What is spring without some football?

Spring football...two of the most refreshing words to hear during the month of May. After feeling football withdraws for the past 6 months, I finally was able to satisfy the anticipation of shooting my favorite sport of all time. Last Thursday, I traveled to South Walton High School and photographed their game against the Baker Gators. Being on the sidelines again was great and only increased my desire for September to arrive. I only stayed half of the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first and third pictures are action shots of the game, and the second photo was a touchdown celebration by a Baker player:





I was able to photograph this year's All Sports Association/Daily News boys weightlifter of the year for the print. I had him lean toward me as I took a low-angled shot to enhance his muscles and strength. When I took and toned this picture, I liked the elements in the background, but in hindsight, it wasn't as great as I thought it was. I didn't want a plain background, but I wanted some form of placement in an environment. I don't regret the idea of a crowded background, but I should have chosen a different background to create that effect. Still, a photographer never grows unless they try different things whether they turned out good or bad. This picture wasn't horrible, but not as strong as I would have liked it to be. You be the judge.



In the beginning of the month, I was given the opportunity to shoot a spring practice at Freeport High School. I spent about an half a hour there and grabbed a couple shots for print:





This next week I plan to photograph two more spring football games. Look forward to those pictures next.

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You Win Some...and You Lose Some...

This was another slow week in the photojournalist part of my life, but it was not unbeneficial by any means. Wednesday I decided to hang around the office on my own time to see if any good spot news or assignments would come up. Sure enough, some spot news did occur, and I was rushing to the scene to capture what I could. A van's gas tank exploded when it being removed from a van at Big Iron Environmental in Fort Walton Beach. I arrived in time to see the firemen putting out what was left from the explosion but never caught any flames. The photo was not published but placed in an online gallery on the Web site.



Shortly after the spot news, I tagged along with Nick and photographed Okaloosa County's Middle School Track Championships at Choctaw High School. The kid above won the boys 1600 and beat the county record by running it in 4:44 (country record = 4:46). Once he realized his accomplishment, he began cheering in celebration. Below is the girl who won the girl's 1600 and strained just to pass the finish line:



Friday morning amidst the gray storm clouds, I photographed a group of middle school kids from Calvary Christian Academy who were raking leaves as part of a service project. They were very enthusiastic about the project as well as my interest in taking their picture. This image was published:



This last photo has no real significance except that the moment caught my eye and I had to photograph it. The turtle on the far left of the picture was lifting its head in a similar pattern to the branches that poked up from the tree:



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Hardcore Weights & Softball Blunders

The last few weeks have been slow with my trip out of town among other things, so my pictures were limited. I got a call last week to shoot another studio portrait of a weightlifter who won first place at the 2010 A.P.A. Raw National Powerlifting Championships. He bench pressed 512.5 pounds during the championship without supportive gear. So, I walked into the situation with a few ideas but came out with the one above. I wanted to accentuate the green gargoyle crushing skulls statue, so I used the snoot to center the light on him and the trophy. By using the snoot, I was able to allow the background to be swallowed up in darkness as to once again accentuate the subject. Overall, I was happy with the outcome.



Thursday I drove to Paxton to capture the District 1-A championship game against Central. Paxton won the game 6-3. The top picture is one of the Paxton players sliding safely into first base and was published in the paper. This picture was of a Central player dropping the ball after it was hit into the outfield:



This girl ran back to second base after being chased down at third base and slide face first into the base:



She definitely got sand in her eyes, but she was alright:



Hope to have more to update next time!
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www.varsitysportswest.com