While we were there, boxing champion and UK grad Darrin Van Horn stopped in for a visit and gave some in-the-ring pointers to Bo Biggers, a University of Kentucky student who is in his early career as a boxer.

Thomas Kinchen, aka Rocky, showed up for a workout with his sister Samantha. Rocky, who just won a title belt last weekend in his division, was the subject of the first video I made using the 5D Mark II in 2008. Also towards the end of the gallery you’ll notice a few iPhone Hipstamatic photos.

Legends Boxing Gym – Images by David Stephenson

Dave LaBelle likes to give me a hard time about when we first met. I was in high school and thinking of coming to WKU for the photojournalism program. I handed him a copy of Bird Talk Magazine and inside was a photo of a white dove that I had taken (I raised doves and pigeons as a kid). Of course I was proud, especially since I was paid $25 for that photo. I made a copy of the check and put it in a photo album which I still have 25 years later. Little did I realize that Mr. LaBelle had his own passion for pigeons as a child.

Now as an adult I raise and race homers in my back yard. I’ve been taking photos of them during training tosses and as they fly around the house, but I’ve never been able to get anything as clean and sharp as I’d like. After a visit to a fellow club member’s loft this week, I realized he had a better space and many more white pigeons. So this morning I went over to his loft with a piece of black felt, a Canon Mark IV, two strobes on clamps and spent an hour photographing his birds. I love all the different shapes they make when flying – it’s just not something you can discern when they are moving so fast. Maybe I can get Bird Talk to publish one . . .

Mr. LaBelle, this post is for you. You ready to get racing again??

(BTW, let me make an important distinction for those of you who may watch or photograph those “white dove” releases at weddings or funerals: The birds being released are white homers just like you see in the photos above. They are NOT doves. The release business knows darn well that no one would hire them to release pigeons, so they call them doves. The white pigeons go home and can therefore be available again for the next release. Domesticated doves would just go off into the wild and likely die. I remember getting into an argument with a copy desk about a caption I wrote and they wouldn’t believe me that they weren’t doves. **end rant**)

Below is a collection of other photos of my birds and friends birds:

Homing Pigeons Collection – Images by David Stephenson

I had a great time during a media preview trip to see a great blue heron rookery on the Kentucky River last week for the Herald-Leader. Shaker Village will be offering two wildlife cruises on their historic Dixie Belle paddle boat this spring.

We saw dozens of nests in a handful of sycamore trees on the banks of the river about 45 minutes (by paddle boat) upriver from High Bridge. All kinds of herons were flying around or perched on the branches or nests watching over their babies.

Read the complete story by Susan Smith-Durisek on Kentucky.com.

I’ll admit I’m an app-jumper. Love this app, love that app. One fades while another inspires.

The latest iPhone app that has me fired up is the Hipstamatic. It’s been around a while but with the recent purchase of my new iPhone 4 and it’s bad @ss camera, the obsession has gone up a notch. [A PocketLint story tells of the development history of the popluar app]

Here’s what I really appreciate about this app besides the fantastic looks.

• The app makes you wait for your image to “process”. I like this because it makes me slow down and think.
• There is no option to filter images from your photo library. No cheating! That was one thing that irritated me about the Chase Jarvis Best Camera app.
• Great interface that is really well designed.

Check out a sampling of some recent shots. Some are with the iPhone 3Gs and some are with the iPhone 4. After a month or two with the standard Hipsta Pak, I bought all of the in-app add-ons (you have the option of buying more “lenses” and “films” through the app).

World Equestrian Games – Images by David Stephenson

A few selects from my first day covering the World Equestrian Games for the Herald-Leader.

I left the game a little into the second quarter – after some stunning clouds had finally disappeared – and as UK was taking control of the game. In the end, Randall Cobb was a beast, and Joker earned his second win with a final score of 63-28.

UK vs. WKU 2010 – Images by David Stephenson