Carson High Freshman Football tonight…

A good night!  A great way to end the season! Here are a few shots from the night, you can check out the rest of the Freshmen’s year at the link for Carson High on the side.

Love this shot!  Maybe it’s a photographer thing… 🙂  something different, a player that’s pretty tough to get a good shot of given he’s typically in direct contact most of the “action” moments of a game…

Colby made his mark on this game tonight… a couple touchdowns… some great action runs for me to shoot… Thanks Colby!  🙂

Brady running the ball….

And a close up shot… see the bottom for my comments about shots like this…

Tonight I was very pleased with the shots I got… the “beauty” of shooting the Freshman and JV teams is that for at least the first quarter, longer earlier in the season… but the sunlight is low in the sky and shinning across the field… and if you’re patient, the players will turn into the sun so you get them in a nice warm “glowy” light… makes for some GREAT images…  The image above with Colby, you can see the sun lighting up his face…. that’s great light!

The second thing of note tonight… I’m shooting with a fixed focal length lens… meaning, there’s no “in lens” zoom… the “zoom” is your feet… so you have to make a decision… the guy’s running right at me, what do I do… I can’t get up and run down the field faster than he is with the lens and continue shooting… so… keep shooting and you get SUPER tight shots like the last one posted here….

Now… I don’t know if any of you have noticed any “changes” in my photography this year… well, back in early September I was at a photo conference and picked up some new ideas, some new things to try… I hope it’s been an improvement.  I’m feeling better about my work, I’m hoping that it will equate to additional business… and even potentially some “bigger” things in my future.  Stay tuned!

Carson High Boy’s Soccer tonight…

In a replay of last year’s first round playoff game, one that Carson walked away with a win… Carson took the lead about 15 minutes in and held on to win the game 1-0…  For the Seniors, this was their last game on the home turf… all the rest of their season will be played at Damonte Ranch starting Thursday…  The Northern Region championship is this Saturday (the Girl’s Regional Championship is also that day at Damonte…).  I’m REALLY hoping to see the Carson Boys make the Regional Final on Saturday… I also expect there to be one more Carson Douglas rematch on the Girl’s Bracket… I won’t be at the Regional Semi’s tomorrow and Thursday… but I’ll be at the Regional Finals on Saturday if things go our way!!  🙂

Here are some shots from tonight… a few of the Seniors in action for their last home game… ever….  Good luck to the Carson and Douglas teams!!

First up, Evan… scored a great goal from a crazy angle… reminded me of my only claim to the record books at San Jose State…

Sam working up the left side in Sam’s usual fashion… 🙂

And Zach… took a knock to the mouth in the first half, HUGE fat lip (look close you can see it…)… toughed it out the second half and helped hold down the back.

Carson High Volleyball, Senior Night…

Just a few photos from tonight… You always want Senior Night to go the way of the Home team… tough night on the court for the Senators….  It’s a life lesson ladies.  Keep the smiles on and good luck next week in the tournament.

This is something I’ve been playing around with…

Tried some different angles tonight…

… just some game action… and seniors none the less….

Carson High Boy’s Soccer, Senior Night…

When you have a website and a blog and you’re a photographer you search for something profound to say or show… tonight, that was also something that I was looking for and with a little help from the coaching staff, completely unknown to them, I found something in my photos that stood out to me… while the score ended 0-0 and some that attended would say that’s the reason they don’t like soccer… it was still an exciting game and I think, as the coaches were quoted saying in the paper, it was important to the players, the seniors.

Now my something profound… this is a special photo fellas.  This is/was the last time all of you will assemble before a soccer game on the field as starters at Carson High, and quite possibly the only time this has happened, eleven seniors starting together….  When I looked out on the field after following you guys for the last few years I noticed some of you out of your “regular” positions and although you were in different positions you put out the effort to compete.  Take this effort into the next round next week, “bring it” and then “leave it” on the field and good things will happen.  Good luck next week fellas!

Here are a few more from the night…

Carson Volleyball…

Whew!  What a busy day!  JV and Varsity Football photos then off to the gym for Carson Douglas Volleyball action…

The Douglas Varsity team came to play tonight! They were working like they wanted that win and they were rewarded, they took three straight, albeit very closely contested, games for the win!  What a fun match to watch, everyone playing hard, really going for it!

Just a few images from the night… I’ll be honest, my Douglas stuff… ehhh not so good… I had some troubles with their solid black in an already dark gym… I’m not particularly happy with them… if you want to see them, email me.

Carson Douglas Boy’s Soccer…

Again, those rivalry games… Tough battles tonight, Carson walked away with two wins tonight…  The JV game had more “drama” than the Varsity game…

Just two images from tonights game… keep your eyes open and on the ball when you’re heading, or so they used to tell me, back in the day… 🙂

 

This just makes me laugh… one of those moments in time where things are just standing still… the expressions… kinda funny… and yes, sorry fellas for a chuckle at your expense… but…

 

Carson Douglas Girl’s Soccer…

Two close rivalries tonight… the JV game ended in a 0-0 tie and the Douglas Girls went home with a 2-0 win… The varsity game was a fantastic battle!  The referee kept a REALLY tight control over the game, it was one of the best officiating I’ve seen in a LONG time!  He even gave out a card for a dive!  🙂

The boys meet tomorrow, JV @ 5 and Varsity @ 7.

Here are two shots from tonight’s action.  Check your team’s page on the side for more game action.

 

Next year… I’m going to miss watching this gal play, such intensity, such focus, watching her play proves to me that there really are kids out there that still have the drive to compete and play hard.

Carson Douglas Varsity Football…

WOW, what a night!

I did a Google search to find some words to describe the night “to take advantage of an opportunity” is what I “Googled”…

BENEFIT – to get help or an advantage from something

GET – to obtain a benefit or have a positive feeling when you do something

GAIN – to get a benefit or advantage for yourself

EXPLOIT – to use a situation so that you get benefit from it

GRASP – to take advantage of an opportunity when it happens

You take your pick, at any one point in this game these words hit the nail on the head…

Here are some image to show the night… (see my blurb at the bottom of this post about MY night…)

Douglas started off with a big opening pass play… I got the shot but it’s blurry… this is a case of the play’s going… whoa… it’s going there… pan and click, hope, nope! Sometimes you get it, sometimes you get it close, sometimes you don’t… well… this started my night…

Here’s one of several runs by Sophomore Joey Thurman… I love it when the Carson kids chant, He’s a Sophomore, He’s a Sophomore… makes me chuckle.

 Then Carson took to the air with Brock Pradere… this catch… remember the whoa it’s going there… point, click, hope… nope… well… no joke, on the spot I thought to myself that I’d mess with some color plugins I just got with this shot… switching to the “artistic” mode of photography on the fly… the elements are there, I know who it is, I have the ball… let me know what you think about the effect!

Douglas’ “big” back, he can pound out some yards!

Then Carson went to the air again… I see a pattern developing here… “whoa, pan, click, hope…”  ehh… on this one… the ball in the hands is in the gallery… I liked this one better…

… and the celebration… this impressed me.  “Why” you ask, it’s just teammates celebrating… it’s WHO that impressed me.  This was a long option pass from Austin Pacheco to a wide open Brock Pradere… but this is the QB, Matt Nolan down to the end zone first to celebrate with Brock… Well done Matt…

… but Douglas wasn’t finished… Michael Nolting driving towards the end zone… sometimes you can get a cool effect, albeit unintentional, because of the low light conditions at a High School sports field…

… and Carson back driving the ball too… I like the feet off the ground!

… and the final kick… well done Austin!  But just to further ruin my night of frustration… I can’t even tell you what the camera was focusing on!  Very frustrating…

… but I kept shooting and came up with this at the end, something that I like a lot from the evening… Great game fellas, both teams, that game defined rivalry athletics.  Goods, bads, uglys, luck, excitement, drama, ups, downs, all in one package deal!

I do have to make one caveat about MY experience… and I wasn’t alone, two of the TV folks and I were talking, they were struggling as well… and pardon my abruptness here… but I flat out sucked tonight!  I had trouble with focusing and low light with the dark pants and jerseys of the Carson team (makes for too low of shutter speed to capture sharp action)… that’s not to say that everything was out of whack… just not my best night of shooting…