Manchester United Premier Cup 2009

I know it has been awhile since I last posted here, but I have been buried in Photoshop work after covering the 2009 Manchester United Premier Cup World Finals in Manchester, UK. Seven days of shooting, that started on August 2nd, almost 15,000 clicks of the camera, and almost 800 final images. This was an under fifteen soccer event that comprised of twenty of some of the best U-15 teams from around the world. The final game gets played at Old Trafford, which is the legendary home pitch of Manchester United. If you want to see more of my work, and read more about the tournament, here is a link:

http://www.manchesterunitedpremiercup.com/

What I have posted here are some of my favorite photos, that although they are not great action shots, these are the types of shots that enrich the my soul when I capture them. They are not always the most obvious, but to me they speak volumes about what it might feel like for the participants.

Cheers!

iFly, iWalk, iShoot, iPhone

Greetings from Manchester, UK. First day on the ground after flying in yesterday. Jet lag not too bad, so I have be taking a few leisurely strolls near my hotel and shooting some shots with my iPhone. After experiencing Portland's heat wave last week, I must admit, it is nice to be under cool and cloudy skies, and of course the occasional rain shower. Ah, summer in the UK.

I start working tomorrow, so I am just left with trying to stay awake in the afternoon, and then the reverse problem of trying to get to sleep later in the night. It is kind of an evil yin and yang jet lag experience. So here are some pics from my flight, and from around Manchester. Enjoy!

PDX to SFO. Marshmallows in the sky.

The plane! Getting ready for the ten hour flight from San Francisco to London.

Waiting for Godot? Nope, everyone just looking board while waiting to board.

A United Airlines designer sink. I think you can find these at IKEA.

Heathrow, and on time.

Coming to our gate at Heathrow, Polaroid style.

Finally get to my room to find his sick dude welcoming me to Manchester. Good thing I knew they are having quite the Swine Flu problem here. I brought plenty of hand sanitizer. Take that, sick guy. The guy in the photo actually looks like one of the actors who plays one of the doctors on the TV show "Scrubs." Ironinc!

Nice hotel room lighting chaps.

And of course, I always look forward to the British cuisine.

The side of this dumpster reminded me of the days when I read Mad Magazine in my youth. Looks like one of the "Spy vs. Spy" characters.

The professional way to grip your iPhone.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger!

Oh yeah, I am here to shoot soccer, or football as they say it over here.

Three Wheelin' Crew

I am a lucky guy. I love my job, and most of all, I get to work with some really fun and creative people. I was shooting this past week at the Nike Campus in Beaverton. Nike has a child care facility next to the field we where shooting. The facility had a bunch of small red tricycles just outside the door, and since I am a photo opportunist, I asked some of the crew to get on one of the bikes for a few quick grab shots. Fun way to end a fun day.

Chris, Art Director.

Matt O'Brien, Assistant.

Jeff "Tank" Smith, Assistant

Me.

Leah Rocks

All that I really want to say on this day is that I love being a dad. Leah, you rock my world!

iPhone, iShoot, iPost

Having a great time in Australia with the in-laws. We took Leah to the Melbourne Aquarium yesterday and had a wonderful time. I really had fun taking pictures of the penguins with both my iPhone and my new Canon G10 camera. I actually loved the iPhone shots better. Here is one of my favorites from the iPhone. Today we go wine tasting to an area about an hour out of the city. Looking forward to seeing some of the countryside and tasting some good Aussie wine.

Road Trip

A beautiful scene on I-90 in eastern Washington.

Oh how I miss a good road trip in the car. After four days of shooting hundreds of shoes, bags, balls and apparel in a makeshift studio at Nike, while the rest of Portland was basking in a blast of warm sunny days, I got in my pickup truck on Monday evening and started my road trip to Montana for work. My first shoot was in Seattle on Tuesday morning. Now after a spending the night in a cheap hotel in Idaho, I am heading towards my old stopping grounds in Montana for another shoot. Here are some shots from along the long, winding, and often too straight roads. All the of the shots were done with my iPhone and then processed with an iPhone application called Camera Bag. No Photoshop used here.

Ah, just in time! I-90, eastern Washington.

Morning art outside my cheap hotel in Tacoma, WA.

Afternoon coffee stop at Snoqualmie Pass, WA, right off I-90.

Driving I-5 north of Portland in Washington. The day started out warm and sunny. Go figure!

Seattle has a lot of overpasses.

And a lot of tunnels.


Driving towards Snoqualmie Pass, WA on I-90. Brrrrrrr!


Getting the call for fast food.


Nice to have a good neighbor along for the ride.

Big Red Car

I don't want to bore people with pictures of my daughter Leah, but I could not resist posting these shots from yesterday's trip to a local community center. They have a kid's play room, well actually it is an auditorium loaded with toy cars, a slide, and other various things to keep kids occupied and parents chasing them around. The more you can get your kid to be active during the day, the better they sleep, and so shall you. Leah is a big fan of The Wiggles, which are a group of four blokes from Australia in different colored shirts singing silly songs. They have this goofy "Big Red Car" that they drive around Sydney and sing songs about it. So Leah was really excited when she found the "Toot, Toot, Chugga, Chugga, Big Red Car." Here is a link to the song that my wife Susan and I have heard over hundred times now, and we sometimes wake up in the morning with it playing in our heads. Ah, the joys of parenthood.

The Wiggles Big Red Car

Leah practicing driving the family turbo charged Subaru. I am glad sixteen is a few years away.