DISNEYLAND ADVENTURE 2003

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I have decided to take a break from my Olympics saga.  I was beginning to feel like I was writing a term paper.

Many of my friends have gone to Disneyland this summer. Because of that, I thought I would share my last trip to Disneyland.  Even though it was almost 10 years ago, it is still one of my favorite vacation experiences.  We went to Disneyland in December of 2003.  One thing I wanted to do is fulfill a lifelong dream of staying at the Disneyland Hotel.  I also thought it would be nifty to go to Disneyland at Christmas time.  I went ahead and booked the room in September.  I also tried to book dinner on Christmas day at the main restaurant of the hotel, but it was already booked solid.  The next opening was after we would be leaving.  I guess they were right in the brochure when they said “make reservations early.”  I looked at that as just a minor little setback.  But then in November, a major setback occurred.  Disneyland sent my final trip package.  As I looked at it, I saw that I had listed us as checking out on Christmas day!  Yikes and Egads!  My life long habit of thinking Santa and the shepherds and 3 wise men showed up on the 24th of December had reared its ugly head again.  I rejected my immediate impulse to call the hotel and make it seem like it was their fault and went with the plan of calling them up and throwing myself on their mercy, maybe even shed a tear or too if need be.  It was only about a month until the trip and I figured they might not have any wiggle room to change my dates.

The young lady I talked to could not have been any nicer.  The best deal she could do was re-book me through the 26th, but we would have to check out of our room on Christmas day, then immediately check in and get moved to another room.  This room would also be an upgrade to a mini-suite with a view of the park.  This would also mean an additional charge for that last day.  I didn’t care.  I would have taken a room in the basement just so I could stay that extra day.  The hotel did say they would help us move our luggage to the new room, which I thought was a nice touch.

We arrived at Disneyland.  I went to the check-in desk and followed all the instructions I had received back in November.  The check-in girl got all my information and informed me that she needed to go into the back office for a few moments.  Of course when she says this I immediately start preparing myself for any and all worse case scenarios.  Now I am one of those people who need to check in at a special window, all the while watching the people smart enough to know that Christmas is on the 25th check in with absolutely no problems.  Finally the girl came back.  There was a new change in the arrangement.  We weren’t going to have to move to a different room after all, we would be in the same room the entire time.  Thank you for choosing the Disneyland Hotel.  Of course I was extremely happy that the hotel had been able to come up with a way to  keep us in the same room, but I was a bit disappointed at not getting one day in a room with a view.  I was looking forward to having one for a change.  We get to the room, and much to our surprise and delight, the Disneyland Hotel had decided to put us into the room with the view for 3 days at no extra charge.  I started pinching myself because this kind of stuff never, ever happens to me.  It was a great way to start the trip.

The last time we visited Disneyland, it did not have The California Adventure Park or the Downtown District.  Lots of new things to get out and see.  If there was any drawback to the trip, it was the weather.  It was cloudy and raining off and on.  Not a hard, driving rain, but mostly drizzle.  I do not know if this rain kept people away from the fun park, but the place was not at all crowded.  The last time we were at Disneyland, the park set a record for attendance.  People would get on their knees and pray and give thanks when they finally reached the sign that said  “Your wait from here is 45 minutes.”  One of the nice things that Disneyland has are many cool distractions to occupy a person’s time while waiting in line for such a long time.  I did not have time to look at these attractions.  The longest we waited in line for a ride was maybe 10 minutes.  I do remember jogging almost all the way through the queue to get to the Indiana Jones ride, the line was moving that fast.

It was on the day that we went to the California Adventure park that I came to the conclusion that little kids were mischievous and the wife was good at getting payback. California Adventure has this ferris wheel where the people ride in cages.  One can ride a stationary cage or a cage that is released and slides around and does all sorts of nasty, scary stuff.  We got on it and rode with a mom and her two kids.  We had a choice to ride on the safe and secure red cars or the movable,  slippery and slidy cars.  Oddly enough, the wife insisted we ride on the cars of death.  At this point in the narrative, let me tell you something personal about Timmy Poole of Poole Photography Studios;  I HATE heights.  No, I LOATHE heights.  No, I DESPISE heights!

A side story here to prove the point.  There is an old carnival ride called The Bullet.  At a small fair in Prescott, AZ, the summer of 1970, a friend and our dates went on this monstrosity.  He and his date in one bullet, I and my date in the other bullet.  The ride operator thought it would be cute to stop the Bullet Ride in mid-air and go on a coffee break and leave us stuck between heaven and hell.  My date thought it was cute and romantic and was trying to instigate a little “pitch and woo” while I am in total panic mode yelling at her not to move and to get away from me,  while screaming at the ride operator, telling him that he wasn’t funny and to get us down. The operator was probably gone for no more than 5 minutes but it seemed like an hour.  He came back, muttered something about someone being a big baby and let us off the ride.  At the conclusion of the ride, I still hated heights, but now added the ride guy and my date to the list.

THE BULLET RIDE

This is the exact position the ride operator left us in for an hour and a half…or 2-3 minutes, depending on who you talk to.

Back to Disneyland

As the cage we were in was doing lots of sliding around and turning me into a pale, white knuckled zombie, the two kids are doing everything that they can to make the thing rock and slide even more.  Somewhere during the ride, the mother pointed out that her husband was standing on the pier, stating that he was afraid to come on the ride.  I think the man was a genius.

This Ferris wheel ride was total revenge on the part of the wife because I got her to ride her least favorite type of ride, one that gets people wet.  California Adventure has just such a ride, the Grizzly River Ride.  It wasn’t totally me who made her ride the ride, it was also a couple of young kids.  These two kids, a brother and sister, were in line in front of us.  They were soaked.  The lines were so small for the ride that as soon as they got off the ride, it was possible to run around to the entrance and  get on the ride again.  They gleefully informed us that they had already ridden the ride 7 times, that it was the greatest ride ever.  These two little evil munchkins convinced the wife, no…shamed the wife into coming on the ride with me and them .   The raft has a wheel in the middle that passengers can turn to make the raft spin.  These kids were spinning that wheel like they were on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, laughing and screaming all the way down the mountain.  Needless to say, the wife got drenched, the kids were ecstatic, and I hoped that the wife had broadened her horizon and outlook on life.  With the help and encouragement from the children of the corn,  I even drug her on a second trip down the rapids.  After all, there was no waiting in line, she was already soaked, and it was raining anyway, and did she want to disappoint these two cute, wonderful little cherubs who think of you as their new mom.  In all the excitement, I forgot that the wife will always, I mean always, get her revenge. After the ride, I am ready to go back to the hotel, but she says she wants to do just ONE more ride.  So we walked to the pier towards the giant ferris wheel, her leading me on like the condemned prisoner to the gallows. At one point I did say, “you know I don’t like Ferris wheels.”  To which she replied, “and you know I don’t like “get wet” rides.”  The sound I heard at that moment was the big clang of the door being shut, sealing my fate.

I have heard from other people who have gone to Disneyland at Christmas that it was really crowded and the waits for the rides were as long as the lines in the summer.  So maybe out time there was an anomaly, but the way I look at is this: 45 minutes in line under the summer sun has got to be worse than 45 minutes under the winter sky.  We are planning to make the trip again this winter.

Brochure description of the two rides,  The word “fun” I believe, is open to interpretation.

MICKEY’S FUN WHEEL

150-foot-tall Ferris wheel is really a ride within a ride.  As the gondolas are raised by the wheel, they also slide along interior curves as the wheel turns – or take a red car for a tamer ride.

GRIZZLY RIVER RUN

 long, tall, fast, spinning white-water river rafting ride. You WILL get wet.

Ellen

Christmas at Disneyland, 2003

THE DREAM TEAM AND NIGHTMARES

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Since I am behind today it seems only logical to create 2 posts to get back on track to write one post a day for 31 days.

The Olympics changed in the 1990’s.   This change pretty much started in 1989 when Communism started to collapse, the Soviet Union broke up, and the Cold War essentially came to an end.  One thing this meant is no more boycotts.  Yay! This break-up led to many new countries getting into the Olympics and Germany would now compete as one country. The Olympics also decided to let professional athletes compete in the Olympics.  Finally,  the Winter Games and Summer Games split from each other so they were no longer held on the same year.

The ’92 Winter Olympics were held in Albertville, France.  I won’t even pretend that I remember anything about these games.  I know I semi-watched them.  The wife will not miss a minute of figure skating which means I don’t miss a minute of figure skating.  Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States and Midori Ito of Japan won gold and silver respectively.  These ladies were the first figure skaters of Asian decent to win Olympic medals.  Midori was also the first female to land a triple axle in the history of the Olympics.  She apologized to Japan for not winning first place.  Midori was given the honor of lighting the Olympic flame for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.  Kristi Yamaguchi turned pro after the Olympics touring with Stars on Ice.  More recently she made news by winning the 6th season of Dancing with the Stars and for endorsing Mitt Romney.

The excitement of the 1992 summer games was dominated by one main event.  The rules now allowed for professional basketball players to participate in the Olympic games.  The United States dominated Olympic basketball.  However, in 1988, the team finished in 3rd place.  Now the United States had the chance to put its best professionals together and take back our game.  They were dubbed the Dream Team.  Chuck Daly of the Pistons was the coach. The co-captains were Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.  Also on the team were Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Phoenix favorite Charles Barkley.  Sir Charles had been traded to the Suns that summer.  He, Jordan and Pippen would later play against each other in the NBA finals that season.  The Dream Team went on to win by an average of 40 plus points a game.  They were usually posing for pictures before the game with their opponents, which regarded members of the Dream Team as their heroes.  I recommend reading the new book out called “Dream Team”.

In 1994 one of the more bizarre incidents occurred in that most violent of Olympic sports – figure skating.  Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were the two of the top US figure skaters in ’94.  During practice for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked and struck in the leg by a police baton.  The blow was intended to break her knee, but only bruised the thigh.  It was discovered that Tonya Harding’s ex-husband hired the thug that attacked Nancy.  The ex implicated Tonya Harding as being involved in the attack.  Both women went to the Olympics that year.  Harding finished 7th.   Nancy Kerrigan won silver.  Kerrigan retired from competition and has kept involved figure skating and charity work in various ways.  She had a tiny part in “Blades of Glory”.   In an effort to somehow connect this post to the world of weddings, Nancy’s Olympic final outfit was designed by famous fashion and wedding dress designer Vera Wang.  Tonya Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the prosecution of the attackers.  She was stripped of all her skating titles and banned for life from competing in skating.  Because of her involvement in the attack, the professional skating circuit shunned her.  Tonya gained a little more notoriety by releasing a sex tape of her honeymoon.  She later dabbled in ladies’ boxing, finishing her short career 3-3.  She still claims she is innocent of any involvement in the assault on Kerrigan.

Atlanta was the site of the 1998 Summer Games.  Of note at these games was the lighting of the Olympic flame by Muhammad Ali.  Michael Johnson won the 200 and 400 meter races.  The U.S. women’s soccer team won Olympic gold.  My favorite moment ot the U.S. team,  and the favorite moment of many other people as well, would not occur until the World Cup finals in 1999.  Keri Strug won the hearts of the nation and world when she vaulted with torn ligaments in her leg.  She stuck the landing on one leg and then collapsed unable to walk.  This gutsy effort of hers helped the U.S. to win the Olympic team gold in gymnastics for the first time.

The nightmare of these Olympics occurred when a bomb went off in Century Olympic Park, killing 1 and injuring over 100.  Richard Jewell, a security guard at the park, found a suspicious backpack, called the proper authorities and helped evacuate the area while they awaited the arrival of the bomb squad.  Richard Jewell was hailed as somewhat of a hero and is actions had helped to save lives.  But then the nightmare began for Richard Jewell.  Three days after the bombing, the Atlanta Journal and Constitutional wrote an article which said the FBI considered Jewell to be a “person of interest” in the bombing, based on some “lone bomber” profile.  While the FBI investigated Jewell, the press went into full “guilty until proven innocent” mode.  The press investigated every aspect of his life, camped outside his house 24/7 and pretty much had Richard Jewell convicted of this crime.  His motive was, according the press, the “failed police officer syndrome.”  They figured Jewell had set this all up so he could be a hero.   Jewell was sued by some of the victims, even though he was never charged with the crime.  After he passed a polygraph, the FBI took Jewell off the suspect list.  After this, Jewell filed several lawsuits against various media outlets for slander and libel.  All but one was settled out of court.  Jewell was finally and completely cleared of any involvement in the bombing when the real bomber confessed in 2005. Richard Jewell went on to work in various law enforcement jobs.  He died of natural causes in 2005 at the age of 44.

The decade finished with the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.  Compared with the last two Olympics, this was a nice, peaceful time.  Of note, women’s ice hockey made its Olympic debut with the U.S. team winning the gold.  Snowboarding also made its debut as an Olympic sport.  A Canadian won the gold, although he had earlier been removed from the competition because he was found to have marijuana in his system.   Go figure.

In a cute current Olympic moment, I can hear my wife yelling at the tv for Michael Phelps to hurry, even though she already knows he won.  I guess that’s just human nature.

Coming up next: the 21st century games and a special post about the 2012 games.

Musical inspiration: The sound of the Olympics on television.  The performances are inspiring, the talk and the hype and the look how smart we are NBC announcers only inspire me to put the tv on mute.

Apollo Track and Field 1998.  I do not play golf.  I do not know why I have that hat.

THE 5 RING CIRCUS – THE ’80s

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A huge obstacle to doing a post a day for 31 days is when one gets done with the post one realizes how lame the post is.  That was my experience with my first post about my Olympic memories of the 1980’s.  Flat, dull, uninspired and did I mention flat and dull?  So click the marker and shout “Poole’s fondest memories of the Olympics, take two!  And roll it!”

Summer 1980 – Moscow.  The United States did not participate in these games.  Because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter boycotted the games.  The boycott did nothing to change the situation in Afghanistan, but it did deny our athletes the chance to compete in the Olympics that year.  Some were able to compete in 1984, but for some this was their only shot.  I know one person who had qualified to go.  He is still disappointed.

Summer 1984 – Los Angeles.  This time the Soviet Union, Cuba, East Germany and 10 other Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the Olympics. On the other hand, China was making its first appearance in the Olympics since 1972.  The Olympics also had a new theme song; “The Olympic Fanfare and Theme” by John Williams.  Carl Lewis earned 4 gold medals, equaling the 4 golds that Jesse Owens won in 1936 when he was showing Adolf Hitler that the master race wasn’t so master.  Mary Lou Retton won the women’s gymnastics all-around title, the first time it was won by someone not from Eastern Europe. She later went on to play Tiny Tim in the movie “Scrooged”.

In addition to the boycott, the game had another controversial incident.  Zola Budd was a record-setting distance runner from South Africa who trained and raced barefoot.  Because of South Africa’s apartheid policies, South Africa was not eligible to participate in international competition.  Zola Budd got fast tracked to being granted British citizenship and qualified to run for Great Britain. The race between Zola and American champion Mary Decker in the 3,000 meter run was highly publicized.  The barefoot 17-year-old racing against America’s favorite distance runner.  During the race, Zola tripped up Decker.  Decker fell to the infield, injuring herself and unable to get back into the race.  Budd fell back and finished 7th.   Anyone who saw that race remembers the fall and the images of Mary Decker laying on the ground, crying in pain and rage.

The team that won the hearts of the viewing audience was the women’s volleyball team.  Led by 5’3″ Debbie Green and 6’5″ Flo Hyman.  The ladies earned a silver medal, the highest they had ever placed in the Olympics.  Debbie Green and Flo Hyman are considered to among the top American volleyball players of all time.  Debbie Green is in the US Volleyball Association Hall of Fame.  Sadly, while playing professional volleyball in Japan, Flo Hyman collapsed and died during a game from Marfan syndrome in 1986 at the age of 32.

1988 Winter – Calgary.  I will admit to not being a huge Winter Olympics watcher, so other than the “Miracle on Ice” and Franz Klammer’s run, I haven’t got many stand out memories.  But I will always remember that these were the Olympics that featured Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards, Britain’s ski jump entry, and the Jamaican bobsled team.  To me and many others, these athletes represented that ideal of trying one’s best, in spite of the odds.  Nobody expected them to win or place or even show, but people understood that the athletes, regardless of where they placed, were going to give it their best, give it their all, in the true spirit the Olympics.

1988 Summer – Seoul.  In the early summer, the wife and I went to Disneyland.  The United States Olympic team was there as well for a publicity photo shoot.  It was fun watching them give autographs and interact with the families.  I appreciated them being there, but we didn’t tarry long as it was time to hit Space Mountain for the first time ever.  In the actual games .Gregg Louganis won 2 golds, in spite of cracking his head open on the diving platform.  In another Olympic controversy, Ben Johnson won the gold in the 100 meters only to be later stripped of the medal because he failed the drug test.

The most electrifying performances came from track and field’s Florence Griffith Joyner, or Flo Jo for short.  She designed her own track uniforms and suffice it to say, they were like none other.  And her performance backed up the flamboyant costumes.  She garnered 1 silver and 3 golds.  She retired from competition immediately after the Olympics.  Later on in life, she got to thinking about making a comeback.  Tragically, she passed away in her sleep from an epileptic seizure at the age of 38.  Another Olympian struck down in her prime,

Finally this, to be filed under “Good Ideas That Fail Miserably”, in an effort to symbolize world peace, the Olympics release several doves as part of the opening ceremony.  Unfortunately, when the Olympic flame was lit, several of the doves got torched.  That pretty much ended the practice of releasing birds at the Olympic ceremonies.

Next up:  Olympic memories of the “90’s

 

1988

Coaching football and getting ready to audition for the part of the coach in “Cool Runnings”  John Candy get the part.

The musical muse for this post: Various Olympic fanfares performed by John Williams and the Boston Pops.

 

THE FIVE RING CIRCUS (part 2)

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Continuing on with my favorite Olympic moments.

Winter 1980 – Lake Placid.   The Olympics during the Cold War were  pretty much looked on as a substitute for actually going to war and nuking everyone into oblivion.  Every day the medal count was posted.  How was the US doing against the USSR, the East Germans and the rest of the Commie Eastern Bloc?  The US at the time practiced true amateur athletics.  Our hockey team was made up of college kids.  The Soviet Union  hockey team was made up of professional players, in their 20’s and 30’s.  The Soviets had won Olympic gold since 1964.  In 1979 the Soviets went 5-3-1 in exhibition games against the NHL and beat an NHL all-star team 6-0.  Our Olympic team, in preparation for the Games, played 61 exhibition games, the last one against the Soviets on February 9th, 1980. The Soviets slaughtered our boys 10-3,    It was pretty clear that the US chances of winning the Olympics  were slim and none, with none about a lap ahead of all the other options.

The game between the Soviets and the United States was held on Friday, February 22nd.  It was my first year of teaching and coaching.  I taught until 3:00 and immediately the entire coaching staff left for a football coaching clinic in San Diego.  I missed THE game.  But the entire weekend, that is all that people could talk about, and highlights were replayed over and over again, so much that I feel that I actually saw the entire game.  On Sunday, in a bar on the beach, we did watch the championship game, in which the US won gold.  Yes, we were raising our glasses and shouting USA! USA! like every other American  who watched the game.

Score one for the Amateurs.

The game was is now known as “The Miracle on Ice.” This was because of play by-play man  Al Michaels shouting as the clock wound down “Do you believe in Miracles?”  The game was named the Top Sports Moment of the 20th Century.

1980 Senior Prom Chaparone

“Do you believe in unlikelyhoods?”  Play by play announcer when Average Joe wins in “Dodgeball.”

Musical inspiration for this post:  Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experienced?”

THE 5 RING CIRCUS (part 1 )

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I do look forward to the day when I shoot enough weddings and such that my blogs will be about the loving bride and the adoring groom with pictures included and I am established enough to teach and share with others and help them along the way, as I have been helped by other photographers.  But until that time, it’s pretty much write about what I am interested in  So this week, my interest, along with so many others, is the Olympics.  I thought I would look back at the previous Olympics and share some of the moments I remember that made me jump up, give a fist pump, chant USA! USA! USA! and get that lump in my throat when I hear The Start Spangled Banner.

1968-Mexico City.  I didn’t watch those games.  For starters, the games didn’t start until October 12th.  I was 17, high school by day, work at night, wondering what I was going to do after high school,  who I was going to the prom with and hoping I wasn’t going to be drafted.  The most outstanding performance mark was Bob Beamon’s 29′ 2.5″ long jump.  Politically this was the Olympics that featured John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s Black Power Salute on the awards stand.

1972-Munich.  Mark Spitz won 7 golds in swimming.  He then made that poster of him wearing his 7 medals and a Speedo. The girlfriend at the time, “why dont’ you look like that?”  Response, “hey, I’m a lineman.”  Olga Korbut wowed the world in gymnastics.  Unfortunately these games had a pall over them because of the massacre of the Israeli track team.

1976 Winter Olympics – Innsbruck. Watched these with the wife on a black and white 12 inch tv.  Dorothy Hamill and her haircut figure skated her way to gold.  We eventually saw her live at the Ice Capades.  One of the top performances I have ever seen is  Austria’s Franz Klammer’s gold medal run in downhill skiing.  He was the last one to ski that day.  The condition of the course was terrible.  Klammer threw himself down the hill to win the event.  It is, to this day, the most reckless downhill run I have ever watched.  It looked like at any moment  he would fly off the course into the abyss.  I rewatched it on Youtube and I still got goosebumps watching his effort.

1976 Summer Games – Montreal.  Shun Fujimuto was a Japanese gymnast.  During the floor exercise he broke his kneecap.  Shun still had two more events to go.  He did the pommel horse and then the rings, dropping 8 feet to the floor to stick a perfect landing, broken knee and all, and secure the gold medal for Japan.  Nadia Comanici shocked the Olympic world by being the first gymnast to score a perfect 10.  She also confused people by pronouncing her name a different way each time a reported asked.  Her floor routine was set to the opening music from “The Young and the Restless”, which then was renamed “Nadia’s Theme” and released as a hit record.  Bruce Jenner won the decathlon for the United States.  At the end of his last race, someone came up and put an American flag in is hand that Jenner carried with him on his victory lap.  Jenner later had his picture put on the Wheaties box and he made a commercial for the cereal.  Later, Saturday Night Live parodied this commercial.  In their version they filmed a fat John Belushi doing the same events that appeared in Jenner’s commercial.  Then Belushi is at his dining table, smoking a cigarette and giving all the credit for his performance to his breakfast of “little chocolate donuts.”  Classic.  And in the Olympics of the entertainment world, Bruce is stepfather to Kim, Kloe, Kortney and Rob Kardashian.

Next:  the ’80s

Musical inspiration tonight: listening to the USA women gymnasts winning the Gold.

MR. POSTMAN

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I was going to write about some of the Olympic memories I have accumulated over the years, but that can wait another day.  I have time.  The Olympics last a few more days (sorry, too lazy to count) and that will either give the games more time to screw up or more time to right the listing ship.  Either way I will have more to write about.

The reason for the shift of topics is the arrival today of my brand new business cards.  To most, this would not be a huge deal, but for me, well, it is.  This is just another baby step in my evolving little photography business.  And as impressed as I was with the design when I saw it on the computer screen, I was doubly impressed holding the real thing in my hand.  I may not give them out to anybody.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I hired graphic designer Kimmie Carter to create this cards.  I want to give Kimmie one more shout out.  Great job, Kimmie!

Although not a long post, these one took a bit longer to write because I wanted to keep it short.  You should see how much stuff I edited out.  My musical inspiration tonight was “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, the GNR version and a few covers.  I sort of got hooked on this ukulele version of the song.  As one might suspect, it is a completely different song when played on ukulele and sung by a young woman.  I don’t think Axel is losing any sleep, however.

QUOTH THE RAVEN

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I met Raven through her sister, Noel.  Noel was in my first period class my last year of teaching.  She gave me the nickname “Grumpy Gramps.”  What can I say?  I am not a morning person.  Coffee or no coffee.  Noel and I have kept in touch since she graduated so she is pretty well versed in my ambition to be a world renown wedding photographer.  In fact, she will be the assistant/second shooter at my first official wedding in August.  One day in April, I was pleasantly surprised when Noel asked if I would photograph Raven’s senior pictures.  I may want to be a world-famous wedding photographer extraordinaire, but at this point in my career I am seizing every opportunity to shoot a living, breathing human being.  Who knows, maybe my destiny is to become the world’s best senior portrait dude.

So I accepted the gig.

The nice thing is that Raven left everything up to me and my expertise.  The bad thing is that Raven left everything up to me and my expertise.  Senior pictures, as far as I remember, are taken in a studio with a couple of props.  But it seems now that senior shots go outdoors and are more like modeling shoots than just standard senior head shots.  I sat myself down at the computer and started researching the current trends in senior portraits.  I had long ago come to the conclusion that being a professional photographer was more that just “get yourself a business card and go shoot,” as some people had told me I should do.  (Perhaps that is why there is so much lousy photography and unhappy customers these days.  But that topic is for a different blog on a different day)  Today, I am not the photographer I will be tomorrow, but my clients deserve to have me be the best photographer I am on the day I shoot their session.  So a little research time for Grumpy Gramps, a little bit more practice on my camera, and it will be off to Raven’s session.

The shoot took place at Saguaro Ranch Park in Glendale.  Raven told me to pick a place, and this is the place that came to mind.   Saguaro Ranch Park is a dry and dusty place with old buildings and rusted out farm machinery.  In retrospect, I know I picked it because it was close to everybody, no charge to get in, and I figured Raven is going to be the star and she will make anything look good.  Ah, the hazards and pitfalls of inexperience.  Note to self, pick better places to shoot, doof!  Aside from my poor location choice, the session went wonderfully.  Raven and Noel’s mom showed up to the shoot and helped direct Raven in her poses and outfit changes and hair upkeep.  Noel also showed up to add her advice to the session.  Afterwards, we went over to their house to upload the images.  Mom and I spent the time talking about Apollo High School.  She had gone to school at Apollo at the time I started teaching there.  I never had her in class, but we knew the same students and the same teachers and the same rumors and stories about the school and had a great time reminiscing about those days.  And in spite of the less than ideal location, the session provided some very nice shots for Raven to choose from.  Also, as a result of posting some of these photos on Facebook, I have had some interest from other seniors in booking a session.  I have concluded that Senior Sessions are a wonderful addition to my business.  I can see the plaque now: “Grumpy Gramps:  The World’s Best Wedding, Birthday, Baby Shower and Senior Portrait Photographer.”  Just get some engagement and maternity sessions under my belt, and I could rule the world.

Blog note:  When I blog I stick in my earphones and go to my Itunes or Youtube and find some inspirational music to play loud, so that everything meets in the middle of my brain.  Crowds out distractions and helps my motivation and creativity.  These last two days I have been listening to the B-side of  “The Twain Shall Meet” by Eric Burdon and the Animals.  Bagpipes and sitars.  A great combination.

   

 

OF ARTISTS, ATHLETES AND OLYMPICS

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The Olympics are upon is.  I don’t watch much of the opening ceremony except for the march of nations and the lighting of the flame.  Last night was a great show, and when Paul choked up on the opening of “Hey Jude”, well, I kind of choked up too.

An athlete I will be rooting for is Georganne Moline who is running the 400 meter hurdles in London.  I do not know Georganne personally, but she ran track for Thunderbird High School when I was the head track coach at Apollo High School.  Georganne was the best at what she did.  There goes Georganne, and then here comes  Apollo.  I swear she ran track for seven years at Thunderbird.  I would look at T-Bird’s lineup, see her name and ask, “didn’t she graduate last year?’  Georganne went to the University of Arizona on a track scholarship.  This year she qualified for the Olympics.  How exciting for her.  A tv station in Tucson did a little bio on her and I watched it yesterday.  They did a little interview with her, filmed her training  and weightlifting.  Georganne talked about how she hated track in high school when she first went out and almost quit.  She talked about how when she came to the U of A she couldn’t even lift the empty bar.  Now she was doing power cleans better than most guys do them.  I got to thinking about how much of a change there is for an athlete after he or she gets out of high school.  I don’t think anyone, not even Georganne, would have predicted her trip to the Olympics 3 years out of high school.  But sometime in the course of her track career, the switch turned on in her head and she drove herself to be the best she could be.  London Calling.

One of the athletes I thought of is Cindy LaCotta.  Cindy was an amazing young woman at Apollo.  She never missed a day of school in 12 years of school.  She had scholarships for everything.  She had me for art.  What an artist!  Every time I made an assignment she would come up to me and say “what should I draw?”  Then she would work 72 hours straight on some DaVinci-esque piece of art.  While at U of A she went for a summer to Italy with a professor to make drawings of an archeological dig.  Cindy also ran track for me.  The talent Cindy had in the classroom and the art room did not carry over onto the track.  She ran distances.  She always finished last or near to the last in a race.  But she never missed a practice and worked just as hard as anyone else.  She told me once she knew she wasn’t very good, but she liked the challenge, liked pushing herself.  A few years after Cindy graduated she came by to visit me.  She had started working in a bicycle shop, started dating the owner, and got into competitive bicycle racing.  She won or placed in enough races that she was qualified to race at a venue that would have led to an Olympic trial.  Unfortunately, an illness prevented her from competing.  I love Cindy’s story and have used it often when I talk to my track kids.  Most people in Cindy’s situation would have quit track.  I know many an athlete who basically quit because they lost a race, saying “if I can’t win, why race?’, missing the fact that it isn’t the winning, but the competing that counts, the doing the right things to make yourself better.  Cindy stuck it out in track for four years.  Then a few years later she found a sport that she loved, that inspired her, and she became the best she could be at that sport.  I have lost track of Cindy.  I know she and her husband run a bicycle club down in Tucson.  Maybe she will see this blog, call me up and ask, “what should I draw?”

The other athlete I thought about is Prince Amukamara.  Prince is yin to Cindy’s yang.  Prince is the best athlete I have ever coached in my 31 years of coaching.  Prince is also one of the nicest, humblest people I have ever met.  I could take up pages and pages giving examples of his quality of character, but I will just give you one example; with over 1,500 Facebook friends wishing him a happy birthday, he responded to each one with a personal post.  I don’t know very many other people who do that.  At Apollo, Prince garnered 3 state championships in basketball and 2 individual state championships in the 100 and 200  meter sprints in track.  He was the state of Arizona football player of the year his senior year.  I was fortunate enough to coach Prince in track and football.  His senior year in track was a bit iffy to start with.  He dropped a shower door on his foot and was hobbled most of the year, plus he had a little issue with his knee.  My able assistant, Dave Devlin, adjusted his training and rested Prince enough so that he dominated the 100 and 200 at state.  In football, I was Prince’s position coach on offense, the running back’s coach.  I told Prince “run where they ain’t.  Don’t fumble.”  Then I spent the rest of the time coaching the fullback on how to block.  But Prince was not without his detractors his junior and senior years.  “Prince doesn’t lift weights.”  “Prince can’t tackle.” “Prince doesn’t like to hit.” were some of the real or imagined faults that some people mentioned during Prince’s playing days at Apollo.  Some even said Prince would never make it in college.  Part of Prince’s image problem was that he was a merry prankster.  Although deep down he took football very seriously, outwardly he was happy-go-lucky and appeared to not take things seriously.  This rubs some people the wrong way.  I do remember talking to Prince during his last track season and telling him that things were going to be different in college.  Coaches won’t have a sense of humor, and everyone there is as good as you are.  I doubt that this even made an impact on Prince, or even if he heard it, but I like to think it was the advice that made his career.  And just like Georganne and Cindy, things fell into place for Prince to become the best he could be.  Prince not only excelled in football at the Nebraska, but was the number 1 draft choice of the New York Giants as a defensive back.  He missed the first part of the season with a broken foot, but on his first play in the NFL he recorded an interception.  He was on the field, playing defense for New York when New England was making his final drive.  Prince, the player some felt would never make it in college football, now has a Superbowl Ring.  There is a shot in Sport’s Illustrated of the end of that Super Bowl, a long shot taken from the end zone.  It shows everyone running around in total excitement, and in the end zone is Prince, a devout man of faith, on his knee, thanking God for the victory.  Prince, I am proud of you and glad I got the chance to coach you.

I think this is one of the reasons I like the Olympics.  It is the best of the best of the best in sports.  When I watch the parade of nations it is exciting to see the joy in the eyes of all the competitors from all the countries.  Yes, I will chant USA with everyone else when the time comes.  I will get a little teary eyed when they play the Star Spangled banner during the medal ceremonies.  But I believe you have to honor all the athletes.  All of them represent the best that each country has to offer.  And this is what I like about the closing ceremonies.  Seeing all the athletes together, all the pins and souvenirs exchanged, the smiles, the brotherhood and sisterhood and human-hood on display.  I’d say the following article sums up the spirit of the Olympics.  The  Olympics are about this lady, Nur Suryani Mohammed Taibi and her competition in these games.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics–pregnant-shooter-s-olympics-end-after-34th-place-finish-in-qualifying.html

I am also  leaving you with two more links.  The first is for the news special on Georganne Moline.  The second is for the “Fanfare for the Common Man”, a song that will make brushing your teeth feel like an Olympic event.  Happy Olympic watching.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/19104276/olympian-profile-georganne-moline#.UBHwI_I-1tQ.twitter       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyby2x4e7c

 

 

COACHING TRACK AND ROCKIN’ THE FOO MANCHU STASH LIKE THE DAD FROM ORANGE COUNTY CHOPPERS.

 

BYE, BABY BUNTING

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I am a bit old-fashioned.  It just seems an easier way to live.  Less things to fill the mind with.  But don’t think for a moment I can’t or won’t come up to modern times when it is to my benefit.   It is a brave new world out there, Timmy and sometimes you just need to go out and see what’s going on and adapt.  Dinosaurs are dead, doncha know.

Take for instance baby showers.  To me and other men of my generation, baby showers were some sort of hidden, mysterious, secret ceremonies that men were not invited to, yea even forbidden to go to.  If a man snuck into a baby shower and was caught, unspeakable things might happen to that man.  A lifetime of being read to and spoon-fed.  But truthfully, I must say I knew none of my  male buds that wanted to go.  It was like, get the wife out of the house so I can watch the tv shows I wanted to watch.

A few years ago I was coaching JV football.  One of my assistant coaches came up to me at the beginning of practice and said “Coach, I gotta leave practice early.  You remember Tom?  Well, I am going to his baby shower.”  Mike had played for me and was one of the toughest players that I had  ever coached.  He went on to play football at the University of Arizona.  Yet  here is this tough, rugged man telling me he is going to a baby shower.  “Mike,” says I, “real men don’t go to baby showers.  What are talking about?”  “Coach, I hate to tell you, we do now.  It isn’t an option.”  My other assistant, Justin, who is the same age as Mike, verified this fact.  “It’s what guys have to do now, Coach.”  Justin said.  Like the wizard named Tim in the “Holy Grail” I wanted to warn them, tell them not to go, that it was a trap and foul things awaited them.  But sanity and common sense grabbed ahold of me.  If Mike left early, I could conclude practice early and go home early.  I said nothing negative and wished him well.

My third official shooting session was  a baby shower.  When I had shot Emma’s birthday, I met Denise, who is Emma’s aunt.  So I was invited to shoot her baby shower.  I felt like an undercover agent.  Not only was I going to a baby shower, I was going to record it.  The dark veil of secrecy was about to be pulled off of the happenings at the baby shower.

Change can be a good thing.  Letting the daddy come to the shower is a great change.  As I was snapping pictures I could see the excitement in Denise and Dave’s eyes, and in the eyes of their other children as they played games, ate, and opened baby gifts together.  After all, this is a family affair.  Why not share the excitement and fun of the baby shower together?

I don’t like change, but in this case I can honestly say, this change is a good thing.

My thanks to Denise and David, David’s mom Lori and Tia Hillary for allowing me the opportunity to document that special time in your lives.

The title for this blog comes from a Mother Goose nursery rhyme.  It first appeared in 1784.

Some of these old-time nursery rhymes have a dark side.  The following is from the end of the rhyme.

Bye, baby bumpkin
Where’s Tony Lumpkin
My lady’s on her death-bed,
For eating half a pumpkin.

    

    

FREE DAY 7/26

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One of the activities I have been encouraged to try by those I am taking advice on this new career is the writing on the blog for 30 days straight.  So far, the blogs I have written have been long, in-depth, with great purpose, and with a humorous voice.  That type of blog seems like an impossible to write on a daily basis.  So I decided to borrow from my early days of teaching.  It was called a free day.  At my first school many teachers gave the kids a free day in class every Friday.  Don’t fret, that practice soon went out of fashion.  However, having finished my career teaching where most time in the classroom is spent on teaching to the test, I would contend that the kids were learning just is much, or more, when they had a free day.  I have no evidence to back that up, it is just my own opinion.

So I am appropriating the title Freed Day for a written blog that really has no purpose or message other than to write the blog.  Mostly general observations of the day.  When I taught English, journaling was the big thing.  One thing we told kids was if you don’t know what to write, just write that.  “I don’t know what to write.”  Fill up the page.  I won’t subject you to that.

This day had a couple of highlights.  First was I contacted the bride of my first shoot, Mallory.  Since this is all new to me, every thing I do with regards to photographing my first wedding is new, fresh and exciting.  I like it, but I can’t wait for the comfortable feeling that comes with the routine.  Thinking back to my first year as a varsity football coach at Apollo High School, I remember how nervous I was before the first game of my varsity football career.  It was a heck of a year for Apollo.  We made our one and only appearance of Apollo in the state championship game against St. Mary’s  We won the game for the first 46 1/2 minutes.  Unfortunately, the game was 48 minutes long and we lost a heartbreaker.  But during that season I was a nervous wreck before games.  I couldn’t eat.  I had several rituals  I did before every game, including banging my head on a locker sometime before the game.  The day of the state game there was one ritual I did not do before the game.  I am convinced to this day that is why we lost

Quite a contrast to my last year of coaching.  Gone were the rituals, the inability to eat, the banging the head on lockers (hey, a man only has so many brain cells)  I would usually take a nap, sleep like a baby and grab something to eat right before the game.  Apollo had a great year that year, too.  9-1 and lost in the second round of the state playoffs.  I do not blame the loss on not following a silly superstition.  The opposing team had Superman playing for them.  I couldn’t figure out how to stop him, unless it was to trip him on the way out of the locker room at halftime.  That last year I was still as excited about coaching the game as I was that first year.  But at the end there was a calmness that comes with confidence and experience.  I am anxious for that time to come in my photographer career.

The other highlight of the day was my friend Dave called and suggested we meet.  We went to Gallagher’s, had lunch and played the bar trivia game on those little game boxes.  Back in the day, about 15 or so years ago, when bar trivia was quite the rage, Dave and I were a rather formidable team.  The game was played against bars all over the country.  Our login name was Trax.  There were several games where Trax had the highest score in the nation and was ranked #1.  The wife of a fellow teacher was a flight attendant.  One night in Kansas City, she was at a bar that was on the trivia game network.  She looked up at the TV screen and saw #1 Trax, Famous Sam’s 29  Phoenix,AZ.  She tells everyone at the bar she knows that she knows us. Good times.  No, correction, great times.

FREE DAY! CIRCA 1981

I AM NOT SLEEPING, I SWEAR.

IT WAS CASUAL FRIDAY.  SERIOUSLY.