Yesterday was a heck of a game with #1 ranked Sam Houston State University pitted against Montana State University who just came off a 48-10 victory in the NCAA quarterfinals. MSU started out strong, and no wonder with their reported 750 fans in the stands. Unfortunately, like a steam roller, SHSU built up power and just overwhelmed them on both offense and defense. Taking the game home with a 49 to 13 victory the Kats of SHSU rushed over 400 yards including six touchdowns.
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A couple of months ago I actually got a short vacation. We made several stops along the way, one of which was Cherokee North Carolina. The blue ridge mountains are beautiful and majestic, giving one plenty of quiet time for reflection. I was only there a short time but I had to try to capture some of the beauty to share with you.

Early sunrise:
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Waterfalls just outside Cherokee:
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Heavily wooded area on top of “the Dome”:
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Sunset our first day:
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Wildlife was everywhere, and not bashful!
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Hope you enjoyed the images.

One of the hardest things to do when both your job and your hobby is photography is pushing yourself to be better and keeping things interesting. If all you ever do is shoot one thing, or one small group of things then you get burned out in your job and bored with your hobby.

In order to stop that from happening to me I am sure you have noticed that on this blog there is a very wide array of different types of photography. That list now gets every wider, by several billion miles!

This is my new astrophotography rig, if you look closely at the bottom right you will see one of my Nikon bodies hanging off the back of the scope. Astronomy is something that has always facinated me and this seemed like a logical and exciting way to keep photography interesting for me.

This is M8, the Lagoon Nebula.

And here we have M31, the Andromeda galaxy.

While this is still photography, it is so much more. Learning about the sky, our solor system, our galaxy, and the entire universe we call home is exciting and mind blowing all at the same time. Spending hours imaging the sky will make anyone feel humble.

Enjoy!

Last night’s game while a little one sided with SHSU dominating UCA 31-10, was at least very cool compared to the weather last week which made the game that much more enjoyable. UCA did get us a little worried in the first half with a nice pass for a 73 yard touchdown, but SHSU recovered quickly and led the entire game.

Last month I was able to take a few days in our nation’s Capital and spent some time getting a few pictures. I divided my time between two different views of Washington, one I called “postcard shots” which are shown here, the second I called “the other side” which I will post later.

Probably the most important thing I took away from the experience is that no matter how many pictures you take, no matter how good you are, there is just no way to impart the true majesty to someone who has not been there.

The next most important thing is that I could have spent a month there and still not photographed everything, not even close. What you see here is a small smattering of the more popular and iconic images most people expect to see on “postcards”, which is exactly what I wanted from this series. I hope you enjoy.

Tomb of the unknown soldier:

JFK’s Eternal Flame:

Arlington National Cemetary:

The Lincoln Memorial at sunrise:

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and Capitol Buildings at night:

The Korean War Memorial at night, yes, the colors are real:

The White House:

Inside the Supreme Court building, spiral marble staircase:

The Supreme Court building:

Inside the Lincoln Memorial:

The Capital building at dawn from the reflecting pool:

Football season is back and the Kats started it with style by defeating Western Illinois Thursday evening. This was a defensive game with both sides scrambling to gain just a few yards at a time. Even with our record heat and no significant rain for months, the night was reasonably cool enough to really enjoy the season opener.

This weekend was full of running, jumping, and throwing. I traveled to Waco to shoot the annual tournament for SHSU SID and aside from the sunburn and complete exhaustion after nine hours of shooting and over four hours of driving, it was a blast. Note the three pictures of the little mishap, she was unharmed except for her pride.

I was fortunate enough to watch some fine up and coming fencers at the tournament Saturday morning. I hope you enjoy some of the photos as much as I enjoyed watching all the action.

Here in Huntsville we are always hearing about Bearkat football, baseball, basketball and sometimes volleyball. When have you heard about tennis? Well let me tell you these LadyKats know how to roar! They won Saturday 5-2 against Nichols and Sunday 4-3 against Southeastern Louisiana!

One game Friday night, two on Sunday, and the Kats Baseball team is back in action! And action there was! There may not be as many spectators at the games as football but the players don’t care, they go full tilt and never let the fans down. Win or loose, the action will keep you wanting more!