Air Force Boxing vs. Army

When I got the assignment to photograph the Air Force Boxing match against Army on November 6, I hadn't heard a whole lot about the boxing team and with my perceptions of people in the Air Force versus people in the Army boxing seemed to be more in favor of Army. I was completely wrong! Our boxing team is one of the best in the country and Friday's match proved that. Here are some of my favorites from the night. Enjoy! All photos copyright USAFA Photos DenMar Services base photo lab J. Rachel Spencer 2009.

Falcon Football

This is a little slow going up but here are a few selects from the opening football game this season at Falcon Stadium! Enjoy! All photos property of USAFA Photos DenMar base photo lab 2009.

AFA Women's Soccer

There were a lot of sports events over Parents Weekend at the Academy, and I got the chance to run around to a lot of them. Here are a few from the woman's soccer match. All images copyright J. Rachel Spencer, USAFA base photo lab 2009.

Air Force Sports kick off

Here are a few pictures from the Air Force Academy Prep School football game Parent's weekend. All photos are copyright J. Rachel Spencer, United States Air Force Academy base photo lab 2009

the Glo

Every labor day weekend in Colorado Springs for the past 33 years the Colorado Balloon Classic ( http://www.balloonclassic.com/) is held in Memorial Park. It is the largest balloon event in the state and one of the largest in the country. It is so popular that parking around Memorial Park over the weekend is a nightmare, but it is well worth braving to watch either one of the mass ascensions in the early morning hours or coming out in the evening to catch the Glo.

This event marked the last day of my internship with the Gazette last summer and was one of my favorite things I had the chance to photograph during that internship. I only got to photograph the ascension last year and this year it was great to go back and photograph both an ascension and The Glo.

For those of you who haven't been to the Classic, the Glo is an event which happens two evenings when all the balloons are inflated but do not take off and then their pilots make them all glow on cue lighting up the balloons against the night sky. Here are some of my favorites from the Glo.

San Francisco Trip

About a month ago I expierenced what every person who works with photos dreads, one of my hard drives crashed. Or at least so I thought. Actually what happened was I didn't take very good care of it and the casing was shot, but the hard drive was ok. So several weeks and 30$ later with my hard drive installed in a new case I'm back up and running. Up until this point I knew backing up my files was important but the feeling of thinking all these photographs were lost was one of the worst feelings I've ever had. I'm thinking now I might invest in a Drobo or buying some server space that backs up in several locations. Does anyone have something like that they're happy with?

Anyway, in celebration of getting these files back, here are a few shots from a trip to San Francisco in March.


Riding on a trolley downtown

Surfers at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Air Force Graduation

Last wednesday I got the chance to photograph my first United States Air Force Academy graduation. With the lead up of a week of graduation activities I was excited for the day, although after a week of rain I was nervous with my assigment of being on the roof of the press box, photographing graduation and the air show from that vantage point. Bright and early on May 27th at 5:30am I looked out my window greeted by a cloudless sky. It couldn't have been a more perfet day weather wise and I made some images I really liked, let me know what you think.
All photos property of USAFA Photos DenMar Services/ J. Rachel Spencer

Back in Colorado

I’ve made it back to Colorado. While I was biking with friends in the mountains around Breckenridge last summer I said that at some point I’d make it back to the Rockies and make Colorado my home. At that point I didn’t think it would be this quick, but it’s a welcome surprise! I’ve been bad about keeping up with my blog lately with graduating, moving first to Cedar Rapids Iowa and then very rapidly out to Colorado Springs, then being busy with finding a place to live and getting moved in. Now that the dust has finally settled I’m realizing it’s been months since I updated this and I really have no excuse and should immediately fix that issue.

Anyway, I think a brief explanation of where I’ve been is in order so here goes. I graduated at the end of winter quarter in March from Ohio University. A week before I left I was offered a six month internship with the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids Iowa. I then left for a week of spring break/ graduation trip to San Francisco and Sacramento with my mom and grandmother. After getting back to Ohio I spent a day in Athens packing then drove out to Cedar Rapids. While I was at school I found out that a job had opened up at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs as a photographer and that I was being considered. I started work in Cedar Rapids that Thursday only to find out I got the job in the Springs. I stayed in Cedar Rapids for two weeks then moved to the Springs where I have been ever since.

Here’s some stuff from the past few weeks hiking in Garden of the Gods and driving up Pikes Peak- enjoy!