Arkansas Razorback football

It has been a really long time since I've updated my blog and I truly apologize for that, especially to those who actually look at my blog. But my life has been turned upside down since I left for Beijing, China, on Sept. 11, 2009, with my wife Linda and returned home on Sept. 24, 2009, with our daughter, Mary Elisabeth. But things are good. If you want to see some stuff from our trip to China, take a look at our blog at: www.fortheloveofemmy.blogspot.com

On Saturday, I shot the Arkansas-Mississippi State football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark. It was the first time I've shot a college football game for the newspaper on deadline. It was a lot of fun. It was a big time rush to be able to get my work done and have it appear in our daily newspaper in Fort Smith.

I shot the game with my Canon EOS 40D, 70-200 2.8L and a 1.4 extender. One of these days, I'd love to have a 300 2.8L but since I know have a daughter, that might not happen :( Oh well.

Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think

Updates

As you all may know, I've been extremely busy getting ready for the football season while trying to get ready for a trip to China. If I have some time this weekend, I'll post some pic from the first week of the football season. I had some good shots from scrimmage games last week and had some good stuff from the Cabot-Jacksonville game on Tuesday.

I've got the "Battle of Cabot" on Thursday and Lonoke's season opener with Joe T. Robinson on Friday. This will be the first game without Coach Steelman, who died last May. It will be so different without him on the sidelines, giving me a hard time about everything but I loved that man. He is responsible for me getting married to my wonderful bride and ultimately for me getting a chance to go to China and bring home Mary Elisabeth.

So, for those of you who actually check out my blog, please forgive me. I've had a lot going lately. And if you want to check out the progress of the adoption, check out our family blog at www.fortheloveofemmy.blogspot.com

Mark

We'll be heading to China!!!

These are pictures of my "new" baby Mary Elisabeth.

We got a call from America World Adoption today and we received our referral acceptance...which means we will be going to China in the middle of September to get Mary Elisabeth!!!

We found out on June 5 that we had been matched up with a little girl named An Qingshu. Her nickname is Yin Ping in the orphanage. The following is an email that we sent out to people back in June.

Linda wrote this email earlier this week! Her mom is feeling better now!

"Today we received a message from America World referring to our position with the adoption. The Chinese Government has pre-approved our adoption. This means that we are closer to referral approval. Referral approval is the final step before travel authorization. Once we reach the RA stage, we can send care packages, etc. to our Mary Elisabeth. The time line for the next step is that we can receive our RA anywhere from 1 month to 3 months from our request to adopt (June 5). Of course this time line is not engraved in stone, but it is definitely cause to praise"

As you can see, it will be a wild time for the next month and a half. Please say a prayer for us. We've got a lot left to do in a short amount of time.

Mark and Linda

All-Star Week

For the eighth consecutive year, I was able to attend the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Games in Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas. All games were played in the best facilities in the Southeastern Conference, except for football, which was played at Bentonville, which is the best high school stadium in the state and possibly the second or third best overall in the state behind Razorback Stadium and War Memorial Stadium. I've mainly include photos of the players I cover on a regular basis from Cabot, Lonoke and Carlisle. All were taken with my 40D and 70-200 2.8. Some were taken with a 1.4 TC or 2.0 TC.

Accidental catch in centerfield

Cabot Centennial Bank centerfielder Zach Uhiren caught a fly ball during Class A American Legion baseball action on Friday night at the Brian Wade Conrade Memorial Field.
But it wasn't a typical catch.


Zach sees the ball coming toward him.


Zach is battling the sun.

He turns his head from the ball.

As you can see, the ball is coming toward him and he sticks his glove out but he's not sure where the ball is.

He somehow catches the ball.

The ball almost pops out of his glove.

He manages to hang on.

And after a few more shots, including the umpire getting in my way, Zach shows his surprise.
Even the umpire and the Conway coach asked me if I got the photo and I was proud to say that I had.
Normally, I like to run faces but if I had his face the entire time, I wouldn't have gotten the shot in this way. I'll probably run a series of shots in this week's Star-Herald.
All photos were shot with a Canon EOS 40D DSLR, 70-200 2.8L lens with a 1.4 Series I extender. I'd love to shoot with a 300 but this setup still does pretty well.
thanks for looking
Mark

Morgan and Timothy Engagement

On Sunday, May 31, I shot engagement portraits for Morgan and Timothy. We started at the Terry House, where their wedding will take place but the grounds were locked, so we went to the Arkansas Arts Center and made some good portraits there, despite all the bright sunlight.

After shooting there, we went to the River Market District and the Riverfront Ampitheatre and shot some really good stuff.

I had a lot of fun and think the photos turned out great. I've known Morgan for 10 years as she is the daughter of my wife's best friend when she was growing up. Morgan is also my niece's first cousin so I felt like they trusted me. I look forward to shooting the wedding on Aug. 1