Dan Nevins

Today I shot TOUR staffer Dan Nevins, a truly inspiring, retired Army Staff Sgt., who was badly injured in Iraq. He learned to play golf with the help of the Wounded Warrior Project.

Anna & Deborah sure are rookies! Don't they know not to wear white when there's a blog photo-op?


Anna "flew" in to lend a hand.

Girlz Only Waffles ... No Boyz Allowed!

Evanne, Deborah, Marisa & Jana came over for waffles.

While Marisa was smiling for the camera, Jana's hard-core competitive nature kicked into overdrive! She wanted to win the waffle design competition.

I had to photograph my waffle before the Dove Dark Chocolate drizzle, in case I ruined my design.

Deborah's waffle had some nice symmetry.

Marisa said she was gonna make the planet earth, but I think she changed her mind. I'm not sure what it is, but it's colorful & yummy.

Despite her fierce competitiveness, Jana was disqualified for using an extra waffle in her design. This would have been allowed if she made a dog. Don't worry Jana ... Michelle Wie was DQed this weekend also. Hopefully Jana won't lose the Grandpa's Cup on a technicality ... I plan to whip her fair & square.

Parfaits & Pup Portraits

Anna invited me for breakfast this morning. We had fabulous parfaits & zucchini nut muffins. Everything was delicious.

Later on, we went to my house to have some fun at Hank's expense. He was a little riled up, so it wasn't too easy to shoot fisheye portraits. Hank spent a lot of time licking the front element of the lens.

Bart Forbes

Bart Forbes came to town to apply a coat of protective varnish to his oil paintings that have had a year to cure. All of the paintings were moved outside for proper ventilation.

After he finished applying the varnish to this Fred Couples painting, some guy on a cell phone stepped on it with spikes. I guess cell phones are dangerous even when you're walking!

The artiste & his Tiger Woods masterpiece (based on a photo that Chris shot).

Triathlon

This morning I decided to get up early to go to the Beaches Fine Arts Sprint Triathlon Series at Mickler's Landing in PVB with Scott & Sue. Scott picked me up at 5:45am & Sue ran 9 miles to get there. I figured it would be a good chance for me to test the Nikon D3s.

A pup woke up early to check out the action.

The surf was really rough!

Scott was hard at work.

Some of the guys had some serious bikes.

The marshals weren't very encouraging!

Nice marketing plan! (click on the photo to read the thought bubble)

iPhone 3G ... Yay!

Got my beautiful 16 gig black iPhone 3G this morning. I went to the AT&T store on JAX Beach at 7am. I was #22 in line for the 8am opening. I think they only had 40 phones total, so they ran out pretty quickly.

The Food Fest Continues

We reconvened to finish all of the food that we couldn't possibly eat yesterday ... steak, chicken florentine, corn on the cob, & salad. We also managed to eat 1/4 waffle each with all the toppings including no-sugar-added moose tracks ice cream.

Happy 4th!

Rob sure knows how to design a beautiful waffle! More to come ... a lot more! We had a 13 1/2 hour get-together!

Chris shot the artiste creating his masterpiece.

The girls were busy stuffing themselves while Chris & I were hard at work.


Anna, Beth, Rob & Chris pose for one final breakfast photo. Little did we know ... our celebration had just begun.

After breakfast we walked around the lake to Anna & Tyler's house. She served some beverages with great labels ... Dogfish Head, Shock-Top & Bitter Yuck! Beth didn't particularly care for the Bitter Yuk, but she'll try anything once.

Beth insisted that Shelby's paw pads smell like Fritos.

Hank couldn't believe he never noticed the lake in his backyard.

This reminds me of the picture of Chris fishing his lens out of a bunker. Did he really think Hank & Shelby were gonna come out of the water?

Chris decided if he couldn't get them out of the water, he'd join them. He managed to beat both Shelby & Hank to the ball without spilling a drop of his Bloody Mary. FYI ... swimming freestyle with one arm is faster than the doggie paddle.

Shelby didn't give up ... even though she didn't catch a single duck.

One of the key steps in preparing my signature side dish of snow peas with scallions, sesame oil & black/white sesame seeds, is to soak the snow peas in ice water right after they're blanched to stop the cooking. For some reason the ice stuck to my fingers. It really hurt, but suppose it would have been worse if my tongue was stuck on a pole!

Here is a rare glimpse of me cooking.

For our dinner appetizer I made spicy tuna lettuce wraps with snow peas, sesame oil & brown rice. It got rave reviews, but we were all too full to have the rest of our dinner. Luckily, we came up with a plan "B". Since we hadn't grilled anything yet, we decided to reconvene tomorrow.

Hank volunteered to do the dishes.

While Shelby passed out.

Stay tuned for the continuation of our feast ... tomorrow. Being a social butterfly sure is exhausting!

Stadium Front 9

After work, I played employee golf with JS, Mike & Rob. The format was a four person shamble. Each player had to tee off and the best ball was selected. Then each player dropped their ball at the location of the best drive and played their own ball until it was holed. Everybody on the team had to use their drive at least once. The lowest score among the four members will become the team score.

Mike's hat said "Old Guys Rule" ... I guess it's true since he & JS played much better than Rob & me.

Eating Healthy

After our golf lesson, Anna made a delicious spinach salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, marinated chicken breast & poppy seed dressing. It was fab!

Waffles & Hank the Pup

Just yesterday, James, icaryn's biggest fan, was asking me what's the obsession with waffles. There's not really an obsession, but in the words of JS, they are "legendary." What's not to like? You get to play with your food (decorate them), they're nice to photograph (makes the meal a tax write-off ... just kidding) & they taste good too (at least the fruit is healthy).

Anna, Chris & Beth came over for some of my famed waffles. Even though Anna is a waffle virgin & Chris/Beth are waffle regulars, they do have something in common (besides golf/photography) ... Chocolate Labs.

After breakfast we walked over to meet Hank ... a 6 month-old pup. Shelby is gonna be very jealous when they get home smelling like Hank.


After Chris & Hank were done making out ...


... Beth & Hank were Dirty Dancing!


Hank could tell that I love dogs.


Anna captures the lovefest.

Lost in the Flood

Amy & I were due to tee off at 9:09am, but it wasn't meant to be. I walked across my bedroom & wet footprints appeared in the carpet. Upon closer examination we heard water flowing in the wall. UGH! We shut the water main, but the damage had already been done.

A plumber arrived within an hour & determined where to cut the drywall. UGH! A glue joint came loose, but he fixed it quickly.

Next, the water damage restoration specialists came. They determined that the carpet was a total loss & started ripping it out. Bummer, since the master carpet is only a year old.

There was a lot of water, but they couldn't remove all of the carpet until the waterbed was drained & disassembled.

They removed the baseboard molding & drilled more holes in the wall. Then they set up 3 dryers (one had hoses piped into the wall) & 2 gigantic dehumidifiers. They're REALLY noisy ... like a jet engine & will probably have to run for a week.

After that a guy came to drain/disassemble my waterbed. Next up is a structural engineer & the insurance adjuster. What a MESS! This wasn't what I planned for my day off.

Melissa Rocks!

Amy came to town for a little golf & good music. She got us 3rd row seats for the Melissa Etheridge concert in the 80-year-old historic Florida Theatre. It's a small venue with awesome acoustics.

Amy wanted me to bring a camera & I refused. Eventually I gave in & agreed to bring the F30. Tons of people had cameras & at one point in the show, Melissa asked the audience to shoot videos so she could check them out on YouTube. She puts on a great show, like a cross between Bruce Springsteen & Janis Joplin.

Surprise Party

Emily, Jessica & Madeline threw a great 30th anniversary party at Lizzie & Peter's house.

Bobby & Patty were completely surprised.

There was a little typo on the custom M&Ms. It should say "Bob" not "Boob"!!!

Jessica, Madeline, Bobby, Emily & Patty pose with a life-size cardboard cutout of B & P (age 15 at the prom). They were apparently shopping for engagement rings about the same time.

Yum! Tuna sashimi with a honey soy drizzle.

Billy was pretty animated describing Lizzie's close call (almost spilling the beans on the surprise party) with her Blackberry message below. We all had a good laugh.


Mom & Hank


Jessica put together a DVD of their life in pictures. Very entertaining ... there were some great ones.

Employee Golf Results

Question: What do 3 birdies, 2 bogeys & 4 pars get you when you have a pathetic handicap?
Answer: 1st Place Low Net (with a net score of 18.38) & gift certificates for $7.50 each. Woohoo!

I think JR should have one of those giant winner's check made so we can shoot a team photo for my blog.

Employee Golf

Well I bit the bullet & gave in. I haven't played employee golf since the pink ball incident (July 19, 2006). I couldn't possibly turn down the opportunity to play with JR, Rob & Chris on the back 9 of Dye's Valley Course. Tonight's format was a four person scramble. Each team had to use at least one drive from each player.

Rob & camera-shy JR were ready to go.

We just had to wait for Chris & Gavin to finish their staring contest. I think Chris blinked first.

Rob worked on balancing 2 golf balls ...

... while I was busy shooting details.

I had the best drive on our second hole. I was glad to get that out of the way.

We had 3 birdies, 2 bogeys, & parred 4 holes. Pretty good.

Nice clouds.

Our team had a waffle celebration after our round. Here's Rob's tic-tac-toe waffle masterpiece. JS cracked up when I accidentally referred to it as Wob's Raffle.

Breakfast ... oops, I mean dinner of champions.

Corn Nut Fairy

I had a salt craving & went to John's office to see if he wanted some Corn Nuts. He was at a meeting. I was gonna leave just one Corn Nut on his desk, but decided to amuse myself & do something a little more blog-worthy. I went to his office about an hour later & he was smirking, just about to eat his last Corn Nut.

The Long Drive Home

While driving south earlier this week, I saw this scorched area of I-95 that I wanted to photograph. Since the light was better on the northbound side of the highway, I figured I'd be able to shoot some pix on the way home. From a distance, many areas actually looked like fall foliage. This is a result of last month's wildfires, that caused the closure of I-95. I could've spent the whole day shooting details of the devastation & new growth. Every step I took sent up a cloud of ash.

The Big Day ... Finally!

Today was the closing on my house in South Florida. Yippee! It's been on the market for 14 months. I had to put on a new roof & lower the price substantially. UGH! I'm just relieved this is finally behind me. It's been tough having two houses for 16 months. John won't be able to call me the "land baron" anymore. These are from some fortune cookies I opened last night ...

Here's the brand new roof that's been under construction for the past two months. The actual installation was about 3 weeks, but it was a long process between permitting, tearing off the old roof & numerous inspections.

I was both surprised & appalled to get a notice last week that a lien was being put on my house because there was some red tape (no pun intended) on my garage coach light. I couldn't believe they wasted two sheets of paper, an envelope & a stamp. I think it would have been easier for the neighbor to remove the tape, rather than report me to the homeowners association. It was a remnant of the new roof installation. Mary went to the house to take a picture of it, since I had no idea what they were talking about. I brought the piece of "DANGER/PELIGRO" tape as well as before & after photos to the closing, in case they said I couldn't close.

I shot a "goodbye house" self-portrait in the master bathroom.

After the closing, I went to Sawgrass Mills & Ikea.

Then I went to Brio Tuscan Grille for dinner with Bobby, Patty, Jessica & Madeline. It's in a new area called The Shops at Pembroke Gardens, which looks just like St. John's Town Center in Jacksonville. The Bruschetta Caprese was delicious.

Memorial Day

Sherry & John came over for breakfast ... Belgian waffles, of course. Yum!

After lunch, Scott came over with his dad's Kodak Bantam. It's a beautiful little camera. There's a roll of film in it that's been in there over 50 years. I convinced him that he needed to have some waffles for dessert since I still had some batter & plenty of fresh fruit & whipped cream.

After that I went over to TPC Sawgrass to test some Nikon gear. It was a beautiful afternoon & the light was just starting to get nice. So far I'm pretty impressed with the D3. It's just gonna take some time to get used to it. All of the controls are the opposite of Canon & in different places, but it's got some pretty cool features.

I shot this with the Nikon D3 & the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED. This is a GREAT range for shooting golf.

I bumped into Rob after he finished nine holes on the Valley. He posed on the practice green & hit some bunker shots for me.

I shot this with the 14mm. I'm sure a lot of people were wondering why I was laying on the ground with my head smooshed against the grass. I was trying to keep my shadow out of the frame. I can't tell ... does the horizon look a little crooked???

Fredrik, Jana & the Donut Lover

Mike is at it again. Thanks for the quotes, Laury!

When Stan went to shoot Sergio in the Champions locker room, he noticed somebody put this Krispy Kreme hat on top of Phil's locker. We thought that locker should belong to JR.

Dancin' in the Street Festival

Dial-9 was playing in Neptune Beach, so Tina & I went to check it out.

Lesson 1 - Proper Golf Attire is Key

When Tina forgot to bring her golf clothes, she knew she'd have to pose for a blog photo! Coop pushed her out from behind her golf bag so I could see her skirt & heels.

T.G.I.S. (Sunday)

Paul Goydos' name was stenciled on the trophy ... but Sergio's name got engraved after winning in an exciting playoff.

While Stan & I were hard at work ... Tina got in trouble for straddling the railing on the upper balcony.



I had Sergio move into position, so Donald could get this trophy shot.

After uploading, we went to Outback for a late-night dinner. Tina had a priceless expression on her face when she was carded for ordering a beer. The waiter also thought she looks like she's twelve.

Height Envy

We needed a ladder, but Nelson was nowhere in sight. Once it was in place, we found out it needed to be moved.
Chris breaks the news to Donald that the ladder is in NBC's jib shot.

It takes at least two people to move the heaviest 12-foot, three-legged ladder on the planet. I'm pretty sure Tina could easily move it (inside joke).

I put a remote camera 200 feet up on the NBC crane.

If you look closely, you can see my camera clamped on the edge.

Here's 17 in infrared.

Windy Friday

The wind was crazy today. I saw that the flags on the practice green were really blowing, so I spent about 10 minutes over there shooting various flags with the clubhouse in the background. While I was shooting, my cell phone vibrated. It was Mary. She said, "I'd like to report an unauthorized photographer on the practice green." I started cracking up & looked around. She was pretty far away on the deck of a hospitality tent. I don't know how she saw me.

Mowing, Cutting & Stimping

It was another early morning. We were on site well before sunrise to capture the grounds crew hard at work.

The hole gets cut on #11.

Fred uses a Stimpmeter to measure the speed of the green.

Cue Card Please!

The famous phrase that usually sets Nelson into action, "ladder please," was modified today on a PSA shoot with KJ Choi.

KJ watches the take.

I thought there was a typo!

Tuesday at Dawn

Dawn/sunrise is such a beautiful time of day. Unfortunately, I rarely get to see it. Here's a reflection at 17.


Tina seems to be working when she's around Mary.

But then, I'm hard at work & Tina is "walking like an Egyptian." Why am I carrying all of the gear?!? What's up with that?

Chad paints the crosswalk on 16.

Chad's footprints.

A Great Blue Heron lurks near 17.

Let the Madness Begin

It's Cinco de Mayo, so John took Mary to Urban Flats for her birthday lunch.

Here are the crazy spreadsheets of everything we need to shoot at THE PLAYERS (except competition). This is what they looked like after being in my pocket for a week.

The Media Party was held tonight in the Stadium Village. John stayed on top of the leaderboard for closest to the pin (1'8") on the UBS 17th Hole Challenge.

The Calm Before the Storm

Mary drove up to PVB yesterday for THE PLAYERS Championship that begins tomorrow. We had a busy, yet calm day, that seemed to completely revolve around food. It started early ... 7am waffle breakfast with John & Sherry. Mary brought her waffle maker so we could make two at a time. I can't believe I didn't take any blog photos.
Then we met Chris & Beth at World Grill for lunch.

I had the Pulled BBQ Pork Tower with roasted corn pancakes ... yum!


After lunch we went to drop Mary's gear off in the media center then on to the beach for a long walk (I met a lot of dogs). We worked up an appetite so we stopped at Down South BBQ on the way home. We got home at 7pm & I had the brilliant idea to have Mary look at the pressure cleaner to see why it wasn't building pressure. Mary worked her magic so for the next hour & a half, I cleaned the front path, patio & only one-third of the driveway. I had to stop since it was getting dark.

2nd Annual Dogs & Donuts

I met two Wheatens & a bunch of other dogs at the annual get-together in Marsh Landing.

Heading Home

This license plate was on a car in the clubhouse lot.

On the drive back home, I saw this truck & had to hang back to get a photo of the message written in the dirt on the lower left corner.

I passed a billboard for a Georgia rest area that was touting free wi-fi. Since I needed an internet fix, I had to stop to check it out.

I shot this ladybug on the trunk of my car. It was still there when I got home.

I was intrigued by the texture in the tree bark, as well as the free wi-fi.

Savannah Sunset

Tonight was my last night for dinner at Saigon. There was a beautiful sunset during my walk back to the ferry.

Watching the container ships navigate the Savannah River is an impressive sight. They are so massive. This one is from Singapore & it doesn't look like it's gonna clear the bridge (it did).

LMLoG ... Day 2

There was a beautiful sunrise while I walked from the hotel to the clubhouse.

LMLoG ... Day 1

After shooting headshots today, the sky was so nice that I had to go out & shoot some flags.

I took the ferry across the river, from the Westin to downtown Savannah, for dinner at Saigon.

Surf Fishing at Dawn

John & I met at the office at 6:15am to go surf fishing at the Cabana Club. I was hoping we'd catch a shark, since I always get jealous every time John shows me pix of the sharks he catches. I LOVE sharks!

John whips out his Fuji F30 to shoot the sunrise.


John uses the finest fresh Mayport shrimp for bait. The fish have no idea they're $12.99/pound. I learned all kinds of new words today ...
like "snood" (rhymes with hood).

I think he was referring to the second definition.

First we caught a catfish, but we threw it back.

It was a beautiful morning ... great weather & awesome light.


Mike & John discuss the tide. There were plenty of pups frolicking on the beach.

John gave me a great blog quote when he said, "Caryn, would you mind going over there & cutting the head off that bluefish?" (Sorry Evanne!) Of course it was followed by a smirk. I decided not to post the gory pictures even though there were some good ones. (Sorry again Evanne!)

John gives his bait one last pep talk.

The final cast.

After fishing, I went home, loaded my rental car & headed to Savannah for Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. This is the view from my room at the beautiful Westin Savannah Harbor Resort & Spa.

The bottlebrush flowers were in full bloom.

Snow

Last night I found this bottle of "Snow" at Target. I couldn't resist getting it for John. I photographed it on my kitchen table, right before I went to work.

Captain & Tennille (Tina-eel)

Captain & Tina came over after work. Captain went bonkers for my waffles! He ate a whole one & I think he would have eaten ten more, if we let him.

Men's Final

This is the photographers entrance to the stadium. Those Miami photogs sure are scantily clad! I wonder where they keep their CF cards?