MV Gazette
Prom-tastic (lots o’ photos)
Went to the MVRHS junior prom on Saturday (probably could have gone incognito and worn my old prom dress, but I opted for standard photographer black instead). It was the first time since…I don’t even know when…that I’d actually used my flash for an assignment, and I was a little nervous about how things would turn out.
I lucked out, though, and arrived to find that the venue itself (the Beach Plum Inn in Menemsha) had low white ceilings—perfect for bounce flash. As an extra bonus, it was overcast (shocker!) that day, so I didn’t have to worry about shadows in the outdoor photos.
I stayed for the entire thing, from the pre-entry Breathalyzers to the announcing of king and queen, and am glad I did. The last photo was taken as Eva the prom queen was boarding the party trolley (party trolley! there were disco lights and fog on board!), and I very much like how it turned out. Hooray!
Prom Details
Sing Out, Louise!
Two Days, Two Games, Two Styles: lacrosse (boys)
Fact: The boys’ face-off isn’t nearly as much fun to shoot. But again, I love that they utilize more of the behind-the-goal space, because then they get closer to me!
Motionblurred from handholding, but something about the way they’re running makes me laugh anyway.
Two Days, Two Games, Two Styles: Lacrosse (girls)
Still working on my lacrosse shooting. Still prefer shooting the girls’ game to the boys’, although I do like the way the boys tend to make more use of the space behind the net.
Both teams had home games this week, so I got to do extra practice. Yay!
Welcome Home, Mr. Halt
Colonel Michael Halt recently returned to the island from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan with the Marine Corps Reserve (he had previously served for seven months in Iraq in 2007). Yesterday Mr. Halt, who is the principal of the West Tisbury School, was officially welcomed back by his students.
I WISH I had been more to the left for this photo. Oh well.
Animal Planet Visits the Vineyard
Maui is an eight-year-old Bouvier des Flandres who lives in Edgartown with owner Leonard Fogg. He is also one of those dog heroes you always hear about but never actually meet in real life. And he gets to be on Animal Planet because of it!
Four years ago, Leonard and Maui were walking along the wharf in Edgartown when Leonard leaned over to check the price of a for-sale boat and fell into the water. He couldn’t reach the docks to pull himself back up, and, this being February, wasn’t likely to actually attract attention with calls for help because nobody’s around the docks at that time of year. Leonard’s also a diabetic, and the cold water was doing nothing for his condition.
But Maui started to bark like a crazy fiend after Leonard fell in…and all his noise managed to attract Peter, a bar patron who’d stepped out for a smoke. Peter came down to investigate, and the story ends exactly the way you’d want it to (you can read the original Gazette article here)
Somehow the producers of Dogs 101 (an Animal Planet show) got wind of this story (quite a few years later; this all happened in ’07), and sent a film crew down to do a reenactment of everything. (Leonard didn’t have to fall in again; they got a lifeguard from the YMCA to do the honors.)
Occasionally I’ll go to assignments where I just have a terrible time keeping a straight, professional face. This was one of them. Maui’s not a trained actor (although he was very well trained), and he would occasionally wander off to do his own thing. Also, he’s a big shaggy dog, and big shaggy dogs always make me smile.
Anyway, besides the fact that I had a ridiculously outsized grin on my face for this entire shoot, the only real problem I had was that Maui is not only a very shaggy dog, he’s also a black dog.If you didn’t already know what kind of animal he was, you might look at half of my photos and think “What is this furry creature? Maybe it should be with the other Ewoks.” It’s hard to see his eyes, for one thing (albeit a pretty important thing), and his shape just isn’t well defined unless it’s a full-on profile shot.
King of the Ewoks. I doubt this one will make it into the paper as it doesn’t reproduce very well in b&w. Oh well.
At any rate, this was a welcome break from the election madness of last week (which will be the next post)! I’m going to have to get cable soon so I can see Maui’s television debut…
Election Day Outtake
Girl Power: Lacrosse
I’ve photographed boys’ lacrosse twice, but yesterday was the first time (besides practice) that’d I’d shot the girls’ game. It’s…different. In a good way. It was easier for me to pick up on the flow of the game and follow the players around; it also helped that the varsity girls are a much more experienced team that the boys are and are scoring machines (the final score was 14-12, Vineyard).
Lacrosse puzzles me somewhat because on the one hand, it amazes me that the offense can score in such a small goalspace, and on the other, it seems like the goalie just doesn’t stand a chance once a shot’s coming at them. I can’t think of another sport with this strange balance.
(it went in)
(this also went in. the game was pretty back-and-forth…)
