A little patience gave me a clean area to work with to make this photo. I love the way that the window light is the primary light for the scene. This was a beautiful pool that will end up being featured on this blog quite a bit before the end of 2016.

As we conclude this year I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this blog. This has been a great year for me, and a lot of that comes from the opportunities that my readers have given me. I am very lucky to be able to do what I love for a living. I think that I was able to deliver much better content this year than in any previous year. The blog has grown a lot in the year as well. I just want to thank you all for reading, and to wish you a Happy New Year. I look forward to spending another year with you.

Dave

A Kiss That Could Kill

While in Columbus four years ago I was able to tour through a haunted house trade show with my camera. I had a new to me 24-70mm lens that I was having fun playing around with. At that time I only had the Canon 60D so going on a trip was easy to pack as far as camera gear went. Take the camera that I have. That camera really was a great way to get into the hobby. A photo like the one above in less than ideal lighting conditions came out just fine.

Celebrating a Great Day

Four years ago today I married my wife. It was the best decision I ever made. I am still not sure why she did it, but why ask questions? One of the reasons that I say it was such a great decision for me was that she is always good with my crazy photography ideas. Across from our hotel the day after we got married was this convention center with a halloween show. I made the above photo while touring through there. She also put up with me watching a little state championship baseball at Huntington Park that day as well. Despite my ideas of what constituted a good time she went along and we had fun. This isn’t me kissing up or anything as she doesn’t read this blog. I just feel that those are things that need to be said.

The Week In Photos

This past week was another fun week of making baseball photos. You can see my favorite photos from last week here on my Exposure site. For the next few weeks the sports will die down a bit. It is time to recharge the batteries a bit. Of course whenever I say that something really cool comes along to get me back into the fray. I would not mind that either.

Jimmy Buffett Plays His 50th Show at the Riverbend Music Center

When we were getting ready to head to Cincinnati to see Jimmy Buffett play I did some reading up on the concert. I was trying to see who the opening act was. He has had some interesting ones in past shows so I was wondering who I would see here. I couldn’t find anything so I kept digging. That digging helped me come to some cool information. The show we were going to see was the 50th that Jimmy would play at the Riverbend Music Center. That is quite an impressive feat to play 50 shows in one venue. With the age of the disposable venue and the move to playing in ballparks who knows if this will be done again. It was cool to see that we were going to the home of the Parrothead reference and to the site of many good shows.

Seeing Jimmy Buffett Play Live Again

Until 2012 I had never seen Jimmy Buffett play live. My wife went with some friends on a yearly trip to see him, and in that year I tagged along. I did it mainly to just see what it was all about. I figured there would be some good photos in it for me as well. Fast forward to 2017 and I am seeing my sixth show in a row. The last four years we have seen four shows in four states. I don’t know that it was planned, but it was just how all of our schedules worked out. Next year I am pushing to see him play in Hawaii. No matter where we see him play next year I am sure that it will be a good show. One great thing about how the schedule worked out is that I was able to hear ‘A Pirate At Forty’ twice while I was forty. One of my favorite Buffett songs that I always thought would be cool to hear when I am forty. At the time though that seemed like it was so far away. Next summer I will have to change the words to forty-one I guess.

What a Difference RAW Can Make

The photo above was one of my favorites from the show at first glance. It was put into a folder to edit when I had time. When I started editing the photo something was off. I then realized that for some reason my camera only saved jpegs for a short span of the concert. It is not a one button push to switch modes so I am curious as to what happened. Without all of that RAW data this photo was not quite what I thought it should be. The G16 is a good camera, and it can make photos that are good enough for me at these concerts. When I am not in RAW mode though I don’t know that I can trust it. This looks a bit like an old cell phone picture. Something had to be off during this song. I only pulled the camera out a few times, and who knows what happened this time.

The Aftermath

As the concert was ending I realized that there was no good way to get out of the venue. Instead of shuffling out in one big conga line we sat down on the astroturf to wait it out. It was then that I really noticed the amount of trash left on the lawn. It was an unbelievable amount just left for someone else to pick up. This is the ugly side of concerts that you don’t usually take the time to see.

The Week In Photos

For the third time in the last four weeks part of my week in photos will include concert photos. It must be summer. Right now I think that it will be October before I see my next concert although I have a great idea to head back to Cincinnati to see a cool show. Still looking into how I can make that happen. In the meantime check out my favorite photos from last week here.

Flying Over the Queen City

During my trip to Cincinnati I only had a couple of hours in the morning to make some photos of the city. I knew that I wanted to see the new Pete Rose statue so I made the trip down the riverwalk to the stadium. On my way I took the DJI Phantom 4 Pro up for a quick flight. I had this shot in mind from the second that I crossed over the bridge into Cincinnati. You have an idea of how it can look, but you never know until you are actually in position. I was very pleased with how my photo turned out.

The Phantom 4 Pro Goes Crazy

When I first launched my drone I went through my checklist before taking off. Being in a new place it is always important to make sure that everything is working properly. The take off went well, but then for some reason about 20 feet away from me the drone started to go haywire. I wanted to just spin in circles and more importantly head into the Ohio River. I quickly gained some control of the drone, and put it down in an open grassy field just off to the side of where I was. With a lot of space around me I took the drone back up to see if it would do it again. It did not, and I still do not know what the heck was going on when I first took off. Luckily I kept my wits about me, and found a way to get the quadcopter to the ground. Has anyone had this issue before? It had plenty of time to warm up, and it gave me my location as the home point which to me means we were good. I had 13 satellites when I took off which is plenty as well. Let me know in the comments if you have ever experienced this.

The Week In Photos

A couple of my shots over the Ohio River show up in this weeks edition of my favorite photos. The Queen City is a fun town to explore, and in just a couple of hours I made a few photos that I really liked. You can see some of my favorites in my weekly collection here.

Hanging Out At The Great Wolf Lodge

Last weekend before heading to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Cincinnati we spent a day at the Great Wolf Lodge. I had never been before, but my step-daughter loves the place. I made this photo as we were waiting to head up to our rooms for the first time. I was checking out what was ahead of me for the next day or so, and it brought out the ten year old in me that is never very far from the surface. The large bucket tipping over was all that I needed to be excited for the fun on the day.

Taking the Kids on a Road Trip

Usually when I go out on the road it is by myself. This was the end of basically three straight weeks of travel. By this point the three hour ride to Cincinnati could have gone either way. We had some fun playing the license plate game. Being the tech guy that I am I found an app for the phone that made it a lot of fun. By the end of the trip we found 35 out of 50 plates, and a great way to make the trip fly by. I have made a couple of trips since then, and I sort of miss my co-pilots helping me find the plates.

Making Photos With the iPhone 7 Plus

This photo was made with my phone. As soon as I knew what that bucket was going to do I knew the kind of photo that I wanted to make. I wanted to slow the shutter down a bit to show a little motion. An app I use on my phone called ProCam allows me to treat my phone like I would my dSLR. It allowed me to get my shutter speed down to 1/30th of a second which was good enough to get this shot. To make sure it was sharp I simply pressed the phone up against the window.

Seeing the Statues at the Great American Ballpark

One of the things that the Cincinnati Reds do very well is the way that they honor their past. The last time I visited the park in 2009 I toured the Hall of Fame, and I was very impressed. This should be a model for other ballparks to follow. From what I have seen St. Louis did follow this model, and they have a very good hall of fame as well. At the early hour I was walking by I was not able to tour the hall of fame, but I was able to see the statues outside of the park. They have added a few since I was there last. I concentrated on the statues that were new to me during my short stay. I can’t wait to see how they honor more of their heroes in the future. I may be there when they honor Junior.

The New Pete Rose Statue at Great American Ballpark

The big reason to head back to the Great American Ballpark in my limited time in Cincinnati was to see the new Pete Rose statue outside of the ballpark. I loved watching Pete play as a kid. He played the game the way that it should be played. He played with a heart and passion that few can match. His statue shows that perfectly as Pete will forever slide head first into a base outside of the park. This is a great statue that will be a destination for fans for years to come.

More Photos From the Park

Below are a few more of my favorites from my short walk around the park.

A Beautiful Sunrise in Cincinnati

A couple of months ago while in Cincinnati I spent most of my morning wandering around town making photos. It was a fairly cloudless day so the sky would not light up like I had hoped that it would. Those mornings are not the best, but you can make some good images during them. This photo of the Abraham Lincoln statue in town was one of the first that I made that morning. I noticed it the day before as we were checking into our hotel, and I wanted to wait until the time was right to make a photo of it. You can’t get much better light than a starburst of the rising sun.

The Week In Photos

Last week was a fun week to make some photos. It ended with a great weekend in Knoxville which I have been wanting to visit for a long time now. You can view my favorite photos from last week here.

A Visit To Xavier

I have worked for Xavier many times now, but never on the campus of the university. This weekend that will all change. Over the course of the next couple of days I will shoot four sports on campus. This is a fun week in a cool city that we have visited as a family lately. It is cool to get to do a little work here. I have shot for the Xavier swim team in the past, but this was cool to see them on their home turf. One the course of the next couple of days you will see some of the fun that I will have here in town.

The First Trial of Lightroom Classic

I had played around with the new Lightroom Classic before my trip to Cincinnati, but I had yet to give it a real test. That test was of course ingesting several cards from the swim meet. I still don’t know what I think about the new way the program works. I think that it really is just as fast as it once was. It took a little longer to ingest the cards, but then it seemed to be quick once they were there. Over the next couple of weeks I will have a much better sense of what exactly I am working with. I love staying inside of Lightroom and needing no other programs in my workflow. Maybe we are finally there for the most part.

Getting Wet To Get the Shot

For some reason I think that I was splashed more last night then ever before shooting a swim meet. I was absolutely soaked by the time I walked over to soccer. It must have been the pool, but after getting hit a lot early I quickly learned to get out of the way once I was out of range for the 400mm lens. I was happy with my take though so it was well worth the water.

Walking Over to the Xavier Soccer Complex

Thursday night after swimming was over I walked over to the Xavier Soccer Complex to catch the end of that game. It was not a long walk, but rather a short stroll across the parking lot. Originally this was supposed to be a longer shoot, but with swimming moved back an hour I was only able to catch the end of the game. It was an exciting finish though as Xavier clinched their first ever Big East tournament berth with the win. It was well worth the short walk to the game

Catching a Break

Walking into a game late you always wonder if you will miss anything trying to get into position. As I was walking down the sidelines I saw a position with a couple of huge Xavier banners in the background. After watching the video of the first goal during a break in the swim meet I saw that the team celebrates running away from their bench. I made a choice to stay in my position to put those backgrounds in any potential celebration shots. I would probably not get the shot of the goal, but this was my choice. As luck would have it the goal was scored, and they ran right in front of one of the backgrounds during their celebration. Sometimes a little gamble can pay off.

Heading To Cincy For Musketeer Madness

When I got the email asking me if I would shoot Musketeer Madness I will admit that I was a bit skeptical. I am not really into shooting practice. I like a game situation as it is usually easier to guess where the action will be, and you get some emotion as well. Then I googled Musketeer Madness and realized that this was a bigger deal than I am used to. I live in a town where they don’t do anything special for the beginning of the season. The big shows are not something that the local team is about. That is okay as it is kind of what they are about as a whole. It was interesting to see just what I have been missing though at Xavier. It was a special deal including cool lights that would be a dream to have in the background for a season. Watching some videos before I left I knew that I was in for a treat. I was not wrong.

Waiting For The Moment

Sometimes you can sit and wait forever on something and it does not materialize. Other times you happen into the middle of something really cool. I was getting some shots of the Xavier teams signing autographs during their fan fest when I saw two women slowing sneaking up on a player. The were having fun and filming it so I knew that nothing bad would happen so I turned my camera towards the player. It was a tearful reunion full of emotion, and proof that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

The Cintas Center

One real highlight of the day was walking around the Cintas Center with Greg the SID for women’s basketball. That really is an amazing facility for college basketball. There are many highlights as you walk around, and a couple of things that maybe aren’t too well known yet. If you are a donor though you have so much there waiting for you it is unbelievable. I can only imagine this intimate venue packed and loud. Hopefully after this year I won’t have to imagine that. The bar on the upper level is pretty cool as well. It is the actual bar from a popular local bar that was torn down reconstructed down to the floor. I could only imagine walking into Mackey Arena and sitting at the TA Toms bar again. I am pretty sure that any and all health codes would not allow the filth of Toms into Mackey though so it would not be too accurate.

The Team Introductions

The team came out to start the night with a really cool intro with lights and smoke all around. I tried to move around a bit to show it from all angles. If I ever shoot this again I would like to set up a few extra remotes to cover it from a few angles now that I know what to expect. That way no player is left out as I move from position to position.

A Remote View Of The Introductions

I sort of knew what to expect with the introductions, but I still did not know exactly what was going on. I bent a lot of ears trying to get as much info as I could on the intros so I could find the best angles. I set a remote up on the far end of the stage with the thought of covering a couple of angles at once. I brought out my seldom used 24mm pancake lens and put it on my Canon 7D Mark II with a Pocket Wizard on it for a bonus view. I never fully rely on the remote for my shot. In fact if I get one or two shots from a remote I am happy. It just gives me a way of covering a little more ground.

The Three Point Contest

The three point contest was good, but it really got good down the stretch as the players battled for the win. At some point I positioned myself to make shots of the player early in the round, and then concentrate on the bench as the round ended. They were bubbling with emotion, and that is fun to photograph. Of course my favorite photo of the three point contest is this one of the fans and team going crazy.

The Action

The last time that I saw the Xavier women’s team play was in the spring when they had a great comeback to win at Butler. It is hard to tell a lot from a ten minute scrimmage, but you can always tell a playmaker when you see one. This is a team has a few on it, and I look forward to seeing them play again. Once again it was super cool to have some interesting lights in the background to play with during the action.

The Week In Photos

This past week was a fun one full of sports. I really think that I shoot much better when I am slammed so it was nice to be a little slammed this past week. You can see some of my favorite photos from last week here on my Exposure page.

Xavier Men’s Basketball Gives the Fans a Show

Friday night I was in Cincinnati covering Musketeer Madness for Xavier. Yesterday I talked about the women’s side of the night, and today I will talk about the men’s side. Musketeer Madness is a great way to get an early jump on recruiting if you ask me. They put on a great show with a lot of fan support that has to impress the recruits. From the first look that I had of the team in the arena as Elias Harden took the stage I knew that I was in for a good night.

Finding Moments At Fan Fest

Once I saw these aviator glasses I had an idea for a photo. I tried to sit on it a couple of times, but the nature of fan fest means little gaps in people in line. When I saw a gap I tried to make this photo. I needed a young fan because of their height standing at just the right spot handing their loot to the player to autograph. If it all worked out then I had the fan in the glasses of the player. One bonus here was the tilt of the head brought the sun flare into the shot as well.

A Fun Three Point Contest That Ends In Overtime

I thought that the women’s three point contest had some drama and emotion, but the men easily beat that. A late bucket to force a tie and overtime made for a fun environment. I think the dramatic lighting in a slam dunk contest would have been much better than this, but player safety is the #1 concern. If this was the consolation prize it was a great substitute.

Basketball Already?

This is that weird time of the year when baseball is just ending, and football is starting to get very interesting. It is always hard for me to then quickly transition to basketball. Basketball is a sport where you are stuck in one place with very little room to move and be creative. That is hard for me at times. This year I am starting much earlier than I ever have before. A game this Saturday already seems crazy to me. The way things work though it will be March Madness before you know it.

The Week In Photos

Last week was a fun week with a lot of action to photograph. You can view my favorite photos from the week here. When you have cool light like in the photo above the photos just seem to come a little easier. This week has some great potential as well if the weather holds off.

One Last Photo Before I Go

When I saw the setup for the introductions I knew that I wanted to cover it from a couple of angles. I had remote cameras and I was constantly changing my position. One shot that I knew that I wanted going into it though was the shot above. With Trevon Bluiett making his last run with the Musketeers I wanted to give him the full hero treatment. I saw this possibility hours before the event when they were playing with the lighting. The smoke that was added to the photo just makes it for me. This was one of those pre-visualized shots that really came out like I was hoping that it would.

My Favorite 17 Soccer Photos From the 2017 Season

This was a crazy year as far as soccer goes for me. I really did not photograph a lot of soccer even though teams around me were having good seasons. I have photographed the Purdue alumni game with my niece playing for the last several years, but another job got in the way this year so I didn’t even photograph that. It seems like this soccer post is spent each year saying that I need to photograph more of it. It is a sport that I really enjoy photographing, but the demand just isn’t there. Next year I need to make sure the demand is there. Here are my favorite 17 images from this past soccer season.

17. This season started off on a high note as Purdue went up to Notre Dame and beat them in a friendly. After the game was over two of the freshman had a great moment that I was lucky to be near. You don’t expect that kind of emotion after an exhibition game, but I was happy to photograph it. These two would help Purdue have the best season since I have been around, and this was just the beginning of that.

16. The first men’s game that I covered this year was the Xavier exhibition game at Indiana. Sometimes you capture a moment that has nothing to do with your team. This one was a moment that could have been a Xavier moment, but quickly went the way of IU. It was a header shot that I liked so it made the countdown.

15. This year I only covered a couple of Indiana State soccer games. The lone game at Indiana State was the home opener against UIC. This was one moment from that game that I liked. I like that it is not the normal soccer photo. The gesture is a little different which always seems to catch my eye.

14. One thing that is fun is to make photos that look like they are from another sport. Here the ISU player looks like they are sliding into a base. It is great form, and caught my eye right away.

13. This is a photo with a lot going on in it. You have the Xavier player trying to kick the ball over the goalie who has fallen over his own player. You are left to wonder if the player scored or not. 

12. The college soccer field is usually great for sunsets. They are usually not built up too high allowing for a great view all around. Here in my lone game in Bloomington I was able to capture a nice sunset. My 11-24mm lens was a new one at the time so of course it came out of the bag to make the photo. The action did not come close enough to me at the time or this photo would have been a bit higher.

11. Speaking of close action this shot from the Big East semi final game was one that I really liked. You have a lot going on, and the ball at the peak of it all. When I saw this in the back of my camera I knew that it would be one of my favorites from the match. On a night when I made some pictures that I really liked this was my favorite action shot of the night.

10. Some players just carry the ball with style. When you find one that does you make your images for the gallery when they have the ball. I love this shot for the form. I was not exactly working with the light at the moment, but the photo is about more than the light.

9. The #9 photo in the countdown is a redemption photo of sorts. After a half of play nobody could score in the Big East tournament semi final game. When Xavier did score I was screened during the goal, and the celebration went behind the net where I couldn’t get it no matter how fast I ran. I really thought at that point that it would be a one point game, and that I blew that chance for photos. I positioned myself next to the Xavier videographer that travels with the team thinking they would run to him. They did not. Shortly after that goal they scored again and Xavier ran right at the videographer as well as me. I made some nice photos as they enjoyed the moment. This was my favorite of those photos.

8. When I was in Cincinnati for a few days for Xavier I thought that I might get more soccer in. The swim meet I was covering started an hour later making it hard to really cover both events. I walked into the soccer game just in time to see the deciding goal scored. That goal sent the women’s team to their first Big East tournament game in school history. It was a lucky moment that I was happy to capture.

7. Over the course of her career I made quite a few photos of Maddy Williams. She was an exciting player to watch. I came up with the Maddy rule that meant that I would not miss the beginning of either half of play. She seemed to have a knack for scoring in the first couple minutes of a half. Here I really like this celebration photo after scoring a goal against Notre Dame during their friendly to start the season.

6. This is a photo that I have wanted to make on the Purdue side for a while. Of course when my position was finally correct it was not a Purdue player in the frame. I was still happy to make it, and maybe next year I can get this with a Purdue player in position.

5. There is some action in this photo, but it is more of a landscape photo than anything else. Folk Field seems to have the best sunsets of any stadium that I shoot in. I went to this game because the clouds were perfect for a great sunset about an hour before the game started. Of course they moved out quickly, but I still like how this photo turned out.

4. No more action photos. Action photos are a dime a dozen. The photos that I always like the most are the photos with pure emotion. Here is a great moment between teammates after Xavier pulled off the upset in Indy to advance to the Big East Tournament finals. The joy here is fantastic, and why I keep doing this.

3.  Shortly before making the photo above I made this photo of Xavier in absolute euphoria after upsetting Butler with penalty kicks. This is a great moment that was a great way to cap my season. The problem with shooting a game this good is that you don’t want the season to end. All good things must though.

2. I like this photo for a couple of reasons. One is that it is really good emotion. The second is that it represents a lot for Purdue. The senior coming back for her final year celebrates with the freshman who scored her first goal in a Purdue uniform. This is the past and future now for Purdue soccer. The best ever in many statistical categories with a freshmen who could challenge some of that.

1. This was just a great moment during the season opener for Indiana State. They just took the lead on a goal from a player who usually doesn’t score for them. The emotion on both sides here is great. You have absolute joy along with the agony of defeat. Soccer celebrations are the best, and when it is a good one you really have full access to the players. You have no caps or helmets to deal with. You get the full face to see all of the joy.

My Seventeen Favorite Drone Shots of 2017

If you had to pick one thing about my photography that changed in 2017 it had to be my usage of a drone. I got my drone shortly after the new year, and I knew that I would overuse it at the beginning. I made a special folder on my website with that in mind. When I started HDR photography I would HDR everything. I used HDR on dogs, beer bottles, and even a pizza. When you have a new toy you tend to play with it too much. That was the case of me with my drone this year. I made some good photos with it during the course of the year. I also made some terrible photos with it just to get out and fly. As the year calmed down a bit so did my usage of the drone. It has now become a tool in my bag to use. I have some ideas that I have been sitting on for a while now with the drone so maybe it needs to come out of my bag a little more this year than it did at the end of last year. Here are my seventeen favorite drone shots from 2017.

Bonus

This is the first shot that I made with my drone after I purchased it. It was a cold day and I wanted to go somewhere with few people in case I did something wrong. We went to the local park where I was able to fly my drone with nobody around me. This was the result of that trip. It will never win any awards, but it was the start of me finding what I liked to do with a drone.

17. One thing that the drone allowed me to do was to be somewhere else. I live in an area surrounded by houses and trees. When something amazing happens in the sky I have a very narrow view to look for it. With the drone I was able to go up and above everything else to find moments like the one above. The double rainbow photo is made by stitching together six separate shots. This taught me that I can use a lot of the techniques that I use on the ground in the air.

16. This is the home that I grew up in. At the end of the month the house will change hands to someone else, and they can bring up their family there. I love this house because it has so many memories in it. At some point though you have to let things go and let others make memories there too. I like that I was able to make a shot of it with my drone to get the lay of the land so to speak. As I put up my countdowns this week you will see more from here I would bet.

15. One of the fun things with the drone is to go overhead and find patterns. Here as I covered a yoga group on the Myers bridge I was able to go above everyone to make a cool shot. I wanted to see all of the colors of the mats. The straight down look was one that I really like. It is just a new way to look at life. You will see it much more before this countdown is over.

14. Here at the Indianapolis Museum of Art you can really see how the straight down view makes a huge difference. Those people running by the benches probably didn’t realize that they formed a skeleton. From overhead it is obvious. This year was all about experimenting with the drone to find what I liked about it, and what seemed to work. This was one of those days where I was just experimenting. 

13. The top down view can turn something boring into something amazing. Here a simple drainage ditch looks very cool to me. I have liked this photo since the day that I made it.

12. This was a stroke of luck during my first flight on campus. I was just out of frame here flying the drone. The light was fading, and I was bringing the drone back to me. It was then that I noticed these three people walking side by side down the sidewalk and realized that it could be a cool visual. I like that for a second the shadows are confusing to some people. This is something that I would like to experiment with a bit more this year.

11. The drone allowed me to make compositions that I normally could not make. Here I could never wade out into this water to make this shot. I would have had to make a far worse photo from the shore. I guess I could have commandeered that boat to do it, but then we are getting into a bad place. This is a simple shot, but one that was fun to make.

10. At the Williamsport Falls I made many photos from the ground that day. I liked my overhead photos the best though. The drone opened me up to something that I never thought that I would do this year. I went live on Facebook during flights. This was one of those that I went live for. The stream was choppy, but you can see what I saw that day by watching the video here.

9. I made this photo on campus shortly before I made the shadow photo that was just above here. I like the idea of looking at campus from a different view. I have walked it so much that at times I feel that I don’t pay enough attention as I do. With the drone I was able to get a new view of campus, and really make some different photos.

8. Speaking of different photos this one definitely fits that description. This is the point where the Wabash River and Wildcat Creek collide. I love the different looks of the water, and the way that they mix. For some reason I was really feeling creative, and I applied a warm preset to the photo to give it an even crazier look. This was one of my most popular photos on social media last year.

7. This was from a fun shoot with my friend Trevor Mahlmann. He spent 2017 doing many things, but one of those was photographing every lighthouse on Lake Michigan. He let me tag along for this shoot at the St. Joseph Lighthouse. The wind was blasting us from the north making this a very long flight out to the lighthouse. I used most of my battery to get there, but luckily the wind would blow the drone right back to me. It was a fun day making some cool pictures of the waves crashing over the break. This was one of my favorite aerial photos from that day.

6. This photo was part of a greater learning experience. I was flying my drone over the Ohio River early one morning when it started acting wonky. I kept my composure and brought it back to me. I was not near anyone so there was never any danger other than the drone could fly into the river. I checked everything and it seemed okay. I then made a quick flight to make this photo of the Queen City. Of course being a baseball fan I found the coolest thing to put in the foreground of my photo.

5. My favorite shoot of the year had to be photographing the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse with my drone. The sunrise was prolonged by the cloud cover giving me plenty of time to make the photos that I wanted to make. Here is a photo that I would have been proud of no matter what, but it was eclipsed by one that will show up later in the countdown. This is still a fun photo for me. You can view my video as I made these photos by clicking here.

4. Early in the year I made many photos over the Wabash here near Lafayette. Later in the spring I made this one over the Wabash in Terre Haute. I love the lines here, and it has been a favorite since the day that I made it. It was part of a fun day hanging out in Terre Haute.

3. This is what I want to do more of in 2018. I love how simple this overhead shot is. It is a just a tree in the flooded Wabash River here in Lafayette. With nothing around it I had a great time making this composition. It is so simple yet so cool.  I don’t want the Wabash to flood again, but if it does I will be there to document it again.

2. This was one of those photos that was all about luck. I went up with the drone to shoot the sunset in the other direction. I always preach about looking away from the sunset, and here I was rewarded. This amazing cloud had a rainbow going through it. The cloud was moving like a crashing wave which was also very cool. Without my drone I would not even have known this was going on let alone have the ability to photograph it.

1. This is another simple picture made with my drone. This was during a fun shoot at the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse this past year. The fishing boat at first was a distraction that I had thoughts of removing in Photoshop. When I got home though I realized that I would never remove that boat. It is part of what makes this a cool photo. How Chicago could look so tropical is crazy to me, but it really does here. I would love to fly somewhere that actually is tropical because the photos would have to be amazing.

So that is it. My seventeen favorite quadcopter shots from 2017. Did you have a favorite? Did you like any type of shot better than the others? Leave me a comment and let me know. This week I plan on putting out a new ‘best of’ post everyday. The year 2017 was a fun one for me, and I like to celebrate that with a look back on it.

My 17 Favorite Concert Photos of 2017

2017 was a fun concert year for me. For the second year in a row we went to Dead and Company, Jimmy Buffett, and Austin City Limits. All three are fun in their own way. The highlight of the year for me though was watching Metallica live again. It was a great Father’s Day present since I had not seen them live since 2009. Another highlight was seeing Ben Folds in concert. He puts on a great show that the audience gets into as well. Here are seventeen of my favorite concert photos from the past year.

17. Few concert venues can say they have the view that you get looking back at the main stage at Austin City Limits. Here I walked over to get this view of the ever changing Austin skyline as the sun was going down behind me. I love this view, and I try and do something with it every year.

16. This year we saw Jimmy Buffett for the fourth straight year in a different state. It is not something that we planned, but the way it worked with our schedule. We have seen Jimmy in Indy, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati the last four years. The show this year in Cincy was Jimmy’s 50th in that venue. That is amazing to me that you could play fifty shows in one venue. That is a testament to his staying power. You figure though that after all of these years that venue in Cincinnati would have parking figured out.

15. This year while covering volleyball at Indiana University I had a large amount of time off in between games. I went just south of Bloomington to Story, Indiana to meet my brother who was working the Hoosier Hops & Harvest there. It was fun making some photos there, and this simple concert shot of the Indiana Boys playing was part of a fun break in the action for me.

14. While walking through the crowd one day at ACL Fest I saw this great scene with the sun going down among the flags in the middle of the concert grounds. I didn’t have my camera with me so I pulled out my phone to make this picture. If I remember right I had a sleeping child in my arms which really ups the level of difficulty here.

13. Another shot of the sun and the flags in the middle of the ACL Fest grounds. I love the way that the flags allow for some fun when the bands aren’t the ones you were looking for at that time. I love the ACL Festival. It is a great time that is very well run.

12. This fall Alton Brown put on a great show at the Elliott Hall of Music. As the show was winding down the kids had to use the bathrooms on our way out. I took the chance to make this photo of the spotlight on Alton as he sang his encore. Elliott really is a special place to watch live entertainment.

11. On our way into the Dead and Company show I heard a commotion on the new lawn at Wrigley Field. I looked over, and Bill Walton was playing with the cover band. As I pulled my camera out to make a picture Bill acknowledged the crowd. This was a cool moment that I lucked into. 

10. Metallica! It had been far too long since the last time that I had seen Metallica play live. The Father’s Day show in Chicago was an obvious choice to attend, but I had an early morning flight with the family the next morning to head to Ocean City. I decided to try it anyway, and I am glad that I did. They put on a great show in an okay venue.

9. This year I capped off a fun Purdue Day of Giving by shooting the comedy show at Elliott. As the spotlight came down on the opening act I realized that it might be a cool shot to follow it up to the source. This was a fun photo to make as it showed some of what makes Elliott look so good.

8. This was a fun photo that I made at the Dead and Company show this past summer. Wrigley Field was a great venue for a concert. Here the light was good so I pulled out my camera. I don’t make many pictures during a show. I have fun watching it. When the light starts to get good though I pull the camera out. I can’t contain myself.

7. Can you tell how much fun I have at the ACL Fest every year yet? Many photos on this countdown come from the three days that we spent there this year. This was one of those moments where I was enjoying a show, and I saw the sun going down and stood up to make a quick picture. Then it was back to the music.

6. Here is another iPhone 7+ shot that I made walking into the festival one day. Maybe I was being a little cocky since we were able to cut the line because of our little one. I liked the sun shining and had this idea when I made the photo. I knew that I would go for a washed out look in processing when I made it, but the sun and my phone pretty much did that for me.

5.  As The Killers started their show to close out the festival on Sunday night they had a great light show. I brought out the camera to show what you could see of the skyline with the lights going into the sky. It was one of my favorite photos of the festival. I had a little Sony point and shoot with my at the time, and this was one of the rare times over the weekend when I wished that I had my dSLR with me.

4. As the sun set on the last night of the festival Portugal, the Man had started their performance. I knew I would like the show when they came out to For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica. They rocked that song, and then went into their own music. I like the blues and the oranges here.

3. Out of the entire weekend this was the one show that I wished that I was able to photograph. Not because of who was on the stage, but because of the light show. I really had a hard time paying attention to anything but the light here. It was absolutely amazing. Of course with a fixed lens far back I couldn’t show it too well, but this was my attempt at showing it.

2. A Ben Folds show is one where it seems like you are part of the action. I could see where that would be something that you would want to see over and over. Here he directs the crowd to sing certain parts to a song of his. I had a lot of fun that night, and it wasn’t all because of the Jack and Cokes. Ben Folds can really put on a show.

1. Of course the highlight of the year was the Metallica show. Here the light was perfect in the sky to make a few photos. I decided to use that time to do just that. Then the orange stage light came up making it many things that I love in one photo. After the light went away so did my camera for the most part allowing me to enjoy the show.

This year was one where I saw some great acts. Some last minute changes stopped me from seeing a couple as well. This coming year I should have a couple of memorable shows to post about. A chance to see John Williams live is one that I am really looking forward to. Got any tickets to it?