Witnessing History ... Triumph & Disaster

Since Wimbledon is all about tradition, I started a new one today ... Waffle Breakfast After Wimbledon. Next year it may be smarter to have it after the Ladies' Final!

Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick in an amazing, historic, record-setting, epic battle on Centre Court.

Minutes after match point, this GREAT Nike congrats commercial aired starring Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Pete Sampras, Serena Williams & John McEnroe.


16-14 in the final set!


New records ...
Roger's 15th Grand Slam title surpassing Pete Sampras' record.
Longest Wimbledon Final 77 games (old record 58 games in 1954).
Longest set in Singles Final 16-14 (old record 13-11 in 1953 & 1958).

Interesting stats ...

It's so nice Pete showed up to see his record broken.

Some old images from my archives ... Roger & Andy

Changing of the Guard ... Wimbledon 2001: Sampras vs Federer
Some stats about this historic match in the Round of 16:

It was the only time they both met and since then, Sampras has retired. Federer holds a 1-0 lifetime head-to-head against him.

Going into the match, Pete had never lost a 5-set match at Wimbledon before he lost to Federer 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7- 5.

He had a streak of 31 straight wins at W, tying him with Rod Laver.

Pete had won the 7 of the last 8 Wimbledons going into the 2001 W.

Pete was looking for his 100th win at Wimbledon when he met Federer.



It's hard to believe that this is the only time they played each other, it was only the 4th round & Roger prevailed.

Four hours & sixteen minutes later ... it was time to eat!

Anna's waffle was a combo of the Wimbledon logo & the Swiss flag.

Ilona was just happy the match was over! We waited a long time to eat!

And Matt, well we weren't sure WHAT he was making ...

... nor could we tell after he was finished. The only thing I can tell you is that it was made of 2 full-size waffles & 3 mini-waffles. I think Matt needed a sharper knife!

Breakfast at Wimbledon ... 4th of July

There's nothing better than an All-American final on the Fourth of July. Since I stopped covering Wimbledon a few years ago, I thought I'd post some old relevant pictures from my archives.

In 2002, Serena had her first of three wins against Venus in a Wimbledon final.


Coincidentally, the sisters won doubles that year as well.

A London paper ran a picture of Venus & me in 2000.

I had my first exclusive photo shoot with the Williams sisters in 1992 for National Geographic World magazine. They're so cute ... 10 & 11-years-old!

Our Independence Day festivities started at Matt & Ilona's house.

No blog update is complete without Anna sticking something in her mouth! Luckily, it's just Tyler's BBQ nachos.

Ilona had this incredible Falafel tool.

Matt made the falafel from scratch. It was AWESOME!

Luke helped out in the kitchen.

As always, Matt was the grill master & nobody would go home hungry.

The steak came off the grill first.

After gorging ourselves we went across the pond to Tyler & Anna's house. Matt & Tyler relax on the patio.

Yum ... Anna made me a Frappe.

Hank was happy to have company, even if we didn't bring Luke.

Anna & Tyler's lime tree had itty bitty limes, the size of a quarter.

A view of my house across the Lake from Anna & Tyler's.

I opted not to ride my bike to the beach with everyone else. I had a lot of prep work for tomorrow, so I shot the fireworks from my couch. I think I got a pretty good shot!

Shark Hunting Part Deux

When we got to the beach at 6am, John rigged up three of his rods. I thought he was gonna swallow the sinker.

Our first catch ... a bonnethead shark at 6:35am.

The second shark didn't even get to enjoy his Mayport shrimp.

I tried to put our third shark out in the surf but it swam back to me the first three times. Mike walked out to put him in deeper water and he finally swam away.

Me & shark #4 or 5. I lost count.

John & Mike strategize.

There was nice light on this buried shell.

This gives new meaning to the phrase, "man's best friend"!!! Actually, it's not what it looks like! Catch is sniffing John's bag of Mayport shrimp.

Catch posed for a nice portrait.

John was in charge of removing the hooks. See, I can delegate! ;-)


All of the pups like to meet John.

I wonder if I would have been as brave if this was the mama shark? It was a good day overall. We caught 8 fish ... the first 5 were baby sharks.

Waffle Newbies

Waffle newbies are so much fun. They're overflowing with creativity.
Amber made a martini.


Emily made some watermelon slices.


Travis made his home state of Idaho & a baked potato with sour cream/butter.

The artists at work.

Hmmm ... it's supposed to say Idaho, but it says You Da Ho.



The Duck modeled so Rob could make an accurate Duck waffle.

What the Duck?!?

Emily posed with green peppers (it's an inside joke). It was funny that we both bought some at Publix for each other.

I'm not sure what's more exhausting ... having a waffle party or blogging about it!

Royal Pains ... Catalina on USA Network

I've been going to Catalina Beach Club on Long Island, NY, well, since I was born. My grandfather built Catalina in the 1940s & it's been owned & operated by my family ever since. Even though I've lived in FL for over 25 years, I spent many summers there until I got a "real" job 3 years ago. I still go back every year with friends & family. It's one of my favorite places to photograph.

Catalina's old deco appeal is no stranger to big productions. Scenes in Goodfellas & Far From Heaven were filmed there. Herb Ritts photographed Sylvester Stallone there in 1985 for the cover of Vanity Fair & more recently Beyoncé was there for a shoot. The club has hosted many fashion shoots from Vogue & Glamour to the SI Swimsuit Issue. It's also a favorite location for tv commercials & catalog shoots.

Tonight was the debut of a great new series on USA Network called Royal Pains. Last September I watched them film part of the series at the club. Tonight I got so see my cousins Andy, Sandra, Valerie, Molly & Ashley as "extras" in the show. Check it out ... Thursday nights at 10pm.

During the shoot, I met Mark Feuerstein, the star of the show. Nice guy.

They converted one of the upstairs Oceanview cabanas into a motel room set.