Home sweet Home...Finally

Back in March when we scheduled the Spring Championships, I took on an exceptionally heavier load this year since my colleague Jamie and his wife recently welcomed a baby girl into their life. Thus, I picked up some slack to help out and over the last few weeks my travel schedule was at its peak.  My travels took me to Houston for a week for the NCAA Division II National Championships festival, Fort Worth for the Mt. West Conference Baseball Championships, and lastly to Sacramento for the NCAA Division I, II, and III Rowing Championships.  While I did have a blast shooting all of these events, they couldn't have come at a worse time since I missed more of the NHL playoffs than I would have liked.  However, the one positive in this was that I didn't have to sit and watch the Red Wings (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!) destroy every team in their path on their way to winning The Cup.  Hopefully the Avs can regain their '96 and '01 form to bring Lord Stanley back home!

Anyway, my first trip was down to Houston for the NCAA Division II National Championships festival with my colleague Steve.  Division II started doing these festivals about four years ago and they have been extremely successful.  The student-athletes love coming to them since they get to stick around the entire week, regardless of whether they win or lose in the quarterfinals or semifinals. Friendships are forged between teams while at the same time, the competition is fierce in a wide variety of sports.  Tennis, golf, lacrosse and softball were all on the menu at the festival and I got to shoot them all over the five days that I was there.  The best part of this event from my point of view was that our images were used daily in a NCAA Newspaper recapping each day's events that is printed every night and left in the hotel lobby for the teams and their parents/fans to read in the morning.  Throughout the week, Steve and I received several compliments on the photos and it really made us work harder to capture unique images that kept the newspaper fresh.  The worst part was the heat, and we even caught Houston on a 'cool' week.  Can you imagine me in Houston on a 'normal' week with 90+ degree heat and 90% humidity?  I'm sweating just thinking about it!  Good God, how do people live in that???

Well, I found out the following week when I went to Fort Worth for the Mt. West Baseball Championship and roasted in the sun for four straight days.  The temps did hit 100 and I think I may have created Lake Brown somewhere near the 1st baseline at TCU's baseball stadium since I was sweating so much while shooting there.  It was almost embarrassing.  I shot this tournament last year in Las Vegas and I didn't think I would ever shoot in a hotter environment...well, that theory was quickly put to rest as I wilted away while drinking Dasani out of their entire supply of bottled water.  One last thing about Ft. Worth...if you ever find yourself in this city, consider yourself lucky!  It is a really cool downtown area with great bars and a pretty happening scene at night.  Business leaders in the city hire police officers to keep the streets safe, and according to my taxi driver they even built homeless shelters and established social programs to keep homeless and transients away from this bustling district. If this is all true, it has worked to perfection and might be a model that other cities should take a look at.

After the baseball tournament, I got home for a few days then packed my bags for one last trip out to California to shoot some rowing.  I'm not going to lie...I really wasn't all that psyched to go do this assignment since I was new to it and I knew it was going to be a challenge to come up with variety since you're stuck on a boat trailing the rowers.  This indeed was the case and after the first day of shooting, I wanted to throw all my stuff in the water!  I felt like I had been shooting the same photo ALL DAY LONG.  I finally got some decent celebration of the Williams team that won the Division III Eights Grand Final (Rowing speak).

The second day of the rowing went much better considering I convinced the folks at the NCAA to get me my own boat.  I felt like Caesar on the front of it, just pointing to the right or left to let him know where to go and giving other signals to speed up and slow down.  I should have given the thumbs down to see if anyone would have been fed to lions!  I even managed to get the driver to drop me off at the base of a cliff where I spotted a trail to the top of it and got a nice overhead blur of the starting line that I've included below.

Hope you like the pics!

Next up... the Cape Cod Baseball League, and a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery (definitely a different assignment).

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

Coming up with variety at Rowing was pretty challenging, so I'm pretty proud of this one...

I think I had three lattés in me at this point and it was only 6am....

...and 6 lattés at this point since I started messing with my white balance when the light wasn't as dramatic...

No, he didn't make the catch, but at least he got a 1 for an effort grade...

More incorporation of NCAA logos, which they love...

Wow, this girl had been to the championship her freshman, sophomore, and junior years but lost every time.  She finally won her senior year, can you tell?

So, I was all finished for the day, relishing in the fact that I wouldn't have to go back out into the humidity of Houston...until I found out this girl hit a hole in 1!!!  UGGGH!

At least I made a nice photo of her on the 16th hole.

I think that trophy must be extremely hot and burning her hands....

Okay, so one last thing...I just got a couple new cameras and they're AWESOME!  The AF system on them is much better than my previous ones and don't get fooled by the net nearly as much when shooting tennis.  I love this photo.  He looks like a spider to me...

"That's a three hour shoe"

Once I got home for a little while I shot some baseball and in the midst of it, I learned what a 'three hour shoe' was.  For the Rockies magazine this coming month, they're doing a feature on Samantha Castilla, the wife of former Blake Street Bomber, Vinny Castilla.  

About a year ago, she opened a shoe store in Cherry Creek that sells some wonderfully beautiful shoes from top notch designers.  My assignment was to shoot a portrait of her with Vinny as well as a nice portrait of her.

Both she and Vinny were so easy to work with and extremely nice.  If you're in the neighborhood, drop by and see her little nook on St. Paul.  The shoes are truly works of art.

I mentioned to her that, to this day, I can't understand how women wear shoes with such high heels.  Her response?  "Well, that shoe you're holding there is a three hour shoe."

Ahhh, the female logic...  Fellas, I tried.  We'll never get to the bottom of a women's obsession with shoes, but when I saw these, it did allow me to understand a little more since they're gorgeous.  Additionally, it's a warm shop with some stylish accessories other than shoes.

It was a great shoot since it was something different than the norm and the I was really happy with the photos.

Next up, the Division II National Championships Festival in Houston, TX.

Enjoy the pics...

-TSB2

As you can see, she didn't exactly make life tough for me since she's a very elegant lady...

And good ol' Vinny.  One of the nicest athletes Denver has seen...

Oh, how I love the desert!

Shortly after the Qwest shoot with Tony Peña in Phoenix I returned to Arizona for the Mt. West Conference Men's Golf tournament. Despite my heavy travel schedule, I was actually looking forward to this assignment since the Mt. West puts me up in a nice place and the days aren't too long compared to some of the other assignments that I shoot for them (Baseball, Basketball and Outdoor Track).
I arrived in Tucson on the first day of the tournament without a hitch. My flight left Denver on time (DIA is the best airport on the planet) and once I arrived, I was able to get my super sweet rental classic Chevy Impala from my trusty friends at Thrifty and was on my way. I swear, I think I get an Impala about two-thirds of the time when I am on the road. I will admit, the Impala has gotten better over the years and the ol' 'Sir, we have an Impala for you' has less sting now than it did 4 years ago. Still though, I try to weasel my way into a convertible, or just about anything BUT an Impala whenever I step up to the rental car counter. No Mustangs though...they're just trouble for me. Just ask the Texas Highway Patrol, they know me well.
Anywhoooo, I got to the hotel and checked in and to my surprise, God (or the suits at Omni) actually listened to my prayers from the previous year! The Omni Tucson National Golf Resort and Spa last year was nice, but in dire need of a makeover. When I checked in this year, I was told I would be staying in a brand new room. Excellent! AND, it had a nice balcony that overlooked the driving range and golf course! HOORAY!!! (accompanied by a backflip, of course!) When I got to my room, I realized it was the exact same room from the year before, but much nicer, but still with some of the old furniture...I guess you can't get EVERYTHING your way. However, it was such a drastic improvement that I was totally content with my accommodations. Plus, the pool was totally redesigned and I spent some time that afternoon reading my book next to it before heading to dinner with the Mt. West folks that evening.
This year, they started the tee times at 7am. Let's stop and think about this for a second. At first glance, I thought this was going to be awful. Getting up at 5:45 or so to get ready only to go out and turn into a french fry for the day didn't look so sweet on paper. But after the first day wrapped up around 3pm, I quickly transmitted my photos, checked my e-mail and attended to some biz, then headed for the pool with a beer in hand and a smile on my face! I chilled out there for a couple hours before cleaning up and heading to dinner again with Javan and Carrie, two of my favorites from the MWC.
The second day wasn't much different, just with less pool time since there was an awards ceremony following the tournament. CSU came from nowhere to win the MWC title and represented Colorado, full force. I hope you like the images that I've posted below. They're just a random selection that I liked. It's hard to shoot golf on a desert course since there isn't a lot of color, but I managed to find the little there is and incorporate it into my images.
Lastly, one little tidbit of advice....NEVER EVER, AND I MEAN EVER, FLY US AIRWAYS. If you want the story, call me...I could write an entry longer than War and Peace about how they screwed up my flight home, but I'll refrain. Hopefully one of these days United will use their peanut sized brain and cut ties with them.
Sorry to end it on a sour note with my US Airways mini-rant, but consider yourself warned and please do enjoy the pics!

TB

I liked the layering that I got in this photo with the trees....

I always try to shoot through trees and bushes when shooting golf.  It provides a nice layering effect, plus an intimate feeling like you're spying on the golfer after they've hit a crummy shot...

The early morning tee times brought with them long, cross-fairway shadows on the holes that ran North-South...

There wasn't much color on this desert course, but these yellow trees were in a few places and really lent themselves to making nice pictures...

He must be drawing a smiley face on his ball...

Backgrounds, backgrounds, backgrounds...the key to good golf photos is clean backgrounds...

You can always get good emotions and reactions in golf on close putts...

All Day, Every Day - Part 2 of 2

Once the Frozen Four ended, I had about three days to catch my breath, then headed out of town again. Since I can't seem to get enough of Arizona, I took another trip down there for a shoot with Qwest, this time featuring Tony Peña of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Since I have already been on a few of these shoots and know the drill, I was asked to be the photographer on this one and my colleague Brett was my assistant.

We arrived at the stadium at about 2pm on Wednesday the 16th for the initial walk through. Since we wanted some of the scenes to look as if they were shot at Tony's house, we took a look at a couple of different suites at the stadium to find the right one for the shoot.  The first one was fairly bland and didn't lend itself to looking like a living room.  It would have been very difficult to make it NOT look like it was a suite in a stadium.  So, we checked out another suite, directly beneath the first and WOW!  What a difference!  As you'll see from the pics below, it was exactly what we needed for the shoot!  Once we finished the walk through, we headed out for a drink and dinner at Kincaids, a steakhouse near our hotel.

Dinner at a steakhouse is always awesome, but it's even more awesome when it's paid for BY THE DIAMONDBACKS!  Apparently, there was a little misunderstanding/miscommunication when Qwest was reserving the spaces at the stadium for the shoot and it was the D-Backs fault, so they felt obligated to pay for our dinner!  Woohoo!  The conversation was great all night and the entire crew felt great about the shoot the next day, despite a couple of us being under the weather (I had a cold, Dave the art director was getting over one).

The shoot on Thursday went really well, despite a couple of unexpected miscues such as 1) Tony's english not being nearly as strong as the ad company thought/hoped and 2) him showing up in mesh shorts, when we needed him in jeans.  The result of this second little mishap was that we basically threw out the plan for the first half of the shoot up in the suite.  We had a couple people run to get him some jeans which took about an hour.  Now, I've been on enough of these shoots, large and small, to know that just about every time you can pretty much count on tossing what you deem to be vital parts of the plan of attack.  You just have to wing it and make it look good.  The one benefit of these experiences is that you get good at thinking on your feet and can react quickly to little fires and other unexpected hurdles.

Anyway, we finished the stuff up in the suite and broke for lunch, then had Tony put on a uniform so we could get some action photos of him and some other stuff down on the field and in the dugout.

One of the lighting techniques that I have learned while going on these shoots is using large reflectors to capture nicely lit action photos of the athletes we shoot.  By using ambient light, modified with reflectors (Yes, I'm about to photo-geek out on you) we're able to keep our shutter speeds high, thus stopping the action.  At the same time, the reflectors provide a nice accent to the standard action photo, in this case adding some nice fill light under Tony's hat in the pitching photo below.  I've also included a photo of the video guys and Brett aiming their reflectors at Tony so you can see how we're making some of these photos.  Without the light under his hat, his face would be in the shadows from the brim of his hat and you wouldn't be able to see very many of his facial features.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics.  They're not the most exciting pics by any means, but I think they're technically done very well and Brett and I put together a nice group of images for our client.

Next up, the Mt. West Men's Golf Championship in....YOU GUESSED IT!.....ARIZONA!!!

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

You should have seen the first suite we looked at for the shoot.  Compared to this, it was horrible!

The nice thing about this was that we actually had a live phone and he was able to call some friends.  So we got some pretty genuine smiles from him.  I wonder what they talked about...it was all in Spanish, so I didn't understand a lick of it.  He probably said something like 'These suits are paying me so much cash to just sit here and smile while I talk to you!  How sweet is that?'

Okay, so here is the pitching photo.  Take a look at the nice light on his face...

Here's how we got that nice light under his face.  That's Brett on the left with the big white reflector...

I told Brett I was disappointed he didn't have some grapes to feed him...

This was the last scene we shot in the dugout...I was so happy to be shooting this since it meant we were done.  It was a great shoot, but it was definitely long.

All Day, every Day - Part 1.5 of 2 ;-)

So at the tail end of the first week of the baseball season, the Frozen Four rolled into town and I had the chance to photograph it with my colleagues Jamie and Ryan.  I was really looking forward to this event since hockey is one of my favorite sports and I've only really begun to enjoy photographing it since this was the first year that I've actually shot it on a consistent basis.  Throughout the winter I photographed a few DU games and it served as a nice warmup to such an exciting event.

Despite the lack of a hometown team in the field, Notre Dame, Boston College, Michigan and North Dakota didn't disappoint.  In the first game, BC blew out North Dakota.  Even though it wasn't all that exciting of a game, the goals were pretty...AND A PLENTY!  Good lord, I thought it was raining goals at one point.  BC advanced to the final with a 6-1 win.

In the second semifinal, upstart Notre Dame shocked Michigan in an exciting overtime thriller to get to the finals for the first time in Irish hockey history.  I made one of my favorite images in this game, which is the first image below...If I were to do it all over again and grow up playing hockey, I think I'd be a goalie the second time around.  There's a certain grace to goaltending that I've always appreciated.  If you're a hockey nut like me, you'll really understand what I'm about to say...Nothing in hockey is better than the multiple overtime 0-0 goaltending duel in the playoffs.  There's something about watching two goalies trade magnificent saves into the wee hours of the night.  Every save is bigger than the last one and it just builds and builds and builds until one team has to ruin it and win the darn game...You'd think they would be a little more considerate to the 23 or so hockey junkies like me who want to someday tell their grandkids about watching every minute of the famed 'Three Days Game'.

Anyway, back to the important stuff.  The final was pretty exciting, with Boston College defeating a tentative Notre Dame team.  The refs did make a bogus call in the game, taking back an Irish goal that would have changed the momentum of the contest drastically.  Instead, Boston college came down seconds later and tacked another one on the board, handing Notre Dame a second slap in the face while they were still bummin' from the first.  The better team clearly won the championship, but I always root for the underdog (unless it's the Raiders) since upsets are always fun to shoot.  It was a great tournament and I really enjoyed shooting it.  I can't wait to get to some more DU games next winter and hopefully, they'll get back on top where they belong!

Next up, my trip to Phoenix for another Qwest shoot with Tony Peña of the Arizona Diamondbacks!

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

What a save!  If you're looking for the puck, it's in the lower right corner, just above the white underside of the goalie's skate...

This is BC's star player, Nathan Gerbe who is a speedy and shifty little guy who has a great nose for the net...

...And this his him celebrating how sweet his nose for the net really is...

The NCAA will love this strictly because of their sticker on the boards...

I love finding celebration moments like this at championships.  They're on top of the world and you can see the pure joy, not only in their faces, but in their sway...

BC got great goaltending throughout the semis and finals...

Shooting from ice level takes a little getting used to strictly from a speed standpoint, but once I settled down I got some decent stuff...

All day, Every day - Part one of two

First and foremost, the next time you any of you see me, you have my permission to make me buy you a beer. Seriously.  I know I haven't updated since April 1, and I feel AWFUL about it, however, I've been going a million miles an hour with a bunch of assignments.  At this point, there aren't that many of you reading this ridiculously amazing blog yet, so 1) I can safely say that I'll buy you all a beer without going broke and 2) I feel THAT much worse for failing to update somewhat frequently since I know you all personally and one of you has already e-mailed me to tell me that I need to update (you know who you are, and I'll buy you two beers when we see each other next).

Anywhoooo, so what the heck have I been doing since New Orleans?  Hop on board and I'll tell ya!

After making the rounds through the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, I photographed the first of two NCAA Division I Women's Basketball regionals in a two day span. In the first game, LSU defeated North Carolina 56-50 to reach the Final Four for the 5th year in a row.  As you may or may not know (I'll forgive you if you don't), this win put LSU in the Women's Final Four for the fifth straight year...And as you may or may not know, they didn't win the title AGAIN!!!  I feel so badly for this team since they've been through it all (last year they had a coaching scandal) and yet, they overcome it to get back to the Final Four over and over and over again, only to fall short. Regardless, they were super psyched to win the game as you'll see in the celebration pic of them below.

The following morning, I packed my bags and headed for Oklahoma City for the regional final that evening between Tennessee and Texas A&M.  This was a game that I was particularly excited to shoot since it was a chance to photograph Tennessee's Candace Parker who was the first pick in the WNBA draft just a couple weeks ago.  Boy oh boy, she didn't disappoint in the game I shot!  While dropping 26 points on the Aggies, she did it with a separated shoulder...That she seperated TWICE IN THE GAME!!!  It was the one of the craziest things I've ever seen and both times, she winced in pain RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!  It's moments like this that make my job such a blast.  Right then and there, I felt like I had won the photo-lottery that night....TWO TIMES!!!  It was awesome!  Anyway, Tennessee won the game and advanced to face LSU, whome they beat 47-46, then took care of business in the Finals against Stanford to capture their second straight NCAA Championship.  You can click on the following links to see my colleagues' photos of the Men's and Women's Final Fours.

Since I had a few hours to spare in Oklahoma City before the game, I stopped to visit the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.  If you've ever seen it, you'll agree with what I'm about to say.  It is quite possibly one of the most best designed modern day memorials that I've seen.  I shot a few photos at it that I think you'll enjoy and really look at for a second since tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the bombing.

I returned to Denver on April 2nd, just in time for Rockies opening day at Coors Field on the 4th.  Every year, Rockies opening day and the Final Fours present a scheduling nightmare since they're always at the same time.  Over the past couple of years, I've stayed back here to man opening day since we need someone from our staff to be there for the Rockies. While I'm bummed I didn't get to shoot either of the Final Fours with my colleagues, it is nice to stay home for a little while (I'm petitioning to have the month of March renamed 'Chaos') and shoot some baseball.

Ahhhhhhhh opening day!  What a day!  The sun is always out with a few clouds here and there and it seems like the Rockies ALWAYS find a way to make it an exciting game...EXCEPT THIS YEAR.  Man, Arizona handed it to them...  For 3 straight games!  They watched the Rox raise the pennant and get their rings, but came out and handed it to them for their entire stay. I think the Rox are turning it around, but it will be interesting to see what happens after last night's 22 inning marathon that sports nuts like me stayed up watching while idiotically resigning myself to the inevitable (falling asleep on the couch).

Anyway, sprinkled in this series of pics is some stuff from the hoops, the OK City memorial, and a few of my favorite from a week's worth of baseball.  I'll be back soon with part two of the last couple weeks.

Until then, I'll always have a few bucks in my wallet in case I run across you and need to buy you that beer I owe ya.

Enjoy the pics.

-TSB2

I also got to shoot a portrait of Matt Holliday with his NL Batting title before one of the games against the Braves...

Tulo breaking his bat...

Mark Redman of the Rox.  I love getting the ball just on their fingertips.

I've shot from this position a few times before but never thought to make this simple stock image, focused on the net...

A rare bobble by Tulo...

A young fan leaning on the Rockies dugout during pregame...

The NCAA loves stuff like this...

An overall from Oklahoma City.  It was a nice arena to shoot at...

Candace after she seperated her shoulder the first time...Look at that pointy bone coming out of her shoulder!  Think her teammate knows it's bad???

I had some great light at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial...

There are entrances like this at either end of the reflecting pool (as you'll see in the next pic). One has 9:01 on it, the other 9:03, symbolizing the minutes before and after the bombing...

The memorial is open 24 hours a day and has a park ranger on duty at all times...

Look at these girls!  How pumped are they???

New Orleans

Yesterday, I flew to New Orleans to photograph the NCAA Women's Basketball Regional Final between LSU and North Carolina.  This was a trip that I had been longing to make since the only prior connections I had to N.O. were a few nights there with my brother during Mardi Gras that left me broke (I was in college) and with a headache (too many hurricanes at Pat O'Briens) the next day, and the disturbing non-stop coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the latter being the precise reason I was looking forward to this trip.

Just like you, I watched Katrina unfold from the comfort of my home and office.  Throughout the course of that week, I watched in horror as New Orleans descended into chaos as the levees broke and flooded the city.  We all know how bad it truly was, however, seeing it on television, the internet, in newspapers and magazines kept us so far removed from the tragedy that it felt like I was watching some twisted social experiment in which the people of New Orleans were left to fend for themselves in a lawless, crippled city from which they couldn't escape.  I constantly found myself yearning to watch MORE of the coverage despite the fact that I felt increasingly depressed and helpless with each passing minute of it.  But I couldn't stop.  I asked Why? How? and more importantly This is happening in America?  Even though I was never quite able to answer these questions at the time, they never faded from my conscience and I hoped my trip to New Orleans would help me better understand what happened.

I landed at about noon, quickly gathered my bags and headed over to grab my rental car.  It was a beautiful spring day in Louisiana and the lady behind the counter was nice enough to give me a convertible...Sweet success!  I drove to downtown and took a quick tour through a couple blocks of the French Quarter before I made my way over to the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish.  If you recall, these are two areas in which thousands of New Orleanians were stranded on their rooftops and rescued by helicopter.  As I passed through the neighborhoods, I couldn't believe my eyes.  All of the questions, emotions and sadness that I had experienced while watching it unfold on TV came rushing back.  I couldn't wrap my thoughts around the entire blocks of abandoned houses that are set for 'involuntary demolition.'  For every house whose owner has come back to repair it, there are a dozen around it that are crumbling, being used by squatters, or filled with waterlogged housewares and furniture.  Seeing destruction on such a massive scale is overwhelming, and I could not help but think about all of the life, energy and vitality these neighborhoods once contained.  Now it is a wasteland of shoddy construction that Katrina chewed up and spat out.

I managed to find a couple of people and spoke with them at length about how the recovery is going and most of them agreed that it will take at least five, if not seven to ten more years before the city is back to 'normal.'  However, in facing this challenge, these people were some of the happiest I've come across in quite some time which can only be attributed to the fact that they've been to hell and back and ANYTHING is better than what they experienced three years ago.

I hope you can look at these photos and see there is still a ton of work to be done in New Orleans.  Yes, I'm sure you know already know that.  But if you find yourself down there at some point, take some time to leave the comforts of the French Quarter to see with your very own eyes what happened to these people and their homes.  It's the only way you'll get a firm grasp on the magnitude of work that needs to be done.  While you, nor I will ever be able to answer the How? or Why? questions we've all had regarding this horrible event, visiting the place where it all happened will bring you a sense of clarity that the TV, internet, magazines and newspapers don't provide.

Enjoy the pics, 

-TSB2

(I'll add some commentary to the pics later...I've got to catch a flight!)