TMI vs St. Anthony Varsity Football...and a bit of JV Volleyball vs Hyde Park Baptist

I shot pretty regularly at TMI a few year ago, and they ended up using a number of my photos to enhance their fund raising efforts to improve their athletic fields and operations.  I didn't shoot last year for a number of reasons, but had an opening on Friday night and thought I'd see how the football team was doing after a year of rebuilding with an entirely new coaching staff.

Doing quite well, thank you. ;-)

TMI is different, it reminds me of my senior year in a similar academy quite a few years ago. Small school, lots of playing time for all the participants since the pool of players is relatively small. I think the neatest thing, is the intimacy of the game with the parents and no where else have I seen the team pretty much beat up on each other and then sincerely meet after the game on the field to hear the coaches sharing their thoughts with both teams.

Anyway, a great night, particularly as the rains held off.... check out the action at www.RalphMawyerPhotography.com (aka www.BoerneSportsPhotos.com).

Before the football game I had a chance to catch one of the TMI vs Holy Cross JV volleyball games. Shooting in the gym is a challenge due to the lighting, inability to use strobes and lots of orange walls and floors, but I captured a few nice shots.  Check them out in the volleyball gallery at www.ralphmawyerphotography.com.

Boerne High School vs Medina Valley Football and Holy Cross Volleyball

Busy weekend with Boerne taking on Medina Valley Friday night, followed by the Boerne girls taking on Holy Cross in volleyball.

Lots of photos at www.ralphmawyerphotography.com (or www.BoerneSportsPhotos.com).

Game action selects may also be found on Maxpreps.com, but someone needs to get the roster loaded for the teams.  It really improves player visibility.

Since it's so hard to capture the intensity of the linesmen, I thought we'd lead off with this:

And sometimes the light is just perfect....

Boerne Varsity Volleyball

Boerne-Champion vs New Braunfels Varsity Football

First official game of the season and I think everyone, the teams, the officials and definitely me were trying to get back in the groove.  Champion was passing left and right all night and dominated New Braunfels, but as usual there is always great action no matter who's winning or losing...which is the really great thing about my job.  The one thing I noticed was the game was definitely longer as the clock stops more often with incomplete passes.

Lots more photos at www.ralphmawyerphotography.com or (aka www.BoerneSportsPhotos.com)

Boerne High School vs La Vernia Football

A bit of warmup for both teams and me.  Boerne High School Greyhounds worked out against the La Vernia Bears.  I guess it's different looking through the camera, I can't tell if it's a scrimmage or a regular game....all I see is action and wanting to crop into the intensity of the play.

To browse the complete game gallery, just click to ralphmawyerphotography.com or BoerneSportsPhotos.com.

University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) - Pre-Season Scrimmage

The Cardinals are two weeks away from the start of their new football season. It's coming on five years since the program was established and with the recent coaching change and improved morale of the team, it should be another great year....and even better if UTSA would play them. They historically have played hard teams in their NCAA Div II league and this year will be no different as they go up against NCAA Div 1 AA #1 ranked Sam Houston State.

All the seniors that started the program and have served as it's foundation will be graduating this year, but will do so knowing that UIW has been accepted as a NCAA Division I team in the Southland Conference, beginning July 2013.

If you get a chance, check out a home game. While they don't have the media budget UTSA has they play some intense football.

Additional photo from the scrimmage may be found at www.ralphmawyerphotography.com.

Additional photos from the scrimmage may be found at www.ralphmawyerphotography.com.

THSCA All-Star Football Game - Alamodome

I had a chance to shoot the Texas High School Coaches Assn (THSCA) All-Star game last Tuesday in the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.  Fox Sports was doing a live broadcast, but they didn't have all the lights on since I understand they only do that for Hi-Def games, e.g., Spurs, etc.

It was a good test for my new Nikon D4 and 200-400mm/f4 lens.  The 200-400mm is soft at full extension, but it stills performed well and I was able to maintain 1/640 shutter speeds at f4, on a lens with so much glass it's effectively a T-5 to T5.6, for you photo geeks out there.

For folks that just like cool photos, check them out at RalphMawyerPhotography.com (aka BoerneSportsPhotos.com)

South Padre Island Birding

I spent a few hot and muggy days down at South Padre.  I really hadn't planned on shooting much, but came across the SPI Birding and Nature Center with some cool residents.