This past weekend was busy.

Friday night I went to the Orioles game with Bert, Chris, Leah and Steph. We watched the Orioles come from behind and win the game against the Pirates 9-6. It was a pretty exciting game and afterward we were treated to fireworks at the stadium. My Dad got me the tickets and they were great seats in the club level along right field. Chris and I were trying to start "the wave" and decided it would be best if we split up. Chris went down to the lower level and I worked the club level and we were finally able to get the wave going around. Chris watched the remaining innings from the third row next to three very cute girls who invited us out afterwards. Unfortunately, they were going out in Pasadena and that was just a bit out of the way for us.

Saturday was my cousin's birthday party at my parents house. It was a lot of fun. She had a dunking booth and I of course took a turn in the hot seat, or cold seat if you consider the water temperature of the tank. I think I did a good job getting the kids worked up and determined to dunk me :) My Dad was a great teacher in that aspect. I also dusted off my devil sticks and fire eating torches and did a mini-show for my cousins. It's been years since I've done any of that and I was surprised at how well the skills kept. I'm a bit rusty but I'm sure it would come back if I practiced a little.

I took my camper down to my parent's house on Sunday so that they can open it up and clean it before we go to Cedar Point next week. Surprisingly, it wasn't in that bad of shape. It needs to be wiped down and cleaned but at least there wasn't anything living in it this time. We also had a father's day picnic at my parents house that day and all the kids climbed in the camper to check out their accomodations for the following week. It was cute to hear them "planning" where everyone was sleeping and they were really excited about the trip.

I also went to HonFest on Sunday. This was my first year going but I'm really looking forward to going again. It is such a hysterical exageration of Baltimore stereotypes, ala John Waters. There was plenty of food and plenty of "Hons". Even Courtney got in on the action and had her done up in 60's style bigness after a little encouragement (ok, a lot of encouragement).

Photo Courtesy of Evan Young.

Don't miss the latest shot from my street performer photography. This week features Evan Young, a talented juggler and showman.

This weekend I'm also dog sitting for my friend Matt. I'm watching his little dog Bailey. He didn't let me sleep much last night but I think that's because he missed being home and wasn't sure about where he was or how long he would be there. I've watched Bailey before for Matt and we got to be close buds but it's been 6 months since I've seen him. Its fun to watch him sniff around the house and smell my dogs who spent last weekend with me. My little dog Tess has the biggest crush on Bailey but he is deathly afraid of her so it never worked out between them :)

Because I had my dogs last weekend, I took the weekend off from shooting street performers but this weekend I'm hoping to get down and see Jason Moffet. I've never seen his act before but he's been recommended to me by a few other street performers.

Today was the worst commute I've experienced since my office was moved to Owings Mills and I've had to drive myself rather than ride mass transit.  A tractor trailer flipped over and spilled fuel on to northbound 95 about 15 cars in front of me.  I couldn't see the accident, I only heard about it on the XM radio traffic report.  I didn't see any ambulances or med evacs so I'm hoping that everyone was safe and uninjured.  All lanes were blocked for nearly 2 hours as the road crews cleaned up the mess, taking my total commute time up to 3 hours. 

It's interesting being on a four lane highway when nothing is moving.  People were getting out of their cars and walking around, getting updates from the road crews, and sharing stories with other stranded commuters.  It was really intriguing to people watch.  It was also a really nice day and I think people had a touch of spring fever just sitting in their cars. 

On the plus side, I finished my audio book, "Hit Man" by Lawerence Block.  I decided a few weeks back to make better use of my commute and listen to some books.  I started with "How to Win Friends and Influence People", a staple of the business world and then I listened to the Orwell classic "1984".  I joined Audible a few weeks back and for $15/month I get an audio book a month.  It takes me about that long to listen to a full book in between podcasts. 

Another positive that came out of today was my work bonus comes this week.  To reward myself for another 6 months of loyal labor to Legg Mason, I picked up a new piece of glass for my camera addiction hobby.  I wanted a wide angle lens for some ideas I have for Shutter On The Street and some studio shots I have in my head so I picked up Canon's widest lens, the 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5.  Due to my long commute, I didn't get to play with the lens very much so we'll see what the next few days hold. 

Zach Urtes, a student from Patapsco High School and my alma mater, is a finalist in Google's Doodle 4 Google contest. He is competing, via public vote, for one of the four National Finalist awards (as well as the possibility of a $25,000 technology grant for the school), so be sure to spread the word and do your best to build support for Zach. Voting is open until May 18th.

To support Zach:

• Go to www.google.com/doodle4google and click "Vote Now"
• Click the "Grades 10-12" link
• Select Region 3
• Click "Vote for this doodle"
• Spread the word

Thanks for supporting Zach and spreading the word.

The highlight of this past week was a photo shoot I did for Dan Cenidoza of Be More Training.  Dan is a personal trainer specializing in training with kettle bells.  Keefer introduced me to the idea of kettle bells but as I was shooting Dan's class, his teaching style was informative and took some of the mystique out of the odd looking apparatus.  His clients seem to really enjoy the class and the smiles on their faces made the work out almost enticing.  I have to admit that I was a little jealous that I was only there to take pictures and was missing out on the class.  

My Sister and I went to see Ironman on Saturday.  As is typical of my sister, she was late but I didn't miss much of the movie.  The movie was really great though and afterwards we drove to Delta, PA for the best fried chicken at Hickory Dicks. 

Other than that, I took the weekend off from shooting and caught up on some sleep :)  Until next time...

It was a great trip but now I'm back from Arizona. The weather was very dynamic in Arizona but lovely. When we landed in Phoenix, the temperature was 88 degrees but at one point during the six hour drive to Supai, the temperature had dropped to 24 degrees. At 7:30am when we started our hike down into the canyon, the temperature had risen to 36 degrees. We hiked in long sleeves and light jackets but the sun and movement kept us warm.

The difficulty of the hike down to the reservation was masked by the beauty of the canyon. A number of switchbacks helped us drop almost a half mile in elevation overall. The trail was at times medium sized gravel which was hard on the thin soles of my trail shoes. At other times, it was thick sand that was hard on the knees and filled my mesh shoes. All along the trail we passed mule trains and Havasupai natives on horseback that were headed to the trail head to pick up supplies, deliver mail, or pick up the packs of hikers with the forethought to hire them to carry their packs.

From Havasupai Trip

Despite the moderately difficult trail, everyone on the hike did a great job of keeping pace and keeping spirits high. We were all very supportive of each other and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and adventure that we were on.

From Havasupai Trip

We were awe struck when we reached Havasu Falls. Pictures do not do the magnificent scene justice. The roar from the falls, the cool mist it produces, and it's crystal clear blue water were breathtaking. The water gets its color from the high concentration of lime pulled from the surrounding rocks as the water flows. The water, however, was freezing and you could only take a dip for short periods of time. We did manage to swim out to the falls and go behind the falling water. The noise from behind the falls was deafening and you couldn't see a thing from all the mist.

From Havasupai Trip

Our camp was just a short distance from the falls and from the portable toilets. After an 11 mile hike with 40 pounds of gear, this was very beneficial for it provided a short hobble to the bathrooms. Two miles from camp was another set of falls, Mooney Falls. These falls were just as impressive and worth the extra mileage to see.

From Havasupai Trip

The helicopter ride out of the canyon was very cool. It only lasted about 10 minutes but we flew inside the canyon walls so the rock faces towered above us and offered a very unique view of the canyon landscape. Having never been on a helicopter, this was very exciting for me and I don't think I stopped smiling from the time we ushered onto the chopper until well after we landed.

From Havasupai Trip

Once we were out of the canyon, we took some time to explore other areas of Arizona including Montezuma's Castle, a mud house built into the side of a canyon wall, and Route 66 in Seligman. Seligman was the basis for the fictional town of Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie Cars.We also visited my Dad's cousin, Mark, and went to an awesome steak and western bar that featured live music and bar-b-q pits to roast marshmallows.

Arizona is a great place and I know that I'm very much looking forward to visiting again. I've already found a few more places I want to hike and some places I want to photograph there. I know why Sean wanted us to visit this place so much and it definitely lived up to the hype.

More pictures from the Havasupai Trip

Today is the day.  It's the start of my trip out to Havasupai Falls.  My flight leaves at 7:30 tonight with a brief layover in Chicago and I'll be in Pheonix by midnight (Arizona time). 

After we land, my Dad's cousin is greeting us with water for our hike in and fuel for our stove (things we couldn't take on the plane).  We'll then drive 6 hours to the hill top that is the parking lot for Havasupai reservation.  We'll start hiking at first light.  It's 8 miles to the reservation's town where we'll check in and then another 3 miles to the campsite at the base of the falls. 

I'll be carrying a 22lb. pack (that does not include water) and an additional 10lb. camera bag.  I'm sure I will have lots of pictures and videos to share when I get back on Sunday. 
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This past weekend was a bit of a roller coaster.  Chris and I went downtown Friday after work for happy hour and hung out at the Harbor people watching for a bit.  While we were there, I took the opportunity to collect more photos for my street performer photoblog and shot Brian Rudo and his adrenaline comedy show.   Keep an eye on the site and you'll see  some pictures of Brian soon.

I spent mos t of Saturday working.  It was supposed to be a trivial change. I figured two hours tops but it turned out to be more troublesome than expected as I ran into road block after road block.  Luckily I had a pretty open change window but I still had to involve my management to get approval for a mid-change change.  In the evening I got together with my family and handed out group gear for our trip to Havasupai Falls.  I'm very excited to be leaving Wednesday night and all the final details are coming together nicely. 

On Sunday, I was invited to the Inner Harbor by Evan Young to get some special shots.  He was having an audience member propose to his girlfriend during his show and he thought this would be a great photo opportunity.  Apparently the guy and his girl had seen the show on their first date and he thought this would be a great way to propose.  What a romantic!  Evan put together a special bit for the proposal complete with a musical soundtrack that meant something to the couple. The girl was completely surprised and thrilled.  The  plan worked and she said, "Yes!". 
 

I arrived early that Sunday and caught the last show from Lisa the Unicycle Lady. I got some shots of her show and she did a great job playing to my camera.  She was fantastic at striking a pose in the middle of her show so I could catch it.  Her unicycle skills are very impressive and I can definitely appreciate the hard work she's put into honing her skills. 

Sunday was a very fruitful day for Shutter on the Street pictures.  I filled up a 4gig and 2gig compact flash card and ate up one of my camera batteries.  In total, I took approximately 360 pictures in the three shows that I saw (Lisa's, and I stayed for two of Evan's).  It was a really good day for taking pictures.

After the shows, I was invited to Mrs. Pam's birthday party/dinner.  Her birthday is the day after my Mom's birthday.  So "Happy Birthday Mrs. Pam!"

Today is Friday so head over to Shutter on the Street to see today's post.
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