What's with the black?

By judging the content of some of my sports posts, you might think I'm partial to this school they call Gonzaga College High School. Truth be told, they play pretty close to my apartment. The games I decide to shoot are determined by proximity and not by importance of match up, as one may think. Last week this game between two of the best high school soccer teams in the region (DeMatha and Gonzaga) was played at Trinity University here in Washington DC. The usually purple Gonzaga Eagles decided to go black a la the Georgia Bulldogs (you see where it got them). But instead of incurring the same fate as the Bulldogs, the Gonzaga Eagles did one better by finishing with a 2-2 tie.

Luckily for them (because I captured the game in such magnificence) the location was right in my wheelhouse. In case you're a big high school soccer fan, details of the actual contest were provided by the good folks at DCSportsFan.com.

Golden

Allegedly, photographers and filmmakers alike adore the "golden hour"; the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. I'm not sure there is a universal admiration amongst visual artists (hence the word allegedly) but I'm a fan. There is nothing particularly great about these shots...I just like the light.

Road Trip

It's Friday again, and usually on Friday's, Untitled's lone contributor is shooting a football game in the near future. Last Friday I spent all day with the Coolidge Colts on a road trip to old West Virginny where they played (and lost) a game to the Bridgeport Indians of Bridgeport High School in, you guessed it, Bridgeport, West Virginny.

This is the third consecutive year that I've gone on an out of state road trip with the team and each time has been pretty interesting. Once again we were driven through the interstate highways of America by an old man with a scraggly gray beard and a dingy white cap who also closely resembles "Grady" from Sanford and Son.

Coolidge lost and luckily for them, it was too dark for me to record any game evidence. I liked the fluorescent lights of the locker room anyway.

Quakers & Saints

Driving up and down Wisconsin Ave. here in Washington DC, I occasionally pass Sidwell Friends School. The only thing I know about the school is that it was once the academic playground of one Chelsea Clinton. After stepping on the campus last weekend to shoot a football game between Sidwell Friends and the St. James School I learned a few more things: a) it's not an all girls' school b) I attended the last football game to be played on that particular field c) Sidwell Friends football runs a Peyton Manning style hurry-up offense, the likes of which I've never seen in high school.

Besides all that other stuff, I got a lot of good photos from that game. I can comfortably attribute those good photos to abnormal amount of passing that went on during that game...and my uncanny ability to shoot sports of course.

The Adventures of Good Hood

I've featured Deuce, Sabrey or both on Untitled in the past. And if you're one of six of my faithful readers, you would know that when their powers combine, they make up Good Hood (the soon to be famous hip-hop music duo). Last week I was privileged to join the two, along with Queen and Jordan for a performance during the Baltimore Music Conference at The Black Hole.

First of all, Deuce tells me that the performance is in Baltimore. Cool, no problem, I've been to Baltimore before...multiple times. But the show is actually in Dundalk, which is a little further east of Baltimore. I've never been to Dundalk; therefore, I have no problem with Dundalk. But here go Deuce and Sabrey with the stories of performing in small towns that begin with, "Remember that time...". The Black Hole, known for its rock and roll, was a solid venue. There was an actual stage equipped with lights and sound people (to be PC) and the french fries were pretty good. The only thing that worried me were the biker dudes with grey-ing pony tails sitting at the video poker machines. I don't know if anyone told them it was hip hop night.


Jordy and Sabrey trying to correct the wackness playing on the jukebox.

Seeing Green

The final score was 41-10, so not much to blog about. The all green team (Wilson) defeated the kind of green team (Maret) during an early Friday evening showdown last week. The most exciting part of the evening was pre-game which included me driving around the school about six times watching parking spots I passed up previously become unavailable with each revolution. Yeah.

The District Crushed

Whenever the weekends come around, i see it as an opportunity to shoot/watch football. I usually shoot a game Friday night, shoot another Saturday morning/afternoon and watch games all day Sunday (when I'm not assisting of course). But last weekend's schedule was altered a bit by a small tropical storm named Hannah. Hannah came through late last Friday and rained on us all day Saturday. Hannah caused Saturday football games in the Washington DC area to be postponed and rescheduled. Hannah made me miss all of the Sunday 1pm football games at the bar with the fellas. But I'm not salty. Sunday I shot Gonzaga (purple) vs. Loyola Blakefield (white) and Monday I shot Carroll (white) vs. Landon (brown). Neither games were competitive. The combined score for the two games: 67-0. The two Maryland teams (Landon and Loyola) crushed the two District teams (Carroll and Gonzaga). What does that say about Washington DC football?

More Futbol

I don't know what really makes a good soccer shot. Frankly, I haven't seen any one that I've thought was amazing. While sitting amongst the seasoned veterans of photography at the DC United soccer games here in Washington, I've learned that the header shot is the one to shoot for. Not by actually asking them what is a good soccer shot, but by judging the rapid fire shutter tripping that occurs around me whenever a soccer ball is near a players head. So as always, I try to apply what I've learned from the vets to my weekly (almost daily) high school self-assignments.

It's Friday again

Usually I wouldn't let a whole week past between posts (unless I was on vacation), but this week I have a good excuse. I've been mad busy. The money has been pouring in as much as the money can pour for a poor photo assistant. But in the midst of all this assistant work, of course I've still been shooting on my own. And my favorite subject as of late is the Coolidge football team. The games are fun to shoot, but you pretty much know what to expect. All of the good pictures come during pre-game and halftime. Now whenever I hear, read, or see anything about Calvin Coolidge, I will think orange.

Deontre Blayz

A few weeks ago I shot the up and coming Brooklyn MC Deontre Blayz at Fly Lounge here in Washington DC. I've known Blayz for a few years now formerly of Heavy Syndication fame. I shot a couple of shows he did at Howard's YardFest with Broadway Miller, I shot him when he, Broadway and Good Hood opened for Fort Minor and I shot him in a makeshift studio at the MTerrace offices. But this time I guess you could say we both stepped our game up. We had the club all to ourselves and set up a few different shots. Here's to not popping bottles of Cris. Shout out to DJ and Motley Management.

Behind the Scenes

I've got a lot of Coolidge High football material and one of these days I'm going to make a book. But for now, I think I'll just keep taking pictures. These shots were taken before the game and during halftime when Coolidge played Gonzaga last Friday. Because the guys see me around so much, I think I blend in a little (even with camera smashed to face) so for the most part they don't pay much attention to me. Although I do get the occasional "Did you get that?" or "Get me, I'm #30 and I'm on special teams".



The day I photographed the individual pictures of the players, the team received some bad news. Ralph Hodge, Jr. a young man who attended Coolidge last year and whom most of the players knew, was shot and killed in Washington DC. Hodge attended Friendship Collegiate high school this year and wore #4 while playing on the football team.