A Look at Valley Forge Park...

When the idea first arose about having online photo galleries, I remembered how other papers put up lots of scenic shots their photogs have taken. And, for The Spoke, what's more scenic than Valley Forge Park?

So, I guess it was a full two months ago, I set out with a friend, trying to capture the essence of the park. We went in mid to late afternoon, where the lighting would be nice with the sun on its way down.

I don't shoot too much scenics during the year, so it was certainly a change of pace: being able to frame shots, and perfect settings that I just can't do with sports.

It is a little nerve-wracking, knowing that these monuments aren't going anywhere, and you should be able to get just a perfect composition, or a more though out one at least, in contrast to something that happens right away. As I said, it's a change of pace.

But the beauty and the history of the park makes the job as a photographer much easier.
There's something about this pic. It's a weird perepective, looking at a slant from a monument to an out of focus tree, but it's an interesting shot, I think.

The arch is the most iconic feature of the park, and it's enshroudment in the flora adds some drama.

But the slowness of scenery shooting picked up, and the sports instinct buzzed in my head, when the deer showed up.Click here for more photos

A Note on Captions...

Working for a newspaper, captions are absolutely essential for a photographer--knowing exactly what you just photographed is almost as important as actually getting the pictures. Captions, though, take a significant amount of effort.

I sometimes record my photo number and exactly what happened, who made the play, etc., but more often than not I either grab a picture of the team roster (above) and then look at the pix before and after the shot I want, as well as any shots of the scoreboard I've taken, and any news reports/box scores, to piece together what's happening in a picture. It usually turns out pretty accurate.

A good memory helps. This pic is nothing special, but it was a touchdown. Good thing I remembered, or it may have been in the trash:

Later in the game, 'Stoga pulled out on top with a game winning touchdown. Here's the reaction to the play. Being able to ID the receiver and the player greeting #8 is critical:

But, what if I didn't remember? And it's happened many a time before. Check out the latest football game photos online at stoganews.com to see some fairly intense captioning, aided by news reports the day after. That's the luxury of a monthly.

Getting names, numbers, scenarios is important. It's not all about blind shooting.

On Futbol

Capturing emotion is key in any sports photography, and capturing that game winning goal doesn't hurt either. The Conestoga Girls' Soccer Team was playing for the District championships, and I was assigned to shoot the game. It's always fun being at a game that actually matters, but a game that ends in a double overtime goal, with Conestoga winning...now that's something.

One caveat: yes, I was clicking away when sophomore Murphee Greeley kicked in the game winner (above), but one thing: the shot is out of focus. This was painful for me at the time. Heck, it still is now. But, you can't win them all. But, out of focus, man. I can blame it on the autofocus of my lens, which does not work as well in low light situations. It's something to work on.

But, I did shoot the all-important raising of the trophy, which is important.
The photo that ran in the paper was this one:


It's a fun action shot, and it fit the space allotted nicely.

Just wish I had nabbed that goal. Well, that's the thing with sports: a good portion of shots will be bad or out of focus, even if compositionally they're excellent.

The girls may play for the state championships if they win tonight, so I'll be off to Hershey, to hopefully shoot a victory.

Click here to see the photos

They play it on horses, right...

One of the greatest parts of photography is going to different events, covering different sports, doing different things. As a friend pointed out, covering the same old sport, getting the same old photos, must get kind of boring. And it does. And that's why I try to find different angles on things, different approaches.

Or just try a different sport all together. So that's how waterpolo came up. I'll be honest here: I've probably seen waterpolo maybe once flipping through the channels during Olympic season, so I had a vague idea that it was played in water. A friend informed me that it's a cross between basketball and soccer...in water. This should be interesting.

I've never shot water sports before, so I expected some cool effects. I was not let down. Water has a reflective effect, a certain surreal-ness to it, that is truly neat.

Waterpolo is also different than any other sport I've covered in another way. I watch lots of football and baseball, so I know what to expect when framing a shot: the quarterback's arm raises a certain amount and he releases the ball, same with a pitcher. I know that if I set up the shot and take at a certain point, the whole body of the player will be in the shot. But with waterpolo, there is a bobbing head that suddenly pops out of the water--the whole body, that is--with a ball in hand. I took dozens of shots of cut off arms, cut off balls--no good. There is a learning curve here.

I've been through wind and heavy rain, never snow, but my subject has never splashed me before. It's a new field.


This shoot taught me a hard lesson, though. The reason I only have a few shots up here is because I only have a few shots in general--my memory card was "corrupted" and the majority of my shots were lost. With the aid of a miracle-working image-recovery software, combined with the fact that I shot a few pix on another camera, provided me hopefully with enough pix to run a spread in the paper. Lesson: always go through pix, or at least download them if you don't have time to go through them, immediately--that night.

But, overall, it was a good time; next up in the pool: swimming.

Click here for more photos

Pepping up the troops

The Pep Rally is, well, the pep rally. Basically, the same stuff every year: the announcement of the homecoming court, band and cheerleader performances, random athletic events including floor hockey, Mr. Husband--the works. So the challenge is always trying to be creative. Shooting indoors is not as fun as outdoors also, and I shot everything with a flash; I have not really figured out the whole flash stuff too well. Nevertheless, that day I was in search of a cool shot, with full knowledge that it likely won't get in the paper. (It didn't get in the paper.)

This shot was taken just before the pep rally was to begin, with the band warming up in the background. The two chairs are the chairs of the homecoming king and queen, who would be announced. It's kind of a fun shot--looking head on at the coveted seats with the red gym line sending your eye straight back to the band.

Another great part about the pep rally is the backgrounds. This year it took place in the gym because of the pouring rain outside, so that provided for students to be the background of the shots:Mental note: Add earplugs to the photog backpack, as shooting the band right up next to them can get kind of loud:
Click here for the photos

The Band

I covered three football games this year, plus one additional half time show and the pep rally, so needless to say I've shot a lot of the marching band. They are an impressive group that do excellent work. Photographing them, though, is somewhat of a challenge.

I'm field level when I shoot the band, and I usually have the 80-200 on, so the opportunity to show both the large numbers of performers or the different movements and walking-around-the-field-display the band does is difficult. So, my band photos usually turn out to be portraits of the drum majors or the performers who happen to be in the front row of the field show.

Though it does make for some cool shots with depth of field.

Click here for the photos

FOOTBALL: A Heartbreaking ending follows a thrilling season...

A goal of mine recently has been to try and capture emotion. Now, that sounds kind of obvious, but it's really easier said than done. I've shot many sports, and I've gotten progressively better at following the action, getting any old action shot. This generally works for the paper, but I've tried to branch out a bit--capturing the emotion and the critical plays that elicits this reaction.

It's the playoffs, and Conestoga is playing at West Chester Henderson High for a District One AAAA matchup. It's a comfortable night, a little rain here and there, but nothing too threatening to the equipment.

Conestoga is coming off a tremendous victory vs Marple Newtown, and tonight will not disappoint in the thrilling category. But the dice rolled the other way for the Pioneers tonight. It's a game full of photo-worthy fumbles and plays, but the emotion of the night is not in a pass or a catch, but what's on the sidelines as the clock ticked down. This shot was taken after the 'Stoga QB threw an interception as the team was down by one and the fourth quarter is slipping away. The intended receiver was #8 Bryan Barley, and he was stunned as he walked off the field and crouched down. This, I think, captures the emotions of the game, more than:
This play happened right in front of me, and those plays can be scary. I shoot with a Nikon D70, normally with an 80-200 (average sports lens). So, with a fair amount of zoom on board it can be tough to figure out when that 200 lb football player running at you is really going to hit you. Fortunately I escaped unscathed from this game, but there have been games when players run right at you, and the athleticism of a photographer shines: rule #1: save the camera!

When plays are right on top of you, there are other opportunities for cool shots, color shots as they're sometimes called. They don't show emotion, they don't show action...they're just neat to look at:

Yes, it was a first down.

There are just so many angles to football. This game happened to sadly be the last game of the season; high school football will be missed by this photographer.

Click here for photos

From Behind the Lens

Welcome to "From Behind the Lens." I am a photographer...or photo journalist. I've been in photography for several years now, with my favorite kind being sports photography. At left, a significantly younger me is posing with a baseball player--I don't have any more recent shots. That's the funny thing: as a photographer, I really don't have that many pictures of myself.

I have freelanced for a number of papers over the years, but my most permanent position is on The Spoke. I've shot many sports over the past three years, and I really enjoy the challenges involved and the new things you can try as a photographer. So, in "From Behind the Lens" I'll try and keep you up to date with my latest assignments and photos and share some of the (sometimes funny) stories that arise, being a photo journalist.

I post all my best photos online, here.

This is now November, so I'll backtrack a bit in future posts on the assignments I've covered in the past. So take off your lens caps and fasten your seatbelts...