Arthur Ashe Kids' Day

I opted to skip the stadium show to shoot interview room portraits.

There were cute kids everywhere!



There was a booth for the Double Stuf Racing League near Ashe Stadium (here's a great commercial for the DSRL starring the Williams sisters & the Manning brothers). Ironically, there was a nutrition interactive area near Armstrong Stadium.

I thought this photo of me & Mr. Double Stuf was way more blogworthy than me with the food pyramid sign. Luckily Chris Trotman was there to shoot this photo.

From Ridgewood Country Club to Flushing Meadows

I shot some golf this morning & after lunch I did a little shopping at Campmor before heading to Flushing to pick up my US Open credentials.

The light was nice so I walked around & took some snaps.

All of a sudden these fans started screaming. Then I saw Nadal emerge from the practice courts.

As I was leaving the tennis, I felt compelled to take a picture of Shea Stadium before it gets torn down. After all, it was the first place I went to a ball game with my dad.

Round One

Chris called me bright & early before I had to check out of the hotel & head over to Ridgewood. The light was amazing, but I didn't want to get up. I grabbed a camera, moved these pussy willows to a different table, got back in bed & shot.

Since I finished up 3 days of headshots yesterday, today I walked around & shot pretty pictures of Barclays signage in nice light.


I can easily spend the day shooting leaves that have been devoured by bugs. I'm sure the spectators thought I was crazy.

Darren set up a makeshift studio to shoot "In the Bag."

Let the Headshots Begin ...

Besides tennis & golf, the most competitive sport I play, is "The Sport of Getting PGA TOUR Golfers to Pose for a Headshot." Sound easy, doesn't it? Well it's not. If this was an Olympic sport, I'd like to think I'd take the Gold. Over the past few years, I've perfected my technique using a combination of begging & trickery.

Byron Nelson was the Assistant Golf Pro here from 1935-1936. This was his stool & even though it was a little rickety, I used it for the headshots. Who wouldn't want to sit on the same stool Byron sat on only 73 years earlier?

From this spot in October 1935, Byron Nelson answered a caddie's challenge to hit the flagpole using his 3 iron. He accomplished the feat on his second try & pocketed the fifty-five cent prize.

Sunday Setup

I drove to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ this morning. Today I'm setting up the studio for player headshots. The Barclays always has a good field since it's the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Paramus is one of my favorite places to shop. Some of my favorite stores are all within two miles of my hotel ... Chef Central, Campmor, Ramsey Outdoor, Eastern Mountain Sports, The Container Store & Pearl Paint. Unfortunately, because of the Blue Laws, I will have to wait until Monday to start shopping.

Since the light was beautiful & I finished the studio setup, I wandered around RCC with my G9 & S8000

JAX to JFK to CBC

Today I flew from JAX to JFK. The weather was so beautiful when I landed ... no humidity! We figured it would be nice to go straight to Catalina from the airport.

The "real" Boss (sorry John)

Tonight I went to see Springsteen with Scott & Sue. First we had dinner at Bistro AIX then headed over to the arena. I've seen a lot of great Bruce concerts over the last 30 years (mostly in NY/NJ & a few in FL). The best show I ever saw was Springsteen's longest show ever, a 5-hour epic at the Nassau Coliseum on New Year's Eve in 1980. Another memorable show was when I got to see him at Wembley Stadium during the Wimbledon fortnight in 1988.

This time, I wasn't expecting anything special ... after all, it was in Jacksonville, not even sold-out & Bruce is almost 60. Well, the concert was awesome! He played a great set list for 3 hours straight. There was so much fan interaction & he was as energetic as the first time I saw him, 3 decades ago.

Dan Nevins

Today I shot TOUR staffer Dan Nevins, a truly inspiring, retired Army Staff Sgt., who was badly injured in Iraq. He learned to play golf with the help of the Wounded Warrior Project.

Anna & Deborah sure are rookies! Don't they know not to wear white when there's a blog photo-op?


Anna "flew" in to lend a hand.

Girlz Only Waffles ... No Boyz Allowed!

Evanne, Deborah, Marisa & Jana came over for waffles.

While Marisa was smiling for the camera, Jana's hard-core competitive nature kicked into overdrive! She wanted to win the waffle design competition.

I had to photograph my waffle before the Dove Dark Chocolate drizzle, in case I ruined my design.

Marisa said she was gonna make the planet earth, but I think she changed her mind. I'm not sure what it is, but it's colorful & yummy.

Despite her fierce competitiveness, Jana was disqualified for using an extra waffle in her design. This would have been allowed if she made a dog. Don't worry Jana ... Michelle Wie was DQed this weekend also. Hopefully Jana won't lose the Grandpa's Cup on a technicality ... I plan to whip her fair & square.

Parfaits & Pup Portraits

Anna invited me for breakfast this morning. We had fabulous parfaits & zucchini nut muffins. Everything was delicious.

Later on, we went to my house to have some fun at Hank's expense. He was a little riled up, so it wasn't too easy to shoot fisheye portraits. Hank spent a lot of time licking the front element of the lens.

Bart Forbes

Bart Forbes came to town to apply a coat of protective varnish to his oil paintings that have had a year to cure. All of the paintings were moved outside for proper ventilation.

After he finished applying the varnish to this Fred Couples painting, some guy on a cell phone stepped on it with spikes. I guess cell phones are dangerous even when you're walking!

The artiste & his Tiger Woods masterpiece (based on a photo that Chris shot).

Triathlon

This morning I decided to get up early to go to the Beaches Fine Arts Sprint Triathlon Series at Mickler's Landing in PVB with Scott & Sue. Scott picked me up at 5:45am & Sue ran 9 miles to get there. I figured it would be a good chance for me to test the Nikon D3s.

A pup woke up early to check out the action.

The surf was really rough!

Scott was hard at work.

Some of the guys had some serious bikes.

The marshals weren't very encouraging!

Nice marketing plan! (click on the photo to read the thought bubble)

iPhone 3G ... Yay!

Got my beautiful 16 gig black iPhone 3G this morning. I went to the AT&T store on JAX Beach at 7am. I was #22 in line for the 8am opening. I think they only had 40 phones total, so they ran out pretty quickly.

The Food Fest Continues

We reconvened to finish all of the food that we couldn't possibly eat yesterday ... steak, chicken florentine, corn on the cob, & salad. We also managed to eat 1/4 waffle each with all the toppings including no-sugar-added moose tracks ice cream.