ONLY IN AMERICA (IV)

Little Miss pageant



I mean..., this girl is only 2 years old! She didn't even know what the heck she was doing there and why all those older people were looking at her (they were actually JUDGING her).
My opinion about these pageants? I'd rather keep it for myself.

ONLY IN AMERICA (III)

OK, OK, it's true: there are air shows in other places, too. But, for me, the occasion for this third "Only in America" post represents rather the opportunity to photograph something like this from up there. I mean, I was the ONLY photojournalist at the air field. Didn't have to fight with anyone else to get a spot to fly with the "Red Thunder" air show team. In short, ONLY IN AMERICA you can find air shows in a small town like Courtland, AL. In fact, so small that they don't even have a newspaper; so, when the newspaper photographer from the bigger town goes there, the organizers make it really easy for you.
Besides having a lot of fun (see last picture), I learned a couple of things from this experience:

- It's pretty difficult to photograph the other planes if yours has the wings on the belly, instead of on top. Your own wings get in the way most of the time.
- I asked my pilot to leave the canopy open on my side because I didn't want to shoot through glass. This is better for the pictures, but a) you get really cold (specially if you are wearing just a t-shirt) and b) the wind is so strong you can hardly hold the camera steady.
- With acrobatic, or rather "aerobatic", teams like this one you don't really need to carry a long lens with you unless you want to take a picture of the other planes' pilot's eyes. They fly so, so, so freaking close to each other (see 3rd. picture) that a 17-35 mm. lens will do. And anyway, there's no room in the cockpit for a second camera.

MI PUEBLO

After seeing the winners gallery in this year's BOP, I decided to try a bit of heavy toning with a random picture that I had taken one random day from the other side of the river. I have to admit it: didn't do a good job. Photoshop is not my thing...

BALLOONS, BALLOONS!

JANITOR & COWBOY (II)

A couple of months back, I posted some pictures here, the very first ones I took of a story I was working on. I finished it and it was published two sundays ago. I think I'm lucky to work for a newspaper that gave me 2 and a half pages for that. Not the kind of thing we're used to in these times of less and less print. Yeah, true, it was in the lifestyles section, but who really cares?


I also did an audio slideshow for the newspaper's website. You can listen to Collis Crayton and see more pictures by CLIKING HERE

ONLY IN AMERICA (II)

The worshipers' ghosts in the Coca-Cola temple.

ONLY IN AMERICA (I)

I've come to the realization that many of the things that Americans take for granted, that I myself take for granted (after having lived here for over 3 years), are not that "normal", or rather common, in other places. Since this blog has now visitors from Europe (mainly Spain), I'm going to start posting pictures about events/people that may seem common or normal for most US citizens, but which, for others not so used to them, still carry that distinctive American Flavor. After all, I'm a foreigner here and, as such, still have the capacity to be surprised by those exclusive "American things."

And let's start with something I shot last weekend in Athens, Alabama. A rodeo clinic conducted, among others, by ex-rodeo champion and bareback instructor David Fowler, from Rome, Georgia.