Second Pilgrimage: LDI 2008

I have to start this entry with an apology. Since starting this blog a few months ago, I've strayed from my initial mission, which was to share some of my adventures in *all* the various fields I work in, be they photo, video, or lighting related. Because the majority of the work I did this summer was of the photo variety, the blog entries reflect this theme. I intend on starting to balance things out more, because I do a lot more than photography, and this entry will get the diversity ball rolling!

Recently, I made my second pilgrimage to LDI 2008 in Las Vegas, a trade show for anything related to live entertainment design. The last time I made the voyage was in 2002, also to Las Vegas, with my friend and fellow lighting designer Mike May. This year I flew solo, mainly because my decision to attend for sure was made on an impulse a little more than a week before the convention opened. My friend and musician Erik Ramirez let me crash on his couch during my stay in Vegas, and even checked out the show floor with me a few times (he was very impressed).

Although lighting product manufacturers dominate the show floor, one can also take a look at new rigging solutions, different drapery and set items, as well as a limited number of sound companies. And, as you'll see in the next blog entry down, one can get great deals when purchasing items on the show floor!

From here, I'll let my photos and captions explain some of my favorite sights from LDI 2008:

On the way to LDI on Paradise Rd., interesting shadows cover the pavement at the entrance and exit to a tunnel that runs under McCarran Airport. The shadows are created by a canopy that covers the street, one that I figure is there to gradually "feather" out light as motorists enter the dark tunnel.

Welcome to the Las Vegas Convention Center, south halls, and LDI 2008!

I love how, upon entering the convention center, you can immediately tell you're entering a convention like no other - one that is darkened and filled with haze!

The show floor this year was much longer than the last time I attended, though there seemed to be less booths.

I headed right over to the High End Barco booth to check out their new offerings, including the Showgun and Showpix (pictured) units. I don't know if it's a sign of my increasing maturity as a designer, but these fixtures don't really excite me. Give me some Studio Beams and X-Spots and I'm good to go. Heck, I'll take some Intellabeams if they work!

I don't know how to pronounce their name, but Chauvet (is that "shaa-voe", "shaw-vette"?) had a very impressive rig above their booth. I like light rigs that have "pods" like these, they're a design feature I usually incorporate into concert shows I design that often have no sets and are going into an otherwise empty stage.

And, only at LDI would the rigging of one's booth get noticed by an attendee. I was really impressed at all the bridles (a hanging point that hangs from two or more points) that were used here and everywhere on the floor to get around the many obstacles on the convention center ceiling.

Another look at the Chauvet rig! I think I might be "inspired" to "pay homage" to this design sometime soon!

The Atomic Designs booth had some cool dimensional fabrics on display, another thing I'm a fan of - even though I can rarely afford to use them. Atomic is well known for their design work with the MTV Unplugged series.

The LightNetwork booth was jumpin' off!!! All jokes aside, this was a booth staffed with volunteers, so I just caught it at a bad time. The LightNetwork is an online discussion forum for lighting designers that I've been a part of for almost ten years, and is largely responsible for me realizing that a successful career as a lighting designer was possible.

Just me and my shadow, literally, in a projection on a staircase across from a booth selling club lighting fixtures.

I sat on the floor and waited about ten minutes to get a nice frame of people walking in front of a soft LED curtain on the back of the Coemar booth. Everyone that walked through my frame, upon hearing me fire off my shutter, would apologize thinking they'd ruined my shot, when in reality, I wanted them to walk through it!

I sat down Sunday for a fifteen dollar meal from one of the vendors on the show floor, consisting of orange chicken, pork fried rice, and a bottle of Pepsi. The meal was actually half-decent. While consuming my delicacy, and watching the Coemar booth loop over and over, I noticed how heavy the haze level in the room had become, to the point of setting off the fire alarms a few times. I found this amusing since setting off fire alarms with haze is often a problem we deal with on shows of smaller scale. It was nice to see the "big boys" having this issue as well.

Rosco Litepads are a very interesting product for photo / video applications. I can see a few of these bad boys replacing the $14.00 fluorescent light I often tape to car dash boards to light people's faces in cars at night.

I forgot what booth these were in, but they're LED balls that are actually mapped out to be a video screen. I enjoyed the texture they created, they'd look great in the background of a camera shot at a concert.

Of course, I had to stop by the Vari*Lite booth. Vari*Lites are, to me, the holy grail of automated lighting. When I first noticed concert lighting on TV wayyy back in junior high, say, on the MTV Awards or the Grammys, I wondered what those lights moving around were. At the time, they were more than likely all Vari*Lites. Of course, I've used lights many times since then that are probably comparable to, if not better than, Vari*Lites. There's still that stigma and allure, however, to actually using them on a show that I've yet to quench.

Only at LDI #2: Devices meant to protect people from tripping over cables also have an advertisement written on them.

I stopped by the ETC booth for a good half hour and grilled the sales reps on the new ETC Ion console, and how it compares to the ETC Express (Ion is meant to replace Express). I dug the Ion, though I still think the Wholehog II and III consoles operate more like my brain than any other board.

I saved my favorite booth for last, Aqua Visual FX. Aqua's product is a water curtain that is able to display graphics in droplets of falling water. I first saw the product on this year's BET Awards with Chris Brown, and thought that I was seeing video projected on a sheet of water. Only when I received frantic phone calls from several other techs (yes - we live sad, sad lives at times) asking me how it was done did I look into it further.

The system uses computer controlled solenoids housed in 2' sections that release water drops in sequence. Confused? Think of an old dot matrix printer (this works a lot like that), only instead of the printer printing lines of dots, the water units are spitting out lines of water drops. Robert Pratl, who ran the Chris Brown performance on the BET Awards, was nice enough to show me how the curtain is programmed (lots of Photoshop, who knew?), and shared some stories from the BET awards about getting the unit up and working in a VERY, VERY short amount of time. Truly impressive.

The water drops fall into a specially designed catch drain (the black part of the floor), and the water is then pumped back up into the rig where it is recycled. To be fair, another company (Aqua Reign) had a water curtain on the show floor almost exactly like Aqua's, but I saw Aqua's first and was impressed with *their* unit on TV.

Special thanks to my friend Erik for shuttling me around Vegas during my 3 day stay!

A goodbye shot of the strip from the flight home, right around 9,500 feet (and right before clearance was given to turn on electronic devices - don't report me to the FAA!)

Little Giant Shipping Expert

While wandering the show floor of LDI 2008 in Las Vegas, I noticed that Little Giant Ladders had a booth set up. Sticking up into the air above the booth, like candles on a birthday cake, were several examples of their ladders I've drooled over many times while watching their famous late night infomercial. The Little Giant has always been something I've thought I could use, especially when doing film shoots on location. The Little Giant would allow me to have a seven foot A-frame ladder (the configuration I'd use the most) that would collapse to under five feet for transport in my Ford Escape. And, if need be, I'd have all the other very useful configurations at my disposal.

Why didn't I own a Little Giant already, you ask? Because I work with electricity, I wanted to get one of the fiberglass models (as opposed to the electrically conductive aluminum model), and that one was $450.00. That's a lot of money to plunk down on a ladder I'd use maybe once every other month. Whenever I had the money to get it, it often ended up going to more pertinent expenses like car payments or gas. And, I already had a six foot wood ladder that I'd stuff into my car when I really needed to get high up at a shoot.

Back to Vegas: I approached the booth and saw the very ladder that I wanted, the Model 17 fiberglass. Salesman Tyler approached me and took me through some of the ladder's features. It was great, I felt like I was in the infomercial! All I needed was for Al Borlind or whatever his name is to come around the corner in his flannel shirt! I folded up the ladder and picked it up to see how heavy it was (the negative reviews I've read have said the ladder is way too heavy, but I suspect these reviews have originated from housewives and jelly-armed yuppies). The ladder did have some weight to it, but so does everything else we deal with in theater and on film shoots! I can handle lifting fifty pounds with no problem.

Just as I rolled the ladder back into the booth (yes, it has wheels), salesman Tyler blind sided me with a phenomenal asking price if I was interested in buying the ladder on the spot, and I mean phenomenal! Like amazing discount, out of this world ridiculous-not-to-buy-it deal! How would I get it home, though? Surely this ladder wasn't going to fit in the overhead bin on the flight home. Tyler explained that FedEx had a store right there in the convention center, where I could ship the ladder to myself back in East Chicago. This sealed the deal, and with a swipe of my credit card (charge it to the game), I was the proud owner of a Little Giant.

Because Tyler couldn't get to the shipping box for the ladder until after the convention closed, I had to rely on the *shipping experts* at FedEx to help me safely pack my ladder. No problem, I thought, I'll take the ladder up there, give it to them, they'll figure out how to pack it, just like at the UPS store, and I'll be back to the show floor in no time. WRONG.

"We can't pack it for you," says the *shipping expert* at FedEx.

The first *shipping expert* I spoke with looked at my new Little Giant, glanced behind him at the buffet of bubble wrap and boxes, then looked glumly back at me and said, "The largest box we have is a 24 (inch) cube, so because we can't fit the ladder into one of our boxes, we can't pack it for you." OK, no big deal, the ladder is tough, it can probably get FedEx'ed without a box altogether. I really didn't care if it got scuffed up in transit, that's going to happen once I start using it anyway.

I suggested wrapping the ladder in "shrink wrap", that cellophane plastic stuff, to prevent it from flopping open during transit. *Shipping Expert* says no to the shrink wrap. "How about tape," I ask? *Shipping Expert* says tape is fine. So, at this point, we've agreed that all I need to do is tape the legs closed and I can slap a sticker on the ladder and ship it as-is. But, just for piece of mind, I asked if I could tape cardboard to the top and bottom of the ladder, as well as around the hinge and wheels. *Shipping Expert* agrees to the plan, but reminds me that neither he or the other four idle *shipping experts* in the store can have any part of actually packing the ladder. Perturbed, I asked for a 24 inch cube box, as well as the use of a tape gun and a box cutter.

The theater I work with operates by the mantra, "Make it happen." I kept this in mind as I embarked on my first challenge as a gumshoe *shipping expert*. (Photo by *Shipping Expert*)

So, right there in the middle of the FedEx sales floor, I plopped my ladder down and began arts and crafts time, cutting the cardboard around the irregularly shaped ladder, struggling to get all the pieces to line up as four *shipping experts* stood by and watched between helping customers purchase spindles of CD's and ship tiny envelopes.

Fifteen minutes and two rolls of tape later, I'd successfully encased the entire ladder (except for the sides) in tape and cardboard, and was comfortable with it making the transcontinental journey in this fashion. I took the ladder to the sales counter, and was blind sided yet again. *Shipping Expert* says that HIS *shipping expert* says that I need to put cardboard on the sides as well (after, mind you, I've encased THE ENTIRE LADDER in tape, as well as after we'd agreed the cardboard wasn't necessary in the first place.)

My East Chicago attitude, which I try and suppress, began to bleed through with the mounting frustration. "Why didn't you tell me this before I wrapped the thing in tape?" I asked. *Shipping Expert* stares back blankly. "Boy I sure wish your 'shipping expert' was here helping me with this!," I replied, a bit more annoyed. *Shipping Expert* shrugs his shoulders and continues staring back, eyes glazed over. I cave. "Alright, give me another box."

More cutting. More taping. More mess.

With fifteen more minutes gone along with lots more custom cutting, I made side panels for my "box" and re-encased the entire rig in tape again, using half of another FedEx tape gun in the process. Passers by and other customers, by now, curiously looked at me sprawled out on the floor like I was performing as part of some modern art exhibit.

I held my breath and took my Frankenbox up to the counter again. *Shipping Expert* dude was now gone, and semi-attractive female *Shipping Expert* took over, laughing when I asked if the store was going to hire me due to my demonstration of expert packing skills. Perhaps this joke, along with my ordeal, sparked some sympathy within her, as *Shipping Expert* 2 didn't charge me for the ten dollars worth of boxes I tore through.

Guy Rhodes Productions: Lighting Design. Photography. Video Production. Custom Packing.

The good news? In the end, the shipping cost to East Chicago for the ladder was $76.40. This, coupled with the price I got on the ladder, meant that I still walked away with an AWESOME deal that I wouldn't have got on this ladder anywhere else. Was it worth all the trouble? Sure. After all, I can now add *shipping expert* to my resume!

Talladega Amp Energy 500

Today, back at home in the gloomy, chilly autumn Chicago weather, I wish it was last Sunday and my last day shooting NASCAR in Talladega, Alabama, and what felt like summer all over again. The weather was in the lower 80's for the biggest race of the weekend, the Amp Energy 500 of the Sprint Cup Series. After arriving at the track, I threw on my sunscreen right away. Studies have shown that, in those hot and sunny conditions, the skin on us "Yankees" burns in short order.

I also made sure I had a bottle of water in one of my Think Tank belt pouches, because at Talladega, you'll need to re-hydrate frequently while walking more than a mile between some shooting positions. I've never been a fan of the big floppy hats some shooters wear in the heat to keep the sun off one's head, it's not like we're trudging though the Sahara, guys! I don't even wear hats in the winter here in Chicago, outdoors on film shoots at night for hours in temperatures hovering around 10° Fahrenheit. I guess some people are just more thick-skinned than others. At Talladega, between the water and the sunscreen, I was all set for a full day of shooting.

Lots of water? Check. Big floppy hat? No check.

After shooting some more stick camera stuff of fans out on pit road and some stuff in the garage area, I headed to the backstretch and my first shooting position up in the photo tower coming out of turn two. Despite the tower being slightly crowded with up to six other photographers, we all choreographed our stances before the race began (such as who was going to stand, who was going to sit, and where, to make sure we all had a clean view of the track). After shooting the F15 fly-by at the top of the race (featured at the top of this entry), it was all about the race action, and from here, I'll let the photos and captions tell you about the rest of the day:

(Stay tuned to the blog in the next few days for a video recap of my trip to Talladega!)

Race fans walk down pit road prior to the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Shot on the stick cam.

Employees of Goodyear Tires stand near stacks of tires prior to the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This was shot with the stick cam in passing without much thought, I just thought the graphic patterns of the tires from above looked cool along with the guys on the left hanging out. With three crashes in the race Sunday caused solely by blown Goodyear tires, this photo now has more significance in the overall take.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers move into turn two during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Reutimann (44) goes sideways on the backstretch after blowing a tire during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. You can see a fragment of his tire near the bottom of the frame.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Skinner (84) heads to the pits after crashing during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Skinner was involved in a crash on the track from another driver blowing a tire and losing control.

So much tire carnage! Another view of the piece of tire from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Wallace (33) flying up over the field at the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers move into turn two during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) crashes into the wall in turn 2 after blowing a tire during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) is helped onto a stretcher after blowing a tire and crashing during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. This is one of the few times in the two NASCAR races I've shot so far where I've been able to incorporate some human emotion into my images during the race itself.

The pit crew of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Brian Vickers (83) works during a pit stop during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Racepad, bro... racepad. Fans wait during a red flag during the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart (20) celebrates near pit road after winning the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Average NASCAR Day, Is It Possible?

Even though blogs don't matter and are a waste of time (that's been our running joke of the day down here), I'm gonna share a few images anyway from what turned out to be a pretty uneventful day three down here at Talladega. We started off Saturday shooting qualifying for the big race on Sunday. For you non race fans, qualifying is where each car drives around the track three times (one warm up lap and two timed laps), and their fastest lap time determines their starting position in the race. Qualifying is a good time to get stock photos of each car (what I worked on), and headshots of drivers (what Mark worked on).

Sprint Cup Series driver Terry Labonte (45) during qualifying for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. I was surprised that, from my last NASCAR race, the photos I had published in print were ones just like the one above. I realized that these otherwise boring photos have a demand, and this time, I was glad to shoot more.

Sprint Cup Series driver Mike Wallace (33) during qualifying for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The tunnels in this photo are how fans and workers access the infield of the racetrack. I sat here for around twenty minutes waiting to time a race car going by above with someone coming out of the tunnel below. This isn't quite what I had in mind, but it'll suffice for now. It would be much stronger with a track full of race cars.

Craftsman Truck Series drivers race three wide through turn two during the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

After qualifying, we headed to our positions to shoot today's race, the Mountain Dew 250 of the Craftsman Truck Series. Geesh, can I have any more corporate plugs in this paragraph I'm typing on my Apple Macbook Pro? The truck race was quite uneventful, save a few spin outs and fender-benders. It was pretty exciting, however, to see these guys inches apart from each other three lanes wide rushing by at nearly 180 mph! Despite this, I can't say that I wasn't a little disappointed, as I keep getting teased with Youtube videos of "the big ones," crashes from past races at this very track featuring cars sailing over each other and into fences. Granted I don't wish harm upon these guys, but you've gotta admit crashes are kinda cool.

Craftsman Truck Series driver Jack Sprague (2) opens his window net after crashing during the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. This is the closest I got to getting any crash action, as this damage occurred on the opposite side of the track.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine (30) leads the field to win the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine (30) holds the checkered flag after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Crew members of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine celebrate in victory lane after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

I shot the majority of the race from the backstretch in a photo tower with a bunch of other photographers who I've never met, all of which were very welcoming and fun to be around. With about 20 laps to go, I hustled on foot for nearly a mile from the backstretch to pit road (where the cars come in for pit stops) to shoot the remainder of the race, the finish, as well as the cookie-cutter shots to be had at victory lane. Sorry this blog is lamer than Zane's, but most of today was all the sames!!! That rhymed! But really, today was an average NASCAR day if there is such a thing. Hopefully tomorrow will provide me with "the big one," and I don't mean the culminating disappointment of eating at another Chili's-esque restaurant (Friday's, Applebee's, etc.) again!

Craftsman Truck Series driver Todd Bodine celebrates in victory lane after winning the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Talladega Afternoons

Even though the latest Sportsshooter newsletter says blogs are a waste of time and don't matter, there's one key positive reason that was left out of that article that keeps me going with my blog. Posting these entries is a great way for me to keep in touch with family and friends when I'm on the road shooting or stuck in a theater for weeks working on a light rig. The images featured here give people a visual reference for stories I may have shared from my experiences at work. And, in case you're wondering, this fairly new blog that doesn't matter has already resulted in contacts to me for work.

With that out of the way, I'd like to share some images from my first two days at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, where I'm shooting my second NASCAR race this weekend with Mark J. "Death Wobble" Rebilas. Talladega is a slightly larger track than my first NASCAR experience in Daytona, Florida, but the atmosphere is quite a bit different. Daytona seems more corporate and polished, whereas Talladega is more rough-n-tumble, like the true fans' place to watch this sport.

The sun sets behind the grandstands during qualifying for the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. In case you're wondering why the banner sunset image at the top of my blog looks so different from this one, it's because that one was shot through a purple-tinted window in the media center.

We arrived Thursday evening in time to shoot the last of the qualifying for the Remax 250. I gambled with a few artsy shots, one that got me trash-talked about, but oh well. I like to try different things and get different views of a sport that's been shot thousands of times from the same angle - so sue me! We ended the day by taking a little tour of the track and shooting car haulers arriving for the big race on Sunday.

Driver Tim Mitchell during qualifying for the Remax 250.

The car hauler for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Sam Hornish Jr. enters the track at Talladega Superspeedway in preparations for the Amp Energy 500.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Crew members of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards (99) work in the garage area during practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Today (Friday) we shot practice for the Amp Energy 500 (main event race which will be held on Sunday). I shot with every other photographer and they mamma for a few minutes in the garage area as the teams worked on their cars between practice laps, mainly just because I'd never been in the garage area before and wanted to see what it was all about. I quickly grew tired of seeing the same thing through my viewfinder that I've seen in countless NASCAR photos, so I decided to keep with my "trying different things" theme and switched things up.

Crew members of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton (31) push his car past teammate Clint Bowyer (07) on the way to the garage area during practice for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

I mounted one of my Mark II's with a 15mm fisheye lens on a ball head atop my monopod, hooked up a Pocketwizard to trigger the camera, and launched what I referred to as the "stick cam." The stick cam allowed me to shoot the goings on in the garage angle from an elevated perspective. The angle was not so elevated to look odd, but was just high enough to give the photos a different view. The stick cam also allowed me to see the numbers on the tops of the cars, something I couldn't see in photos shot at ground level.

Me rocking the stick cam above Dale Earnhardt Junior's damaged car. (Photo by Mark J. Rebilas)

The view from up top.

The stick cam payoff came during the second round of practice after driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew a tire and crashed with other drivers in turn four. I was in the media room editing at the time, but I quickly grabbed the stick cam and rushed back out to the garage area to shoot Earnhardt's wrecked car being towed in off the track. When his car arrived, it was surrounded by race officials, team members, other media members, and curious gawkers. Having the stick cam allowed me to get over everyone who would have otherwise been in my way, and get a shot that was, again, unique to other views of the situation. One of these images ran in USA Today's Day In Sports online. People gave me crap for the pole camera, as with my artsy shots on day one, but taking a gamble and trying a unique perspective worked out.

My stick camera image that ran on USATODAY.com.

The pace car leads ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers through the tri-oval during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

After shooting the wrecked cars, we quickly regrouped and headed to our spots on the track for the evening race, the Remax 250. I planned on shooting the race between turns one and two, and on the way to my position (hiking nearly a mile from the media center through the campgrounds in the infield to reach this area), a major crash unfolded before my eyes (around 150 yards away). I couldn't believe that I was witnessing a crash with almost ten cars involved with my EYES instead of through a camera! I quickly grabbed my 400 off my shoulder and managed to get the tail end of the calamity.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Bobby Gerhart (5) goes high to avoid a crash including drivers Bryan Silas (11) and Alli Owens (12) during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Scott Speed (2) during the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Justin Allgaier holds the trophy in victory lane after winning the Remax 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

There were a few more crashes during the race, including a car that went vertical on its front bumper before coming back down on its wheels, but these incidents were all out of my view. After shooting the cookie-cutter victory lane shots, filing images in the media room, and trying to decipher a conversation going on in French a few workspaces down, Mark and I headed to Outback Steakhouse (I veto'ed a second day in a row at Chili's) for a dinner fit for anyone from Toronto, Wiscaansin, or Aspen (don't ask).

Lake Surf Season Has Arrived

When brisk autumn winds howl out of the northwest, green tubular white-capped waves peel onto the shores of Lake Michigan. Dark gray lake effect clouds roll over Lake Michigan and surrounding neighborhoods, calling an athletic and hearty group to action. Wet suits, boards, and kites are loaded atop cars and S.U.V.'s, and for many, a sick day is called into the boss at work. For Chicagoland surfers, these unique conditions mark the start of another season of surfing on Lake Michigan, a season that will stretch well into the winter, and will end only when pancake ice drifts ashore and puts the waves to rest.

I started shooting lake surf in 2004 by accident. One morning, while out with my camera gear looking for wild art, I decided to take a drive to the lake front. As I rounded the bend on a road that encircles a park I frequent, I noticed two surfers out on their boards in the water, something that I'd never seen there before. I shot the action that day for a few hours and made some new friends while I was at it. Ever since then, whenever conditions are right, I head to the lake with my long glass, wind breaker, and gloves, to photograph a sport that always seems to offer up unique moments and, usually, frequently changing lighting conditions that make things interesting. Some of the surfers I've shot over the years will even call or email me to give me a heads up when things are really "pumping."

Kite surfers enjoy a typical fall day on the Lake Michigan shore.

While heading to one of my favorite spots this afternoon, I was surprised to see the sky dotted with colorful kites as I approached the parking lot. Around eight kite surfers were out enjoying the waves. Since I've never shot kite surfing before, I was especially excited to get down to the beach and focus my lens on something new. Unfortunately, most of the guys were wrapping up their session as I arrived, but I did sneak in a few OK shots of the few kite surfers that stuck around a bit longer. Kite surfing is definitely something I want to revisit a few times this season, but for now, here's a few of my favorites:

Kites line the beach as surfers take a break from the action.

As another session got underway, kites dotted the sky above me. While these look small, many of the kites measure around ten feet across, and are quite large when at ground level.

One thing I really love about shooting surfers on Lake Michigan is the industrial background Northwest Indiana presents, quite a departure from the bright blue skies and palm trees usually seen in surf photography.

This seagull scared me to death! I knelt down in the sand to shoot with my 400, and I looked down to see this guy posted up less than three feet from me! It slowly turned its head and stared at me, not moving an inch. I quickly backed up and shot a few frames of it from afar. I think something was wrong with it, its movements were very subdued and it didn't seem alarmed by my presence. Either that, or it was just chillin'!

One thing I really liked about kite surfing was the frequent air the riders get as they hit the waves. Too bad this guy has his back to me. Oh well, like I said, I want to shoot more of this, today was just an intro.

A pretty light pocket hit a light house just before the sun dipped below the horizon.

Finally, an artistic shot of the beach with the Sears Tower in the far distance.