Golf

I had my first real experience photographying a golf tournament on Wednesday. I went to the GMC Boys Tournament up at Weatherwax. For September it was pretty chilly day. Temps never broke out of the 60s and there was a nice steady breeze. The people at Weatherwax were very helpful in providing me a cart and making a copy of the schedule for me to take on the course. The Oak Hills golf coach helped me get to the right place once I was ready to get started. I have attempted to play golf a few times. Let's just say I get my moneys worth out of a round. Below are a few of my images from the day.

This was a nice pitch onto the green.

Here is a hit from the fairway.

I always wanted to try to capture somebody hitting a ball from the sand. This guy was nice enough to hit it there so I was able to get him just barely visible, the sand flying and the ball. (look top right)

Yes, that is player back behind those trees hitting the ball. I was truely amazed by how well he hit this shot and how it got to the green.

Nice form on that drive! Even the tee popped out like it is supposed to.

Been Busy

Time seems to be flying by this month. I can't believe it is already half over. Hopefully the rest of the month goes a little slower.

Sorry no pictures this time. I have photographed a few youth football games but since the kids are younger than high school I will not post pictures here. I will tell you photographing first and second grader football is great. The kids are out there having fun and are so cute! I love the fact parents cheer for them but do not yell out "suggestions" or negative comments. There is nothing better than capturing somebody doing exactly what they want to do and having fun. As we grow up sometimes sports become less fun and more of something we have to do. There is definitely a fine line between having fun and being competitve and going over that line and feeling like a lose is somehow a reflection on your character. The need to practice more and train harder dominate our thoughts. I've been on both sides of that line personally and it is definitely hard to pull yourself back to the fun side sometimes. Recently I started running without a watch to help me get back to the fun side and away from the constant need to measure my current run against my last one. I'm back to enjoying my runs but I'm sure I'll add the watch back in a little while. Who doesn't like to keep track of progress after all! I'll lose the watch again if it starts taking away from my fun and the freedom I feel from pressures while running.

I've also been working on some updates for my site. I hope to have those changes done by then of this week. More information on portaits will be added and hopefully a little larger gallery. Toying with the idea of posting events I plan on photographing as my schedule allows. Since this could change at the last minute I'm not sure I want to post it. Any opinions?

High School Soccer

Photographed two high school soccer games on the 7th of September. We are in the middle of some great weather so aside from a few bug bites it was an amazing night to be outside. Since I shoot a lot of Oak Hill sports I am getting to be a little bit of a fan. Unfortunately on this night both the jv and varsity teams lost to Lakota West. Below are a few shots from the varsity game. The first one is actually a goal being scored by Lakota West.
Here is a throw-in shot. Attendance was a little low so there was a lot of empty stands which made for some not so great backgrounds for the pictures.
The next two are slide tackles which were both successful in knocking the ball away.



Great height by both players on a headball.

I played a little bit between games. The setting sun is perfect for these kinds of shots.

Another Friday Night Football Game

Photographed another football last Friday night at Oak Hills. This time they were playing Western Hills at home in a nice steady misty rain. To say I was soaked when I left would be putting it nicely. On top of that we actually had cool weather (in the 60s) so I used the heater on the way home to try to dry off and warm-up. Of course the rain didn't bother to start until warm-ups were complete and the band was taking the field to start things off. The first picture below is from warm-ups. They do a drill where they run and have another player try to knock the ball out of their hands.

Pre-game was performed by the band again.

I love their coach. You don't even have to watch the game, just watch him. You will know after every play if it was good or not in his eyes.
I think the coach would be happy with the below player with regards to his stiff arming the defense. Oak Hills scored quickly and so it was time to kickoff.
This player had a great run. Check out the larger picture to see his face.
Finish up the picture by showing another run. Given the weather, almost every play was a run.