Mean again

Last weekend the North Texas Mean Green got their second win of the season. The game wasn't super exciting, in fact it wasn't very pleasant at all. It was cold and rainy. The cold I can handle just fine, but the rain is another story. Try photographing a game in the rain while keeping your gear dry. It's not easy. I did manage a few decent images though.

I typically wouldn't crop the last two photos the way I did for news usage, but I really like negative space, so thought I would post a more "creative" crop. In one sense I think it is better because it shows how far away the runners are from the pack.


Western Kentucky Hilltoppers defensive back (2) Marcus Minor tackles North Texas Mean Green quarterback (15) Giovanni Vizza during the first quarter at Fouts Field. - Caleb Simpson-US PRESSWIRE



Western Kentuck Hilltoppers running back (1) Tyrell Hayden runs for a touchdown against North Texas Mean Green during the first quarter at Fouts Field. - Caleb Simpson-US PRESSWIRE



North Texas Mean Green running back (20) Jamario Thomas on a touchdown run against Western Kentucky Hilltoppers during the fourth quarter at Fouts Field. North Texas defeated Western Kentucky 27-26. - Caleb Simpson-US PRESSWIRE

Baldy Peak

I spent last weekend with the Texas Mountaineers at Quartz Mountain, where I gained my first multi pitch trad experience. We climbed six pitches total that day, reaching a summit twice. The intention of the trip wasn't to get photos, but I always make an effort get bring it out at least a little bit. I often get so into the climbing that I don't take enough photos, but my plans for the second day didn't work out as planned so I ended up on the ground shooting several photos. The trip was great and the weather was amazing. So, here are a few photos from the trip, a few of them will be going into my stock collection.


A view of the night sky from the parking lot of our campground. I attempted to get some longer exposures, but I walked away from the camera since I was using a remote, but the signal was lost shortly after walking away so this is the best star trail shot I got.


Quartz Mountain as seen from the road approaching the climbing area. The peak is also known as Baldy Peak and randomly juts out of the ground in the middle of flat farm land in Oklahoma. It's an amazing site to see from the top of the peak.


This is a couple in our group climbing Snakes Head (5.5x). This was the third pitch of the climb, we also climbed this line. It was a fairly easy climb, and a lot of fun. There was very little protection on this route, but as a second I didn't have to worry about it much.


This is what I am calling the crux of the entire three pitch line. It is more of a mental game than anything. You had to leap across to the boulder to scramble up some more slab to the rappel anchors.


Mike (who's last name I forget) free solos Desire (5.10b). What is even more amazing is Mike doesn't have fingers on his left hand. He also down climbed every route he sent, except for the one pictures here, because of the bulge he climbed down a route to the left.


I think this route is Amazon Woman, it goes at around 5.10. I think this pair of climbers is also with the Texas Mountaineers.


Self portrait from the summit of Baldy Peak.

Although my intention for this blog is to display professional work along with a few personal work posts (like this one), I may end up writing a trip report from this adventure and post it here. I have yet to write a trip report about any of my climbing adventures, but seeing as how this was a completely new and different experience, I just might share it with the world!

I bet that hurt

Last weekend I shot the North Texas vs Navy game at Fouts Field in Denton, Texas. The game was high scoring, which wore me out because I was constantly running up and down the sideline. After I went through my images for a second time I discovered this jewel. Can you say "ouch".

I was pushing this photo to Sports Illustrated for a two page spread, but unfortunately it likely won't get picked up because the photo doesn't really fit the format for the spread. Hopefully the image will still get picked up elsewhere.


North Texas Mean Green defensive back (13) Kartey Agbottah and (35) Antoine Bush bring down Navy Midshipmen slot back (7) Reggie Campbell during the the second quarter at Fouts Field. Navy defeated North Texas 74-62.
Caleb Simpson-US PRESSWIRE

This weekend I will be headed out to Quartz Mountain in Oklahoma. I will be roped up most of the day learning trad, but hopefully I will come away with some good images too. The Leonid Meteor Shower is also this weekend, so being away from the city lights should provide me an opportunity to get some good photos of that.

The PhotoShelter Collection is live

It's official, the PhotoShelter Collection went live today. I have been working on submitting images over the past couple weeks, but unfortunately have not submitted nearly as many as most contributers, but will be working on getting more up over time.

I am mainly focusing on getting some of my climbing images up. You can see my archive by clicking here. You can also view the main page and search images here.

I still have a lot of images that have been approved that are not up yet; I have to get keywords placed in the image and photo releases uploaded.

This pas weekend I photographed the North Texas vs Navy game at Fouts Field. It was a historic game because is on the record as highest scoring game in regulation play. I have some great photos to post as well, but have not had time to resize them for the web. Hopefully I will get to that later this week.

Reimer's Ranch

The weather was perfect for a day of rock climbing at Reimer's Ranch near Austin, Texas. The temperature was in the low-mid 80's, but did not even get that high until late in the day. We climbed in the shade most of the time too, so we barely broke a sweat.

I was frustrated with the whole day though. To start off I lead an easy 5.8 route but failed at my red point attempt because I was out of it mentally and I had my camera strapped to my back. I had planned on shooting another climber coming up the route. Once I topped out I realized there was not a single tree close to the cliff for me to set up an anchor and shoot from. On top of that other climbers started showing up and wanted to get on the route, so a good part of our morning was wasted because my failed attempt to set up an anchor to photograph a climb.

In addition to the failed attempt at getting a beautiful shot on one of the tallest walls at the crag I climbed like crap the entire day. I didn't climb a single route clean and even struggled to climb routes on top rope that I had lead in the past. I guess every climber has those "mental" days where there mind is just not in the right place.

I did however get to shoot one climber on Liposuction (5.12). The route is one of the first routes on the right when approaching the crag. It starts on an overhanging cave formation and then climbs huge jugs and tufas to the top. The light was fairly decent but I wish it had been more direct on the climber. I was pleased with the shoot of the climb overall though.

Granite Gripper 2007

Since it's Friday and I am heading off to the crag for a weekend of climbing after work I thought I would post some photos from The Granite Gripper a few weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them.

I will be climbing and shooting at Reimer's Ranch near Austin. Though I am a Texas climber I have only made it out there one other time. The climbing was great, but we spent most of our time on one wall (Dead Cats Wall). I hope to explore more of what the crag has to offer tomorrow. If all goes well we will be doing some deep water solo climbing in Lake Travis on Sunday morning.