Timothy Russell aka Guilla x Tennis

Ripping off his shirt, screaming into mics and jumping off things is how Guilla is known around H-Town when he performs at various shows around the city. But you can also see Guilla aka Timothy Russell display his athleticism in other ways. You can find him on the south side of Houston, Texas at MacGregor Park. He is an excellent tennis player and teaches lessons daily on the hard court. Literally. 

I've photographed him during a show and his constant kinetic energy makes him a difficult subject to capture. So I asked him to be the hero of a tennis project I'm working on. I wanted to convey the hard work and solitude involved in becoming really, really good at tennis. He nailed it. It helps that he kind of looks like he straight out of the 70s. Shoutout to Mr. Russell and the MacGregor Park hitting wall. 

The Athletes of Emery/Weiner - Part II

Remember Part I? This is Part II!

Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Mary Austin for STAT News

Less than a week after my daughter was born, I got a call to photograph pediatric surgeon Dr. Mary Austin...in the same hospital. What's incredible about Dr. Austin's work, as if being a surgeon wasn't already incredible, is that she operates on fetuses while they're still in the womb! I spent half the day photographing Dr. Austin before and during surgery. I'll let writer Charlotte Huff tell this story a lot better - https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/19/spina-bifida-surgeon/

NCAA Men's and Women's Division III Swimming and Diving Championships

I shot the NCAA men's and women's Division III swimming and diving championships in a place called Shenandoah, Texas aka The Woodlands. I haven't been in many natatoriums, but they're always humid and they always fog up your lenses when you come in after driving in a cool, air conditioned car. Anyway, Emory University won both the men's and women's national championships so everyone there must be really, really good at water activities.

Tom Herman + The Houston Cougars

Last year, I worked on a college football story that ended up not getting published :(. It was about Tom Herman, his rise with the University of Houston football program and the relationship with his players. I was pretty much assigned to follow Coach Herman on game day. This particular game day was one of importance, relatively speaking. The Louisville Cardinals came into town with a 9-1 record, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner and sights set on the College Football Playoff. Well, the Houston Cougars had other plans. They had already lost two games in that season and rumors were swirling of their coach leaving...which he eventually did #hookem. The Cougar defense had their sights set on shutting down all that Heisman noise. And they did, even if it was just for one night. 11 sacks, 9 hurries and 3 fumbles later, Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals were sent home after just scoring 10 points on the night.

Shout out to all of the special guests that showed up on the sideline during that game including, Carl Lewis, Z-Ro and Waka Flocka among others.

NCAA Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships

A few months ago, I photographed a bunch of college students running fast, jumping high and throwing heavy things at and indoor setting on the campus of Texas A&M. I think my favorite events to photograph were the pole vault because the athletes looked like they were falling out of the sky and the 100m races because the celebrations came less than a second after crossing the finish line. Also, there were so many events going on at once that if you blinked...you might have missed something. Big shout to the Texas A&M men's squad and the Oregon women's squad for taking home the national titles.

Univision 45 Houston for Houstonia Magazine

I spent a couple of days making my way through the hallways and newsroom of Houston's Univision television station for Houstonia Magazine. It was quite fascinating to see how a nightly newscast comes together from gathering information, meeting with the news team, discussing stories and eventually writing the copy and presenting it to the audience. Oh, and anything can happen at any time so you have to be ready for that as well. Big shout to Univision 45 for letting me kick it with them at work. Check out the article written by Adam Doster HERE!