What seems like the umpteenth winter storm of the season hit us this morning, and the snow still coming down. Weather guy says we might get 12″ by the end of the night. Here are some shots I took while heading back to my office after a few assignments this afternoon. One hand on the trigger, one hand on the wheel.
Jan
31
2010
January favorites
Let’s start 2010 off right by posting my monthly highlights. January is right in the heart of high school winter sports season, so that’s mostly what I’ve been shooting. There were a few other gems of editorial assignments too. Just click on the photo to view the next picture in the gallery.
Jan
01
2010
Best of 2009
Gotta say 2009 was a bit of a strange year. It’s my third year at ThisWeek Community Newspapers. When pouring over my work from the year, my first edit of the “best of 2009″ photos included more than 150 pictures. After that initial edit, I had a pretty hard time knocking the list down to the 35 that I picked for my slideshow. Everything seemed to be about on the same level. A lot of good, but not enough great.
I’m happy that I’m shooting with a consistency that produces a solid image from every assignment. I want more pictures to jump out though. I need to keep pushing the creative limits to produce more unique photos, while at the same time maintaining a storytelling quality. It’s easy to do one or the other, but to accomplish both in a single frame takes a bit more work. So it looks like I now have a personal challenge for 2010. Stay tuned!
The photos:
Nov
15
2009
Three for three
All three Columbus-area guys soccer teams in each of the three divisions won their respective state games on Friday. Worthington Christian won 2-1 in overtime. St. Francis DeSales beat their opponent 1-0 in regulation. The third game, Gahanna Lincoln vs. St. Ignatius, remained scoreless after two overtimes, so they went to a shootout. The Lions won the shootout 4-3 to claim the state title.
Shooting three consecutive soccer games in the same day proved to be physically exhausting. I was in quite a daze through most of the two overtime periods in the third game. Thankfully the excitement of the shootout gave me a jolt of adrenaline that woke me up a bit.
Oct
10
2009
Foggy river
Spent the afternoon sloshing around the river in the rain with my dogs. It was an unexpected scenic view, and all I had with me was my iPhone, but after applying a few filters from various apps, I got a photo I was pretty happy with. Check out more iPhone photos in my flickr “Cellular Sightings” set.
Sep
27
2009
Harness racing at the fair
Thursday was wet and dreary, yet thousands of people spent their afternoon at the horse track inside the Delaware County Fairgrounds to watch one of the premier events for harness racing – the 64th running of the Little Brown Jug. Admittedly, I don’t follow horse racing of any type, but I’m told that the Jug is one of the biggest events in the sport.
You hear crazy stories about the infield at the Kentucky Derby. Since there is no infield at the fairgrounds, spectators do their partying and betting all the way around the track on the outside. The rain, however, dampened the party considerably this year. Many of the spectators didn’t even bother to stick around for race 18 to see which horse and driver would claim the jug trophy.
Those who did stick around were treated to a dominant performance by Ron Pierce driving Well Said. The duo easily won their preliminary race and then held off Tim Tetrick driving If I Can Dream to claim the top prize.
At the end of the day, I was muddy and soaked, but I was able to put together a decent collection of images. One photo I didn’t take was of the drunk lady who felt it was necessary to show me her water-logged butt cheeks, proof she had sat down in a wet chair. There are some things we see as photographers that are better off undocumented. In fact, I’d be better off if there were some things I could un-see.
Sep
15
2009
Hiking in the Rockies
I spent a few days this past week hiking and camping in the Rockies with a few high school friends. The “high”light (elevation pun intended) of the trip was the summit of Challenger Point, a 14,000-foot mountain in the Sangre de Cristo range near Salida, Colorado.
Hiking to the summit was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. It was definitely rewarding, even if it was a bit short-lived due to an impending thunderstorm. Talk about a leg workout too! After the 4-mile hike to camp the first day, we climbed nearly 2,500 feet of elevation to reach the top on day 2.
Jun
11
2009
Boys of summer
In between rounds of golf, I shot three state baseball games at Huntington Park in downtown Columbus. The park just opened this spring for the Columbus Clippers, the Cleveland Indians AAA affiliate, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Ballpark Digest calls it the “perfect park,” and I’d have to agree. Well, with the exception of the dugout railing being about four inches too tall for my monopod. I had to stand on my tiptoes, and my shoulders definitely got a workout hand holding my long glass. There were plenty of clean views from the stands, so I didn’t spend the entire game in the dugout anyway.
About the baseball… I shot Newark Catholic’s and Pickerington North’s attempts to capture their respective divisions’ state titles. Newark Catholic came up just short in Friday’s morning Div. IV semifinal game against New Middletown Springfield in a 5-3 loss. Pick North had better luck in the Div. I evening semifinal against Green, giving them a 10-2 spanking. The Panthers didn’t have the same winning spark in Saturday’s final against Cincinnati Moeller, losing 5-2.
Mar
26
2009
Tennis rain
Each year we shoot spring sports previews, we run into weather-related issues. Freezing temps, snow, rain, you name it. Knock on wood, we’ve lucked out so far this spring. The last two days have been drizzly, but it didn’t hold these guys back from getting a practice in.
