State Golf, Day 1...

In the past shooting state golf has been a really busy, but not overly long day. This year, however, instead of the normal two teams qualifying for the state tournament, the top three teams from each region qualified. This made it a lot tougher since all the teams could no longer be on the course at one time. So, instead of state golf being over around 3 or 4, it was close to 7 or 8 when everything finally got finished. And with 39 players spread around over three different courses it made for a lot of walking (more than 10 miles) and not a lot of time to spend following any particular players.

One the first day the weather was cold and windy, like 25mph steady winds with gusts in the high 30's. This made for some interesting golf to say the least. It also made for a lot of shots coming up short or going off target, often landing in the sand traps. That may not have made for the best scores for the players, but it did make for some nice shots.

Golf Season Begins...

I've always enjoyed shooting golf. It's not the fastest sport out there and there are a lot of unwritten rules to follow (no shooting on the backswing, don't stand in the golfer's line of sight, etc.), but it's also really satisfying to get a nice frame from shooting golf. Plus on a nice day there are fewer places that are better to be than hanging out on the golf course shooting golf. Notice, I didn't say playing, mainly because I'm an incredibly awful golfer, I'd much rather prefer shooting players golfing... it's much less stressful for me. The one shot that I absolutely love to get are jube shots. It seems like the only time I ever get any real emotions from golfers if when they are upset or reacting negatively. So, when I get a nice shot of someone sinking a long putt with a fist pump and a scream I know I can leave pretty happy. The other thing I love about shooting the game is trying to find something other than the post drive "pose." Of course, I shoot that and probably use it more than I'd like. But, if I get time to work to get something else I'm a lot happier at the end of the round.

Playoff Doubleheader...

I got sent to Big Spring to shoot what looked to be a couple of decent basketball games. Jim Ned was playing Tornillo in the first game, then Wylie was taking on Seminole in the nightcap. Of course things didn't quite turn out the way I was expecting them. I was thinking Jim Ned would take care of Tornillo rather easily, while Wylie would have a little bit of a hard time dealing with Seminole, just based on their past.

However, Jim Ned came out of the gate looking pretty good, like I was going to be right. Though, Tornillo to their credit came scratching and crawling back and making it a really good game until the fourth quarter. Either the photo gods decided to smile on me for a little bit or I've just been getting lucky over the last couple weeks being in the right position to get some decent shots and from the right angle to get some nice dunk shots. And that's just what happened at the start of the fourth quarter. Jim Ned's big man, Will Bryant, got a nice pass off a steal and threw down a great dunk, which pretty much turned the tide of the game for good. That seems to happen a lot in high school basketball, one big dunk can totally deflate a team and turn the tides.

In the second game, I was expecting Wylie to struggle withe Seminole's zone defense and 6'7 big man. However, the Bulldogs just came out looking great. Their coach had a great game plan and did a really nice job of rotating in a bunch of smaller, but tough big men to constantly be on Seminole's guy. Plus Wylie was doing a great job shooting and hitting 3's from outside Seminole's zone. This game never looked close and it really wasn't.

District Opener...

So, I'm a couple weeks behind again... These are from Wylie's district opener against Big Spring in Big Spring. Both teams were coming into the game undefeated and it was looking like there is a good chance this could end up being for the district title.

Wylie jumped on the board quickly returning an interception for a touchdown on the first play of the game. After that they looked like they were just going to run away with things, marching down the field on their offensive drives to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. But, then Big Spring made things interesting and made a game out of things. The game did get interesting for a while, but Wylie never let it get close enough to make anyone nervous and ended up winning the game 42-24. I know I've said it before, but I think this may be one of the best Wylie teams I've seen in a long time and they proved it against a very good Big Spring team.

Early Morning Wake up Calls, it's Football Time...

I'm still trying to catch up... Football practice recently got started which for me means mug shot tour. Shooting mugs shot of all the 11-man football players in the area. As a way of keeping my sanity I try to squeeze in shooting practice for an end of the week photo column and slideshow. This isn't always the easiest thing to do given that I'm already on a pretty tight schedule. So, most of the schools I'm shooting I only get about 10-15 minutes to get my shots before moving on to the next school.

This year was a lot harder than normal. Last year the UIL, state state's governing body for high school sports changed the rules for two-a-day practices. Instead of the way it had been done, now schools can't have a two-a-day practice until the fifth overall practice and they can't have 2 two-a-day's in a row. Not only did it cut down on the actual practice time for the players and trying to get them into playing shape. But, it also cut down on the time I had to not only shoot practice but to get mug shots. Because of less times the teams had to practice most of the schools I went to who were normally in the middle of their break were either in the middle of practice (luckily most were kind enough to work in mug shots during a water break or take a few minutes from practice to shoot mugs) or were already finished. One school was done and players were about to leave and the coach had to stop them from leaving. Luckily, only one school had to be rescheduled and only one was missed. That's about par for the way things happen every year. I even was able to make a few decent frames and work some nice early morning light.

State Track, Day 2....

The great thing about the second day of the state track meet is after working 18+ hours the day before, the second day is a "short 12-13 hours. However, from 9am until almost 5pm it is literally almost non-stop shooting, almost 1,400 images worth. The Saturday afternoon session this year was the Class 1A and 3A meets. This year we had a bunch of 3A kids in addition to usual heavy dose of 1A kids.

The day started in the morning with field events. The good part was that they were spread out enough that I could spend a little time shooting each event. Then around noon the running started. Luckily all of the field events were done during this tie and I wasn't going to have to worry about being in two places at once.

This year, we had a couple of teams that were vying for state titles. Both the Munday boys in Class 1A and the Big Spring girls in 3A had a chance to win. And after a strong performance the day before the Albany girls had an outside chance at winning. Munday ended up running away with their title, literally. Big Spring had a few races that they came up short in and Albany couldn't pull off a win in the mile relay. I ended up getting a few nice frames from the meet, but overall, I think I was happier with what I had shot the day before even though I ended up having a lot more keepers on Saturday.

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.