A little bit of competition

I hate this hallway... but the prints are amazing

Today we met in the competition area at 9am sharp.  All the prints from all of the contestants were up.  We got to walk around and check them out.  There is some great stuff!

We started the day with a hello for Bill.  He then told us that rather than busing us out to a location, our "On-location" shoot is going to be where we were!  He wanted us to shoot the festival that was going on outside.  The rules were 2 hours, shoot jpeg, not communication with the other competitors, not contact with advisers and anyone outside the festival.  We were also not allowed to travel outside the block... :(  OH! The theme was: Motion and Emotion.

Shooting such a "small" event will so many people was painful!  I'd get composed for a shot, and another student would walk up and shoot the same thing I was!  I'd walk away without taking my shot out of anger.

I spent a lot of time at intersections, flags, and with the live band.  They were actually members of the Army, but they rocked it.  I also met a small group for teens just goofing off and asked if I could observe the for a couple minutes.  They agreed and I think I got an image I could use.  I was able to hand out a few business cards.  I enjoyed my time, and took my time.  It was over 100 degrees so rushing was not a good idea.

After the outdoor shoot, we went back in and turned in our memory cards.  We were then given a brief overview of the lights we'd be using for the commercial shoot.  We were then given a boxed lunch.  YIKES AND YIKES. 

After lunch, the high schoolers were asked to leave and the college..ers... began the dreaded commercial shoot.  Unfortunately, I can't go much into it because the high school level will be doing this tomorrow.

The college group is a great group of people!  They are very friendly.

Once we were dismissed, I walked a couple blocks for about 1-2 hours.  I took about 2GBs of photos.  When I got back to the hotel I attempted to download the images to my computer.  In the process of downloading, the computer froze.  I restarted the computer.  When I pulled up my memory card, it had somehow been formatted after only transferring 9 of my images!  Needless to say, I was very upset.  Trying to find the bright side,  I came on the conclusion that I would get to walk the streets again and see things I may have missed or wish i would've shot! :)

Me and D met in the lobby around 5.  WE hung for about an hour before Mr. Adkins came down.  Ben and his girlfriend rented a car for the week and drove us out to a BBQ pit.  WOW! There is honestly nothing better than Kansas City BBQ! We walk in, and the lady started screaming at us, HELLO! HOW CAN I HELP YOU!  I settled on a BBQ sandwich and fries. DELICIOUS.

After dinner,  Ben swung me by the store.  The guy settling my out realized I was from Georgia and developed a mocking-like country accent.  Kinda funny... :\

On the way home, we got to see a Kansas City Storm Roll in!  The lightning was phenomenal!  By the time I got up to D's room with my camera and tripod it had rolled over.  I got a couple photos of the storm, but nothing worth National Geographic. 

Today was amazing.  We are all hitting the sack early because we have to wake up around 6 to be downtown at 8.  I hate 6am.  But, I gotta do it!

Goodnight everyone.