Shootin' Hoops

Had a great shoot yesterday. I was in Dallas and got the call to be at the BOK Center that evening. We packed up, rushed back and made it in plenty of time. When I got there I was blessed with stellar light everywhere and a neat guy to photograph.

I met Nolan Richardson last winter when I photographed his grandson in the Lone Star Conference basketball tournament in Bartlesville, Okla. But it was brief and yesterday I got to talk with him whole we worked to shoot photos for an ad for the WNBA investors group in Tulsa. What a neat guy with a great story. His most recent gig was with the Mexican National team. Folks everywhere seem to love him and I sure hope they get the team here in Tulsa so I can keep making his photo.

Beautiful Days of Summer

It has been way to long since I updated something here and for that I apologize. It has been a crazy summer, long and a bit drawn out, but here we are nearing the end. As fall approaches I have wrapped up one of my big projects this summer. A simple website and lots of photo work for client and friend Wade Jones at Greenstreet Landscapes here in Tulsa.

Wade's work has an unbelievable feel to it. Anytime I walk into one of his projects I can instantly feel his touch on it. Soft, lush, organic, natural. Landscaping may not always be thought of as an art, but Wade's work belongs in a gallery!

Check out the site when you get a chance and if you have any projects coming up, give Wade a call! www.greenstreetlandscapes.com

New Digs

Hey guys, check out the new site! It's up and running at www.shanebevel.com. We were dragged kicking and screaming out of the 640x480 format of yesteryear and you can now actually see some detail in the photos! HA! Multimedia is gone from the site for now, but is replaced by a leaner, meaner portfolio with just four categories: Reportage, Portraits, Sports/Outdoors and Architecture/Industrial work. There is also a place for me to show work that might not make the portfolio, but is important to me, you'll find it under Personal Projects.

The format is clean and simple, but allows easy access to the images, which are the most important part. Websites for me are a living breathing being and I try to keep mine fresh (though sometimes I fail completely) I am sure there will be tweaks over the next days/weeks/years so I would appreciate any input here or at shane@shanebevel.com

Enjoy and pass it along!

P.S. The cover image is one of my favorite from our time in El Salvador, an impromptu futbol game on the construction site. Somehow almost all the workers produced a pair of cleats. Those who didn't played barefoot.

GOOOOOOO 'Pokes?

Got a letter in the mail today... one I have been waiting on for a while. It's a letter from Dr. Derina Holtzhausen offering me a position as a visiting lecturer starting this fall at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. A handful of my former colleagues from the Tulsa World are teaching there currently and I feel like the school is on the verge of an upward trend much like UNT during my days there. I look forward to riding that wave again.

Teaching is something I have done before and something I really enjoy. So to get to do it at this level, even as a once a week adjunct, is pretty dang cool. I always had great respect for the professionals who took time from their busy schedule to come and teach us at the University of North Texas. Our careers would not have been the same without them, and they should all find great satisfaction in the level of success their students achieved.

Now I hope to pass that on to my students. To embed in them the passion of visual storytelling that was given to me. The journalism world is a much different place than it was when I was in school, but despite the uncertainty and the massive changes, it should be an exciting place for students with the drive to be storytellers.

Represented......

..... and no, not by my congressman. One of my goals when I went freelance was to find an agency that I thought could help me pursue and sell my personal projects. Stories that otherwise might not see the light of day.

As of today, I have accomplished that goal. I am proudly represented by Zuma Press. Zuma has actually represented my work in the past as a staffer of the Shreveport Times and now represents the body of my work as a freelancer as well as future projects or essays I might undertake on my own.

Now this certainly doesn't mean my clients won't contact me directly for their needs, just that I have an outlet for stock photography and self assignments.

To take a look at Zuma's site visit www.zumapress.com www.doubletruckmagazine.com or www.zreportage.com

NCAA Softball Championships

Just got done shooting the division one Women's Softball World Series for the NCAA and wanted to post a few images up here. I always enjoy shooting sports, but sports at this level are just even more fun. These girls can really play ball. 

Did a story earlier this week for a new client called Education Week. Good assignment, great editor. A win win for all! Here are a few of my images from a story about Western Heights School District in Oklahoma City using data, numbers and analytics to track everything from student mobility to dropout rate to numbers of kids on free and reduced lunches in the cafeteria. The extra chairs in the graduation photos are for kids who dropped out. Power visual to represent a 29% dropout rate.

Great Transformations

One of the great things about my job is the people that I meet along the way. This last week I was able to shoot an assignment for Prison Fellowship, a non-profit that helps inmates transform their lives.

So I travelled to Wichita, KS to spend time with Butch Beckwith and his family. Butch was sentenced to prison for seven years for drug charges. I won't tell his entire story here, but through God and the help of Prison Fellowship he has truly transformed himself. My time hanging out with him and his kids and wife was some of the most rewarding I have had in some time.

Butch's relationship with his kids is great, his career is growing and his faith is rock solid. It's impressive to say the least considering where he was 10 years ago. It's nice to be able to help organizations like Prison Fellowship spread the word about their good work.

Memorial Day....

In the waning moments of today's holiday I am sitting here in bed, thinking about this day. Fran and I blew off a lot of things that needed to be done, and instead did a lot of things we wanted to do. Mostly we worked in the yard. Did a little maintenance and then proceeded to finish a lot of projects that we have been working on.

It all turned out beautifully and when we were done instead of jumping in the shower and kicking back to look out at our work, we went next door and helped the neighbors who are leaving fora big trip and trying to get everything done before they leave. All four of us knocked the work out and then kicked back for pizza and beers as the last bit of light left the sky.

Lots of people do lots of different things on this holiday. Most don't understand it's meaning. Sure, they are aware of the holiday, aware of why celebrate it and even vaguely aware of the sacrifice of young men and women. For most of my life, I was the same. Then two years ago, late at night in mid-April I received a call telling me that Cpl Ray Michael Bevel had been killed in action in Iraq. Ray, my cousin on my father's side, was a sweet boy, soft-spoken and kind-hearted. Even though I saw him just months before his death, I mostly remember him as the goofy kid with the big ears. A boy my father called Ray-Bird. I boy who loved to help others.

When I look back to his funeral I remember the thousands upon thousands of people lining the streets of small town West Texas as we brought his body home from the airport. Some had small
flags, some stood stoic and watched at the line of dark sedans and limos passed them by. Others were awash in tears and emotion. I would guess that very few of them knew Ray personally. It was a hard thing to go through for our family and of course for Ray's parents and siblings.

I could go on for a long time about that weekend. It was an amazing show of support. The most amazing thing was the outpouring of support from my uncle's neighbors there in Andrews. The way they cared for him and his family when they needed it was uplifting in more ways than I can say.

So when I look back on today, I can't imagine a more fitting way to celebrate this holiday than to take a few hours to help out a neighbor.

Life is Work. Work is a Blast.

This weekend I made my semi annual trip to Jasper, AR to ride motorcycles with a few friends. Actually it has grown to a bit more than that. It's really a full blown rally these days, but it still has a close knit group of folks who enjoy riding some beautiful roads, tossing back a few by the campfire at night and tell stories old and new.

In years past I have blogged about the bacon and french toast at the Ozark Cafe or the scenic views or the amazing roads. But this go round I have a little different perspective: I have an amazing life.

As I sat on the side of the road an old Pontiac came by carrying a canoe on a few old rolls of carpet. I laughed as it meandered around the blind corner. It reminded me of a buffalo rambling through a forest filled with nimble deer. Not belonging at all but not bothered by it at all either. As the car came nearer the sound of the 455 filled my ears and I saw behind the steering wheel a man late in years, grey of hair, long of beard with a grin that warmed my heart. I imagined him arriving at the river and plunging into the river head first the cold water soaking his worn white v-neck shirt and cut off Levis before even unloading the canoe and floating away alone. Windows down on the Bonneville, keys under the seat, a brown wrinkled paper sack with lunch stowed in the boat.

I have always admired people who give off that feeling of freedom. Those who live life on their terms. Those who can do as they choose. But the more I live this life of a freelancer, the more I realize I am closer to that dream than I know.

No doubt there will be times when I am scared about money or security or buying new gear or fixing old gear or whatever. But the fact is I can now really be who I have always been; a photographer, an adventurer, a motorbike rider and yes... even a bit of a writer.

So here's to the road in front of us all. Enjoy it while you can. We can only hope that the pavement is smooth, the curves plenty, the sky blue and at the end of it all.... the river cool and clear.