Saturday, May 10, 2008

These are some pictures from Tony Stewart winning the Diamond Hill Plywood 200.  The first one is from him taking his victory lap with the checkered flag before driving into victory flag.  Moments before this pic the checkered flag flew off the hood of his car and he had to stop and have someone run out on the track to grab the flag for him.










LOOK MA NO HANDS!!  I just missed this pic and by the time I switched to vertical the moment was gone.  live and learn, these things will happen and after all this is my first NASCAR event ever.

Kasey Kahne…

I spent the better part of Friday working on driver portraits, these are some of my favorites

Coors Light Pole Winner Greg Biffle

Clint Bowyer

Jimmie Johnson

Jamie McMurray

Martin Truex Jr.

Kurt and Eva Busch

And everybody’s favorite Kyle Busch

Friday, May 09, 2008

In the final few laps of the race a wreck took second place driver Mark Martin (5) out of the running and also wrecked Mike Wallace (7) during the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008. Here are several pictures I selected from the entire sequence of shots.

Here are some images I took throughout the afternoon and evening’s race day festivities:



Eric McClure (24) chats with members of his crew while waiting for his turn to qualify before the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008.



A fan wearing a Dukes of Hazzard (01) T-shirt walks up into the stands during the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008.



Sparks fly as Derrike Cope (4) wrecks during the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008.



Cars head toward turn two during the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008.

The pit crew attends to Jeff Burton (29) during the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008.

Mike Smith of Kansas City, Mo., left, Tyrone Harter of Ninetysix, SC, and Ozzie Sullivan of Kansas City, Mo. get goofy in front of the camera as they watch race practice from a platform atop Harter’s truck before the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series Race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 9, 2008. The friends have been coming to the Darlington races for 13 years.

One of the things I was most excited about when I took my job with the Morning News was the opportunity to cover NASCAR at Darlington. So far the experience has been everything I hope it would be, exciting, loud, and yes a bit overwhelming too. I am loving being here this weekend and will try to post more photos later today.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Never a dull moment with Dwight Dana!  While on assignment for a story about the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, Dwight couldn’t resist getting his picture taken with a giant stuffed gorilla!!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Last week I took the best portrait I have ever attempted.  With a lot of ideas and brainstorming with my co-workers (thank you Sean and Rebecca), I was able to pull it off.  Our sports reporter Sean Singleton had the idea of using a mirrored image to illustrate Nick Freet’s position as a linebacker for the Phantoms and as an Airman First Class in the U.S. Air Force.  Originally I envisioned two separate pictures that I could stitch together with Freet seeming to stand back to back with himself.  Rebecca told me that she would create a composite with half his body in BDUs and half in his Phantoms uniform.  These are the two original photos and the resulting portrait that ran in today’s paper.




Here are a couple of images from the story that we didn’t have room for in the paper.

Linebacker Nick Freet (11) takes the field before the Phantoms game against the Huntington Heroes at the Florence Civic Center on Friday, April 25, 2008.

Linebacker Nick Freet (11) stretches to intercept a pass during the Phantoms game against the Huntington Heroes at the Florence Civic Center on Friday, April 25, 2008.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Junior Michelle Lamb, 17, and several other students wore white faces during a drunk driving prevention event at Darlington High School on Friday, April 25, 2008.

I was working on a story today and saw this beautiful baby girl sleeping in the corner, I thought she was a doll at first, then saw her breath and watched her for a long time.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I sat down in the grass this morning while I drank my coffee and noticed the sparkle

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

So I had never photographed softball in my life never the less watch an entire game.  Well this past weekend I was treated to four heart wrenching, dramatic, and exciting games that I will never forget.  Francis Marion University was in the loser’s bracket after a loss early in the Peach Belt Tourney on Friday, so on Saturday they had to keep winning to stay alive.  Their first game was a blowout and they slaughter ruled USC Aiken in 5 innings.  Their next game was against #1 seed UNC Pembroke who had only lost one game all season but had lost earlier in the day so a second loss would knock them out of the tourney.  UNC scored 2 runs in the 2nd inning so FMU would be playing catch up all day and it seemed like for the rest of the tourney.  Pitcher Michaela Wolf hit a 2 run homer in the fourth so FMU had tied it up.  Then in the eighth inning FMU broke through and started to get some base runners.  Michaela came up again and popped up to their back-pedaling second baseman who miss played it and the ball tipped off her glove, as that happened the CF dove in and thought she caught the deflection but it was ruled a trap and FMU had scored the winning run. 

So then it was announced that FMU would play Columbus State on Sunday because Columbus had already played 3 games on Saturday.  But Columbus was given the option and they elected to play FMU right then and there rather than waiting till the next day.  Columbus State jumped out early and scored 4 runs in the 1st inning to make it 4-1 and FMU was once again playing catch up.  FMu seemed to play better with their backs against the wall all weekend and this game was no different.  In the top of the 6th inning FMU would bust out with 4 runs to take the lead 5-4 and never looked back.  Allowing them to come back Sunday to play North Georgia.

Down 3-1 going into the last inning FMU delivered, helped by a huge double by pinch hitter Pangburn and scored two to tie it up.  FMU then would load the bases and score a run in the top of the ninth inning but two runners were thrown out at home and that would prove costly.  North Georgia wouldn’t go away and in the bottom half of the ninth Krista Bess hit a walkoff two run homer that just got out of the reach of FMU CF Lakyn Bendle.  A heartbreaking loss for FMU but they have nothing to hang their heads over and in the process made a strong case for an invite to regionals.

Thanks for the drama and laughs ladies and best of luck.





These are both from a crazy play where Columbus used a suicide squeeze and bunted to 3B Kat Beauvais who dived and tried to tag the runner while she was sliding into home. 









This was the last picture I took this weekend as North Georgia celebrates the two-run walkoff home run that knocked FMU out of the tourney.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

When leaving the same assignment, I almost ran over this black rat snake sunning himself on a dirt road in Dovesville.  He wasn’t too happy to see us!

On an assignment with Dwight yesterday, I noticed this little spider on the remnants of a dogwood flower.  It is a green lynx spider that is common in gardens throughout South Carolina.