Space Shuttle Endeavour’s last launch was scheduled for Friday, but was scrubbed after a heater problem in an auxiliary power unit. The trip to Titusville was only my second attempt to see a space shuttle launch in person after an ill-fated attempt two years ago. This time I carpooled down with Matt Stamey from the Gainesville Sun. I met people who had traveled from all over the country to see the launch, one couple had biked hundreds of miles, and another had traveled from Kansas. Some of them wisely allowed extra days for potential scrubs. After shooting the morning arrivals, I caught lunch with Stamey at Kloiber’s Cobbler Eatery, a great local place that wasn’t that packed for a launch day. While editing our early take there, we got the news of the scrub. The shuttle is scheduled to try again on Monday, which means I can’t make a return trip, but what I experienced today wasn’t a loss of time.

Spectators grab waterfront seats for the planned launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

Spectators play cards while waiting for Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch at Space View Park in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

Spectators wait for Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch at Space View Park in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

Souvenirs on sale at Space View Park before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A model space shuttle on sale at Space View Park before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A man buys space shuttle souvenirs at Space View Park before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A merchant shows customers space shuttle souvenirs at Space View Park before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A spectator sleeps on the Max Brewer Memorial Parkway bridge before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A boy feels an imprint of astronaut Jerry Carr’s hands before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A hobby shop displays model rockets before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A guitarist plays at Kloiber’s Cobbler Eatery before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

Cobblers set out to cool at Kloiber’s Cobbler Eatery before Space Shuttle Endeavour’s planned launch in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A young boy attempts to close an umbrella after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

Spectators sit by the waterfront, with the Vehicle Assembly Building in the background, after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A spectator cooks hotdogs after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A girl plays with a dog in the water after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A demonstrator holds a sign near a protest after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed in Titusville, Fla., on April 29, 2011.

A car with a space shuttle vanity license plate leaves Titusville, Fla., after Space Shuttle Endeavour’s launch was scrubbed, on April 29, 2011.

The Great Underwear Dash from Andrew Stanfill on Vimeo.

On Thursday night, I caught a show by Astronautalis on campus at the University of Florida. I saw him once before earlier this year and I was happy to see him perform again. He has a very unusual vocal style for rapping, with an almost Tom Waits gravel to his voice.

David Hobby speaks off in the distance of the cavernous hall at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Hobby gave a presentation starting with the basics and working his way up to more advanced lighting arrangements. He used recent shoots as examples and had some phrases that he’d definitely been repeating for years, like “more lights, more confidence.” I enjoyed a tangent Hobby made on building local communities with other photographers. He shared how he would assist other photographers in his area and they would do the same when not working on a project, since another photographer is always better than an assistant and working is better than nothing when you don’t have something to shoot.

A participant speaks on the phone in front of a window in the Georgia World Congress Center.

Following a quick lunch break, it was Joe McNally’s turn on the stage. Unlike Hobby, he went for live demonstrations, and he also used TTL on his flashes as he’s known for. Though many of the demonstrations went off with a hitch, he ended up with the flashes set on manual for several others after the flashes disobeyed his wishes. McNally’s presentation finished with a great exercise in audience interaction. As most of the crowd had brought all their gear, he asked every Nikon shooter to bring out their flashes and set them to his channel on TTL. He had single light on the stage for a subject and used about 150 flashes from the audience to fill the background. It had an effect similar to cell phones at a rock concert.

Participants hold up their Nikon flashes during a demonstration by Joe McNally.

While many of the techniques shared were basics, it was still a great refresher. And despite being one of the larger gatherings of photographers I’ve been to, there was never really much time to introduce yourself to people beyond those sitting around you. It might be nice to see a meet and greet gathering after these in the future, but that could always be organized by a local photo group.

Joe McNally speaks with participants during a break in his demonstration at the Flash Bus Tour.

A crowd of high school volleyball players and their parents, wrestling fans in town for Wrestlemania and photographers filled the food court at the CNN Center.

People attending a high school volleyball tournament walk through the Georgia World Congress Center.

Mark Johnson, a University of Georgia photojournalism professor, photographs a fan who was attending a Wrestlemania event in another hall at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Attendees leave the Georgia World Congress Center after sessions with Joe McNally and David Hobby at the Flash Bus Tour.

I’ve taken recently to keeping my camera by my side at all times, something I needed to do earlier. Tonight seemed like a good time to post some photos from late night outings over the last few weeks.

1982 has a rather uniquely decorated bathroom.

Beer pong always brings a house party together.

A band performs during a charity event at :08 in Gainesville.

The Bull, a recent bar addition to downtown Gainesville, has a very hip atmosphere and a solid beer selection.

The Bull bar in Gainesville has a pretty unique mounted insect collection under the bar, patrons can even ask for a loop to view it.

I was passed down a Kodak Junior No. 1 from my grandfather recently and of course I had to shoot on it immediately. I find it pretty amazing that the 120 film size was in use 100 years ago and I can spool on a modern roll without any modification to the camera. It’s in great shape with only one light leak I’m still tracking down. Thanks to the internet, I can still check out the original manual, but it’s pretty straightforward. You can have a fixed shutter speed of 1/25th or 1/50th, with a bulb function as well. The aperture functions how you would use the shutter speed today, and is variable between 4 and 64 with marked positions, but it can be stopped wherever you please(For the frames below I estimated about f/18 on the wheel.).

I shot my first roll on it last week without much of an idea of how long the frames would be. I chose some old motel signs as a safe first subject and used my 5D II as a rather expensive light meter. I ended up shooting on every frame number on the back of the roll, leaving me with 16 overlapping frames. With this first roll down, I’ve found out that due to a bit of offset on the older camera, I can get 4-5 frames per roll. It’s not something to bring out every time I shoot, but I see this being a fun toy camera for special occasions.

The weather has been fantastic in Gainesville the last few days and I made use of it by getting out on the Santa Fe River for the first time. I called ahead and rented a kayak from Santa Fe Canoe Outpost. in High Springs. The guide was helpful for my first time, pointing out landmarks to keep travel time with. However, he didn’t mention two rocky shallows in the riverbed, which meant getting out of the kayak and fording it. It was a nice three hour paddle to Rum Island that turned into four with slowing down to shoot or breaks at a few springs. I launched at the same time as a large, noisy church group, which led to a few frantic paddle sessions to keep ahead of their convoy when I would slow to enjoy some wildlife(Dropping behind them would mean a river clear of life signs). It was a great day trip and I’ll definitely return to the river.

I came around a bend to the sound of these two dogs barking fiercely at the river, and I mean at the river, there was no one there. As soon as I passed under them, they quieted, I guess there is an invisible line in the water.

Turtles seemed to line every fallen log and tree protruding from the river, and if you drifted too close, they’d be gone in a splash.

A sign warns that “Naked Ed” is ahead at Lily Springs on the river. It’s a private spring that Ed lives on and can be paddled directly into.

“Naked Ed” sits on his dock in the distance at Lily Springs.

A woman sunbathes at Poe Springs Park in High Springs.

Part of my goal when I visited the re-enactors on Saturday was to get portraits of as many of them as I could. It was something I had wanted to do when I did the original story, but I didn’t have the equipment I needed to do what I wanted. One of the reasons I wanted to do portraits was how unique each re-enactor’s outfit is despite being based on a military uniform. There are lots of little flairs added in to make it unique, like a top hat or off-color jacket.

Please check out the full gallery over on my website.

I made it back to the Battle of Olustee civil war re-enactment on Saturday to meet up with the 28th Georgia, who I did a project on two years ago. It was nice to talk to people I’d done a project on, it’s not something I get to do enough. I found out that Randy Atkins, who I focused on for an edit of the story in the Alligator has made it through a prelim round of “America’s Got Talent” with his band. One of his songs that I recorded at a campfire jam provides the audio for that edit.

The battle itself on Saturday was open-ended, meaning it was open to historical re-interpretation, and the Union forces forced the Confederates to retreat, the opposite of what happened in 1864. I spent the battle chatting with a veteran re-enactor, who had been attending Olustee for over 30 years. He had some interesting stories about the history of the re-enactment, and an interesting wooden cane modeled after one his ancestor had owned with the battles he fought in carved into the staff. I spent the evening after the battle doing a portrait series of re-enactors from the 28th Georgia and the nearby battalion officers headquarters. I’ll share those in a later post.

Randy Atkins, center, playing an acoustic bass with other re-enactors by a campfire in the park.

I’ll leave with this image, I love being able to see the stars out there.

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph my sister’s wedding, ending a packed season for me that even included my own grandfather’s wedding. It was at a great venue, the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa, which I had never visited despite growing up in Tampa and walking past it many times. With a half-dozen private dining rooms, it’s almost like an elegant conference center. The entire wedding was held in the Andalucia room, which was perfect for the size of the wedding.

I’m not usually hired to photograph the bride and her maids at the hair salon, so I decided to skip sleeping in and join them. We ended up with a process similar to my friend’s wedding, where I photographed the ceremony, but was a member of the bridal party otherwise. The restaurant is set away by a few blocks from the classic Ybor buildings, so my portraits were all within a few feet of each other at the tiled front of the building. The ornate tile ended up providing a better background than I probably would have gotten by dragging the bridal party down the road.

I handed the camera off to a guest for a photo with my parents and my sister. You have to be in some of the pictures at a family wedding.