st john’s prep, the catholic high school in frederick, plays their home football games at mccurdy field, a baseball last used professionally by the frederick keys in the early 90′s. the field is home to frederick babe ruth baseball and has a nice grandstand, complete with an old school press box above the seats and lots of “obstructions”, both visible in my shot from a recent game. it was fun shooting a game on the outfield of a baseball stadium, felt like being at those multi-use stadiums of old!

i made this image on an assignment for the local weekly newspaper. the story was about declining attendance at bingo halls around the county. i guess the story was right, not a lot of people playing that evening. i focused most of my shooting on the two ladies in this shot and did not really “see” this shot until well into the shoot. glad i found that angle, since i was mostly focusing on them. i like this one most, out of all i shot that night. seems to wrap up the story’s idea very nicely.

tuesday evening i had the pleasure of photographing a dress rehearsal for the musical “runaways,” which is being produced by met-x and the ensemble school at maryland ensemble theatre. wow! the theatre itself is in the basement of an old hotel/apartment building in downtown frederick, so the set was perfect for the production as it is about runaway kids living on the street. the cast was awesome — some really great voices in there — and i had a blast with them all! if you have a chance, go to see the show. but act fast — it is only onstage for two weekends!

rachel sears was incredible as “nikki,” the bird lady!

a little dance number!

… plus some tragedy

i knew i was in for a treat on this assignment the instant i stepped from my car. from across the street someone yelled to me, “hey cameraman!” they wanted to know why all the people in bustling downtown middletown! see, my subject that afternoon was myersville resident bernie lucas. bernie runs a blog, middletown daily photo, by taking pictures all over middletown and posting his favorites. that day he had his camera too, so to the residents of middletown, it was a big deal to have two guys walking around taking pictures. especially when one is taking pics of the other! bernie was great, i just stood back and snapped away while he worked!

i liked the juxtaposition of bernie and the items on display.

the busy background played against bernie’s attentive stance

saturday evening i had the pleasure of shooting a hot dog eating contest for the newspaper. the contest, sponsored by the downtown frederick partnership and five guys burgers, was in downtown frederick along the carroll creek linear park.

there were two contests that evening, i took the second one, hoping more people would show up. sure enough, a crowd of about 50 waited in anticipation for the eight contestants to start eating as many dogs as they could in ten minutes. right away, i knew one contestant was going make good pictures. they only woman in the group, elena juris of dc, started to giggle even before time started.

the next four frames, taken within the first minute, show just how she felt about participating in the mother of all food-eating contests!

she just realized what she got herself into!

she ended up eating only 2 hot dogs, but had fun doing it! the rest of the dogs she didn’t eat, which each contestant got to keep, went to some homeless folks later that evening. thanks for being such a sport, elena!

well, i thought i had done it all. my time in newspaper photojournalism lasted a brief 8 years, but in that time i had had my taste of some really great new (to me at least) foods. until this past monday evening.

i had an assignment to cover the woodsboro fire carnival, and specifically their famous slippery pot pie. now i know why it is famous. this little treat is one of the tastiest things i have had in a long time while on assignment. i have always loved carnival food… elephant ears (fried dough with sugar), beef bbq, and of course, my favorite, funnel cake. but i have never had something as tasty and inviting at a carnival as the slippery pot pie. so enough said, head on down to woodsboro, md and check it out!

here it is folks, slippery pot pie!

i also had some fun that night with the setting sun and the natural glowing light it provided. the rides were mostly setup where i could not take advantage of that light, except for two. the swing ride and the “paratrooper” ride. i tried a little silhouette with the swing ride and love the result…

nice light!

i love the lines formed by the ferris wheel behind her, plus the form of the “parachute”.