Lakewood Varsity vs Leuzinger

The last game of pre-season was against Leuzinger, who really didn't stand a chance against Lakewood who won 55-0 at the final whistle.

The good thing that came out of this game is everyone got to play and get some game time under the lights.

Now I still haven't used my flash and have been avoiding it since I don't really care for the way they look, although I think our opening season away game against Wilson High this Friday will bring my lights out of hiding. Lakewood's field is pretty dark and if my memory holds true I believe Wilson's field is even darker, so we'll see what happens.

For this game I again set my camera manually to ISO 3200, f/2.8, and a shutter of 1/320. Now I'm often asked what I think about the 70-200 f/2.8, since most people can't afford the 300 f/2.8, which is very costly (took me a long time to save up for that beast). I will say the 70-200 is more than capable of capturing great shots under the lights as long as you work with the lens. What it comes down to is positioning and as a matter of fact, you are more likely to capture big plays that come to close, which takes people like me out of the mix due to range. If you position yourself properly and wait for the action, you can and will get some good action shots. So have fun, get out there, and shoot.

I'm liking how some of these look with a b&w action I put together, so here are a few to share.

Lakewood Freshmen vs Leuzinger

Here are some shots from Thursday's home game against Leuzinger - Enjoy!

Cerritos College Football vs Long Beach City

This was my first opportunity to shoot a college football game of two local colleges (Cerritos and Long Beach City).

It is always a pleasure to shoot a game under the sun, even if the sky is overcast, which is what we had for the first half of this game. With both of these being community colleges it really wasn't much different than shooting a high school game. Now don't get me wrong, by no means am I referring to the players themselves as they played hard and provided me with many opportunities for some great action, but I refer to the sidelines and how I covered the game. The caliber of playing ability with these players was much higher than what I see during a high school and it
was a pleasure to be there to capture them in action.

So with that all said, here are some of my favorite shots from the game.

Lakewood Varsity vs Mayfair

"The Milk Bucket"

That's what this game is all about. Lakewood and Mayfair are cross town rivals and play for the Milk Bucket each pre-season. Lakewood has maintained the Milk Bucket for the last few years and this year Mayfair came to take it back, or at least made a great attempt to bring it home. In the end Lakewood gets to keep the Milk Bucket for another year.

This was a great game of football from both teams. There were some fantastic plays and passes that just made your jaw drop. Mayfair came out very strong in the first half and dominated the field going into half -time, but when Lakewood took the field during the second half they came out stronger than ever with the defense stopping Mayfair in their tr acks and the offence putting up some big numbers to win the game.

This was another game in which I didn't use a flash, but this time it was by choice. The lights were great and I was able to shoot at 1/400, which is something I seldom get to do. My settings were ISO 3200, f/2.8, and 1/400, while using the 300 f/2.8 and the 24-70 f/2.8 for the last two shots posted.

For the varsity game, lets start off with the cheerleaders.

Coach talking to the team after their comeback win.

Group shot with the Milk Bucket

Lakewood JV Football vs Mayfair

I need to get caught up, I have three games to post :)

Here are some shots from the JV game this past Thursday.

There is nothing special about the below shot, but I really like how it looks. For me this is your classic Sportrait shot. His mom loved it.

And of course I can't forget our cheerleaders.