What happens in Vegas ... stays in Vegas!

Jana, Mike, John R & I flew out to LV for Photoshop World. Mary also joined us.

We passed some interesting terrain.

I was pretty happy when I set up a wi-fi network in the room.

John's visit to the buffet was unprecedented. He photographed everything he ate. That means he took a LOT of pictures!

Mike sweetens his iced tea.

The light was nice, but I think we're standing on a ramp.

JR, Mary & Jana crack up when they see the photo. They said I look like a midget.

Nice window light.

Shadows

JUNIOR PLAYERS

It was a soggy day at TPC Sawgrass! Chris was assigned to shoot the final round today. Deborah & I went out also. We all got drenched!

It was REALLY dreary all day long.

Junior golfers from around the world descended on the Stadium Course for this inaugural event.
He & Hu came from China. Who? Zeyu & Mu! Mu Hu?!?

The warped summary board was particularly photogenic.

The bad conditions made the golfers a little stiff.

It was hazy, hot & humid all day long.

There were some cute little standard bearers ...

... and one who thought there might be some passing aircraft that might want to know which group was below.

In the end, it's all about the sportsmanship.

Last Day at Catalina

The sunset was spectacular ... but I had to leave to go JFK.



These are portions of a circa 1940s plaster wall sculpture that was preserved when the lobby was rennovated.
A little racy ... don't ya think?


The Becker family pose for their annual picture.

Hank, Mom, Larry & Sandy enjoy the view.

The Becker kids & their friends were ready to go for another swim.

Another dinner was delivered from Mother Kelly's. We had gorgonzola salad, garlic knots, penne a la vodka, balsamic chicken, Romanian steak, regular pizza ...

... & spinach pizza for 32 people.

Kids Day at the US Open

It's Playoff Time!

Turkey Martini?

Since my headshot studio was set up by player dining, I splurged & had a turkey martini for lunch. It tasted better than it looks.

Karen invited me to dinner. It was great catching up ... as always.

FedEx Nightmare

My missing lights have been found. I got the first case delivered to the media center at 6:49pm. In the mean time, FedEx was trying to track the second case. The shipment was apparently split up & case #2 was in Chicago on a different flight. It was delivered to my hotel at 1am.

NY again

I flew to NY at 6am today. It's playoff time so I came up to shoot player headshots at The Barclays.


I had planned to take it easy today & hopefully go to Catalina. After I arrived at my mom's house, the chaos began. On Thursday, Stan FedExed the lights from a tournament in Oregon to arrive on Friday. When I tracked the shipment, the airbills weren't found in the system, so I had to provide a pickup confirmation number. They told me they were delivered to the Westchester Country Club. Something didn't seem right, so I asked if they could tell me the weights of the packages. They said one was 2 lbs & the other was 20 lbs. At that point I knew we had a problem. Mine weighed 57 lbs & 35 lbs.

I called Stan in a panic & asked him to search the club to see if the lights were still there. He found them. Apparently FedEx picked up 2 smaller packages going to the same desitnation & didn't bother to check the weights & dimensions noted in the pickup confirmation. I spent the next 3 hours on the phone with FedEx trying to figure out how I could get the equipment delivered by tomorrow. I explained to the FedEx representative how important it was to get this shipment to the largest sporting event FedEx has ever sponsored ... the FedExCup.


Well FedEx has a service called "Sameday" (It isn't really same day since we were shipping from west to east, but at least they deliver on Sunday). For a mere $779, it was the only option to get the lights in time for my shoot. I'm sure we won't have to pay that after I dispute the charges with proof that it was FedEx's fault the package didn't arrive on Friday as planned.

My fortune cookie was right on the money. I can't remember ever getting a "bad" fortune ... they're usually good.

I finally made it to Catalina at about 6pm. Norm, Helaine, Bobby, David, Emily & I walked to the jetty from Catalina.

We passed some signs along the way.

We headed back to the cabana to join Sandy, Larry, Stephen, Patty, Jessica & Madeline for dinner delivered from Mother Kelly's ... YUM!

The seagulls were having a feast. There were a ton of huge clamshells everywhere. Most were about 6" across, but some were even bigger. It brought back childhood memories of collecting these big shells & painting them to make ashtrays. Funny, I don't think kids would make ashtrays now. It's hard to believe smoking was so acceptable then. YUK!

Swim near lifeguard!!!

I have no idea what kind of birds these are. They were squalking a lot & hanging out in the Piping Plover protected area.

Ocean rescue boat

No lifeguard on duty