Boerne-Champion Basketball

After spending some time down in Mexico over Thanksgiving I came back and was able to squeeze in my first basketball game of the season when Boerne-Champion played Floresville. While no sport in Texas has a greater fan base than football Boerne ISD has a big basketball tournament after Christmas, so I'm hoping to make some time for that. Depending on demand TMI and Boerne are also beckoning.

In between, I'm just enjoying the nice weather and trying to stay warm. You should do the same and enjoy a safe and Merry Christmas with your loved ones.

Champion vs Midlothian Book Pricing Special

Just back from Mexico and a bit of time on the beach, even if it was 58F one night, it was great.

My publisher is offering a great deal that allows you to get $10 off on the price of my photo book covering the Boerne-Champion vs Midlothian Football Classic game in the Alamodome this past August. This offer expires 31 Dec.

Just use one of the following promo codes, depending on which currency you are using:

Orders from the US (using US $): GREATGIFT

Orders from UK (using UK £): GREATGIFT2

Orders from EU (using EU €): GREATGIFT3

Orders from AU (using AUD $): GREATGIFT4

You can preview and purchase the book here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/901209

Click this link for the complete gallery of photos:

TMI Panthers vs Giddings State Indians

Just another football game last tonight, TMI vs Giddings State. I knew TMI had made the playoffs, but I didn't know much about Giddings, Texas, just that it was a small town outside of Austin, Texas. So I shoot the game, and even with the one-sided win by TMI I get some good action. Great thing about sports, it doesn't matter what the score is, there's always great action to be captured. Strong runs by both teams, some good shots of the line, something I always struggle to get.

As a photographer I just shoot the game; charged up players, pretty cheerleaders, color guard full of honor and purpose, but something kept bothering me when looking at the players when they are shaking hands at the end of the game. So polite, but reserved. Even on the field, in the middle of the mosh pit after a tackle, where only a 300mm lens can take you, I wasn't seeing some of the secondary aggressiveness I've seen at other high school games. I didn't think much of it, other than there were a few guys there I'd love to do portraits of, but not likely to happen.

Did you know there are two high schools in Giddings? The Giddings Buffaloes and the Giddings Indians. To play for the Indians it takes more than tryouts and good grades. Want to know more? Read this story by John Ed Bradley in Sports Illustrated (1997), his eloquence will put the photos you see here in greater perspective.

University of the Incarnate Word Football - Homecoming

Last home game of the season went down as a loss, but it was still a great game...

New Photo Book Available - Boerne-Champion Chargers vs Midlothian

I haven't been posting much recently, mostly because all I seem to be doing is shooting football games and editing photos. I did want to share something I've been working on this fall and that's a new photo book featuring the Boerne-Champion Chargers vs Midlothian Panthers at the 2009 Texas Football Classic, played in the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.

It's a pretty neat 8x10 softcover book, printed on premium paper, and containing over 100 photos from the game. You can even preview all the pages.

I don't do this very often due to the labor, expense and market realities that limit what a book like this can successfully sell for. Let's just say I'd make more gross profit when I sell three or four small prints. ;-)
In any case it was a special occasion and fun to do, so please check it out.

Also of recent interest to a few parents is that I was finally able to schedule a freshman football game, specifically Boerne Greyhounds vs Antonian Prep. Anytime I get to shoot a game in daylight, I'm one happy photographer and the pictures show it. Check out the gallery...

Sports, Sports, Everywhere Sports

Wow, lots going on. Trying to cover three high schools, two sports and shooting a bit of college soccer and University of the Incarnate Word from the stands generates a lot of post-processing time.

The nice thing about Boerne High School and Boerne-Champion High School playing football at the same location is that there is often a Boerne High School varsity volleyball game going on prior to football which allows me to provide more coverage than I might usually be able to offer.

Ah, volleyball...if you really want to feel incompetent as a sports photographer, go shoot some volleyball. The lighting is usually wierd and varies around the court(color balance changes as the lights cycle, aggravated by the floor and walls reflecting their orange hue), the action is all over the place and there never seems to be a good position to cover all the plays from. Good sports photography requires peak action and clean backgrounds and I don't care how fast your auto-focus camera is...it's usually not fast enough.
After reading this thread on Sportsshooter.com at least I know I'm not alone in seeing volleyball as one of the hardest sports to shoot....but boy, sometimes you do get a killer portrait.

Boerne High School - Redux

The last couple of years has been a bit different for Boerne high school athletics. 2008 was the year Boerne-Champion High School opened and Boerne High School was closed for a complete redo.

With the start of the 2009-2010 season Boerne now has Boerne High School reopening and playing 3A, while Champion continues as the 4A school. Both schools were affected by the reallocation of students, but it's Boerne High that is having to work the hardest to rebuild their sports program.

Friday night gave me my first chance to shoot the Greyhounds and I managed to squeeze in a varsity volleyball game prior to Boerne football taking on Lake Travis, a 4A, state championship level team. As was planned the football team got a good look at the level of play they will begin developing to achieve.

The neat thing about sports photography is there is always great action, no matter whether it's Pop Warner level play or the pros, whether it's a close game or a blowout. You just have to look for it. At the end of Friday nights game you didn't see anyone giving up or even looking overly depressed, personally I thought some of the guys looked like they wanted to go another quarter.