2012 Fun in the sun — UCLA Bruins vs ASU Sun Devils

All year the photographers that cover sports here in Arizona hope and pray for the sun drench day games when the year’s ASU football schedule is released, and when it is released we review it with nervous anticipation in hopes that there will be at least one, and if we are lucky two games that don’t take place at night under the lights.

All around the world great sports photography is produced where golden sunlight and beautiful color is the norm, but due to the summer time temps here in Arizona most of our sports photography is at night or indoors, and that can make capturing the kinds of images that make it into printed magazines a challenge. With so many of the sporting events taking place at night you can’t rely on that golden sunlight to give your images that extra “pop.”

It turned out this year’s game against the blue and gold of the UCLA Bruins was going to be a day game and, I for one was very excited for the day-game opportunity.

The light before the game on the Sun Devils marching band looked fantastic as it bounced all around the stadium.

To see the rest of the images click the continue reading button below:

PGA Championship Golf, wait . . . What? Really?

Yes, PGA Golf is a thing, and a big deal thing at that, well at least for some people.

Photographing professional golf is so much different from photographing something like football, it’s an entirely different skill set, but many of the same concepts apply. I like the challenge of photographing professional golf tournaments because of the rules involved with not firing your shutter before the player strikes the ball and dealing with challenging lighting conditions out on the course.

Golf is an exciting sport to a great many people, well at least that is what the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) would like us all to think. I don’t know a whole lot about golf but I enjoy the challenges of trying to make nice photographs during the tournament, so off I went.

02 November 2012: Jay Don Blake hits up onto the 18th green during the second round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the Cochise Course at The Desert Mountain Club on November 2, 2012 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

To see more from the Charles Schwab Cup Championship PGA Golf, click the continue reading link below:

Friday Night Lights — High School Varsity Football

Friday night high school football is a time-honored tradition that I can remember from way back when I was in high school. I love photographing football, and the challenges that come with making meaningful photographs at a high school football field.

I’m not going to post a ton of images, but I will link to the MaxPreps website gallery for this game in case you wanted to purchase prints, posters, t-shirts or any of the many options available from MaxPreps. You can find images from the Aug. 24, 2012 Marcos de Niza at Notre Dame Prep Varsity Football game on the MaxPreps site.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the game, and remember to contact me for custom graphic poster options, like the samples shown here.

To see the rest of the images and read the rest of this High School Football post, click on the continue reading link below.

More of me playing catch up with some NCAA College Basketball from early 2012

Shooting College basketball can be fun and exciting, but not always the easiest thing to shoot, the action can be very fast-paced keeping even the best photographers on their toes trying to follow the action.

12 January 2012: Carrick Felix (0) of the Sun Devils drives toward the basket during an NCAA Basketball game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Oregon University Ducks at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe AZ. The Oregon Ducks defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 65-58.

I love when the Oregon Ducks come to town, they are a fun team to watch and always make the Sun Devils work for every inch of the floor.

To see more of the action between the Oregon Ducks and the Arizona State Sun Devils click the link below:

2011 NHRA Arizona Nationals from Firebird International Raceway – Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle

You just gotta love the intensity of NHRA Drag Racing, the smell of the tire-smoke, all the brightly colored cars, and that earth-shaking sound!

It’s true that the pro stock cars don’t make as much noise as the funny cars or top fuel, but the excitement and speed of those cars makes them a fan favorite.

Everyone said Jason Line was the one to watch at the 2011 Arizona Nationals so I made sure to grab some nice frames of his car making a qualifying pass.

See more Pro Stock action by clicking on the more link below.

Youth Sports – The Color and the Light

Covering high school football and youth sports in general can be fun and challenging. Fun because there is very little stress and pressure on the photographer to get the key plays and the opportunity to look for nice images to capture. Challenging because some of the lighting conditions can be difficult to deal with as a photographer, in addition to following the game and knowing how to capture good “football” images.

In the example above, the way the sunset light played off the Chaparral Firebirds Freshman football player’s helmets and the look on the player’s face is what makes images like this “pop” for me.

Click the more link below to see the rest of my youth sports, color and light story.

If you liked my post on travel photography, you may enjoy these additional tips . . .

Some people enjoyed my post on travel photography but had questions such as, “which lens,” “what settings” and a few other things they wanted a little more detail on. Well, I produced a magazine, actually my first issue, several months ago with more detail on travel photography and sports photography with a touch of product photography and product reviews tossed in for good measure.

You can find the magazine here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/176360

I have included all kinds of notes on each image in the magazine like, which lens, what ISO, what shutter speed and if I used a flash or not as well as my usual narrative about how, where and why.

See more of the magazine I published with photography tips and tricks by clicking on the more link below.

NCAA FOOTBALL: SEP 09 Missouri at Arizona State

Yea, more football. With the expected rain the photo room at the stadium was all a buzz, would it rain? Would it rain enough to make mud? Or would it rain just enough to get our gear wet and be annoying? The question was not really IF it would rain, but WHEN it would rain and how much. This being Phoenix Arizona most of the photographers, including myself, don’t have rain gear, after all it doesn’t rain much here and rain gear is expensive.

You can see the rain in this first shot, not enough to make mud, but enough to get our gear wet AND be annoying. Before the game I broke out the plastic bags and tape for my two cameras and put the baggies taped to lens hoods in my pack just in case. It turns out they were helpful.

See the rest of the game story and more of my images by clicking the “more” link below.

NCAA FOOTBALL: UC Davis Aggies at Arizona State Sun Devils

It’s college football season and around here there are a bunch of new names and faces to contend with. Arizona State has new uniforms and a new starting quarterback, as well as a bunch of new and returning students.

Let’s bring the Head Coach Dennis Erickson and the rest of the players out onto the field.

They always pump this fog machine up so the players can come running out of the tunnel and the fog, the problem is the fog lingers at ground level for almost the entire first half of the game and makes getting decent images somewhat difficult.

To see more shots from the game click the more link below.

Arena Football, a few season favorites

Arena football is a very fast-paced exciting game. The fans get a real up-close view of the action and almost any seat in the house is like a sideline pass to some great football action, yet arena football is not as popular as it could be. I wonder if Getty Images or U.S. Presswire carried some images from the game or more images appeared in Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine or other national sports magazines, it would be just a little bit more popular?

Watching the Utah Blaze QB Tommy Grady (10) drop back to pass with all the offensive and defensive linemen around him is classic arena football action at it’s best.

To see more arena football action images, click the more link below.