Over the past twelve months I’ve been privileged to have been able to photograph some amazing things, I took a huge leap and moved to Chicago, and I self-published a photo book.  I spent about a third of the year living on the road at the Kentucky Derby, the US Open, and in Florida for the final flights of the Space Shuttle.  The hours were long, but the returns were huge.  The experiences I had last year will stick with me for life.  Here are a few of my favorite images from the past year.

Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom being walked to the winners circle at Churchill Downs.

Mission specialist Sandy Magnus and pilot Doug Hurley walk along the rope line as Atlantis is moved into the VAB in preparation for her final flight at the Kennedy Space Center.

A news anchor is silhouetted by studio lights as weather delays the roll back of the RSS at the Kennedy Space Center.

USGA Agronomist Darin Bevard uses a TruFirm to check the firmness of the putting surface during the practice round at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. on Wednesday, June 15, 2011.  (Copyright USGA/Joel Kowsky)

Space Shuttle Endeavour is lifted inside the VAB in preparation for her final flight on STS-134.

Space Shuttle Atlantis sits illuminated by work lights on pad 39A just after 3am on June 1, 2011 after completing her final journey from the VAB.

Last Saturday was a long day, after cross country finished up I headed up to Milwaukee, Wis. for some soccer.  I shot the first round game between the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Illinois State University.  UW Milwaukee defeated ISU 3-0 to advance.

Made the trip back up to Oshkosh this year and it didn’t disappoint.  Turned out to be a great day for the airshow and I got to see the 787.

My stay in Florida for STS-135 coincided with the launch of a ULA Delta IV carrying an Air Force Block II-F GPS satellite at 2:41AM EDT.  This provided me the opportunity to not only witness a night launch, but to try for a streak photo.  The above image is a 5 minutes exposure at f/22 at 50ISO on a 5D MK II with a 24 1.4L II lens.  For a first attempt I’d say the image is a success.  As far as capturing the arc of the rocket, it falls a little short.  I should have chosen a wider lens for the shot, and taken it at 20 or even 16mm.  I also should have allowed for a little bit more time for the lens to acclimate to the warm Florida air.  A bit of fog on the lens accounts for some of the haze visible around the streak.  I guess I’ll be planning another trip down here at some point to give this shot another attempt.

Had a chance to get inside the space shuttle’s engine shop yesterday, here are a few frames that I liked.  It was really cool to have the chance to see the engines up close and learn a little bit about how they are maintained and work.

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

About a month back I traveled out to Bethesda, Maryland to be part of a team of photographers covering the US Open for the United States Golf Association.  Until the US Open the only golf that I had shot was the few events that the University of Missouri hosted each year, nothing on the scale of the Open.  It took me a few of the practice round days to get into the swing of things, but after that it was a blast.

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

©Joel Kowsky/USGA

I had the opportunity to work with some great people over the course of the week I spent at Congressional, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.  Maybe I’ll get to do it again next year…

I’ve spend the past week or so in Florida prepping for the final launch of the Space Shuttle Program.  After bad weather earlier in the week and a forecast that we were sure wouldn’t allow for a launch, space shuttle Atlantis embarked on the 135th and final mission of Shuttle Program.  I feel privileged to have been able be part of this chapter of American history and see the shuttle fly for the final time.  Now onto landing!

I made the trek back to Florida for the final rollout of the space shuttle program and the landing of Endeavour.  Atlantis started her journey out to the pad on evening of May 31 and finished in the early hours of June 1 just as Endeavour was landing a few miles away at the SLF.

Watch for a blog post of some polaroids from this trip and from the launch of STS-134.  Keep an eye on spaceshuttlepolaroids.com in the coming weeks for some exciting things.

The second time seems to be the charm for me and shuttle launches.  After about two weeks of delays, Endeavour (OV-105), rocketed towards the heavens on the penultimate flight of the space shuttle program.

The low cloud deck meant the shuttle was out of view really quick after it left the pad, the positive side to this was a really cool shadow cast by the orbiters exhaust plume.

A few of my favourite frames from RSS rollback this time around.  It was nice for a change to have rollback in the afternoon instead of during the dark of night.