Friday, September 18, 2009

March to the Beat of a Fine Drummer!



One very special thing about having a blog is that you get the chance to feature some people that are very close to your heart. Yesterday I photographed the Homecoming Parade for Homewood High School. Homewood is where my girls went through school, and actually I did as well. In addition, it's where I taught at Shades Cahaba Elementary for 19 years. We almost never missed a Homecoming Parade down the streets of Homewood. This is a special one today. Meet Jacob Helf. I've watched Jacob grow up and taught alongside his very special mom, Ellen. His dad Bill, is probably the best physics teacher anywhere! Yesterday I focused my camera on Jacob, as he showed his stuff in the fabulous Patriot Band Drum Line. Jacob, I knew a long time ago you were going to make us proud on those drums!!!!
Click here to see the drum line in action !

I have loaded more photos on my Flickr photostream here.

17 comments:

Olivier said...

beau portrait, il est très digne et fier dans son costume historique

Pat said...

Really nice portrait, and they make me feel patriotic!

Bergson said...

Magnificent color.
A very serious drum

Tom said...

He holds himself very well and his a credit to the uniform... Great pictures

Thérèse said...

A very nice portrait! And "Homewood" is a word which resonates very nicely. Not a common name.

Halcyon said...

He obviously takes his drumming duties very seriously. They look great in those uniforms!

Daryl said...

Handsome young man .. I bet he started drumming on table tops and pots/pans

Char said...

my youngest nephew is just starting drum lessons and loves it

2views2day said...

Awwww V this is so great! Loved seeing this when I got on the blog this morning! Go Homewood! I have always loved these uniforms. They look so good!

Stephanie W. said...

Hi! My daughter just graduated from Homewood last May. She was a proud member of this fabulous band for 4 years (plus 3 years in the fabulous Middle School band) playing the clarinet. I didn't miss one game, parade or competition. We went to NY for the Macy's parade and CA for the Rose Parade. It was a fabulous 4 years and I miss it terribly. The Homecoming parade got rained out last year so we didn't have one in my daughter's Senior year. We Love Homewood Day was her final march with the Homewood Patriot Band. Mr. Pence and all of the other directors and staff do a WONDERFUL job with this band program and they receive incredible support from the Homewood community. Thanks for posting the pics!!! I'll watch the video when I get home. Homewood's drumline is incredibly awesome!

Stephanie W. said...

During my daughter's 4 years I made almost 100 videos of the Homewood Patriot band. They can be found at www.youtube.com/number8gurl if anyone wants to see them. Some are during parades and halftime shows while others are just them playing in the stands at football games. The best is a compilation video I made of the trip to the Rose Parade with them performing at Bandfest and marching in the Rose Parade.

Virginia said...

Stephanie,
The HHS band has many devoted fans and with good reason. It's a top notch program ! Always fun to watch and listen to them.
V

Lowell said...

Excellent portraits - fine-looking young man.

I like the action in that second shot, especially.

LR Photography said...

I never been in Alabama. I lived in North Carolina for a while. I did a few pictures there from the Blue Ridge Mountains and a few in Asheville. For what I see in your pictures, Birmingham has a lot of wonderful things to see and photograph too.

marley said...

You can't beat (groan!) these photos :)

Jan said...

Gotta love that Helf kid! However, I have it on good authority that he got all his rhythm from his 5th grade teacher.

Virginia said...

Absolutely. It's widely known in the "HHS band circle" that he got rythmn in the 5th grade !
V