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.

I told you...

I was excited. Last Friday night the Coolidge Colts (who I've been photographing since 20o6) had their home opener against Gonzaga College High School. And it was my first football game of this 2008 season...well second if you count assisting at the USC vs. UVA slaughter last Saturday. The only downside about shooting high school football is that it gets dark very quickly with a 7pm start and a) the lights aren't as bright as everyone thinks, b) my camera only looks decent at 1600 ISO while the new Nikon D3 looks amazing at 5000 ISO. Anyhow...it was a great game with lots of scoring and I'm looking forward to more. Shout out to Coolidge competing in the Turkey Bowl this year.