Runners World Magazine Half Marathon • Bethlehem, PA

I had what seems like a rare weekend day from not shooting, I shot photos! Actually, my wife was competing in a half marathon in Bethlehem, PA. It was a beautiful fall day and I was surprised to find Bethlehem is a revived city. The old steel mills bathed in the early A.M. light held my interest as I walked past. Congratulations to all the runners who competed and finished the race - especially Bethany who finished in under her anticipated time!

Linsday & Mike Engaged! • Valley Forge National Park • Art Museum • Center City Philadelphia

This is going to be a long one! Lindsay and Mike were ambitious with their engagement photos. I'm always up for anything, and I love walking around just kind of finding stuff as we go along. They were up for this and more! "Can we go stand in the tall grass? Can we climb up this hill? Oh, the covered bridge is a quarter mile down this sketchy road? Sure we'll go." And after about 10 seconds of being photographed they were completely relaxed. They were up for just about everything and had a blast climbing around Valley Forge National Park, walking around (Lindsay in high heels no less!)the Art Museum, Love Park and City Hall.

Melissa & Bob Married! • Corinthian Yacht Club • Essington, PA

Melanie and Bob had an intimate wedding ceremony this past weekend. It was a new venue for me, the Corinthian Yacht Club just south of Philadelphia along the Delaware River. It was a sunny, windy but comfortable day for their outside wedding. After the ceremony we had a chance to walk around and make some photos on the ground. I found the inside really fascinating though as the club has been there for a while. While everyone was enjoying their dinner, I was able to sneak around and make photos of the sailboat hull studies and old nautical antiques.

Avish Parashar at the Federal Reserve • Keynote Speech

I had the pleasure of attending and photographing a new keynote speech by Avish Parashar. I can imagine speeches at the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia are pretty dull and boring, but Avish is a stand up comedian and motivational speaker who had even the most straight faced bankers laughing.

Find out more about Avish here:

Drag Racing at Maple Grove Raceway • Reading, PA

Something different! That's where this one is going. When I realized the drag races at Maple Grove Raceway outside Reading, PA were rained out Sunday, I thought it'd be a great opportunity take the day off and head up to take photos. The crowd was minimal which allowed for amazing access. That's one of the great things about going to an professional NHRA race. You can see the teams tear apart the engines from just a few feet away and the drivers are always signing autographs and making themselves available.
A crew member adjusts the tire pressure.
One of the best parts of these races is the access. You can watch crew members rebuild engines from feet away.
Brendan Bernstein does an interview with ESPN prior the the race.
The crew warms up the Jeg's Pro Stock car prior to racing.
V. Gaines signs an autograph for a young fan. He later went on to win the race.
The tools get used and abused every weekend.
Ron Capps leaves the start line. Unfortunately for him, he smoked the tires and lost the race.
....but not after recovering and giving it all he had to get it to the finish line as fast as possible.
Doug Kalitta's crew members pack up his Top Fuel dragster after losing in the second round.
The amount of force these cars put on the tires in immense. You can see just how out of round the tires on Brandon Berstein's dragster become at over 320mph.

I couldn't imagine riding a motorcycle from 0-198mph in a quarter of a mile.
Khalid alBalooshi took the win after Antron Brown smoked the tires in the final round.