Inhospitable Weather Conditions!!!!!!

I had the opportunity, yesterday, to shoot a game that has been on my to-do list for quite some time.

Florida at Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium, in Tallahassee, Florida.

It has one of the all-time best pre-game traditions in all of college football. I got to be witness to this great tradition, but not under optimal conditions.

About an hour or so before kickoff, in the photographers work room, I was seated next to Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes, when some shooter from the Tallahassee area asked him why he didn't come there more often to shoot Florida State games.

He hollored out across the work room "Inhospitable weather conditions!!!"

I don't know how many inches of rain fell on the Florida panhandle yesterday, but the majority of it seemed to fall in Tallahassee. Conditions were brutal if you were trying to keep thousands of dollars worth of electronic camera gear dry.

Don't believe me?

Take a look and try to count the rain drops.


My 'G' spot made a puddle.


And the band played on......
They were like the Energizer Bunny.....they kept going, and going, and going....


The Florida Band tried their best to keep dry, too.


These Florida State kids didn't look to be too happy to be sitting out in the rain.


Every where you looked, people were fashionably dressed for this late fall classic....


"Was that Michael Phelps that just swam for a touchdown?"


Remember what I said earlier about protecting thousands of dollars worth of electronic gear in the rain?
Different people do it different ways.


Even if you have the proper rain gear for your camera, you still have to work hard to keep it dry in these conditions.


Someone had an umbrella on the FSU sidelines. I wish I could have got under it a couple of times.


Rain water poured from the stadium most of the night.


The Florida State cheerleaders were dripping with excitement.


The cheer squads waited a little late before trying to protect themselves from the elements.


Even the 'underwater' skycam has to be cleaned during these conditions.


The sidelines had lots of internet reporters that were trying to stay dry.


But these babydolls knew how to have fun in these conditions.....


Allstate Insurance had a contest where the winner got to attempt a 20 yard field goal for a thousand dollars.
Somehow you just knew this was gonna happen.
After he busted his ass in the rain and humiliated himself in front of tens of thousands of wet spectators, he was awarded, for his good effort, with a couple of basketball tickets.


This is the scrum after the game.
In the rain.
I hate scrums.


Remember the Florida State tradition I talked about earlier?
Here are a couple of images of Chief Osceola during his pregame ritual.




Floridas Jeffery Demps swims for yardage early in the game.


Tim Tebow directs the Gators synchronised swim team.


Florida States Antone Smith.


Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford.


Jermaine Thomas from Florida State.


After Percy Harvin was injured, Emmanuel Moody came in to fill his soggy cleats.
At the University of Florida, everybody gets to help out.


And what would a trip to shoot a Florida State game be without getting a good image of head coach Bobby Bowden?

Despite the inhospitable weather conditions, I had a good trip to the FSU campus, made some decent images, and stayed dry for most of the game.
This game has been on my to-do list for quite some time, so now I can mark it off the list and look for another adventure to dispose of.

Chao

NASCAR Championship Weekend

I was asked, a couple of weeks ago, if I would be interested in shooting the Ford Championship Weekend at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead Florida.
After I thought about it for a couple of days, I agreed. Who wouldn't? Even if it was at the last minute?
I'm glad I did.
I had a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work to shoot a weekend of racing, so get comfortable, get in close to your monitor, and look at what I did this weekend!!!!


2008 Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson does a burnout all the way to the stage where the trophy presentation is to take place.


Carl Edwards celebrates in victory lane after winning the Ford 400.


A typical pit stop image of David Reutimann as he gets service by his over the wall pit crew.


I captured this image of another David Reutimann pit stop from outside turn one earlier in the race(I don't know why, but sometimes these things happen).


Kyle Busch gets his car serviced.


Tony Stewart leads a group of cars into turn three.
WOW!!!!! what a sunset!!!!

Another south Florida sunset image.


Some Jimmie Johnson fans had this sign hanging from the guard rail behind the flag stand.


Everywhere you look, cool and different racing images are looking to find you.
You have to admit, it's not everyday you can have a racecar, a bunch of palm trees, and a lake in the same image.


Another cool image found me, but why is the 29 car in it?


Tony Stewart during practice on Saturday. I thought this would be a cool image because of the sky with the big ol' fluffy clouds.


I'm doing that Getty shit with this image of Jimmy Johnson(see previous post).


Well, it done it again.........(i've been having trouble with this bloggin' thang, lately. It don't post my images in the order I told it too, so some images are out of order).
Johnny Benson was crowned the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series Champion.


Carl Edwards had a productive weekend. He won the Ford 300 Nationwide Series race on Saturday night.


Another artful image found me. Kinda makes you want to be sitting beneath some palm trees sippin' on some Crown Royal......


I wanted to get a backlit image of the cars on the track with the Homestead-Miami logo on the wall, and the palm trees.
It kinda works.


Just another typical racecar image. Right?


Like I said.......sometimes it post images out of order.
This track is like no other I've ever been to. This area is around the central gathering point of everyone who has infield passes. It is designed more like a shopping center or mall than a working race facility. Here, you are looking back to the writers Media Center and NASCAR Sprint Cup Garage area through some tables and umbrellas that are provided for a place to eat next to the public cafe.


OK...I've turned back to the left about 90 degrees so you can see the new photographers work room on the bottom floor with VIP suites on the top floor.
Swanky, ain't it?


A look at the new Media Center. Not bad for a racetrack where nothing but rednecks hang around? Right?


It happened again, this time, the night before.


See?
OK....It's late and I've got a long ass drive back tomorrow.
I've got other things lined up for the next three of four weeks, so I'll post images from them as soon as I can.

By the way......Is if Miami or Your-ami?

Frozen Gators.....Hot Gators

I was in Nashville Tennessee last night for the Florida vs Vanderbilt game. Even though the temperatures were a little chilly, the Gators were red hot. I'm not sure anything can cool them off right now.
After every victory, the team gathers and sings the school fight song for the fans.


These Gator fans are ready to party in Atlanta!!!!


I had to laugh at these Gators covered up with towels and anything they could get. They told me they're not used to these cold nights like we are 'up north'. One of them told me he couldn't handle anything colder than 75 degrees.


As I was walking back to the Gator sideline, this Commodore mascot/blow-up doll/sumo wrestler dude was ice skating in the ice that the Florida team managers had dumped out just before the end of the game.


One of the staff photographers from the Gainville paper gives one of his cameras to back-up quarterback Cameron Newton so he can take images of whatever he wants after the game.


Mr. Newton looks like he knows how to use this thing.


Here, Mr. Newton takes a group photo after the win over Vanderbilt.


FUMBLE!!!!!! as ledgendary ABC announcer Keith Jackson would say.


Percy Harvin gains yards after a catch.


And finally, Tim Tebow throws for his first touchdown of the night. Haven't we seen that image somewhere before. It looks like it is going to be a standard image from any game I shoot.
Oh well, I'll try to do better at the next game I shoot, but I've got NASCAR next.
I'll be at Homestead next weekend for the FORD CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND.
So see ya later from sunny south Florida.