Are You Ready For Some Football?

Thursday marked the start of Football practice in the State of Ohio...  Ken sent me to Fort Loramie for some shots..  and I decided to get creative..  :-)

Nature is Bee-utiful

I was told I had to get a two column vertical feature...  and since I haven't done any nature shots lately...  I decided to hit the back roads and stalk bees...  :-)

Friday Night Madness Begins

This was my awesome photo from Monday... :-) I thought this would be such a lame assignment... but it turned out much better than I could imagine. :-)

Shelby County Fair - Saturday

The annual Barnyard Olympics was held Saturday.... It's always fun to see farm kids doing some crazy things... :-)

I love this photo of Seth Clark licking his plate clean during the pie eating contest!

These two boys thought they would be in a ton of trouble after breaking the wheel on one of the wheelbarrows during he wheelbarrow race.

These guys (the couch boys) were too funny! They won the Olympics... and just had to have their photo taken with the apples. :-)

After the Olympics... The annual water fight began...

I can't decide which one I like better... the one right before he gets hit in the face with the bucket of water, or the one right after... :-)

Shelby County Fair - Friday

I spent most the the day at the Livestock Sale taking photos of the Champions... but I did get a chance to take some harness racing photos... :-)

Cover Shoot

These photos are a result of a lack of sleep and being really bored while waiting 3 and a half hours for a sheep to pee... Bowers was walking around serenading people with his awesome guitar... (He even wrote a song for me...) and we decided to do a photo shoot for the cover of his CD when he becomes famous... :-) These are just a few of the like 400 photos I took. :-) If I can find the ones of him singing to the goat, I'll post them asap. :-)

Shelby County Fair - Thursday

Thursday I was responsible for the 6 column feature for the front page.... I gave the desk two options... but I liked the first one the best... :-)





Thursday was also Kids Day...

My good friends at the DARE tent sponsored a Dance Off to the Fast Food Song... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCPSh47gHz8) Yeah... it took like 3 days to get that song out of my head... "A Pizza Hut... a Pizza Hut... Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. McDonald's... McDonald's... Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. McDonald's... McDonald's... Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut." :-) Sarah and I even took time to dance with them... :-)

The agony of defeat at a Kiddie Tractor pull.... :-(

This was also the first year for Mud Bog Mania at the fair... I wish I would have had my converter... I think I could have gotten more killer shots! :-)

And the lamb show.... I loved the lighting in this photo... but I hate that damn lamb. It took him over 3 and a half hours to pee!!! OMG. So needless to say... I was at the fair very late that night...

Shelby County Fair - Wednesday

Wednesday was an unproductive day for me.... Blame it on lack of sleep from waiting for a steer to pee in a cup (the required drug testing of the champions) the night before. I think I got like 3 hours of sleep... But I did get this photo of a cute little kid trying to push his jersey cow back in line... :-)

Shelby County Fair - Tuesday

Tuesday was a big day at the fair because the president of The Ohio State University, Gordon Gee, visited the fair. People followed him around and took photos of him like paparazzi... :-) I had no idea a University President would be so popular! He was an awesome guy though and took time to speak with a lot of 4-H members in the barns.

Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University, milks a cow at the fair.

I always miss the equestrian events... but this year I made it out to get a few shots....

Celebrity Chair Volleyball is always a popular event during Senior Day at the Fair... I also got this great shot of Sheriff Schlagetter getting his forehead wiped off by Deputy Henman during a time out. :-)

And this I just thought was cool... It looks much better here than it did in the paper though.. :-(

Shelby County Fair - Monday

I felt that Monday was my most productive day at the fair... but is was also the only day I really got any sleep the night before. I came across these three features that I really liked.

Fair week isn't complete without a photo of someone asleep in the barns.

I saw this while waiting at my "photo tent".... and I thought it was cute. :-)

And this photo I heard about the whole rest of the week.. everyone seemed to love it. :-) I have to admit... she is pretty darn cute sleeping there.

Shelby County Fair - Sunday

Let the madness begin!!!! Fair week is here! Which means I won't be sleeping for a week... but I can't complain... I get fair food all week!!! Hawaiian Ice Guy... Here I come!!!!

Sunday was fairly slow... but I really liked this photo I took of the moving dummy break away roping at the 4-H Horse show.

One more Kenny photo....

While I was going through all my Country Concert photos... I ran across this one of Kenny Chesney reaching out to his fans... and really liked it so I thought I would share. :-)

The Aftermath

What happens when 18,000 people a day "party down like real hillbilly's" over a four day weekend?

A huge mess! (And to think this was only Sunday! Friday and Saturday looked twice as bad!)

Phil Vassar

Phil Vassar really knows how to put on a show! He has written so many songs over the years and his band played some an amazing covers. He ended the show with his version of the Piano Man. What an amazing piano player!

And to top it all off... I got his autograph. :-)