from then to now

so, last i posted, i was gearing up for the annual Miss Monroe County Pageant - this one an even bigger event by virtue of its 50th anniversary stature....which meant, the event was also longer as they brought back 30-some past queens for a special program during the pageant, and there were twice as many contestants this year as last....since i was under the impression that there would be a pre-pageant meet-n-greet with the past queens which was to go with a sidebar, i had been planning to get there early...only, when i checked in at the paper, the reporter had no knowledge of this sidebar nor covering this pre-event event, and i never had a time other than "before the pageant starts"....so, i wasn't sure what to do, but figured i'd go early, just not as early, anyway...turns out that 'before the pageant starts' meant about 4 hours before the start, so i totally missed it, but i still felt i needed to get the past queens special portion of the night; i wasn't sure how things would work out time-wise, so since i was there for the duration, may as well shoot every contestant in every event...so, nearly 4 hours, 13 bikinis, evening gowns, talent and platform questions later, there was a new Miss Monroe....shoot, shoot, shoot, speedy edit, submit, then edit and post all of that for a foto gallery

before the pageant, though, there were a couple other assignments in the a.m. - a rehab crew with habitat for humanity finishing work on a home....

then the annual fire/police picnic in the park for kids...they usually open up a fire hose for the kids to play in, which is where the best pix are, but they didn't do it this year, so i was resigned to kids sitting in a police car or fire truck...a little tough, but finally they let kids in to check out the swat vehicle, which at least gave me this

the next night, i shot a cricket tournament for patch...never even seen this game before, and now that i have i still don't totally understand it, but i did the best i could

later in the week, there was a portrait, then a smoke stack at a closed concrete plant in Dundee being imploded - took all of about 3 seconds

and then, football friday....shot a fundraiser at the Moose Lodge before that...but it wasn't really going yet - 'come back at 7, it'll be really going by then,' the ladies auxiliary women said....only that's kick-off, so i tried to get a moment of them talking with a local soldier - not really worth posting, needless to say, but okay for what it was...

anyhoo....football

saturday, only thing on the agenda was the Rib-off contest in the morning/early afternoon

then back out at night for the tail end of one of the bands and the first few songs of the main act - Grand Funk Railroad....really big crowd, too many very drunk guys - had to get the band and a crowd shot....logistical problem - they went on at 9:30 (assuming they start on time), and the desk wanted pix on the page at 10....so, i have about 10 minutes, 15 tops, to shoot...then high-tail it back, do a super fast edit, tone the page 1 pix, then head home

and another week bites the dust