Track Warmup...

The Oliver Jackson twilight meet used to be a pretty big track meet. It used to bring in quite a few good track programs all trying to get their athletes some good times in some of the last meets before nationals. So, there were usually some really good races and event with everyone going all out to make a last attempt to qualify for the national meets. Just a few years ago there used to be full races and prelims in the afternoon, before some really good finals races in the evening. Now, though, some of the races hardly fill half the lanes on the track.

I had to shoot one of the ACU hammer throwers for a feature we were doing about him. Then just a few standalone shots for the next day's newspaper. The good thing about this meet is with so few people there I can shoot from just about anywhere on the track without catching a whole lot of guff about being in folks' ways or bothering anyone else. I also used it as a last-minute warmup for myself before heading to Austin for the state high school meet. So, despite a lack of participants in the meet I ended up getting a few nice images as well as a good warmup for the upcoming weekend.

Getting Down and Dirty for Justice...

For the kickoff of Abilene Christian University's Justice Week the group organizing the event was having a tug-of-war competition. I'm not quite sure how the two fit together, but hey, I remember being in college and an event like this was sure to draw more people than a speaker of something like that. It was also a Monday, which meant it was a pretty slow day for photos, so I needed to go out and get something for the front page. The event was supposed to start at 5pm, but I guess they didn't realize that anyone would be there to cover the event, or we were given the wrong time by the whoever sent out the press release. Either way it didn't matter, I had to scramble to get photos. I was able to shoot a couple of the competitions and then everyone playing in the mud afterwards, which honestly made better photos anyway. The cleanup turned out to be the best images anyway, with the caked on mud on the participants legs. So, despite getting the wrong time, I was happy with what I had as I left.

ACU vs Angelo State...

When I got assigned the basketball game between ACU and Angelo State it was just a regular assignment for sports. Then late the night before as I was getting ready to leave to go home I ended up having to go out to shoot a fatal accident which involved 5 ACU students, one who had died. So, my basketball game included a moment of silence and kind of a surreal atmosphere to shoot. The games, however, were pretty good. The ACU women under their new coach have really come alive and are looking to win the regular season title in their final year of Division II before moving up to the Southland Conference next year.

A Helmet Popping Good Time...

The local college football opener for McMurry and ACU was being played at Shotwell Stadium last week. It was the first time these two teams had met since 1971. It was also McMurry's first game as a member of Division II and ACU's last year of playing D2 before the move to the Southland Conference in Division I FCS next year. Both team got out to a pretty slow start. I was expecting McMurry to have a hard time against ACU's defense. I wasn't, however, expecting ACU to come out and have a hard time with the ACU defense.

In the second quarter things started to change for the ACU offense. They started to click while the ACU defense kept pounding away on the McMurry offense. The War Hawks going for it on nearly every fourth down wasn't helping their defense either. By the end of the third quarter the blow out was in full effect. The game ended with ACU winning 51-0 and showed that McMurry has kind of an uphill climb to make waves in the higher division.

Maybe I'm Bad Luck...

So, on Saturday, I had to shoot two softball games and a baseball game. All three games were doubleheaders, so time wasn't really a factor. I shot the first game of Hardin-Simmons' softball games and the second game of ACU's softball DH. McMurry had a baseball game that was starting an hour behind the softball games, and since baseball games usually go longer I had plenty of time for all three.

Well, at the end of the day, I'm sure all three teams may have been happy if I didn't show up, since all three lost their games. I'm thinking I may have been bad luck. The good thing about it though is I was able to make some nice images from the two softball games, both plays at the plate, one of them with a nice bit of dirt getting kicked up. Well, if I'm going to covering the losing side of the game at least I can come away with a few decent shots.

Sing Song Sing Along...

It's photo column time again, I swear the last few times I've reached my turn in the rotation I feel like I've just finished. Anyway, in a very rare weather situation the column I'd originally intended to do it got cancelled because of the weather. So, I ended up going with a backup of ACU's annual Sing Song event. We were already running a preview of the event, so I needed to find something a little bit different from it.

I ended up going heavy with behind the scenes photos, just because those photos tend to be a lot more fun and it's different from the performances. For the story I took the angle of the groups' directors. I got some really great quotes from the two that I talked to and was amazed at how much work they have to put into the preparations for the show in addition to being actual college students and going to classes. It doesn't leave a whole lot of free time. All in all, it's a fun event to shoot and it's really impressive to see how college kids can pull off such a grand show.

The Boys of... Late Winter?

I love baseball, grew up playing it. It's a thinking man's sport and involves a lot of strategy. And I'm all for playing baseball in the spring, summer and even the fall. However, when games are being playing on a weekend when snow is in the forecast... well, it's just to early to be playing. Rant over.

So, last Friday, with the weather being in the 40's and the wind blowing pretty hard, I shot the first game of ACU's doubleheader against Colorado Christian. At this point of the year my goal is just to get a semi-decent photo and try to get my timing down, and come back with a photo that not awful and my best image not coming from second base. I don't have a problem with second base shots as my #2 or #3 photo, but not my #1, except on the rare occasion that it's a spectacular photo. The shot of the left fielder, at this point in the year made me happy, it's a decent start to the season... even if I was bundled up.

College Homecoming isn't as Bad...

After a late night of shooting a long high school game it was kind of nice to shoot a game without a tight deadline. And, while this was also a homecoming game, the nice thing about college halftimes is they aren't nearly as long as its high school counterpart. Plus, I don't have to shoot the homecoming queens, so that's one less thing to worry about.

ACU was playing West Texas A&M which is usually a pretty big rivalry game as both teams are usually pretty good. WT, this year, isn't quite as good as they have been in the past. But one thing that can usually be counted on is a whole lot of offense. A couple of years ago, during a playoff game, ACU beat them 93-68.

This time though, the defenses got an invite to the game. There wasn't the typical marching up and down the field constantly for 60 minutes. There were, however, some really nice defensive plays. If I'm watching a game, I like seeing a lot of good defensive plays and a fairly low scoring game. But, when I'm shooting, I prefer a good dose of offense, that just wasn't happening on this day, so I had to make the best of what I was given. Luckily there were a few decent TD's in my direction. Add that in with some nice defensive plays and it turned out to be a decent day.

ACU Football vs Western Oregon...

ACU played Western Oregon last Saturday. One thing I have noticed about ACU this year compared to the past is they just don't have the big play abilities that they've had in the past. There were a few nice plays in the game, but most were on defense. The offense this year is decent, but the team is built on defense. It kind of takes a little bit of the fun away from shooting this team that is has been in the past.