Moeller At St. Xavier

Just posting the JV game for right now. The Varsity game to follow. These teams are definitely rivals and the hard play on the field showed that. There was a threat of rain but it held off for the first game. Below are some of my favorites from the game.

This was the start of the players shot.

And here is the rest of the play.

St. Xavier has this wall painted blue which makes a nice background. Even better when the player can be framed in the big St. X! pained on the wall. Now if I could get rid of the clutter on the sidelines. Cause you know it is all about my wants and not the players' need to warm up or practice :)

An Interesting Article

There is a great article today featured on SportsShooter. I find it very relevant to my business. I know all photographers (it does not matter what speciality) struggle with "free" competition. Many times I try to explain this to people but have never put it as elegantly as Matt Brown. Take a read and let me know what you think. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1989

What I like to tell people is, would you like it if somebody did your job for free or at a discount rate because it is just something they do when they have free time and have no need for the extra money. I am by no means trying to discourage anyone from pursuing their dreams or just trying to get better at taking pictures. I have helped several people out over the past year understand their camera a little more and hopefully helped them produce better results.

I will get off my soapbox for today. Thanks for reading.

Sycamore At Mason Baseball

This was actually a continuation of a game that was suspended because of rain. Does anyone else feel like it has been a very wet spring? I actually went to this game to play around a little. I really have trouble just shooting for myself sometimes. I think most photographers are this way. My goal is to set time aside at least once a month to do something I want to do - either a game, find a willing subject for a portrait type session or go off exploring by myself. In this case I decided a game. There are things I have been wanting to try to do differently at baseball games. I like most of the results. Any opinions and comments would be great. Here are a few of my favorites from the game.

St. Ursula At Mason Lacrosse

This was my first tournament game of the Spring season. Fitting that it be lacrosse since that is probably the sport I shoot most during the spring. The fans from both teams were great. Lots of cheering which always adds to a game. Here are some of my favorite images from the game.

Contested shot by Mason.

This was a great save by the goalie.

Lakota West At Lakota East Lacrosse

I looked at the date of these games and could not believe it was on May 10th. Just seems like a week or so ago. This month has flown by for me. Like every East vs West matchup, the games were full of intensity. The best part is the games were on a Saturday afternoon and there was no rain. Even though there was no rain on that day there was rain the previous days so the field was a bit wet still. In some images you can see clumps of mud flying in the air. Here are some of my favorites from both the JV and Varsity games:

Just one of many hits during the game. Some of those clumps I was talking about.

Paying for taking a shot on goal.


I like the goalie in the background pointing out the location of the ball.

Love the defender's expression.

Memorial Day

A special thanks to all the men and women who gave their lives serving our Country. Our freedom is a direct result of their sacrifice.

More Rain

This spring has been very wet in this area. We are above average in rainfall. I can definitely say this is the most I have shot in the rain consistently. Seems like everytime I head out I either have the rain gear on or take it with me because it is suppose to rain. Last night was no different. It was actually kind of bright before I left for the District Track Meet at Fairfield. About a mile into my drive the rain started again. The rain was hit or miss most of the night. There was even sun for awhile. Today though the weather is much nicer. The softball game was played under bright sunny skies. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Here is one image from last night's meet.

A Few Quotes

One of my favorite quotes - “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." - Wayne Gretzky

For the longest time I never knew who said it but I thought it was great advice. While putting together a sample product I offer I found another quote that I thought was kind of fitting for me - "Basketball is like photography, if you don't focus, all you have is the negative." -- Dan Frisby

Here is the sample I made. I just finished framing it so I thought I would share the image with you. It is 20x24 in real life.

Track and Field

What to do on a rainy day? I know, go photograph a track meet. On May 8th I was definitely trying to figure out the different weather radars. I had been meaning to get to a track meet all season but the weather always seemed iffy when I had a free night in my schedule to go so I stayed away. I was determined to go to this meet though. Checked with the school and things were still on. Apparently the coach was watching radar like me since it was mentioned to me that there was a break coming that should arrive about the start of the meet. Gathered all my rain gear and headed out. I sat in my car watching it rain until the start of the meet. While things did start in a light rain it did clear up. The break in the rain that we saw on radar did make it and the rest of the time I was there no more rain fell. Some of the field events were delayed while they tried to get things dried up so it was safe. It was nice being back at a track meet. I ran track in high school and forgot about how much fun meets could be. Lots of competition but everyone is supportive of the other athletes.

The first image I am showing is me playing around with motion blur. This was during warm-ups so I got to practice a lot. This is probably the best one. I will save you from having to look at all the outtakes.

Sycamore at Mason Baseball

A nice sunny baseball game. As opposed to last night's lacrosse game. I almost got hit twice by the ball. Actually the first one almost took out my second camera that was laying on the ground next to me. The second was a sharply hit ball pretty much right at me. Luckily I was able to get out of the way quickly. I was on my knees shooting from the 3rd base line and was able to rock back out of the way. Thanks to everyone who asked me if I made it out of the way on time and if I was okay. Except for a slightly elevated heart rate I was fine. There is talk about requiring photographers to wear helmets at baseball games if they are inside the fence. Or in this case, at the end of a fence. I have actually thought about getting a helmet and think a requirement might be a good idea. Somebody needs to make one that will not get in the way of holding the camera to your face though. Enough about that, here are some of my favorites from the game:

High and tight.