Ahhh (or ugh?), NASCAR!

Covered the NASCAR Sprint Cup series in Joliet, Illinois over the weekend and it was actually a pretty decent race. I had a few nice pictures and the finish was exciting, though qualifying was washed out by a wicked thunderstorm.

Now I'm not saying I miss shooting NASCAR though. I used to cover about a dozen or so races a year which equaled out to about a third of the season. I am now down to covering two or three races a year.

I have to say I don't really miss shooting it, however there are things about the sport that grab my attention. The fans, for one. They are pretty much true fanatics. A lot of them would probably die for their favorite driver, although that driver in all honesty probably couldn't care less about his fans and that's kind of a shame. That's one of the reasons I'm kind of "turned off" by the sport thesedays.

Don't get me wrong, I think the loyalty some fans show to the drivers is kind of scary, but I just think the drivers could be a bit more appreciative than they are.

Anyway, here are a few pics to take a gander at that caught my eye. I will post an update in the Recent Work section of my website as well when I get a chance.

Joe

Shot a few pics of the family as we celebrated 4th of July at home. After surviving lighting fireworks the night of the 4th I figured I might as well make some pics today!

We have shots of my mom with the kids, my wife (she's not flipping me off...at least I don't think!), my oldest daughter Kristen (who takes the best pics of anyone in the family) and our dog Bella.

Now off to Chicago on Sunday for A's at White Sox.

A few selects from a recent shoot for ESPN Magazine. NBA player and former Ohio State Buckeye Greg Oden (who hasn't played a minute in the NBA yet) was rehabbing a knee injury in Indy and I followed him around during a workout with his trainer. One photo finally ran in the new issue of the mag, and I had a pretty decent batch of selects despite a very dimly lit gym. With the help of an assistant I brought in a few White Lightning strobe units to bounce around the gym and actually made it look pretty natural. Be sure to check out my Recent Work for a look at a few more shots at www.robbinsphoto.net on a computer near you!

Joe