I had a few shots in my last blog post from the University of Kentucky's Hall of Distinguished Alumni ceremony. It's always a good feeling for a photographer to see their photos go from a computer screen to an actual printed publication, as I was happy to see so many of my photos used in the university's recent alumni magazine, including the cover shot. I've said before, if you ever run into a photographer who says they don't care about a cover shot, fire them because they're either lying or they're not passionate enough to work for you. I love a good a cover shot! It's what we work for. Sometimes a cover shot can be as simple as a picture hanging on the wall as a 16x20, or it can grace the cover of a magazine. Either way, it's the end goal of what we work for as photographers. There's a certain beauty behind the finished product. I've told my wife before, who is an academic advisor at Eastern Kentucky University, that she should always attend EKU's graduation ceremonies because that's the culmination of all your work during the semester. A cover shot is kind of like that...it's the pinnacle of our work. And yes! It's something worth being proud of.

I was also happy that I got to work HODA with a young man named Logan Briscoe, who is from my former home of Powell County. He's an up-and-coming photographer that I've had the pleasure of mentoring and working with this fall. Working the hall of distinguished alumni presented a unique scenario for me, because I was working with Logan, whom I am mentoring, but also working for me that night was Mark Cornelison, who has been one of my mentors and teachers for over 30 years. And yes, it's hard for me to boss around people who are my mentors, but it's also very gratifying to see your career come full-circle by leading those who taught you and those whom you are teaching all in the same night (please forgive me if I have my whom's and who's wrong. I never did really grasp that concept in journalism school). 

There's also something to be said about working under stressful situations. But at the end of the night, you can take a deep breath and pleasure with the satisfaction of knowing that you killed it! I had to create 15 environmental portraits in and around the Gatton Student Center, and then fight some really harsh sun light with the cover shot on the social staircase for the group shot...all in 45 minutes. The original 45 minutes was probably a tad unrealistic, but I was still able to do all of it with Logan's help in an hour and fifteen minutes, while Corn covered the reception.   
 

By the end of the night, the three of us combined, created several thousand images for the good folks at the UK Alumni Magazine to work with, and this was the end product. Go big blue!

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The Powell County Connection: Logan and I at the end of the night after HODA.

Me and Mr. Corn working the World Equestrian Games in the Fall of 2010. Covering state baseball with my buddy Mark Cornelison, June 14, 2010. Hanging with then Herald-Leader photographer Mark Cornelison while covering a UK basketball game for the Louisville Courier-Journal, January 10, 2013. I wish I had gotten a selfie with the three of us after HODA, but Corn got away before we could grab one. So here's a few back-in-the-day shots of Corn and I working together. Several years ago, Corn gave me some good advice while we were shooting a basketball game. He said, "Hey Webb, I have an idea...how about we talk duing the action and shoot during the timeouts!" For a brief moment, I was confused, but then it sank in, and I said, "Point taken. I'll shut up." We work well together because we're both smart asses, HA!