My Internal Body Clock is Confused

My apologies for not posting sooner.  As you can imagine, a week in Vegas takes a little while to recover from.  Anyhoooo....

I arrived in Vegas at the beginning of last week after finagling a free ticket and a one night layover in Denver on my way from Iowa.  It almost worked to perfection as I got to see Kristin at home for a night, however, my flight to Sin City on Monday the 10th got delayed and I arrived later than desired.

I got around 6:30 and headed straight to the Thomas and Mack Center to hang our strobes for the Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships that started on Tuesday evening.  My colleague Chris and I finished putting up the lights by about 9:45, then headed straight to one of America's finest dining establishments, In N' Out baby!  "I'll take a heart attack and a double double animal style pleeeeeeeeeze....

Anyway, the tourney started on Tuesday night with one women's game.  Then Wednesday marked the beginning of a four day basketball extravaganza/odyssey/whatever you want to call it, that left me tired, deaf and just about full on crazy by the time it was over.  We shot 14 games over course of the championship and just about every night, we'd finish around midnight, grab a quick bite and hit the sack around 2 or 3.  We'd wake up around 9:45 and head straight over to the arena and do it all over again.  Thus, my internal body clock is still wondering what the heck happened last week.  Part of it must think I just hopped in a time machine and went back to college for a week of partying and ignoring the 20 page paper that's due Friday at 5.  The other part of it is wondering why it was further punished by sitting cross legged on a hardwood floor all day in some crazy creek knock off that was stitched together with dental floss.

As the week went on, the games got more and more exciting and both final games didn't disappoint.  New Mexico took home the Women's title, and UNLV treated the hometown crowd to an exciting win over BYU.  Go Runnin' Rebels!!!

I've posted a bunch of pics here, some are better than others, but I thought it was a nice selection of action and emotion, which brings me to my final point.

We all know that a major element of college basketball is EMOTION.  It's what makes some of these photos some of my favorite photos that I've shot this year.  Next year, if you're near a conference tournament, go see it.  No matter how big or little the conference is, if there's an automatic bid to the Big Dance on the line, these players bring everything they have, AND MORE.  It's what makes college sports so wonderful, both to watch and photograph.

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

"Have I shown you my cool jersey???"

For a second I thought this was Horatio Sanz's older Brother...

"We cool?"

I just love the guy on the left...Could he be more psyched?

Oh my god, this guy can play.  Look at the guy from Utah...

J.R. Giddens

I saved one of my 9 lives and stayed out of the mob this time...

I think he actually drained this...pretty impressive.

"YAY, we won!  Yay!!!"

This guy was SOOOOO much fun to photograph...

As you can see, one of our lights in the background wasn't firing sometimes and we couldn't figure out why.  But sometimes, it really made the background drop off to black and it brings these guys front and center

Show me your mean face!  Show me your mean face!

Someday, I'll make a frame as cool as my boss' from this angle...

Ever wonder where that tasty bowl of oatmeal came from?

So, last year, my trip to Iowa for one of the NCAA Wrestling championships marked two major landmarks in my life...1) I managed to get a photo from last year's D3 Wrestling in Sports Illustrated's 'Leading Off' section, and 2) I received one of the heftiest speeding tickets ($280) I've ever gotten.  Determined to repeat only one of those feats, I came here with a lighter foot on the pedal and the same lighting setup I used for my Leading Off picture.

This year, the Division III Wrestling Championships were held at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.  While it may not seem it, but it was a drastic improvement from last year when it was held in Dubuque, a once prosperous, and now 'an afterthought' town on the banks of the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa.  I actually got to stay in a respectable hotel, not some Days Inn next to the highway.  It had a money breakfast buffet, and best of all, the arena was connected to the hotel!

Now, when you think of Iowa, what comes to mind?  Yup, that's right!  Yes, this is one of the most depressing parts of the country to travel to at the tail end of Winter. Yes, the color pallet of the landscape is grey, white, off-white and brown.  And yes, IT'S REALLY REALLY BITTER COLD!!!  But the people are friendly (How could they not be, they're from the midwest), the wrestling is hard (It's Iowa), and the fans (They're Iowans) are ROWDY!!!

Now, I know some of you are thinking, 'wow, I'm really glad I'm not Trev...traveling to IOWA in the middle of March to shoot sweaty guys rolling around and bleeding all over eachother.' Well, listen here.  I fell in love with shooting this sport about 4 or 5 years ago when it was the first NCAA Championship I shot.  I couldn't believe the action, the passion and the GLORY that wrestling brings to the table.  If you've never been to a wrestling meet where there's something significant on the line, quit watching American Idol (yes, I watch it and David Archuleta is going to win) and peel yourself off the couch and go see some wrasslin'!  It's awesome!!! Additionally, there is a small emotional connection to this sport for me.  My Dad was a rock star on the wrestling mat!  The three time Connecticut state champ was a maniac and should have won four titles, but battled a mean cold his freshman year and fell short in the semifinals.  Thus, it's fun for me to make photos that I know he'll appreciate from a wrestler's standpoint.

Now, you're probably wondering why on earth the title of this entry is about Oatmeal.  Check out the last pic and find out.

Anyway, I'm off to Vegas for a week to shoot the Mountain West Basketball tournament, then back home for a little while before a week of vacation in Arizona with Kristin and her family.

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

I told you they were rowdy...

There's just something about this sport that is gladiator like...

When they have multiple mats down, you can get some cool graphic backgrounds...

"Say Uncle!  Say Uncle!"

Better watch out for that Bulldog...

I love getting them when they're off the ground...

Cedar Rapids is the home of Quaker Oats and the whole city smells like cinnamon oatmeal!

Take a look at the snow in the foreground.  That isn't just a snowy field...that's a river that has frozen over!  I told you Iowa is COLD!!!

Packing it up

Today, the NFL lost one of its Ol' Generals when Brett Favre called it a career.  While I only got to photograph him once, I did get to shoot him at Lambeau, which itself is quite an experience.  I was lucky to be there on a beautiful late December day.  However, as soon as the sun went down, that was one cold place to be workin'!

Regardless, Brett was a competitor in every sense of the term and football won't be the same without him.

Enjoy the pic!

-TSB2

There aren't that many people who love playing the game more than this fella...

Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo! Fish out of water!!!

This past weekend, I traveled to the booming metropolis of Oklahoma City for the Mountain West Conference Swimming Championships.  Part of me really wasn't looking forward to this trip because 1)it's Oklahoma City and 2) swimming isn't one of my favorite sports to shoot. However, the other part of me was looking forward to overcoming my swimming photo-phobia.

Now, when we shoot for the MWC, we shoot a lot of stock images since the athletic departments from the conference's various schools use the photos for their media guides, web sites, and other on-campus publications.  As you can imagine, this gets old very quickly since you're shooting the same photos over and over and over again, the only thing changing in the picture being the athlete.  Despite this, I try to make solid images of as many of these kids as I can, but I always make sure to find some time to think outside the box to make more creative images that satisfy my on-assignment creative/mental health needs.  

These are long days sometimes, and if you get stuck in a rut shooting the same ol' butterfly stroke photo (see below) from dead on for the 43rd time, you'll jump in the pool with all your gear at the end of the day and never want to shoot swimming again.  Trust me, I've been there (hence the reason for my phobia of shooting swimming).  Adding to the frustration is the fact that focusing (both manual and auto) can be a bear with swimming sometimes since there's so much water flying around that you, nor the camera, can really see the person you're trying to get tack sharp.  This can be compounded in darker venues where the light stinks and camera performance drops.  But you've got to just keep pluggin' away, you know!

Keeping my own advice in mind, I came away with a good combination of solid stock for our client, as well as some photos that I'm very proud of and that I hope you enjoy.  Having some light to work with (this venue had a nice skylight) definitely helped.  A little bit of light goes a long way since it really brings the splashing water to life.  Because of this, I was able to leave my swimming photo-phobia in Oklahoma and I hope that I get to shoot swimming outside sometime soon where there is tons of light!

This coming weekend I'll be traveling to another postcard destination, Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. From there, I fly straight to Las Vegas for the Mt. West Conference Basketball tournament.  So check back at some point on Sunday or Monday and I'll hopefully have a new update hot off the press for you all.

Hope all is well and enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

Mental Health Photo #1) I wish I could tell you she's blowing everyone else out of the water, but she's the only one in the pool and is racing the clock in a time trial to qualify for the NCAA championships...

As you can imagine, ID'ing these swimmers is oh so easy!

Uh, honey, you're goggles are a little tight...

GO!  GO!  GO!  You gotta catch that slow poke ahead of you!

More mental health...I think this one looks like a pastel drawing...

As you can see, I got a little addicted to panning with a slow shutter speed...

I don't know how this girl swims with all that ice on her face.

While it can make a dynamic photo, here's the dead on butterfly photo I talked about...

I wonder if this is what Mario Lemieux was doing with the Stanley Cup before they found it at the bottom of his pool in 1991....