Up Ended

May 13, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Stony Brook University Seawolves attack Russ Bonanno (5) is up ended against Johns Hopkins Blue Jays at Homewood Field in Baltimore, MD.

A tough day for Stony Brook as they faced Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore, MD. The Seawolves played tough, but were just over-matched by the Blue Jays ending their season. Second first round game and second loss for my clients. Second acrobatic play for my clients as well.

Working with Adam in Sports Information was great and very easy. We were looking to just document their tournament experience and get some usable stock for next year.

This is my favorite image of the game. I felt like nothing was really going right for me, goals on the other side, getting blocked, etc, but then I made this image. It was a ground ball in Stony Brook's offensive zone and just as their attack Russ Bonanno picked up the ball he was up-ended by a Hopkins player. When you go through tough spots in games, you just have to keep working through the struggle to create images.

Diving Goal

May 12, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Canisius College Golden Griffins attack Jimmy Haney (4) scores a goal against Loyola Maryland Greyhounds at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, MD.

Canisius definitely came to play the #1 Loyola yesterday in their program's second ever NCAA Tournament game. The first half was a back-and-forth game with two amazing acrobatic goals by attack Jimmy Haney. The Golden Griffins kept the Greyhounds on their back-paws as they were dominating face-offs and ground-balls. The second half was a different story. A few ill-timed Canisius mistakes led to a scoring explosion by Loyola that unfortunately put an end to their season.

The photo above was Haney's second goal of the game a diving/falling/from the ground shot. I always love shooting from my knees but I can't help to think that just standing or being a little higher we would've have seen a bit more of his face at this peak moment, but still like it anyways. Another tournament game this afternoon and hopefully more next week.

Purpose

April 26, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; University at Albany Tynelle Taylor-Chase competes in the 400m Hurdles at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA.

The Penn Relays was an event, so many athletes from middle schoolers to Olympians just trying to compete with just one purpose - to win. For most of them this will be the biggest stage they will ever compete on in competition career. It amazed me to see 25,000 people cheering on these kids, race after race.

They run 10-wide during events on the track, making it incredibly difficult to get clean angles from the ground. This is my favorite client image of Thursday for Albany.

Last Second Heroics

April 28, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Loyola Greyhounds celebrate after attack Justin Ward (not pictured) scores in the final seconds to tie the game against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, MD.

Last weekend I was on assignment for Loyola Magazine to cover their homecoming game against cross-town rival Johns Hopkins and the associated student events on both Saturday and Sunday. For the game we were focusing on the emotion of the homecoming day from the perspective of the players, coaches, and fans as opposed to straight-action.At the time Loyola was ranked #1 in the country and unbeaten, plus they are 3-46 against Hopkins all time.

Loyola was difficult because you were forced to shoot from across the benches. It really made me get creative and push my comfort zone to get the emotional moments I needed for the client. The Greyhounds also didn't help when they started off with a 6-1 deficit, pulling to 6-3 at the half. They provided plenty of material in the second half, including tying the game with 5 seconds left. Loyola had some great looks in overtime, but couldn't pull it out as Hopkins scored a goal to win the game in the final moments of the overtime.

Overall it was a fun day, with a very exciting game. A few more images below.

April 28, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Loyola Greyhounds celebrate after attack Justin Ward (15) picks up a ground ball against Johns Hopkins Blue Jays defense Tucker Durkin on his way to score in the final seconds to tie the game against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, MD

April 28, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Loyola Greyhounds head coach Charley Toomey reacts against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays at  Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, MD.

Knocked Down

April 26, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Rider University Mike Soroko (left) and Yale University Nathan Richards collide during the jumping of the water steeple at the 3000m College Men's Steeplechase running at the Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA.

This is probably my favorite image from my two days covering the Penn Relays. None of my schools were participating in this heat, but what I was hoping for happened. I of course don't want anybody to ever get injured, but having a moment like this in front of me was great. I got soaked as you can probably tell, but the Steeplechase was by far the best event to witness. There were about 5,000 people packing this corner cheering them on and a handful of photographers all waiting in anticipation. The squeegee guys even get into it by donning Wayne's World costumes as they clean the water off the track.

It was two great days in Philly. My new Instagram/Tumblr blog is just some square frames of my travels from assignments. The ability to take the train (which has free wifi) meant I could actually be productive for my clients while traveling, a win-win.

Disappointment

April 15, 2012; Camden, NJ, USA; Old Dominion University stroke of the Varsity 4 Women boat reacts after finishing 6th in the Grand Finals at the Knecht Cup hosted by Villanova. 

Last week I went up to cover the Knecht Cup Regatta in Camden, NJ for Old Dominion University. I was only up there for the finals day. During pre-assignment talks it was unclear if I'd be able to shoot from a chase/referee boat during the race. I've shot from boats at Clemson covering both the women's rowing team and US Men's National team when they trained. I called ahead to Villanova Rowing to hopefully secure the access. Everybody was great and really worked with me to get the shots I needed for the client.

A regatta is a challenge to document due to the length of the course and the remoteness of the competition from the sidelines. Having access to the referee boats makes it much easier to cover. This was probably my favorite image, unfortunately for ODU. Their Varsity 4 was the top seed in the Grand Finals for the Varsity 4 Women, but ended up finishing 6th.

I'll feature a few more images from the Knecht Cup up here next week, plus some remaining images from the Notre Dame spring sports season.

Spring

Spring is here - lacrosse, baseball and rowing.

Exciting times with new clients, old clients, and house renovations.

I like the energy of this photo, the start of a game, and the excitement it shows on the girl's face.