Dawk's Return

Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles let 13-year Eagle veteran and inspirational leader of the team Brian Dawkins go because according to their formula, they don't pay for players who aren't in the prime of their playing careers. That's fine, but they should have recognized the exception. Dawkin's intensity and heart are rare and don't show up on spreadsheets . He was welcomed back warmly by the fans as his new team, the Denver Broncos came to Philadelphia.

A standard photo op turned precious

Annika Adrian-Hage, 6, of Pennington gives a spontaneous hug good-by to State of New Jersey Treasurer David Rousseau after a brief visit to present to Gov Jon Corzine, through the treasurer, a "basket of hope" containing pictures and stories representing over 160,000 children and adults with developmental disablities who would be affected state budget cuts. Her father Robert Hage is at left, holding twin sister Maya. Their registered nurse is Abi Fadairo and at right is Tom Baffuto, executive director of ARC of NJ. These two girls were interested in everything around the office except the proceedings, but when the official photo op was ending and the dad asked one of the girls, who was already near the exit, to wave goodbye, my spidey sense started tingling. Annika moved toward the treasurer and I moved in. This is why, after twenty-five years, I believe there are no bad assignments, only bad photographers.

Eagles - Redskins

What the Eagles-Redskins game means to me. By Michael Mancuso. It means I get to cash in on my brownie bet with Debbie. I've known my best friend since we were 5. He's in a mixed marriage. He's an Eagles fan and she's a Redskins fan. Why won't she just convert?

LeSean McCoy stays low to cross the goal line and score a game-tying two-point conversion. I knew exactly which play they were going to run, so I got myself into position for this shot. Of course, I alway know exactly which play they are going to run. It's just that most of the time, my psychic commands don't seem to penetrate their helmets or something.

Asante Samuel looks for running room after one of his two interceptions. Fallen Redskins QB Jason Campbell is on the ground going "Oh *#@^!"

This is the pass that lead to the aforementioned interception. The young QB was under a lot of pressure. I like the challenge of the almost impossible contrast between the players in the shade and the sunny background.

It's hard to avoid saying something about him using his head.

Life imitates art

Most people have seen the cherubs from Italian Renaissance-era painter Raphael. This three-year-old in a dance class in Lambertville, New Jersey may not have seen the painting, but she doesn't have to. She is a cherub, watching ballet dancers perform selections from holiday favorite The Nutcracker.

Here's the complete picture.

And here's the complete picture by Raphael from which the cherubs were taken. It's called The Sistine Madonna.

Art Opening

I'm occasionally of two minds on particular subjects, but this is ridiculous. Last night, I got to be four people at once! I went to an opening in an art gallery as an art fan, a music fan, a represented artist and a newspaper photographer. I got the assignment to go to Roma Bank headquarters on Rt 33 in Hamilton Township for a show in conjunction with the Arts & Business Council of Greater Trenton, with the purpose of celebrating and building connections between the region's business and arts communities. (The two people left of center are looking at some of my work and the guitarist at right is Jim Arkus.)

Deadlines being what they are, I couldn't stay long, but I did stop my car on the way out long enough to make a few more photographs and combine two exposures to show what it looked like from the outside.

Eagles Fly High Above Giants

Happy days for the Philadelphia Eagles as Jason Avant jumps on Bret Celek to congratulate the tight end on his TD catch vs the new York Giants.

This place was the point of convergence. In one area the Philadelphia Eagles and Giants would meet and within hours, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees would meet in game four of the World Series. (above) Outside The Linc, a guy wearing a Giants jersey outside The Linc gets some attention even as his brother-in-law, left, sports an Eagles jersey. Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies play, is in the background.

This Langhorne, PA couple, the Romeo & Juliet of the sports world share a moment together before gametime.

I shoot football with two cameras, one for far away and one for when they get closer. When Eagles RB Leonard Weaver started running through the line, I was using the big lens. I quickly realized he was breaking away (and starting to fill the frame), so I picked up the other camera in time to catch him jumping away from a tackle before reaching the endzone for the Eagles' first TD.

Eagles defender Quintin Mikell was sure he was going to make an interception, but somehow the ball slipped through his hands.

Former Eagles coach, the late Buddy Ryan used to say about receiver Chris Carter "All he does is catch touchdowns". All current Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson does is catch long touchdowns (and return kicks for long touchdowns). With this 54-yd TD he tied an Eagles record with his sixth TD of the season of 50-plus yards.

Giants QB Eli Manning usually makes a good expression when he gets sacked.

I never saw Andy Reid open his mouth this wide as he tells QB Donovan McNabb a thing or two late in the game. McNabb now has a bunch of stuff like over 30,000 yds passing, over 200 TDs passing and 3,000 rushing yds and 20 rushing Tds. You get the point.

Just got back from a visit to "The Most Important Event in Photography: October 22-24, 2009. Located at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City the show boasts a huge expo floor, hundreds of exhibitors, thousands of new products and a conference with over 100 seminars." That's some hype! I went up with fellow photographer Mike Dill. Besides being tempted with all the photo equipment I don't have but really "need" there was a special reason to go this year. There was an exhibit of some of the photos from the do1thing project in which I participated and one of my images was on display.

http://michaelmancuso.us/Tamara/

http://michaelmancuso.us/Yakima/

Classic and Classical

Noted musical arranger/conductor Larry Baird leads the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra in an afternoon rehearsal for their performance with the progressive rock group Kansas that evening at Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial. Baird has done this kind of thing before with the Moody Blues, for example, and he's a veteran of over 500 shows according to the GTSO's regular conductor John Holly. I have more behind-the-scenes photographs at http://michaelmancuso.zenfolio.com/ There's a slideshow button, so sit back and relax for a minute (literally).

Opponent of the moment

Well, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't exactly a formidable opponent at the moment, but the Eagles didn't play down to their level and didn't lose the game. Andy Reid got his 1ooth regular season win and under him, the Eagles are 11-0 following the bye week.

Philadelphia Eagles rookie WR Jeremy Maclin makes his first TD catch, of two on the day vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

His second one, a 40-yd TD pass from QB Donovan McNabb in the 2nd quarter, was a little easier. Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Will Allen is at left.

Philadelphia Eagles FB Leonard Weaver scores the Eagles' 2nd TD of the day in the 2nd quarter on a 20-yd pass play. Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Geno Hayes is on the ground.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Josh Johnson is downed at the end of a run in the 2nd quarter. Philadelphia Eagles from left are Akeem Jordan, Victor Abiamiri, Antonio Dixon & Sheldon Brown (on the ground). I'm too tired to be clever right now. Goodnight.

Heads up!

Trenton Police department academy recruits sit in the council chambers in city hall during a press conference.

And here are more heads -

And a little more soccer action

Ooh, look at the rainbow!

Go on, say it. That's what you were thinking anyway. I didn't even notice the rainbow at first. It was the lighting that made me stop my car as I was driving home from work. After some sudden, violent rainfall in the early evening, I caught the sun peeking out from the cloud covers before it went to sleep for the night. It cast some wild light on the brick buildings of the old Roebling Steel complex contrasting them against the dramatic sky.

Eagles Honor Roll

Two former players were honored at halftime. Randall Cunningham, who played with the team from 1985-1995 and Al Wistert who was an active Eagle from 1943-1951!

Birds in flight

They're Eagles, so they're supposed to fly, right?

Or sometimes, they make their opponents fly.

And maybe even fly with their opponents.

Corporate photo shoot

Why, Eagles, Why?

"Coulda, would, shoulda, didn't." That's a direct quote from former Eagles QB Bubby Brister. Remember him? The Eagles had quite a few different guys line up behind center today with that new Wildcat formation, which was cool because it was so different. It was the first NFL start for the Eagles QB of the future Kevin Kolb. He didn't play great, but he's low on the list of reasons why the Eagles lost.




The game was preceeded by the always awe-inspiring military jet fly-by. I'm serious, when those big birds of fire scream overhead, all I want to know is where do I surrender?



DeSean Jackson's 71 TD catch from QB Kevin Kolb was cause for celebration early.

Unfortunately, there were more big plays going the other way.

Just around the time the Saints' Robert Meache ran out of room to run, my camera ran out of room to fit him inside the frame.

Here's Kevin Kolb late in the game receiving the traditional "Welcome to the NFL, starter" hug from an opponent.

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For the love of the game

In a few days I have my first Eagles game of the season so I welcomed an assignment to photograph the Trenton Central High School vs Notre Dame football game as a warm-up. The only trouble is everything in a pro football game moves about four times as fast. Everything except me.

Heavenly

Today, I had the joy of photographing a gospel choir group called the "Original Specials" at St. John the Baptist Church in Ewing Township, New Jersey. These six women have been singing together for 41 years. There were no tv cameras, no auto-tune, no studio effects, just authentic human feeling expressed beautifully through the voices of six people. That felt good!

King of the Blues

OK. It's official. I have the blues and I can still play the blues, but I won't be the King of the Blues, at least not the 2009 Guitar Center King of the Blues. Find out the rest of the story at my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/helpsome12day