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Festival of the Bluegrass 09

2009-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

As the longest running bluegrass festival in Kentucky, Festival of the Bluegrass is one of the top festivals in the country and has been voted Festival of the Year by IBMA. Located in the Kentucky Horse Park campground, I am able to combine my love for horses and passion for outstanding live music at the same time. What could be better? If you are one who likes to attend multi-day festivals, I assure you that you can't go wrong coming to the Festival of the Bluegrass. If you just want a taste of festival atmosphere and music, I would strongly encourage you to attend the Saturday evening set next year. I continue to be impressed with the level of talent and the energy of the crowd as they feed off each other in a way that produces those magical moments on stage that people talk about for years to come.

Rolex Kentucky 09

2009-05-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

The weather at Rolex Kentucky 09 was the best I have seen in years. Lucinda Fredericks was the only Australian entered in this years event riding Headley Britannia. Trailing Bettina Hoy on Ringwood Cockatoo who set the mark of 28.8 after a tremendous dressage round, Lucinda had no time faults or jumping penalties and kept her dressage score of 32.2 after cross country while Bettina had time penalty of 9.6 in cross county dropping her score to 38.4. Lucinda and Headley Britannia then jumped a perfect round in Stadium Jumping on Sunday to take first place back to Australia. It was a great 3 day event.

MeadowGreen Music Park in Clay City, KY

2009-04-02T03:08:00.000-07:00

I was invited to photograph a show at the MeadowGreen Music Park in Clay City a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Anyone with a love of traditional bluegrass music must make a trip to Clay City. But if you are not a huge bluegrass fan, you still have to go experience of the few remaining places where you can step back in time to the days when musicians like Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers and many others toured endlessly playing small town venues before mass media came along. The insides of MeadowGreen is a step back in time. The folks are purely down home good people. The facility is a museum of bluegrass history and the fried apple pie is to die for! Thanks Gaines. Hope to go back again soon!

ANTSY MCCLAIN and the TRAILER PARK TROUBADOURS

2009-03-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

I first discovered Antsy McClain many years ago when he first started the Trailer Park Troubadours. Instantly I fell in love with his combination of side splitting humor and heartfelt ballads of real life. Antsy looks at the world through the bay window of a double wide trailer in Pine View Heights. But his connection with real life through his words and music cuts straight to your heart in a way that is simply genius. He pokes fun at life's tricky situations that we all sometimes find ourselves in. Or he makes you dwell on those special tender moments in life from childhood to the loss of a parent, broken relationships and yes, growing old. The songs and CDs are as varied in style and subject matter as the man himself. But they always hit right at home, right down to the soul of who and what we are as people struggling through life together.

Antsy asked me to photograph the cover of his New Good Ole Days CD which I considered and honor. He has just released his latest work, Limited Edition Prince and I have no doubt this one will climb the charts of the Americana music ranks. Get out and see a live show of Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours. I will personally guarantee a good time will be had by all!

WOODFORD COUNTY KENTUCKY

2009-02-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

I have lived in Woodford County for the past 12yrs and have fallen in love with the natural beauty of this historic county. Before moving here, I would spend hours driving the backroads looking for unique and interesting sights to photograph. Woodford is home to some of the best known horse farms in the world and has been since the early days of thoroughbreds in Kentucky like the famed stallion Lexington bred on Woodburn Farm which was the birthplace of the Kentucky thoroughbred industry. Woodford County has a diverse landscape from the rolling bluegrass pastures in the north, the rugged cliffs of the Kentucky River to the south and west and the various forms of agriculture farm land throughout the county. Here are a variety of photos I have taken in Woodford County in the past couple years. I hope you enjoy the varied and stunningly beautiful landscapes of Woodford County Kentucky

TOMMY EMMANUEL CONCERT PHOTOS

2009-02-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

TommyFest at the Acoustic Guitar Masters Series was the first weekend in February. I must say that of all the concerts I have seen by Tommy Emmanuel, this was by far the best. For those of you who have seen Tommy, you know he never has a bad show. But sometimes he is just simply outstanding. This was one of those weekends. Joining him that weekend was the only other living CGP, John Knowles. Chet Atkins is the original Certified Guitar Player and in his lifetime he designated only three other people with this title. We lost Jerry Reed last fall but Tommy and John are still carrying the banner proudly and dedicate much of their music to Chet and Jerry. Also performing with Tommy this time was John Jorgenson who after appearing with Tommy on Friday night flew to California where he won a Grammy on Sunday night for his work on Brad Paisley's Cluster Pluck. Watching Tommy and Jorgenson perform together was one of the most awesome sets I have ever seen in live music, ever. No laser lights, no dancing girls in tight dresses, no huge stage show production, just two master musicians improvising as they went to create one fantastic and energetic performance. The background music for this set of photos is called Beetles Medley from Tommy's Live One CD. And yes, it's just one guy on one guitar even though it sounds like two or sometimes three different guitars playing. I have seen him do it with my own eyes several times. No fancy editing or over dubbing here. Just one great guitarist on one guitar. If you are a fan of Live Music, you must see Tommy perform to understand what all the fuss is about. Catch him next year at the Acoustic Masters Guitar Series or at a venue near you. Tommy tours worldwide so finding a venue near you won't be a problem.
Enjoy

KENTUCKY...ON ICE...

2009-02-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

When the ice storm was finally finished and roads became somewhat passable again, the true beauty of this destructive storm became even more evident. My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost power and especially those who still have no electricity to their homes. In the 2003 storm, my family and I were without power for over a week so I feel your pain. This time, I was able to concentrate solely on the beauty of the ice without worrying about the most basic needs of survival. I hope you enjoy the photos and while admiring the beauty, remember those hardest hit who are still coping with the destruction.

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ICE STORM KENTUCKY...

2009-01-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

I have had several people ask questions about the new blog. First of all, you will need to download Adobe Flash 9 to view the slideshow. Second, if you are interested in receiving notification when new photos are posted, subscribe to the Followers section at the right. Please feel free to comment or share your own photo links in the comment section below each post.

Here are some shots from the recent Ice Storm in Kentucky. It's amazing how the ice can be so destructive and beautiful at the same time. Most farm have not allowed their horses out much during the ice. Some finally started putting them out on Thursday and I will be out Friday getting some shots of the horses in this weather. Yearlings and Barren mares are the only ones they seem to be letting out right now. Stallion, pregnant mares and babies are being kept inside for the time being. More snow is in the forecast so we may be getting more photo ops soon. Hope some if this ice melts first!

Kentucky Winter Scenes

2009-01-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well, after much prodding from my wife, who happens to be my Business Partner, Web Master and Best Friend, I am once again going to try to blog about my photography and upcoming schedule. Please feel free to comment on the photos and link to my blog or send the link to anyone you believe would be interested.

Here in Kentucky we are in the heart of winter. While the temperatures have been unusually cold, we haven't had much snow. I am hoping the predicted snow over the next few days will come about and give me the opportunity to photograph some of the new foals that already arrived getting their first taste of Kentucky snowfall. I will post some of those photos here if I get them. Here are a few shots I have taken this winter which includes the first North American foal from Storm Surge that I took just a few days ago.