This past weekend I worked a booth at the Oklahoma City Marathon Expo and shot the race as I routinely do.  It’s one of my favorite races to shoot for a couple of reasons.  The first reason is that it is simply a wonderful event that was created out of a horrific tragedy.  Every year, survivors and family members of victims run the marathon to remember those 168 who died on that fateful April day.  The race start takes place at the bombing memorial.  This is a truly majestic place and one heck of a memorial to those lives lost.  I have spent several evenings in my lifetime just walking through the memorial.  I actually fell in love with my wife as we walked through the memorial only a few days after we first met.  It will always hold a special place in my heart.  The second reason is that this is the first race I ever took photos at.  My dad started running the event in 2008 and I had just gotten into digital photography.  I lugged my camera around for three years in a row getting finishing photos of my dad.  This is no easy feat as there are high fences surrounding the finish line and the bleachers are typically full.  It has been a whole lot easier these past three years as I have had media credentials to get my at the finish line.  This was our first year working the expo and it was a crazy!   We saw over 100 patients in two days and had over 150 sign up.  The line was over 2 hours at several points and many people simply could not wait.  I primarily did very fast evaluations to tell the runners why they were in pain and then I did a few minutes of Active Release, Graston, or FAKTR treatments on them followed by Kinesio or sports taping.  I can’t count how many times a runner would say something like , “That’s amazing!” after applying one of my highly specialized tape jobs.  We were able to get a lot of runners through the race who may not have been able to otherwise.  My lovely wife and mother-in-law took care of the people walking around as I went to work non-stop for about 8-10 hours each day.  I got a few minutes for food and a restroom break, but that was it.  I absolutely love that kind of flow for two days, but I could never do that in my office.  I like about 20-30 minutes with my patients and 10-15 just isn’t enough.  By the end of the day, all of the patients started to run together in my mind and I couldn’t keep straight what treatments or tape I did on who.  It wasn’t until I saw many of my tape jobs in my race photos that I remembered what I had treated on those individuals.  Jason Shackleford of KJRH Channel 2 in Tulsa stopped by to do a brief interview with me while I was working on a patient.  Trani Matthews of Tulsa Runner and Sean Call of Oklahoma Sports and Fitness were also featured in the interview.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

On Sunday the weatherman had predicted 50% chance of thunderstorms but we lucked out with a light drizzle/rain that started about 2 hours into the race.  Last year was the absolute WORST marathon conditions imaginable as there was a constant cold rain, with high winds and hail.  Click HERE to read that blog.   I stuck around for about three hours and primarily got shots at the start and finish.  I was so worn down from the expo that I just didn’t feel like getting out on the track.  I also wanted to get photos of the first half marathoners at the finish as I have missed that in years past.  I was able to photograph about half a dozen of my patients crossing the finish line which was a great feeling as a few of them have battled so courageously over the past couple of months fighting off chronic injuries.  Sunday was a big day for them, and a triumph on many levels.  I was so proud of them all and the hugs I got at the finish line were among the highlights of the weekend .  I did not stay long enough to see all of my runners finish the marathon, but they all did fantastic and I’m proud to call my self their doctor.  I Borrowed a Canon 1D Mark IV from Canon CPS for the event and was fairly impressed by its low light performance as most images are shot at 3200-4000 ISO due to the rain and overcast.  However, the autofocus was simply poor and even with the settings dialed in for running, I had a majority of my shots out of focus or very soft on the focus.  I had previously considered getting a 1D Mark IV in leu of the very long delay on the 1D X, but have now decided it’s worth the wait if the autofocus is improved.  This marks my 5^th race to shoot this year and I’m right on track for the 10-15 I have planned for this year.  It’s going to be interesting to see how good the photos get after I add the 1D X to the mix.  I’m excited to say the VERY least.  I hope all of you who partook in the race this weekend had a great time and paused to remember those 168 lives who were lost 17 years ago.  We run to remember them, and I hope that you thought of them as you ran towards your goals!  For all of those that I had the opportunity to work on at the expo, I hope that it was worth your time and I hope you have a new found respect for chiropractors as we’re not all that bad.  HA HA!  Enjoy May everyone, I’ll post soon on some new things happening!   -Barnezy-

This past Friday evening, Ali and I went to watch Corey White open up for Roy Clark in front of a sold out crowd at the Hard Rock Casino’s “The Joint.”  I met corey last year while shooting for The Matt Roberson Band at the YEC event in Norman, OK.  He’s a really nice guy from Bixby, OK who is an exceptional singer/song writer.  When he asked me if I wanted to come to the show and hang out backstage and take some photos I was pretty stoked.  He has opened for Roy Clark on several occasions, but this event was a little different as it was Roy Clark’s 80th birthday celebration.  Because of the nature of this event, Corey only had time for three songs but the crowd absolutely loved him.  This was the first time I have ever got hear him sing live.  I shot everything on my Canon 7D with my 200mm F2 IS and 8-15mm Fisheye lenses.  I’m still waiting on the Canon 1D X which has now been officially delayed until June at the earliest.  In light of this, I contacted Canon Professional Services and asked to borrow a Canon 1D Mark IV to shoot the OKC Marathon later this month.  I also have a wedding or two to shoot this summer so I may have to borrow a Canon 5D Mark III or Mark II for those events as the Canon 7D will not be enough.  On another note,  I’m currently sitting on the couch watching the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornados from yesterday.  We are very relieved that Tulsa was spared this time around.  This past week was the busiest I’ve had yet in practice so I’m a little run down, but this quiet weekend at the house has allowed me to recover and make a serious dent in my “to-do” list.  I hope you all stayed safe this weekend and check back soon for a really cool video I shot in a very fast car this past week.  -Barnezy-

This past weekend I travelled to Oklahoma City to spend some time with the in-laws as well as to shoot an event called the “Princess Run & Little Dude Dash.”  I was contacted by the director of the event a few weeks ago and he basically told me that it was a festival for kids that included a running event for the girls as well as the boys.  IT was held at the Devon Boathouse just south of downtown Oklahoma City.  This is a phenomenal facility and an Olympic training center for rowing.  I would have liked to spent a few hours just taking photos of the boathouse, but I was only able to nab a handful of shots while I was there.  A good friend of mine, Abraham Wright spoke to some of the kids before the event and gave a very nice Gospel presentation.  Abraham played along side me at NEO and then he later played at Colorado and for the Miami Dolphins.  He was the nicest guy at NEO and that trend continued as he spoke to those kids for 20 minutes.  The festival was great with face painting, jupiter jumps, bicycle courses, etc.   The OKC Barons had a booth where kids could try to hit a hockey puck into a dryer.  There were also some people from the boathouse giving kids rowing lessons and having a “row-off” contest between kids.  The OKC fire department was there with a firetruck from 1910.  The kids were ringing the bell and winding up the alarm.   The races were great and many of the parents accompanied their kids on the one mile run.  It was a great event and the kids seemed to be having the time of their lives.  Hopefully I’ll be around next year to cover it again.  If you’d like to download or order prints of the event, you can do so HERE.  I’m covering the Aquarium Run here in Tulsa this weekend and then spending some time with my family for Easter.  I had a patient ask me if I was working on Good Friday this week and my reply was, “Jesus didn’t take the day off!”  HA HA!  I look forward to serving my patients in a much smaller capacity than He did.  I hope you all enjoy this wonderful Easter weekend and try to look through the bunny rabbits and see the beauty of a God who saved us from ourselves.  -Barnezy-