Power(less) Lunch?

A few weeks ago I dropped by my favorite sushi place, Godai Sushi, for lunch and since everyone was sitting outside I figured something interesting was going on.  More frustrating than interesting it turned out as they had lost power.

San Antonio CPS responded and after three fuses and a new transformer Goro was back in business around 2PM...so much for the lunch rush.  While a lunch without power would stress most restaurant owners Goro knows how to go with the flow.  Me?  I ended up with a nice picture story...and a tuna fish sandwich back at work.

Leon Springs Traffic & Pizza?

A couple of weeks ago an optimistic driver towing a huge propeller blade, soon to be attached to a West Texas wind farm motor, tried to fit under the Fair Oaks overpass at I-10W. Apparently the load was taller than the driver of the lead car was aware of (you gotta think someone is measuring this stuff, right?) and physics pretty much took over. End result...overpass closed for a couple of months and all traffic to Boerne Stage now essentially travels through downtown Leon Springs.

Well, I regularly eat pizza at a little place called Fralo's (in preparation for the Leon Springs sumo competition). Fralo's is located right after the west bound exit to Leon Springs, so we pass the time admiring the long line of cars sitting in the 100F Texas weather waiting for the infamous two-light/two intersection shuffle to get to the other side of I-10.

Now most Fralo regulars know Frank Hakspiel, co-owner of Fralo's with wife Lori, is the original entrepreneur, but when we saw him send one of his employees, George Garcia, out to provide water to hot drivers we knew it was going to get a bit more interesting. In a grand effort to share the limelight, and upstage George, Frank walked out and started handing out watermelon cups!

I figured if they had survived this long in traffic, it was up to me to document the event for posterity. James Nachtwey I'm not, but it was fun.

Inks Lake on the 4th

Went up to Inks Lake for the 4th with some friends, just us and the usual horde.

Each night at dusk we had a Mockingbird go ballistic when four Eastern Screech Owls came cruising through our area, apparently there was a turf war going on that we were unaware of.

I also had a great time shooting all the folks jumping off the cliffs at Devil's Waterhole.

Kart Racing

With the sun setting later and late afternoon light improving I made time to get back out to the Hill Country Kart Club and shoot some great racing and pit action. If you've never been out there, you need to make time. Racing has everything from kids that look like they are too young to ride a bike to adults doing 60+mph down the straight. Location Info

BMX Racing

With baseball winding down I spent a couple of weekends shooting BMX racing at Lone Star BMX.  While I have a long history with bicycles, starting as a mechanic in and out of college, this was my first time to shoot a BMX competition and it was great, particularly since the bikes are easier to dodge than karts.

Spring Baseball Recap

Just to get caught up a bit I want to share some of my photo activities from this spring. I've been shooting Smithson Valley varsity baseball for a couple of years, but with my nephew, Dakota Mawyer, graduating and moving on to a football scholarship at Incarnate Word University and my ties to Boerne growing I started committing more time to shooting Boerne High School sports.  When Smithson Valley went down early in the 5A playoffs and Boerne moved on I found myself with more time to shoot some of their games on spec (that's photographer speak for "I hope someone buys some of these photos"). And was I rewarded with some great action.  The 4A playoff game against New Braunfels Canyon resulted in everything from a bench-clearing brawl to a long-shot grand slam to win the game.

Last, but hardly least, I was accepted by MaxPreps to shoot high school sports.  MaxPreps is a CBS Sports partner that provides complete team coverage for varsity sports across the US. With Texas high school participation on the rise I'm excited to be part of their growth.