So excited *bounces* | Golden Skate

So excited *bounces*

Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I just accepted a [volunteer] job with a local sled dog race as their official photographer. It's a two day race that happens the last weekend of January! So stoked! The race was almost cancelled this year so I'm offering my services free of charge. This is a big opportunity for me, and I got it based on my work alone not because I know someone who knows someone!

Guess I'll be missing the US Nationals again on TV, and I'm not so bummed about missing it live, now! :laugh:
 
O

Olympia

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Toni, that's great! Very impressive. Enjoy every minute of your assignment. You can always watch the skating on YouTube. Real life is much more fun, so go for it!
 
Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Oh, I agree. Mushing is less elitest in a way as well... though a lot of skaters are down to earth the super stars still have their inner circle... whereas the mushing superstars are still approachable as people not celebrities, if that makes sense.

well, okay, I lie... Doug Swingley was very full of himself and was not down to earth, but most in mushing didn't like him anyway (and he still doesn't get it, thinks we don't like him because he was an "outsider" :rolleye: he was, I think, the only musher people weren't sorry to see retire)
 
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Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
SkateFiguring said:
I imagine they are well grounded by their dogs who don't give them a pass as superstars.
Click to expand...

you would hope... it's hard to be proud when you're talking to a guest to your dog lot and the dog pees on them (or you). Thankfully I am neither a musher, nor have I been peed on. :laugh: But I've seen it so many times, it's hysterical when it isn't you...kinda.
 
CoyoteChris

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
Congrats! But it Seems like you do have some interesting K-9s up there. My wife does dog agility and I have never seen that kind of behavior...maybe you could shoot some dog shows for a bit of cash....?
 
Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
there aren't many agility programs where I am - that I know of - but possibly. :)

ETA: As I said on the Iditarod thread last year, I will be trying to cover the sled dog races on my blog. Not so much the smaller races (there's one just about every weekend and without being there it's hard to keep up on most of them) but the larger ones or ones I'm involved with. http://tonichelle.blogspot.com
 
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CoyoteChris

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
Well, its just a thought. Anchorage must have a pretty good sized kennel club.
http://alaskakennelclub.org/
And then there is the Kenai kennel club, etc. Dog people love to have pics of their dogs. My wife gets them for $25 to $35
at each confirmation, agility and obiedeance show she goes to...then there is tracking, hearding, flyball and mushing.
I have a sign on my door. "A dog person and a normal person live here." My wife covered it up with her own sign.
"An Ice skating fan and a normal person live here." :rofl:
Anyway, good luck with your dreams. I gave up on mine and went to tech school instead to learn to fix radios....best thing that ever happened
to me. Found the love of my life at 35 years old....it could happen to you too!
 
O

Olympia

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
What a great story, Chris! Isn't it wonderful when our life finds us where we stand?

I like your ideas for Tonichelle. I looked at her link, and her photos are wonderful. I'll keep checking it, Toni, and I look forward to seeing what you write and photograph about the races.
 
Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Unfortunately with gas prices (and the trecherous highway) I'm not sure Anchorage is something I could do on a regular basis... not sure how much the Kenai Kennal Club actually does group wise.

as much as I love dogs, though, I like photographing people more.
 
P

PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Good luck with your photography. I hope it works out. :yay:

I do some myself. I am one of the few photographers I know who still shoot film.
 
CoyoteChris

CoyoteChris

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
What's this film of which you speak? :) Yes, Olympia, I have to say I am blessed with a beautiful wife I love with all my heart and I had a great and lucrative carrerr, although high stress. But I will also say something my father always said.
"To some degree, you can make your own luck."
I didnt wait for someone to find me, I worked hard to find her. Every search for a mate? IT IS NO FUN and its a bunch of hard work. But worth it. A wife is heaven's last best gift. As far as the carrerr, well, that was a bunch of school, learning how to play well with others, and being honest and law abiding enough to be able to pass a six week backround check that the State Patrol demanded. And a bit of luck on top of that, too.
Well, I am no Michelle Kwan, but I think she got to where she is by hard work, walking the line, a bit of luck, and a great coach who didn't beat her. Mr. C. may not be the best coach for everyone, but he gets my vote for best coach ever.
 
O

Olympia

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
You're right, Chris. We make our own luck to some degree. Who was it that said that genius was 2 percent inspiration and 98 percent perspiration? A similar concept. I agree about Kwan, too. Though her talent was great, there were skaters with more natural gifts in some areas--for instance, her notorious lack of flexibility. But few skaters had greater self-discipline or drive than Kwan. So whatever she had, she used to the utmost. And the wonderful work of Frank Carroll, giving her sound technique from the start, was a huge part of her success and her high quality. I think Mr. Carroll would be at or near the top of my list of great coaches, too, largely because of how beautifully he nurtured Michelle's talent.

Sorry, Toni, to talk about Michelle on a thread of yours. Back to you! If I took pictures, I'd prefer to photograph people also. My favorite painters are almost all portraitists--Rembrandt, Thomas Eakins, Gainsborough, Sargent. I love dolls because of their faces. (Well, also because of their clothes.) And I'm even a silent movie buff, because, as Norma Desmond said in Sunset Boulevard, "we had faces then." I love looking at vintage photos of people. It's like a time machine.
 
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Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I'll forgive the MK talk... maybe LOL

tomorrow night is the first meeting for this year's T200 for volunteers. Yay! :)
 
Tonichelle

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Kodak is planning to file for chapter 11, if they haven't already. :( Such a sad day in photography. I still have a ton of Kodak film boxes and b&w printing supplies.
 
O

Olympia

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I heard about that. It's very sad. Even as a non-photographer, I understand the impact of this move.

My aunt lived long enough ago that when she worked in a pharmacy, they used to develop the film on site. So she learned a lot about photography and film developing. She loved taking pictures of the family, and quite a few of them are very striking.
 
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