CORE Dance

Well, i had a boatload of fun photographing UGA's CORE Dance company's rehersal for their spring show.

(So i like punk rock and modern dance. Weird. I know.)



Anyways, it was good light. Great dance. Its just amazing to see people move that way.






Plus... i made a slideshow. Enjoy kids.

Baseball Bruhaha

Georgia third baseman Ryan Peisel goes after Arizona right fielder Jon Gaston in the top of the eight inning as first base umpire Danny Everett tries to seperate them as #1 University of Arizona beats Georgia 9-7 on Sunday, February 24, 2007. Gaston was ejected from the game after running over Georgia catcher Bryce Massanari prompting both benches to clear.


For a minute there, the sun had come out at Foley Field. A batsman was hit. A catcher was railroaded. A third baseman was offended and all hell broke loose. And for a second there, it looked as though the Mets and Phillies were exchanging pleasantries.

All in all, a wild baseball game. Georgia's starter went 6 shutout innings and gave up 3 hits. The bullpen imploded giving up NINE in the 7th and 8th innings, culminating in the aforementioned bruhaha.



Georgia coach David Perno, left, and Arizona first baseman C.J. Ziegler, center, try to seperate players during a bench clearing altercation in the top of the eight inning

Here's what happened:

Georgia pitcher Will Harvil served up a two-run home run to Arizona's Diallo Fon. Next pitch, he drills Arizona left fielder Jon Gaston. Several pitches later, Gaston goes to steal second. Georgia catcher Bryce Massanari throws the ball into center field, Gaston rounds third and comes home. Gaston plows into Massanari who was barely blocking the plate. Massanari takes offense and third baseman Ryan Peisel comes running over to confront Gaston. Then the benches empty as the umpires try to intervene. Gaston was called out on the play and ejected. Earlier in the third inning, Georgia left fielder Lyle Allen leveled Arizona catcher Dwight Childs while yesterday, Gaston ran Georgia catcher Joey Lewis.



Georgia left fielder Lyle Allen runs over Arizona catcher Dwight Childs in the bottom of the third inning




Georgia pitcher Nathan Moreau throws before the start of the first inning as #1 University of Arizona beats Georgia 9-7 on Sunday, February 24, 2007. Moreau gave up 3 hits over 6 innings.

Arizona's Colt Sedbrook hits the ball in the top of the ninth inning as #1 University of Arizona beats Georgia 9-7 on Sunday, February 24, 2007.

And this is an homage to my friend and fellow staffer Kelly Lambert, who took some very pretty sillouette shots at yesterday's game.

Baseball Round 2

Okay. A few comments and observations on shooting 17 innings of baseball in less than 24 hours.

400mm Lens is really the way to go. 300 is too short. I tried with the 300 and it just wasn't working today. The D2X really is too slow, either that or i have to go for single-shot and not motor drive anything.

At a college sporting event, countless numbers of students who seemingly do nothing for the Athletic Department sit up in the press box and eat food that is there for the working media. The food will always be gone when you finally decide to go up and grab something.

There's a learning curve. I'm improving.

Baseball is Here!

There's something about baseball. The crack of the bat. The smell of popcorn in the air. The lush, green grass and the warm summer air.

Of course, this is Georgia so none of that applied. You have metal bats, dippin dots, and cold, 40 degree weather to start off the baseball season. There were 5 errors in the game, should have been 7 if it weren't for a scorekeeper with a kind heart. Georgia's DH went 2-4 with a HR and then came on in the 9th to be the closer, striking out the side.

Should be a fun season.

Eclipse

So here's some shots of the Lunar Eclipse. Would have had more, alas clouds came in.

Condo Fire.

Caught a fully involved Condo fire today. Beat the 2nd due engine to the scene. ACC FD did their primary attack from the rear of the structure that was backed up to a fence. Couldn't get back there. No real good angle to get great shots of an interior attack. Mainly tried to get pictures as fast as i could.



Fire was knocked down with 3 or 4 minutes of me getting on scene. Fire was confined primarily to the one until but damaged two others.

Interesting trend....

After doing a quick look on my Stats page, more people are coming to this blog looking for Dropkick Murphys or Marc Orell (He's the guitarist that just left the band) than people looking for Georgia football and Knowshon Moreno (He's a running back that did quite well).

Thats just an interesting trend. Photos later today.

Puffy Sunglasses

I saw this while walking downtown today.

Softball for Two Innings

Alisa Goler is congratulated by her teammates after scoring a run on an error in the bottom of the first inning as Georgia beat DePaul 3-2.

Baseball will always be better than softball. Why? because baseball starts on time, and i've never had a softball game start on time yet, especially when there's a tournament happening. Georgia's season opener was delayed 1 1/2 hours thanks to the game before it. So not only did i have to leave by 6PM to get to a hoops game, but i was left with 1/2 an hour to make some photos. Great light for like 10 minutes but that was about it. The golden light left fast.



Freshman Jennie Auger hits the ball towards second base off of DePaul's Becca Heteniak on Friday, February 8, 2008 in Athens. Auger had the game-winning home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to lead Georgia to a 3-2 victory.



Shortstop Kristin Schnake celebrates a strikeout by pitcher Sarah McCloud as Georgia beat DePaul 3-2.



The softball field is reflected in the sunglasses of second baseman Sojourner Moody.

Video Rotation

So This past week i got to experience being in the video rotation. We're each taking a week where we are shooting video for our website as well as shooting stills for the print product in an effort to drive multimedia. Of course its a total PITA to actually find any of our multimedia products on our website.

This week i got to do a style piece on Widespread Panic's Sunny Ortiz.



That was fun, obviously i cut back and forth between a static shot on a tripod and a handheld camera shot in B&W. Stylistic and i like it. During the intro of that piece, you see some smoke coming up. One of our new lights started smoking pretty bad and it didnt stop, so I used it as a quick framing device and then changed to another light. I was not going to responsible for killing the basement studio of Widespread Panic.

We also did THREE videos in one day for Georgia Football's signing day.

Signing Day as a whole. (Fellow staffer Trevor Frey did the still pictures in that. I did everything else.)




Head Coach Mark Richt's Presser: (Mainly cut by me and cleaned up by our News Director Melissa Hanna)



Prince Avenue Jon Richt's signing with Clemson (Shot by Me, completely edited by Mel Hanna)



So my thoughts as a whole: In order for Multimedia & the web to somehow be the savior, the marketing & advertising people need to know how to sell it. The print product that i work for has for years had an economic model set up to sell ads, and sadly that model is falling apart... mainly because big corporations still want huge profits. Either way, the ad gurus need to find a way to sell ads for the web and actually PROMOTE our products. Its just not profitable to do video for video's sake. My personal goal is to keep my video from looking like television. It took me forever to find those videos

Equipment wise - You can't do video effectively without a decent camera. The camcorders that i use just aren't pro quality. We make the best of it, but the audio is really lacking, IMO. Its a pain to be both cameraman and audio guy at the same time. We need better cameras that actually have microphones that are more than the stock built in.... but we can't exactly justify those if no one ever looks at the videos.

So all in all, i can shoot video and i will shoot video, I just don't want to enterprise and go out and find a video to make. I want to focus on my still pictures and audio slideshows. Video just isn't a huge priority for me., unless its done in a cool way.

Georgia vs Vandy Hoops

Sundiata Gaines grabs a rebound.

Georgia hoops part whatever. Georgia kept it a 1 or 2 posession game for most of the night but couldn't hold on for the win. Its the story of their season - close but comes up short on the end.




It was a busy day all around, with football's signing day taking up the rest of the time before i ran (emphasis on RUN!) over to put up my backboard remote. I like the photos better this time then before. The ones before had the camera more to the side of the rim while this time it was above the rim and looking more down towards the lane. Its my third try at this and i like these more. Granted the action wasn't all that i wanted but i have two nice ones.

The War Comes Home.

Last week 5 soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Mosul, Iraq, on the morning of the President's State of the Union Address, when our president said " Al Qaida is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated."

Those remarks will not soften the pain for the family of Cpl. Evan A. Marshall, who's family laid him to rest on Monday, February 4th, 2008.



Cpl. Marshall was loved by this community and i feel i did a good job of honoring his memory and showing how much his family and friends loved him. I truly hope that as the world grows into the 21st century, that we remember the pain and the sacrifices our soldiers and their families endure when we decide to risk their lives.



The camera i work in is not a filter; it is not something that i hide behind. I feel the emotion of the situation as much as anyone else in attendance. I funnel away the emotion for a later time.