I Shot a Baby!

Here is our friend’s first born…Luke.

Second Place is the First Loser!!!

I know, that’s a poor way to look at things, but I’m half kidding. I went out last Friday night to the “One Hour Photo” contest that the Bellwether Art Gallery hosted. It’s located in the Monarch Art Factory. The gist of it was….pay $5, you have one hour to shoot downtown, and come back with your best five. Local photographer Randy Bacon was the judge, and I was informed today that out of approx. 100 photos, I placed 2nd. I saw this waiter smoking out behind his restaurant, and liked the light coming from the windows. I’m usually not too big on asking strangers for their photo, but this guy was nice, and didn’t seem to mind. So, they are going to frame and mat an 8×10 and it will hang in the Bellwether Gallery all of April….including at this Friday’s Art Walk. Pretty cool! Here’s my photo.

Catch of the Day

Took this shot in Anadolu Kavagi, Turkey. You can see the guy that is helping him bring the boat in is holding his Muslim prayer beads.

Springfield Paparazzi

Living in Springfield, MO, you would think that celebrity sightings would be a common occurrence. I mean this is the home of Brad Pitt, and more importantly Aaron Buerge. Well, amazingly enough I’ve never once spotted Brad Pitt. But it’s only a matter of time, because for some strange reason, I’m a bit of a celebrity magnet. My only sighting in Springfield was a few years back when Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow were still together, and I saw Gwyneth and Brad’s mom shopping in a little gift store. (Apparently Brad got a teapot from Gwyneth that year!) Interestingly enough, that would not be my last encounter with Gwyneth. Just a few years later, while in Austin, TX, Meredith and I would run into Gwyneth again. She was with Luke Wilson, who refused to be in this photo.

That very same day, we came upon a film crew filming a music video for one my favorite artists of all time. Willie Nelson!! He signed a piece of paper for me, which upon returning home, was defaced by a scribbled note that my brother wrote right over the top of the autograph. He thought it was just a piece of scrap paper. Leanne Wommack was also in the video, but was too busy getting primped to sign autographs.

New York is obviously prime celeb spotting territory. Here is Tom Cruise (pre Oprah couch-jumping freakout) when he was still considered normal. He was very nice, and signed an autograph for my sister.

That same trip to New York produced perhaps one of the more disturbing sightings…Jack Black….I’ll let the photo speak for itself.

Our next trip to NYC was again ripe with celebrities. After leaving a Broadway show one night, I was almost run over by Bob Sagat, so I just whipped out my camera and stuck it in his face!

Here’s Hank Azaria coming out of Spamalot.

The very next day, while strolling in the West Village, we saw Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker coming out of their Brownstone to take their kid to the park.

These are the only photos that I have of my celebrity sightings, but I have also run into Rob and Amber from Survivor/Amazing Race fame in the Las Vegas airport, former governor of Arkansas and now Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on an airplane, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin at a trade show, and the dude from the show Ham on the Street was on a flight. As creepy as the Jack Black photo is, my brother saw Michael Jackson at a mall in Indianapolis….now that’s creepy.

Props to My Dad

As much as I would like to take credit for these photos, I have to give the credit to my dad. He would be the first to tell you that he is not the most artistic guy in the world, but he does have a great eye for photography. Recently, I was going through some files on my computer and I came across these. I thought they were too good not to post. He took these about 2 years ago while traveling in Nicaragua with the Rainbow Network. They are an organization whose mission it is to feed, clothe, teach, and provide shelter for people in Nicaragua, who happen to be some of the absolute poorest people in the world. The picture of the kids was taken at an event where people from the village came by to say thanks and entertain the people from Rainbow. These little girls were all dressed up and sang and danced for them. The other photo is of a woman appears to be in her 70’s, but due to the difficult lives these people live, is actually much younger than she looks. Look at her feet and how a life without shoes has made them so rough and wide. How is it that we are so lucky?