This event would have made great fodder for a doctoral thesis in American sociology, but we’ll save that commentary for another time. Here are a few images from last night’s premiere of the new X-Men movie.
Hugh Jackman
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Ryan Reynolds
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Liev Schreiber
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Lynn Collins
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Taylor Kitsch
Twice each year, the NASCAR nation invades Avondale, Arizona, making it, overnight, the third or fourth largest city in the state. It is a sight to behold. Fleets of 18 wheelers bring in cars, crew, equipment, tires, and the many other assets required to put on the show. Everything about the enterprise is big: huge engines, capacity crowds, ear-splitting noise, outsized egos, piles of money.
I love going to these races. Power, danger, speed. And the closer you get to the track, the more of a rush it is. This past weekend I found a spot on the straightaway from which to shoot that put me about a foot and a half from the cars screaming past. When a large group went by, it was all I could do to keep from being blown over. The sound, even with earplugs in, was deafening. It was one of those laugh out loud, what a rush experiences. Here are a few of the images from the weekend:
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Spent a long, sunburn inducing day at Luke Air Force Base photographing their biennial open house. Nightmare shooting conditions – harsh Arizona light, too much distance between media platform and flightline, lenses short about 300mm of focal length. But, I love fast planes, so I had a great time anyway. And I managed to salvage a couple of shots. Additional images can be found here.
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One of the things I love about living in the Phoenix metropolitan area is the city’s rootedness in its past. While there are gleaming Gucci stores, fancy sports venues, and restaurants serving haute cuisine, at its heart, Phoenix is a cowboy town. I recently attended a children’s rodeo in suburban Lehi, a town settled by Mormon pioneers in 1877 which is now part of Mesa, Arizona. A brand new freeway runs right past Lehi and Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport is about a 15 minute drive away, but I felt transported back 50 or 100 years.
After about a month of down time, I’ve finally been able to start shooting again. While my shoulder is still sore from surgery, I now have enough range of motion to do almost everything I want. Which is fortunate because, at the last minute, an opportunity arose to cover the speech President Obama gave in Mesa, Arizona earlier today. Here are a few images from the event and additional images can be found by clicking here.
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