May in photos

I think it's pretty easy to say that May was the best and most exciting month I've had at the Tribune. There are always ups and downs, but May was mostly ups. Instead of the usually bombardment of sports, I got to stretch my legs in the realm of news (even spot news) and had some unique opportunities presented to me, such as being able to go up in the sky with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute team.

It was a great month. I came out with some shots I liked and, as the recurring theme seems to be, learned plenty.

Here's to more months like May.

BEE KEEPERS

Molly Thomas, 10, collects stray bees with a custom made collection box, powered by a shop vacuum. The Boone Regional Bee Keepers hand out boxes containing approximately 10,000 bees and one queen bee Sunday, May 4, 2014 at the Fear Fest parking a lot across from the Midway gas station west of Columbia, MO..

EARTH DAY

SPOT NEWS

A tree lies in a house at 8 E. Parkway Dr. where it fell during Saturday night's storm. No one was injured in the incident.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Dan Nerling waits in the rain Saturday during the 26th annual Memorial Day Weekend Salute to Veterans Airshow. The show was interrupted by rain storms during its first day.

Mildred Shipley, center, talks to Margie Diggs and Lawrence Diggs, a veteran of World War II and recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, during a rain delay at the air show Saturday.

Oregon

Oregon coast

 I was briefly in Yahats, Oregon a week ago for a friend's wedding. It was nice to see a couple friends that I haven't seen since high school, basically. I took out the 50mm and showed it some love, seems as it's a beautiful lens that's been neglected since I received my 24-70mm.

Amazingly enough, the only day it didn't rain was the day of the wedding. The wedding was beautiful, and I was fortunate enough to meet and house with a bunch of lovely English people (Lawrence, family, and friends) who kept the laughs perpetually coming.

Here's some personal pictures I took while on the trip. Next up I'll be doing the wedding photos, but that requires actually finishing those first. This was a bit of a warm up session to prepare me for that editing massacre.

May the photo gods bless me with some perfection and speedy editing.

Home for those few days.

Keili

Lawrence & Phil perfecting the running jump to piggy back maneuver.

Lawrence & Shanelle

 And a miniscule preview of the upcoming wedding post...

Flying high: Look ma, no doors!

During Memorial Day weekend, I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to go up with the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team as they performed at an air show here in Columbia at the Columbia Regional Airport.  

I wasn't as happy as I could have been with the shoot, mainly as, despite my best efforts, I was beaten to the both the seats that were directly next to the door, having to settle for a seat one up from there and having to shoot over and around other media members. It was terribly frustrating and definitely cost me some great photos. As such, I've just been kind of sitting on my photos from that shoot. 

But, without further ado, here are some shots from that one time I got to go up in that plane without doors.

WWI era planes circle Columbia Regional Airport as the Golden Knights plane waits on clearance for take-off. 

Racing to put on their helmets during take-off.

Columbia Regional Airport from 5,000 ft. up.

A lovely, sideways video of landing, complements of my Instagram:

Peeking out at the rain.