Paul VI and the VI Man!

Often in spectator sports, the home fans make a lot of noise and create an atmosphere that give their team a perceived advantage over the visiting team. In football there's the 12th man and in basketball there's the 6th man. But at Paul VI Catholic High School, there is the VI Man. Last Friday, Paul VI played their biggest rival and crosstown competition, Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School. I photographed both the girls and boys

varsity teams in during their exciting match-ups against O'Connell. The girls were able to pull out a victory but t

he boys were unsuccessful. After giving up the lead shortly after halftime, they never regained it (read about it here). Who knew hundreds of shrieking teenagers could be so

damn loud.

Purchase Prints Here: Girls and Boys

O'Connell vs. Gonzaga Soccer @ RFK Stadium

Ok, near RFK Stadium. Gonzaga College High School plays their soccer home games at the auxiliary fields of RFK, probably where some derivative versions of DC United hold practice. The actual game was second place to the great in your face setting sun that was just hitting the field at the right angle. O'Connell took a 5-0 loss to Gonzaga on this beautiful day. Shout out to headers but not to possible concussions.

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O'Connell @ Gonzaga Basketball

I got home Thursday and was back sitting on the hardwood floor Friday night. Gonzaga played a home game against O'Connell which boasts a rivalry in a rivalry. Gonzaga's point guard, Tyler Thornton, is headed to Duke next season while O'Connell's floor leader, Kendall Marshall, will be attending UNC. O'Connell started strong and never really let up although Gonzaga got within striking distance late. It turned out to be Gonzaga's 4th loss of the season but they still go into the play-offs as the #2 seed behind DeMatha. It's the time of year again. Win or go home. Shout out to senior night.

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The Other Football

Late August means back to school and back to fall sports. While every other sports fan is impatiently waiting for NFL, NCAA and even high school football action, I'm out shooting futbol action. St. John's hosted O'Connell and lost 2-1 during my first soccer game of the season. Shout out to basketball players that play soccer.


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Dave Eismeier

Dave Eismeier is a senior at Bishop O'Connell high school out in Arlington, VA. During my travels around the city, visiting different gyms, photographing different basketball games, I sometimes crossed paths with and photographed Dave and the O'Connell varsity basketball team. Dave's mom saw the pictures, bought a few prints and that is how I came to shoot Dave's senior portraits.

We met up last Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial and the weather was the best it had been in a long time. 60 and sunny. And DC took advantadge. There were tons of people walking around messing up the backgrounds of my pictures. We made it work anyway. Dave and his family were great to kick it with during that hour and a half but it was clear that his little brother was not amused.

Ummm...60 and sunny, where you at?

St. Albans v. O'Connell @ Catholic

In another early season non-conference lacrosse match up between DC area high schools, St. Albans played Bishop O'Connell at Catholic University. Eh. O'Connell was in it until the third quarter when St. Albans unleashed a slew of goals late.

On a completely unrelated note...did anyone know that Louisville had a basketball and football hip hop fight song? Shout out to Catholic U for jacking the song and playing it at their events because they happen to have the same mascot as Louisville (cardinals) and shout out to Code Red.


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Screaming Guys in Ties

Let's take a brief pause to salute the sideline generals of high school basketball. They shout, stomp, scream and gesture all for the love of the game. Shout out to them for managing a group of potentially egotistic and talented 15-18 year old kids.

Hoop Fest!

Last weekend, I spent two days photographing 16 teams and eight games of basketball at a really nice, pretty well lit (relatively speaking) high school gym in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The National High School Hoops Festival featured teams from Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Mississippi which happened to showcase some of the top talent in the country. A few people of note in attendance..Roy Williams, Bruce Pearl, Tom Crean and Michael Starghill. Funny thing about these high school "showcases": about 20% of the people are parents, friends and family. The other half (Yogi Berra) are scouts, coaches, media, hangers on, sponsors, fans and folks who's hands will be out if/when some of these kids make it to the Association. Just my two cents. Shout out to Nike who had the Lebron VI's on sale for only $140. No checks, no credit cards. Straight cash, homey.

Rare Read

Only because I don't usually shoot girls high school sports. But this championship occurred on the same day and field as the boys championship, so why not. I don't know much about the two teams (St. John's and O'Connell) but the fans were crazy. St. John's, ranked #1 throughout the season, took home the title with a 2-1 victory. For a more thorough explanation go here.

Gonzaga = Champs

I've kind of been following this team a lot this season. Partly because of talent but mostly because of proximity. For example, Good Counsel's football team is ranked #1 in the area (DC, Maryland, Virginia) by the Washington Post, but you won't catch me out in Olney, MD. Okay, you might. Anyway, Gonzaga plays great soccer and this past weekend I photographed their championship game. I was hoping for a Gonzaga vs. DeMatha three-match, but got O'Connell instead. Shout out to all of the parents that ordered pictures from me throughout the season.

Need a Light?

Once again, those October late afternoon/early evening sporting events do wonders for my photography. The light is low in the sky, nice and golden and not too contrasty.

I first drove to the Gonzaga College High School campus in downtown DC looking for a soccer game. What I found was a gang of football players practicing in purple (obviously). I then find out (from DCSportsFan) that Gonzaga plays their "home" games at an auxiliary field of RFK Stadium. I arrived at 4:20pm (insert weed joke here) only to find out that it was halftime and that the game had started at 3:30pm. Luckily, the better team was coming right into the light. Shout out to my BlackBerry for getting me directions to the game on the fly.