More Artsy Baseball....

Jacon Whitition pitches for Lakeview Acadmey as the Jefferson Dragons beat Lakeview Academy 10-3 on Thursday, March 27, 2008 in Jefferson.

Okay, this might be the end of my strings of artsy baseball stuff for a bit. It looks pretty but i think I'm going to start examining the game in a different direction. However after a week of business assignments, it was horribly cathartic. Either way, its baseball season and I'm loving it.

On that note, Edmund Fountain of the St. Petersburg Times did an excellent multimedia piece on the closing of Al Lang Field in St. Pete. That polaroid type 55 just looks great.




Left fielder Lucas Redd hits a home run as the Jefferson Dragons beat Lakeview Academy 10-3 on Thursday, March 27, 2008 in Jefferson.

Baseball v Tennessee

Georgia beat Tennessee 3-2 on Saturday, with one HR and a 2 run double (as well as one broken windshield)

Above is what continues to be part of the informal "who can get a better shadowy b/w shot" contest thats running through our office. My fellow staffer Kelly Lambert - who won 1st place for her portfolio in Ga's AP yearly contest - keeps doing some amazing work and this is my answer to her latest artsy baseball picture.



Closer Joshua Fields warms up for the ninth inning against Tennessee. Fields has a fastball that hits 97-98 mph consistently and was drafted in the second round last year by the Braves. Since he didn't sign, he gets put back into the draft. He has yet to allow a run this season.



Shortstop Gordon Beckham yells after getting a two-out two-run hit to lead Georgia over Tennessee 3-2 on Saturday, March 22, 2008.



Third baseman Ryan Peisel gets his bat on the ball.

Rich Poythress 1, Dave's Windshield 0

The result of a solo home run by Georgia first baseman Rich Poythress against Tennessee. (That's my car, folks.)

I guess he didn't like the portrait (scroll down) from the other day.

Back to the grind....

Cedar Shoals' senior Taylor Davis on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.

Well i didn't get to be the one who went to the NCAA tourney and watch Georgia run out of gas in the second half, but I've been dropped back into the daily grind and did a couple of sportraits, one afternoon of court and the glory of watching the NCAA tourney with some fans at a local bar.

After this past weekend, it's hard comming back to the same ol, same ol.

So here's some pictures.




Sophomore Sarah Morton yells in disgust as Corey Butler misses a free throw with a minute to go in the game while fans watch Georgia lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament 73-61 to Xavier on Thursday, March 20, 2008 in Athens.



First baseman Rich Poythress and second baseman Michael Demperio on Thursday, March 20, 2008 in Athens.

.... Learning to Dance for Flannigan's Ball

Al Barr.

Holy S! Now that's a show. Last night's St. Pats Day show was the best Murphy's show I've seen. Just a great time, great crowd, great energy.

Shout outs to Sarah from Ashburn & her sister, Jessica from Alaska and her friend from Montana.

Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins was in attendance, along with fellow Bruin Shawn Thorton. Lucic reminds of Rick Toccett and if you haven't seen him beat the holy heck out of anyone, go see some of his fights here. And Thorton had a really nice fight against Riley Cote of the Flyers this weekend, which i got to see in person. See that here.

People who really need thanks - Evan, Dianne, Woody, Dave with Ketchabrick, Dave at the Door, the Throat, Judd, the Paradise staff and bartenders. Also Halley and Chris of the Brighton Academy.

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone.



Tim Brennan.



Ken Casey and Scruffy Wallace. (Wallace was wearing an Andrew Ferrance Jersey)



Ken Casey ventures out into the crowd.



Tim Brennan, Jeff DaRosa and Scruffy Wallace.

Random.

Okay Kids. More Murphys photos Tomorrow. Sleep calls and i am too bloody tired to edit.

Incredible show, best one i've seen by the Murphys yet.

Random answers to questions from tonight:

-No, I don't know the band.

-Yes, it is a VIP pass. No, i can't get you one.

-Really, if pouty eyes from my fiancee doesn't work, what chance do you think you have?

-Yes, it is a nice camera.

100th Post: Dropkick Murphys in Paradise

Ken Casey leans out to the crowd.

Wow.... its been 100 posts now. So lets kick it off right with tonight's Murphys show here on St. Pats Weekend at the Paradise Rock Club. For those keeping score, this is show 4 of 5 for this weekend as well as a WBCN live performance AND this morning's annual St. Pats breakfast. I thought *I* was tired.

A shout out to the 3 Murphys fans from Chicago at the Bull and Finch Pub (or Cheers Beacon Hill if you will) as well as Darrell from Roanoke and Allison(?) from Winchester and the newlyweds from FDNY and his NYPD buddy who joined us on the balcony. (And Renee's sister. Hi Renee's sister.)

More photos will be on the DKM Website at some point in the future.

Observations:

- Marc Orell was in attendance. He is now playing in "Gimmie Danger." (I have no information on them whatsoever beyond that, so don't ask me.)

- Line of the night goes to some blonde lady who walked up to Ken Casey in the hallway and said "... and who are you again? What do you do with the band?" I fell on the floor laughing at that one.

- The Paradise Rock Club is pretty small. Decent light but SMALL. About 650 for a capacity. Fans were not allowed on stage during "Kiss Me, I'm S$%#faced" or "Skinhead on the MBTA." Something about the fire code i think but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, i wasn't even allowed behind the baracade to shoot, but it was small enough that there's no bad view of the stage. I pretty much stuck to one spot in the balcony. Tomorrow i plan on shooting from somewhere else. Since its so small, i really cant shoot from up front, which is what i really like doing.

... And there are loud, drunk people and loud, drunk giggles emminating from the other side of that wall here in my hotel.



Stephanie Dougherty and Ken Casey sing.



My apologies to the two kids from the Berklee College of Music who are playing the strings in this photo. I have no idea who you are, but a punk band with a string section? Halley Feaster, left, and Chris Baum, join Dropkick Murphys on stage.



A random crowd surfer during the show.



Ken Casey at the end of the show.

Boston Part 1.....

The flight was bumpy. Delta wouldn't let us upgrade our tickets because they are class"U" which seems to stand for "U go and F yourself." The air mattress flight attendant was rude, because i took longer than 10 seconds to decide between yuckie cracker or yuckie granola bars. The other one was irked that i asked for a whole can of ginger ale to settle my stomach.

Met a former chemist as a cab driver who was laid off on his 55th birthday by his company because the shoe company he worked for was in cost cutting mode. I tipped him well.

Well, we spent our first night here checking out a restaurant called fire and ice, which was entertaining as well as a nifty little stroll down to Boston Common. The food was good but our waiter sucked. Thats why he got 10% instead of 20%. When i have to go ASK for silverware, then you've got a problem. I guess he was too busy trying to keep his big tables of kids happy.

Today, we took in an impromptu hockey game. Flyers were in town. Boston won, 3-2 (OT) and i got a nice green hat as part of a giveaway. First pro sporting event I've gone to without a camera for years.

Here's some pictures from the stroll and Trinity Church, which is across the street from the hotel.

You Can Fly!!!!!

There's a local performance of Peter Pan and last week i went and photographed the flight lessons. Interesting stuff. Stage lights helped.








23 hours till i leave for Boston.....

Its all Dan Warren's Fault.....

Two years back, my friend Dan convinced me to go see the Murphys for the first time. I'd always heard of them but didn't own any of their music. I first heard them my senior year in college on an Epitaph compilation CD that featured "Heros From Our Past" and that song always stuck with me. So we went to the show, i was blown away and then some. Fast-forward two years, four shows and a thousand pictures later..... We end up with this:




Huge Gatefold Spread inside the album. The Art direction was done by Joseph Gloosian. Looks #^%@ing great! I really like the way it was kept as B&W.









So Dan, Its all your fault. =D My first actual album photography. F*&@#'n A.

Murphys Limited Edition Album in Stores

Okay, this is several hours too late, but WTF.

The Dropkick Murphys have issued a special edition of their album The Meanest of Times for St Patty's Day featuring five bonus tracks, a DVD and apparently some photos taken by me in the CD booklet.

Exactly what pictures they used or how they used, i have no idea. There's a rumor going around that a deal was negotiated over the phone in front of "It's a Small World" at Disney World. (Write your own joke here)

My local record stores don't have it, ergo I don't have it and can't scan it and put it in here. (I'd ask why, but thats like asking why the road i live off of has 5 different names in 8 miles. It's Georgia. I'm coping.) When i finally get my copy, I'll post scans.

Seriously, I'm honored to have some of my work on an album of my favorite band. There's a way Rock and Roll, especially punk Rock, should be seen. And that's gritty, raw, and in your face. I can only hope some of the photos does the band justice because there's nothing like seeing this band live.

So go buy it. (No, i don't get a cut but I've heard 19 of the tracks and there's not a bad tune in the lot.) Meanwhile, me and my lady Ship up to Boston on Friday for some much deserved R&R and St. Paddy's Day shows.

.... And for my next wish? Boston-Philly World Series?

More Baseball.....

Robert McGee is greeted by his teammates as Oconee County beats Jefferson 11-10 in eight innings on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.


Since UGA is taking off to go beat up on FSU for a 3 game set, Its time for the HS kids to play at Foley Field. I went to work the Cedar Shoals-Clarke Central game but the Jefferson-Oconee County game went crazy. Oconee blew a 5 run, 7th inning lead only to load the bases with no out in the bottom of the 7th and not score, gave up a run in the top of the 8th, but mercifully scored two in the bottom of the 8th to finally end the game an hour and a half late.



Jefferson's Jake Fields (16) is mobbed by his teammates after he hit a three-run home run to tie the game at 9 in the top of the seventh inning only to fall 11-10 to Oconee County in eight innings on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.

I love shooting high school sports, bu i hate it when they put lots of games together. Like the times when they play mens and women's basketball back to back. One game always runs long and screws up a deadline. Same case here, Clarke-Cedar started at 8:40. Gave me a big 20 minutes before i had to stop and transmit. Yes i made some nice photos that worked for the paper, but I'd like to shoot the whole game or at least get something really good that tells the story.



Cedar Shoals' Levonte Wynn is hit by a pitch in the first inning as Clarke Central takes on Cedar Shoals on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.



Clarke Central's Bradley West pitches as Clarke Central takes on Cedar Shoals on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.

Sunday Baseball

Pitcher Nick Montgomery warms up in the bullpen as the Memphis Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 7-6 Foley Field in Athens on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

This is an homage to Chris Detrick (Whom won POYi's Sports Action POY & took Third for Sports Portfolio) whom i met once when i was interning at the York Dispatch. He did something (better) like this while working in Utah. I'll perfect it at some point because i don't like that you can see that i shot it through the fence and not as 100% crisp as i'd like, but its a cool thing nonetheless. Stopping the ball mid-spin. (for those who care, 5.6@1/2000.) Something to work on i suppose.

So Georgia's middle relief did wonders again. Out of their 5 losses this year, at least 4 can be attributed to the 7th & 8th inning relief. Today it was 2 outs, 1 on. Two walks and then a call to the bullpen. Guy gets a routine grounder to third, something grabs the foot, throw goes wide, two runs score. Next batter gets a hit, scoring two more. Goes from a 6-3 lead to a 7-6 loss.

In an attempt to break away from the first base/third base side action, i shot for 2 or 3 innings from right center field.



Shortstop Gordon Beckham swings at a pitch as the Memphis Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 7-6 Foley Field in Athens on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Spring Football?

Georgia coach Mark Richt is silhouetted during practice.

Well Spring football is here. What exactly is "Spring Football?" I have no idea either beyond football in the spring. March is traditionally reserved for Spring Training for baseball and March Madness in college basketball. So why on earth football is hyped in March is beyond me. Come August 1 I'll care. Until then, It's baseball season.

Really, Its Baseball Season.

And once again, media availability for practice is limited to 20 minutes or so.

And..... Lady's Hoops are finished.

Senior Day for Georgia's Women's team. What started off as a 13-0 season finished up with an 8-6 SEC record. Georgia should be NCAA bound. (Full Disclosure: George Mason's women's team went an abysmal 9-19 overall with a 3-14 conference record.)




Anyways, bad equipment struck again. I missed two pictures because of focusing issues. One where the 80-200 back focused and one where the 300 didn't focus at all. It is quite demoralizing to have equipment not work properly.



And on a much happier note, Sgt. Courtney Gale of ACCPD is out of the hospital and doing fine. She was honored at the game.

Gymnastics from Above

Katie Heenan after scoring a perfect 10 on the vault.

So I'm pretty much scared of heights. Not "kinda" or "sorta", rather downright afraid. Not necessarily of the falling, but moreso of the landing. So when a fellow staffer said once "Dude, it would be cool if...." naturally i said yes and forgot that I actually would have to put my money where my mouth was.



Heenan on the uneven bars.

So the catwalks at Stegman Coliseum aren't bad. Completely enclosed, no way to fall. Made me feel better anyways. Only problem is, they're never directly overhead of anything you want to shoot. So i did the best i could with the bad light, odd angles, metal grating and piece o' crap nikon 80-200 lens that was state of the art 3 or 4 generations ago. 2/3rds of the pictures are back focused and it really has me irritated.

But these were nice....



Courtney McCool on the uneven bars and the beam.





Hilary Mauro on the floor exercise.

I hate Scalpers.

Just a quick note... St. Patty's Day is rapidly approaching and DKM is releasing a special, limited edition of their album "The Meanest of Times" on 3/11. More info here. I've heard a few things about the album, so you should take a good look at the photos in the CD artwork. Haven't seen a proof or anything, but i've heard some stuff.

We are planning to go up to Boston for two of the five sold out shows. Just for amusement sake, i looked up a "ticket broker" online. There are way too many tickets being scalped and the highest price i saw was $425/each. Average was about $200. This is flat out ridiculous. There has to be a way to keep concert tickets out of the scalers hands. Its a total disservice to people who are real fans of the band and live music in general. Its just wrong.