Tallassee Homecoming 2013

Tallassee High School's Homecoming was last week, and that meant there was a homecoming parade last Friday. I was going to be there in support of the students in my youth group, so I figured I'd take some pictures while I was at it.

I posted the pictures to Facebook in two separate albums, and prints are available for purchase through my SmugMug.com site (it's a trial membership which I may not keep, but I figured it couldn't hurt).

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day:

My camera's for the task were my Nikon D70 with a 170-500mm lens attached for close-ups and an 8MP Sony Cybershot for wider shots. (Yes, I know I'm in need of an update to my personal equipment. It wasn't worth the trip to borrow a couple D90s from Village Photographers. I do have a newer/better point-and-shoot, but I can't find the battery charger for it. I digress.)

I got swarmed by kudzu bugs, and most people assumed I was with the newspaper, but it was a good learning experience. I should have bumped my ISO up another notch and gone with a tighter aperture for a greater depth of field; there are a few pics where the float rolled quick enough to bring part of the subject(s) out of focus. That's just part of the trick to using a long lens on approaching subjects, I guess. A headband would have also been nice too keep the sunscreen and sweat from running into my eyes. A sign reading "Smile and Wave!" would also have been helpful.

Good times. I'm looking forward to the Christmas Parade already. Tallassee, AL is a fun little town to take pictures in.

Tallassee High School Spring Show 2013

For the last three years, I've been missing the real Spring Show. The last two years, I was fortunate enough to substitute teach on the day they were performing for the 4th graders, but it's not the same. Not this year! I had to drop money off at the school early on a day I was headed out to of town to shoot a graduation and exchange a bunch of text messages with one of my LibertyYouth, but I would not be denied.

The young men and women of Tallassee High School's various choirs put on a great show. Choir Director Mr. Cunningham put together a wide range of songs--serious and silly--pulling from current radio, Broadway, YouTube viral videos, and classic hits. They even sang my Thompson High School class song from 1999, "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan. And let's not even go into how many costume changes they rolled through. Wow, just wow.

I took my 170-500mm lens and my regular 18-70mm lens with my Nikon D70. This was a great learning/reminding experience. The harsh realities of setting my shutter speed to low and shooting without the help of a tripod made me cull a load of shots; camera shake can't be helped in Adobe Lightroom. One of these days, I'll be able to upgrade to a camera that can really get the job done in lower light. But the short-comings of my equipment aside, I still got a few great shots.

You can find the other reasonably decent shots on my Facebook page.