Cry, Cry, Again....and Again

So many emotional photos, so little print space. Our local high school, Pine View, suffered their first loss of the season....too bad it was the state championship game. Wasn't exactly a close one either, with Timpview winning by a score of 50-7, extending their winning streak to 28 and claiming the state title in 3 of the last 4 years.

By the end of the first quarter I was already looking for my storytelling photos, which at that point were most likely going to be non-celebratory photos, in other words, I was looking for the criers. I ended up finding plenty of them at the end of the game. Now was the hard part, which ones to send to print. So, which ones would you choose?












It wasn't all tears, I did still manage to get a few good action shots also:

Time to vote!

Editors note: It is my birthday today, and normally it would be a day to celebrate. But for some reason the college students that I teach believe me to be in my mid-30s, even though I am actually in my mid-20s. So now I am left wondering, "Am I really aging that badly?" Long story short, I may have to fail them all on their mid-term exams.

It was time to vote again today, and it was my job once again to illustrate the act of voting. It is always somewhat difficult to make an interesting photograph from people standing at the polls. One angle I decided to take was that of an interesting reflection I noticed near the polls. Here's what I came away with:


That worked out okay, although my paper may not find it suitable to run as a centerpiece photo. So I always make sure I gather plenty of different angles at an event in order to tell the entire story. This photo may make for a more accurate centerpiece:

I managed to get some decent interaction from the subjects in the photo while still keeping in mind my composition at an interesting angle.

I'm getting too old for this....

Weekend Football

Couple big games, couple big losses. Our local high school, Cedar, had their second-round playoff game Friday night and Southern Utah University was attempting to end their school-record 15 game losing streak. Both lost. Made some good images though!

Here's a few shots from the 0-9 Thunderbirds matchup against Cal Poly. They did manage to score a few touchdowns, this one coming from a jump ball in the corner:


Here's their running back running all over the T-Birds' defense for a touchdown, they just couldn't stop him:


Can't quite stretch far enough to make the catch:


The T-Birds were trying everything to make a tackle:


Now for a few shots from the Cedar High School playoff loss. Who says high school sports aren't rough?


This one got a little too close for my comfort, it took some dodging on my end to avoid a visit to the emergency room, but I still made a shot out of it:


Finally, the coach, Todd Peacock, glaring at the scoreboard for the final time this season, watching the final seconds tick off to put them out of the playoffs:

Backboard Cam-Attempt #1

So I decided to try something a little different this basketball season....a backboard cam. For those of you who don't know exactly what this is, it's when a camera is rigged to the backboard of the hoop and triggered from the floor either wirelessly or by hard wire. I decided to go hard wire (mainly because it's cheaper) and made a trip to Home Depot to build my rig. Here's what it looks like to the players:


After pre-focusing before the game, during the game I sit underneath the hoop with a trigger in my hand, and wait for the action to come to the camera. Here's a few shots that I liked.

Here's our power forward Tate Sorenson taking the ball to the hoop for a layup:


Although I think I like the next frame a bit better as a vertical:


Here's a shot of Oralndo Griego during their scrimmage a couple days before, from the other side of the hoop:


So, as you can see, it makes for an interesting angle on an otherwise ordinary game, although there are still some issues I need to work on. For example, there is a nasty reflection from shooting through the glass in the corner of most of the photos:



With some black cardboard and some tape, that should be a quick fix. There are other problems: 1) My 17mm lens just isn't wide enough for this angle. 2) There just isn't enough light in the arena to get the shutter speed I want, which means I would need to add strobes (extra lights) to the arena, but that costs too much (for myself and my paper). 3) I have to use my best camera for the remote, therefore I'm depending on my backup cameras to get the shots I need from the floor....oh the joys of working for a small paper.

This one works great for a feature shot of the team:


All in all I'm happy with my first attempt. After a few tweaks and some luck, I'll come away with a great portfolio image.