Two Wheels and Perspective

I [HEART] quad rugby. A few years ago--when I was still in newspapers--I got the opportunity to do a two-part story on a local man who went from being a regular suburban husband and father to a quadriplegic in 24 hours due to a condition that attacked his spinal cord. In the wake of his injury and rehabilitation, he discovered wheelchair rugby and feel in love.

It's a story that still inspires me, even years later. I hadn't been out to shoot the sport or hang out with the athletes since completing the story, so I took the opportunity to get out this weekend for the Mile High Massacre tournament in Denver. What an awesome display of punishing metal on metal collisions.

Looking at these pictures tonight makes me realize how insignificant the challenges of my Monday truly are. Life is all about choices. Sometimes these decisions are in your control and sometimes they are so beyond your grasp. It's all about perspective, right?

Baseline Sitting

Got out to shoot some high school basketball a few days ago. It had been a good long while since I pulled out the gear to shoot sports. It was a lot of fun and I think I could still compete for column inches in **most** newspapers. Too bad newspapers are dead. Hopefully this is the beginning of me spending more time tucked inside the finder of my cameras. On a side note, these are all shot ambient with the amazing Nikon D700 and 70-200 combination. In the past, I would have pulled out my speedlights to throw a little light around. That approach would have added some separation, but I'm pretty pleased with the nat light (read: cycling mercury vapor lights of death) results.

Big Hit

As promised in a post earlier this week, here are the two decent football frames from the Colorado v. Florida State game last Saturday in Boulder, Colo. I was positioned on the end line and saw this pass play developing and managed t0 hit the button on time to capture these two pictures. I think they both work fine, but the first one is more representative of the incomplete pass. I like the second one because the receiver has his eyes on the football unaware of the punishing hit that is coming and I love the first one because it all comes together - the ball, the hit, the quarterback in the background, etc.

Contrary to my last few posts, I do shoot more than football. Hopefully I can show off some of the other stuff soon?

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First at Folsom

For the second time in a week, I got to make pictures at a college football game. For Saturday's game - Colorado v. Florida State - I was assisting my good friend Joshua Lawton at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo. I didn't really do much other than babysit his cameras while he dashed to the press box to transmit on short deadlines at halftime...the rest of the time I was trying to work on catching a few nice moments on the gridiron. I felt a bit more comfortable with the pace of the game and when my Nikons weren't backfocusing or otherwise not cooperating I felt like I saw the action pretty well. These are three that I liked pretty well - not game changing moments necessarily, but standard "they could run in the newspaper" frames. I did have a pair of 1/500 of a seconds that kinda rocked...look for a comparison post of those two pictures later in the week.

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Opportunity

Had the opportunity to cover a college football tilt last night and I had a lot of fun aside from some major circus-like credential issues. I was assigned to shoot "action portraits" of the players from Texas Christian University and I'm pretty sure I didn't do a spectacular job. I did however make some images that I think tell a pretty good story about the way the game went. Air Force erased a 14 point deficit in the fourth quarter and ended up winning on a field goal in overtime. Quite a bit different level and speed of play than I'm accustomed to, but football is football.

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Gridiron in Motion

It happens in towns big and small and far and wide this time of year - high school football. Now that I am a shooter without a newspaper, I decided to give myself a self-assignment to cover a showdown between two Class 5A rival schools last night. The stands were packed, the uniforms were clean and the weather was perfect as Ponderosa and Mountain Vista hit the green for the 2007 campaign opener in Highlands Ranch, Colo.

In years past, I found myself working for the storytelling picture from the game to publish in the newspaper. Old habits die hard they say and so it isn't surprising that for much of the first half I was shooting the game pretty straight and sharp. With those frames tucked in my back pocket I decided to play and have some fun as action resumed in the second half. I slowed the shutter down to a crawl and let light, color and motion work a little calculated magic in the camera. I think it worked for the most part and I am really glad I decided to take the chance on something I haven't done much of in the past. I am also glad that I spent my evening witnessing some fine athletes unconcerned with endorsements, huge contracts and fame.

Thank the Lord for prep football season.

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