Freshmen Football "Week One" Lakewood vs La Costa Canyon

Well the football season has finally started with our freshmen teams. Our Jr. Varsity and Varsity will play tomorrow at La Costa Canyon. Today our freshmen played at home. This started off bad for our boys with their opening kickoff being returned for a touch down. By the end of the first half we were down 6-21. Lakewood has always been known as a second half team and they didn't let us down. Our boys came back and won the game 25-21, but it did get very close during the last few minutes.

All of these shots were taken with my Canon Mark IIn and 300 f/2.8L lens. Since I did all of the action shots for the freshmen team last year the coaches have become very familier with me and give me a lot of access. I make sure I don't get in their way and keep my eye on the action so I or a player don't get hurt.

I'll add some closeups, which are unavoidable when using the 300. When the action comes your way you just need to make the best of it and try to get the action.

Finally finished going through all of the pictures I took during the Hero's cup with LAPD playing against LA County Fire. Both are very good teams and play hard. I didn't get there until the first half had already started but I was still able to shoot some pictures for about 15-20 minutes before the half was over. During the second half it started to rain a bit, not much but enough to feel a few drops here and there, although with the equipment I have I don't let this bother me.



So take a look and enjoy.



I like these next two shots due to their jumps. Nothing like a good header to show the height and determination some players have during play. As for the lone jumper, he jumped up to take the ball in the chest and drop it down by his feet to play it.

This shot just shows the focus the player in blue has on the ball, which is almost comical.



I just loved the expression on both of these grown men. You just know something is going to happen by looking at their faces.

This last shot has to be my favorite out of all of them. There's a few things going on here that you can look at. First you see the intensity of the player in read as he tries to gain control of the ball while blocking the player in blue at the same time. Also notice the bit of blood along the blue players right eye (your left). It may not show here but he had a nice cut next to his right eye that was bleeding a bit. Now you may look at this shot and see what could be a great action shot that tells a story or is the player in red making that face becasue the player in blue is kneeing him in the groin from behind. Hard to tell, either way I just love this shot.

Soccer, just when you thought it was over

The Home Depot Center here in Carson puts on a Hero's cup soccer tournament with police and fire department teams every year and this last weekend was their most recent tournament. The tournament started on Thursday and ended on Sunday. LAPD has a very competitive and strong team and usually does very well. I've worked around both of the teams coaches and was asked if I would come out and shoot a game. I planned on going out on Saturday to shoot one of their games but haven't been feeling to well and after shooting my nephew's scrimmage football game I decided to stay home. On Sunday they had an early game at 8:30am, but needed the sleep so I didn't go to that game either. Just after noon I called one of the coaches to get their status on the tournament and found out that they were about to start their final game in just a few minutes, so I rushed home, cleaned up, grabbed my gear and went to the Home Depot Center for their game. I was able to shoot the last 15 minutes of the first half and the whole second half. I used my 300 f/2.8L lens and my 1.4x converter at ISO 400. I ended up with nice shots and hope to post some when I get home tonight.

Hell week - Finally over

Hell Week is finally over. Yesterday was officially their last practice. My son thought it was going to be an easy one because they only wore shoulder pads, helmets, and shorts, which usually means a easy or at least not to tough practice. When he got home after being picked up by his mom he said it was a hard practice. I guess after the varsity practice was over the Jr. Varsity team stayed over to go over their plays. This is something they really need to do. Usually when they practice the Jr. Varsity team will play against the varsity team and run the opposing team plays. This isn't really helping our JV players because they arent' getting any practice running their plays against anybody. So they stayed another hour and went over plays.

Later that evening there was a team dinner where we met all the coaches. There were no changes here from last year. We didn't stay to eat because we wanted to go to my sister's house and watch the UFC fights. I also wanted to show another one of my sister's the pictures I took during her son's scrimmage game.

Our first game will be Friday night at La Costa Canyon. Our JV will play at 5pm while the Varsity will play at 7:30pm. I hope to be on the sidelines for both taking some action shots. Good luck Lancers and good luck John.

The Sequence "Step-by-step"

Since the prior sequence show small on this site I decided to upload each shot individually to show the action.

Torrance Football Scrimmage Game

Today my nephew, who is a sophmore at Torrance High School and playing his second year of football there had their first scrimmage game. My nephew plays on the Jr. Varsity team and they were playing against the Freshmen team. I went out to support my nephew and hopefully get some shots of him in action. Of course I keep the camera at the ready for other action that might have happened.

These first two shots, which are of my nephew who started the game as fullback, were shot with the Canon MK IIn, 300 f/2.8L IS lens, while attached to a monopod

These remaining shots were shot with the same equipment with the exception of an added 1.4x converter added.

When shooting sports I try to get faces in the picture. This add impact and shows the emotion and intensity that these players have when playing. Although this next picture doesn't show any faces I thought it was a great hit breaking up a pass.

This last shot, or I should say sequence was great to watch and I was very pleased that I caught the action. I only wish I would have taken just a couple more shots into the sequence.

Photoshopped

As I said, here are the two pictures I used together to get the shot tubing shot below. Just a little cut and paste.

Some fun sports action with a little photoshop help

I do take a lot of action shots, but some times I just want to have a bit of fun. As you've seen below I just recently spent some time in Havasu and took a bunch of pictures. What do you do with 3,500 pictures, well you make a DVD slideshow for the family to watch and not just your normal slideshow. Here is a shot I took with a little assistance from photoshop. I will post the before pictures in another post.

Hell week - Double Days

Well, it's another year of football. My son is a sophmore and will be playing in his second year at Lakewood. I had a blast and greatly enjoyed watching him play last year as a freshmen and can't wait tell he's back on the field. I've tried to get out to their second practice during double days to watch and take pictures. I hope to be on the sidelines during the Jr. Varsity and Varsity games again this year. Here are some shots of my son in action during double days.

Havasu Vaction 2007

This year for vacation our family, along with my two sister's and their family's went to Havasu Springs Resort in Lake Havasu. I'm not much into the heat but both of my kids really enjoy going and spending time with all their cousins. It doesn't hurt that they can ride seadoo's, wake boarding, knee boarding, and tubing.

My enjoyment come with taking pictures and since I specialize in sports action that's where I did my best during this trip. If I wasn't on the beach relaxing I was on the boat taking action shots of everyone doing their thing.

Here are a few action shots of the family on the tube. I had a blast taking pictures and my wife, who doesn't really take pictures did a great job getting some shots of me on the tube.