Lens Flare

I was pleasantly surprised to see that several of my images were used in Blitz Weekly last week. I even got the cover. Very pleased. It’s always a great honor to have your work published.

Blitz Weekly Cover

Blitz Cover - 1-27-10

Love this annual event.

Full Gallery located here: http://stars.nhl.com/club/gallerylanding.htm?id=11475

Considering the glass wasn’t damaged, it doesn’t look too bad.

Canon lens hit by NHL puck.

Well…after shooting close to 30 NHL games, I finally got my taste of what it feels like to be hit by the puck. Unfortunately, it was my lens that was hit…not me. I think I would have preferred me.

I just happened to be testing the Canon 16-35L (notice how wide the shot is) in video mode on my 5D Mark II. The action was at the other end of the ice and BAM! out of nowhere, they send a puck the length of the ice right into my lens….

Hopefully it can be fixed without an exorbitant amount of cost. Just glad it didn’t hit the lens glass. It’s mainly all structural housing damage (that I can tell)… Can’t zoom in or out and the MF ring is tighter than heck. I’ll post a pic of the damage later…but for now… here is a little video clip of my test (albeit just a minute or 2) and impact. You can click full screen mode if you’d like to see it in 720P HD.

5D Mark II Video Test – NHL Hockey with an unexpected quick ending. from Andrew CCM

Well if the rain holds out tonight, KJ and I expect to be out there shooting some of the event. Most notably, I am looking forward to once again seeing our new friends in the band, “Gin Blossoms”. They’ll be performing tonight from 8-9 and it’s a free concert. So please make it out if you can. I’ll post images later from the event.

Now.. RAIN – PLEASE COOPERATE WITH US!

EDIT: Well it didn’t rain, but I think the threat kept way too many people away. I still had a good time, but felt somewhat bad for the participants due to the poor attendance. There was a pretty cool Corvette wipe out when we first got there. LOL

Here are a few concert images from the day.

Well.. As some of you know, I not only work as a freelance photographer, but I am a full-time information security manager for Thomson Reuters.  Thomson  which I have worked for nearly 16yrs recently purchased Reuters and have a branding campaign on-going to promote the merger.  A couple of months back I had the privilage to shoot the Colonial PGA Tour event and made sure to get a shot of Mike Weir with his new duds…  Thomson Reuters is his title sponsor this year and I wanted to get a nice shot highlighting that fact.  Here is the shot that I submitted and was published on their site.

Mike Weir at Colonial CC - 2008

All I can say is WOW.  I have seen Journey 3 times now and this new lineup with singer Arnel Pineda is most definitely something special.  The band (in particular Pineda) had the most energy that I have seen in years.  Being a former musician myself, I am pretty tough on live performance critiques…But wowza these guys tore it up.   Not a wrong note from anyone and so much energy throughout the band.  They looked like they were back in their hayday.  Strong performance that definitely connected with the audience.  We got a great view of the whole show from the 7th row center at Superpages.com Ampitheater.   If you get a chance to see them, don’t miss it.

I only hope that they come through Dallas again and very soon.

Very impressed to say the least.

Couple of pics taken with a P&S camera:

Journey - 7.27.08

7.27.08

Live 7.27.08

HOT DAY Sunday!!!   Regardless, with the free “Rockstar” Energy Drink I was able to make it and have a great time covering the event.

Had a good time shooting the new Grand Prairie baseball team.

George Lopez cracked me up all day long!  On a TeeBox, he decides to pull a chair out, grab a beer and cigar and place himself directly in front of his PGA Tour Pro partner…. Then states, “Mexican’s can have a picnic anywhere!”  LMAO!