Are you ready for some football? (Cue the Hank Williams, Jr. music)
I spent ALL day photographing the Falkner Football Festival in Castle Rock for a local youth sports photography company. Kids are always great to shoot because their emotion is so raw and spontaneous.
Comparatively speaking, I've shot less football than most sports so it was great practice for the upcoming prep, college and pro seasons. The big difference, obviously, is that at this age (I had 11-13 year olds) the game is much slower and predictable. That being said, it's also difficult to shoot at times because the kids get bunched up so it's hard to isolate the players and the backgrounds are often cluttered with parents, siblings and the ubiquitous colored lawn chair.
Making a few nice frames easily makes up for the challenge.
Give me an assignment to shoot some pigskin, at any level, and I'm a pretty happy camper.
"Denver midfielder Kelli Breidenbach (right) fouls St. Mary defender Caroline Shevlin (4) in the second half of the Pioneer's 2-1 victory during the DU Invitational at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium in Denver, Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. Goals by Pioneer freshman Katy Van Leishout and Kalie Vaughn secured the win in the first ever game played at the new stadium."
I was rusty tonight, clearly.
I haven't shot any sports since finishing my internship at the Northwest Herald roughly nine weeks ago and it was noticeable this evening at the new University of Denver Soccer Stadium. My Alma mater battled the St. Mary's Gaels in the second game of the DU Invitational and were victorious.
I on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. The images just didn't seem to come tonight. It probably didn't help that I was on the other end of the field when Denver scored its two goals either. I even ventured up to the top of the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to get a different angle and cleaner background but the influx of mediocre images never changed. The image above is very vanilla, in my opinion. It's publishable but doesn't really tell the story.
I wasn't shooting for a client tonight so there really wasn't any pressure but I always want to produce better images than the previous time I shot. I'm always looking to get better. Tonight just wasn't my night.
I have an assignment for the University of Denver Magazine on Saturday and I'm shooting youth football on Sunday in Castle Rock so there will be plenty of opportunities to redeem myself over the course of the weekend. Check back on Monday morning to see how I did.
Sometimes I find inspiration in even the most trivial forms of everyday life, and I love it. The key is to follow through with what inspires you and turn that into something tangible.
Last week I was sitting on the patio of my parents place having a beer with my dad, Heineken of course, when the trademark red star on the bottle caught my eye. My dad began to explain that some people refer to the beer, famous for its green bottle, as "red star."
Almost immediately I began to think of how I could photograph the bottle in a way that I've never seen before. I made a voice note on my iPhone to remind me of my idea later.
Wednesday I elicited the help of my friend and fellow photographer Michael Sasser to work on the project. After picking up a few pieces of poster board from Target we set up a small studio in his living room.
I toyed with a few different setups before I was happy with the image above. Considering that I set everything up by hand and didn't use photoshop to do anything besides crop and tone the image I'm pleased with the result. I enjoy the challenge that comes with shooting images like this straight out of the camera and I take a lot of pride in doing so.
As a Denver editorial photographer I don't shoot a lot of product photography so it was a nice change of pace to come up with a self driven assignment and follow through.
Monday marks the first day of school for several schools and Universities in Colorado. Thankfully for me, having a degree means that I don't have to attend class tomorrow.
Oddly enough I haven't been void of homework since returning to Denver to freelance in July. I have had plenty to do outside of shooting and although much of it feels like homework used to, it's necessary. I spend a lot of time on the computer researching and contacting new potential clients, toning images, preparing for my website redesign, archiving and invoicing. It seems as though I have to work three times as hard than I did before but that's what it takes in this market, especially the way the economy is now.
For that reason I apologize for not posting as often as usual. August has been focused on generating new work and I hope that September and October will produce some work that I can share with you all.
Before I left Chicago I did the above illustration for McHenry County Magazine. The assignment felt much like a middle school homework project because I scoured Wal-Mart looking for the die cut letters and thread to suspend them over the books and apple. I then spent a good thirty minutes in the studio using four lights to get everything to look right. Other than a little bit of toning, it's straight out of camera without any Photoshop work.
If I had to describe the past week in one word, that is the first thing that comes to my mind. On so many levels this year's Miracles on Ice hockey camp was a success. The kids were pushed to their limits and often the kids pushed the volunteers to their limits but in the end it was an amazing week that affected several individuals on a positive level. If just one of those kids see the light and graduates from college we succeeded.
The final day of the camp is always highlighted by a game in the afternoon where the volunteers, friends, family and community come and show their support as the kids compete in brand new NHL jerseys. The progress that the kids have made after just five short days is utterly astounding. Several of them could barely walk in skates let alone do anything else on Monday and by Friday some of them were skating backwards. They passed to each other, cheered on their teammates and scored goals. It was a great game with the white team eventually beating the maroon team 8-6.
After the game the feeling in the locker room was electric. A victorious Jackson proceeded to howl as loud as he could and hugged both his teammates and members of the other team. It was a sight to see.
I'm already looking forward to next year's camp but I hope to make it down to the Bridge Project and see some of the kids throughout the year.
Today was the Jackson show and I'm not talking about the dead pop-star that still looms over every single 24-hour TV news station. Jackson, one of the boys from the South Lincoln Bridge Project, has been one of the kids that I've focused most of my attention on this week. He has some issues and they showed on the first day but I was determined to get him in the right mind set to listen to the teachers, coaches and volunteers because I knew that he was unbelievably smart and gifted behind his hard and defensive exterior shell. Today he really shined through in my mind.
The combination of key positive reinforcement and some self confidence really made a difference in his attitude today. On the ice he scored, as he put it "three hat tricks," in the second ice session alone. Off the ice he transformed his anger and frustration into competitive motivation to have fun and excel during dry land training. One minute he sneaked in to kiss one of the female teenage volunteers on the cheek and the next he was ripping off his shirt and racing like Usain Bolt during the relay races. Afterward he proceeded to do a front flip, twice.
However, without a doubt my favorite change has been his verbal responses on the ice. "YES COACH," he yells whenever anyone asks him to do anything. This is huge in my mind as it shows that he understands that listening to the coaches and volunteers will only better his experience. It shows because he is clearly one of the more talented kids out there.
I've really enjoyed working with him during the week and seeing the positive change it has had on him, his attitude and those around him.
Friday is the big game at 2:15PM in Magness Arena at the Ritchie Center on the University of Denver campus and I encourage all of you to come out and support these kids. They have worked hard all week and they deserve it.
We're past the half-way point of the week and you can really see it in the kids' progress. You wouldn't know it by my images because I felt like I struggled again today. Visually I just wasn't seeing much.
Today we introduced three ice sessions in the schedule as compared to only two on Monday and Tuesday. Remarkably the third ice session was the best despite our thoughts that the kids would be exhausted by then. The kids put together all the skills they've learned thus far in mini cross-ice 4v4 scrimmages. Scoring their first goal against their peers was really rewarding for a lot of the kids and it gave them the confidence that they had been searching for but had yet to find.
Thursday will be another jam packed day as the kids prepare for the big game on Friday afternoon. I'm really going to try and push the limit visually to try and get out of my slump.
Tuesday was another great day at the Miracles on Ice hockey camp. The kids appeared to be making progress on the ice and were better behaved off the ice. Daily blogging seems to be a big hit with everyone and I'm glad that I can share my experiences with all of you not at the camp.
I seemed to struggle a bit behind the lens on Tuesday. Since I have shot the camp for the past two years and worked/shot in the Ritchie Center a lot when I was in school, I'm finding it difficult to discover new and interesting ways to shoot the same thing.
I mixed it up a bit and spent the morning ice session in the catwalk high above the ice surface. I played around with using only a single strobe light to create hard shadows as well as using the steel to try and create interesting framing. While I'll applaud my effort, I don't think that I got anything worth raving about up there.
Wednesday I'm going to try a few different techniques as well as focus in on moments to see if I can make a few more striking images.
Seeing kids put on pads for the first time, let alone skate, is a really great experience. If you give a huge bag full of gear to a kid the excitement on their face beams from ear to ear, then they realize that they don't have a clue what a cup is or why their socks are ten times the ones they're already wearing.
Monday marked the start to the third annual Miracles on Ice hockey camp at the University of Denver. The program, started by Gary and Leslie Howard through their family foundation, brings together underprivileged kids from the University's Bridge Project and several volunteers for a week filled full of new experiences, fun, classroom instruction, dry-land training, and oh yea, lots of hockey.
This is my third year shooting the event and it is great to see familiar faces as they've grown over the past couple of years. The program also has a great group of volunteers, many of whom have participated each year, that really make it a memorable experience for the kids during the week.
This year I've decided to share a few of my favorite images each day. The first day is always interesting and this year didn't disappoint. I think the images show just that. More tomorrow.
Sunday evening I met up with Joe and Joy for an engagement session in downtown Denver. I'm photographing their wedding later this summer so it was great to finally meet up with them in a comfortable setting and shoot some photos. I make it a point to shoot an engagement session with my wedding clients because it gives them a chance to see how I work and we get to know each other a little bit better before the big day.
We had a great time taking advantage of several locations and interesting light over the course of a couple hours. Joe and Joy are both really easy going so it was quite effortless to make some outstanding images of the two of them. For the most part they ignored me as I followed them around Union Station, Riverfront park, Confluence park and even a stop for some ice cream.
If tonight was any indication of what's to come, the wedding will be great. I'm looking forward working with both of them again soon.
Saturday I shot alongside colleague Greg Harring at Lindsay Hare and Brian Martelon's downtown Denver wedding. The ceremony was held at the historic Trinity United Methodist Church on Broadway, that lent itself to some great photos. The gorgeous winding staircase was my favorite aspect of the venue.
After the ceremony I hopped in with the Bride and Groom as they took a quick spin around downtown in a 1960's (I don't remember the exact year) Firebird convertible. We made a quick stop back at the Church before heading to Union Station and LoDo's Bar for some photo opportunities. The evening concluded at The Magnolia Hotel.
The entire wedding party was a blast to work with and Lindsay & Brian really knew how to have a good time. I was the second photographer tonight so I started later and ended earlier but I really enjoyed the four or so hours I spent documenting their day.
