Airshows in S. Florida

There has been some good news here in the S. Florida area concerning airshows. First, the City of Ft. Lauderdale has approved the return of the Air & Sea show in 2010. It is now in the hands of the 2 promoters to find a title sponsor for the event and to get things rolling. I really hope this get done, as I missed the opportunity to shoot the planes during previous years.

Additionally, there was an announcement from the Homestead Air reserve base that the Thunderbirds will be returning to the base for an Airshow in November of 2009. I've already got that on my calendar for Nov. and I'm really looking forward to photographing those planes after shooting the Blue Angels this year.

Fate.....

Fate has a way of bringing people together or to cross paths for one reason or another. Such is the case with me and BSO Deputy Wengert. Chance would have me at an event in Cooper City in Feb. 2007 where he and his K9 partner Oozi were doing a demonstration. I took a few photos and introduced myself after the demonstration was over. I gave him a business card and told him to send me an e-mail and I would send him the photos that I took. Just my own way of saying thank you to an officer that puts his life at risk every time he starts his shift, so that the rest of us can feel relatively safe.
Our paths continued to cross over the past year and half, and I always looked forward to saying hello to Dept. Wengert and photographing his dog during any demonstration they were doing. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. I got a little preferential treatment during the demos, so that I could get good angles to shoot from or a heads up on exactly what they were going to do. He was always really happy to get the photos of his dog in action.
July 17th, things changed. Dept. Wengert was part of a chase that started in Broawrd county and ended in Dade. The bad guy (who doesn't deserve any recognition) ended up stopping at a hospital in Miami, where he fired at police. Oozi was released to stop the suspect and in the process was shot and died later at a animal hospital.

I received an e-mail from Dept. Wengert asking about the last series of photos I had taken. I had been busy with other things and had forgotten to send them to him. I quickly worked them up, loaded them up on my site and sent him a reply with a link to pick up the files. He replied as kindly as he always had, and asked if I had read the news about Oozi. I had heard about the BSO K9 being shot, but when I first read the news they had not released any information. I was sad to hear that Dept. Wengert had lost his dog in the line of duty.

The memorial services were on July 23, and all the pictures I had previously given him were used in a slideshow. He thanked me again, and said that all the pictures were excellent and I had no idea ho much the pictures meant to him.

It is not often that something as simple as a photograph can mean so much to someone. I can honestly say that reading about Oozi death left me with a heavy heart for most of the day. I offer my deepest condolences to Dept. Wengert on the loss of his K9 partner and friend, and to his family for the loss of a very loved pet.

Evil lighting

Well, I was out at the gym of evil again for another shot at basketball. I'm getting my timing down but the lighting in this place is just horrible. Here is what I'm talking about. All I have to say is ARRRGHH!!!!!!

First attempt shooting basketball

I shot my first basketball game yesterday and talk about horrible lighting. The gym had 2 lights out and a mixture of sodium vapor and some other lights. I ended up shooting at 3200 ISO and got some decent shots. Lots of work on the post processing end and not to mention I am a bit rusty from not shooting any sports for almost a month. Going to try again soon.



Here is one of the original unedited shots. Man, worst lighting I have ever shot in.



ISO 1600
1/320
F2.8

I've got big ones.....

You can't hang, so don't even try...

Flickr page

I just started uploading pictures to my flickr page. These are just stuff that I have shot and I felt like sharing.

here's the link if your interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taddzilla/

R.I.P. Mr. George Carlin

A cheer in your honor.....

Rat shit, bat shit, dirty old twat,
69 assholes tied in a not,
Horray!!
Lizard Shit!
FUCK!!!!

Worst fishing day ever....

So, yesterday I was in the Boynton Kiwanis tournament along with my dad, brother and a friend of my brother, Stan. The day started out with a somewhat bumpy ride out the cut and then as we powered up to run we started cavitating on the right engine. Long story short, spun a hub on that motor and no more than 3400 rpm. Slow ride out and start trolling. No weeds of any size, birds were here and there but not workig, then ride out one little rain storm.

No hits by 9:30 and another storm is building to the east. This is a nasty one, on with the rain jackets and turn into the wind and rain. 10 minutes and a fair bit of lightning, a nice thing with 18' aluminum outriggers out. Get through that and 10 minutes later and other storm is building. Well, today doesn't look to promising, so we decide we are going to pull the lines and head in. Well, seeing we can't run hard to get out of the storms we get stuck in another one and are a bunch of drowned rats. A horrible 2 hour ride in from 16 miles out.

We checked back in and no one has had a fish to weigh. Looks like we weren't the only team that didn't have crap to show for it. Called it a day and went to 2 Georges for lunch.

It was the worst day I've ever spent fishing.

Sunfest - 2008

Good weekend. I spent most of Saturday at Sunfest (www.sunfest.org) with my brother, John, and my oldest son, Nicholas. It was a day filled with good music, nice weather, some good food, and several trips to the Capt. Morgan's party barges. I'm looking forward to next years concerts too.

Today sucked.....

Today was a freaking shitty day at work. Nothing more to say.

Davie/Cooper City Relay for life

I, along with several family members and friends participated in the Davie/Cooper City relay for life this past weekend. The weather was fantastic and our team did an awesome job and raised over 3000.00 for the American Cancer Society.

Thanks to all who donated, you guys are awesome.

Day light savings time

Has anyone seen the hour that I lost? Man I can't get out of bed when it's dark.

Great Superbowl game

I really enjoyed the Superbowl. I'm glad the Giants played the way they did, as I was expecting a one sided game. Congrats to Eli and the entire Giants team.

Go buy RAIN-X

News flash, it rains in Florida. All you people who live an drive down here, know that. So why when it rains do you have to turn on your hazards and drive at 5 mph???? If you have your wipers on warp speed and still can't see, how about pulling off to the side and waiting 5 minutes? All you do is cause more problems for those of us who happen to use RAIN-X so that we can see out our windows during a downpour. Honestly, change your wiper blades every year and use RAIN-X so you can freakin' see, and not jam up the highway.

The emergency lights for for when you need help, not to signal it's raining and I'm too dumb to pull over........


/end rant

Just getting started.....

Well, since everyone in the world has blogs going, why not join in? This may turn into something I do regularly or may be a waste of time. We'll see how it goes.