Ice and Snow
I find it difficult to shoot anything that does not have a person in the composition so I forced myself to go out in the backyard and capture something different. These were taken along a rock cliff near the house.
Trooper Dan Sings the National Anthem
January 16, 2009: I had the privilege over the last two days to listen to Trooper Dan sing the Star Spangled Banner during the opening ceremony of the 2010 West Point Open Gymnastics competition. Despite hearing it twice, each time I really had to work hard to fight back the tears. He delivered the best rendition of our National Anthem I have ever heard. Sgt. Daniel M. Clark, known as “The Singing Trooper” has performed in uniform while representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since his entrance into the Academy in 1985. During this tenure with the State Police he performed at more than 2,500 events for Federal, State, Local, and Military functions. In addition he has performed 26 foreign National Anthems, in native dialect, for visiting dignitaries and sporting events. For 5 years he could also be heard on “Radio Disney” as “Trooper Dan”promoting safety for children.
Lunch With Paul
I recently had an opportunity to have lunch with Paul, who was my research director at William K. Woodruff & Company then again at Dain Bosworth in Minnesota. When I had an opportunity to leave Dain for Lehman Brothers, he tried to talk me into not moving to New York. However, his eyes and body language said you should do it because it would be a great opportunity to work someplace with huge impact and support. He’s always been an honest boss who was concerned with what was best for you as an individual first then the firm.
This photo was taken after lunch at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse Grill in New York City. Paul still looks like he did the last time I saw him 17 years ago.
Environmental Family Portrait
I took this family portrait a few weeks before Christmas. The family wanted to include their pet as well as this french painting titled “Pebbles to Heaven” in this image.
Pebbles to Heaven
Old Barn
October 30, 2009: I was just driving back from the farm and feed store when I saw this old barn and lovely sky begging to be photographed. Just wish I had my 8×10 view camera in the car.
Environmental Portraits
Milford, PA: Environmental Portraits are photographs of people using the environment or scenery as the background as opposed to a studio created image in front of a background. Typically these photos are taken where someone works, lives or plays or where the person has a connection. It’s a nice change from sports where I typically carry multiple cameras and lenses as well as hundreds of pictures. These photos were all taken on location with a single camera and lens combination. Moreover, these were all as they came out of the camera, which is unusual in this very post-production oriented world.
If you want a unique portrait taken On Location, please contact me to set up an appointment.
Wedding Day
June 14, 2009; Redwood Valley, CA: While I specialize in capturing action sports images, I can’t help but post pictures I took during my childhood friend’s wedding event held at Frey’s Vineyard in Redwood Valley, CA. The ceremony was held in a grove of Redwood trees at one of California’s first organic vineyard located in Mendocino County. Both my friend Dennis Crean and his bride Heidi Grosskamp are vegans so the food at all the weekend festivities left a lot to be desired for this self proclaimed carnivore. However, I can honestly say it was one of the best and most fun weddings I have attended over the years.
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- Farm Equipment
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- A Walk in the Woods
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- Father & Bride
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- Husband & Wife
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- The New Family
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- Under The Redwoods
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- Bride & Groom
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- Buddies & Brides
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- High School Buddies
Environmental Portraits at the Great Swamp
Basking Ridge, NJ: While action sports photography and video production are our specialty, I also enjoy taking environmental portraits where I photograph people on location. In many ways, portraits can be more difficult than taking action shots where I simply have to be at the right place at the right time with the right equipment with the correct settings. Portraits are all that plus you have to pose the subjects. Here are a few I took at the Great Swamp plus one undisclosed location.
Environmental Portraiture
Layton, NJ: While I spend most of my time taking photographs of athlete’s in action, I took the opportunity to focus on environmental portraits for the last several days by photographing people at work, home or at play. I even took a chance at a self portrait.
Photography Tip: How to get Sharp Images
I really believe you should use a professional to get memorable photos of your favorite athlete. Sure, I am biased because it is how I make a living, but you will enjoy your high school or college athlete’s games much better. It’s tough to watch your kids life pass you bu through a viewfinder. If you insist on taking your own photos because of budgetary constraints or you simply enjoy taking photos, here are a couple of suggestions that should improve your ability to get tack sharp images.
First of all do not buy anything but a Nikon or Canon DSLR. Sure lots of other cameras take very good pictures, but there are numerous reasons virtually all sports photographers use Canon or Nikon. To get sharper images, my suggestions for the amateur using a Nikon or Canon SLR are as follows: 1) Be sure the camera is set to continuously track your subject, 2) increase your depth of field when possible; and most importantly, 3) be sure the camera has locked on to your subject before releasing the shutter.
A Bit of Rest & Relaxation
We took some time off for a couple of weeks of rest and relaxation on the Jersey Shore before the start of fall sports. If you need our exclusive sports photography and video services for the fall, please contact us as soon as possible as we fill up quite quickly with our regular customers.
10 July 2008, Surf City, NJ : A lifeguard watches the patrons on the beach at 21st Street as hurricane Bertha swirls far away causing nasty rip tides on sandy beaches along the Jersey Shore, including Long Beach Island where this photo was taken. A male tourist on vacation contemplates entering the ocean despite less than ideal conditions. Photo Credit: Alex Cena
Stuff it Volleyball
Flemington, NJ, USA – We recently did a photo shoot for an apparel company called Stuff it, which specializes in volleyball shorts. The company was created to provide players with a fun and stylish compression short for use during practice. But that’s only a small part of the story. Stuff it shorts combines the most up to date sports technology in design and fabric to create apparel that has exceptional fit and comfort for the athlete. From the response they have received thus far, you are likely to hear more about these guys in the near future.
With over 30 years experience in competitive and technical sportswear their designers should continue to find new and innovative ways to bring all these elements together to make clothing that is intensely fun.
Shooting Sports Indoors
As the indoor sports season approaches, I thought I would opine on how to simulate arena lighting inside typically dark high school venues. Many people take their fancy DSLR cameras to basketball and ice hockey games thinking they will get great images of their favorite athlete, but all they get are blurry images full of digital noise similar to grain we used to get when we were shooting mostly film. You can spend a lot of money on the fastest lenses and the fanciest camera bodies, but your images still will not come close to rivalling those shot with some artifical light. Save your money. You do not need that 200/2.0 lens. What you need are some strobes.
My suggestions are applicable to basketball, wrestling, track, ice hockey, swimming and other indoor events in dark locations. I will talk about my strategy using Dynalite strobes and packs, but they are certainly applicable if you plan to use monolights from White Lightning, Dynalite, Speedotron, Elinchrom, Profoto and others as well as camera flash units with sync such as the QFlash, SB-800 or 580-EXII. Done right, you can capture images like those below.
If you want to know how it’s done, continue to the rest of the article:
Highlight Videos by Catherine Gordon
Summit, NJ - While we are out and about on the field taking snapping picures, we are often asked if we do video game highlights or recruiting videos. We generally refer everyone to Catherine Gordon at Net Edge Training. She does a great job and her prices are quite reasonable. Here is a video, she prepared for us.
The video was taken during the AL Johnson @ Kent Place Field Hockey varsity game held on September 20, 2007
Ways to Share Large Files
Photography and video have huge file requirements. High-resolution JPEG files can be up to 10 megabytes each while a RAW or TIFF file can be at least double that amount. It can easily be overwhelming at best or impossible when it comes time to share those files with others unless you and your friends are comfortable with FTP or File Transfer Protocol. We for example had difficulty when a booster club asked us to insert numerous images into a slide show at the last minute. It took almost 24 hours to electronically obtain the files electronically via e-mail since the club was not familiar with any FTP methods, which is how we move large files between our computers and our photo agency.
For those not comfortable with managing their own server, there are other sharing solutions. Driveway, which is owned by iDrive-E provides for easy file sharing and collaboration. In fact, you can upload any file/folder of size up to 500MB with a right click and ‘create link’ option on your desktop, or via the browser application. In fact, the service is free for those that do not have storage needs in excess of 2Gb nor need to up load more than 500mb at a time. Driveway is a great tool to send large files easily and overcome the file attachment limitations imposed by email systems. Collaboration features include direct editing of data stored on driveway via browser using standard microsoft office applications. Once a file has been storedat Drivewa, it can easily be shared with others. To share files, all you need is the recipient’s e-mail id and yours. The recipient is even given the option to ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ your file. The first lets you edit and save the changes directly. The latter allows you to save the shortcut to the file on your hard disk, which can be used to open, edit and save changes. The advantage is that you don’t have to go back to your email to refer to the link to access this file. This is a sponsored post.
What Camera and Lens Should I Buy?
When we are out and about shooting various sporting events and theatrical performances, we are often asked by parents about what camera to purchase to capture memorable photos of their favorite athlete or performer. For those types of events, we believe it is best to go ahead and purchase a prosumer level Nikon or Canon cameras. While many cameras may be able to capture respectable photos, we rarely, if ever, see professional sports photographers using something other than a Nikon or a Canon.
In the Nikon mid-range line, we would purchase the D200 or its soon to be released replacement the D300. In the Canon line, we would go for the 40D. If you are willing to drop some big bucks for the top of the line camera bodies, I would go with Nikon’s D2Xs or its soon to be released replacement the D3, which is expected to hit the shelves at the end of November. My personal camera of choice is a Canon EOS 1D Mark III but if you want a camera that will rival a medium format camera I would go for the EOS 1Ds Mark III. In fact, that is my dream camera.
If your goal is to take photos at sporting events, we would purchase, at a minimum, a 70-200/2.8 lens. In fact, we would recommend at least a 300/2.8 for outdoor sports. Our personal lens of choice is a 400/2.8 when we are shooting any field event.
The holidays are right around the corner so you may want to start thinking about what you want to include in your wishlist!
btw, just about everything you need is available through B&H Photo
This is a sponsored post.
How to Take High Quality Images of Your Athlete
Nikon and Canon both continue to improve their consumer and prosumer DSLR product lines. These mid-range cameras combined with a proper lens can take respectable photos during most outdoor sporting events. While we require our photographers to use a minimum focal length of 300mm (preferably a 400mm) and an aperture of at least f/2.8, the hobbyist may be happy with a 70-200mm/2.8 lens. This body and the lens kit combination will probaly run you between $3000 and $4000.
Shooting sports is not as easy as it sounds or looks. It’s a tough vocation. If you want to improve your skills, however, take a workshop or purchase a book called “Digital Sports Photography” by G. Newman Lowrance. It’s a wonderful book and it will go a long way in helping you hone your photography skills. I have this book in my personal library and still often refer to it because I do find it quite useful. In fact, I have added a direct link to the item which can be found at Amazon.
We still believe a professional photographer is your best choice for getting high quality images of your favorite athlete on the field. Even with the aforementioned camera equipment, you still will not be able to get the tight close ups and Sports Illustrated quality images you may desire. More importantly, you will end up watching your favorite athlete’s youth pass by through a small viewfinder as opposed to watching the whole game as well as enjoying and participating in the ambiance of the event.
btw, just about everything you need is available through B&H Photo
Troop 33 at the Philmont Scout Ranch
We recently took some time off from high school sports photography for a little rest and relaxation by going on a backpacking trip with the Boy Scouts of America to The Philmont Scout Ranch in
Cimarron, New Mexico. Crew 711L3 comprising 11 scouts and 3 adult advisors from Troop 33 in Scotch Plains-Fanwood travelled via Denver and Colorado Springs to visit Pikes Peak and the Air Force Academy as well as to do a little whitewater rafting before going on to the Southern Rockies located in New Mexico. From the Philmont Scout Ranch located at an elevation of about 6,500 feet, crew 711L3 traversed 68.5 miles on foot over 10 days through the wilderness covering several mountain tops, including Mount Phillips at 11,700 feet.
That’s me with the maroon Golite backpack, Lowa Boots and Rudy Project sunglasses hiking down from some mountain top. The photo is courtesy of Tom Loop. You can see more photos from the trip by watching this slideshow or going to this link.
We Photograph the Action While You Enjoy the Event
We are a group of photojournalists who work on a freelance basis for numerous newspapers, magazines, websites, schools, athletic booster clubs and parents throughout New Jersey to capture the most memorable action photos during youth and high school sports events. This blog not only provides you links to our photos as well as some of our competitors for viewing but it serves as a medium for everyone to be able to comment on our work and to ask questions.
While we certainly concentrate on reporting on those events we cover, we certainly are willing to post images taken by other photographers and vide0graphers as well.
