Just when I thought last week it couldn't get any better photo-wise - a Star Trek convention - I ended up covering Supersonic Jets and more than 80 "Static" aircraft on the flight line at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The base opened its gates to the public over the weekend for its first air show since 2008.

I'd been told more than 300,000 people were expected, and cars would start to line up at 8 a.m. for the 11 a.m. opening.

But it wasn't that bad as I arrived on the road leading up to the main gate. Even without time to look around in stop-and-go traffic, I noticed families sitting in their cars and mini-vans in a parking lot along Main Street, so without hesitation, I pulled right over.

The show would go on until 4 p.m. so I figured I could miss the opening drop of the U.S. Army Golden Knight precision parachute team.

I drove up first to the Davis family (above), missionaries who run the drop-in Armed Forces Baptist Mission Christian Service Center in a storefront in the little strip mall next to Thunderbird Lanes (I wondered which name came first, the bowling alley or the USAF Thunderbirds, headliner stars of the air show). They had watched the air show practice runs on Friday and decided the parking lot would be a great place to see all the show. "They flew right over us," Ellen said. She, her husband Arlan and son Nicholas pointed out the control tower, visible through the fence, and all the visitors walking across a huge field, giving me a good sense of how the parking and logistics would work once I got on the base.

But I wasn't in any hurry. I was into the scene in the parking lot.

Also avoiding the lines, crowds and long walk from parking lots were retired commercial pilot and former US Army helicopter pilot (Vietnam, 1967-70) Terry McInery and his grandson. He said he'd been attentend these shows for forty years and also knew all the tricks. "We can see just fine from here, and I can get food, drinks, or change diapers... there is no way I'm carrying him, and then standing in lines like Disneyworld." But then he told me he planned on returning by himself on Sunday.

 I did eventually make my way ONTO the base...

...click here, or on one of the photos, to see more.

Photographing some events: The Mummers, Mardi Gras, Halloween Drag Parties - and Star Trek Conventions - is like taking candy from a baby Betazoid (that a better metaphor than this post's title?)

My first experience "to boldly go" out photographing Trekkies (they actually prefer to be called Trekkers) was around the time the science officer of the Starship USS Enterprise made the cover of Newsweek (1986 - "The Enduring Power of Star Trek").

I recall most of the fans were leery about "outsiders" seeing them in their costumes and extremely hesitant about being photographed.

There were no shrinking violet Vulcans at the “Official Star Trek Convention: The Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of The Next Generation” all weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, when I showed up on Saturday.

Somewhere along the line - consider the success of TV's Big Bang Theory - it became fashionably chic to be a geek.

This group had no qualms about having their pictures taken. In fact, when approaching a Cardassian, Romulan or even your generic Starfleet officer with my camera, they were already getting into pose mode before I could even say qaStaH nuq? (wassup? in Klingon).

From the Bristol physican I watched get dressed by his car in the parking lot (decided not to post that photo) to the North Jersey dad who costumed and brought his two kids (saying, "my father used to embarrass me by taking me to these things. Now I guess it's my turn.") to the newlyweds (she costumed as the feline Lt. M'Ress, from the animated TV show - he, apparently as Margaritaville singer Jimmy Buffett) to the Filipino neurologist - above - who popped over from the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Foundation in Philly (He didn't confuse the two conventions; he just wanted a break) they were all fun to talk to and photograph.

The wedding party was just staying at the hotel. They didn't have to share their reception.

The "Cap Kirk" personalized plate isn't his.

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the syndicated series that ran from 1987 to 1994 and tracked the voyages of the Starship Enterprise about 100 years after the setting of the original Star Trek. That original Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons on NBC.

If you're reading this on Sunday, there's still time to make the scene. It's going until 5 p.m. $30 for adults; $15 for children (age 6 and younger free). More info here.

Click here, or on any of the photos for a gallery with more images.

Between other assignments in Atlantic City this week, I walked over to the new Revel resort casino. It's been open a few weeks, but will have its "Grand Opening" on Memorial Day weekend with Beyoncé headlining the 5,500-seat Ovation Hall for three nights.

Ididn't go inside - so didn't get a chance to try out Iron Chef Jose Garces' indoor taco truck - but I had a productive hour wandering around on the boardwalk side of the $2 billion resort, hotel, casino and spa. Then, drove by the "back" side on my way out of town.

The annual Living Flame Memorial Service honoring police and firefighters killed in the line of duty was held Wednesday at Franklin Square.

During the speeches before the wreath-laying ceremony, I was wandering in the rear of the crowd when I saw Police Crpl. Robert Pawlowski and a young boy meandering among the uniformed officers just as I was doing.

Pawlowski seemed to know everybody, but the youngster wasn't as outgoing.

After photographing them for a while, I introduced myself.

The Corporal an instructor at the Police Academy, and his brother, John Pawlowski, also a cop, was murdered in 2009, shot with a gun hidden in the killer's pocket as he and his partner responded to a taxi cab dispute in Logan.

John, Jr. was born a few months after his dad died.

Reaching his hand out is Inspector Aaron Horne, who was Pawlowski's commanding officer. Later I photographed John, Jr. with his mother placing flowers on his name on the memorial.

Since records were kept in the Philadelphia Fire Department in 1871, 288 members of the department have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Since 1828, at least 250 Philadelphia police officers have died while on duty.

Names added this year were Fire Lt. Robert Neary and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney, killed last month in a fire at an abandoned warehouse in Kensington. No active police personnel have died in the line of duty since last year’s service. More photos from the service here. The video is below.

Waiting in North Philadelphia for Prince Edward (offically, His Royal Highness The Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis, Earl of Wessex, Viscount Severn, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty... and seventh in the line of succession to the British Throne) to arrive for luncheon and ceremonial tree planting at Girard College, during his two-day visit to Philadelphia last week.

So call this one a royal-in-waiting version, in the series "spanning the tri-state region to bring you the constant variety of headshots..."

The sculpure, The Spirit of Girard, by Bruno Lucchesi, is outside Founders Hall at the boarding school. It was dedicated in 2000 on the 250th anniversary of the birth of founder Stephen Girard. Click here for more pictures of the Prince's visit

I've made dozens of videos since philly.com starting using them a few years ago. And I've made mistakes on every single one of them. But I've also learned something from each of the mistakes. The biggest lesson, one I am reminded of every single time I shoot a video, is the importance of good sound. Both the quality and the content. My latest video - an opera flash mob - had automatic content, but it was in the quality where I'd come up short.

Opera singers usually stand on a stage and produce a sound that fills the entire room (or cavernous concert hall). Audio recording engineers usually do NOT place their microphones anywhere close to that really loud and wide dynamic range sound source. My microphone? Not too far from their faces, on the hot-shoe of my Nikon D-7000 (with a shock-mount & windscreen) wtith a 20mm lens (in the tight crowd).

But the sound wasn't really the lesson learned this time. This time, in the three minute "flash Performance" by the the Opera Company of Philadelphia among the cheesesteak-eaters outside Geno's in South Philadelphia, I realized why live performances are usually always covered with multiple cameras. There is not much I can do about that the next time, so maybe it's not a lesson learned. I'll just call it a lesson appreciated.

I knew I had to shoot the entire 3 minute performance in one take to keep the audio intact so I could edit on deadline. I just could not, on the spot, shoot closeups of choristers, cheesesteak chewers, and the crowd. I guess I could have set up a second camera on a tripod, just shooting an overall, but I didn't know where each of the singers would end up.

So I decided to limit my camera motion - panning too quickly and shifting point of foucus - to parts of the performance when there were slight pauses, and I did luck out with a few seconds of video showing only the women during a part when only the men were singing.  I was able to use that in to cover up a jerky pan in a section of the song I didn't want to lose.

Click here for my story, and here for blog post by Inquirer classical music critic Peter Dobrin. That's the video below:

We didn't have much of a winter this year, but what a spring it has been.

That's the first few seconds of the rush to scoop up 25,000 (yes, the comma's in the right place) Easter eggs on the football field at Cherry Hill West High School yesterday. Find more photos here, and a time-lapse video here (you can see me at the 20-second mark taking the picture at left).

I enjoy taking weather photos, but I think I blinked this past winter and missed our only snow day.

So I quess I'm making up for it now.

Last week I spent the morning photographing 5,000 tulips in Haddonfield (gallery here). I wondered if whoever (The Haddonfield Tulip Co.) planted the tulip bulbs and if the somebody (Kingsway Church) who had to buy/collect all the eggs before they were "hidden" on the grass field really counted them all.

When we got our first warm spell a few weeks ago, I was dispatched to shoot a "weather photo" in New Jersey. Another photographer would do Pennsylvania. We have two editions of the newspaper and try to have local photos for each. As I was leaving, my editor called to say another editor had just come into the newsroom after walking through Rittenhouse Square and said it was full of people. So, since I was still closest, I was detoured there.

As all the trees were still bare, I knew if I could look down on the park and get a photo that would show that it was both warm only mid-March. I parked in a garage overlooking the park, and drove to the very top level, envisioning a photo like Vincent Laforet's aerial views of Central Park for the New York Times a few years ago. Well, Rittenhouse Square is no Central Park, a parking garage is not a helicopter (and I'm no Vince Laforet). It wasn't wall-to-wall people on blankets, but there were two shirtless young men.

It wasn't quite what I was looking for. The photo did show that it was warm, but there really wasn't any visual evidence that it was only March. The picture could've been a file photo from last summer.

So I walked down to street level, and after asking the two Penn law students their names, I noticed the daffodils on the edge of the park.

That's it on the left. Then I continued onto New Jersey, confident I had a good Pennsylvania weather photo, I started looking for one for our readers in the Garden State, where they also grow daffodils...

A few days later, another call from editors for "weather art." I usually avoid going to Kelly Drive for photos because it is such a hackneyed site.

But I also avoid the Schuylkill Expressway when it's jammed and I'm trying to get home.

And the blossoms looked great, and there was even a place to pull over and park. So I did.

After photographing joggers, bikers, walkers and skaters passing along the trail, a family walked up.

I didn't want to bother them, but then witnessed a scene all too familiar to me: photo person wandering while partner person waits.

I made a few frames, then introduced myself. The picture-taking person was Dervin Witmer, a portrait photographer from Lebanon County. The patient partner person and their daughter sat in the shade.

This, if someone were to ask what I've shot lateley, is the photo I'd say is my recent favorite.

As you might imagine, I was not the only Inquirer photographer out shooting the warm weather. I was not the only one entranced by blossoms. So when I was asked again to "look for a standalone photo," I really didn't want to shoot any more flowering trees.

Bruce Springsteen was in town that night, so I went by the National Constitution Center thinking fans here for his Wrecking Ball concert might stop by the exhibit there - and possible do something in front of the big photos outside. A lot of maybes. 

Walking past the Federal Courthouse though, I noticed something in the planter I had never seen before. This in an area I have spent hours over the years waiting for defendants to leave or enter the building.

I asked the guard, who was hesitant about telling me anything about it. But I persisted and learned it is a makeshift memorial for a woodpecker - Woody - where in 2009 a courthouse worker buried the bird after it perished flying into the building's glass facade. Not knowing why it's there, tourists have added to it over the years, and others have taken pieces. But the orignal wooden popsicle stick cross is still there.

Finally, bringing my springtime musings to an end, an added bonus video: snippits of springtime I shot over the past month along the Schuykill River.

The Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com were sold on Monday. If this is news to you, read about it here.

I covered the "meet the new owners" hoagie & canned soda lunch in our Broad Street lobby yesterday.

But enough about them. I was thrilled to see a really huge blowup of MY PHOTO in the front window (facing out to street). It's a young man outside the Mayfair Diner at night, peeking in to check the score on the TV as the Phillies were clinching their division title in 2010.

I hardly ever use the front door at work, as the parking lot is in back, so I hadn't seen it before.

I recall when one of our previous new buyers came in a few years ago, they plastered generic stock photos of Philadelphia scenes on the sides of SEPTA buses.

I doubt this photo went up overnight, so I'll bet it has nothing to do with these new bosses. But it's still cool.

Legendary sports photographer Rich Clarkson will be courtside for his 57th NCAA Championship game tonight when Kentucky and Kansas face off. He was on CBS This Morning earlier today. Click here, or on the photo to see the clip.

Besides being a sports photographer (Sports Illustrated,Time and LIFE), Clarkson has been a Director of Photography (National Geographic, Denver Post and Topeka Capital-Journal); mentor (dozens of members of his staff and interns were - or became - Newspaper or Magazine Photographers of the Year and Pulitzer Prize winners); and leader (he served as a president of the National Press Photographers Association and is a founding officer of the NPPA Foundation).

When I first met Mr. Clarkson (still hard for me to call him Rich), I was a 24 year-old United Press International photographer just assignned to Kansas City. My "territory" was half of Missouri, part of Arkansas, and all of HIS state - Kansas. He was already one of the most famous photo directors in America, but when I called on him while meeting newspaper photographers around the Sunflower State, he took me out to lunch at Topeka's finest establishment and treated me like I was some visiting photo demi-god. Over the years whenever I'd run into him, he was always just as gracious. I'll be looking for him when I watch the game on TV tonight (he's usually near one of the corners).