2008 Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Classic Championship

South Broward's junior guard Krystal Saunders (12) wrestles for the ball against Nova's junior center Jassany Williams (23) as teammate Jasmine Wilson looks on in the fourth quarter at the 2008 Junior Orange Bowl Classic championship game at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Nova defeated South Broward 64 - 33.

Williams posted a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Nova never gave South Broward the defending state champions a chance. Nova becomes the first Broward team to win the Junior Orange Bowl since the girls' bracket was added.

Nova High school 2008 Junior Orange Bowl Classic champions

2008 Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Classic

Norland High School, Miami, Florida

Ian Hummer a senior forward (52) from Vienna, Virginia drives to the basket in the second quarter as his Gonzaga College High School from Washington, DC defeated Immaculata-La Salle High School from Miami, Florida in the first day of action in the 2008 Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Classic. The Classic will be December 27, 29, & 30, 2008 at the Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus Gymnasium in Miami, Florida.

San Francisco 49ers vs Miami Dolphins Dec. 14, 2008

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill (13) can't escape the tackle of Miami Dolphins corner back Nathan Jones (33) as he is sacked late in the fourth quarter as his team attempted a come-from-behind victory. San Francisco came up short as the Dolphins won 14-9.

2008 Florida Classic

Florida A&M Universitys LeRoy Vann (7) causes Bethune Cookmans Matthew Johnson (#13) from Ft. Lauderdale who attended Ft. Lauderdale High School to fumble in the third quarter at the 2008 Florida Classic in Orlando, Florida.
The Florida Classic is the premiere rivaly football games between two black colleges Florida A&M University Rattlers of Tallahassee and Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats of Daytona Beach.

Boxing

CityPlace

South Florida Youth Football League playoffs 90lb division

Moses Snoll,#40, of the Lauderhill Lions 90lb division celebrates his fourth down tackle of Boynton Beach Bulldogs Juwan Frazier late in the fourth quarter to give his team possession and allowed them to run out the clock and advance to the Florida Youth Football League Super Bowl next weekend.

Dunmore poster

Alonzo Dunmore's father holds up his poster. Not one of my better photos of an actual poster.

Dieuty “The Untamed Beast” Ariistilde

Today I had the pleasure of dropping off a poster for heavyweight boxer Dieuty "The Untamed Beast" Ariistilde. One of the fun things about being a photographer is getting to meet and learn things about people. Dieuly turned out to be a very pleasant and a nice guy. On the information I got from his fight his name was spelled wrong, it is Dieuly Ariistilde. I also learned that he came to the United States from Haiti at six years old and had a football scholarship before being shot in an altercation that almost took his life. Putting all that behind him he now works as a bodyguard for the rich and famous at nights so that he can train for his boxing career in the day time.

Barack Obama President- elect election party

Supporters erupt in celebration as CNN declares Barack Obama the winner and new president of the United States at an election watch party at RJ's Family Restaurant & Lounge West Palm Beach, Florida.

2008-2009 Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball

Initially this photo shoot of the 2008-2009 Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball teams was supposed to be in their Gymnasium but because of the Barack Obama's “Growing American Jobs” summit event they decided not to cancel but to do it outside on the schools campus.

This caused for some unique challenges, one having a large number of people out in the heat. I was hired to do team photos as well as individual shots for their web site and program. The first challenge was trying to find a location where I would have some type of elevations and then try to work with the direction of the light. This was accomplished with a circular fountain that I could have one row sitting and another standing but the lighting was all wrong. The lighting was more side lighting than I would have liked but it did give me some separation from the background and I used a medium soft box as a fill light.

I attempted to work as quickly as possible because of the heat but also tried to give more than one look. I shot a lot tighter for the girl’s team because they didn't want me to show their shoes. After, getting the standard shots where you can see faces and numbers when you try to go after some fun shots.

Barack Obama “Growing American Jobs” summit Palm Beach Community College Lake Worth Campus

Today made for an interesting day. I was contracted a couple weeks ago to photograph the Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball teams at the schools Elizabeth W. Erling Gymnasium at the Lake Worth campus. I found out the day before that Barack Obama was hosting an event that morning in the same gymnasium. I have covered these types of events before so I thought that the school would cancel the photo shoot but they decided not to do the shoot in the gym but to do it on campus.

Scents I was going to be on campus anyway I decided to apply for press credential for the Barack Obama event. I had gotten an email from the Obama campaign that’s how I knew about the event to begin with. So after I knew that I had a credential I decided to go early and hang around the school until my photo shoot with the basketball teams. After arriving almost three hours early there was still nowhere to park and the school was like a zoo as I expect.

Once I actually got on campus security got people through pretty quickly. It was actually kind of funny because my contact person with the schools marketing department for the afternoon basketball shoot that I had not met but only talked with on the phone was the first person I met at the security entrance for the Obama event.

Instead of the expected Obama Rally, he had a “Growing American Jobs” summit with Governors Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Bill Ritter of Colorado and Ted Strickland of Ohio, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to discuss the economic challenges that they are seeing firsthand and talk about the impact that Senator Obama’s Economic Rescue plan for the middle class would have on the economy in communities across America.


Participants in the Barack Obama “Growing American Jobs” summit from left to right
The Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker, Senator Barack Obama, owner of South Florida-based Victoria & Associates Victoria Villalba, Governor of Ohio Ted Strickland, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt and Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter.

Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm talks about issues in her state as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker looks on.

CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, left, looks on as the Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter elaborates about economic challenges in his state.

Barack Obama addresses the crowd.

Boxing Eventco Sports, Inc., boxing card at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Last night I went out to cover professional boxing. Daniel “The Haitian Sensation” Edouard from Chicago took on Francisco “Flash” Osario of Miami in the main event of a seven-bout card promoted by Eventco Sports, Inc., Saturday night Sept. 20 at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

This turned out to be an interesting night; all the fights were competitive and action-packed. The lighting was a bit interesting. They had two banks of lights in opposite corners, in a cross lighting pattern. Which created dark shadows in the opposite corners and any time the fighter’s heads went down. The lighting was extremely poor I had to shoot at ISO 3200 at shutter speeds of 500 to 1000 of a second at F2.8. The only good thing about the lighting was this was the first time I had the opportunity to use my new Nikon D300 camera under very poor lighting conditions. This camera was advertised as handling poor lighting conditions very well and it has as advertised. My only other issue was not being able to get a fight card, because I was looking for a compelling story angle that I could pitch to a newspaper. Without the fight card I didn't have the names of the fighters or where they were from.



Referee Frank Gentile officially stops the first fight of the night as Tyrone Dicks from Miami was knocked out by Isaiah Thomas from Detroit at :50 seconds of the first round as both fighters were making their pro debuts. Dick's lay motionless for several minutes as he was treated by the ringside physicians. He was stable and breathing on his own and taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons and further review.



Omar Brown (right) from West Palm Beach, Florida lands a left to the jaw of Elliot Alvarado from Hollywood, Florida in the second round in his pro debut. Brown knocked down Elliot in the first round and went on to win a unanimous decision in there four around fight.



Welterweight Omar Brown from West Palm Beach, Florida shows his emotions as he celebrates with his trainer after winning his pro debut by beating Elliot Alvarado from Hollywood, Florida with a four round unanimous decision.



Light Welterweight Clayvonne “Bad Boy” Howard (right) from North Palm Beach, FL. made his pro Debut as he beat Brandon Reid Avebook from Dracut, Mass. with a third round stoppage by referee Sam Burgos.

Eastern Michigan University defeat’s Florida Atlantic University in women's soccer

Today I decided I wanted to shoot something, so I decided to go down to Boca Raton, Florida to shoot a women's college soccer game. I hadn't shot a soccer game in a couple of years so it felt completely strange and my timing was way off.

The Eastern Michigan University women's soccer team held off a late rally by Florida Atlantic University Sunday afternoon, defeating Florida Atlantic 2-1 in Boca Raton, Florida.


Eastern Michigan University #2 Nicole Farrell of Coral Springs, Florida and #17 Brittany Comer of Jacksonville, Florida celebrate their teams second goal in the second half

Florida Atlantic University’s #4 Janelle Simpkins from Nepean, Ontario, Canada takes a kick to the stomach as she tries to defend Eastern Michigan University’s #11 Jessica Lathrop from Indianapolis, Indiana.

You can view all the game photos at.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4093836

test

Youth football, Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division of Pop Warner & South Florida Youth Football League

Football season is here again, I covered my first two games today.
The Jupiter Maroon vs Lake Park Sharks Junior Pee Wee youth football of the Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division and the Western Tigers vs Boynton Beach Bulldogs 165lb of the South Florida Youth Football on Saturday 9-6-08. I contacted the Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, HomeTown News, The Weekday and the Jupiter Courier.

As a freelance photographer I tend to first go after news publications in an attempt to sell them photos and try to get the leagues some press coverage. And then I try to go after the parents to see if there's any interest from them.

It is becoming more and more difficult to sell freelance photos to news publications. Because of their cutbacks and limited budget they are tending to buy less and less photos. The Sun-Sentinel no longer has a youth football section, HomeTown News no longer covers Northern Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach Post’s Neighborhood News covering Jupiter and the Jupiter Courier wanted to use my photos for free and the Weekday never returned my phone call.

The other typical aspect is trying to get a roster of the teams. The first game I was fortunate enough to get rosters although one team was missing several numbers of players. In the second game I couldn't get rosters for either team, although I was told they would e-mail it to me the next day. That worked out because once again I was told The Sun-Sentinel no longer has a youth football on the south end of Palm Beach County either and the Boynton Beach Forum never returned my phone call. One team did eventually send me the email of their roster but not the other team.

Ideally what you would like to have is the play a touchdown, fumble, an interception, or just something different and be able to see the motions in their eyes.

I have attached a links to the photos from the games.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=4078718&s=0

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4085893


The Jupiter Maroon’s Brandon Murphy Scores a fourth-quarter touchdown against the Lake Park Sharks in a Pop Warner Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division Junior Pee Wee game in Lake Park, FL.

HBCU All White Reunion 2008

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) represent about 3% of Higher Education Institutions in the US and about 2% of US college enrollment. It only seems to reason that as their numbers continue to diminish that those who attended Black Colleges and Universities would like to keep those memories alive and relevant. So with that in mind I attended the Labor Day Weekend HBCU All White Reunion 2008 Sunday at the ZIA RESTAURANT, Inside the Embassy Suites Hotel 4350 PGA Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The event has hosted by KJ Events & District Entertainment for a grown and mature audience dressed in there best white attire could come out to a classy location and share in their college memories with music by Supalova KJ, DJ Lee, DJ Step and live entertainment.

Robert & Tasha Steedley Wedding

I would like to congratulate Robert & Tasha Steedley on their wedding Saturday at the Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Passing of Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac

Today, I was saddened by the news of the passing of Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac yesterday.

Hayes, a pioneering singer, songwriter and musician best known for the "Theme from Shaft'' won Academy and Grammy awards.

I had the opportunity to photograph Isaac Hayes at the 2005 City of Riviera Beach "Jazz on the Beach" Jazz & Blues Festival.

Bernie Mac grew up from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."

My condolences go out to the family and friends of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.

The Sisterhood’s 2nd Annual “Big Hat Summer Prayer Tea”

I was contacted yesterday morning to come out and photograph a group of women that afternoon. I usually don't except jobs with that short of notice, but this one I was glad I did.

The Sisterhood is group of women united together for kingdom building. There support emphasizes intercessory prayer for political leadership, teachers and students, families and relationship, pastors, ministers and our troops supporting us around the world.

A nondenominational group of women in prayer chains believing that increasing prayer support for societies needs! There's power in prayer and strength in numbers. With, well over a hundred women attending it has truly a spirit filled event at the Hilton Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Charleston, South Carolina wedding

I’m on my way back from South Carolina, I would like to congratulate Perstine & Michelle Sanders on their wedding Saturday at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Frederick, Maryland

I am back from my week long Maryland vacation. I flew into Baltimore, Maryland and drove 30 minutes to Mount Airy where my father Arthur Luby was from. Although I grew up in Florida the trip brought back some good memories of my two years that I lived in Frederick, Maryland and played basketball at Frederick Community College. I went up for a family reunion and got to spend some time with my daughter Alicia, granddaughter little Miss J and see a few family members I hadn't seen in a while.

I don't miss the snow and cold weather but I do miss the scenic countryside. I have added my last newspaper clipping and a photo of my granddaughter.

Fourth of July first Friday NFL Weekend

Arizona Cardinals star receiver Anquan Boldin a former Pahokee High and Florida State standout and Stand-up comedian-turned-actor Mike Epps were in attendance on the Fourth of July for the NFL Fourth of July first Friday weekend party at the Ultra Lounge downtown West Palm Beach, Florida,

Saturday night Chicago Bears All-Pro return specialist DEVIN HESTER a Suncoast High and University of Miami standout will have his party.

Fourth on Flagler 2008

I started off wanting to go out and shoot fireworks at the Fourth on Flagler downtown West Palm Beach. After the late afternoon thunderstorms I got a late start. Because of the weather and the traffic I could not get remotely close to downtown before the fireworks started. When I realized I would not get anywhere near the fireworks I got out of the traffic and parked on a side street. After walking three or four blocks to get to the waterfront the fireworks display has well underway. I decided to just shoot what I could get using an 80 - 200mm f2.8 lens handheld at shutter speeds as low as a 30th of a second.

Fourth on Flagler, the area’s biggest and best fourth of July celebration. Residents and visitors enjoyed fireworks, food, concerts and much more along the City’s waterfront. This year the City of West Palm Beach was celebrating Two Decades of Independence Day Fun and thanking everyone for coming out to enjoy 20 years of fireworks, festivities and most of all…freedom!

Will E Robo at West Palm Beach Improv Comedy Jamz Wednesdays

Last night I was at the West Palm Beach Improv where I was just going to take a minute to get my basic shot of a comedian on stage with the Improv sign behind him. Pretty much your basic run-of-the-mill shot except for the fact that I didn’t expect comedian Will E Robo was on stage. As I was going through the motions, checking the lighting did not want to cause distractions by moving too much, trying to quickly figure out his stage tendencies. Robo moved around quite a bit on stage so then my boring shot on stage when took on a new light as he would break into these characters and impressions as he moved across the stage. When I noticed that he had the audience rolling in laughter that boring shot on stage took me again in another direction, now I wanted to see if I could come up with a different shot of him going into these impressions and catch the audience in the background laughing. I got the photo, not quite happy with the overall quality because of the lighting and trying to capture the folks in the audience I had to really pushed the film to ASA 1600. Oh I forgot we don't use film any more and the grain in the digital world is called noise.

Will E Robo from Baltimore, Maryland is well known for his impressions of animals, entertainers, and characters. Will's stand up also includes sound effects that will truly amaze any audience. Will E has appeared on television shows such as the Apollo winning six times as an amateur, BET's comic view, Russell Simmons HBO def comedy jam and P. Diddy's Bad Boyz of Comedy.

Pastor, Albert Wilder Jr. fellowship day

This was a reunion photo Sunday of Pastor, Albert Wilder Jr. with the 1976 Class of Palm Beach Gardens High School for a fellowship day at Hilltop Missionary Baptist Church in Riviera Beach, Florida.

In shooting large groups of people you are sometimes forced to sacrifice based on the time of day and your locations. In this particular photo it was a decision of a good light environment or elevations. I when with the elevations where I had some steps that I could use to get three different heights at the sacrifice of the harsh backlighting as opposed to having a better lighting location but could not see everybody faces.

New York Jets Abram Elam A Day in the Park

On Saturday, at the Dan Calloway Recreation Complex in Riviera Beach, Florida New York Jets football player Abram Elam organized A Day in the Park to tell his friends that drugs and violence are a dead end.
Elam knows firsthand the affects of violence three times he has lost a sibling to violence on the streets of Riviera Beach. Food and drinks were provided as well as live music, fun and games for the kids, businessmen in the community, and a couple of fellow NFL players.

Bizzle aka Mr. NAKED HUSTLE

As a photographer when you show up for an assignment you accept the challenge of capturing the mood and feel of that event. These photos of Bizzle aka Mr. NAKED HUSTLE were a joy for me because of the excitement and the frenzy of all the money flying in the air, it was truly an electric night on 6-14-08 at the Ultra Lounge in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kenny Howell at Palm Beach Improv Comedy Jamz Wednesdays

Sometimes you want to try something different as I tried to do last Wednesday with the inserted photo of the comedian Kenny Howell. I was attempting to get a shot of the comedian performing from outside in the lobby as the door would open and close as people were coming and going. This was very difficult to do because as the people were coming in and out I had about a second to get a photo before the door would close.

Howell from Chicago, has been seen on The Parkers, Comic View and Live at the Apollo, and Tell it to the Judge.

Go out and support the West Palm Beach Improv Comedy Jamz Wednesday each and every week for a night of laughter, drinks, and the best comedians from BET's comic View, HBO's Def Comedy jam, Jamie Foxx's Lafapalooza, and many more, Hosted by Benji Brown and X 102.3's own DJ Severe AKA Sever Saprano.

Bishop Aaron and Brenda Booker

It was a fun filled evening for the family and friends of the
Grace of Eternal Life Ministry Pastoral Banquet in Honor of Bishop Aaron and Brenda Booker 6/21/2008 at the Signature Grand in Davie, FL.

George & Mary 50th Anniversary

Congratulations to George & Mary Lucas on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Tampa/St. Petersburg

I don't get the opportunity to shoot too many pet photos, but I found this to be one of the most interesting shoots that I've done in a while. Ziggie, a 4-year-old Lhasa Apso, was like a little kid he would just sit there and look at you then smile on cue showing you his teeth or smiling and licking his tongue at you. There was a little more backlight on his head then I would like but I didn't want to lose his attention by trying to move him around too much Ziggie's, owner is Patricia Wheelings.





Last week I had an opportunity to spend some time in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. I was there to meet with a potential client interested in some of my college football and to vacation for a couple of days.

In looking through some of my photos from the University of South Florida in Tampa I had a difficult time narrowing it down to a couple of photos. I was looking for something different but decided to go with action shots.


University of South Florida vs Florida Atlantic University Owls Fort Lauderdale, FL - October 06: Benjamin Williams #30 of the University of South Florida Bulldogs fumbles the ball as he is tackled by Cergile Sincere # 45 , Jermaine Council, # 94 and Jervonte Jackson # 92 of the Florida Atlantic University Owls during the second quarter the Bulldogs Williams, was injured on the play and did not return to the game at Lockhart Stadium on October 6, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Wide receiver Carlton Mitchell #2 of the University of South Florida Bulldogs focuses on the football as he leaves his feet to make a leaping 8 yard reception just in from of the Florida Atlantic University Owls bench during a third down pass play that has short of a first down in the second quarter of the Bulldogs the nation's sixth-ranked teams 35-23 victory over the upset-minded Owls at Lockhart Stadium on October 6, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Miami Herald’s inaugural All-Florida college football team 2007

Today I came across an article by The Miami Herald. It was about the The Herald's All-Florida COLLEGE FOOTBALL team. They used one of my photos of Florida Atlantic University tight end Jason Harmon that they voted first-team. The photo was from a game 10-6-2007 against the University of South Florida that had a number 6 AP national ranking at the time.

The Miami Herald's inaugural 2007 All-Florida college football team
was selected by sportswriters Susan Miller Degnan, Joseph
Goodman, Manny Navarro, Pete Pelegrin and Jeff Shain.

This is the link to the article.

http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2007/12/30/15/HFLD_061231.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/362191.html

X-102.3 and Willie Gary / Gas Giveaway

Today I was just sitting around the house watching the local news when I heard about giving away free gas. The Wal-Mart gas station is not even five minutes from my house, so I went to see what it was all about.

Radio station X-102.3 teamed up with high-powered attorney Willie Gary to give out over 200 vouchers for free gas at a Lake Park, Florida Wal-Mart gas station