Playoff Baseball Doubleheader...

So, I'm a little behind here... A couple Saturday's ago (May 27th) I shot a pair of regional semifinal baseball games. One early game in Abilene between Stamford and Miles, then another one in Eastland between Winters and Seymour. The first game between Miles and Stamford kind of sucked. Miles ended up winning the game 11-1 and I didn't have time to stick around for the second game since I needed to get to Eastland.

The next game between Winters and Seymour was a lot better. I got there right as the game was starting, I missed the first couple of batters, but it wasn't a big deal, none of the big stuff happened until late in the game. Seymour ended up going up by a couple of runs early in the game. Like what had happened in the earlier game in the series, Winters looked awful the first few innings then showed up and had a big inning that they went up by a run. In the top of the seventh Seymour tied up the game with a great play at the plate. Then in extra innings Winters ended up winning it when they scored from third on a wild pitch. I absolutely love games like this. Between the hard play fighting for every run and the way the emotions run so high, there is no shortage of nice photos to go around.

Baseball Playoffs...

Here we are in the third week of the baseball playoffs and for the first time this season I'm shooting Wylie's baseball team. Part of it had to to with weather, the one in-town tournament they were playing in got rained out. And after that, the Bulldogs played only four games at home this season. Then, with the golf, tennis and track state tournaments going on I ended up missing the first two rounds of the baseball playoffs. So, here I was in the third week of the playoffs shooting Wylie playing Mineral Wells in Eastland. The game wasn't all that great from a shooting perspective, not a lot of hits, no extra base hits and only a few close plays, but a did manage to pull out a couple of decent shots.

State Track, Day 1...

I always look forward to shooting the state track meet every Spring. Even though there have been some year the officials seem to have a bigger bug up their ass than others in trying to flex their muscles and show who's boss, the meet is still one of the best run track meets in the country. Not to mention Texas has some of the best track and field talent in the country competing in this meet.

The biggest thing I try to show while shooting this meet, or any track meet is there is more to it than just kids running, throwing and jumping. And having a photo page to display my work as well as an online slideshow is not only a great way to show it, but also shows a need for more than just the standard action photos. Of course, there are plenty of those to show too, but my favorite photos are always the emotional shots, especially those who weren't expected to win their respective races or events.

One thing I have been trying to do for years is the hurdles shot of the runner in the blocks while framed by all the hurdles from the finish line. There are still a few things I don't like about it, but at the same time I liked it enough to publish... I'll try again in a couple years and hopefully shoot it better.

Now, These are the Games That Count...

The playoffs started on Tuesday. These are finally the games that count. Every game I shoot now has some sort of meaning and has something riding on it. It seems like every February I begin to enjoy basketball season a lot more. Mostly because I finally get to see some decent, competitive games.

So, my playoff opener started with a pair of area teams, Comanche and Clyde facing off in Eastland. The game was really kind of sloppy, both teams are young and the majority of the players on the court were underclassmen will be back next year. And the playoff inexperience really showed in all the missed shots. But, at least it was even, the final score had Clyde winning 29-28. A scored that stayed that way for the final 2:09 of the game... neither team made a shot, free throw or field goal for the last 2+ minutes of the game. That was kind of ugly, but at least with a close win there is the chance for a nice celebration. Thankfully, since there wasn't much scoring.

February Means Better Basketball...

The great thing about the beginning of February is I finally get to start covering decent basketball. The reason for this is the really bad local teams that I've had to suffer through covering the previous month are finally either totally eliminated from the playoffs or are close enough that I can start covering some of the teams that matter and deserve some coverage for them either being involved in a good game or had players that we are doing features on.

So, on Friday I headed out to Eastland to shoot their district game against Jim Ned. The girls game wasn't expected to be all that close, and it wasn't, Jim Ned won really easily. However, like in most blowouts, it's best to get there early since showing up at halftime usually means the game has been decided and either the starters or off the floor or they're just trying to kill the clock in order to not run up the score quite as much. The one good thing about that is it gives me time to download and edit and caption my photos before the boys game gets started.

The boys game started out looking like it could be the boys game all over again, but with Eastland being on top. Then in the second quarter things started to click for Jim Ned and it turned into a game. In the second half Jim Ned was looking really good and like they were going going to take the lead back, but Eastland was playing tough. By the last minute the game still was totally up in the air Eastland was holding on to the slimmest of leads, but even from the line Jim Ned just couldn't get ahead. Eastland ended up winning 51-47 in one of the most entertaining games I'd gotten to see all year. Hopefully this will be a sign of things to come with better games from here on out.

Playoffs Week 2...

Much like last year my only chance of shooting a playoff football game in the second week of the playoffs was on Thursday night, since I was going to have to go to San Marcos for the state volleyball tournament. Luckily we had a Thursday night game with Eastland playing last year's 2A state finalist, Littlefield. Eastland was 10-0 going into the game and Littlefield was 8-3 going into the game.

This was really a classic example of a trap game. Eastland on paper was the better team, however they had not played in three weeks. With their bye week coming in the last game of the season, and then getting a first round bye for the playoffs, add to playing a team that made a long run in the playoffs the previous year and a lot of those players coming back, well it was just a formula for a tough game for Eastland.

And, on the first first play of the game it was looking like it might be. Littlefield took a long run for a touchdown to open things up. Eastland, though, came back with a touchdown drive of their own. The game stayed pretty tight through the whole first half, with Eastland going into halftime up 14-10. Then in the second half the Mavericks took control in a big way. Opening up with a long touchdown run on the first drive then the defense picked things up with a big stop. Eastland showed just how expolsive the offense was in the second half winning the game 51-22. It looked like they got rid of most of that rust during halftime.

Outta Town Showdown...

Finally, I got to shoot an area game since all the local teams were either out of town or off last week. And the game I got was a good one. Eastland was hosting #2 ranked Godley in a Class 2A game that will most-likely decide who will be the district champion. It was a game between a hard-pounding running team (Godley) and a high-flying passing attack (Eastland). It was one of those games I was hoping to get to shoot since the preseason.

The game started out kind of as expected. Godley took the ball down and scored a touchdown on about a seven minute drive. Eastland took the ball ran a couple plays then threw a bomb for a long touchdown. After that Eastland took over and controlled the first half. The defense was playing great, swarming Godley's rushing attack and shutting it down. On the other side of the ball Godley couldn't stop the passing attack. The score at the end of the first half was 23-7 and it was looking like this would be a huge lopsided blowout.

The second half was a little different. Eastland got the ball first and started moving the ball down field like they did in the first half until they got to the red zone. Then the pendulum seemed to swing quickly to Godley. A sack, penalty and a couple bad plays ended with Eastland turning the ball over on downs and Godley's running back finally breaking free for a long touchdown run. Then Godley's defense was figuring out the passing game. The big problem is Godley's offense isn't built for the big plays but they were able to slowly crawl back. Eastland scored one touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Then Godley moved the ball but couldn't score. As time started to run out Eastland's quarterback fumbled and lost the ball, there was still a little life. Godley, down by 8, went down the field and scored, but they couldn't convert the 2-point play.

With just over 2 minutes left Eastland recovered the on-sides kick. They had to run the ball and get at least one first down. Now, with Eastland's offense built largely on the pass, this was easier said than done. They had a couple of runs up the middle and went nowhere, but did a good job of killing time off the clock. On third and long Eastland opened up a great hole and their running back took off for a 14 yard gain and that pretty much ended things. All that was left was a kneel down and it was time to celebrate. It was a great game. Hopefully I'll have some more like this coming up no that games are getting important.

Cover Stories...

I'm beginning to believe the worst part of football season happens before the season even starts. It certainly seems like it may be the busiest. It has a lot more to do with the deadlines that seem to get tighter every year and not with the grind of shooting the photos... that's always the fun part. The biggest problem is the logistics and trying to make my schedule end up fitting in with kids' and coaches schedules.

Luckily, we have a lot of really good coaches in the area who make life a lot easier in getting their players back after practice in order to let me shoot the photos. Now, it wouldn't be so bad if this was all I had to do, however, for the first four days of this I'm shooting mug shots of all our area 11-man schools. Some of the cover shots work out when I'm able to get them shot after shooting mugs. However, most of them require some creative scheduling, like driving 60 miles out of my way after finishing mugs, or waiting around for a practice to finish, of hoping a kid can come back a couple hours after practice is over. But, luckily they all worked out, and for the most part I was happy with the results.

For the front cover of the tab (above), the theme was about quarterbacks so we took the best of the local quarterbacks (Cooper's Clayton Nicholas) and the best area QB (Snyder's Keenon Ward) and put them on the cover. The problem was there was no way we'd be able to get them both in the same town because of practice schedules. So, the only option was to shoot them separately and put them together in a photo illustration. Now, this would have been easy enough, I've done similar photos, however, it's always a good idea, when you walk out of the office with the lighting kit to MAKE SURE ALL THE PARTS ARE IN IT!! Like the reflectors!! Because it truly sucks to be setting up the lights and notice you have no reflectors and knowing there no way I'm going to have time to come back to re-shoot it in time. So, after a slight panic attack, I pulled out the strobes I always keep in my car and set them up on the light stands, the strobist approach worked out well this time. Note to self: don't start one of the busiest weeks of the year right after coming off vacation!