Why Fight? - A Documentary

Started filming on my largest personal project to date, a feature length documentary following a few young, up and coming professional fighters training out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'll post more information about the project as time goes on, but for now here's a screengrab of Brady "Alphamale" Hovermale from an interview on Thursday afternoon. I'll be traveling to Kokomo, Indiana tomorrow afternoon to film at Colosseum Combat XXI, where Brady, along with teammates Evan "The Matrix" DeLong and Casey "The Gorilla" Craft will also have fights. I'll be launching a website for the documentary over the summer, but for now I'll post occasional updates on the blog. Screengrab after the jump.

Baseball Details, Day 2

Spent some more time in the dugout today. I could do this every game for a season and still feel like there was more to photograph. If someone were to hire me to spend a season photographing stuff like this, I'd be one happy bearded photographer. On a side note, big congrats to the IPFW Baseball team today, a big win over NDSU after dropping a few games to them earlier this weekend. By the way, I noticed for the first time today that the balls that are used have "Extra Innings Technology"...anyone care to take a stab at what in the world that means? Seems like that would be the kind of technology you wouldn't want in a baseball!

Baseball Details

The baseball season is winding down, and today it was in the form of a bitterly cold and insanely windy day. Today was a doubleheader against North Dakota State University, and so game one was spent shooting the massive amounts of action photos that is a baseball game. Everything runs together at that point. Around inning 2 of game 2, I asked my boss if it was alright to just shoot some detail art for the media guide and stuff like that, which he was fine with. The 5 innings I spent shooting details and personal moments really lit my fire for making photographs again, just felt like everything was with new eyes. So here's some photographs I made this afternoon.

Adventures in Film - Part 5

For part 5 we'll go back to the beginning with some more images from the good 'ol Diana 35mm toy camera! I finally invested in the Lomo DigitaLIZA film holders, any film shooters out there that scan, I'm really digging these film holders. Way easier to load and work with than the ones that came with my Epson scanner. And they don't crop the sprocket holes on 35mm, which is neat (but the 120 holder crops the film information, that was a bummer).  

Adventures in Film - Part 4

Part four of my adventures into film photography is a camera that I find to be nothing short of awesome. I'll digress into a side story for a minute. My grandfather was an avid amateur photographer, and pretty much every photo he's a subject in, he's holding a camera. I'm guessing this mindset was passed on to me. He was an infantryman in Germany during World War 1, and when he came home he brought with him a new camera. An Agfa Billy Record 8.8. An old bellows camera (my old history of photography professor Bill Nichols gave the insight that it was most likely made before 1939, since Germany converted available factories into war material production plants), and this camera is incredible. Bellows are in amazing shape, and it snaps 6x9cm negatives onto rolls of 120 film. We're talking 2-3 times the size of a 35mm negative. The detail out of this camera is remarkable, every roll has been a joy to shoot and process. This is what happens when you forget to advance the film! I still really like this image though.

Rodeo Ruby Love + Fair Fjola @ The Brass Rail - 4/17/12

It's always great to see old friends, and tonight Rodeo Ruby Love kicked off their spring tour with style in Fort Wayne, Indiana at The Brass Rail. Fantastic show as always, those boys rarely disappoint! Zach and Kurt, super great to see you dudes! Best of luck on the rest of your tour! UPDATE - 4/23/12 - Finally got a roll back from the Minolta. Here's a 35mm frame!

IPFW Mens Volleyball vs BSU - 4/7/12

Great night for the IPFW Mens Volleyball team with a big 3-1 over in-state MIVA rival Ball State University. Since I've been at IPFW this was the first time the Mastodons have taken down the Cardinals, so it was definitely a big win for the team. Also, for the first time I've ever seen it, the most awesome patch of light flew right onto the court...and disappeared within a couple minutes, but made this sweet frame before it vanished.

Kombat Zone 33

Shot a big win for IPFW Mens volleyball earlier this evening over in-state rivals Ball State, and after that went out to watch a few of my friends compete from Hollywood MMA at Kombat Zone 33 at Spiece Fieldhouse. Didn't have time to bring/set lights, it was different than what I was used to, but in a way I liked it and made some images I was not only proud of, but images I hadn't made already. Kombat Zone 33 photos are biw available for purchase via my Zenfolio Photo Store!

Sports Recap 3/16-3/30

Hey friends, it's been a minute since I've updated this! The start of baseball and softball season is always hectic, especially when you add in the fact that volleyball and tennis are still in full swing (cheesy pun intended). So here's a few images from the past couple weeks to get everyone up to speed.  

Fort Wayne Komets vs Bloomington Blaze

Headed out with friend and local shooter Swikar Patel to shoot some hockey at the Memorial Coliseum tonight, and the Komets walked away with a big win in overtime! I definitely miss shooting hockey!  

Adventures in Film - Part 3

I'm excited about this one. Growing up I was always so intrigued by one particular camera sitting on the "old cameras" shelf at my house. After some research, I discovered it was made in January of 1953, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash Edition. Super cool camera. I took it back to Fort Wayne with me on my last visit determined to get some frames with it. It was definitely dusty, and I could barely see through the viewfinder to make photographs with. I pushed one roll through exactly as it was (the self portrait is from that roll) just to have an idea what it'd look like after 60+ years (of probably not being cleaned). It technically takes 620 film, but apparently some pre-WWII models can fit a roll  of 120 on the loader side, as long as you still have an original 620 spool for the take up side. So it worked. Getting the film on the reel in the darkroom seemed to be nearly impossible, since the 620 spool is much smaller, it coiled the film rather tightly which made it want to give me headaches when processing it. So after the first roll came back murky and cloudy, before getting roll 2 started I took it apart and gave it a thorough cleaning (and I was amazed that there was no corrosion or rust anywhere on the inside). Roll 2 after cleaning came out beautifully, and it was a really exciting thing to see a camera 60 plus years old still making awesome frames. The first image is from roll 1, pre cleaning, then the rest are from roll 2 after cleaning.

The next two frames were made in Marshall, Michigan, at a really awesome 50's themed restaurant called "Kate's Diner"

This last frame is just the view from the Hollywood MMA parking lot, home of my "Beyond the Cage" project from last fall (and where I'm currently training mixed martial arts!)

Adventures in Film - Part 2

Next camera I was eager to breathe life into is an older Minolta XG-9 that has been in my family for quite some time. I was very eager to get the camera loaded up (with more of that fun/unpredictable Lomo400 film) and make some frames. Very excited with how roll 1 turned out. I've got one more finished roll, and a nearly finished roll that I'll be taking into be processed this week, I'll post more when I get those photos back. Still learning a lot about how this camera wants to act, and focusing can be very meticulous, especially at f/1.7 (yeah, 1.7? strange right?).

Adventures in Film - Part 1

My exploration back into the world of film started (of all places) American Eagle, when I found they had a 50% off clearance of everything, which included a stack of Lomo 400 film and some Diana Mini's (which made them way cheap). So I picked up a camera, a few packages of film, and I was off. I'm currently doing an exploration in film for one of my classes at IPFW. So the Diana got my film fire burning again, here's a couple images from my first two rolls from the Diana, a "lomo" camera. It's pretty hit or miss, it's got four settings for focus, and it's essentially a guessing game. Also can't predict colors, light leaks, and all sorts of neat things. It's in the same vein as the Holga camera, which some may be familiar with. A couple of my images from "Beyond the Cage" were shot on the Holga.  

IPFW Womens Basketball Pink Out vs ORU

Today was the 5th annual IPFW Pink Out, a fundraiser and awareness drive to support the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. Every year it's always incredibly inspiring hearing stories of their fight and hearing how long some of these women have been cancer free (a couple were over 40 years, which is absolutely incredible and insanely inspiring). Fans were encouraged to wear pink, as well as coaches/staff sported pink shoes and socks. Even the officials get in on the action with pink whistles. It was a very physical and hard fought game, with an unfortunate drop to ORU in overtime after some highly debated calls between coaches/refs/fans. Here's a few images from today.

IPFW Mens Volleyball vs Carthage

Just a quick few photos from tonights match!  

IPFW Mens Basketball vs ORU

I can't believe the mens basketball season wrapped up tonight, definitely feels like the whole season blew by. Tonight IPFW took on Oral Roberts University, and it was an outstandingly close game, but sadly IPFW fell in the last few minutes of the game. It's also crazy because the class of athletes that graduates this year is the same people that were freshman when I first came to IPFW, so it's a wild realization how time has passed! To the seniors, it's been fantastic getting to know all of you, and I wish you all the best.

IPFW Mens Volleyball 2/10/12 Weekend

Hey all, i'm a bit behind the curve this weekend, been trying to coordinate some personal projects and stuff like that, but wanted to quickly share a few images from this weekends mens volleyball games against #8 Ohio State and NAIA Cardinal Stritch.

IPFW Mens Volleyball vs #6 Lewis Flyers

Fantastic night for the 'Dons as they pick up a 3-2 win in a very exciting match against #6 Lewis Flyers. Gates was fantastically loud and energetic tonight, hoping for more environments like this throughout the season!

IPFW Mens Basketball vs SDSU

Game 2 of the doubleheader, currently sitting in the Sports Information office waiting for a disc to finish burning then heading home to promptly destroy a turkey sandwich.  

IPFW Womens Basketball vs SDSU

Had a hard fought and ultimately heartbreaking loss to South Dakota State University. Going to be pretty brief tonight, only a few minutes until the mens game!

IPFW Track and Field

Ahh, you've got to love a 3-event Saturday of all-day shooting! Kicked today off in the new Track and Field addition of the Gates Athletics building at IPFW, four teams came to participate in a track and field meet. Detroit, IPFW, Valparaiso and Oakland Universities were represented today, as I got my first solid chance shooting in the new building. It's tricky, but there's a few patches of great light around the track. Here's a few images from earlier today. It's lunch time, then womens basketball kicks off at 4:30, men at 7 against South Dakota State University!

IPFW Mens Basketball vs NDSU

North Dakota State University was in Fort Wayne for a matchup against the 'Dons, and I must say, IPFW came out firing on all cylinders, and it was great being back in the Gates Center. Although the lighting isn't as good as the Coliseum, I just love the energy and loudness of the Gates Center when the student section and band gets all rowdy, it just makes for that awesome, classic feeling NCAA basketball feel. Really excited for Saturdays games back in the Gates Center! Women at 4:30 and Men at 7:30! Student section was electric tonight, seriously awesome.

#OccupyFrosty

Not a ton to say about this one, spotted this little cluster of die-hard protesters outside the Allen County Courthouse downtown Fort Wayne and had to make an image of them!

Zach + Andrea Engagement Session

Headed out for some photos with the awesome couple of Zach and Andrea to shoot some engagement photos, and had a great time doing so! Despite the cold and rain they were champs and I think we made some really awesome images, really looking forward to photographing the wedding later this year guys! Also, a big thanks to Em Kelly for assisting and second shooting today!!

IPFW Mens Volleyball vs George Mason University

Just wanted to get a quick blog post up before I hit the sack tonight, hard fought 5 game match tonight for the IPFW Mastodons against the George Mason Patriots, with a heartbreaking 13-15 loss in the 5th game. The team definitely shows promise, I can't wait to see what the rest of this season will have in store! Tomorrow I've got an engagement shoot with a really awesome couple, so check back in for that soon, but now it is time for rest! Take care, friends.

IPFW Mens Volleyball vs Saint Francis University (PA)

Home opener for the IPFW Mens Volleyball team tonight against the Saint Francis University Red Flash (for all my 260 readers, there's another Saint Francis out in Pennsylvania!). Great game for the team, took a 3-1 win tonight. It's always a blast having new seasons start back up, fresh faces and another sport in the rotation of things to shoot. Every year around this time I quickly realize how tricky mens volleyball can be to shoot. If you've never seen a game, I'd definitely recommend checking it out!

IPFW vs Longwood Womens Basketball

Back at the Gates Center tonight for a Womens Basketball matchup against Longwood University. I must say, I felt pretty on my game tonight for shooting at the Gates Center, which is definitely more challenging than shooting at the Memorial Coliseum, as there's just a lot less places to shoot from, and lighting is very much a factor. Ideally down the road I'll fully light the court, but until I've got gear for that, I'll keep rockin' the current set up. Good night of for the Lady Dons bouncing back to a win after a tough game last weekend.

IPFW vs Oakland Mens Basketball

Going to keep this post short as well, as it's time to go get some post-game grub! Hard fought night for IPFW, but wasn't quite enough to take down the Oakland Grizzlies as Men and Women fall in conference play.

IPFW vs Oakland Womens BBall

Just a quick photo update, the mens game starts in about 2 minutes!!

IPFW Womens Basketball vs IUPUI

Tonight the IPFW Womens Basketball team hosted in-state rival IUPUI at the Gates Center. It's been a little while since I'd shot at gates and forgot how rough it can be to shoot there compared to the coliseum. Mostly I think it's a matter of the coliseum having a bit more wiggle room for moving around the court, and with only having one monolight, I only have one side of the court to shoot from. I still made a few images tonight that I'm happy with. IPFW pulled a 59-50 win over the Jaguars tonight.

D.U.B. Promos

Met up with D.U.B. (1/3 of the group Dbl F, good friends of mine) to shoot some promo photos for his newest solo album, S.E.T.B.A.C.K. Enjoyed shooting as always, ended going with an empty classroom for the photo, and I'm really excited about how the photos came out. It's always great working with Dbl F guys as well, they're all some seriously hard working and talented guys. If you're into hip hop, be sure to check out Dbl F, as well as the solo projects of all the individual members.

IPFW Mens BBall vs Western Illinois University

Game two of the WIU doubleheader today, the mens game didn't go quite as well, as the hard fought game ended at 75-65 after a rather intense last 60 seconds. Spent some time trying some different angles and ideas today, not sure if any of them quite worked tonight, but I've got ideas on how to improve them for the next game, got to keep pushing to make cooler images each game!

IPFW Womens BBall topples Western Illinois Lethernecks

And IPFW basketball is really back into full swing today, as the Lady 'Dons picked up their first win of 2012 in their first game of the year in Summit League play against the Western Illinois Lethernecks 73-54. While waiting between games in the media room I figured I'd keep up on my goal of blogging games, so here's a few images of IPFW's win. Senior Anne Boese took the lead for career 3pt baskets in the Summit League Conference, congrats Anne!

IUPUI at IPFW Mens Basketball

The IPFW v. IUPUI game is always a big in-state rivalry for the 'Dons. Tonight was a very close game, but IPFW shot the lights out and played the best I've seen them this year and pulled a big win out tonight in Summit League play with a 72-67 win. It was also the first backboard remote camera of the year for me, and while I got a couple gems with it, I think I missed my placement and framing today, but it seemed to work out favorably for the couple shots I did get with it. That's the fun and surprise of remote cameras, it's a lot like that goody bag you get at birthday parties, sometimes it's super awesome bouncy balls that you can send into the atmosphere, and sometimes it's full of number 2 pencils. Regardless, it's always fun setting up remotes and seeing what kind of surprises are waiting for you at the end of the game. 

IPFW Mens Basketball vs Southern Utah University

Welcome to 2012 friends! It was an extremely chilly night, but none the less the 'Dons were in action, and came out with a win tonight over the Thunderbirds 79-58. It was an adjustment getting back into the flow of things at the Memorial Coliseum after a quick couple at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, but it was a pretty decent night of basketball. There's still another game Thursday evening and a doubleheader Saturday, so keep checking back! One of my goals for this year is to blog more stuff that I shoot, so here we go!  

IPFW Womens BBall @ #20 Purdue

Second trip to West Lafayette of the week to catch the womens basketball game against #20 Purdue Boilermakers. It was once again a great time shooting in Mackey Arena, quite the place. I could re-say everything I said in the last Purdue post, but let's just get on with the photos!  

IPFW Mens Basketball @ Purdue

Headed to West Lafayette Tuesday Evening to catch my first away game of the season, as the IPFW Mastodons took on the Purdue Boilermakers. It was my first chance to shoot in Mackey Arena and man, what a place. Lots of renovation has just been done, and it's quite the building. Even on a Tuesday night during Christmas Break there was an outstanding crowd. IPFW fell to the Boilermakers 81-56. I'm excited to get back to Mackey Arena tomorrow night to photograph the Womens basketball game!

HUFF 50K Ultramarathon

Headed out before the break of dawn to Albion Indiana with fellow photographers Swikar Patel, Aaron Suozzi and Chad Ryan to shoot the HUFF 50k Ultramarathon. Yes, 50K (over 30 miles). In december. In the snow, rain, mud, and 4ft deep "puddles" small lakes of water. The winner took down 50k in just under 4 hours (around 3:45). That just blows my mind! Anyway, enjoy some photos from the comfort of your warm and cozy home (or wherever your current locale is)!

All images we shot are online and available for purchase at INMedia Source!

Chris "Cloudhopper" Tucker - Promo Photos

Had the opportunity to shoot some new promotional photos for local artist Chris "Cloudhopper" Tucker for his new mixtape "It Only Gets Better". I always enjoy photographing Chris, even though it always seems to be on an outstandingly cold day, the last time we shot stills together, we shot some promos of him and his crew Dbl F. We got about a foot of snow it seemed like during the shoot alone last year. Although no snow, it got pretty cold pretty fast on this last location of the day, but I'm really excited about how it all turned out. Big shout out to Marcus Demery for braving the cold with us and assisting on this shoot!!   I recently shot my first couple "production" style music videos, and those will be released in the near future, so keep an eye out for that!  

Old news, but good news

For those who may not have heard (this happened a while back) I took 4th place in the Photographers Forum Best of College Photography 2011, a national contest with (what I was told) over 14,000 entries. Super cool! You can see the winning photograph here.    

Mens Soccer Remote

I've been setting up a remote camera at soccer games lately to see if I can nab any interesting frames from a perspective that I otherwise couldn't get. Having a remote camera can be really fun, until a ball goes astray and you have to just hope that your camera rig doesn't get obliterated. The awesome part is that once its set up, it just goes, so any frames I'm able to snag with it is purely extra. Didn't get much "action" photos with it tonight, but did get some frames I was into. Mostly defensive players/goalkeepers frustratedly retrieving the ball after an IPFW goal. IPFW Mens Soccer improves to 2-0-0 in Summit League Play with tonights 2-0 win!   This frame (obviously) wasn't from the remote, but I still dug it and wanted to share it!

Crider+Gonzalez Engagement Session

Headed up to beautiful Albion, Michigan last weekend to shoot some engagement photos for Lindsay Crider and Jacob Gonzalez. Had an absolutely awesome time photographing this couple, and I can't wait to photograph their wedding in the fall of next year. Started the shoot off in downtown Albion, but then later headed to Jacobs parents house/farm and was able to shoot some photos I was really happy with, with such a beautiful backdrop (and it reminded me so much of home!)  

Road Cycling

Shot this image for a class project I'm working on (same project as the mountain biking from the other post), but this is a road cycling shot. I wanted it to have that "commercial" feel to it, but still be an "action" photo, and very happy with the results. I had the camera mounted on the seatpost of my road bike riding in lead, with a transmitter secured to my handlebars, so that when we hit the part of the road that we had lit, everything would fire. It worked like a charm! I have to give some credit to the RadioPopper guys for making some great radio triggers!!! Big thanks to friend Ryan Harvey for taking the time to help me out with this photo today!    

Mountain Biking

Headed out with my friend Tony to shoot some images for a project I was working on. Big thanks to him and his persistance on some of these hills. The photos definitely don't do it justice to how insane some of those hills were!    

Spencer+Hehe Wedding

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of shooting Mike and Tiffany, whom I've known for a few years now. Back in the day when I was still a Grant County resident, I worked with this awesome couple for a couple years at Kmart. So happy to see them tie the knot, they're both awesome individuals and I wish them all the best. Their wedding was a blast to shoot too! We did so well on time I even had a chance to shoot some pre-wedding portraits! Congrats Mike and Tiffany, all the best!!!    

IPFW Cross Country

Shot cross country for IPFW today, and decided to set up a remote camera at the finish line and got this gem of an image. Really excited about this one!      

IPFW Mens Soccer vs Duke Blue Devils (Exhibition)

Well, IPFW Athletics is back in full swing, meaning it's time for nearly constant shooting! This morning IPFW faced off against the Blue Devils of Duke University. It was a great start to the mens soccer season, as they pulled a 1-1 tie with the ACC Blue Devils. I was hoping to have some more remote camera photos for you all to enjoy, but it seems my pre-trigger cable has shorted! There will be some next time though, as long as a new cable comes in before the games    

Womens Soccer Remote Camera

Decided to throw a remote camera behind the goal at tonights womens soccer game, definitely needs some refinement to my set up/framing, but it's at least a start!   Here's a couple behind the scenes of this, first is my Lightroom database from tonight from my remote camera folder, this is the joy of a remote camera, hundreds of photos with little or nothing happening! Here's the camera placement, much thanks to Chad Ryan for letting me borrow the camera platform/ball head. I held my breath each time the ball went over the net and a big sigh of relief every time it missed my camera!

Mio Water

Grabbed some of this Mio Water Enhancer stuff at Walmart one day because I thought it looked like it'd be fun to photograph, and it was! Thanks to Em Kelly for helping me out with this one!  

On a Boat!

Went with the always lovely Em Kelly for her birthday (along with fellow photographer Swikar Patel  and girlfriend Shannon) on a sweet ride on the Dixie that tours beautiful Lake Webster in North Webster, Indiana. If you're anywhere near the area of North Webster, I'd definitely recommend the late night/sunset cruise around the lake, incredibly scenic! Oh yeah, and one dollar popcorns...

Laundry Day

Laundry day, pushed about 4 loads through so there was some definite time to kill, so I shot some photos!   The lovely Em Kelly was there to keep me company. That is definitely not my leg.      

USA Roller Sports National Championships - Speedskating

Earlier today friend and photojournalist Swikar Patel called me up and told me about the Roller Sports National Championships in Speedskating that was going down at the Coliseum in the expo room. I haven't had the chance to shoot much sports lately, and this was definitely unlike anything else I've ever shot before. I couldn't believe that kids that young were that coordinated and able to race at the abilities that they were racing at, and reminded me just how uncoordinated I am on skates! The championships also feature a few different things from racing to artistic (it was described to me to be similar to figure skating, but on roller skates), and will be at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum for another week or two, so if you're in town, check it out!

Prints are for Sale!

Hey there! If you see any images on my site or blog, they may be for sale! Due to contract limitations not all photographs may be available, but if you see one you're interested in please feel free to shoot me an email at lucas.m.carter@gmail.com, let me know the image and the size you're looking at, and we can discuss options from there! Thanks!

Eef Barzeley @ CS3

Last night Eef Barzeley, along with band Clem Snide, performed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra (and from what I heard it was amazing) along with Fort Wayne natives Metavari and Orange Opera. Due to time constraints that was simply the nature of the event, Clem Snide only played four songs. One Lucky Guitar  was kind enough to bring Eef back to one of my favorite venues, Calhoun Soups Salads and Spirits (CS3) to play an acoustic set. It was a really great time, and a big thanks to Matt from One Lucky Guitar for being kind enough to let me come in early and set up a few flashes and photograph the concert!!     This gentlemen opened up the night with some original songs, but I didn't catch his name, Josh Hall (thanks Greg!). He had a great set though!

BakerStreet Martinis

I had the chance to photograph some insane martinis today for Bakerstreet, created by the incredibly talented bartender Matt Diehm. I shot a couple martinis a while back, but I had to rush the session a bit and was really eager to spend more time dialing in the light and really making the drinks pop. It amazes me the kind of creations that can be made out of just some basic liquids! It was a blast shooting, and even lit a martini on fire (crazy!). After the martinis I set up and shot some portraits of Matt as a thank you for taking time out of his day to help us on the shoot. Had a great time, and if you would like to enjoy one of these adult beverages, drop by BakerStreet for Martini Mondays, where all the drinks on their specialty martini list is just five bucks!  

Ashley and Brian are Engaged!

Listener, A Rose By Any Other Name, The Homeless Gospel Choir @ CS3

Listener. All I can really say is wow. As a musician, photographer, artist, etc, I've never left anything feeling as inspired as I did tonight. I first heard about Dan Smith and Christin Nelson (members of Listener) through a photographer that I highly respect and look up to, Zack Arias. Zack and Listener are both from Atlanta, Georgia, and a while back Zack posted a really amazing write up on listener on his blog. The article alone made me very interested in his music, and when I heard it I was just floored. He calls it "talk music". It's essentially poetry over different styles of music. At times it's brash and in your face and others it's subdued.   I've been going to shows since i was like 12 or something. I've seen a lot of bands and people be incredibly passionate about what they do, but I've never seen someone truly pour out their soul as Listener did tonight. I had chills most of the night, this show definitely lived up to my expectations and hopes. Also performing was A Rose By Any Other Name, but many may know Josh Scogin from his other band, The Chariot. The Homeless Gospel Choir, who was a gentlemen by the name of Derek Zanetti. He opened the night with a grassroots folk style of music with some of the best songwriting and lyricism I've heard lately. To the performers tonight, it was truly great getting to meet you, and I hope that the rest of your tour goes as amazingly as it possibly can. Have fun tomorrow night near my hometown in Muncie, IN!   The Homeless Gospel Choir A Rose By Any Other Name   Listener   "You say: give up, give up, don’t give up . then I won’t give up, because I know I’m not alone. I know that all roads lead to home in some way and I’m on my way, are you on your way?" - Dan Smith/Listener/Most Roads Lead to Home

Del Tha Funky Homosapien @ CS3

Many of you may not know this about me, but I'm a huge fan of hip hop, and tonight a really rad group of people came to CS3 and put on a really rad hip hop show. Sankofa, who I believe is from Fort Wayne, opened the night with a ton of energy, climbing on anything he could find. It really got the night off right. Next up was UnseenHandz, whom I *think* is local but I could be way off. Super nice guy as well. Then Bukue One (manager/backup vox for Del) skateboarded on stage, doing all sorts of flip tricks while rhyming. His set was also crazy good. Then finally Del Tha Funky Homosapien joined him on stage. Most probably aren't familiar with his name, but I guarantee you you've heard his voice if you're a fan of the Gorillaz, as he does the verse in "Clint Eastwood" (which they finished out the night with, and I was really happy they did so). It was my first legit hip hop show, and it was an absolute blast. Big props to Conspiracy (http://thereisnoconspiracy.com/) for putting the whole show together, Jake and Jes from Conspiracy for being cool with me coming early and setting flashes, CS3 for still being one of the best venues in town, and the performers for being awesome both on stage and off.   Sankofa:   UnseenHandz:   Bukue One:   Del Tha Funky Homosapien This is the most packed I've ever seen CS3. It was crowded, hot, sweaty, and awesome.

Birds!

Went to a bird sanctuary in Michigan with the lady, and took a few photos of our winged friends while we were at it. It's a super neat place, actually funded by Kellogg Cereals and ran by Michigan State University. More info here.

Caught in a downpour!

Out doing some shopping and got caught in quite the downpour. Shot this at a stoplight on my iPhone. Enjoy! -lucas

Stormin'

Quite the storm rolling in tonight, as much as I dislike HDR photography, I kinda had to tonight, sorry all. :)

Alyssa Weeks - Senior Session

A week or so ago myself and Em Kelly (thank you so much for helping out, by the way) headed to Culver, Indiana for a high school senior session. I'd never been to the area before and it was an awesome little roadtrip west past Warsaw. Met up with Alyssa, a 4 year student of Culver Girls Academy (there's also a guys military academy on that campus). Shot some photos around an absolutely BEAUTIFUL campus, then headed to the art building where Alyssa often resided. As an art student myself, I'm very aware of the second-home feeling the art building has! The art room proved to be an absolutely killer location, and many thanks to anyone who may have had art that contributed to backdrops for photos! Really fun shoot, despite the (at times) unbearable heat, and many thanks and well wishes to Alyssa as she moves forward in life! On to the photos!    

Grey Gordon

Grey is a super rad dude in Fort Wayne, and I was last minute on a project and he was kind enough to meet up and let me shoot some portraits for a project I'm working on for an assignment. Great dude and I'm stoked on the portraits. You'll be seeing more images of him and Fresh Ben (check back to the previous posts) of them this summer while I work on some personal projects.    

IPFW Baseball @ Parkview Field

IPFW hosted the Purdue Boilermakers at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne tonight. Really nice venue for baseball, and great weather to shoot the baseball in.

Fresh Ben - Skateboarding Session

Fresh Ben is practically a Fort Wayne legend. By day, you might catch him randomly around Fort Wayne at shows or just about anywhere, but many nights you'll catch him spinning jams at nightclubs and parties. And, he's a super cool dude, he let me photograph him doing some skating for a project I'm working on covering alternative sports!  

WhatzUp Cover

I recently shot a photo for the cover of a local entertainment magazine WhatzUp featuring National Record Store day, here's the cover and a portrait of Morrison Agen, owner/operator of Neat Neat Neat on Calhoun Street in Fort Wayne, In.  

Softball Creepin'

Posted up on the back fence with the 70-200 and 2x hanging on the magic arms!

Baker Street

Shot some images for an amazing Fort Wayne restaurant called Baker Street, and really happy with the results! I've personally had the onion rings and they're hands down the best I've ever tasted! If you're ever passing through the Fort and needing to get the tastiest food in Fort Wayne, stop by Baker Street ASAP! (It's located on Clinton Street across from the Northcrest Shopping Center).  

On the go!

Been a super busy few days, shortly I'll get the blog posts with things I've been shooting rolling, just trying to get all the kinks ironed out of the new site. With my new site, I can post blog posts, photos and videos while I'm out and about, so I'm going to keep the blog interesting!! Be sure to check back often!!

New site!

Hey everyone! This site is going to be cleaned up and polished over the next few days!   If you need to contact me, hit up the contacts page!   Thanks!   -Lucas