12 DEC 09 - RAGSDALE'S BACK! - I have witnessed the results of 6 Army/Navy games as a cadet (I'm a prepster December Graduate). We haven't won one of them. As a matter of fact, after this game, I believe Army has gone win-less in the series for nine straight games. Six times I've endured freezing cold weather (except one year...it actually broke 45 degrees I think); six times I've had to wake up at an unholy hour in order to wait 5 hours in a parking lot to be herded around like cattle; six times I've seen us get beaten, all of them by no narrow margin. All that is to say, that it's been pretty hard for me to "get up for the game" year in and year out. I'll admit it, when it comes to Army football, I might be one of the cynical ones, but can you blame me? SIX GAMES. SIX LOSSES. Could you blame me for not relishing the experience of being embarrassed on national television every year? (then again, I'd better watch what I say, I'm an Ohio State fan, too) And yet...and yet...there are experiences which surround this game that make it an absolutely essential experience for every cadet, maybe not "six-times" essential, but you get my point. So here's a countdown of seven pics that capture part of the essence of Army/Navy or of Army football in general. These are only my interpretations. Don't buy 'em until you've been to one of these yourself (if you go, wear Navy gear, chances are you'll be less embarrassed walking around bar-hopping in Philly after the game). Above is LTC Ragsdale. He does this thing at every game he attends, home or away, where he literally walks around yelling like madman riling to corps of cadets up. You might think I caught him at a uniquely intense moment, but you'd be wrong. He literally wears this exact expression for the entirety of the game. From kick off to canon fire. As a matter of fact, he actually looks a little more tame here than usual now that I mention it...I LOVE THIS GUY. At a game all you'll hear is a sudden cheer rise up from a certain segment of the corps of cadets. You'll look over wonder what could be going on...Box? Beach ball? I didn't hear trumpet guy, so it couldn't be him...And then, like a vision, Ragsdale rises up, quite literally, from the corps, seemingly floating like a warlike apparition. Supported by cadets, he props himself up on objects that would freak a tightrope-walker out all for the sake of pumping us up...and it works! We could be down 40 pts (have been before), but when he pops up, yelling like a friggin' man on fire, disappears, and mystically reappears moments later gloriously above the crowd, It honestly brings a smile to my face, despite how miserable turning back around to witness the BEATING that's typically taking place on the football field might make me....

12 DEC 09 - YES! - I DO NOT condone animal cruelty...EXCEPT in this instance. I don't know how they got it, but it pissed a lot of midshipmen off...and our BTO too. Look at the blood thirsty looks on their faces! Like some gruesome spectacle at the Colosseum. For those of you not Academy savvy, this is the head of the Navy Mascot. Part of the curse of playing Army. no matter WHAT school you are, is that your mascots face the constant threat of being accosted and/ or defaced in some way. I've seen many a mascot go down, but NEVER the Navy mascot, security is usually waaaay too tight, but somehow they got it. Kudos.

12 DEC 09 - LOOK OUT BELOW

12 DEC 09 - WHY PINK? I DON'T KNOW...

12 DEC 09 - BOX! - This one isn't too hard to explain. Stadium crowds will occasionally bounce a ball back and forth and all around during games, mainly during time outs. Cadets typically are stupid about it and bounce the ball down onto the sidelines, getting it popped or taken away. Now what I COULDN'T get a picture of was "BOX!". The corps of cadets, whenever the opportunity presents itself (and it rarely does anymore because our leadership is finally wising up) will do the same thing with a box. The thing is, it's hilarious because of how excited we get over the opportunity to bat a box around. The focus COMPLETELY shifts away from the game to the box, like puppies waiting for a toy or treat. I believe the balloon is in "blow up" phase here, hence the lack of excitement surrounding BALL.

12 DEC 09 - YOU'D NEVER KNOW WE WERE AT A FOOTBALL GAME WOULD YOU? - I can't recall exactly, but this picture had to have been taken while we were down in the second half. I feel his pain. This is normally what I feel like doing during our games. Look, I'm not trying to be mean here, I know our boys work hard and I'm not trying to undermine that work or disparage them for lack of effort. It just is what it is. And if you were a student at this school, forced to go and watch every Army/Navy showdown when the result is always the same, you might look a lot like this guy. Cheering? I've done that, it didn't help, and I'm guessing this poor lil fella has tried it a time or too as well, to no avail. Here, his time is put to good use sleeping off the hangover he no doubt acquired from the RV ride down to the game the night before. Rest up, man. You'll need your energy for round two AFTER the game tonight.

12 DEC 09 - THE LAST LAUGH - This picture. I RAN across the field (pre-game) to get this picture. This image is hilarious, and is descriptive of the bitingly jocular relationship West Point shares with its sister academy (and Navy is a sister). The smiling cadet (centered) holding and pointing to a publication is displaying the recent issue of Forbes Magazine which ranks West Point as the #1 public college in the nation. The midshipmen marching...scratch that...the midshipmen casually strolling by underneath in a loose collection of bodies that only the Naval Academy would call a formation, have no response. Not by order, but what could they say? Army beat 'em out! Fair and square. So take your football game, and your bowl game. I'm with the tool in the glasses. Sure, he may still be wearing transition lenses, and no one's worn those since, like, 1996, but the magazine says it all, "We did beat you in something, and it's something that actually counts." This is a picture of "who's laughing now." If you could capture such a moment in time, for me, this is what it would look like. This picture epitomizes the last laugh.

09 DEC 2009 - SAVE THE DATE (!) - I can't even begin to tell you just how much this made my day. This is a couple I did a shoot for not too long ago. These two were the subjects of my first engagement photos and I was very nervous but excited to take on the task. It went great, they're a beautiful couple and great people, so the shoot was easy. They made the pressure I was feeling melt away before we even got on location. Seeing the picture again isn't what made my day though. What made my day was seeing this picture specifically as it is used here, fulfilling it purpose as a means for the couple and their friends and family to remember this time in their lives together, and as a gift to their loved ones who want nothing more than to share in the occasion of their wedding. I took the picture, but I didn't add the text. They had another friend take care of that and I'd assume take care of helping them print these out too. Shy of being able to hold the final mailing product in my hands, nothing could make me more proud. It's not that I think I did phenomenal work or anything like that. I just the fact that I've just witnessed a picture I took take a life of it's own in a capacity I hadn't even imagined. This picture has become an instrument now, a memento. And mementos are SPECIAL to me! I love taking and collecting mementos. I guess that's part of the reason I love photography so much. I'm what some might call a pack rat in many ways. Whenever I go on a trip, or say, to some special event, I'm the guy you'll see at the wedding searching the tables of my best friend's wedding reception long after everyone's gone home so I can find a clean copy of the program to mark the occasion. I'm the guy who'd have a box full of sand under his bed right now if I could've made it through customs with it on my way back from Hawaii. Mementos have the ability to instantly transport you back to another place and time, and if you took a memento for that special time, chances are it was probably a really positive event, a memory that you'll most likely relish revisiting over and over and over again in the future. Maybe, just maybe, this "save the date" mailing could be just that for someone out there. A memento for a mom, dad, aunt, or friend who puts it in their box of memories to pull out years down the line to transport themselves back to what I'm sure will be a beautiful wedding. Maybe , for this couple even, they'll pull it out on a bad day when they're in need of a pick-me-up, and it might brings a smile to their faces, making that gloomy day just a little brighter. I could ask for nothing more....

06 DEC 09 - THE BIG DAY APPROACHES - So the obvious security issues of both my address and the address of a loved one being displayed publicly aside, this picture oozes excitement for me. OOZES!!! I know it's probably one of my less interesting pictures for you, but this is MY photoblog, OK? So indulge me. This is a graduation invitation. I am LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OUT!!! It feels scary to say. As if the floor could drop away from beneath my feet if I think about or mention it any more. I can't help but get some sneaking suspicion, (maybe some messed up foreshadowing...did I seriously just jinx myself like that?) that something horribly wrong is going to go transpire in the next week that is going to prevent me from graduating on time...AGAIN. Someone refresh my literary skills here: in order for poetic justice to occur, I had to have done something deserving right? Something that would merit the irony of being trapped in this academic prison for over half a decade...am I right? This is a picture of anticipation, of a new step just around the corner. What that next step is, I don't have the foggiest yet, but the winds of change seem to finally be blowing again, and it's about friggin' time! SO ignore the fact that I'm taking photos of this grad invite a week out from my graduation instead of rush-super-dee-duper-next-day-air-over-nighting them to the waiting recipient that probably was expecting it 3 weeks ago (sorry Aunite Lara & Uncle Mike). And forget about my horrible penmanship for a minute would ya? Think of what this symbolizes for me...put yourself in my shoes and just think of how long I've waited for THIS day to be THIS close, so close I can taste it. Think of how long I've waited to have to privilege of having to mail this off. Man, I really am setting myself for some sorta wicked let down here aren't I? [clears throat] "CDT JEMIBEWON - The Department of Academics regretfully informs you that upon reviewing your academic records, you indeed needed to take 1 more social science course to graduate with a Bachelor of science in International relations, but not the one you took this semester, it actually doesn't count, actually, we don't even know how it made it into the Redbook, The person teaching it was apprehended yesterday by authorities and identified himself as one 'Anita Beer'. Needless to say, that class does not count and you WILL be spending the remainder of the decade here at the Academy. Nice try, but you're ours. Sincerely, A BUNCH OF OLD, HEARTLESS BASTARDS." NOW...cue your poetic justice.

26 NOV 09 - THANKSGIVING