Work hard, skate hard

I was fortunate to find Miles Ingram, 19, skateboarding below the Columbus Convention & Trade Center Thursday evening. He told me he had only been skating for a year and had just returned from a year off. You could of fooled me Miles. I was never this good even when I was skating during every waking hour. Ingram is a computer technician with the Lee County Board of Education and takes advantage of his early work day to skate in the evenings. Good luck to you Miles, you'll probably be making more then all of us at the paper before your 21st birthday.

Upside down, river you turn me

I caught Devin Mitchell, 13, ducking the backflip splash of his friend CJ Williams down on the Phenix City side of the Riverwalk Saturday evening. In the second image Williams looks like he's running on water, but really he jumped up while he was already in it and the water ran off him. It has been amazing weather the last few days and I'm so grateful for the break from the oven temps we've been baking in. I can't wait for fall, and foggy mornings, and cool evenings.

For all you Civil War history buffs

The Georgia Civil War Commission will be meeting at 10:30 AM on August 16 at the National Civil War Naval Museum. Part of their agenda is to discuss the sesquincentennial (the 150th Anniv.) of the Civil War. To find out more keep posted to www.portcolumbus.org Who knows maybe will get lucky and have a large reinactment here in Columbus. After all this is the location of the last land battle of the war. If I hear more I'll let you know.

Two silhouettes passing in the night

I caught janitor Eric Gunn, right, passing security guard Kelvinita Phillips in the hall of CSU's Corn Center for the Visual Arts last night after I noticed the light cast in the windows from along the RiverWalk and I had to go in and check it out. It's amazing how much starts going on in downtown from 6 to 9 at night. Hmmm...mental note.

Looks like it's kayaking outside

Chuck Armentrout and his fun wild tribe of kayakers were at it again Wednesday night. I decided to get something a little different and more artistic rather then the normal sports action take. It's a place to start. I captured these guys as they u-turn to get back in line to jump back into the waves below the falls.

The kids of summer

Well, I finally got back down the RiverWalk and I can't tell you how much it does for my soul. I love the community connection one can get if they come down here enough. You get all walks of life and people are usually pretty open to conversation. The peacful environment surely plays a large part in creating that mood. Here in this image Anna Davis, 7, and Teszai Munoz, 5 play in the water just below the falls on the Phenix City side just before sunset. I look at this image and I simply see the potential of the city and how great it could become. FYI: These kids are in 8 inches of water with a parent just outside my camera frame for those worried about their safety. And by no means should anyone swim in the river due to the dangerous currents and undertow.




I love the idea of shooting truly candid photographs where your subject doesn't know you're there. These images turn out to be less inhibited and less artificial. In the above, Cedric Davis, 5, right, and C. Jakes, 4, are just simply being boys near water. In the bottom photo, I really loved Teszai Munoz's body language below and how he was taking it all in.

Sunset worshippers

I caught a few of these guys bathing in the last hours of sunlight last night before going to cover the LOST vote. The last one in the grass thinks I can't see him. A sidebar: If anyone is interested in prints from this site or any of your favorites published in the Ledger-Enquirer, we will be posting a folder of best images to choose and order prints from soon on Pictopia. If you have questions about an image or getting a print made let us know by sending me an email here.