More Basketball

Not that I make much of sports photography, but I did a decent job Friday night with a double-header. First the girls, then the boys. Only got one good shot from the girls' game, but the boys' game was much better for me.

She's waiting for the award ceremony, to receive the runner up plaque, and she's not happy at all. And the fans are just filing past her to their seats because they're all here for the boys' game, anyway.

They're happy because they're winning.

This is the shot that ran.

Best 'fans rush the floor' shot I've gotten. I haven't gotten many.

Not sure it works completely, but I dig the framing. And I tilted 'cause FORGET THE RULES, I DO WHAT I WANT!

Throwback Post: Rollergirls!

Whoa! Two posts in like an hour or so. The world is ending!!!

Here's a post from a week or two ago, when Andy went to shoot portraits of Rollergirls. I tagged along and shot the scrimmage after Andy left. Anyway, definitely a fun time.

Eva - the r0x0r face

the Suck It pose

the Flex pose

Lisa - That's Quacktastic!

Lisa - That's Mallardrageous!

A New Post With New Pictures

So, while the X-Fantastivengers are on hiatus for a day or two more, I will inundate you with way too many pictures from my first three N&O shoots.

First off, here's my first shoot, a piece on the health benefits of nature hikes. They ran these three.







These others didn't make the cut for a variety of reasons.







This lady fell and broke her ankle on the far end of the mountain. It's her right foot that's at an unnatural angle. The fellow beside her is Dr. Lee, a retired physician who happened to be on the hike, and took good care of her until EMS arrived.



Then, of course, some state tournament basketball. Two games in two nights, and another game again on Friday.

First was a girls' game, powerhouse Southeast Raleigh demolished Leesville Road. They ran this one.



I liked the rest of these, but they didn't run or make a web thing or anything. No biggie.









Lastly, here's some of what I turned in for the boys' game. Durham Riverside crushed Southeast Raleigh. Not a fun game to watch, and a pretty mediocre overall performance by yours truly. They ran the first one, a block, but I like the second one much better.

Costa Rica - Issue #3

Do we dare to hope? Yes, because Costa Rica Force X-Fantastivengers issue #3 is at hand! No amount of nefarious plots, dipping sales or lunatic critics could stand in the way of progress!! Um, well... such as it is.

Exposition be damned, on to the pretty graphics!



Allison is not the source of INFORMACION, which is available only on the other side of our lodge.



First morning in town, after breakfast, I went in search of cool stuff I hadn't seen before. Like vultures, which turned out to be everywhere around the place, but who knew that going in? Not me. So I darn well took pictures of 'em.



People wasted no time at all finding the hammocks in front of the supa-bad painted wall. There were two different camps: Let's Get Going and Do Stuff We Can Only Do In Costa Rica versus Let's Relax And Enjoy The Vacation. I'm not saying that one camp was right, and one was wrong, but I am saying that people who punked out on doing cool stuff could string up a hammock in their damn living room instead of spending all day in a rain forest paradise with their nose in a ******* book. Is all I'm saying. Not that this applies to the people pictured, I'm just sayin' is all.



Skip has delicate, feminine fingers. Despite the sentiment expressed in the previous caption, hammocks are super-awesome. For real.



Ahh, planning the details of the wedding at the rehearsal. Seth keeps his antipathy to himself. Obviously.



Seth, Fashion Photographer, sizes up a potential "model" while we're out drinking on the last night before his marriage. Ahem.

Costa Rica - Issue #2

After a long delay with the line art, then a problem with the printers, we've finally got CRF X-F #2 onto store shelves! We introduce a new, recurring villain right at the end, and we settle into a setting that will carry us through the arc of the story.

So, at long last, utilizing the latest in three-color-printing, I now present to you Issue Number TWO!!!



Stopped by the American Mall, near the university. It sucked, because we were hoping to find some good, third-world-style deals on sweatshop clothing, but no such luck. Everything was just like an American Mall, even the prices. That's when we realized that this was not the third world, that this was the second world at worst, and they were trying hard to become first world capitalists. And everyone knows how I feel about capitalism.



A bank of phones in a park by the university. I couldn't get over this guy's sweatsuit. Awesome.



Again, looking for deals, we stopped in a little street-side shoe shop. Well, Allison did; I hung outside and took pictures. The sign reads '1 for c5000 / 2 x c9000'. That's $10 and $18 for one and two pairs of shoes, respectively.



After cleaning out our security locker at the hostel, where we'd kept our passports, cash, and camera gear.



After meeting up with our crew, we drove from San Jose in the west-central area of the country to Puerto Viejo on the southeastern, Caribbean coast. The trip took us through the mountains and the rain forests, including this moment as we drove through a cloud, with sheets of rock and foliage going up almost horizontal on one side, and open vistas overlooking beautiful valleys on the other.



We arrived at Cashew Hill Jungle Lodge late at night, got some food and hit the sack. Andy stayed up a little later writing in his journal once he went to bed.

Costa Rica - Special Pre-Issue #2 crossover with The Graffiti Squad

While we're still waiting on the inker to finish the work on the long-delayed line art for Issue #2 of CRF X-F, we've already got a crossover in the works with TayTay's supergroup, The Graffiti Squad.

No TLC, ya'll!



















Apparently, TLC is the alphabetism of the Spanish for the Central American Free Trade Agreement that the Bush administration is pushing, and it seems to be opposed on all sides in Costa Rica. I asked the Tico who runs our hostel about it, and he said everyone's against it because it's like a corner store trying to compete against a giant corporation, and that they'd just be run over. Fair enough. But why vandalize some shop's awning to make your point? Anyway, I saw at least five or six occurrences of this message before I started taking pictures of it, so it was all over the place.

Costa Rica - Issue #1

Now is the issue where we generate interest in the team and introduce the players. But in typical rip-off fashion, Costa Rica Force X-Fantastivengers Issue #1 (19 covers! COLLECT 'EM ALL (tm) !!!) will not even remotely resemble the rest of the series nor will it contain any of the same characters that will carry the series later on. Well, okay, it'll have one main character, but that's just the hot chick who doesn't actually do much fighting, she's just eye candy and brains.

On with the Issue Number One!



Alex Webb-ian blue, but from a car. Our ride through San Jose from the airport to the hostel was courtesy of Jerry and his crew, a bunch of emergency room folks from the Baltimore area we met on the flight, staying about three blocks away from our hostel.



Charlie's Chocolate Factory, San Jose office.



'By Far The Creepiest Image I've Ever Seen' official award winner, part of the Don't Rape Our Children campaign. Anywhere tourists were likely to be, DROC campaign posters were plentiful, but none out-creeped this poster, hanging on the wall of our hostel.



Sunset from the laundry area out back of the hostel.



Our first night out on the town. Telephones are cool. So are shady businesses with cool colored walls.



After a dinner where it really hit us that we didn't stand a chance of getting by without some help, we found a bookstore near the university and bought a Spanish-English dictionary. Then we wandered through the back streets checking out the nightlife and looking things up in the dictionary.



We stopped at Spoon, a little cafe near our hostel, and had dessert at the end of the evening. Even little cafes in San Jose have armed guards (center), traffic directors (right) and guys who throw signs and act a fool when someone has a camera (left).

Costa Rica - Issue #0

Comic book style, here's the pre-story behind the actual story. In all its glory, I present to you Costa Rica Force X-Fantastivengers issue number ZERO! With six different covers so you can COLLECT 'EM ALL(tm)!!

Or, ya know, it's the trip, but we ain't quite made it to the land of milk and honey yet.



Mom leaving for work, my sister Christina heading to the car so that we could go to breakfast, then the airport. Mom only works a couple blocks away, so it's not uncommon for her to walk over there. That's my old elementary school in the background, now a high school for young and expecting mothers.



Christina at breakfast, using my lens as a mirror to clean something out of her teeth.



Allison gets a giant good-bye hug at the airport.



Charlotte Douglas International. This abstract shot says something about the eroding nature of America's image abroad, but I'm not sure exactly what it says about that. I need to talk to Melih for a while to work out the details.



During a showing of Cinderella Man. There were only three windows left open during the movie, and you see all three of them in this shot. I went with an uncharacteristic white border here, since it's a dark (but not swarmy) picture.



You must fill out paperwork that says you are not bringing oranges in your suitcase and you will not rape children while you are in Central America. I feel confident signing my name to that on both accounts. More on the creepy 'Do not have sex with children' campaign tomorrow... er, in Issue #1, that is! Stay tuned, true believers!!!