Saturday, May 10, 2008

Dale Earnhardt Jr
So I admit it, I got a bit caught up in the Jr buzz my first day in the garage.

Shawn Singleton's face tells the story in this one. It was nuts how surrounded he was by media, I've never really experienced that before.

Tony Stewart wins the Diamond Hill Plywood 200
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.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Peach Belt Softball Tournament
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.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Why don’t you go fly a kite!
Went out to the new Science South facility today at Freedom Florence for kite-building workshops for local kids.
It was a blast and kids really seemed to have a great time, luckily we had some great wind.








Then I gave my camera to some kids and let them shoot some pics, hopefully some future photojouurnalists and photographers.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Marion wildfire
So I got called out to a wildfire today out in Marion. It was pretty big and ended up burning close to 200 acres.
Sounds like most firefighters believed it started from a cigarette butt thrown out of a car on US-76.
Not many flames while I was there but I had a really good day shooting and wound up with some images I'm really happy about.
It was really smoky and I came back to the office reeking of smoke.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

FDTC Stingers vs. Spartanburg Methodist
Was bummed that none of these ran in the paper (because we never received final scores) but I had one of my better days shooting baseball. I just want to let the Boston Red Sox know now that I'm available for freelance work if they ever need someone to man the sidelines. I promise I won't distract YOOOOOOUUUUUUK too much.


I love these first couple of the kid diving into first base, too bad he'd already been tagged out. Then I started playing around with overlapping the two and here's what I was thinking about. More of these to come so stay tuned.









Here's some more action from the game. This kid #12 on Spartanburg took out FDTC's second baseman on a vicious slide and wasn't ejected. FDTC's second baseman had to leave the game because of the injury. And on a side note, #12 was tossed from the second game for coming up to bat with chewing tobacco in his mouth. serves him right.












Lastly, one more shot I really liked, I love how the player's eyes are closed.



as always, feel free to leave comments. thanks, marcus

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Excellent Preschool = excellent day
I shot these while on an assignment at the Excellent Learning Preschool in Florence. I had a lot of fun hanging out with children from both Miss Elliott and Miss Waiters' class and I even got to teach them a little bit about my camera. All but one of these was taken while Miss Waiters was reading Jack and the Beanstalk to the kids at the end of the day. Miss Waiters was really friendly and even invited me to check out her brother's BBQ restaurant in Timmonsville.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Music at the Mall (and in our schools)
These were taken at the Magnolia Mall for the Music in our Schools month festival. Seeing all the kids really took me back to my chorus days. Music is so important for young children and was I glad to see such a diverse range of kids.

FDTC vs Potomac baseball
I shot my first game at American Legion Field today. It's a really nice field but watching baseball is really tough for someone who's played baseball the last 4 summers. I'm itching to get back out there and play again. The game was a good one with FDTC playing catch up most of the day and having the tying run at the plate in the ninth. But alas he hit into a double play to end it and FDTC got swept over the weekend. Photographically I had a good game and I'm really starting to feel comfortable shooting baseball considering this was only my third or fourth game.



I was glad I went to get my pitcher shots when this kid was throwing cause I really liked his delivery and motion. I started shooting horizonontally and captured this image before switching to vertical and shooting the next one.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Conway Wildfire
All of these pics were taken in Conway, SC on February 10, 2008. I didn't have a shoot till later in the day and had just bought a new car so I started exploring my new state. While on the highway headed back to Florence, I saw smoke in the distance and pulled over to take some photos. As I got closer I realized that this wildfire was enormous and might obviously be newsworthy. The first spot I got to in the town, the neighborhood was being evacuated but I was still allowed to drive in. I got to the back of the neighborhood and starting shooting but then (might have made a mistake) by leaving that neighborhood, because I wasn't allowed to re-enter. The was my first time covering a spot news event of this magnitude and I learned a lot.


This first photo is where the fire had jumped the road and the road was closed down as firefighters worked to contain it.











Frank Gutridge of the Allentown Community in Horry County, SC tries to contain a wildfire that caught fire to an abandoned mobile home in his neighborhood around 2:30pm on Sunday, February 10, 2008. The wildfire had burned over 250 acres by 5pm.





This is image is a big ALMOST for me. The families were being evacuated from the Allentown community and I wish I had either stayed with them to see how things panned out and/or composed this shot differently.











This is one of the first images I made that day, after pulling over on the highway.





This woman was very reluctant to evacuate and was joking with me that she was going to fight the fire in her Sunday best.

Spring Training in February
Batting practice at Francis Marion University. What a great day, softball practice and then shooting my first baseball game. These are from the beginning of February because I just now got blog access. Until I get caught up I'll be posting some work from my first month at the Morning News in Florence, SC. feel free to comment. thanks, marcus


only now after shooting a couple more baseball games have I realized how hard it is to get these "bat on ball" pics, i think this one came easier cause it was batting practice and the pitcher wasn't throwing full speed.













As a side story that day I was trying to get fotos of their pregnant coach, not something you see everyday. I wish I had worked her into some more shots that day but seemed to really be taking it easy and rightfully so.