The Blog @ MERimages.net

…The Michigan State Police, The Norway Current, My girlfriend Lori, and I guess somewhere along the way my intuition. It all started on Wednesday evening while Lori, her son Lucas and I were watching the performance of Tracy Lawrence at the U.P. State Fair in Escanaba. It couldn’t get much better than this. Watching a polished performance from a well known and still very current country artist on a calm late summer evening with people you love. In fact it was so perfect that I decided I could probably find a way to make it even better. How about do it again tomorrow night for the Craig Morgan show, but this time I would take pictures!?! And so the adventure begins.

Actually, that idea wasn’t all that far fetched as my good friend Bob is always looking for articles for his publication The Norway Current. No it wasn’t exactly something going on in Norway, Michigan, but it was something going on and he was so flabbergasted that I would even think of such an idea that by Thursday afternoon I had press passes waiting for me in his mailbox. I never used to be that persuasive. Maybe my people skills are finally improving?

60 minutes later armed with press passes, a couple of camera bodies, lenses and a purpose we were in and ready for the start of the concert. It was actually a bit disconcerting to be free to roam all around and not even be questioned. I actually felt more comfortable hanging out by the State Troopers than be directly in front of the stage, but I had a job to do. Sometimes life can be tough. Way too cool…

So where does the I want to thank the “State Police” come in? Well, apparently it is impossible to go unnoticed when carrying a digital SLR with a large white lens attached to it. The State Police could care less, but apparently they were being told by individuals who supposedly were part of the Craig Morgan crew that professional cameras were not to be used during the concert. Point and shoots and camera phones, no problem, big white lenses attached to SLRs no way. Let’s just say that over the next hour I got to know most of the state troopers working the concert quite well as I repeatedly explained who I was, who I was representing and that I was just doing a job.

They were very nice and allowed me to continue once I explained my position and that I was not going to sell the photos. But apparently, every so often a new alleged Craig Morgan representative would approach them and restate that need to have me put my camera away. It was actually quite comical because the troopers didn’t have any proof that these alleged individuals were actually affiliated with Craig Morgan. Hey, at least the troopers and I got a chance to bond during the show. They were all very nice about the whole thing. Thanks guys for giving me a fair shake as well as letting me know what was going on.

Eventually, we got to the root of the problem and realized that it was the production manager who did not want cameras with zoom lenses used during the concert. Okay, we understood so we stopped. No problem. I had plenty of pics by then. The thing that struck me funny, however, was that in the audience I saw a number of cameras with zooms as powerful as I had. They just weren’t as obvious I guess.

It was still a great experience nontheless. So once again thanks to the State Police, The Norway Current, my girlfriend Lori and I guess I will give some credit to my intuition as well.