November Horse Show

Some shots from my weekend shooting of horse shows at the National Equestrian Center in Lake St. Louis.
Doug Dockhorn watches his daughter perform along the sidelines with his seven year old son Sam.
A horse named Casino
Casino's muscles

Sam Dockhorn, 7, from Stillwell Kansas watches his sister perform Sunday.
Ready to take off


Trainers in the warm up ring.

First shooting with new 7D

Poplar Bluff pulled off a thrilling come from behind victory to beat Farmington 34-31 on a late fourth quarter touchdown.

Jenny and Matt Skarin - Wedding

My cousin Jenny's wedding. Was not the hired photog but couldn't resist shooting some photos.

Trip Out West

One of my favorite photos from my trip out west.

I know it is a cliche shot from the famous Schwabashers Landing in the Tetons but I love the colors and the reflection. Such a beautiful morning.

Hummert Memorial - Black and White Selects

A few selects from the Ryan Hummert Memorial Vigil in Maplewood.

See the next post for more photos.

Enjoy!

Ryan Hummert Memorial Vigil

A year after Maplewood firefighter Ryan Hummert was killed, a candlelight vigil was held honoring the young man. Over 300 of Ryan's closest friends, family, fellow workers from across the city and members of the community showed up to honor the fallen firefighter.

If you would like copies of these photos email me at spradley.kyle@gmail.com

Citygarden

Photos I took from the opening week of the new sculpture park, Citygarden, in downtown St. Louis. Over the course of the summer so far I have had the opportunity to have the chance to work on the trees in the park. Its been something really cool to be apart of. Our company is the main consultant for tree and plant health care for the grounds and looking forward to keeping it looking beautiful for years to come.

So go out and see it!

Damage to our farm

Nearly 100 mph came through our farm down in Fredericktown. We lost a lot of trees near the house and have a good majority of our whole 120+ acres damaged. So far most of the summer I've spent cleaning up the place. I took most of these photos while up in our lift 76 feet off the ground.

Mcbaine Bur Oak from Kyle Spradley on Vimeo.

Give it a second to load. I forgot to reduce to the size of the file.

MU-kU Baseball at Kauffman

Missouri played Kansas at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO on April 22, 2009. Kansas won 7-3 as Missouri's bullpen couldn't close out.

spring

Trout lily

Group of may apples.

Daffodil

Abstract daffodil

MU versus SLU

The smell of fresh cut green grass, the crack of the bat...its baseball season once again kids

MU blasted SLU 19-6 at Busch Stadium on April 1, 2009. Awesome game. Got to sit in dugout. Sat in Mike Shannon's Broadcast spot. Lounge in Bernie's oversized chair...it was great.

bur oak

Dyers

First edit of my project on the Dyers, a simple family living near Fredericktown, MO. Herb and Deb Dyer have two sons, Caleb (27) and Travis (17). Caleb married last year to Tina, 20. This May they are expecting their first kid, in which they will be doing a home birth. I have captions so read up for more.

Still not sure on a storyline here. Currently going through my couple hours of audio. LEAVE COMMENTS!!

Meet Charles

Just off Providence south of the glorious Mizzou stadiums and training facilities is where you can find Charles. Instead of having a day-to-day job or a regular house a chooses to spend his time in the woods. Quite a cool guy talked my ear off for around 3 hours. Interested in spending more time with him. He is a great subject that never looks at the camera and totally disregarded that I was there. He lives with Bob, a guy who Charles says is a drunk and is messed up in the head. Charles thinks it is hilarious that he calls himself a mountain man living out here even though they live literally a stones throw from the highway and Stoney Creek Inn.

The Man's Hat Shop is located in downtown Albuquerque along historic Route 66. Owner Stewart Dunlap has been a part of the business for over 30 years. His father, Carl, opened the store in 1946 upon returning stateside from WWII.

Squaw Creek NWR

albuquerque old town

The Old Town area of Albuquerque has the traditional southwest architecture.  

Most of the restaurants hang chile peppers outside.

abq...day four

I add some free time this evening and shot some more at the hat shot.  These guys who run the store are great.  I recorded some audio and will do again on monday for a possible slide show...so stay tuned.

abq...day three

on central ave. (route 66) there is the Man's Hat Shop. This place has been around since 1946 and can outfit anyone with a great cowboy hat. The owner's father even supplied the first marlboro man with a hat.

The Man's Hat Shop - Albuquerque, NM

Bill Sisk helps out a customize with a gift certificate she was giving to her husband. She wasnt sure on what hat size he wanted and Sisk just suggested he come in and get fitted personally by himself.

French photographer Joel Halioua tries out a cowboy hat for a potential purchase. Joel was in town for the NANPA conference such as I was but upon entering the store I just thought he was another crazy european tourist. Little did I know he is one of the "in" guys for photographers in Europe. We exchanged cards. Hopefully he sees this post soon.

Quite a character Joel is as he jokes with his friend John.

Bill Sisk checks out Joel.

Stacks of hats fill the store.

I am hoping to shoot more tomorrow...we will see.

albuquerque...day two

albuquerque seems to be stuck in the 1950s

yea the architecture is cool but i dont really see the allure to this city yet.

cool tree along the way back from having a beer with art wolfe and some great other photogs.

albuquerque...day one

shot this right outside my lovely hotel. the hotel actually is kind of crappy lookin but its worth savin a buck.

critter control

I followed around Peter Riney Tuesday afternoon and made some pictures. Im hoping to go out with him again soon as he continues his quest to rid of unwanted critters.

Peter looks upon the job at hand - trying to capture raccoons that have been getting into the Columbia Performing Arts Center.

Peter places marshmallows near the dumpster of the building to lure the raccoons near his trap. 

In addition to marshmallows, Peter uses chunks of tuna inside the trap and around the trap to lure in the unwanted pests.  

Walking along the rooftop of the building, Peter inspects areas along the trim where the critters have been getting inside.  "In late winter and early spring is when we see lots of raccoons finding ways to get into buildings in search of a place to raise their babies away from the elements and potential predators," Peter said.

The strong stench and the lure of a free meal from the mallows and tuna bring not only the desired pests but all animals.  Peter did not catch any raccoons this day but an european starling did make it into the trap.

assignment pitch

For my one day shoot/five points of view photo assignment I am going to spend some time with a critter control or pest services guy. I have not made any contacts yet but I am looking at the company Critter Control. I also like their orange trucks you see all over town. I think this could be some cool possibility to get some querky photos. I also feel like it will be fun just to see how he deals with each situation.

sequence slideshow

little critter

When I was out taking photos of Ralph Mennemeyer's State Champion Bitternut Hickory I spotted this guy nearby. He climbed up a tree only 5 feet high and was just looking at me. It was a pretty cool moment because normally you see opossums at night and they look ugly but this guy has a nice look to him.