from the University of Houston Cougars vs.. Texas Tech Red Raiders

My Favorite shot of the night!!

the Rice Owls defeated the Western Michigan Broncos by a score of 38-14 at the game played in Houston’s Reliant Arena.

Rice’s quarterback, Chase Clement set several records in the game with 30 completions (in 44 attempts) and those three TD passes. He also rushed for 72 yards on 12 attempts, including the 26-yard run that got the Rice rout started in the first quarter.

The game was watched by 58, 880, the fourth-largest crowd to ever see a bowl game in Houston.  Anyway, on to the highlights:

The Opening Ceremony included the Army swearing in ceremony:

and you can’t start a football game in Texas without singing the National Anthem:

Western Michigan’s Defense tried to contain Rice, but were unsuccessful on several attempts:

2008 Texas Bowl MVP Chase Clement doing what he does best:

and NFL Hopeful James Casey played a big part in the game as well.

Rice’s defense pretty much held down Michigan all night:

I also shoot Christmas parties (although some companies have to be politically correct and call them Holiday Parties).  One of the companies I shot for this year was Linn Energy and their party was held at the Coronado Club in Downtown Houston.  The Coronado Club is a private, members only club, but it is a very nice place to hold a wedding reception!

Right before the school’s Christmas break, Booker T Washington held their Coronation for Miss Booker T Washington and I had the honor of shooting.  The queen was a very sweet and humble young lady and her Court was just as beautiful…

Miss Booker T Washington from 2008 was also in attendance:

In my full time job, I work for a homebuilder, D. R. Horton Inc and one of my co workers wanted some family shots done for Christmas cards and it was a pleasure shooting this wonderful family:

Her grand-daughter was simply adorable!

Her Grandson, who wants to be a model/singer

and her granddaughter that wants to model as well:

One of my most favorite families at my local Church is the Gamble family.  the youngest daughter, Tasia, is expecting her 2nd child (any day now!) and these are a few shots of her baby shower:

This would be a very long post if I did a shot from every month, but here are a few highlights:

This is one of the few Senior high school portrait sessions that I do during the year.  Ashley is a member of my Church, New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in NE Houston.

One of the sad parts of 2008, at least to me, was the loss of one of our Pro Sports teams.  I was able to cover the WNBA Houston Comets for some of their games and here is one of their final games against the New York Liberty.  Tina Thompson and Hamchétou Maïga-Ba represented USA and Mali and were honored as well

2008 was also a good year for High School Football.  Travis High School in Ft Bend County had their first season as a Varsity team and while they were the  “new kids on the block”, they did a great job against the competition:

Several of the Houston Independent School District’s Football teams did great this year as well – Booker T Washington, Kashmere High School, The Jones High School Falcons, Waltrip Rams

Of course, not too many people in Houston and the Gulf Coast will soon forget Hurricane Ike.  We have had many close calls when it came to hurricanes over the years, (Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina, and others), Ike hit Houston head on and left a lot of damage in his wake.  My home, as well as the homes of quite a few of my friends were affected and to date, we are STILL going through repairs.

Here are a few shots of Ike approaching:

and a few shots of the damage to my home after the roof was blown off and water came in:

and after the storm, things actually looked rather peaceful –

I have also written and will update later this year on my son Dylan who is on the Autism Spectrum.  Because of that, I attempted to try and find out as much as I could about the disorder and in the process, came across a great organization – Autism Speaks and I have been volunteering my services to this great organization for the last two years.  I participated in two walk events which helped raise funds for research and treatment. The first one was held in Houston, Texas at the Reliant Arena:

One of my goals for 2008 was to increase my skills as a photographer (and yes this is an ongoing goal).  to accomplish that, I need he experience, knowledge,and the tools necessary to effectively do so.  This was one of my purchases for 2008:

this is the new Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED lens and unless you are a photographer, you probably won’t understand the excitement I had when this arrived in the mail.  the quality of the glass, the sharpness, and the detail places this head and shoulders above any other lens I own.  Of course, I couldn’t wait to shoot with it and this was the first thing I got:

Yes, High School Football was still going on, so here are a few more shots from Ft Bend ISD and HISD:

and it’s hard to have football without cheerleaders!

the second Autism Speaks walk event that I participated in was held in Round Rock (Austin), Texas at the Dell Diamond:

Man, this post is getting kinda long, but thank you for continuing to read!

I also had the opportunity to shoot College Football this year and covered Texas Southern University Tigers and Rice University Owls.  One of the most talked about games each year for TSU is the TSU vs.. Grambling game.  This is not only great competition on the football field, but most people come for what is called the Battle of the Bands between the Ocean of Soul and Grambling:

One of the College games that I covered was Rice vs… Marshall and they honored all of our Armed Forces – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and National Guard.  Of course it was a great game and of course the Rice Owls won!

Rice University’s Quarterback Chase Clement (who later was named MVP of the 2008 Texas Bowl)

Rice University’s James Casey (who just recently decided to enter the NFL draft.  Casey broke the Conference USA season record for the past year for receptions

on a trip to the Dallas-Ft Worth area, I had a client that wanted a portrait session and we ended up at the Japanese Gardens in Ft Worth.  This place is AWESOME!  The colors were amazing, especially for fall colors in Texas.  I will be going back in the Spring so see how green this place can get.

this is the little man.  Dylan Celebrated his 7th birthday while we were in Dallas getting testing done for him at the Baylor Hospital Children’s Place.  He loves the movie “Cars” and has collected every one of them.  So for his birthday, he wanted “Walking, Talking Lighting McQueen”.  I think he was OK with his gift:

While we were there, we also went to the Mall to see an awesome display of trains:

and Christmas Lights

The second game was shot at Mercer stadium in Sugarland, Texas, between the Austin High school Bulldogs and the Hightower high school Hurricanes.  Hightower won by a score of 45-7.

Ft. Bend ISD Travis vs Katy Morton Ranch:

This is the First Varsity team that Travis has this year and they are a very excited bunch of young men.  It;s good to see the school and the parents support them as well.