Penn vs Crown Point
Penn vs Crown Point, Sectional Championship 2024. Crown Point dominated Penn to take the victory 35-0.
I went to this Sectional Championship to take pictures of Penn, the majority of pictures I ended up getting were of taking of Crown Point. They dominated the game and won 35-0.
Washington vs Penn
Washington versus Penn, and the band, High School Football in Indiana.
Penn for the Touchdown
This past couple of weeks I have been thinking of how I could incorporate more of my job into my photography. I was thinking I would like to include more of my sports work into my blog and I sat down and thought, what’s going to be my angle. What am I going to focus on when I’m out working to see things from a different angle. I started doing a little bit of research, checking out other peoples pages and seeing what they focused on in their sports photography. What I noticed was that most of the work they were putting out really wasn’t focused on the actually game itself. Most of it was focused on pre-game, sidelines and all the in game moments. For me it was kind of out of realm because when I go to shoot a game, I’m shooting the game. What’s happing on the field, across the field, if I can reach that far, all the action. It never dawned on me to turn my camera toward the sidelines and take pictures of what’s not happening on the field but is still part of the game. So for our game against Penn, I turned the camera and go shots of the things I normally wouldn’t get pictures of.
QBs getting warmed up
In my research, I noticed a lot of pictures of the players warming up, getting ready for the game and how the photographers were focusing on random moments. I thought to myself, I can do that, I just need to focus on the students, not so much the action, but the action in terms of it being slower, not full speed tackling and running. I watched for the first few games and took pictures until I got comfortable and the game against Penn High School seemed to all come together for me. I was focusing on the sideline just as much as I was on the field and it was a little different than what I expected.
Coach Not Looking Happy
What I liked most was the emotions you could see on the players faces, even the ones that were not in the game. But the ones that were coming off the field, you could see how much the game was either wearing on them or how tired it was making them. I never really thought about how the game affected the coaches as well. I was always looking for that shot of the coaches talking with players or yelling at them when they messed up, I never really focused on them and how the game itself was unfolding. This game was tough for our side, we took a pretty good beating for the second week in a row and you could see it all on the coaches faces, as well as some of the players.
Penn High School Band
The other aspect I tried to focus on in pre-game was getting shots of the ambience and I was fortune that Penn has one of the biggest bands in the Area. I loved the band as part of High School Football. It reminds me of the when I was in high school and the bands playing our school song or that local favorite “Sweet Caroline.” Whenever I hear it, the hairs on my neck stand up a little and I can feel the electricity run through me, just like when we were about to kick off at the beginning of the game. Our school doesn’t have a band so taking pictures of another’s school band doesn’t weigh to heavily on my mind. Bands are awesome for high school football and I wish our school could have one. But getting the shots of the band was one of my favorite aspects of the night. These guys even wore birthday hats on the sideline while they were waiting to get onto the field. I wonder if it was one of their birthdays.
Catching the ball off the defenders head
Although we took a tough loos, I did try to get pictures of both teams playing. I am always looking for the best shots, whether they are on our side of the ball, or on our opponents side, I’m a fan of sports and I love capturing the best moments regardless of where they come from.
For me, my shot of the day came from the one place I never thought it would, pre-game. I was squatted down trying to get some shots of the band lining up before the game and they got into formation to play the national anthem. As I was raising myself to my feet, I happened to look up and see the band major standing at attention looking at the flag. Normally you see this and think nothing of it, but today, just the angle I was at from behind, with a ladder to their standing platform in the way, it just came all together for me. I saw that and had to get that shot and I did. I just hope it’s as nice a shot to you as it is for me.
National Anthem and the Raising of the Flag
Cassandra & Art Engagement
Cassandra & Art Engagement Shoot
Cassandra & Art Engagement Shoot
This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot Cassandra and Art’s engagement photos. I am so glad they allowed me to be a part of this special moment and I was able to get some amazing shots of intimacy, play full fun and great backgrounds. The shoot was at Fernwood Botanical Gardens in Niles, Michigan. I had been there before, my daughter and her boyfriend wanted pictures for an anniversary they had last year. So I was a little familiar with the place, but not that much. My daughter, her boyfriend and myself didn’t venture to far into the park, it was a little warm that day, so we just stayed close to the entrance. So for this shoot I went a day in advance to get a better look at the place, walk around and look for good spots to get some pictures.
Fernwood Botanical Garden
I found a lot great places to get some good shots. I walked deep into the gardens and was absolutely ate up by the bugs. It recently rained the day before, so the bugs and mosquitos were out in full force. The Gardens had a lot of narrow walking paths, bridges and large grasses to use as part of the background. But after I was done looking at the entire place, as I drove out, their was a field of large grass that I thought would be the perfect spot to get some great shots with a wide open area and trees in the background. I knew we were going to be meeting in the morning hours, so I wanted to be sure to get the sun as a backdrop and I settled on this spot for the majority of the pictures.
Holding Hands
Shoot Day. I made sure to arrive a little early to get a closer look at the field I wanted to get the majority of the pictures. Turns out, the grass was a lot taller than I expected and deeper in terms of grass around our feet. It was still a little wet from the rain so when Cassandra and Art showed up I made sure to let them know that we probably wouldn’t be going in there because I didn’t want to get them all wet. But they were troopers and said they didn’t mind getting a little wet and wanted to get the best shots. So there we went and went right to work. This being my first time doing Engagement photos, I watched a lot of YouTube videos to get an idea of posses, how to position the couple and best backdrop spots to use. I am glad I watched them, they helped a lot and one of the best pieces of advices I learned from them was to talk to the couple before the shoot and let them know what you were looking for. I told them I wanted intimacy, closeness and fun, and they were very open to it.
Large Grasses Spots
When I went to scope the place out the day before, I found a few places with large grasses in small spots. I took my camera with me so I could see what they looked like in-camera and I noticed that if I just positioned myself in certain spots, I could use the grass as a foreground or a background. The key to many of the shots was where I positioned myself and use the grasses to my advantage and get the best look. I wanted to build depth into my pictures and use the couple as the center for all of them.
Cassandra and Art sniffing each other
When I spoke to Cassandra and Art, I asked them to show intimacy, closeness and fun. The best parts of the shoot for me were the fun shots. When I watched the YouTube videos, they gave me a lot of tips on how to make the process engaging and how to get your couples to laugh. The funniest one I heard was to tell the couple to whisper sweet vegetables in each others ear. That was hilarious just listening to them trying to make vegetables sound sexy. Another one was having them sniff each other like dogs do and trying to catch them laughing and having a good time. I got a great shot when they were doing it and you could see the laughter and fun they were having.
The shoot lasted about two hours and we walked around to a bunch of spots to get pictures. At the end of it we were all pretty tired, hot and sweaty, the heat had picked up and it as we ended about noon with sun over head. It was difficult for me to pic a favorite picture for this shoot, I had so many good ones. I think for me, the best shot was just showing the couple together and how much they looked in love with each other. So I found the one below and I think it was the shot of the day.
Cassandra and Art shot of the day
D.C. Street Photography
Street Photography in Washington D.C.
Workers busy on Washington D.C. Street near White House
Before I went on my vacation with my wife to Washington D.C., I wanted to try Street Photography, but there was never really the opportunity in South Bend. If a large amount of people were out and about, it was usually at some sort of event and usually I wouldn’t be able to take my cameras. I love watching YouTube videos from Sean Tucker, a photographer in England, and he does a lot of nice street photography, specifically black and whites, playing on light and shadow. I have watched those videos for two years now and once I found out we were going to D.C., I thought here is my chance to try some it. And Washington D.C. didn’t disappoint, the streets were filled with people almost the whole time we were there.
Pro-Life Protesters on the steps of the Supreme Court
The first day was dedicated to spending time with my wife, walking around and seeing the sights, so I really didn’t get any shots. It wasn’t until the second day, where my wife had to attend her conference when I spent most of the day trying to get some shots. I think at first I was over thinking it, trying to hard to look for that perfect shot, like it was going to look absolutely perfect in camera. I took a lot of shots of Memorials, streets, people and anything and everything, but it just wasn’t coming to me. I walked around that first day maybe five hours, I think I put in a total of 11 miles that day. I did get some great shots of some monuments and a few other things, but I was there to get shots of people and I got a few here and there.
French Embassy Washington D.C.
My second day by myself wasn’t any better. I decided to stay closer to the hotel and see what was around us in the local neighborhood. So I left the Hotel, hung a right and just took off walking, not in any particular direction. It was pretty cool to see people doing their normal stuff, like watering their grass, riding their bike, just getting from one place to another. As I walked around I still wasn’t feeling like I was seeing the best shots. I walked passed some historical buildings and huge houses, I walked passed the French Embassy, which was pretty cool itself. I wanted to walk toward the zoo, which wasn’t far from where we were at, and I’m glad I did. It was pretty busy, a lot of people around, I just felt uncomfortable sticking a camera in their face. It just seemed out of place of to me, so here as well, I didn’t get any great shots.
Day 3 - A Chair in someone’s yard
On day four I rested, I didn’t go anywhere really. The only time I left the hotel was to walk down to Popeyes and get me some lunch. I did get a few shots, one I like of a woman walking down the street, but for the most part I really wasn’t trying to get any shots. I was trying to get back to the hotel room and rest.
Old Woman walking on the side walk
Day 5, our last day. We were scheduled to leave at 3pm so I was going to stay in the hotel room until lunch, which I did. But in the morning I decided to go get breakfast from this little donut shop I found the second day I was there. It was nice, the prices were cheap and the pastries were huge. When I first decided to go get breakfast I wasn’t going to take my camera, I had already packed it away for the trip. But before I left I got it out and said I’ll take it just in case. Man, I’m glad I did. It was like something snapped and I was seeing it, it didn’t hurt that the people seemed to be in the right place and the right time. I was only gone from my hotel room for about an hour, but in that one hour, I think I got over a hundred photos. Some really cools ones as well. Did my street photography turn out like I had hoped? Not even, it went a little worse that what I was expecting, but that last day made up for it. When it comes down to it, I know I need to practice more and I need to get out back home and practice.
After home and looking at all my photos, some of them I thought were okay, actually ended up being pretty good. The one I liked the best I turned into a black and white and I like how the shadows were just right to light up one guy and everyone else was in the dark. Once I turned it into a black and white, it just popped for me and I thought this ended up being my best shot of the trip for my first attempt at street photography. Of course I could be wrong and it could just be okay, but for me, it was a good attempt at what I was looking to do.
My best Street Photography Photo
Experiencing Washington D.C.
My wife had a conference in Washington D.C. so I tagged along to take pictures. We also used to the trip to mark our 29th Wedding Anniversary.
Congress Building - Washington D.C.
My wife had a business trip scheduled in Washington D.C. this past weekend for a conference and training. I tagged along and considered it my vacation since I am on break for the summer. I have never been to Washington D.C. so I was pretty excited about seeing some of the national sites. I am big into politics, government and history, the areas of teaching I was certified in when I graduated all those years ago. My wife had been to D.C. before for another conference a few years ago, so she wasn’t as excited but was very happy I was coming along. We were also using this trip to mark our 29th anniversary and finally getting to celebrate it without having to haul children around everywhere.
I wish I could say our trip started bright and early, and went off without any hitches, but that is never our luck. Our trip started out bright and early, we were up at 5:30 am, at the airport by 6:30 am for our flight that was scheduled to leave at 8 am. Well wouldn’t you know it, right before our plane was scheduled to leave, take off was pushed back to 12 noon. We though okay, we can deal with this, it’s only a few hours and we’ll still be in D.C. the same day and have time to get around. Oh no, not our luck, because our plan didn’t take off until 5:30 pm. Yes, that’s right, we were there all day long, they even had us get on the plane, then get off the plane because they had to inspect it. At the end of the day, and I mean that literally, we eventually took off for our 30 min flight to Detroit, yes we waited all day for a 30 minute flight. And you want to know what was wrong with the plane, something in the restroom. Yeah, I guess you can tell I wasn’t happy about the start to this vacation.
Washington D.C. Sunset
Even though getting to D.C. was an adventure in itself, once we got there my wife and I had an awesome time. That night we took off walking to get some dinner and saw a great sunset. I didn’t have my camera with me but vowed to bring it back again and get a shot of this valley below. When I was finally able to get the shot the next night, I didn’t like how they were coming out in my camera, so I pulled out my Iphone and used the Pano setting and got this picture.
One thing that tripped us out was how much people liked to run in D.C. I mean, as soon as we landed and were on the taxi ride to the hotel, as we drove we noticed people running. We passed neighborhood, monuments, we passed hotels, building, highways, we even passed a lake, and people were running everywhere. It was pretty awesome to see though, we don’t see anything like that here in South Bend. That was part of the trip that was the best for me and my wife, the amount of people who were just out walking or being outside. I can imagine it being like that in New York City, but I have never been there before, so for me that was probably the busiest city I have ever been to in the United States. I say that because I have been to Dublin, Ireland and that place was jam packed full of people.
Secret Service Police Approaching me
At the end of it, we had a really good time, I spent a few days on my own while my wife was at her conference just walking around seeing the sites. One day ended up walking almost 11 miles total. I saw the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the National Monument, went into the Congress Building, and was at the steps of the Supreme Court waiting for a decision that wouldn’t come. I got pictures everywhere, I was even approached by the Secret Service Police at the White House, which I will wear as a badge of honor. LOL
But the best part of the whole trip was spending it with my wife. It has been years since we got to go on trip just on our own and we enjoyed it. Took off when ever we wanted to. Walked around till late in the night without having to worry about who was where and what they were doing. We had an absolute blast and I got one of the best pictures I ever got of my wife while we were standing at night waiting for a cab which ended up being my shot of the trip. And one last thing, the return trip wasn’t any better. Flight’s delayed, moved and canceled. That was one of the worse trips in terms of the travel that I have ever been on.
My shot of the Trip
Pride Fest 2024
Pride Fest 2024. I volunteered again to shoot the Pride Fest for The LGBTQ Center in South Bend. I had a great time and saw a lot of amazing crafts, people and pets.
Packed House at Potawatomi Park
This weekend I attended my first Pride Fest with my daughter and her friend Brianna. This brought back memories of when I took those two to Warp Tour in Chicago a few years in a row when they were in High School. I still have fond memories of the Parent Day Care where I sat most of the day watching Harry Potter. Fast Forward many years and here I was at the Pride Fest put together by The LGBT Center in South Bend. I once again volunteered my services to take pictures of the event.
This years Pride Fest was at Potawatomi Park and from what I am told, this years event was much larger than the year before. I know it was fairly large, it took me almost an hour to get through the first half of all the tables and tents. There were so many people, all dressed in their colors and rainbows. I had an absolute blast just walking around and seeing how much fun everyone was having.
The Pets were the best
I really didn’t know what to expect in terms of shooting the event, I went about it just like most events and tried to get the best candid shots I could. If there is one thing that caught my attention, it was the pets. So many people brought their pets out and I loved seeing them and got some great shots of a couple of nice dogs. One table, I think it was the Pet Refuge, even brought out their Raccoon and Baby Raccoon. I think one of the best shots I got all day was a little guy who was looking proud to be out there.
I’m really glad my daughter talked me into volunteering for these events. I saw a couple of my students out there, which was a surprise for them to see me, I know I could tell it on their face. It was cool to see how happy and how much of a good time everyone was having, despite the protesters trying to dampen everyone’s spirit. The huge colored umbrellas did the trick hiding those guys in the background and they eventually left.
Food Truck selling great eats
Did I mention the food, if not, thanks for giving me time because I tried one of the best brownies I have ever eaten. I don’t recall the name of the older lady that made them, but my gosh, they were so good and not sweet at all. The chocolate didn’t even over power the taste and they were so soft and chewy. And some guys were grilling up burgers and hotdogs, I had to get me one of those dogs, they were tasty.
Overall, the event was awesome. There were many people tabling selling their creations and people just having a good time. A couple of bands were playing music I personally wouldn’t listen to, but it was great to watch the kids dancing and having a good time. If there was only one complaint from me, it would have been the Porter Pottys. I think a few more were needed because man, let’s just say that whole two minutes deserves it own blog. lol
One last thing, my shot of the day belongs to this little girl who walking with her Pride Flags straight in the air. I noticed her walking but as people were walking across right in front of me I didn’t think I was going to be able to get a shot. I got lucky and snapped the photo at the perfect time. As you can see below, she was the main focus and everything else around her is faded out, thank you God I had a F2.8 lens.
My shot of the day
Cloud Walking Cafe
The Pride Networking Event brought me to this little place called Cloud Walking Cafe & Lounge, It ended up being the star of the night for me.
Last week I got to shoot at a little coffee shop here in South Bend called Cloud Walking Cafe & Lounge. I volunteered my photography services for the local LGBTQ community who where having a networking night. The event was great and plenty of people showed up to make it well worth the visit. But for me, the star of the night was the location!
The front entrance of Cloud Walking Cafe & Lounge
It was a small little place which I had been to once before. My daughter wanted to take senior pictures there after she recently graduated from college. We went down to the coffee shop, but we ended up not taking pictures because my daughter was beat, we had already taken pictures at Indiana University South Bend for over two hours and she was done for. I really didn’t see much of the place and didn’t stay long.
So when I got there that night, I really didn’t know what to expect. I know they had a small entrance, like a meat market look, not really deep in the front. The majority of the seating was in the back and that’s where the Pride Networking Event took place. Like I said previously, a lot of people showed up so this made for a great opportunity to take pictures and get some good shots.
The Cinnamon Roll, which was delicious by the way. That one was mine.
I didn’t see a large menu from the coffee shop, it looked like they mostly served drinks, small sweets and a few other small items. It looked like their specialty was coffee, which they had many blends and one of those machines used to make Latte’s and stuff like that. I’m not a coffee drinker, so I really don’t know much about that stuff.
As the event went on through the night, I made sure to get around take pictures of the place. They had a lot of cool things in there that made the place look really unique. My favorite thing was the collection of T.V.’s they had in the back connected to some old video games and, if you can believe this, a DVD/VHS player. I laughed so hard because I still own a DVD/VHS player. That little corner in the back was cool, and the T.V.’s looked like they were from the early 80’s or even before that.
That little collection of T.V.s in the back corner.
I ended up getting a lot of shots of the place and I hope they liked them. I want to go back some day and get more shots, a little bit more in depth if I can. And while I’m there, I’ll definitely have me another cinnamon role!!
