RAW EMOTION

Raw emotion — it's what I love about watching and covering youth sports. I haven't done much covering of youth sports since leaving the newspaper world, but I am doing plenty of watching it now with my son and my oldest daughter both taking part in sports.

My son is going to be entering his freshman year of football and I'm excited to see what high school will do for him with his football goals. 

My oldest daughter is keeping busy this early summer, competing in recreational soccer, 9U softball and also running club at school. She sure does have a lot of energy to be able to do all of this.

It's a thrill watching them when they make a big sack in the football game or score the first goal of the night or hit that ball flying out of the pitching machine for the first time. It's that reaction on their face that I love getting to see.

Just yesterday during recreational soccer, my daughter took the ball down field just after starting the game and kicked it into the goal for the first goal of the game. She clinched her fists, raised them and started to jump up and down. I'm sure it was a great feeling for her, but it was also for me to see the joy on her face.

My son had that joy when he was younger and in youth football and T-Ball, but now that emotion has changed slightly as he has gotten older. He gets more intense now as he's gotten older and while he may not jump up and down like he used to, you can still tell he enjoys it when he does something good.

There are several more weeks left to soccer and softball and then football starts up again soon, so it's going to be fun watching them as they grow and become more confident in their skills.

I know sometimes they might get annoyed with me for bringing my camera everywhere, but someday they'll appreciate having these photos to show their own kids, plus I'll always have them to look back at and remember their youth years.

Enjoy the photos!

Water Is Everywhere

Water is a part of life and it surrounds us all the time — within yourself, in your home, in your community, everywhere.

Why not take a closer look at water? That's what I'm doing with my latest 365 project - H2O 365. Every one of my photographs will have water in it in some form — liquid, solid, gas (steam). It can be a close up of water droplets or a wider view of a river flowing under a bridge or anything in between. 

Just for fun, here are a few facts about water:

• There are 15,074 documented lakes in Wisconsin (that's where I live). Of these, about 40 percent have been named. They range in size from small one- and two-acre ponds to 137,708-acre Lake Winnebago. The lakes range in depth from a few feet to 350 feet for Wazee Lake.
• Closer to where I live, near Three Lakes, Wis., is the home of the largest inland chain of lakes in the world, consisting of 28 interconnected lakes.
• According to the Food Surveys Research Group, on any given day, 76 percent of individuals age 2 years and over in the U.S. drink some plain water. The average daily intake is 3.9 cups per individual.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says there are 123,439 lakes in the U.S. Here are the top 10 largest by surface area: 

                       1) Lake Superior (31,700 square miles) 

                       2) Lake Huron (23,000 square miles) 

                       3) Lake Michigan (22,300 square miles) 

                       4) Lake Erie(9,910 square miles) 

                       5) Lake Ontario (7,340 square miles)

                       6) Great Salt Lake (Utah) (2,117 square                                                                                miles)

                       7) Lake of the Woods (Minnesota) (1,485 square miles)

                       8) Iliamna Lake (Alaska) (1,014 square miles)

                       9) Lake Oahe (North Dakota & South Dakota) (685 square miles)

                     10) Lake Okeechobee (Florida) (1,714 square miles)

All of the photos for my newest project are being shot with a DSLR camera and lenses — no camera phone this time. Take a moment and look through my images as they are updated daily on my website: CLICK HERE

This last time I did a 365 project was about two years ago when I did a camera photo 365 project with all the photos being in black and white. You can find those images on my website still here: CLICK HERE

Enjoy the photos!