Boerne-Champion & TMI Football...the season is underway

Another busy weekend and it started on a Thursday. I'd forgotten the joys of shooting football in the afternoon with good light, but the images from Thursday's JV game between TMI, The Episcopal School of Texas, and Pearsall made for an easy reminder. Not only was the light good, but the photos show why you don't need to be shooting pro or college sports to get peak action, intense player emotion images.

The Boerne-Champion vs San Antonio East Central game on Friday started early enough to get some nice pre-game photos, particularly with the great yellow and black helmets of East Central. As I've written about in the past, to get really sharp images you almost always have to use strobe lighting at high school fields. The downside of strobes includes batteries, low light on long distance shots, uneven lighting depending where the play is on the field, setting ISO too high so you pick up the ambient light on the field when you really just want your flash to be doing the work...which usually means blurring.

So given all that fun stuff, when half the lights went out at Boerne High School stadium it looked photography was going to come to a standstill. But Forrest Gump would have been proud, with only half the stadium lights working we had some really interesting portrait light to work with and the players all had their helmets off. How cool... Here's one of my favorites...

Dave Campbell's Texas Football Classic

Wow, a couple of pretty intense days. I was selected to shoot the Dave Campbell Texas Classic Floresville vs Fox Tech game on Thursday for MaxPreps and the Boerne Champion Chargers win over Midlothian for Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Both were exciting games that really got going in the 2nd half .

I capped a weekend of football as a spectator to watch my nephew, Dakota Mawyer (#33), co-captain the first game of the University of the Incarnate Word's inaugural football season. The high-scoring game ended with UIW defeating Monterrey Tech 42-39.

Dave Campbell's Texas Classic Football Tournament & Boerne Chargers

The Boerne-Champion Chargers face Midlothian on Friday, August 27th in the Alamodome as part of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Classic.

Click to hear Coach Danny Threadgill speaking at the announcement ceremony.

(I'll be shooting the Thursday game for MaxPreps.com and the Chargers on Friday)

Thursday, August 27th - 7:30pm - Floresville vs. SA Fox Tech

Friday, August 28th - 7:30pm - Boerne Champion vs. Midlothian

Saturday, August 29th - Noon - Katy Mayde Creek vs. Brenham
Saturday, August 29th - 3:45pm - Odessa Permian vs Duncanville
Saturday, August 29th - 7:30pm - SA East Central vs. Cibolo Steele

Boerne-Champion's Blake Smith - ESPN 2009 All-Star Team

Blake Smith (23) was selected as one of 36 players on the 2009 ESPN All-Star teams. Blake is a 2009 graduate of Boerne-Champion High School, Boerne, Texas and will be playing for the University of New Mexico in 2010.

Last Chance Forever - The Birds of Prey Conservancy

I first saw John Karger in full medieval falconry regalia in the mid-1980s at the Houston Renaissance Faire. Over the years I've continued to be mesmerized at his various public demonstrations and fund-raising events. His Last Chance Forever organization is one of only two facilities in Texas approved for the treatment and repatriation of birds of prey to the wild by the State of Texas and United States Fish & Wildlife service.

Today's event in Boerne, Texas, had John sharing his knowledge and thoughts on nature and man's place in it, highlighted by letting the attendees see hawks, falcons, owls and a Bald Eagle up close and personal.

John has been doing this a long time and with help from friends, family and private donors, small and large, he is building the foundation for the Last Chance Forever organization to continue long after he is no longer in a leadership role...which hopefully will be many years away. ;-)

Check out my photos and then visit his site, Last Chance Forever, check the schedule for future presentations and consider helping out.

San Antonio Missions Baseball

10 June Update: Mike Baxter, San Antonio Missions outfielder, was named Texas League player of the month for May, 2009 by the San Diego Padres.

With the exception of club sports, summer is usually a slow period for sports photography, but I recently spent some time shooting the San Antonio Missions. While the speed of play was faster it was interesting to compare shooting at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium vs somewhere like Boerne-Champion or TMI.

Nelson Wolff stadium has wonderful line of sight with the only nets being between you and the players if you are behind home plate. The downside is that foul balls and bats can do some real damage, particularly if you have you eye to the camera and don't have a clue what's coming at you. In my most recent game we had the usual foul balls go into the stands, including one that took a policeman out with a hit to his elbow, interspersed with two bats into the stands, one of which was broken as it hit the ball.

I'm not that happy with my first effort there; mid-day sun made the light harsh, but better than stadium lights I guess, but the inability to be at the same level as the players means it's harder to get under the helmet and see the eyes. Just more to work on, though I'm not sure I have enough time left to get to the Brad Mangin level.

San Antonio Zoo in the Summer

I've been a member of the San Antonio Zoo for longer than I can remember, but I usually only visit in the winter when it's cool outside, the animals are a bit more energetic...and there are fewer people. With high school sports wrapping up I was looking for something a bit more laid back so off to the zoo I went. Good time, got rained on and still way too many people, but this guy is always entertaining...