Colorado editorial photographers | American Spirit Magazine

"Jill Haffley in the halls of Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, Monday, March 14, 2011. Haffley, who has been at Coronado for the past 13 years, has created a relaxed environment in her classroom. She has set-up a hands on project for her U.S. History class to interview World War II veterans. 'The best way to learn history is to ‘do’ history,' she says. 'They’ll learn more from those veterans than they will from me—or even from a textbook.

You have to go beyond the textbook.' "

Sometimes it's important to not over think a portrait. One of my favorite pieces of advice that I received was from one of my mentors, Mark Reis. "Sometimes photographers try to be too clever, know when not to do that," he said.

With that in mind, I ventured up to Colorado Springs last month to photograph Jill for American Spirit Magazine.

My time with Jill was limited because of her class schedule so my goal was to get two unique looks in close proximity to her classroom. Travis was in town for the day because his flight got cancelled so he tagged along to help scout and schlep gear. We arrived in enough time to walk around the school and ended up deciding to shoot in her classroom and the hallway just outside her door. If we had enough time there was another location down a floor and around the corner.

After getting a few minutes to chat with Jill about her classes and love for Penn State we managed to shoot the classroom, hallway and third location in just about 20 minutes.

Here is how the client used the above image in the magazine.

-JCE

Colorado editorial photographers

Denver sports photographers | NBA Playoffs Thunder v Nuggets

"Ty Lawson #3 of the Denver Nuggets celebrates after hitting a three point basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 25, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Lawson lead the Nuggets with 27 points in their 104-101 victory to avoid the sweep and head back to Oklahoma down 3-1 in the series."

"Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder goes up for a layup as Nene #31 of the Denver Nuggets contests the shot in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 25, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Westbrook contributed 30 points in the loss."

"Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder scores as Nene #31 of the Denver Nuggets is called for a blocking foul in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 25, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Durant led all scorers with 31 points in the loss and head back home to Oklahoma with a 3-1 series lead."

"Nene #31 of the Denver Nuggets falls over the back and fouls Nick Collison #4 of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 25, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."

"J.R. Smith #5 of the Denver Nuggets celebrates a three point basket as head coach George Karl walks onto the court for a timeout against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 25, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Smith added 15 points in the 104-101 victory."

It's amazing what a difference a day makes.

Saturday I couldn't make a picture to save my life. Monday the photo gods were on my side.

By halftime I transmitted nine pictures that I was pleased with including the two images from my glass remote above. Having things go well in the first half essentially took all the pressure off and after that pictures just seemed to fall into my lap.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

I got to the arena shortly after 4:30pm for an 8:30pm tip off to make a few small adjustments to my remote, get the strobes turned on, eat and relax.

The atmosphere in the building all night was electric. The Nuggets kept knocking down three pointers and with each one the crowd went crazy. For the first time since the first quarter of game one, the Nuggets finally caught their stride.

I'd say that it would be extremely tough to come back and win the series or even the next game but crazier things have happened in life. As my dad has always said, "If you don't come to play, you'll get ya lunch brought to ya."

More images from the game HERE.

-JCE

Denver Sports Photographers

Denver sports photographers | NBA Playoffs Thunder v Nuggets

"Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder scores on Ty Lawson #3 and Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets in Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Westbrook contributed 23 points in the Thunder's 97-94 victory to take a 3-0 series lead into game four."

"Nene #31 of the Denver Nuggets scores against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Nene led the Nuggets in scoring with 15 points on 5 of 10 shooting."

"(Left) Ty Lawson #3 of the Denver Nuggets goes up for a shot against Serge Ibaka #9 of the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Right) Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder is fouled by Arron Afflalo #6 of the Denver Nuggets."

"Frustrated head coach George Karl of the Denver Nuggets paces the sidelines against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."

"Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets sits frustrated on the sidelines during a 97-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals in the 2011 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Martin led the team with five turnovers in the 97-94 loss to the Thunder and are down 3-0 in the seven game series."

It was just one of those kind of nights, for both myself and the Nuggets. The home town team struggled, again, offensively and I just couldn't get anything to go my way.

Whether it was the refs/players blocking my view, popping the circuit breaker on one of the strobe packs or missing a good moment here or there, I had my fair share of frustrations shooting game three of the Thunder v Nuggets series Saturday night. I heard about it from all the other shooters at the bar after the game too. I hold myself to high expectations so having a rough game definitely got to me a little bit and they were having some good-natured fun with it.

One of the main personal challenges that I had was trying to get back into the sync of shooting on strobes again. When you're shooting "on the lights" you have to wait for the power packs to recycle so you can only shoot one frame every four seconds or so. You have to really concentrate and pick your moments. I've shot on lights plenty of times and it's been a while but like anything else, it was like riding a bike and by the middle of the first quarter I felt comfortable again.

I had arrived at the arena shortly after 10am to get remotes and clamps installed for myself and Doug who I was shooting the game with. I'm glad I was there so early because I got the opportunity to put a remote behind the glass, again, something that I hadn't done in a few years. It ended up working out ok but one of the circuit breakers that I somehow blew was the key light for the remote. It worked fine for the first half but after the circuit tripped things were pretty dark.

I chalk it all up to a learning experience. I'll make a few adjustments for Monday's game and hopefully things work out a little better...including the Nuggets shooting.

-JCE

Denver sports photographers

Denver sports photographers | USASA Nationals

Earlier this month I was up at Copper Mountain shooting the United States of America Snowboard Association Nationals. For eight days I was stationed on the lower half of the boardercross/skiercross course mostly shooting stock action of each of the competitors for Vast Action.

In an effort to shoot practically every single participant I was somewhat limited with where I could go and how I could shoot. It wasn't hard to complete the assignment but it definitely was a struggle at times to wrangle in my creativity and shoot with the client in mind.

Having seen similar events at the X Games I anticipated much more rubbin' and racin' than I actually saw. Most of the competitors were fairly spread out by the time that they got to my end of the course but I still saw my fair share of epic crashes. Some had to be carted off by ski patrol and to my surprise several got back up and finished the race.

The snowboard/ski season is winding down around these parts and that's just fine with me. I'm anxious to get my tennis and golf games back in form.

-JCE

Denver sports photographers

Denver sports photographers | NCAA Regional Gymnastics Championships

"Denver's Jorie Hall twists in the middle of her vault that scored a 9.650 during the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011."

"Denver's Brianna Springer preforms a leap during her floor exercise routine that scored a 9.850 during the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011. Springer scored a 39.250 in the all-around and qualified for the NCAA National Championships."

"Denver's Kaitlin Moorhead looks skyward during her floor exercise routine that scored a 9.850 at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011."

"Denver's Annamari Maaranen looks for the bar on a release during her uneven bars routine at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011."

"Denver's Amanda Johanson (from left), Louise Mercer and Taylor Sanford explode with emotion for teammate Jorie Hall (not pictured) on the balance beam during the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011. Hall scored a 9.900 tying her for first place in the event which qualified her for the NCAA National Championships."

"Denver's Brianna Springer dismounts the balance beam on her way to scoring a 9.775 during the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Denver Regional at the Ritchie Center in Denver, Saturday, April 2, 2011. Springer scored a 39.250 in the all-around and qualified for the NCAA National Championships."

One of the best parts about photographing anything at DU is the relationship that I have with their staff and the access that they give me. I worked with them for four years while I was in school there. However, since this was a NCAA sanctioned event things were much different.

Photographers were limited to only three spots on the arena floor that allowed for mostly mediocre photos. The last time I shot a meet in Magness Arena I had free reign and could take advantage of some amazing dark, clean backgrounds and unique shooting angles. This time I had to concentrate on making the best with what I had and let my remotes produce some creativity for me.

I arrived at 2:30pm for the 6pm meet to get remotes in place before the competitors took the floor. I had originally only planned to do one but when I saw the restricted shooting locations I decided to put a second one up. Gino Siller came along to learn a little bit about my setup and do a little shooting of his own. He was a big help to myself and another photographer in getting the cameras focused properly.

Despite the restrictions I was able to come away with a few images that I'm pleased with.

-JCE

Denver sports photographers