Excuses, excuses...

I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that I have not forgotten that this blog exists.  Things have been very busy lately, both shooting and business wise.  I've got a lot of new things that I'm working to make happen before the end of the year.  I'm making plans to start doing a lot more tutorial posts here on the blog (even some with video).  

Over the Labor Day weekend I started working with Marshall (the best web programer I know) over at Fun Sun Studio on version 1.1 of my website, and I'm really stoked to see what he has come up with.  I'm busy adding new content to the framework of the site, making design nit picks, and he's slaving over a hot keyboard to make the changes like a champ.  Here is a quick preview of what we've got going on...

Goodbye Flash... Hello JavaScript... This is really exciting for a wanna be techno geek like me.  But I haven't been spending all of my time in front of a computer screen... I have gotten out, and made some images lately.  Here are just a few that I shot the other night as the University of South Carolina opened up their season on ESPN's Thursday night game, against North Carolina State (this is for Angie my new blog bud over at OH MY GOFF! who is a Gamecocks fan, but now lives in D.C.) I hope you all enjoy...

Above: USC starts their opening drive after receiving the kick off from N.C. State at Williams-Brice Stadium, in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.
Above: South Carolina, quarterback, Tommy Beecher, right, takes a snap in the shot gun formation during their opening drive against N.C. State, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.
Above: South Carolina, tailback, Mike Davis, 25, left, gets a fist full of N.C. State, corner back, Jeremy Gray's, right, face mask, while trying to stiff arm.

Wrong Runway...

After taking off from runway 13, at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, on Sunday morning, this Cesna 177 "Cardinal", was forced to make a hard landing on the roof of Boineau's Moving and Storage Inc., warehouse after experiencing engine trouble 1/3 of a mile Northwest of the runway. Here, Sterling Transport driver William Hooper looks at the single engine aircraft as it sits atop the warehouse roof in Columbia, S.C., Sunday afternoon.

...this was one of those days where you think that you are done, and then the dreaded phone call comes in... Fill a hole on the front page of metro with an image from an incident that happened 6 hours earlier, gotta love the world of newspapers.

Football is back...

Its the time of year when things start to cool off, kids go back to school, and football fields at high schools and colleges come alive on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. It has been so long since I've had a Friday night or Saturday afternoon off during this time of year that I don't even know what it would be like. While the rest of the world tailgates, and starts to put on those winter pounds, its time for me to start running up and down the sidelines, trying to make better images than I did last year. Here are some of the results from my first week back at it. Its been a year since I did this, and I'm pretty happy with my early results.

Benedict College hosts Livingstone College, in their annual season opener the Palmetto Capital City Classic, for the first time at their new stadium, in Columbia, S.C.

My high school alma mater Irmo, takes on their hated rivals Dutch Fork. Irmo won, glad to see some things don't change. Now they actually play their away games for this rivalry at Dutch Fork, when I was in school, at the start of this rivalry, we had to share a stadium, and sit on the away side every other year... I'm glad to see that some things do change.

Hope everyone is doing well out there, stay safe, and make good images.
-Flashnick

p.s. If anyone out there can figure out how to get my BlackBerry Pearl to transmit images from the above mentioned games any faster than the abysmal 8kbps I'm getting now using this method posted on fibble.org please let me know. It moves so slow that all of my FTP transmissions keep timing out. It is killing me paying for this BlackBerry service and not being able to use it to its full potential.

Biker Heaven

©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

When the alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning to get out of bed to go shoot another assignment was the last thing on my mind, especially after having 14 hour days Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and late night of shooting on Saturday. However this is one of those assignments that I "had to do." Its not like anyone was going to fault me for turning this down, and I almost did, until I found out that this "church assignment" wasn't your typical church.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

On the last Sunday of the month since April, 2007, the quiet neighborhood on Holland Street, in West Columbia, S.C. has been brought to life by the sound of motorcycles thundering down the road, to Suburban Baptist Church, on their way to "Biker Church" at 7:30am. Inside a group of approximately a dozen bikers, congregate over breakfast, and a small worship service that follows. "And when the weather permits after that we take the church out on the road, because the theology here is that the church is the people, not the building, and even when we hit the road the church is still there," Biker Church co-Founder, Frank Lengel said.
©2007 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

To add insult to injury, as I was beginning to work on getting all of my non deadline assignments from last week out to clients, and starting to work on the multimedia from "Biker Church," my iBook decided to take a yet another dirt nap. In an effort to get work done, I swapped the hard drives of my iBook with a 5 year old PowerBook G4 that was laying around for just such an occasion. Even though it is slow, the screen looks a "little yellow", and there is some gunk on the screen that I can't seem to get off the PowerBook is running like a champ so far, and while it took a little longer than normal I managed to produce a multimedia slideshow from Biker Church. Hopefully next week will go better.

To view my multimedia presentations point your browsers here -- http://www.brettflashnick.com/multimedia.php

Meet the Romneys

Over the past few days I've had the opportunity to spend some behind the scenes time with the family of 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney as they toured South Carolina. I had a great time getting to know Ann, Mary, and Parker Romney, as we drove around the state on their tour bus. ABOVE: Ann Romney, center, and Mary Romney, left, along with campaign supporters and staff, laugh as Parker Romney, tries to make a call on his baby monitor on Tuesday afternoon. BELOW: Mitt Romney, left, and Ann Romney, right, share a moment as they prepare to go separate ways, after departing a fundraiser at Saluda Shoals Park on Thursday afternoon. After three days of campaigning separately, the Romneys only spent a few hours together in Columbia, S.C., before going their separate ways again.