*Finally something worth posting. (and self-critiquing...)

I thought these were two special moments today at a Cinco de Mayo festival here in my town (above), and earlier at West Point during a Special Olympics (below). It's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks, with colleagues out sick, (or playing sick), others taking time off, and the paper cutting back on using freelancers. For a while there, I didn't even know what day of the week it was, similar to how it was a few years ago working in NYC everyday. But waiting on these youngsters today for just the right moments at the Cinco de Mayo festival and squeezing in the crowd during the national anthem & opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics, then dropping to my knees to make both images, reminded me again just why I'm always working hard to find these nice little, subtle moments.

...Still kicking myself over this image on Friday morning. This is a case of being happy with the images viewed on the back of the camera and then totally pissed at myself when editing the files later on the Mac. Should've brought in small strobes to light up the room better, and to add more DOF to the image. Maybe turned the model a little more toward the camera to see the front of the eye a little better too. It was a horribly rainy day, and this assignment was squeezed in between two others as part of another 100+ mile driving day. The optometrist's office receptionist / model was a good sport, and she actually wears these things, so I knew she would've been patient if I put up a light or two. No more excuses - should've made the effort to light this correctly, especially with a portable lighting kit in the car. Yea, just some of my everyday, professional stresses...