Belmont Shores Women's Rugby

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to shoot some women's rugby. I have been capturing these girls in action during the last two years and it's always a pleasure to watch them and capture the intensity in which they play. During this game Belmont Shores played against Las Vegas.

Although the clouds were somewhat dark and looming it was a great day to just be outside shooting, I couldn't have asked for a better day. Here are my favorites from the game.

Long Beach Middle School Girls Track

I recently had the opportunity to cover the Long Beach Middle School Girls Practice Track Meet held at Lakewood High School this last Saturday. Although I've been sick the last week and wasn't sure I was going well enough to cover this I was able to get out and take some shots.

Here are several shots to share from the meet.

Winter Formals

My daughter's first dance. Recently my daughter went with her best friend to her friend's Winter Formal. Being my daughter's first dance I just had to make them suffer and get ready early so I could take some nice shots of them. Now normally I would just make basic adjustments with brightness and contrash and then boost vibrance depending on my needs, but for these I thought I'd play a bit more portrait editing. So with that said, I'd love to hear how you think I did with my editing on these.

This first beautiful young lady is my daughter's best friend.

My "Sweetheart"

Wilson Girls Basketball

I was recently asked by one of my favorite clients to get some shots of their daughter playing basketball. Their daughter is a freshmen and is starting on the varsity squad at Wilson High School. So needless to say I went out to capture her in action. The below shots are a few of my favorites to share.

"Redblood" you will be missed

As some of you may know I play an online game called 2moons. Well, in playing this game I have met people from all of the country. One of these individuals, who's game name was Redblood, became more than just a name on a screen. Redblood joined our guild several months ago, which resulted in his sister and brother-in-law joining as well. While playing the game we all communicate online through Team Speak, which allows us to talk and hear each other voices.

Within these last several months Redblood and I became friends and spent many late nights playing and just talking about our lives and families. So when I found out from his sister through the game that he was in the hospital and wasn't given much time I was saddened. I could hear and feel the sadness in his sister voice as she told me and knew things looked bad.

When he passed I did was I could to ease his sister along. It was suggested by another guildie (SirGib), whom is pictured in the below picture upper left corner, that we hold a precession for him in the game. We put the word out to friends and got together for a long walk around the castle. The below shot is of those who participated in this.

The below picture is one of the few shots I took of the two of us in game.

Redblood, although you are no longer with us, your warrior spirit will remain with the "RusticWarrior" forever and you will be missed my friend.

El Dorado Park - Revisited

As in my prior post I haven't had much going on in the sports shooting department, so I've been just getting out when able to shoot some local wildlife. I find just being outside walking around in the evening very relaxing

Once again I went to El Dorado Park to try my luck with the local wildlife. El Dorado Park is broken into three different sections. The first section isn't really part of the park, but is located on the south. It's the nature center, which has a few trails and a pond that offers a variety of flora and local wildlife.

The next portion of the park (center) has two ponds, with one being much larger than the other and a creek connecting the two. This is where I started my evening. I started by walking around the smaller of the two ponds and then following the creek to the larger pond. My first photo opportunity came with a few turtles, but as I attempted to get closer all but this one fled back into the water.

Once I came upon the creek I positioned myself low on the ground to get the following shots and partial reflections.

After walking around the center park for about an hour I decided to give the third portion of the park a chance. This next portion of the park has one large pond. As I exited my car I found this guy sunning on an overhead branch.

I continued by walk and found this guy on top of a small rise that overlooks the pond. I tried two different compositions for this shot. Not sure which one I like best, but I am very pleased with the background on these two shots with just a hint of water.

Along the most northern portion of the pond there is a small island. It was in this area where I found this guy fishing. One of the shots I want to capture is of an Egret or Heron catching a fish and tossing it up while adjusting it to swallow. Needless to say I didn't get that shot, but I did get some nice shots of him on the hunt.

I really loved how the sun peaked through and highlighted him in the water among the reeds.

While walking to the back portion of the park through an open field I found this one hunting for rodents. Here he is intently focusing on possible movement. For the next shot I quickly, while trying to remain as quite as possible, repositioned myself to capture the catch, but just as he dove into the dirt my battery died. Now he didn't catch anything in this attempt, but I was really disappointed in myself for not being aware of my equipment. I could have missed a great shot, and more than likely did as I had to go back to my car for another battery, but in the end the park was closing so I had to leave anyways. Either way it was a great evening to be out shooting.