New update, finally

At the "urging" of fellow coworker Marc Henning, I decided to put up some pics from last week.

I shot a basketball game on Thursday, Nov. 29. I used an Alien Bee B400 with direct flash. There was no way to bounce in that gym. On Nov. 30, I shot the Carlisle-Mount Ida Class 2A state semifinal football game. Carlisle is my alma mater and they came up two points short, which really stinks because I was looking forward to going to the state title game at War Memorial Stadium.

Also, one reason I haven't updated in a while is that I've been doing extra duty at work with my mom not feeling well with her cancer, then she fell a month ago and did three weeks of rehab. Luckily, we got the Carlisle paper each week. I don't know how but we did.

Let me know what you all think.

Mark

Football, football and football

It has been a busy couple of weeks with football games, homecoming events, and of course, more football. I've had some good luck with my action shots lately after reading and re-reading Scott Varley's article on flash football. Most of the time, I'm using my Sigma flash on 1/16 power and the camera on either 800 or 1600 ISO. (I'd love to get a 30D, 40D or Mark II so I can use 1250 ISO). I do, however, get some overexposed photos when the play comes to the sideline but I'm sure all photographers get that at some point or another.

On Friday night, I covered the Lonoke Jackrabbits as they scored 31 unanswered points in the second half to win 45-14. Lonoke quarterback Rollins Elam, #10, passed for 443 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 2 touchdowns. Lonoke receiver Clarence Harris (1) caught 14 passes for more than 200 yards. He even ran some plays at quarterback, ala Darren McFadden of the Razorbacks. On the photo near the pylon, Harris was trying to score on a two-point conversion but he stepped out of bounds before diving to the end zone. On one photo, he tried to catch the ball but was interferred with by a Bald Knob defender. He still almost caught it.

Several other photos include shots from Cabot's win over Conway on Sept. 28 and one from the Junior Bison's win over Palestine-Wheatley this past Thursday. With all these games, I'm also keeping notes and stats so I can write stories for my newspapers -- the Cabot Star-Herald, Lonoke Democrat and Carlisle Independent. So, I'm multi-tasking!

Mark

Variety of sports pics

The last week has been a fun one. I missed my first ever high school football game because I was sick on Friday. I shot some volleyball and tennis and jr. high football as well as an NCAA Division I-AA game in which Don Chapman broke Tennesse-Martin's all-time rushing record.
For the NCAA photo, I was shooting with my 20D, 70-200 2.8L and 2X on 3200 ISO. Chapman was only 10 yards coming into the game and I was hoping to get the shot early so that I wouldn't have to shoot 3200. The game started at 6 p.m. and he didn't break the record until after 7 and it was starting to get dark. In fact, after dark under the lights at 2.8, I still had to shoot 3200 to even get a good shutter speed.
The junior high football pics are okay but nothing outstanding. The tennis was shot on Monday and I had some decent stuff but nothing award winning. I'm also including one volleyball pic shot with an Alien Bee B400. Let me know what you all think.

Lonoke vs. Beebe 9-7-07

The Lonoke Jackrabbits played the Beebe Badgers on Friday night at Lonoke's James B. Abraham Stadium. Lonoke is one of three teams I cover for our newspapers and they did not play well, committing 7 turnovers.

However, Beebe is coached by John Shannon, who was an assistant coach at Cabot, one of my other main schools. I consider John to be a good friend and one of his assistants is Shawn Robertson, another former Cabot assistant. In fact, I shot Shawn's wedding, which was one of the last weddings I shot on film! Yeah, film. Here some images from the game, including cheerleaders, band and the game.

Mark

Football, my family

On Friday night, I covered the Class 2A Carlisle Bison as they hosted Class 3A England in the first football game of the season. Carlisle is my alma mater and I still love being a Bison! Carlisle beat England 26-19 in a very ugly game. For those of you who don't know, I keep a running chart of the game while also shooting. I'm a one-man show!
The football game was a great way to hide away from problems we've been having at home with my mother and my wife's mother. They are both having medical problems and my mom's will get better. She's only 60. My mother-in-law, we're not so sure. She's 83.
At the Carlisle, I let my emotions show somewhat. I have a sore throat after yelling at the officials and just having a grand time. I know I'm supposed to be impartial but I always want to see each of the three teams I cover do well.
I just thought I would post a variety of shots from the game. All were shot with the Canon 20D, 70-200 2.8L and with or w/o the sigma flash on 1/16 power.
Thanks for listening.

HS volleyball

I shot my first high school volleyball matches of the season on Tuesday. I used my Canon EOS 20D, 70-200 2.8L and my Alien Bee B400 with the ebay radio slave.
Most of the shots were at 1/250 second, f4.0 and either 400 or 800 ISO.
This was the first time I've shot a game in this gym and I had to find a spot to mount the AB. Luckily, no one complained about the flash. I made sure I told the AD and the local coach that I would be using the flash. I was pleased with the results.
The second photo is the lead photo on the Lonoke Democrat sports page.
Also, my mom starts her chemo on Thursday and my wife's mother is having issues so please pray for us.
Mark

Footballl scrimmages, life

This has been a very hectic, stressful and fun week all rolled into one.
I shot football scrimmages three nights this past week and enjoyed most of it despite my sore right shoulder. I've got tendinitis and arthritis in my rotator cuff but I went to my doctor on Friday morning and got a steroid shot (thanks Barry Bonds) and the pain, for the most part, went away for a while so I was able to shoot Friday night pain free.
As I posted last time, my mother has been diagnosed with the C-word. I can't bring myself to say or type that word when it pertains to her. She will start chemo and radiation therapy this next week. She is just ready to get it going and be able to do all her normal things. She and I work together at the newspaper and it is going to stay that way.
My wife started back to work this week, starting her 25th year of teaching 7th grade English at Lonoke Middle School. However, this is the first time she has started a new year in a new building and it has invigorated her!
As for my photos, since part of my games started with bright sun light, I was able to use my 70-200 2.8L with my 2X extender. When it got dark, I took off the extender and tried some stuff by using 3200 ISO on the 20D to see what I could get. Also, I used my Sigma EF 500 DG ST flash on 1/16 power on either 800 or 1600 ISO. This was suggested by sportsshooter member Scott Varley in a trade secrets column and through an email with him.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1485

I had some decent success but I'm ready for the regular season, which starts this week. And I'm ready to shoot some volleyball too!