Beautiful Days

Sure it's still kind of chilly at night, but you know Spring is here when paddlers and rowers begin to take to the rivers.

Keegan Fuller, of Gibsonia, was paddling his touring kayak on the Allegheny River near Millvale Riverfront Park last week.



I was loving the specular highlights of the sun reflecting off of the water.

Joe

www.joeappelphotography.com

If you want to live to be old and wise...

...first you have to be young and foolish:-P

I was walking through Frick Park the other day when I came across Max Loewenstein jumping his mountain bike off of the cliffs above Tranquility Trail.



He's a really nice kid who thought nothing of dropping 7 feet off of a cliff on his bicycle.

The light was so crappy that I decided to use a couple of remote flashes to give the photo some texture. I set one flash off camera to the left to illuminate Max and another below the cliff so that it wouldn't be lost in dark shadows.

The result was pretty cool light which, combined with some good timing, made for an interesting picture.

Joe
www.joeappelphotography.com

March Madness

Congratulations to the Robert Morris University men's basketball team on their selection to the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

The atmosphere was very upbeat at the Sewell Center this evening as RMU learned they'll face Michigan State on Friday in the Midwest Region.



After showing what they're capable of in the regular season, I'll be making RMU my Cinderella pick when I do my bracket for the NCAA pool.

Joe
www.joeappelphotography.com

The Fog

Funny weather yesterday here in Pittsburgh. It was warm and a little rainy, but the rivers are still a bit cold which made for some interesting fog on the Ohio River. It was fun shooting these scenes because it was almost like I had the city to myself. The only other living thing I encountered was a very nasty-sounding Rottweiler that was guarding the marina in the shot below:


Joe
www.joeappelphotography.com

Hoops

Duquesne's Melquan Bolding dunks over Rhode Island's Lamonte Ulmer during their Big Ten game at the Palumbo Center last Sunday.



Nothing special to add about the picture except that it's been a long time since I shot a basketball game, so I was a little nervous. This was Duquesne's first basket of the game and I guess my reflexes are still pretty good because the action happened fast and I was able to time it and get the shot in focus, too.

Joe
www.joeappelphotography.com

Fleetwood Mac

Rege Behe reviewed the show for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and noted that since Fleetwood Mac is a staple of classic rock radio it's easy to take their talents for granted. But they kicked off their new tour in style by rocking the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

I agree. The band was terrific, even without Christie McVie.

People who know me know that I have an affinity for music from the late 60's and early 70's, so it came as no surprise to me that Lindsay Buckingham is a monster guitar player. Before they joined Fleetwood Mac he and Stevie had Buckingham Nicks. Great stuff.

Others who were at the show agreed that the experience was evidence that they're still a great band - not a bunch of geezers playing their hits to make the cash back that Bernie Madoff swindled them out of;-)









The only way I could figure out to get Stevie and Lindsay in the same shot was to wait for the big screen monitor to fade between the two. Otherwise they didn't go anywhere near each other:


www.joeappelphotography.com