Long Beach Middle School Division I Volleyball Championships

Stanford Hawks vs Hughes Owls

To view and order pictures from this event, just click on the post heading.

These games marked the end of a very long day. Both of these two teams played outstandning. They play the best of 5-games for the championships and they tood advantage of each and every game. Very exciting to watch, let alone capture the action. I often found myself watching and thinking to myself "That would have made a great picture", and here I am with two camera. You just got to love the action, I know I do.

This first set of shots were taken from center court behind the score keepers. This position gave me great flexability to shoot either team during play.

All of these were shot with my 300 f/2.8. I also shot with my 70-200 f/2.8, which was on my Canon 40D and will add those to this post when finished with my editing.

This last set of pictures were taken from the far end of the court. I just came from the balcony where I wasn't happy with the shots I was getting there, so I decided to shoot from this angle to capture some spikes and blocks at the top of the net. I also was hoping for some individual player shots as the last two show.

A day of Championship Games

Last year I was asked to shoot all of the Long Beach Middle School Championship games for their various sports, which include flag football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, and track. I don't do this for the money because the Athletic Director I'm dealing with has no budget but I do make sales to the parents of the players.

This last Saturday I spend the entire day at Wilson High School shooting four games. I started out at 9am shooting the Div II Flag Football Championship game, then at 11am with the Div I Flag Football Championship game, which was followed at 1pm with the Div II Volleyball Championship game, and ending at 3pm with the Div I Volleyball Championship game.

I did make a few contacts and passed out some cards, so hopefully I'll make a little bit on money for my time.

For both flag football games I used my 300 f/2.8L lens. Now during most of the first game the sky was overcast with a little bit of high fog, so during the first game I started with an ISO of 800 and brought it back down to 100 as the day progressed.

For the volleyball games I started with the 70-200 f/2.8L lens and stood along the side where the players sit. When along the side I pretty much stayed just off center so I can focus my attention on one team. I also took some shots from the balcony and along one of the far end walls. When at these two positions I used the 300 f/2.8. For all four games I keep my aperture at f/2.8 to isolate the athlete from the background.

Div II Flag Football / Hill Huskies vs Lindsey Falcons

Div I Flag Football / Hughes Owls vs Lindbergh Eagles

Div II Volleyball / Powell Eagles vs Monroe Tigers

Div I Volleyball / Stanford Hawks vs Bancroft