I went to check out the new Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe last night and one of the characters kept jumping out at me as someone I had seen before. Robin had three travelers with him and one guy had a black beard and always seemed to be playing a lute. About halfway through the movie it dawned on me that I had made photos of this guy (his name is Alan Doyle) playing with his band Great Big Sea at the folk music festival MerleFest in Wilkesboro a few weeks ago. After a little research (if that’s what you can call Google and Wikipedia) it turns out this guy is friends with Russell Crowe, help write and produce Crowe’s music, and had one other gig in a movie … as an extra in a film shot in his hometown back in the 1980s.

Artist speak about their craft at art festival from James Nix on Vimeo.

Concord hosted an arts festival over the weekend and I did a quick video story on some of the local artist showing off their work.

I photographed a playoff soccer game at Jay M. Robinson High School is Concord Wednesday night. I always love it when the high school sports I cover so often head into the playoff. The intensity gets bumped up a notch and I feel like I make better pictures. This was a first round game and highly-ranked Robinson knocked off Ledford High school 6-0. I hope they continue to win and I get to keep covering them … this is just fun.

Sportsman Class Drag Racers from James Nix on Vimeo.

Drag racing is something completely foreign to me. Much like NASCAR, I have to take a crash course in the NHRA every year when the major events come to Concord and I go out to cover them for the newspaper.

This year, I was really interested in learning more about the non-professional levels of drag racing, known as the sportsman class, and went out and found a couple of local racers. Here is the video I produced and the story I wrote for the newspaper.

Wheelchair basketball from James Nix on Vimeo.

One of the early videos I produced for the Independent Tribune on a local wheelchair basketball team in Concord. They were a great group of guys to hang out with and I hope to continue working on a project about them.

Concord’s History Comes Alive from James Nix on Vimeo.

The Historic Cabarrus Association hosted a history walk through downtown Concord a few weeks back. Re-enactors portraying various historic figures from Cabarrus County lined the streets to talk with walkers as they strolled through the streets.

Cabarrus County Teacher of the Year from James Nix on Vimeo.

I produced this video on the Cabarrus County School’s Teacher of the Year, Beth Jewell. She teaches Kindergarten at Irvin Elementary School in Concord and was very nice to let me spend time in her classroom.

Congratulations on the recognition form the school system and I hop this video will help show why she was named the teacher of the year.

I met a local musician in Kannapolis who has his own blend of Southern Rock and Heavy Metal. He is Joe Davis of the Joe Davis Band and I hope to work with him again.

I spent a couple of hours with Davis in his basement studio at his home in Kannapolis and interviewed and recorded him playing to produce this video for the Independent tribune.

Southern Metal in Kannapolis from James Nix on Vimeo.

I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s the final seconds of overtime in a semi-final game of the conference tournament.  The game that has gone back and forth all night long and its getting close to a second overtime. Central Cabarrus scores to tie the ball game with about 30 second left on the clock and all of the sudden, after a couple of ref whistles, A.L. Brown is down on the other end shooting 4 free throws on a technical foul. The shooter made all four and Kannapolis went on to win the game.

I was shooting from the other end of the court from the foul and had no clue what happened. The sports writer covering the game seem just as confused when I asked him. We later found out that the ref had called a foul on a Central player after they scored when A.L. Brown threw the ball in bounds. That player apparently uttered the expletive generally abbreviated as WTF and the ref did not like. It seems to me like said ref essentially gave the other team the win and ended Central’s season over a little bit of understandable passion.

Anyway … during the free throws, the Kannapolis players were rightfully excited and I made this image.

Over the weekend, I photographed a wheelchair basketball team called the Carolina TarWheels as they hosted a tournament in Concord. I also wrote a story and produced a video, which can be seen on the independent tribune web site.