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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I photographed another pro soccer game, but....

...I want to share some recent personal images!

You can get LOST in Camden's eyes, they're like a star formation that has been photographed by the Hubble!

THIS is why I love Florida!  Can you get a more perfect day, even the cows are lovin' it!

Atticus - (noun) - outdoor enthusiast; see also Wild Child 

When was the last time you played with toys from your youth?  On a recent trip to my partents my brother and I broke out our LEGOs.  We had a blast as we took a trip down "rainy day memory lane."  I spent 2 hours making this vehicle, I'd say it is ready for anything, wouldn't you?!

Our next post will be the Orlando City v Newcastle United Soccer game, followed by a 1-Year Old session and a Family Session!  August is starting off with a bang!

markTHOR! - ThunderCLAP! Photography

Thursday, July 21, 2011

EXTRA! EXTRA! Our photos have been published.....

...well, it's a community newspaper, but it's a start!  I've always wanted to get into Sports photography, and playing soccer my entire childhood and through highschool was certainly a great first assignment!

Lined up for national anthems before kickoff.  Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League came to the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando to face the Orlando City Lions in a summer exhibition.

Kevin Davies of BW and Matt Luzunaris of OC, two eventual goal scorers, warm up before the match

 
Great shots came from both sides, and in the 18th minute Davies put one home off his head (seen in bottom photo above)

It was great to be down on the field with the guys you see playing every weekend in the EPL, on the left is Zat Knight, the tallest player in the league measuring roughly 6' 6"

Some more great action, the bottom photo showing the scramble to remove the ball from the box after a corner kick which in the end was futile as it ended in the back of the net for Bolton's 2nd goal. 

 
It's called the beautiful game for many reasons, the strategy, the sportsmanship, and the whole ambiance surrounding the pitch!

 Boden concentrates all the way from ball to boot.  Chung-Yong Lee (right), a South Korean, had a great following in the crowd.

 Wanderers' Petrov, shown left, would score the 3rd and final goal for Bolton.

Matt Luzunaris, the sole Orlando City goal scorer is on loan from San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) and attended one year at the University of Central Florida (my alma mater) before beginning his pro career playing for multiple European clubs.

Stuart Holden (Right) plays for Bolton but also the U.S. Men's National Team!  He is currently nursing a leg injury and did not play in the recent Gold Cup nor this night.  He was a really good guy and came out after the game was over for photos and autographs.

A great showing by the support groups of the RUCKUS (left) and the IRON LION FIRM (right).   Drums, smoke machines, flying streamers, and plenty of verbal abuse poured out onto the pitch from both groups!

It was definitely a once in a lifetime chance to be down on the pitch! 
I will be back taking photos when the Orlando City Lions take on Newcastle United this Saturday, see y'all at the game, I will have more photos of that game to come!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Summertime, and the livin's easy...

 Summertime in our household is always busy!  Leigh's b-day is the end of June, America's is begining of July, and Mine (Mark) is the middle of July...which usually yeilds all kinds of craziness and usually keeps us too busy to book photoshoots for clients, so here are some photos to wet your whistle!  I will be Photographing the Orlando City Soccer games versus Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United this coming week and can't believe that I will be on the sideline with a Telephoto lens!

Jen surprised Leigh with this great Rainbow cake, Leigh loves color!

So i got her new nail polish....she needed it!  :)

Ahhh yes, finger paints....i can remember the smell and taste like it was just yesterday!

WHAT A GREAT PAINTING BY ATTICUS!  The application of paint by both digit and stamping of the top of the jar provides tension between geometry and nature.

We recently gave Atticus our HUGE office and moved into his humble room.  He can have all of his toys, his crib, his dresser with fish tank, a bookcase filled with books, a play tent, and two toy chests and still have room to run and jump around.

Looking for the horses, they must have been at a show.  This kid is so hip, check them kicks!

We've never had a problem with him eating his vegetables....in fact for this lunch he STOLE my tomato soup.

This year I knew the 4th of July would be dicey....would he like/dislike the loud bangs, would he put up with it, we just didn't know....but we did know one thing for sure..... 

 ....bring lots of clothes!  He went through 4 changes of clothes in a 4 hour span!  If that's not the tell tale signs of a good time I don't know what is!  Whether it was watermelon, cupcakes, sweat, dirt, or all of the above he found it and owned it.  We went to a great 4th of July block party hosted by the Wrights.  They invited all of the neighbors and everyone brought food and outdoor gaming supplies.  We played basketball, corn-hole, horseshoes, volleyball, and blew stuff up!

The real fun began as the sun began to set.  We celebrated our country's freedom the correct way!


July 8th was sadly the last Space Shuttle launch and unfortunately I couldn't get the day off.  My mom wanted to make sure that Atticus at least saw it live on tv....problem was, as you can see on the left, him and Hensley had just finished painting and were in the tub....well, you see what happened on the Right.  A proper farewell if I don't say so myself!

Good summer fun, the pool!

And last but not least, my birthday!  Leigh took us out for delicious tacos and gelatos!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Let's go racin' boys!

I found out on Friday night that my mother-in-law had free tickets to go to the Coke Zero 400, I must have looked like a child on Christmas morning when she said she wasn't going to use them and that I could have them!

I've only been to one other NASCAR race, the Bud Shootout about 8 years ago, so I imediatley jumped on the phone and called by bro and asked "Do you want to get stuck in traffic with me tomorrow", to which he replied, "...uhhh, what?"  Of course as soon as I told him what I really called about he didn't even hesitate to take me up on the offer.

We arrived in time to take advantage of the free parking & free park-n-ride to the speedway, plenty of time to get something to eat and to listen to Martina McBride sing.

 My littlest brother got to hold the flag for the Daytona 500 (I believe) this past year.

If the national anthem mixed with mullets doesn't give you the patriotic goosebumps, the 4 F-15's will.  My best friend Jonathan is an Officer in the Air Force currently training to fly F-15's so it really hit me hard!  I mumbled....'Murika

Ahhh, the driver parade.....don't they look thrilled!  Left to Right: Harvick, Stewart, Dale Jr, Gordon, & Martin

And they were underway!  The roar of the engine was nearly diminished by the screams from the crowd.  Which is strange really.....they can't hear the crowd or see the crowd for that mater, but these fans loved their racers and hated the rest!

An early photo of the eventual race winner.....Im not totally giving it away though!

We were sitting directly parallel to the Pole sitter, Mark Martin, and had a great view of his pits

 AND THIS WAS OUR AMAZING VIEW!  (Click on photo to ENLARGE) 
We were under the highest tier, which gave us a great overhang all day, but also not too far up to not smell the fuel and feel like we were in the action.



The fans were great!  Look at this guy in the lower left....he's making sure everyone knows whos in the lead...HIS DRIVER!

It's amazing that they can stay sooo close going 200+ mph all around the 2.5 mile tri-oval.

My brother and I called this guy "#1 Fan" for a few reasons:   1. He was there alone; 2. He brought and entire bucket of chicken for himself!; 3. He listened to his scanner all race and never left his seat.

One of the few green flag restarts during the race

With only a few laps of the 160 total to go, the "big one" finally happened, and sadly, the driver I was for took the hardest hit

 ...And David Ragan takes the checkered flag.  His first career NASCAR Sprint Cup win!

 This is the wreck that ensued as all of the subsequent drivers battled as they came to the start/finish line.

A decent burnout and some fireworks ended the perfect race night!  I hope to go back again real soon!

Thank you Candy for the awesome tickets! My brother and I kept reminding each other how ridiculously fun it was and how perfect the seats were!  - Mark