For everything there is a season

And it's now football season. Pardon my blasphemy but football is not my favorite sport, nor is it my favorite subject to shoot. But it's there to be shot and it must be shot because here in yon South, we loves us some pigskin. So, here's some football from the first high school game of the season (for me, at least), Spain Park versus Homewood, and some photos from the Miles-Stillman game. SPvH was on Friday, and the M-S was today.

... and some from the Miles-Stillman game ...
I shot the UAB-Tulsa game yesterday, but all those photos are on another computer.

Ciao till later ...

Teaser

Here's a teaser photo for a bigger set of photos for later, all from an Infocus I'm doing. You have three guesses to figure it out; two of those guesses don't count.

If I like the way this looks, I might start running all my photos on the "large" setting rather than the "medium" setting. Well, personal preference and public opinion. Comment if you care!

Election night in Homewood

Followed the mayoral campaign in Homewood on Saturday morning and then shot the candidates on Tuesday, election night.

Newly-elected Mayor Scott McBrayer moves through a crowd of supporters at New York Pizza in Homewood. [They actually used this one, in color, for print. FYI.]

Scott McBrayer gets a message from a campaign aide during the celebration party at New York Pizza in Homewood.

Scott McBrayer speaks with a supporter during a celebratory party at New York Pizza in Homewood.

Incumbent Barry McCulley sees supporters to the door after a party at Nabeel's Imported Foods, about half a mile from McBrayer's party, in Homewood.

Former mayor Barry McCulley sees his supporters to the door of Nabeel's Imported Foods after losing to challenger Scott McBrayer in the 2008 Homewood, Alabama, mayoral race.

Nice guys, both of them.

Little bit of egotism

Okay, I admit it -- a lot of egotism. But I keep that hidden, or at least try to veil it somehow. Anyway, I've been meaning to take up the mantle of UGA Photojournalism Students Who Are Interning Somewhere by using the studio to take a self-portrait. Thusly are the simplistic results ...I call this the Morrell Look.

Probably my favorite of the [very small] set. Aside from the fact that I look so bleeding serious.
The incredulous lean-and-angle.
Me ... and the SUN!

Okay, so silliness done. Dialing, start.

The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth

Fred Shuttlesworth came to town to screen a short documentary called "It Started at Bethel" at the Civil Rights Institute. Which I still need to actually visit. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow ... anyway, here's a couple photos ...

Pardon the lack of captions -- I'm a tad tired and ready to head out. Also, got a phone call to make. Another quick post to follow, completely silly and pointless.

"No hay banda ..."

A tad tired, so using a very obscure movie reference as a title seems funny at the moment. Anyway, I shot the Homewood High School marching band, one of the top-ranked marching bands in the nation, performing a show for friends, family and the President of the Tournament of Roses. (That last one's important, apparently.) I wasn't happy with the overall shoot, but here are a couple frames that wouldn't run but I kinda liked.

A tuba player gets ready to lift his instrument into position.

"Dude, where are you shoes? Dude, what? Put your shoes on, man!"

The drumline warming up at centerfield.

Concert practice positions, waiting around for orders.

Hey, two posts in a single evening! That's headway for ya ...

Some quick photos

Some various photos from the past two weeks or so. I like this whole "black-and-white-and-not-the-photos-that-made-it-into-the-paper" scheme, so I'll be sticking with it so long as nothing earthshaking comes up. Comment as ye will, fair 'Net wanderer ...

Sister Carrie White gets into the spirit during a prayer vigil at the Titusville AOH Church of God.

Colonel Chris Murphy watches Trooper Ken Burton (unseen) during a seatbelt violation stop.

A hall monitor waits for new arrivals in Blazer Hall during UAB's move-in day.

A Cullman family moves their daughter into Blazer Hall during UAB's moving day. [Note the slightly exasperated motion, and guess which is the student ...]
Spot the photographer. Just sort of tossed this in for those who don't know or can't remember what I look like. As if this'll help much.

Omitting names of youthful types because I feel a little iffy about posting their names online. Just FYI, y'all.

FYI

Just so y'all know ...

My HP laptop, which has been giving me issues of varying degrees for the past couple months, has gone (temporarily, I hope) to the great ... whatever ... in the ... well, whatever. It's dead as a door nail (though I assume nothing on the vivacity of door nails), gone to this digital realm and on to the next, an ex-notebook/current-paperweight, et cetera, et cetera ... needless to say, I'm a tad distraught.

But anyway, though I had a good handful of posts and photos to put up, that's going to have to be put on the backburner for the moment.

On the good side -- HP has recognized the issue as widespread and is offering an extended special warranty to fix the issues (it's a motherboard thing, so it'd be either ~$600 out-of-pocket, which I simply can't afford, or two or three weeks without my 'puter whilst they fix it). So it'll be going off after I get the harddrive backed up and come back in 10 days or so with the original factory settings.

Sigh. Not really been my week -- long drives all week; one of my fan belts snapped, leaving me without power steering and air conditioning; got a little sick at the beginning of the week; computer's busted for the time being; some jerk continues to steal my newspaper in the mornings ...

But hey, hope springs eternal, the weather will cool down, I'll meet interesting people, and catch the twerp who's stealing my paper.

Mixed news

So good news and bad news.

Good news: I won't have to take Sunday and drive to Muscle Shoals to take photos of a corn and cotton farmer up there, thus negating any time with family and the Girl, and thereby making my life a little bit miserable.

Bad news: I'll be driving about 240/250 miles on Friday, and then about 450 miles on Saturday. (To Muscle Shoals and back on Friday, and to Troy and back and then to Birmingham on Saturday).

... if anybody out there has some religion left in 'em, you might want to pray for my car to survive.

One of those days

It's just been one of those days when I feel totally, totally useless. Like, completely. I had no assignments, aside from getting some photos of one of the interns, and then I was out trying to get "heat" pictures, which totally bombed.

Sigh.

Just one of those days, I guess. Somebody told me that "you're gonna fail a lot more than you're gonna succeed, so get used to it." He or she was right.

I'm going to write today off as a failure, and look forward to tomorrow.

Web designing woes

Spent an hour or two trying to add the Wordpress thingermajinger to a site ... gonna be a little more difficult than initially thought, so I'm going to bed, think on it tomorrow.

Other than that ... I drove to Tuscaloosa, spent the day, drove back, and they used three photos. Thus is the job. Lovin' it ... some days more than others.

Tired, bed, gone, zzzzz ...

Waiting, waiting

I find myself immensely uncomfortable with media/press rooms. I don't know why. I walk into a media room, and there's one or two dozen or more folks inside at their laptops and cameras, looking over things and occasionally sharing with one another something. And I just feel the perspiration on my lower back and brow and just sort of find some place to seat myself and set up and what not -- never really know what to do, where to go, what to say, et cetera.

Today's no different -- still sucks. I'm at the University of Alabama, hanging around until the open practice starts at 2:30 P.M. and then it's over to Fan Day, and then back in here to edit and transmit, which'll be fine. Better than right now, at least: trying to find something to occupy my time other than mindlessly surfing the web. Already set up PhotoMechanic, I know how to run the galleries and FTP ... I even wrote directions to my aunt and uncle's place, since the Girl will be joining me there for the Mongo Tribal Gathering next weekend.

I think I should rewrite them, though -- something a little sillier, perhaps. ... hell, I've got an hour, and it shouldn't take too long.

Sigh -- I'm fine with the doctor's office, but I'm uncomfortable in media rooms? I'm a little weird ...

Sigh -- I dislike hot weather

Weather.com says that it's only 91, but it feels like 98, and it's 54% humidity outside. This is why I hate Southern summers. If it was a dry heat, sure, fine, I can deal, but the humidity is killer. And it literally makes my hair curl. Seriously. And, hey, heat's fun, good for you, makes you sweat, lets you lounge by the pool ... but it ain't so great when you're wandering around in a button-up shirt with black jeans because you can't wear blue jeans into the office and heaven forbid you wear shorts because it's hot enough to make the Devil consider an Alaskan cruise.

Yeah, been outside all day, and it's steamy.

There was the Dog Daze festival in Trussville this morning, and I'm putting in some photos as I type, but there was one that I'm not putting it because a) I don't think it'd run, b) I don't have the little girl's name, and c) it's not actually very good. But I saw it (in black and white in my mind, thus the lack of color in the photo), I like it for some reason, and here it be ...:

So yeah, I might get in trouble if somebody else likes it and wonders why I didn't put it, but I'll roll with it. Anyway, back to editing.