Seven years ago today, the world we lived in changed forever.  I remember it being just a beautiful day outside, I had just dropped my youngest son Eric off for his very first day of preschool.  Evan was in first grade at the time.   Eric was so excited, but a bit scared.  I dropped him off at about 8:45 and headed home for a few hours of quiet, because now, both boys were in school!  Grabbed another cup of coffee and flipped on the TV on Fox News.  Right then, my wife Linda called from work and told me to go look at the TV because planes were flying into the WTC.  Once I saw the second plane hit, I had a bad feeling, that it was no accident and we were going to be at war with somebody.  I remember trying to explain this to the boys, who were 3 and 6 at the time.  This was their first experience with real evil in the world, all along while they were learning respect and peace in school.  Their lives were changed forever, and they didn’t even understand why yet.  I also remember how quiet life was for a few days after.  People didn’t speak much and I remember the eerie silence outside because all the planes were grounded.  I never realized how quiet things could be.

Since that day, the American flag has flown on our house day and night, all year long.  I’ve replaced the flag three times.  I didn’t personally know anyone lost in the events of 9/11.  But I have real good friends who do, so in a way, we are all connected somehow.   From the innocence of everyday people at work, or traveling on a beautiful fall morning, to the nobility of a service member accomplishing their mission with honor and courage, there are lives that deserve to be remembered today, and always.

A candle glows on our website today as a sign of hope and peace.   Please take a moment today, and every day, to be grateful for our freedom, be grateful for our service men and women, and be grateful for our government.  Say a special prayer for our military all around the world that they are kept safe and given the strength to  defeat evil and bring peace and freedom to those less fortunate.   And, most of all, remember all the families and their loved ones that were lost in New York, Washington and Shanksville. 

Never Forget

Trumpets Rule!…as we say here around the house.  Evan has such a blast playing with the Music Alliance Honors Band.  He took trumpet lessons through his school and then began playing for the Honors Band last summer.  The Honors Band is like an all star team of musicians from about 30 parochial schools in the Cleveland area.  They meet once a week to produce three performances throughout the year.  This past Christmas, the band played at Lakeland College’s auditorium and it was absolutely stunning to hear about 50-60 6th-8th graders perfom. 

Here are some photos from the spring Honors Band.  The theme this session was Jazz.  The band played at the annual Kids Show at the Great Lakes Mall and attracted hundreds of people to watch.  The kids had so much fun too.  The got to wear ‘jazzy’ ties.  It was fun watching them compare ties and show them off during the performance.  Songs included Gonna Fly Now, You Really Got Me Now, Celebration, In the Mood, Close to You and other jazzy favorites.  No one missed a beat….incredible! 

Music Alliance is located in Mentor, Ohio and their website is http://www.musicallianceinc.org/   The Honors Jazz Band was under the direction of Franklin Adams and David Littman.  Here are a few photos from the event.  Enjoy and watch for more.

Arena football returns to Cleveland with a bang!  What an awesome time we had at the game the other night.  The action was right in front of us and the arena was loud.   Myself and my son Eric went down with a few kids from our travel baseball team and had an absolute blast.  Thank you SO Much to our great friends John Murphy and Jim Ferraro of Kelley & Ferraro Law Firm for getting us such great tickets.  Jim Ferraro is the owner of the Cleveland Gladiators.  Here’s a few photos of the game.  These were taken with my cell phone camera (HTC Sprint Mogul), from the fourth row on the ten yard line.

The view from our seats.

Dillon, Eric & Connor in the autograph line.    Connor getting an autograph from the QB.

Wow…did you see it?  Last night was the last full lunar eclipse we’ll experience until 2010.  So, what does a photographer do on a slow Wednesday night?  Break out the camera.  Gosh it was cold out there!  The sky over Cleveland was perfectly clear and the full moon disappered right on schedule.  Here are a few images of the eclipse.  One is the moon at full coverage at 10:51pm.  The other is about 10 minutes into the final phase.  The star in the final phase photo is actually Saturn!   The moon had a really cool orange tint to it during the eclipse.   Now, how did I bear the cold?  A combination of the Internet and my trusted ace Canon gear.  I followed the timeline and images from NASA that related to the Northeastern US.  Then, using a remote video monitor and remote camera trigger, I sat inside the warm house with a cup of coffee and fired shots of the eclipse.  Only had to go outside a few times to re-aim the camera.  The Canon gear withstood the ultimate freeze test too.  It was outside in 15 degree cold for about an hour and a half.  Every shot fired and the camera worked flawlessly.  What was really cold was the aluminum legs on the tripod!  Grabbing those with bare hands was like the kid and the flagpole in Christmas Story!  Enjoy the images.

To all our friends, family, clients and colleagues……Have a Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous New Year.  Thank you so much for your support this past year.  We have some exciting and new things planned for 2008, including a brand new website to be released very soon.  Enjoy this time with your families and cherish the memories.  And, please do not forget our troops overseas that are protecting us from harm so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we have.

Now here’s something really fun…watching 5 year olds play baseball!  I had a chance to photograph the T-Ball all star game for the baseball league that my son Eric plays in.  The kids had an absolute blast and got to play on the ‘big kids’ field.  Enjoy the show.