Through The Lens:

Hang On!, originally uploaded by erictwright.

hey just hold on for a sec-i’m gonna carry you down the road

selfp1.jpg, originally uploaded by erictwright.

and andy

this will never work-ever, originally uploaded by erictwright.

hey reporters and editors, nothing can ever be done start to finish in 5 minutes-ever. I can shoot a picture and get IDS in that time-but to find the right people-get in and out of my car and off to the next assignment - nope, just won’t work.

I think all of you just need a big reality suppository. This is the kind of nonsense that cascades and causes me to become extra snarky. So please excuse me if I bite your head off this afternoon. “Bless yer heart”

Well I managed to get out of town for the weekend. Gadsden lulls you into a trance- when you first get here you realize that it isn’t a very fun place to live and how note how little there is to do or see. Then it grabs hold and you become apathetic and think-wow it isn’t so bad we have a Chili’s, Applebee’s and a movie theater.

Then you get out of town for the weekend and it is as if you stepped back out into the real world. You see interesting stores, green spaces, non-chain restaurants, people between the ages of 20 and 45! What a revelation.

Well after getting home from work on Friday evening at an obscenely late hour I loaded up most of my apartment into my car. Everything I needed to shoot and transmit a freelance gig and all of my bike/tri gear.

I drove to Tuscaloosa in the pouring rain, had a near death experience with a retired police cruiser hydroplaning and spinning across three lanes of traffic missing me by feet and then safely arriving at the hotel at 1:30 in the morning. I went over to the University of Alabama Campus and shot the Olympic triathlon Trials.

The trials: Wow this is a whole new flavor of triathlon. Instead of a few hundred people treading water then all taking off to swim around some buoys. The athletes lined up on a dock and dove in all at one in front a huge crowd. They swam remarkably quickly and in each race one of the athletes opened up a big gap. The bike course was rather different from other triathlons that I have seen. Drafting was legal so it wasn’t a matter of getting on a super aero bike with a pointy teardrop helmet, spinning a big disc wheel and time trialing. No siree this was a road race complete with some mini packs, chase groups and break always. That said it was almost like a crit as we had eight laps to see the racers come by. Then off to the run with some of the fastest transitions I have ever seen, they would run in and as the wheels of the bike were still spinning, grab running shoes and be off again. Then the run, again 4 laps which gave us lots of time to check split times and to see tactics evolve. The trials were amazingly fun to watch but that the same time demoralizing-these people are in a different universe of speed.

Ok-off to work- I’ll add about Sunday when I get a break

sandrockwestbrook_1_ew.jpg, originally uploaded by erictwright.

I miss shooting baseball.

This is my first game of the year-but ot takes a a few games to get into the groove. Lets hope I get to shoot a few more games for the state playoffs start.

apples.jpg, originally uploaded by erictwright.

these count as a fruit, right?

While an awful video it is intersting to see the course from a local’s perspective and a newspaper person too. The bike course looks a bit tough-but for me i live for the hills and this will equal out some of the advantages the people with the aero bikes and helemets will have.

I am just worried about our swim leg. 64 sounds a tad brisk.

working, originally uploaded by erictwright.

working, originally uploaded by erictwright.

you see me peeps need the autograph
its not everyday they run into an intrepid award winning photojournalist on the streets of Gadsden Alabama.

I have to keep my public happy.

photos by Ron Reaves | Gadsden Times