Tender, brave, and feathery moments

It has been awhile, and I am sorry for my six loyal viewers who had to look at the same page for two weeks now. I was blessed to capture this private moment yesterday evening while this couple was out walking their dogs. I love seeing people in love at the Riverwalk, but I am always careful not to impose on their private moment. It is a beautiful and challenging theme that I've witnessed on several occasions and I think I'll look harder for it in the future.
I've shot a few kayak pics since I started this blog, but when I saw Mitch Moore setting up to shoot the rapids on the Phenix City side it got me thinking about capturing the moment right before you hit the white water. I wanted to get the focus on his face and a sense of anticipation.


Finally, my little friend here managed to entertain me a little with his antics before I had to leave for my evening assignment.

Rumble on the river

I heard the rumble of diesel as I walked along the Riverwalk and discovered they were closing down shop from the two-day Infantry Warfighting Conference at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. I managed to get there in time to watch Tony Caporaso, an employee for General Dynamics Land Systems, show me how to maneuver a Stryker MGS variant vehicle through the streets of downtown Columbus. And I heard Georgia DMV is allowing a few new rules due to the influx of military expected to fill the roadways with the arrival of BRAC:
Even if the light is green, the tank (or in this case the Stryker variant) has the right of way.
The other rule is that if you park downtown you are supplied with two valets and a trailer to help you parallel park. That way no one can complain that you hogged more then one space and you can quickly move your Stryker before going over the two-hour parking limit.

Day Tippers

I managed to catch Matt Vaughan bracing his canoe, on right, as his buddy, Matt Tolson, fell into the bow of the canoe before they launched off in downtown Columbus Sunday afternoon. It reminded me some of my best summers of canoeing and fly fishing on the Mohican in Ohio and reading a bent up copy of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", while sleeping in the back on an old red Chevy S-10 at night. Well, I'm gonna try my best to get out there again as soon as I can. I just want to thank the small loyal audience which keeps coming back to see a bit of Columbus' community by the river.

My apologies to all who have been looking for new work from me, but I have a good excuse, if such a thing exists. I've been working on a street bike freestyle video on Andy Gaetz (see photo) which you can see at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer's video site by going to the address at the end of this post. Please email me (that box to the right on the blog is the easiest way) and let me know what you think or if you know of other stories that should be told with video or photographs. http://videos.ledger-enquirer.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=2176047&item_index=4&all=1&sort=NULL

River of strings

I had the pleasure of meeting guitar lover Charles Fox along the Riverwalk today, and what a character! He had this brand new beautiful guitar with the tag still hanging from it Minnie Pearl style and was just jamming out on a bench. He had just bought it from Gorilla Guitars on Broadway and when I asked him if he had planned on buying a guitar today his answer was classic.

"I really planned on buying a bicycle," Fox quipped, "but when I get around a guitar I'm gonna buy a guitar everytime."

Fox said he's bought several guitars from Gorilla Guitars and they all play wonderfully, but his comments about the quality of Kmart's guitars were in line with Rainman's. I hope to run into you again Charles and we can continue are discussion on politics and the governments plans for our kind.

Attack of the killer helicopter bugs

UPDATE: It is a Robber Fly. Thanks to my best friend, Scott, who tracked the answer down. Robber Flies are quite capable of handling large prey, and they will even take on large, dangerous prey like bees and wasps. However, unlike bees and wasps, Robber Flies do not sting, and the "stinger" on this Robber Fly is actually a harmless ovipositor that she uses for laying eggs. Although they do not sting, Robber Flies do bite and their saliva contains neurotoxins to quickly immobilize prey and proteolytic enzymes to dissolve its internal organs so that they can later be easily sucked out. The proboscis of a Robber Fly is specialized for stabbing and sucking, and after one of these flies captures something, it will return to a perch in its territory to suck out its liquefied meal.

Robber Flies are highly beneficial insects because they prey on a wide variety of pest flies. Although they don't attack or bother humans, Robber Flies can bite quite painfully, so do not capture or pick up these flies with your bare hands.

Although some species of Robber Fly appear bee-like, most species of Robber Fly have a characteristic elongated shape, almost like that of a short, fat dragonfly. Robber Flies have a single pair of powerful wings, spiny legs that aid in grasping prey, a heavily bearded face, and large compound eyes that give them excellent vision for spotting prey.

Good day for hot doggin' and hot dogs

Matt Self is trying to start a revolution of freestyle unicyclers in Columbus. I ran into Matt and his $295 one motorcycle quality wheel ride($350 with upgrades he told me)called a Nimbus behind the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. He's only been riding for eight months, but he's already jumping up and down steps and all other types of tricks that require bravery when it comes to one's crotch area. In the photo he actually managed to balance the unicycle and let go before jumping on. Yeah, I'm thinking "Ouch!" too, but his shorts are also designed with reinforced padding. Viva la one wheel revolucion!

Poor Max, a 4-month-old West Highland Terrier, was taking a break from the heat and a jog in the shade of his owner, Erin Bowser, who was reading the Riverwalk map. Today was Max's first day for learning what jogging was like and if you're wondering why his face looks a little matted, he also learned what a fountain was today. Nervous little fellow until you let him lick you.