Bridge Day, 2008 - Fayetteville, West Virginia

Bridge Day is the largest extreme sports event and the largest gathering of BASE jumpers in the world, held on the third Saturday in October every year in Fayetteville, West Virginia, USA. 450 BASE jumpers, hundreds of rappellers, and up to 200,000 spectators attended this year's Bridge Day on Saturday, October 18, 2008. The New River Gorge Bridge, 876' tall and the world's second longest single arch bridge, is the launch point for at least six hours (9am-3pm EDT) of legal, safe BASE jumps and REALLY LONG RAPPELS.

I had the rare opportunity to be under the bridge on the catwalk with the safety team. I was honored to be asked to photograph the safety team ops.The bridge is REALLY long. See here the ropes rigged and ready for the rappellers by the safety team.



My sister, (Berta), is on the safety team for the Rappellers. She also had the honor of raising the American flag to start the festivities.


Her husband was right behind her hauling up the West Virginia flag. The two of them climbed up their ropes 876' in about 15 minutes. Amazing.

You can see the rappell lines for the many teams that participate.

You look down and realize how far it really is. I was fine walking out onto beams to get the shot. But once you start looking through the camera, you really start to lose balance and have to recover.
Oh, and people jump off the bridge too...

A beautiful day photographing for the bridge day crew...

I loved it! Very different than photographing a wedding!

Lydia's Sunrise Bridal

Lydia's Bridal Shoot was a bit windy and chilly. But we were determined to capture this beautiful scene. Lydia really wanted to push the edge. Even in the harshest of places, a sandy beach.

We did enjoy a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. This sunrise bridal was shot in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Near the airport...


Lydia was beautiful. The sky was beautiful. The ocean was beautiful.

Even this old dock seemed pretty amazing for a shoot location. It didn't shield us from the wind though.


She really had guts to get a great shot!

We went through a lot of towels and dress protection. Well worth it.

End of the day, just the beginning for Lydia...

Nickie and Josh

Nickie and Josh were married at the Wilhite House in Anderson, SC. Nickie is a Clemson University graduate and a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority.

Nickie is a HUGE Clemson fan. Her entire bridal shoot was on the Clemson University campus.
Their wedding date was one of the few dates during football season that Clemson had an off Saturday.

The ladies look on as the guests start to arrive. Hide, Josh is coming!

Josh and his men in black, ready for action...

1,2,3 action!

Nickie watches the guests gather for the wedding.

The reception went on into the beautiful evening. Perfect weather, perfect wedding and a perfect union of two souls. I love my job!