Here They Come

For the next three days, the period known as Labor Day weekend which signifies the unofficial end of summer, the Jersey Shore will be inundated with vacationers looking for that one last taste of summer before fall creeps in, their children return to school, and weekends are spent watching pennant race baseball and gridiron goonery. Today I was asked to get photos of those who've arrived at the beaches early to get a head start on ushering out yet another vacation season. In stead, what I found was desolation. Practically no one had made it to the beaches yet, as they were all still stuck in traffic. Besides, today was overcast, anyway.

Preparation for the Jewish High Holy Days

This was a shofar instructional class for youngsters at a temple in Long Branch, in preparation for the Jewish high holy days, which will begin with Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 12. The children took turns sounding the shofar, and I just waited and waited and waited until the boy sitting in front of the stained-glass window got his shot.

Unrelated

During a job in Asbury Park today I came across this scene that had nothing to do with the assignment I was shooting. Enjoy!

Sadie, a Schnauzer, looks out at the Asbury Park boardwalk.

Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari

Staci and I took Evan to the drive-through safari today. It's late and I need sleep, so here are just a few quick photos.

Evan in Print!

Evan's in a Toys R Us catalog! Check out the bottom right!! Awesome!

Colts Neck Fair

Two posts in one day! Lucky you! Here are a couple of images from my last job of the day, The Colts Neck Fair. Enjoy.

Special Olympics Athlete (Part 2)

I took some initiative and postponed a shoot from a contrived, posed situation yesterday to a more candid setting today. Today's shoot fit nicely into my schedule, and was right by my house, so it really wasn't that big a deal. And it made the resulting images infinitely better. Can you believe my reporter wanted us to go into the parking lot yesterday to "make it look like she's running?" Sometimes I can't figure out what people are (or aren't) thinking. Anyway, these are my images from today, to go with the portraits from yesterday.





The first image is during the training session, with her trainer keeping time in the background. In the second image, she's catching her breath after the training session. Two much better images than running in the parking lot.

Athletes

My first job this morning was to shoot the Asbury Park High School football team during practice. When I got there, however, the coach had no idea I was coming, and had concerns that I would disrupt his practice. So I spent 10 minutes shooting and made my speedy exit, so as not to make a nuisance of myself. I like this image best, shot during a water break.

Players on the Asbury Park High School football team take a water break during practice.

When I arrived at my second job, the plan (hatched by the reporter) was to "go outside and have her run for us." This girl will be competing in track and field events at the Special Olympics in China this October. Since I'm completely against setting up a photo and passing it off as a training session, I asked her coach when the next time an actual training session would be taking place. Turns out, she'll be training tomorrow, and it actually fits into my schedule to go shoot it. So part-B of this shoot will be tomorrow, and I'll post an image or two from that. We still did the portrait shoot today, and while I got plenty of shots of her looking into the camera and smiling, doing her best podium poses, these two more candid moments were the ones I was most pleased with.

Two From Saturday

A local vendor throws another slab of pork onto the BBQ during the Keyport Spanish-American Club's annual Spanish American Festival on First St in Keyport. It was very festive, with lots of good eats.

Sickles Market's annual NJ Peach and Butterfly Release Day. I'm not sure what Peaches have to do with the release of butterflies, but this is almost exactly the image I imagined I would get, so it was a success from my point of view.

Falcons at Jets Preseason

Beating the Heat

I was sent out to get hot weather photos today. I copped out a bit, going to a place notorious for people beating the heat... The beach.

A mother applies sunscreen to her son.

Why burying yourself in the sand at the beach with a rising tide may not be so smart.

Day at the Beach

Yesterday I photographed a wonderful day for a very special group of campers. These campers, all with various disabilities, many of whom had never before seen the ocean let alone swam in it, were treated to a day at the beach by a local Elks lodge. Counselors held the campers' hands as they'd wade into the water, or in some cases, they even carried the campers right into the surf. They played in the sand and also had a picnic, right on the beach. Everyone had a great time.