TAMUCC beats Georgia

Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders surround guard Kevin Palmer, center, after a game-winning three-point-shot from near half-court by Palmer to upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

Now thats good jube. Poorly photographed good jube. Call it a risk taken and gone bad, even when you're competing with one other photographer who happens to be your boss.

No one saw TAMUCC actually beating Georgia, well not until midway through the second when i suggested the idea to my boss before going upstairs to photograph from uptop.



Georgia freshman guard Dustin Ware yells after being fouled as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

One of the biggest things I learned from listening to Rod Mar was that you have to make yourself look like a staff when you shoot. There's one of me and I can move around. I have two cameras, three lenses and remote equipment. There's no reason why you cant have photos that look like they were shot by a staff of people.



Georgia guard Dustin Ware, right, and Islanders center Filip Toncinc dive for a loose ball



Georgia guard Travis Leslie goes up for a shot as the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.



Islanders guard Kevin Palmer lays on the ground after diving for a ball near the scorers table.



Georgia forward Tre Tompkins sets himself to attempt a shot as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

So thats my new thing to work on. Not just sitting there. 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there and at least one remote, not until i can get a shutter replaced on my D2H. (Not unless someone wants to donate more D700s and D3s to me? Anyone? Anyone?)

I try not to be the streotypical photographer or GWC (guy with camera) who takes photos pf cheerleaders, dancers, etc., but the hair here just made for a photo. Wish it was a cleaner shot tho.



Dance Dawn Erin Gurley's hair flies during a routine as the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders upset the Georgia Bulldogs 80-79 in overtime on a three-point-shot from near half-court by Islanders' guard Kevin Palmer at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

The Nikon D700. It shoots in the dark.



Cheerleader Sasha Dlugolenski looks back before running out onto the court as the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders at Stegman Colesium in Athens on Monday, December 22, 2008.

Merry Christmas!!!

Athens Banner-Herald Football Player of the Year Darius Minor on Thursday, December 18, 2008.

My Christmas Gift to you, the 15 loyal readers i have, its the light portraits i was doing for some of our Players of the year. They're good for a first attempt at the concept but I think I'd do things a little differently.

In the process I broke the red set of rope lights and one string of regular christmas lights. Affixing battery powered LEDs to a football was troublesome and it just sure didn't work at all as we were trying to get a shot of the lights spiraling towards the camera. So instead i just stood behind him and twirled them.

The overall concept ended up as trying to capture a sense of motion and i think it worked.



Athens Banner-Herald Volleyball Player of the Year Tania Tauiliili on Thursday, December 18, 2008.



Athens Banner-Herald softball Player of the year Megan McClain on Thursday , December 11, 2008.

Vince Dooley

Legendary Georgia football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley stopped by the studio the other day as he is promoting a new book about the top plays in Georgia Football history.

I had him diagram the famous "Run Lindsay, Run!" play that ended up as a 92-yard touchdown pass to win 26-21 against Florida in 1980.

So when you do the plexiglass trick here, don't scrimp. If its going to be mounted against a couple of light stands, you need thicker than 1/4 inch. This was 4 ft by 2 ft and frankly it was very difficult for him to sketch out the play.

More Studio Fun

Create a caption, Folks.

In answer to the other christmas light goodness......

Chris, I used a small string of regular Christmas lights. We only used LEDs on the football one and those were battery powered ones. Above were the rope lights (white) and we broke the red ones swinging them around last week.

After doing these projects, I highly recommend the battery powered LEDs from Target. F/8 and ISO 200 for the most part.

Now Batting.....

.... Your starting third base side photographer.....


Being a baseball player always was a dream of mine. However, making this in the studio really rocked.

Remote FAIL

Yes, thats my camera.

Remote photography takes lots of preparation, patience and above all, a willingness to accept that you have put hours (or days) into a shot only to have one little thing you overlooked screw it all up. I've done remotes at basketball, baseball, shuttle launches, soccer (and on my dog's food bowl).

My success ratio? Slim. Very slim. The dog hated me for a day, the soccer wasn't dominant enough, the baseball never fired right, the shuttle ... abysmal failure. This leads me to Georgia's 67-66 win over Virginia Tech. Very good game. Since it was an off day, i grabbed the second pass and decided that i would get there hours early and set up a backboard remote. Here's the how-to. My only suggestion is that you add infinite patience and have someone help you focus.



Same shot as above, different angle. What's wrong with this picture....

So i get it all set up, its framed nice so that I'm looking down on the play - there's not much 'above the rim' play in the college game. I get it just right, adjust the gobo, double magic arm, all the works. Cleaned the glass too. Decided for whatever insane reason that somehow it would be a good idea to focus on the netting. Lord knows what the heck i was thinking because what was in focus? Only the rim and the net! Not the players, not the lane, nothing other than the net.

Here's the two really nice photos i really would have liked to have. Yes, i went to the trouble to crop, tone and resize two completely out of focus pictures just to show the readers why you need to double check everything.