Thanks for your text messages of condolence. I was indeed crying myself a river while most of you were enjoying another trip to the Super Bowl. After several years of the same program I have the experience to know that the sun does indeed rise again in Philadelphia. A lot of talk this past week about team legacy and Mcnabb and Reid. It's unfortunate that this team will be remembered for their epic losses when it really mattered. This was actually a pretty cool season that had surprising longevity. Last nights game was the whole eagles season in one game. Bad start, comeback, lead and coming up short and giving it away. Incosistency. In some ways I don't see why this same team can't come back and jockey themselves into position to contend again next year. Truth is a young Defense let this one slip away and that D should only get better. That's about all the optimisim I have in me right now. I'm not calling for Reid or Mcnabb's head on a platter, though if the team decided to go in a new direction, I wouldn't be surprised or terribly dissapointed. File it under, been there- done that. They will have a hard off-season. The microscope just got bigger. I'm tired of reading the same story and watching the same big game. It's a different football tradition in this town when compared to Pittsburgh. Even if Pittsburgh loses yesterday or in two weeks, it's another successful season and you have the tradition that allows the fans continued hope and joy for next season regardless. Not the same here, not when you've lost 5 huge games in 8 years. It is what it is. The phillies took the curse off the cities shoulders, so it's gotta be the team itself that needs some maintenance.
Anyway, I'll stop feeling sorry for myself by the Super Bowl. I'll be here watching the Boss at halftime and serving up platters of sour grapes for friends and family. It's gonna be a cold cold week in Philadelphia. Good luck good people of Pittsburgh and enjoy your two week party, I wish we could have made it a state-wide bash. I'm going to go watch my Phillies DVDs now. Pitchers and catchers report in 25 days and 21 hours.
We spent New Years in State College with Kristen's Cousin and his wife, Jeff and Lisa. I shot their wedding this past summer and we've been to the Happy Valley a number of times over the past couple years to visit. We like hanging out with these guys, but I think it's also good for our soul to get out of Philly and lose the attitude for a couple of days. It's just a different pace that reminds me of all those years I lived in Indiana, PA.
Also visiting were Jeff and Lisa's friends, Rich and Lynn. They have 5 year old twins known as Ryder and Seneca. Jeff and Lisa have been big fans of these kids since the day they were born. We'd heard plenty of stories, but it was pretty cool to hang out with these two for a couple days.
I like kids, I like photographing kids. Kids generally like me, and kids always like getting their picture taken. (except wedding portraits) The joke of the weekend was something that Seneca said to her parents the first night. She said, "Jim is crazy, he likes to do what we do, except he's not a kid". Funny stuff. These two were seriously fun though. I kept waiting for their perfect disposition to flutter, but it never did. They are just really good kids who seem to like being really good kids. Ryder is the ladies man. He used to be best buds with Jeff, but now he's moved onto Lisa. Seneca just rolls her eyes as Ryder talks about the beautiful ladies.
It was a pretty simple New Years, Happy-Valley-Style. We went down to College Ave to check out the ice sculptures, reindeer and ice ramp. It was seriously about 5 degrees so our tour was brisk. The rest of the time was games, hot chocolate, football and cards.
New years day the guys took a hike with the dogs. I love these shots of Ryder running through the woods. I grew up in the country before moving to the mean streets of Wilkes-Barre. I used to spend entire days out in the woods with my dog. The light, long shadows, leading lines and a little mystery... My favorite shots of the weekend and exactly the kinds of images I like to make from time to time.
I'm a little backed up on my blog postings. I had a lot of wedding work to finish up. I'm up to my eyeballs in pictures and some fun stuff and I have some postings/pictures that I plan to get up here in the next couple days.
In December we saw Neil Young at the Spectrum. Kristen and I had tickets on the floor which usually means you can get as close as you want depending on how early you get there. We didn't get there too early but still ended up a row or two back. As usual I took my point and shoot camera, A Canon G10. This is my 5th Canon point and shoot and my third of the G-series. (I've sold the previous 4 to my friends) These days I'm more into grabbing a full clip/song and posting it on Youtube. (Here's the clip from this show)
I've gotten away from shooting pictures because I usually find it too frustrating. We've been up close and personal for a lot of shows and I've made some nice pictures, but I'm always thinking of the shots I could get if I had my real gear....and proper access. Half of the time I'm doing this on the sly and hoping that nobody takes my camera. I'm finding these days that most of the venues have come to the conclusion that they've lost this battle. Everyone has a 2-3 megapixel on their camera. Everyone is shooting their crappy pictures and nobody is too worried about it.
Now my camera is pretty good, but I'm still so limited by the light and space. Usually when I get home and weed through my soft pictures I can find a couple that I'm happy with. Here are a few of Neil Young from that night. It was a great show and I have to admit being a little star struck when ol' Neil trotted out on the stage. I mean that was Neil freakin' Young.
This has been something in the works for a while now. I've been wanting to put a slide show of my most current work together that also includes some general information about the studio. Most of my inquiries are by email and for the past year I've answered and followed up in a variety of ways. Now I think I can send this slide show link and feel that the bases are covered.
This has all come together at a pretty good time. Just yesterday I found out I was accepted into the WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist's Association). I don't belong to any other trade organizations, but I felt that this was one I wanted to be in. This was my third time applying so I was happy to finally get in.
This organization is also particular about music licensing. So instead of using commercial music for my slide show I asked my friend Matt in LA to write a short piece for me. I gave him a sense of the mood I was looking for and he went at it and came up with this piece of music. I like it more every time I listen to it...and I've listened to it about a hundred times now as I've put the slide show together. If you haven't been to Matt's website, check out all the shows he's written music for. To sit in his studio and watch this dude make music, like I did a couple weeks ago, is a sight to see. He's like a conductor of an orchestra except there is no orchestra, just keyboards, computer screens, mixing boards and a music software samples. I guarantee that if you watch TV even a little bit, you've already heard his music.
At any rate, the slide show is embedded on the blog, but I'd recommend clicking the link here to watch the HD version. The slideshow will also be linked to the JIMHARRISSTUDIOS.COM site.
I think I’m better now. I think I may be healed. It was one week ago this morning that we were in LA and our friend Ian was driving us to the airport. It was six in the morning and these guys weren’t up ten minutes and I was preaching of our return to the promised land. Three thousand miles and 28 years later we might just win the World Series. It was tough not watching the first four games in Philly, but my friends out there are all baseball people and almost all of them had their teams in the playoffs, but supported us all week, despite my dubious behavior at times.
When I took a self-imposed-time-out in another room, they sent in 16 month old Zoe with the Phillies foam finger to smoke me out. It was great time and now we were going back to Philly with a 3-1 lead in the World Series. We landed, grabbed our luggage and returned home only to run out the door to Henry James to watch it wrap up. Mother Nature had other things in mind. At least to some it was Mother Nature. I knew it was actually the Baseball Gods making sure that we really wanted/deserved it. All those people, including myself, that were already thinking of a Parade would be tested when the game was called in the 6th due to a rain monsoon. I heard it described as going to a New Years Party and midnight never came. We went home, we waited to see what would happen and in the meantime, I went up to my folks to get our dog Frank. In only a hundred mile distance I ran into a snowstorm in the Poconos and got stuck in stand-still traffic for a couple hours on Interstate 80. Just enough time to listen to sports radio and ponder how this could be the end-be-all of Philadelphia collapses. Only in Philadelphia could you have a 3-1 lead in the World Series and still feel like the Grinch with all the kids toys in a sleigh teetering on the cliff over Whoville.
The skies cleared and the game continued two days later. Only 3 innings. No problem. Kristen and I suited up and returned to Henry James for the strangest Game 5 in World Series history. It started with a Pinch Hitter and the first inning ended with the seventh inning stretch. The place was packed and we were squeezed in hanging on every pitch. We took the lead and then they tied it up again. Then Pat Burrell who hadn’t had a hit all series, smacked the longest double I’d ever seen in that park. That would eventually be the winning run. A strange thing happened though between that scored run and the euphoria that would follow the final strike out. I knew we were going to win. It was an unfamiliar and positive epiphany. To most it would seem like a no-brainer… those watching outside southeastern Pennsylvania. Watching Brad Lidge trot in I knew we were going to win this thing. I put my camera away and just watched it happen. It took forever and two days but we won the World Series.
I didn’t see anything on the TV after that last out. Nobody here did. We jumped around and hugged total strangers and then took it to the streets. We partied and danced in the traffic. When I looked at my phone an hour or so later, I had a half dozen voicemails and 15 text messages. Countless emails would follow the next day.
Now I don’t know if I deserved everyone’s best wishes. I know I haven’t always been the easiest to watch a game with. I could squeeze even the littlest joy out of a game if given the opportunity. As I told my buddy Ian, it isn’t easy. He's a Cubs fan, he understands. I don’t know why it’s so important. I’d like to blame genetics or someone else, like my dad who every summer drove us 200 miles to watch Phillies games when were kids. I’d like to blame the curse or even Joe Buck, but I think it was just 28 years of never winning.
The point is… I think I’m healed. Whatever happened this week was the right prescription to fully balance the likes of Jim Harris. Sure, I’ll probably need to tweak the cocktail in the years to come, but I think we’re all better now. With this World Series I promise to never boo again. I promise not to scare your children or pets. I promise to not make you want to root against me.
Friday morning I got up and joined the Phillies and two million people on Broad Street. I was there the weekend they closed the Vet, I was there the weekend they opened our new ballpark, but I’ve never seen a time when this city was so in love with itself. I think they call it pride. Who knew?
It's a good week in Philadelphia. So what better time to take a vacation? Yeah, as a lifelong professional Philadelphia Fan, you don't generally tend to take World Series possibilities into consideration when your scheduling your vacation back in June. No worries though. This is a very good problem to have. The city is already electric and we'll be taking some of that electricity to the west coast where we'll watch the games with our friends....one of which has saved just enough skin on his right arm for another Red Sox World Series tattoo. So we'll see how that goes...
I got a bunch of emails and calls from yuz guys to congratulate. I appreciate it and yes, I hope we deserve it. It's been a long time since '93. I was on a flight out of Toronto when the Blue Jays hit the walk off homer to win that series. It's been a longer time yet since my folks poked an eleven year old in a beanbag chair to wake up and watch Tug Mcgraw get the last out of our only World Series.
When you take this stuff seriously, and those of you that have watched just an ordinary regular season ballgame with me will tell you I take it too seriously, you really live for weeks like this. It's fun and while I'm thrilled we're in the series, I don't have to tell you that it's not good enough to lose now. I've said since mid-season that if the Phils got hot at the right time, they could win it all. When I was Johnny Negadelphian, my buddy Joe and my wife were there to maintain a positive perspective. The Phillies are in a great spot now, so why not.
It's been a story book year for my involvement with this team. Something I didn't really think about until I started to pull together the pictures for this posting. 2 Spring Training games in FLA with my folks, a couple regular season games and 2 post-season games. My buddy Jack (Team Tacos for you Fantasy Football people) hooked me up with the first playoff game....and my buddy Alan (Tusk Monkeys) sold me his extra playoff tix for the Dodgers series. When we got to our seats for this game my friend BJ was three seats over in the same row. BJ and I grew up on the same block and our Dads used to take us to the Vet for games when we were kids. It was just funny. There was one dude in that section that was wound as tight as me, living and dying on every pitch....and that was BJ (The Management for FF people). In addition to the games, I was able to do some work with the team this year. JRoll's charity event that I posted about previously and then the ALS event later in the summer. It's pretty cool to see these dudes outside the game and interacting in the real world. As far as I could tell, these guys are all pretty grounded and people you wouldn't mind hanging out with. I got to give Jroll pictures of his family from his event. I got to thank Chris Coste for answering my dad's email after he read his book, I got to wish Harry Kalas a speedy recover after his eye surgery and I got to tell Pat Burrell to adjust his stance and slow things down a little at the plate.
It's been a great year. Hopefully it has a little greatness yet to come. If we could win one more before I'm 40, there might be a chance that we could win one or two more before I'm 80. Maybe I'll be able to take it a little less serious...maybe I'll get a tattoo.
Eagles, Cowboys, Monday Night Football. I've told anybody that would listen to me this week that it's too early for this. I'm not ready for a Birds/Cowboys clash in week 2. Why couldn't we do the Cardinals or a quiet AFC match-up. Even a division rival warm up with the Skins or the Giants would have been better for my health and the collective health of our brotherly city.
After we saw a pleasant season opener thrashing of the Rams last week, we have to go straight to a playoff type game. I know as well as anyone that a win doesn't mean we're in the Super Bowl and a loss shouldn't mean the fastest route to the Walt Witman Bridge, but it will seem that way. Yeah, last week was what I would call a perfect game. We won by 35 points, no penalties, no injuries and I didn't swear once. My wife and I both enjoyed a football game. Why can't it be this way every week?
When I think of the Eagles-Cowboys prime-time rivalry I recall many many games and most of them didn't have a happy ending. The Eagles have done well in recent years, but it hardly fades the memories of all those losses to the Cowboys of the nineties.
I've watched many of these games with my Dad and my Uncle Bobby. We've all been long suffering, but at least my Uncle has the comfort of that championship back in 1960. It's been a lot of years since then, but I'm still jealous that he has such a memory.
I remember a game back in '96 when we gathered at my folks place on Sterling Street where I grew up in Wilkes-Barre. My Uncle was in visiting from El Paso. He showed up in his usual Eagles wardrobe, head to toe. New this year though was his inflatable Eagles helmet. I don't see much of these anymore, but they were pretty popular 10 years back. My uncle loved this helmet and was proud to add it to his game-day uniform. Earlier that day, he was transporting the helmet from the car to my Grandmother's house where he was staying. He caught the helmet on the rose bushes out front and his prized helmet deflated before he got to the door.
My Grandmother took out her sewing kit and a First Aid kit and patched the helmet in time for the game that Monday night. He showed up with his repaired baloon helmet and we watched one of the most enjoyable first halves I could remember. The Eagles were leading the Cowboys after so many seasons of losing to them. The tides turned quickly as the second half began with a season ending injury to our quarterback, Rodney Peete and the Birds ended up losing 23-19.
The memory of my Uncle walking back to his car after that game sums up so many Eagles Cowboys games for me. It was dark and I could see him under the one single street lamp on Sterling Street fumbling for his keys. His head was hung low and his patched over-sized inflatable helmet was nearly out of air.
